What to read next
In case I slow down on my Tolstoy assignment I just have to think of the books I have lined up.
I love books set in strange schools, having come from one myself. There’s Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. And The Catcher In The Rye, one-third boarding school, two-thirds escape from boarding school. And speaking of The Catcher In The Rye:
A new biography by the guy who does the Dead Caulfields website. Nice photo of J.D., he looks so urbane. There’s a line in the Glass family stories about someone who looks like he’s smoking three cigarettes at once. And another line about someone who’s holding a cigarette as if he needs it for ballast.
Last year I read Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli and realized that I need to pay more attention to graphic novels. I read the first chapter of Daytripper: Bam! Can’t wait to continue.
Dammit why can’t I draw?
I have it on good authority that local sales of graphic novels have multiplied—a heartening development, since they’re not cheap.
All of these titles are available at National Bookstores.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 23rd, 2011 at 11:51
Daytripper: after reading the first chapter, it was so grim I got so depressed I didn’t want to read the rest. Maybe it was just the time of the month so I’ll try to check the next chapter now that my hormones are stabilized. But I remember having a “BAM!” moment too which made me recommend it to friends.
February 23rd, 2011 at 12:02
Hi Jessica, who is your favorite illustrator and comics writer?
February 24th, 2011 at 19:50
After War and Peace, I am thinking of reading Knut Hamsun’s Hunger. A literally starving writer desperately keeps on writing to stay alive despite his empty stomach – that got me going. And after that, I think I’ll go for Halldor Laxness’s Independent People. There’s something about Iceland that’s drawing me to it (Bjork, Sigur Ros). Then Gone with the Wind. It’s been put off so long. I am little ambitious, I guess.
February 25th, 2011 at 03:33
Speaking of graphic novels, that reminds me that Edward Gorey’s Amphigorey is up next my reading list…