inthelouvre.org » Sunday Salon: Oh, Beautiful Rain

Sunday Salon: Oh, Beautiful Rain

Jun

'08

It’s been a while, now, hasn’t it? I’ve been working on Sundays and I find when I work on Sunday I really don’t have time to read and get online. The past few Sundays I’ve been reading after work and then going to bed late into the night… I also haven’t touched Twilight of the Superheroes since the last time I posted under this heading.

When I started doing these Sunday Salon posts I thought it was a brilliant idea to dedicate each Sunday to a short story, then write about that story with my post. I’m starting to think that I’d prefer to do what other people do - read a bit from the book I’m already reading anyway, then share my ideas on my progress so far. For one, it means I don’t get stuck reading something I’m probably not in the mood for anyway (*cough*).

So what have I read since the last time I posted? Gosh, it’s almost been a full month! I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which was one I couldn’t put down… Sort of like how I couldn’t put down Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Those young adult authors clearly have something going that I’d like to get into. I also read the first two Lords of the Underworld novels by Gena Showalter; I’ve loved JR Ward’s Blackdagger Brotherhood books and I wanted to read something else mythologically appealing (if inaccurate), so The Darkest Night and The Darkest Kiss both spoke to me. Actually, they giggled at me, and I giggled right alongside them. Lately, though, I’ve been reading The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer which has been on my wishlist since it came out in hardback and on my TBR pile since the day it came out in paperback. It’s a good sign - I’m finally making an etch in those bookshelves I reserve specifically for “not read yet” books!

A few Sundays ago, Katrina’s Reads posted a meme specifically for the Sunday Salon and today I’m going to steal it.

The author I always meant to read is Evelyn Waugh. I have some of his books (this is true for a lot of authors I haven’t read, though) and just haven’t seemed to have gotten around to them yet.
The author I always meant to read more of is Philip Roth. I have seven of his books in my collection already but I’ve only read one of them. I really enjoyed it so I’m not sure what’s keeping me back from reading the rest…
The genre I always meant to try is political/spy thrillers, actually. I don’t think I’ve ever read any from this section of the store. I mean, I usually enjoy political thriller movies so why wouldn’t I like the books?
The book on my TBR pile I always mean to read next always manages to be by Haruki Murakami. I have tons and tons of his books and one of my 101 Things in 1,001 Days goals is to read all of his books that I currently own. So I’m in the middle of a book and I glance in the direction where I keep his books on my shelf and think, “I’ll read one of those next.” I always mean to… But it doesn’t seem to quite turn out as planned.
The book I always meant to try again is The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa. Well, there are a lot I’d like to read again, but this one in particular because while I was reading it for a class in college, people kept comparing it to The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. Now I’ve read that, and others by Vargas Llosa, and I’d like to go back and re-read this book which I loved so much, if not just to get more out of it.

I don’t have a lot else to say, unfortunately, because (as I hinted) I’m not really in the mood for Twilight of the Superheroes. But! I did read some Castle in the Forest and I’m starting to get into the book much more. It had a very slow, rather drawn-out and confusing beginning, but now it’s one of those books I randomly think about in the middle of the day and yearn to read even though I can’t because I’m at work or driving or doing some other menial, obviously unimportant task. Like writing this post, for example.

It’s been raining a lot lately, I should mention, since it’s my subject line and all. I really enjoy reading when it’s raining - I can’t sit on the porch and listen to it, because my apartment is crooked. (Basically the rain very easily gets onto the porch, even though we have a covering, and large puddles start to build and attempt to drown us if we sit out there.) However, I can crack a window and listen to it, smell the musky breath of the wind while I dive into another world. The sounds of rain are so soothing; even the thunder never frightened me.

Today is another promised rainy day so I hope to get a lot more reading done later, but now it’s time to make cookies.

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