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Can't Stop Watching Wednesday
Oct. 4th, 2017 01:37 amWhat I've Finished Reading
I was disappointed that Reality Matters wasn't better.
( Maybe better is the wrong word. )
So Reality Matters didn't give me what I wanted, but it did give me a funny story about a guy who superglued his tracksuit to a boat in order to prevent himself from falling into the Thames on TV. Sometimes when life closes a door, it opens a window.
Also finished: Nine Princes in Amber. It was ok. It picks up a little at the end - not coincidentally, when Corwin is blinded and thrown into prison, i.e., when he's returned to a state of confusion, disadvantage, and necessary cunning. Thoroughly self-confident dudes leading fantasy battle charges for the One High Throne of Whatever is significantly less my thing, it turns out. However! I've been informed that, as I might have expected based on my previous Zelazny experience, All Is Not What It Seems, so I'll be reading on.
What I'm Reading Now
The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis - a 99 Novels novel I've begun three times now without success. I'm not sure why I find it so hard to follow. Lucky Jim, also by Amis, was easy to read, energetic in its meanness, and downright addictive - I read it twice in a row just for the fun of it - so my almost total inability here to keep track of who is speaking and which one they are is disconcerting and discouraging. It can't just be my mood, because, like I said, I've tried it three times - but what is it? This time I've gotten further than before - about to Page 75 - but I still don't know who anyone is from one page to the next. The only exceptions are the two female characters (Designated Nympho and Not Actually A Lesbian) and the psychiatrist who thinks all heterosexuality is a symptom of repressed homosexuality, which is kind of funny in an abstract way. Maybe I need to start again from the beginning.
What I Plan to Read Next
The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny, but I'm also still in catch-up mode. We Were Eight Years in Power just showed up on my doorstep, so maybe that, too.
I was disappointed that Reality Matters wasn't better.
( Maybe better is the wrong word. )
So Reality Matters didn't give me what I wanted, but it did give me a funny story about a guy who superglued his tracksuit to a boat in order to prevent himself from falling into the Thames on TV. Sometimes when life closes a door, it opens a window.
Also finished: Nine Princes in Amber. It was ok. It picks up a little at the end - not coincidentally, when Corwin is blinded and thrown into prison, i.e., when he's returned to a state of confusion, disadvantage, and necessary cunning. Thoroughly self-confident dudes leading fantasy battle charges for the One High Throne of Whatever is significantly less my thing, it turns out. However! I've been informed that, as I might have expected based on my previous Zelazny experience, All Is Not What It Seems, so I'll be reading on.
What I'm Reading Now
The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis - a 99 Novels novel I've begun three times now without success. I'm not sure why I find it so hard to follow. Lucky Jim, also by Amis, was easy to read, energetic in its meanness, and downright addictive - I read it twice in a row just for the fun of it - so my almost total inability here to keep track of who is speaking and which one they are is disconcerting and discouraging. It can't just be my mood, because, like I said, I've tried it three times - but what is it? This time I've gotten further than before - about to Page 75 - but I still don't know who anyone is from one page to the next. The only exceptions are the two female characters (Designated Nympho and Not Actually A Lesbian) and the psychiatrist who thinks all heterosexuality is a symptom of repressed homosexuality, which is kind of funny in an abstract way. Maybe I need to start again from the beginning.
What I Plan to Read Next
The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny, but I'm also still in catch-up mode. We Were Eight Years in Power just showed up on my doorstep, so maybe that, too.
