Thursday, February 03, 2005

Reading Updates

Coupland's latest, Eleanor Rigby, didnt disappoint. Though I must admit I didnt have high hopes for it in the first place; one must acknowledge that there's just no going back to the likes of Life After God and/or Gen X. The only bad thing is that I finished it in one sitting. I cannot believe myself. I was hoping that it will last at least for a weekend.

Thank goodness the good people at Kinokuniya called me a couple of days later to tell me that the book I ordered, Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree has arrived. I have enjoyed most of Hornby's stuff as well (except for maybe How to Be Good) but his latest is actually a really slim volume of collected essays for The Believer. Not that there's anything wrong with short essays but I was really looking forward to something more than 136 pages.

Right now I'm trying my darnest to read the book as slowly as I can, savouring every word. I daren't sit down in my nice reading chair to read it; I have to read snatches of it here and there, mostly on the bus or train. This isnt easy at all, since I'm a relatively fast reader (tell-tale signs of an ex-literature student) but I'm about 1/3 into the book and loving every minute of it.

What I really hate is the period inbetween books. If it was a good book you've just finished, you don't really want to mess about trying to start on another book, which would probably be alright on its own, but not after that good book you have just finished. I'm not sure yet what I'd be reading after Hornby, though it's most probably going to be the new Murakami. I heard and read good things about it but it's still in hardcover format and that's going to be hard to lug around.

posted by Sharon K at 7:30 pm