words, words, words

My Hemingway festival is over, I just finished “A Farewell to Arms” (# 74, in the list).  I think I preferred “The Sun Also Rises”.  There were moments in “Farewell” which I really liked, but the macho thing that Can mentioned was a bit over the top and made Lt. Henry seem a bit one dimensional.

I did like the exchange with Count Greffi in Switzerland and aside from being very sad, I thought the ending of the book showed a sensibility that put some of the posturing in it’s place.

That’s it for the Hemingway in the list, so moving along.

I just finished “The Grapes of Wrath”, by John Steinbeck (#10).  (I think someone once told me that the title was mistranslated in Japanese as “Angy Raisins”)  Anyway,  the book was awesome, a new favourite and I’m going to write some of my thoughts about it later.

Definitely worth reading and definitely deserving to be in the Modern Library’s list of 100 best novels.   It is number 10.  I’m still chugging through the list. But I have hit a snag with “Sons and Lovers” (#9).  It’s too dull.

I’m still reading “The Grapes of Wrath” and it is spooky how similar the book is to current day America.  It is actually making the book difficult to continue reading.

Here are some comparisons:

I think I’ll stay right here.

But I’ll update the comparison as it plays out.

John Steinbeck is “da man”.   I am reading “The Grapes of Wrath” and am very impressed.  He is incredibly skilled.

This book was written during the Great Depression in America.  Specifically, he talks about the rise of big business as well as a the merchant banking class, mass production and the consolidation of small farms and small business.  This book is about the end of the American Dream.  At least, so far… I’m not finished with it.  But I have a feeling that this book is going to be one of my favorites.  Which is really nice.  It is a treat to be reading a book that is so good, that you know it will be a book you will tell others to read.

Here is a quote:

In their lapels the insignia of lodges and service clubs, places where they can go and, by a weight of numbers of little worried men, reassure themselves that business is noble and not the curious ritualized thievery they know it is; that business men are intelligent in spite of the records of their stupidity; that they are kind and charitable in spite of the principles of sound business; that their lives are rich instead of the thin tiresome routines they know; and that a time is coming when they will not be afraid anymore.
(Ch 15)

There is also a great deal of well executed symbolism and metaphor.  But it isn’t forced and it isn’t high-fallutin’.  It just seems to be an extension of the story.

I read “The Secret Agent”, by Joseph Conrad, while on my summer vacation, and wrote a bit about it in a review on my site.  If you’re into that sort of thing…

I am reading a book about sushi, called “The Zen of Fish“. It is really interesting, both because of the information about sushi, which fundamentally began as street food, but also about cooking science in general. For example, what cooking actually does to chemistry of food.

I remember my first piece of sashimi that really stopped me in my tracks. The book is filled with a lot of tips to help you have more of those sushi-based epiphanies.   My only warning, the book makes you really hungry.

I’ve fallen into a bad habit where I fall asleep when I start reading. I’m going to try and “break the cycle” by reading when I am most awake, as opposed to in bed falling asleep.

I just returned from Borders where I was amazed at the amount of crap that is for sale.

Judging from the bookshelves in the look-at-me section by the door, Americans are into 1.) Bounty Hunters 2.) Iraq and Islam 3.) Naval warfare and 4.) Self-Help.

Self-help has a long history in America, starting with “Poor Richard’s Almanack” so that isn’t surprising, the popularity of guns, boats and religion is no shocker; that is the core of the American trifecta. Iraq is , and will be for a looooong time, a big deal. But I’m really not sure about the Bounty Hunter books. Must be some new cultural nuance that I’m not familiar with.

I just finished “The Sound and the Fury” by Bill Faulkner (# 6). A story about the decline of the South and crazy people. Difficult to read at times, it contained a lot of stream of consciousness , jumping around in time and some very unreliable narrators.

In other news, Susi saw people who had been waiting for 6 (six) hours in Leicester Square to catch a glimpse of Bruce Willis. Ug. At what point should your friends have an intervention? “Nigel, you’ve got a problem.”

As part of the hundred greatest novels quest, I just finished “I Claudius”, by Robert Graves.

Now I am reading “Pattern Recognition” by William Gibson. This book is incredible. His writing is so good it makes me jealous.

I won’t go into too much about the plot, but part of the book is about the differences between the UK and the USA. Something that I am feeling fairly acutely living in London. He calls the UK “mirror world”. Of course he mentions the obvious backwards things, the fact that people drive on the wrong side of the road, but he also mentions some more obscure things, like the fact that people are a bit frantic about their vice here, and the British have enormous electrical plugs that look like they would power electric chairs in the States. He mentions something I have found weird, which is the way that people’s voices go up when they say “good bye” on the phone.

I do have one to add to the list: in the States, doors tend to open outward. I think it is must be a fire code regulation. That way if a throng of people are surging out of a burning building they are dumped onto the street, instead of clogging the doorway with their cooked bodies. In London, I suppose they don’t want to inconvenience people by having their doors swing open into a sidewalk, but I walk into a door almost daily.

I watched a really good Google Video called Mindfulness Stress Reduction And Healing
Following one of the suggestions, I stopped and checked to see if I was in the shower last time I took a shower. Turns out I wasn’t.

Also, I finished a really good book, Special Topics in Calamity Physics

I am going to the Google London Headquarters on Thursday, I’ll try to take some pictures of the wide array of snacks that they have.