“People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” ― Logan Pearsall Smith
Some people ask me what I do for fun. When I say I read, they often give me a funny look. “Reading is a chore. Something you do only when you’re compelled to. WHY are you reading?” Okay, maybe reading is a chore for you but I do it for ‘fun’.
I don’t like to go to parties where I’d have to talk to people I don’t have anything in common with or even really like. “But it’s FUN. You’d like it when you get there.” No, I won’t. Why don’t people get that fun can have a different meaning for different people? For me fun is spending a quiet evening at home with a book, listening to some music or watching a good movie.
I am really alarmed by the increasingly conformist attitude everyone around me is taking. We are human beings, with our own individual tastes, likes, dislikes, our own lives and our own choices to make. We are not clones of each other. We are all normal and we are all abnormal in our own way. And who defines what’s normal anyway? Most works of art and most scientific discoveries were made by people thinking outside the box. If we were all alike then there would be no Isaac Newtons or Pablo Picassos and where would we all be then?
Our uniqueness makes us all beautiful. If we all became mindless zombies plugged into the wall, then the world would die. Please don’t kill this complex, impossible, difficult but ultimately beautiful and alive world.
Okay enough of my rant. Back to my original topic. Here are the books I bought in the months of September and October.
September 4, 2011.
The Inimitable Jeeves. P. G. Wodehouse.
Ring for Jeeves. P. G. Wodehouse.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Truman Capote.
Heart of Darkness. Joseph Conrad.
I have always been a fan of the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P. G. Wodehouse. I enjoyed the re-runs of the 90’s TV show Jeeves and Wooster immensely. For me Hugh Laurie would forever be the bumbling Bertie and Stephen Fry would forever be the imperturbable Jeeves. I read Wodehouse’s Very Good, Jeeves earlier this year and loved it! So, when I saw these two books at the bookstore I just had to have them! I am reading The Inimitable Jeeves right now and liking it very much.
I am trying to broaden my horizon by stepping outside my comfort zone of mysteries and old classics. Hence, Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad came home with me.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not my usual fare. I have never read anything by Capote. Hopefully I’ll enjoy his writing.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a scary read for me. I have heard so many negative comments about it from fellow readers that I am curious and afraid at the same time. Well, if I am to find out for myself, I am going to have to plunge into this ‘darkness’ soon.
October 1, 2011.
Gilead. Marilynne Robinson.
I went to the bookstore for something entirely different but came out with Gilead instead. How did this happen? Well, I guess my quest to broaden my horizon continues. I have heard good things about Gilead. Hopefully I’d like it too even if it is not really the type of book I usually read.
So, these were my September & October purchases. Not much in quantity but good in quality in my opinion.
A Paperback Life 