The Metanerd

Now reading: Sabriel by Garth Nix

I spent some time in these past couple of months reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and Waiting by Ha Jin. It’s not that they were bad books, but I’m glad to make a return to Fantasy/Sci Fi because it’s just so easy. I love the feeling of being immersed in another world. It makes reading a vacation. I mean, is having fun what reading is about?

Currently reading (the not quite literature edition) - Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

I’m sticking with the alternating Ender’s series books. Still waiting for it to pull me in.

Currently reading: When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris.

I finally finished reading The Jungle and decided to move on to a lighter read. This was stolen off my best friend’s bookshelf before she could get the chance to donate it to Goodwill.

I’m halfway through the book in one evening and it wasn’t until this point that I remembered that David Sedaris’ sister is Amy Sedaris.  David Sedaris’ writing style and humor got me so hooked from the first sentence that I didn’t even remember the connection between the siblings. I’m a huge fan of Strangers With Candy, prompting me to place Amy’s brother on my reading list in the first place.

Are his other essay collections even better than Flames?

Currently reading: Pride & Prejudice

This is a book that’s on my “classics I never got to read in high school” list. When we did our unit on Romanticism, we got a list to choose from. I chose Jane Eyre. At the end we had to film a movie trailer and the Pride & Prejudice caught my attention. I’m finally getting around to it.

When I opened the book I thought what a dumb idea it was to read this immediately following The Women’s Room and The Handmaid’s Tale, two feminist novels. But I am enjoying it so far and the language hasn’t been difficult despite not having read anything academic/classical in a while.

The premise of the book can be considered trashy if measured from a political commentary standpoint. I’m not sure if this means reading the book constitutes as a “bad feminist confession”?

Currently reading The Women’s Room, by Marilyn French

One of my favorite professors from college recommended it as part of a list of books she feels her granddaughter must ABSOLUTELY read during her lifetime. My friend said that it was on her reading list too but she couldn’t find a copy of it in any bookstores. Over the summer, I happen to come across it while working at the courthouse law library’s charity book sale. All books were 50 cents. Needless to say, this was a great find.

I had to blog about this even though I’m halfway through it. It’s that good. I know there’s a lot of criticism out there about the author and the book being too anti-men. However, especially considering when it was written, this novel gives really good insight on the lives of the generation of women from the 50s.

While the standpoint could have been written from a less biased view of men, keep in mind that this is a novel. A novel is ultimately a form of entertainment and the emotional reaction of the reader is directly related to a novel’s success. Fiction must take an extreme perspective to invoke this emotion. Marilyn French chose to villainize the male population to bring the plight of the 50s woman to light. I’m going to make the call that French was completely within her rights of artistic freedom here.