More books
Feb. 27th, 2006 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starzkiI've made the mistake of starting another John Irving book. It is now my all-consuming obsession to finish the story. It's Irving's Widow for a Year. I saw a part of the movie (The Door in the Floor) last month and remembered that it was from an Irving book, so, because I liked the movie, I went and got the book. I started reading it before bed sometime last week, but luckily, was very tired all last week, so I'd put the thing down after 10 or so pages and didn't get too into it. This weekend, because I was so good about getting actual honest-to-goodness work done, I rewarded myself with a couple of hours of Widow. And now my entire day is all about me getting everything done just so I can go back home and read more of the thing. John Irving books are like crack: just a taste of them, and I'm hooked. I can't even say what I find so appealing in them. I just love his characters, I guess. Most of them are kind of gross and/or unappealing, but I don't think any of them are beyond redemption, so I can't help but root for them.
I'm also reading Erica Jong's Fear of Flying because I heard the term "revolutionary" or something like that thrown around in the same sentence as that novel so that when I saw it in the bookstore, I picked it up. I really, really, really don't like this book. I'm not so put off that I'll stop reading it, but I just want everyone in the story to shut the fuck up. Seriously, every one of the characters in the story needs to shut their yappers and go volunteer in a homeless shelter or something. I actually had the thought, "Dr. Phil could straighten every one of these people out." *shudder* Now any book that has me thinking that, even for the briefest of moments, should be treated as hazardous. I kind of like the writing, it's the story that's annoying.
Oh well, it's not like I write original fiction any better. In fact, this is probably why I use characters that I already know and like and just make new stories from there.
I'm also reading Erica Jong's Fear of Flying because I heard the term "revolutionary" or something like that thrown around in the same sentence as that novel so that when I saw it in the bookstore, I picked it up. I really, really, really don't like this book. I'm not so put off that I'll stop reading it, but I just want everyone in the story to shut the fuck up. Seriously, every one of the characters in the story needs to shut their yappers and go volunteer in a homeless shelter or something. I actually had the thought, "Dr. Phil could straighten every one of these people out." *shudder* Now any book that has me thinking that, even for the briefest of moments, should be treated as hazardous. I kind of like the writing, it's the story that's annoying.
Oh well, it's not like I write original fiction any better. In fact, this is probably why I use characters that I already know and like and just make new stories from there.
