Book Update.

Books to Read 2007, part I
[/] Stiff by Mary Roach
The Beautiful and Damned and
[/] This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
[/] The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Portable Door by Tom Holt
[/] Feed by M.T. Anderson
[X] Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
A Death in the Family by James Agee
The Bluest Eye and
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
[X] Pledged by Alexandra Robbins
[X] The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
[/] 1984 by George Orwell
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger


I liked Brave New World, but got lost at the end. There was a lot of God stuff that I skimmed over, then the "savage" was off by himself spouting Shakespeare. Definitely need to read the last 20 pages again.

I loved The History of Love. The primary narrators, a young girl and elderly man, had unique, interesting voices. Although everything tied together, nothing was trite or obvious.

I've already said that Pledged was interesting. I've never been interested in sorority life, but this book was the equivelent of a "chick flick." A chick flick documentary. Lots of opportunities to think, "Thank god I wasn't that irresponsible in college." (Although...how could I have been? I went to an elite all-women's school. My irresponsibility happened after college. I feel like I'm four years behind on that type of maturing process. Mainly because I was more worried about what my professors thought than about anything socially. Hence the draw of MHC. And the downfall, because it's also fun to have a social life. But I don't regret my decision, although I probably would have made a different one, knowing what I do now.)

I started 1984 tonight.

Big brother? Not as scary as my boss at the restaurant monitoring my computer use from his home and cyberally wrestling the mouse from me as I tried to put in an order. It's freaky seeing the arrow moving across the screen all by itself.

Ironic, no?