George Orwell's 1984.

I just read Buried Child by Sam Shepard. Weird shit. I liked it, but felt really uneasy afterwards. Claustrophobic, even. Not a comfortable ending. I think I need to see it to get the full effect, though.

Re-reading Catcher in the Rye and Final Crisis #2 (Grant Morrison can be so obtuse).

I just started The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds. This novel is set in the Revelation Space universe, but before the melding plague has taken out the glitter belt. A prefect is a sort of local space cop, and this is apparently a rather space cop sort of book. It feels great to be back in this universe, which is interesting given all the rough things that happen to the people who actually live in it!

skinny legs and all - tom robbins

Froth On The Daydream by Boris Vian.

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is surprisingly amazing. I've avoided it for absolutely aeons. I'd be surprised if I hadn't finished all of the 'utter prick staple books' litany by the time I'm 30. Happy times.

I had to read The Parson's Tale for 'O' level Eng Lit. It's still, to this day, the only thing I can quote to any great degree.

I just bought Defoe's Robinson Crusoe today. I'll think highly of myself once I've finished it.

O-level? Surely you must mean A-level? There's no such qualification as O.

O for Old

Ah, standard grades you mean?

just finished Perec's - W or the memory of childhood,in the next week - Raymond Queneau's - The Bark Tree.

I'm reading the fourth book in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy, So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish.

Isaac Bashevis Singer - In My Father's Court

These are on my nightstand right now, even though I'm not reading them yet. They're re-reads anyway.

92 in the Shade by Thomas McGuane (one of my favorite novels ever)
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The White Album by Joan Didion

Starting back Ulysses tomorrow night, hoping to finish it by the weeks end.

There was in those days.

Oof. I can't get back into it. I've read 2 pages in the last week. I might have to read another book so I can get sick of that and then start back on Ulysses...

I've read 10 pages in the last 2+ months, but I only have 90 pages or so to go and I want to see how it ends.

I have 368 to go. It's so hard to get motivated when there's no end in sight.

During finals week (probably bad timing) I pulled 75+ pages 4 days in a row and managed 100+ one of those days, but that was reading from like 4-8 in the afternoon and then 11-1 at night.

Believe it or not, the Cliff Notes on ULYSSES are very helpful. It's also about 100 pages long, but it helps one find interesting bits in seemingly dull sections. It might be available on-line. Of course, there are 10,000 different resources for ULYSSES, but the Cliff Notes are nice and compact and well-written.

I just read The Stranger. One of my friends said she didn't like it (and provided no reasoning, she never does, it's annoying) and another said she didn't like it because it was anti-religious or some thing. She said existentialism was stupid if you don't believe in God. I'm not sure how I feel about what she said.

At any rate, I enjoyed it. It was particularly enthralling, but I liked it.

"existentialism was stupid if you don't believe in God."

Boy is that a confusing statement

you just dont wanna admit your friend said some stupid shit. you're a good friend. i'm usually the opposite.

Hahaha, I told her she was full of shit when she said she saw someones hand grow back in 5 minutes. God's work, naturally.

ha ha-- naturally!

Upon first reading "The Myth of Sisyphus" in my late teens I immediately set to work on and wrote a Kierkegaard-infused essay that made Camus look rather foolish and embittered.

Your female friend knows more than you do at the present time. Deal with it.

naked lunch.

How? What? The notion of not believing in God is predicated on the idea of a God that [may] exist. Simple, surely? How can you dis-believe something if the something isn't a concept you're familiar with?

Re-reading some Lester Bangs collections again. His "eulogy" to Sid Vicious is both sadly moving and scathingly angry.

I'm with Rob. First off, the mixed tenses--was and don't. Huh? When are you talking about. Second, stupid is awfully vague. Finally, why is/was it stupid if you don't believe in God? It seems to make more sense if you don't believe in God.

What are you on, boy?

existentialism posts that individuals create and assign any and all meaning to their lives and the world around them, instead of a deity or a religious belief system doing it.

that makes mad sense whether or not you believe in any gods.

the line I quoted above, besides being horrendous grammar, is stupid and nonsensical.

existentialism IS stupid if you do believe in a god/gods, It makes perfect sense if you do NOT.

exactly.

Man, Glice, you can come up with some head scratchers.

Books i will be reading/re-reading this summer

Miss Wyoming
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Middlesex
Less Than Zero
Life After God
Hotel California

ooo, I hate Less than Zero.

I never got around to Bury My Heart.

I don't know the rest.

I am currently reading

THE MIND IN THE CAVE: Consciousness and the Origins of Art



and

CHAUVET CAVE: The Art Of Earliest Times



I have been reading a lot lately about cave paintings and the cave systems that they are found in. I would love to see some of these in person.

what i think the child meant (if i read that sentence correctly) is that

1. if you do not believe in the existence of gods, you have multiple options
and
1a. some of those options are stupid, some are non-stupid

additionally:

2. existentialism is one of those options,
and
2a. existentialism belongs to the stupid category.

this seems nonsensical to most us mortals, who think some of these existentialist bitches were pretty clever. but maybe alex's friend is the cleverest of them all.

now alex-- to probe whether your friend is idiot or savant, ask her to name and describe non-stupid options for unbelievers ("convert to jesus" doesn't count).