Lately I've been reading Tai-Pan, by James Clavell. This is probably the best book ever, at least in the Top Five, which would also have to include Atlas Shrugged and Stranger in a Strange Land. Each of these I consider to be my favorite book ever while I'm reading it (third time for Tai-Pan). I'd also like some Salinger and Hemingway in the Top Five, but their short stories are better than their novels, in my humble experiance.
Anyway, I pretty much skipped my weekend in favor of reading. Friday night I didn't go out. Saturday night I did, but went home so early to read that the coat girl, after I made small talk while putting my sweater on, asked me why I was leaving so early, and I went on to tell her about this great book I'm reading. She asked me questions, so it wasn't like I was just raving by myself, but I still think it was a little much.
I read Tai-Pan instead of The Onion for breakfast, instead of New Sherlock Holmes Stories for dinner, and instead of Capitalism and Freedom, which I'm reading for my Leadership Theories class.
I read like 400 pages this weekend, which is alot for me.
Also this weekend I bought a new boom box, which I was avoiding, cause I'm saving for a lap top. I couldn't live with just my clock radio anymore, though, so insead of killing myself I finally caved in. I bought a German one, Grundig I think it's called, CD (including mp3s) and digital radio. It's awesome! It was so relaxing to finally have music again that I ironed all my shirts. I asked my students if they noticed and they said "Oh yeah, but we didn't want to say anything..."
And I made banana bread, but I accidentally dumped in a ginormous amount of cinnamon...the result was that it was perfectly delicious, but it certainly wouldn't win any beauty pagents. I mean, bake offs.
This is my counter:
10 comments:
i enjoy clicking on your links. of your creative suicide methods, my favorite is the death by sausage grinder. oh so disgusting for everyone.
i tried reading Clavelle's Noble House once, remembering your rave reviews of said author. But I didn't get anywhere because I kept dying of boredom and having to be recussitated. And I tried Atlas Shrugged, but it was too close on the heels of Fountainhead that I couldn't enjoy it.
What about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?
dude, you can't read noble house yet! i can't even read it yet. that's like trying to learn calculus before arithmatic. i would kow-tow 1,000 times to anybody who actually read noble house before tai-pan.
i ought to read zen again. as i recall it was held the nature of reality to be a little more subjective than i prefer to think of it as these days.
you must bring me tai pan as soon as you finish it! now i'm reading monster dogs or something like that.
surely you're reading the lives of the monster dogs, you goofball, which is the book mama and i were both saying wasn't very good on the way back from antakalnio kapines just ten days ago.
yeah i'll bring tai-pan, though i was thinking about offering to lend it to a student.
Have you read Gai-Jin or King Rat? Both of those preceed Noble House, which is, I confess, a hard book to get into, especially if you are unfamiliar with banking and investing. Still, anyone can read and understand Noble House without reading Tai-Pan, they'll just miss all the great inside jokes.
Don't forget to read Shogun also.
But for a really great yarn, you should try the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo, the greatest revenge story ever conceived. I'm listening to it on tape as I commute every day. I think it's about 1,500 pages, the tapes run for about 50 hours.
Of course I have. I don't remember Shotgun as clearly, but I'm sure I have, and I've probably read King Rat twice.
The Count of Monte Crisco is too long to begin. I pick it up every time I'm in Vilnius, but starting to actually read it is quite an obligation.
i have read no clavelle besides the beginning of noble house, which i had to abandon after about a month of immobility in the book.
count of monte cristo/crisco is an amazing story...at least in the movie it is. would love to read the book. books that are 1500 pages though...jeez...
i'm also a big fan of the movie. i watch it probably once a month when i'm super tired after a long night of merry making. jim gust always says to this that the book is even better.
UPDATE!
in tai-pan the big hero is the only guy willing to learn from the chinese and start bathing and brushing his teeth. he and everyone he forces to follow his lead therefore begin to finally notice that others actually stink. lately, for the first time in a long time, i've been noticing other people stinking.
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