Tag: I read

I am about five or six chapters into Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruki Murakami, and thus far, I’m intrigued and excited for the rest of the book.

As far as I’ve read, I’ve learned that the main character, presently 36, suffered a rejection from his four very best friends years before. They didn’t die; they simply said they no longer wanted to see or speak to him. They gave no explanation. I wonder how it’ll go…

The podcast I’m featuring this week is Song Exploder. I’m a musician and feel professionally obligated to care about music. This podcast helps me to enjoy it. The interviewed artist breaks down a song and how he or she wrote it and created it. I think it’s fascinating.

Look out for a spoiler-review of Sweetbitter.

I’ll find you later.

Do you use Goodreads? I use it like Facebook for readers: A place where I loiter about, looking into other people’s windows and judging their choices while not inviting anybody into my house. (I never write reviews. I wish I did. I should. But I won’t for now.) Some people would simply make a list of the titles they want to read, but there is something so much more satisfying in clicking the “read” button and seeing the number in my “currently-reading” shelf fall than scratching out a few words on a piece of paper. But, I got a little obsessive a few years ago and decided to list any and all books I want to read or re-read on my “to-read” shelf. Right now, there are 498 titles there. I wonder if I’ll live to read them all. That’s kind of a crazy thought.

I’m in two live-and-in-person book clubs, and one of the clubs chose a book a couple years ago that I have yet to finish. I have re-started it several times, but it remains on my “currently-reading” shelf, and damn it if I don’t finish something I start. I’m re-committing to it. I will finish it. One day.

I am still reading Sweetbitter, by Stephanie Danler, and am getting close to the end. I have to be about 70% done with the book, and I’m still waiting to know what the damn conflict is, or why I should care about any of the characters. I hope that, in the end, the main character completely writes off the two other important characters and decides she hates the restaurant and the city and goes back to “the Midwest.” I doubt that will happen. If it does, I’ll give it something better than the C I’m grading it right now.

The podcast I’m featuring this week is Grammar Girl.

Though my writing here may not show it, I’ve always been fascinated by the rules of language. I wanted to study linguistics for a little bit in college. I did, for one whole semester. This is a great podcast for word nerds and writers. The episodes tend to be 15 minutes or shorter.

That’s it for today.

Hello again.
I read a lot. I read a lot and I drive a lot. How does that connect? Well, I consider listening to audiobooks to be reading. I also consume a lot of my news and information through podcasts. I can do all things audio while I’m driving to and from clients (and while my kids are not in the car with me).
One of my book clubs is reading Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler.

Do I like it? It’s earning a C- from me at the moment. It’s reading like Coyote Ugly with more drugs. I’m really put off by the opening: A young woman with no experience serving gets a job doing just that at a supposedly fancy restaurant in New York City. Why does it always have to be New York City? And how would she get the job, with no experience? I think the restaurant was called “the best restaurant” at one point. Details like that make me mad and put me at odds with whatever follows, even if it is written well. Also, I really could care less about food, so a book about the work in a restaurant isn’t going to find an easy audience in me.
The other book club just finished A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

This, I read on my Kindle (and phone) while rocking my daughter to sleep at night. Well! If you ever want to come home from your day and think, “What other horrors can befall a person, and how can I be so excited to find out?” pick it up. I loved it while hating that I didn’t detect a message. Life sucks for most, but most for this guy? A B+ from me.

Podcasts count for reading, too, and this week the podcast I’m featuring is Stop Podcasting Yourself.

So damn funny. Two Canadian comedians who seem to have been friends for years get together and talk about whatever is on their minds while including a sometimes-funny (usually comedian) guest. The episodes are always long — usually over an hour — but I always laugh out loud at least once. That’s saying something.