What's even sadder is that I know I really should pare it down even further. But I'll save that torturous task for another day. *sigh*
Okay, let me move on to happier subjects. As in new books! If it weren't for A.) the fact that many of these books are for school, and B.) the fact that many of them came from PaperbackSwap, I'd almost be embarrassed by the amount of new (well, new-to-me) books I brought into the house this past week. Oh, and I do have a couple of points to award as well.
Neuromancer by William Gibson. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Blindness by Jose Saramago. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Orlando by Virginia Woolf. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. All for a class I will probably be using for Annie's schooling next year. Hence, they don't count against me, right? We, however, does count against Carl. I've had it on my wish list ever since I read his review, and would have picked it up eventually anyway.
The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA by Mark Schultz. Another book for school.
Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. The Collected Stories by Amy Hempel. And here I guess I finally have to take some responsibility. I've picked up Fieldwork and carried it around at the bookstore at least half a dozen times, so it was inevitable that I was going to buy it one day. I still had a gift card from Christmas, so I put myself out of my misery and just bought it. And as for the Amy Hempel book...well, I'm passing on the blame to that little book seductress Eva because of this post.Can't wait to see what arrived in all your mailboxes!
16 comments:
Don't feel bad, Debi...it just has to be done from time to time.
Well, even if they are for school, those are some exciting new books! You'll love The Time Machine. And I hope you like The Left Hand of Darkness. It's weird, but the more time passes, the more fondly I think of that book. It was hard to get through, yes, but it made me think about all sorts of things I'd never considered before. I've never read any Gibson, but I'm curious about that book. Same with the Woolf book!
What's frustrating to me is that as soon as I get that Reader down to zero (usually making a number as read with just a quick skim and no comment), I'll get on the morning to see that everyone has posted again. I try to keep my reader trim in terms of subscriptions, but it seems that when I remove one blog I'll discover another I want to follow. So, I hear your blues--I have them too. What does help is keeping my "favorites" in a separate folder. I try to make those my priority, but even then I still get behind.
I look foward to hearing what you think of Neuromancer--I read it a few years ago and it was really different. I'd love to read it again someday to pick up some things I might have missed.
Indeed, you are right, there simply is not enough time in the day. I fear that my Google Reader is in need of a good weed, too, but when I weed, yet more excellent blogs just pop up in their place that I want to read instead leaving me no better off than before - in fact, perhaps worse because I accumulate a few more "definite keepers" every time I go through the cycle! Ugh. And hey, did you know that when your Google Reader arrives at more than 1000 posts it stops even telling you the number that should be read - it just says 1000+? Oh dear. Turns out my eyes are bigger than my timeframe in the books that I buy and intend to read as well as the blogs that I feed and intend to read! How is one supposed to maintain a work life, a reading life, a blog life, a...uh...life life, and still get to sleep on occasion? A few more hours in the day *definitely* couldn't hurt.
::wanders off to read something....anything!::
Wishing I had time to read or even blog these days! I'm jealous! Off now to get pills for the dog, a lens cap for one lens, some string to keep the lens caps from falling off, then home to figure out which bag to use for camera and computer equipment. A weekend trip to see my dad in Florida is passing as carryon practice for next month. Arg! Is it really just a month?!?!? Not enough time!!!!!
I need to do some weeding, too. I'm finding that every now and then I get so overwhelmed by the feeling that I'm not doing enough, not visiting enough people in return for their visits that I just want to throw in the towel on blogging completely. On those days, I tend to do mass deletes.
I enjoyed The Time Machine but haven't get made it through Neuromancer. It's a dark, dark world in that story.
Fun! Is this your first time reading The Time Machine? It's my favorite Wells book...amazing stuff. Blindness looks really good too..that one's been on my list for awhile. I heard an interview with the author of The Stuff of Life the other day on NPR and I really want to read it now! It sounds so cool. I wait for your thoughts on it before I go buy it though :p Looking forward to hearing about Fieldwork too...it looks cool but I don't even know what it's about :p
And don't feel bad at all about weeding out the Google Reader...I've done it before too :/ It can get too out of control at times.
What I do is, I try not to feel overwhelmed and go through everything little by little. So even it if says 200 to read i just read what I can a little every night, prioritizing my favourites.
I'm embarrassed to say I've never read Orlando, I'm curious to know what you think of it.
I am starting to think that I am going to have to cut down on the amount of blogs that I read too... I just never seem to have time to read them all!
I have a proposition for you, would you be interested in reading Left Hand of Darkness together? I have read it before, years ago, and I remember really liking it.. But, I can't remember why I liked it. Maybe we could review it together or something? And, of course, there is no rush! I don't think it is a very long book... Anyway, if you are interested let me know. I have just been seeing it around the blogsphere and I want to refresh my memory!
I know what you mean, Debi. It's so hard to remove some of the blogs which we liked... I'm like Valentina, I go through them little by little and prioritizing them according to my favourites. Still, it's so hard doing so because there're so many great blogs out there!
I have weeded down my list too and I still can't read them every day. :(
I have Orlando on my to-be-read shelf. I LOVE Woolf. One of my favorite authors of all time!
We is awesome!! And now I really want to rename my blog 'that little book seductress.' :D And I'm totally jealous you have The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel!
(as far as the reader goes, when I started grad school, I had to make a new folder called 'fave book blogs,' which made me feel bad. And sometimes I have to move blogs from fave over to the normal folder. so I guess we all have to do it!)
ah! i love neuromancer! i read it in my honours year and it truly blew my mind.
many people don't like it, however, so i'd be interested to see what you think. also, to see if it still resonates as its very of its time. i hope it does!
i'm busy reading "the left hand of darkness" right now. its pretty tough going really. i'd be interested to see how you experience it.
I don't always have the time I want to visit all of my blogging friends and I really feel badly about it. It is hard to pick and choose. It's like picking your favorite child!!!! Too hard!!!!!!
I know just how you feel.
take care,
Dawn
Cool mailbox haul! So glad you got We. I'll be interested in your thoughts after you read it.
Neuromancer is a book that I am definitely wanting to read. I have always been curious about that book.
I just did some cleaning out of my own Google Reader. Some blogs have gone idle. Others just don't hold an interest to me anymore. It was time to pare it down. I am sure it will grow again but the only way to make room for that is to weed out the ones that I don't truly enjoy--like anything else in life. =)
I know! I know! I am amazed at how many blogs and books and articles and short stories - and on and on - some people can read. I'm happy if I can get a good hour a day in. I signed up for Daily Lit and am trying to read Behind A Mask by Louisa May Alcott. It's already up to installment 28-29, and I've only read the first three. I'm printing them off and will read when I can. Love Gray's blog, by the way.
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