An update on what I"m currently reading. I fully intended to read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. It's supposed to be quite amusing. I certainly enjoyed Eggers' Pirate Store in San Francisco. Well, I haven't gone yet, but I enjoyed the website. At any rate, I attempted to get the book from the library, but failed to put it on hold, so someone checked it out before I did.
Instead, I'm now reading Lord of the Rings, which Greta got at a very good price from Overstock.com. The first time I read it, I was 15 or so, and thought it was horribly boring, and had way too much singing. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with the singing. Was I supposed to imagine how it was sung? Or just read it like a poem? At any rate, I read the trilogy again before the movies came out. Greta was a big fan, and convinced me to give it another try. This time, I liked it a lot. It seemed very exciting, I could hardly put it down. I still disliked the singing, though. Now I'm reading it yet again, this time with a more careful eye. I plan on enjoying the songs, but I'm not sure how.
Also, I'm reading Stanislaw Lem's Memoirs of a Space Traveler. The first time I read this, I couldn't stop laughing. I recently learned that one of the stories was the inspiration for the episode of Futurama where they go to the planet of the robots (the writer on the first season's DVD commentary said so). I'm appreciating the satire more this time around. Some of the stories are quite easy to interpret as a critique of the kind of thinking that produces communism.
Posted by ahyatt at September 25, 2003 05:30 PMIf you like the singing, re-read the hobbit. They sing on every other page.
Posted by: greg on October 8, 2003 08:40 PM