I’ve been reading and watching a lot of total crap lately. The books I have been looking forward to reading have let me down tremendously and shows and movies are just rolling in and out like spinning toilet water (I know, that doesn’t make sense, but I’m burnt out from a long day of teaching… so I don’t care).
The Unbearable Lightness of Being was torture to get through, Please Don’t Call Me Human had real potential, then just fell apart like the author decided three quarters of the way through the novel to start doing recreational drugs to enhance his storytelling abilities. Even one of my favorites Chuck Pahliniuk has gone over the edge with Rant. I’m now reading Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie which is good so far, but with my track record lately, it’s going to fall apart as well. The only novel I really enjoyed over the last few months was James and the Giant Peach, which I had never read before. But even with that, I was expecting a little more.
As for TV shows, maybe after finishing The Wire, nothing compares. Rome is boring the Hades out of me, Prison Break and Heroes have fallen into some strange oblivion, Desperate Housewives killed Edie and is going to get rid of Kyle MacLachlan, and they cancelled Pushing Daisies and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I even did a Survivor marathon of four seasons in two weeks (I was sick on the couch and watch the entire China season) and am trash TV’d out (but I do have a lot to say about Survivor China… which I will save for another rant). Even the WWE and UFC are getting boring.
So, last night I went for something I don’t usually go for… Sci Fi. I had a copy of Paycheck sitting here for almost a year that I never watched, so I threw it in and I have to say… way cool! I know it was panned, but over the last few years I have become a fan of Philip K. Dyck (middle name is Kindred… again… way cool). I have always hated Blade Runner, but I loved the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Total Recall has always been a cheesy favorite of mine, and I actually realy liked Minority Report (even with the Cruiseologist in it). After watching Paycheck I want to go to the store near here and get Recall and Minorty just to watch them all together. I’m tempted to see the final Director’s Cut of Blade Runner (I think it’s like the fifth version they have made), but unless it has all the stuff left out from the book that were so key to the plot (like the actual Electric Sheep) then I may still want to stick with the book.
I know the bookstore here has a huge section of Dyck books, but they are a little expensive. I may have to contact the used book guy here and see if he has any in stock and pick some up. I still can’t get into most Sci Fi books, but Bradbury and Dyck seem to do it a little different and I like it. I’ve tried Orson Scott Card a few times and can’t get into it, and I did try Dune, but it just wasn’t working for me (although I would like to maybe give it a second try). I don’t know, I guess something way out of this world is fun to read sometimes. I think I’ve been reading and watching too many serious stories that I need some brain candy for a while. Maybe that explains my recent addiciton to Two and a Half Men and How I Met your Mother, and my constant fallback to Elmore Leonard novels.
Of course I have to really start into the Lonely Planet travel guides for India and Nepal soon, but maybe this summer I’ll change up the reading list a little and pour a little sugar in the tank instead of reading the stuff on everyone’s Top 50 Novels You Must Read lists. Hell, I should make a list like that and make it a real list, not one of those ‘Look How Well Read I Am’ lists. I love looking at the list of books I have read since I got to Taiwan (I keep track on my Faceblah page) and the contrast in books is hilarious! Actually, I’m going to look at it now and pick five you shoudl read from the list…
Five Novels of the Fifty-Seven I Have Read in Taiwan That Make a Cool Read…
Post Office – Charles Buckowski
Galapagos – Kurt Vonnegut
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ring, Spiral and Loop – Koji Suzuki
In the Miso Soup – Ryu Mirakami
Damn, that was harder that I thought it would be, plus I was worried all the books I really enjoyed are usually on people Must Read lists. It think this list is a good mix of five (okay, seven… but you have to read all three Suzuki novels to really get the full effect of the Ring) that really opened my eyes and grabbed me. If I had to narrow it down to just two, it would be Buckowski and Vonnegut. If I had to go down to one… I’d just flip a coin.
Okay… i’m off to the gym with my Little Chinese Seamstress book to kill time during cardio. I hope it stays on track…
Comments (5)
i haven’t read the little chinese seamstress but i loved the movie. it’s one of those movies that you think about for a long time afterwards and that gets better if you watch it more than once. it’s been out forever and i forget who’s in it- it doesn’t really matter tho- bc this is a movie that is about the story!
oh… and it made me want to read balzac again for the first time since i was in 7th grade!
@jerjonji -
Wow… I feel out of the loop. I never knew there was a movie of this book. I just liked the title and traded another foreigner for it. And Balzac… nope. Never read that either.
You’d almost not believe I have an English Literature and Film Degree!!!
@BrysonMC - chinese movie- mainland i think! and balzac? never??? you weren’t a quiet, sheltered girl who heard that he taught you everything you needed to know about sex and was quite disappointed when he didn’t then~!
i’ll look for a used copy of some of his at the thrift stores this next week for you. don’t pay full price!
How i met your mother is so random and fun. another show i have gotten addicted to is US of Tara. It’s new on showtime and just ended it’s first season. don’t know if you can get your hands on it but it was awesome! little chinese seasmstress sounds good. thanks for recommending your good reads. I did just read the Thirteenth tale which was pretty good. kinda creepy and twisty and slow at the start but was worth a read.