neda's blog

Second Week, Second Book

Last week, I read and mostly listened to "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". It reminded me of my childhood when I used to watch its cartoon with my sisters. No need to say it is a very well-written book, plus you can finish it maybe in one day if you have enough time. Thanks to Librivox for having its audio book, I could have knitted the shawl I am making for F while I was listening to the audios. 

For the third week, I chose to listen to "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and because I am not sure if I can count listening to the books as reading them, I am also reading "Await Your Reply" by Dan Chaon. 

First Book, A Visit from the Goon Squad

I just finished my first book, A Visit from the Goon Squad. I did enjoy reading it however, having so many stories and characters in different times was kind of confusing. Today after I finished reading the book, I searched a little bit  and read some critics. It wasn't just me, many people in GoodReads wrote how hard was for them to keep track of everyone so they would jump back and forth in order to remember everyone. I didn't do like them. When I was reading the book I knew I should do the same but at the same time I was feeling I should remember! I need to remember! Most of the times I would recall the characters after a while. Somehow with me being confuse I was a little slower than usual. Luckily the book wasn't long (less than 350 pages). 

The novel has won so many prizes including Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Another interesting thing about the book is the author used PowerPoint for writing one of the chapter. 

The unusual format of the novel, taking place across multiple platforms, has led some critics to label the novel "post-post modern". Many critics were impressed by some of Egan's experiments with structure, such as a section formatted like a PowerPoint printout.

 

summer project

I was reading Paula by Isabel Allende. I finished it last week while I was staying at my friend's place. Allende is one of my favorite author, every time I pick up one of her works I would get stunned and can't stop reading it. It took me two weeks to finish the book, because I can't read all days long. I wish I was a teenager once again and could read as much as I want everyday without being responsible or worried for anything. However, anytime I was free and could concentrate, I read Paula. It was one of the best book I have ever read. It also made me motivated to write my own memoir more precisely. 

After I finished reading Paula, I chose "So Many Books, So Little Time". And because of all the things I have heard about it, I thought it should be a great book. But as soon as I started reading it, I got disappointed. As much as I wanted to read, I couldn't get the whole story. I love the idea of reading a book in a week and writing about it. But I didn't like how the author wrote about her chosen books. Her way of writing about the books didn't make me interested in reading the books. Sometimes it was not even clear if she really enjoyed doing the project.  Maybe I was not in a right mood! However, reading 90 pages of the book made me to decide to do the same, to read a book in a week and write about it. This week is the 1st week and I am reading  "A Visit from the Goon Sqaud". I am happy about my choice.  I want to finish it until Friday so I could write about it on Saturday.

books

I always wanted to be a writer, or maybe a storyteller. So far my dream hasn't been come true. As much as I am a lazy person who most of the time  procrastinate, I never forget to remind myslef about that dream. When I am reading a book and it is not as much enjoyable as I want, I remind myself not give up on that, read and read and read, you may find a path to become a writer. These days I am getting a closure that reading like that won't help me, I need to be more focused, reading the books which worth the time. And because my skills in writing is really low, surely I need to read some good text about writing. Anyhow, today I am searching for some books to read in the summer. Hope I can find enough good and inspiring ones. 

I just finished reading Paula by Isabel Allende. I don't know what to say or write about it to show how much I really enjoyed and loved that book. It was one of the best book I have ever read, in some part of the book I thought it is so similar to my life, sometimes I felt I am the grandmom, in some part I felt I am Allende's daughter,  and most of the times I felt it is my life and I am the mom, Isabel Allende. I have borrowed it from the library however after reading it  I decided I really want to have a hard copy of it for my library. So I am gonna buy it for sure.