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Wynderlon.com is the personal website of Himani, an aspiring author. Here, she chronicles the daily struggles of trying to get a word count down on paper (or computer screen), the foibles and challenges of life, and the usual random insanity.
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Book List: June
Himani — July 1, 2008 at 10:27 am {}
Category: Books
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Wow, where did the month go? It seems like just yesterday I was tipping back coffees like tequila shots in order to keep awake for finals and now I’m really close to the half-mark of my summer break.  This month was actually really good for me, for a multitude of reasons, and I got a lot accomplished (more on that at another time). But, for the reading front, I didn’t get much done. A lot of the books I read this month were quick-and-easy ones that I read in a day. I blame the first book I tried to tackle, but more on that below the cut.
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I received this little gem from my father. He had found it in India and had sent it to me in a package, recommending that I read it. Now, V.S. Naipul is an excellent writer — dry at times, but I find that true of most non-fiction writers — and my favorite book of his, thus far, would have to be An Area of Darkness. If you want to know what a cynical Indian who wasn’t born in India sounds like, that’s the book to read. I sounded like that for a very long time. It definitely chronicles the first shocking feelings one has when they enter India. Anyway, this book was just…not up to par. It read like a book report because it was entirely dedicated to other writers he knew and admired. I think my Dad thought I’d like it because it has “writer” in the title.  It took me about half the month to finish because while his books about India have that feeling of “look at this! I experienced this! I feel this!”, A Writer’s People sounds more like something you’d turn into your college professor. Where’s the love? I ask. |
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Every few months I get a hankering to re-read Beauty, which I think is Robin McKinley’s finest book (it’s also her first). I’m a really big fan of the retold fairy tales and while this follows the original pretty closely, I love the heroine which is shown to be strong and self-sufficient. The annoying thing is that I couldn’t find my copy despite looking everywhere I could think of (including under the bed), so I finally went to the library and found a copy. Once again the world reminds me what I already know: I need to sort out my book collection. |
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Ohmigod this book is hilarious! This book was my and my best friend’s bible back in high school, we used to giggle over the chapters. Don’t be fooled by the title, it isn’t some “women rule, men suck” kind of book or a self-help book. It’s just…damn funny. It’s the musings of the author and she points out some pretty good hypocrisies in today’s society while making you laugh out loud. She tackles things like body image, the lack of euphemisms for a woman masturbating versus a man masturbating (and the ones she comes up with!  ), stalkers, orgasms, etc. Take this snippet I flipped to randomly:
[...] What is it with sex in the movies? First, there’s not nearly enough of it. Second, how is it that screenwriters can master the intricacies of computer hacking or thermonuclear warfare, yet have no clue about foreplay? I can’t tell you how many scenes I’ve watched in which a guy [...] hikes up a woman’s skirt and brings her to orgasm in the same amount of time it takes to thaw an Eggo waffle in the microwave. Or in which a woman comes gasping demurely instead of clawing her lover’s back and screaming like an auctioneer.
Can you tell I still love this book, even though when I found it at Bookman’s I hadn’t read it since 2004, when my copy was borrowed and never returned? This book can still make me smile even after I’ve had a crap-tacular day.  |
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Ah, Stephen King. Although I couldn’t get past the mid-area of his Dark Tower series (I’m still working on that), I still find his earlier stuff entertaining. Carrie is not scary at all, but it sure as hell made me cringe. The way they treat poor Carrie makes you want to jump into that world and do some serious ass-kicking and then befriend Carrie and — I don’t know — take her out for ice cream or something. The book is liberally sprinkled with “reports” and excerpts from “books” that talk about Carrie and her unique power, which give you a look into what happened after the events in the book (and also kind of give away the ending). Ironically its these reports and excerpts that I liked the most because, well, it’s different than the usual linear way of telling a story. I think next on my King list is Bag of Bones or maybe The Stand. |
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