Really did not get much reading done this month. We had a birthday party for our kid towards the end of the month, so preparing for that kind of ate up much of the mental energy I may have otherwise spent on reading. Interestingly, party preparations didn’t necessarily take a ton of extra time, just, you know, the thinking. I’m continually “making a conscious effort to stay off my phone” but some days that effort has better success than others.
Anyways, I’m still working through From Third World to First by Lee Kuan Yew. The author’s tone thus far has been very matter of fact and he makes founding a country sound like a pretty straightforward ordeal. I don’t know if this book would be considered post-colonial literature, after all, the book opens with discussions of British influence and air bases in Singapore, but if it is, it should be studied. Much of the angst present in other post-colonial literature that I’ve read is absent, but, then again, this isn’t a novel so the purpose of the book is different.
I’m supposed to be reading Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang for a book club. I’m actually supposed to have it done by Monday, but I’m only about 30 pages in. It isn’t a difficult read but I don’t know that it is what we all expected. Lots of sexual imagery, people descending into wet holes, slushy sounds, oral..references etc. In a way, I suppose that is a welcome change from the violent phallic imagery that seems to permeate late 20th century literature. Perhaps it could be juxtaposed to Gravity’s Rainbow, creation vs destruction, male vs female, etc. I guess finishing this will be my weekend project.
On Kindle I revisited Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. It was as good as I’d remembered, although, it lost some of the magic the second time around since Annabel’s world no longer felt as “new” to me. Now I’ve studied some ham radio myself, someone being a model is less interesting to me, and the whole ED and SA discussions are much more common and out in the open than they were several years ago. All of that is fine, and I guess it just goes to show that 1) yes Sarah Dessen writes good books and 2) I grew up, just like everyone does.
Started Rick Steve’s hippie trail memoir on Kindle for July and will keep cranking away on the above. Not super exciting, but that is life, working through the stories.
Reading with Ally 