Contender Number Seven

Order This For The Book Lover In Your Life!

2010-12-11T13:50:00.002-05:00

The greatest novel ever written:

Save on In Search Of Lost Time at Booksamillion.com.

Good and Evil

2008-02-09T19:29:00.003-05:00

I just finished The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I loved it! It started out a little frustrating with Utterson's role, then got a little better with Lanyon's narrative, and ended superbly with Jekyll's statement of his case.

... all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.

I will be looking forward to reading more stories by Stevenson.

Bad Me

2008-02-09T09:31:00.000-05:00

I haven't updated this blog since way back in July 2007! Wow.

My last post stated that I was about to start Book 3 in the Wheel Of Time series, and I did that, and went on to read Book 4 and half of Book 5. Then football season started. I know, I know.

At the end of December 2007 I read The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. I liked it. I was cleverly written and a nice story that I was actually able to identify with, considering that my father not only served in WWII, but also was once a Carnie. (I even met a couple that had a knife throwing show at the carnival. That was exciting, for a little kid.) But, as nice as the book was, I wasn't motivated to run out and get more books by Albom.

Last week I read Your Broke Because You Want To Be by Larry Winget, who is a master at restating everything we already know when it comes to being responsible with our money. But, he does it in a no-punches-held-back style. Overall, I liked the book, but once again, I won't be running out to buy anything else he's written.

Right now I'm reading The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R. L. Stevenson. I love the way Stevenson writes, and especially liked Treasure Island. I should have finished this book last night considering it's length - 84 pages - but, I found something else to distract me. I'll be done with it today, I'm sure.

I have a serious amount of books waiting to be read, not to mention the rest of the Wheel Of Time series, but I'm always motivated by what Nessie is reading, so we'll see what I read next.

The Great Hunt

2007-07-13T18:09:00.001-05:00

Book number two in the Wheel Of Time series .... done, just now. This was awesome! Now I'm really hooked on the series. I'll be starting Book number three on Sunday.

Eye Of The World

2007-07-05T18:51:00.000-05:00

Ahhhh, crazy, you say? Yep.

Nessie, sweet Nessie, gave me a new challenge ... read all 11 books in the Wheel Of Time series by Robert Jordan. Was there a time limit, Nessie?

I just finished book one, The Eye Of The World, and loved it. I'll be starting book two tomorrow. Wish me luck.

In Search Of Lost Time

2007-06-24T16:34:00.000-05:00

Challenge completed. All 1,250,000 words crammed into 4,344 pages. This was an amazing adventure ... thank you Nessie!

Swann’s Way, May 2 - May 9
Within A Budding Grove, May 9 - May 20
The Guermantes Way, May 21 - May 28
Sodom & Gomorrah, May 29 - June 8
The Captive, June 9 - June 16
The Fugitive, June 17 - June 20
Time Regained, June 21 - June 24

What's next?

Volupük

2007-06-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

I found the following on Encycopedia Brittannica dot com:

Volapük: an artificial language constructed in 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a German cleric, and intended for use as an international second language. Although its vocabulary is based on English and the Romance languages, the word roots in Volapük have been modified to such a degree that they are virtually unrecognizable; for example, lol from English “rose,” nim from “animal,” and… (you need the trial Encyclopedia Britannica to finish this off, lol).

And I thought lol meant laugh out loud! Who knew that in Volapük it meant rose?

The Fugitive

2007-06-20T19:19:00.000-05:00

Finished, just now. The shortest of the seven volumes, but one of the most interesting. I'll be starting Time Regained tomorrow.

The Captive

2007-06-16T16:14:00.000-05:00

The Captive ... finished, just now: 5pm on the 16th of June, in the Year Of Our Lord 2007. I'll be starting The Fugitive tomorrow. Of course, I don't have to tell you, this is a most amazing literary journey. Thank you, Nessie, for coming up with this challenge. I'll be forever indebted to you.

Sodom and Gomorrah

2007-06-08T08:27:00.000-05:00

Finished, fini, rifinito, beendet, geëindigd. I loved it (still thinking The Guermante's Way the best, so far). The end surprised me. I'll be starting The Captive tomorrow, unless I can't stand the wait and start later today.

Etymology

2007-06-08T06:16:00.000-05:00

Said Brichot, " ... for Doncieres is precisely the same as Saint-Cyr, Dominus Cyriacus. There are plenty of names of towns in which Sanctus and Sancta are replaced by Dominus and Domina. Besides, this peaceful military town sometimes has a spurious look of Saint-Cyr, of Versailles, and even of Fontainebleau."

The Guermantes Way

2007-05-28T13:01:00.000-05:00

Finis! All 819 pages of it ... just now. Definitely funnier than the first two volumes. And educational too. It helps to have read the Bible, have studied Latin, and have a keen knowledge of Art, Opera and Literature while reading Proust. It also helps to be sitting in front of your computer with access to Yahoo search, Latin translations, and an online dictionary. I'll be starting Sodom and Gomorrah tomorrow.

Scarified!

2007-05-26T19:02:00.001-05:00

"When, a few hours later, I went into my grandmother's room, fastened to her neck, her temples, her ears, the tiny black reptiles were writhing among her bloodstained locks, as on the head of Medusa."

Figuig

2007-05-21T18:33:00.000-05:00

" ... was as impossible as to take a siesta in the oasis of Figuig without thereby being necessarily in Africa?"

In Search Of Lost Time, Volume II

2007-05-20T16:39:00.000-05:00

Within A Budding Grove ... finished! Just now.

This was amazing, just like Volume I, and I'll be starting The Guermantes Way tomorrow.

I need a break.

Stereoscope

2007-05-18T18:23:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure if this is the stereoscope (there are so many varieties) Proust was referring to, but the photos inside the machine are probably "right up his alley" ...

""Indeed! If they had the stereoscope I'm sorry I wasn't there; they say Solomon is quite amazing when he works it.""

Insolent Scrutiny

2007-05-16T18:59:00.001-05:00

"Whenever the wives of the notary and the judge saw her (wealthy old lady of title) in the dining-room, they put up their lorgnettes and gave her an insolent scrutiny, as meticulous and distrustful as if she had been some dish with a pretentious name but a suspicious appearance which, after the adverse result of a systematic study, is sent away with a lofty wave of the hand and a grimace of disgust."

Proust's Milk Girl?

2007-05-16T06:39:00.000-05:00

"Life would have seemed an exquisite thing to me if only I had been free to spend it, hour after hour, with her (the milk-girl), to go with her to the stream, to the cow, to the train, to be always at her side, to feel that I was known to her, had my place in her thoughts. She would have initiated me into the delights of country life and of early hours of the day."

Within A Budding Grove

2007-05-13T17:34:00.000-05:00

Bartolomeo "Portrait of Savonarola" Museum San Marco, Florence

"'A frightful woman! The one thing to be said for her [Mme Blatin] is that she's exactly like Savonarola. She's the very image of that portrait of Savonarola by Fra Bartolommeo'."

— Within a Budding Grove

Proust Challenge

2007-05-09T15:19:00.000-05:00

Now I know why it's called a challenge! I finished Swann's Way early this morning, after having started reading on May 2nd. I read a little everyday, and the better part Saturday and Sunday. I'm starting Volume II, Within A Budding Grove, as soon as I finish this post.

All I know at this point is: someone said 'your life will be changed by the time you finish reading the entire series' .... I believe it!

Illiers-Combray

2007-05-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

Scroll Down

2007-03-21T19:17:00.000-05:00

Yeah, scroll down ... go to the post below this one.

Every time I tried to add something to that post, in the way of explanation of course, Blogger wiped it out!

Anyway, I've signed up for the Summer Challenge at Nessie's ... I'll be reading Proust between May 1st and September 1st.

Wish me luck!

To find out what it's all about click on Nessie on the sidebar ... Blogger won't let me add links to my posts either (wtf??).

Out Of My Mind

2007-03-21T18:48:00.000-05:00