What are you currently reading?
Selected Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Divergent by Veronica Roth
What did you just finish reading?
The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Dubliners & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
What do you think you’ll read next?
Cecilia by Fanny Burney
Cress by Marissa Meyer
At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen
Well, I’ve finally done it. I can finally FINALLY say I have read James Joyce.
Or…at least skimmed James Joyce.
Good God Almighty how I HATE James Joyce.
I know, I KNOW. That’s somewhat of an unpopular opinion in the literary field, but I just really really hate James Joyce. I’ve had this book forever. And I’ve tried to read it at least half a dozen times. This is the first time I’ve gotten through the whole thing to completion. And it’ll probably be the last. I might burn it. Honestly.
It was that bad. (No…I’m not REALLY going to burn it. Put down your axes.)
First–Dubliners. I don’t have much to say about this section of Joyce’s work. A bunch of short stories where nothing ever happens in any of them. Meh. Some people like that sort of thing. I don’t. It’s why I find short stories to be dull most of the time. Every once in awhile I’ll find a really brilliant one, but they just aren’t for me usually. *shrug*
The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a whole other ball game of loathing. As I swore to myself I would–I read a chapter a day once I got to this section. Every day I fought against the urge to give up.
There are two major notations I had while reading this, make of them what you will. I couldn’t make heads nor tales of the actual story. I know it’s about an Irish coming of age story in a boarding school. That’s about all I’ve got.
1. Joyce is an author trying to write YA fiction, but he doesn’t understand teenagers at all. The voice sounds more like a kindergartner than a middle or high schooler, so I can’t figure out how old the boy is, except for the title I would think he were a toddler. (This note was written in the earlier chapters, I did figure out later he was in his later teens based on some of the sexual references and his desire to become a priest. I still found Joyce’s writing method very patronizing.)
2. While I find Catholic history/lore intriguing, I do not so much love to read lectures–and maybe that’s why I find Joyce so utterly impossible read. His writing is just one long sermon. When I read a book I do not want to be preached at.
My last thought about Joyce before I stop my rant is how much I hated his formatting. I think that is the #1 thing that made this book so hard for me to read. My brain could absolutely not comprehend that I was reading dialogue, when all of his paragraphs were cut up into dashes at the beginning of his indentations. Nope nope nope. My brain reads those as bullet points and lists, not speech, and what do I do with lists? I scan!
Ok, I’m done here. Moving on!
Fulfills Boxall #76
Fulfills PopSugar #20: A book at the bottom of your to-read list
Trying to get back in the swing of things–read Rothfuss’s two mega novels to kind of get over my vacation hangover and catch up on reviews, now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
What are you currently reading?
Dubliners & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran
What did you just finish reading?
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Purge of Babylon by Sam Sisavath
The Slow Regard for Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
What are you currently reading?
Dubliners & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
What did you just finish reading?
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Wonders by Paddy O’Reilly
Watch for these two reviews today and tomorrow!
What do you think you’ll read next?
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Empty Family by Colm Toibin
My friend Sam has taken over WWW Wednesdays, hence the new image! Be sure to click the button above and go give her some love!
What are you currently reading?
Dubliners & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
What did you just finish reading?
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Wonders by Paddy O’Reilly
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Lovely Sara over at Trees of Reverie is hosting a readathon this weekend, just in time for the 24 hour Readathon Day tomorrow. I’ve got a lot to do this weekend to get ready for our vacation, along with 3 hours of yoga (!!!!), but there’s going to be plenty of reading in there too.
I haven’t set a page goal, because I have so much going on, but I’d like to get through at least 2 books, maybe three, along with the normal shorts that I read on Fridays. Here’s what’s on the list:
My normal reading from James Joyce Dubliners and Short Story Fiction that I have planned today.
Books on the upcoming list:
Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I’ll also be doing the Daily Bookish Challenges that Sara posts, and I’ll probably be reading in some of the sprints that Becki posts too. You can always follow along on Twitter and Tumblr, you know I’m always active on those two sites during these events! Tomorrow is going to be a big reading day for the whole Booklr community, I can’t wait!
What are you currently reading?
Dubliners & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
What did you just finish reading?
The Iliad by Homer
Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation Into War by Steven Gillon
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
What do you think you’ll read next?
Some Kind of Wonderful by Barbara Freethy
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
We are going on vacation beginning late next week, so depending on the timeline/how quickly I’m reading/internet connection/etc…my blogging may be sporadic for a bit. Please be patient with me. I’ll be back to normal after the second week of February!
As I Lay Reading 