MORE BOOKS!

I bought some more books today. I'm a Communications student at uws, and did rather well in Communication Laws and Ethics today, so I went and bought more books. I also finished one.

So I bought Lucky Jim and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. To look at the two, based on title, Lucky Jim sounds more blokes and fun and jokes, and the prime of miss Jean Brodie sounds rather similar, but with more regalness. To read the very starts, Lucky Jim feels a bit more like Catcher in the Rye but with a more successful and scholarly minded Harrison. Miss Jean Brodie read a lot quicker and with more fun so far, and that's after about 10 pages each.

I finished reading Falconer, which is an odd book. It gets lumped with Naked Lunch, where in it was a book I was having some difficulty reading at some point or another. And both books had them in the middle. With Naked Lunch I was feeling sick at some of the stories of the Mugwumps, but this was my own fault. The section that was horrible was in a blue film the characters were watching, you see?

Falconer had it different, seeing about halfway through I lost any feeling that the book would turn up good. Sure it must be good, it was on the list, and it's recognised everywhere. But I found a main character who was once again complacant with whatever happened, just dealing out a bunch of memories that they reported to us, the readers. I like the heroes to have a great big say in things, like Winston Smith in 1984. Even a hero who fails is more interesting than a no-one who does nothing.

Thankfully the story ends quite well, and the middle funk is dispelled entirely. I actually finished the book and had a laugh to myself. Great end!

Now I need to decide what to begin reading next. Jean Brodie looks very good, because it's lighter, written by a female and not yet another "man versus this weird/odd world" style story. Those stories are a bit like cathedrals. When you see one, it's amazing. When you tour and see many, they're all great. Once you've been around Europe twice, and seen just about any that matter in any way shape and form, they all merge into the same class of "giant and religiously relevant buildings", and it becomes Yeah yeah yeah, I've seen that already!

As a small aside, I like the fact that when I see Sydney's cathedral I'm entirely underwhelmed and feel rather dwarfed. Sure it's a big building, compared to my house, but compared to the cathedrals in Europe? We are but a child, playing with child's cars while daddy's actually goes Broom broom!

For another example, Tropic of Capricon is great, Tropic of Cancer still good but not as wow, and the works just continue to diminish (slightly, and mostly from repetition), through over exposure I imagine.

The other books for consideration: The Adventures of Augie March (started, but so long!)
Catch 22 (not started, but I'm looking forward to it quite a bit)
Gone with the Wind (this really wants an entire day in the sun, for reading)
I, Claudius (this seems like it'll want a few hundred trips on the train) and lastly
Go Tell it To the Mountain (black brother done broke 'way from his religion!)

I can't decide tonight, but I will be looking at Jean Brodie tonight regardless. Being a thinner, smaller book it makes for an easier reading companion, so she'll stay by my bedside and be read before sleeping each night. I'll get back to you on which book I actually take up to read through.

Seeya mate!

ps. I have also obtained and read a bit of Gravity's Rainbow. It sounds more exciting then it has so far sounded, and has earned a "slow burner" tag. Which is odd, because no other book has had that yet, and I've gathered about 40 of these books!