1.31.2006

Lexiconal Orgy, Month One

In the spirit of The Polysyllabic Spree my first month of 100 books/year will be documented much like the book:

Books Bought:
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Benjamin Franklin & Polly Baker A History of Literary Deception by Max Hall
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
Don't Tell the Grown-ups -- The Subversive Power of Children's Literature by Alison Lurie

Books Read:
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Dogfight and other stories by Michael Knight
As I Lay Dying by Faulkner (abandoned)

Ask about them if you want, I'll be honest!

12 comments:

L said...

i actually enjoyed 84 Charing Cross Road more than the Duchess of Bloomsbury Street....

Ryon said...

Um, I've read the Post Secret book...does that count?

Oh, and I am rereading "The Gunslinger". A Stephen King book that is actually really well written and thought-out.

Benjamin said...

Why'd you abandon As I Lay Dying? And, more importantly, is abandoning a book very difficult for you? It is for me...

aprilbapryll said...

L: I did too, but I still wanted to read it since I picked it up at Haslam's with you anyhow :)

VG: I'm not too fond of Stephen King, but his On Writing was very good. I want the Post Secret book!

Benny: It's very hard for me to abandon books -- I used to power through them anyways. Now it's getting more important to me that I enjoy what I'm reading unless I'm getting paid to do it (those editing jobs can be a bitch sometimes ... hehe). I abandoned Dying because I don't care for books written like that -- where everyone takes a chapter. It constantly takes me out of the reading experience. But I'm reading Look Homeward, Angel right now and I might pick that back up afterward out of guilt.

Anonymous said...

As I Lay Dying is easy to fall out of. But,now that I have read it once, I find myself wanting to go back and read it again. Peel down the layers, you know?
I've only just started abandoning books. Too many good ones out there and not enough time to read the bad ones, too.
Some really awesome books if you like disturbing, out there stuff written in a very contemporary vein are The Phineas Poe Collection (Baer) and The Contortionist Handbook (Clevenger). Amy Hempel does some amazing short story work in Reasons to Live, too.
Spread the good book titles around. I'm always looking for new stuff!

Anonymous said...

One more thing ... The Dark Tower series is one of the best series ever, but The Gunslinger I think is cheaply written and hard to get through. Read it anyway, just to get to the second one.
I love that series. If I ever go for a PhD, it'll be part of my thesis. That and The Sandman comics.

birdwoman said...

Did you like the professor and the madman? I was working at a bookstore years ago when that was the hot book... never got round to reading it, tho. I'm a pulp reader, not a real reader.

I have enough real stuff in reality ;o)

(*)>

Jamie said...

Oh you should finish "As I Lay Dying!"

kenju said...

Which one did you like the best and why?



Michele sent me.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

Oh is that a new book by Nick Hornby? Ill have to pick that one up.

Here via Michele's

Ryon said...

Autumn: You are right about the Gunslinger, but The Drawing of the Three is great!

On Writing was a great book...I should read it again.

Buffy said...

Love. Nick. Hornby.