Reading on a Wednesday
Sep. 8th, 2022 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
allekhaRead: Self-Portrait with Wings, a children's book about a girl who likes figure skating (I swear I didn't realize until I opened the book) and accidentally gives herself fairy wings that are only visible in mirrors. She finds this situation enchanting for about five seconds until she has to figure out how to get herself dressed for school with wings. A fun little story that is more realistic than wish fulfillment; I occasionally found the action descriptions confusing, but overall it was a charming quick read.
Reading: In fiction, The Luzhin Defense by Nabokov. Frankly, I almost gave it up halfway through and had to take it outside and sit down with it to force myself to keep going (yes, I could have dropped it, but I don't like not finishing books I've gotten that far in). Though Nabokov is a brilliant writer, there are two things about the book that are driving me up the wall:
1) There are no paragraph breaks when multiple people are speaking. It's all dumped into one paragraph.
2) In much of the book, there are no paragraph breaks at all for pages. Over half a dozen pages with no paragraph breaks is not easy to read.
(I've not read Lolita - I hope it doesn't have these same issues, or else I might never read it.)
I enjoyed the first part of the story, where Luzhin is still a child, but I found it dragged a lot once he became an adult and his personality became less interesting. I'm now in a part that is a little more engaging, but it's still going to be a bit of a push to finish it, I think.
In nonfiction, Alone, the John Curry biography. I've only read the first chapter so far, about his hectic childhood - one of his brothers had to be in isolation for three years for tuberculosis, and they all got moved in and out of different schools by a dad who had serious issues from being in a POW camp and only thought figure skating was acceptable because, unlike ballet, it was a sport. I think I'll enjoy the rest of it, though I am definitely going to cry considering I teared up at the introduction. Also took a couple of notes about the skating descriptions in the opening (when you keep writing it, it's hard to keep coming up with a variety of phrases).
In 日本語, I am halfway through スケートボイズ after getting back to it. Vocabulary acquisition continues apace. Romance shenanigans are happening during a training camp.
Reading: In fiction, The Luzhin Defense by Nabokov. Frankly, I almost gave it up halfway through and had to take it outside and sit down with it to force myself to keep going (yes, I could have dropped it, but I don't like not finishing books I've gotten that far in). Though Nabokov is a brilliant writer, there are two things about the book that are driving me up the wall:
1) There are no paragraph breaks when multiple people are speaking. It's all dumped into one paragraph.
2) In much of the book, there are no paragraph breaks at all for pages. Over half a dozen pages with no paragraph breaks is not easy to read.
(I've not read Lolita - I hope it doesn't have these same issues, or else I might never read it.)
I enjoyed the first part of the story, where Luzhin is still a child, but I found it dragged a lot once he became an adult and his personality became less interesting. I'm now in a part that is a little more engaging, but it's still going to be a bit of a push to finish it, I think.
In nonfiction, Alone, the John Curry biography. I've only read the first chapter so far, about his hectic childhood - one of his brothers had to be in isolation for three years for tuberculosis, and they all got moved in and out of different schools by a dad who had serious issues from being in a POW camp and only thought figure skating was acceptable because, unlike ballet, it was a sport. I think I'll enjoy the rest of it, though I am definitely going to cry considering I teared up at the introduction. Also took a couple of notes about the skating descriptions in the opening (when you keep writing it, it's hard to keep coming up with a variety of phrases).
In 日本語, I am halfway through スケートボイズ after getting back to it. Vocabulary acquisition continues apace. Romance shenanigans are happening during a training camp.
no subject
Date: 2022-09-09 12:08 am (UTC)As for Nabokov, I don't remember that kind of stylistic stuff from Lolita, so it probably won't bug you in that way if/when you get around to it. (Though it's been a while since I read it, so I might not be recalling correctly!)