Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday Salon

The Sunday Salon.com

After several weeks of neglecting these, it's about time I got back into the game.

Last Sunday was my first Sunday Salon in quite some time, and I used it to tally my score for Saturday's 24-Hour Read-a-Thon. Again, it was 582 pages total, including virtually the entire Return of the King and the bulk of Todd Newton's The Ninth Avatar. Both of them fantasy novels, which is, strangely enough, a genre I never read and used to disdain. But I have LOVED The Lord of the Rings, which inspired me to accept The Ninth Avatar from Trapdoor Books for review. While it certainly wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, I still found it fast-paced and entertaining. My review was posted on Thursday. And here is the link to Trapdoor's blog post announcing my review.

Right now I'm about halfway through Georges Perec's Life A User's Guide. (Shouldn't there be a colon after "Life"?) It's our April selection for the Non-Structured Group Read. Each participant will post about it on Friday, April 30. I like it so far, but can't help but wonder: why does Perec keep using the word "heteroclite"? I have never heard that word before and I've already encountered it three times in 282 pages.

Lastly, I'm off to Disney World for three days this week. No, I'm not excited. I wanted to go to New York City and look for jobs in publishing or maybe a museum. Disney World has never been on my list of Places to See. Someone please try to enthuse me.

I should get plenty of Perec read on the plane, though.

7 comments:

Frances said...

OK, this is funny. I wonder if park security will book you for reading Perec in front of all the happy, Disney lovers. Please take photos.

Teresa said...

I'm so glad you've enjoyed Lord of the Rings. I don't read heaps of fantasy, but LOTR is absolutely one of my all-time favorite books.

I wish I could figure out a way to enthuse you about Disney World, but all the things I liked about it are things I liked when I was 14.

Teresa said...

Oh, I just remembered something to enthuse about at Disney. Clean bathrooms. I remember my mom and I remarking on the clean bathrooms. Here's hoping they've maintained their high standards after 20+ years!

Richard said...

E.L. Fay, I think "heteroclite" might be one of Perec's many inside jokes (i.e. an abnormal word for "abnormal"). However, my French isn't good enough to argue the point about how common a word it is in French...and Perec's English translator seems prone to (British) anglicisms which read funny to "over the top," "insular" Americans like me. In other words, your guess is as good as mine! P.S. Ditto to what Frances said. A photo of you reading Perec on the teacups, if they exist in Florida (I've only been to the original Disneyland), would be esp. loony!

Anonymous said...

But isn't Disney World supposed to be the happiest place on earth? So suck it up and buy one of those mouse ears hats. ;-)

Eileen said...

Frances: Nah, it's too thick to lug around the park. I'll mostly read it on the plane.

Teresa: See, that's what I'm afraid of. That the place is only appealing to kids.

Richard: That would be funny, except I can't figure out how to get this digital camera to work.

Softdrink: Ick! No! Tacky tacky tacky!

Sarah (tuulenhaiven) said...

Yay, I'm so glad you're digging the Perec - can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

Related Posts with Thumbnails