Date: 2008-05-19 22:27 Subject: Entry for the sake of entering! Security: Public Mood: accomplished Music: gogol bordello

I'm doing that damn start a book, read a bit and quit thing again. I'm pretty distracted though lately.

On a positive note, I have officially read at a poetry reading for the first time. I was nervous but apparently I was very clear and slow, and it didn't show that I was shaking like mad. I also got a bunch of random poetry books from it. So yay!

...that's all?

Date: 2008-03-26 03:22 Subject: Posty Security: Public Mood: flirty Music: barrie for billy mckenzie-rockettothesky

I neglect this journal which is a shame. I've neglected serious reading and writing up until recently, but nothing too bad.

Since I've been dating Chris, our thing is to go to flea markets every time we're together. He has his speakers/radios/amps etc. and I have my books. When I was in Ohio I picked up The Portable Arthur Miller (which is good since I lost my dad's old copy of Death of A Salesman) and Of Mice and Men. I also got a biography on Norman Rockwell for my dad. I feel guilty if I buy books without getting him something too. :P

On his last visit here I grabbed The Rainbow by DH Lawrence which I plan to start after this post. Also, Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Electric Power Stations by T.H Carr. That is one that just looked REALLY cool but is definitely not something I will ever sit and read, maybe a few glances. Finally and most excitingly, I snatched up a copy of The Anatomy of Melancholy. The woman I bought it off gave me a $1 off because I was young and reading, so it was only $5. I promised to come back (won't break that) and decided I should send people her way. She is in one of the main buildings at Mizener's on Hwy 5. Look for an area with nothing but books, and a friendly looking plump woman.

Anyways back to the book, which is MONSTROUS and intimidating. From what I've read it isn't a book you read so much as pick up and read snippets as you please. It smells like smoke, a dusty bookshelf and rosy perfume. That reminds me, Electric Power Stations smells exactly like books I read as a kid. They must use the same type of glue or something, 'cause it's a very specific smell.

I'm formally going to start the 2008 list in this entry.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Demian, Hermann Hesse
Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
An Alchemy of Mind, Diane Ackerman
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
A Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
Pictures from Bruegel and other poems, William Carlos Williams

The Picture of Dorian Gray was beautiful, and full of things to analyze. Demian was pure Hesse, which means it was profound, poetic and enthralling. An Alchemy of Mind was interesting but honestly not the most put together book I've read. If I hadn't of been interested in the subject matter, I might not of finished it. I will admit though, I did speed read through the last few pages. Of Mice and Men was very good, and it surprised me how close it was to the movie.

A Handmaid's Tale was just...magic. It was bizarre at times, suspenseful, and the imagery is so vivid. I never lost sight or had to strain for the characters or scenes, it just flowed. There were witty little tidbits thrown in that made me smile and think. Atwood is definitely a woman I will pay attention to from now on. According to Judit's suggestion, I'm going to read Oryx and Crake soon.

Pictures from Bruegel was wonderful. Williams work is so florid and brilliant. I'm gonna print/copy a bunch of his poems and keep them around for when I'm less than positive.

I was reading The Alphabet Versus The Goddess but wasn't motivated enough to read it and had to return it. Also, I had burning in water, drowning in flame by Bukowski which I skimmed through but I also had to return it before I finished. Another one of these sad stories is A Lume Spento and Other Poems by Ezra Pound, but I'll pick that back up most definitely. Maybe I put too much on my plate picking so many up at once, which may of discouraged me. Also, visiting Chris, doing school work, personal reflection and such have distracted me.

Anyways, that's all I have for now. I'll be back. I also plan to get to Candide by Voltaire sometime soon. Maybe I should create a to-do-list for this year. We shall see.

Date: 2008-01-08 07:08 Subject: Hermann Hesse Hard-on Security: Public Mood: motivated Music: anthropology-charlie parker

So 2007 didn't turn out too shabby. The final list is the same as it was at my birthday, plus Demian by Hermann Hesse. I seriously love that man, and plan to pick up Narcissus and Goldmund, also The Glass Bead Game. When I run out of his work it will be a sad, sad day. Almost forgot to add The Picture of Dorian Gray to the list as well, which I really enjoyed.

I started The Lobotomist and Words and Rules but never really finished either of them. There are a few books on the shelf that are lonely wishing I would pick them up and finish reading them. Barbarians at The Gate, Crime and Punishment, All The President's Men, The Gulag Archipelago and Dracula all being good examples. It's hard to read books that you own when there are so many great ones at the library.

This year I came to the conclusion that I will attempt medical school to pursue neurology. It's expensive and I'm not even sure financially it can be done, but I'm no where near closing any doors for myself. I have come a long way in a short amount of time, and plan to continue reading to keep that ball rolling.

Still gently nudging my way through Data of Ethics. I sit down once a month or so and go at it with a note book. It can be a really enjoyable read if you're in the mood to put up with all the content, and are interested in actually thinking about the concepts.

Oh, also! I picked up three books in the flea market. Catch-22, 1984 and The White Niggers of America which sounds interesting. I got Liberation Management sort of for myself and my dad just out of curiosity and not being able to turn down a $1.99 book. For Christmas I bought him a ton of books, including Vincent Bugliosi's Reclaiming History. Along with that I got him JFK: Reckless Youth, and November 1963: Death of A President. He's a nut about the Kennedy assassination. For his birthday which was just before Christmas he got Trudeau and Our Times, a Sinatra biography by Kitty Kelley and The Commanders by Bob Woodward. So I'm not the only one with a lot of reading to do.

On the poetry front all is well, just a bit slow currently. I recently was able to overcome the angst-fueled gibberish, allowing me to flow into a much more appreciative and beauty-focused sense of rhythm/clarity/content. I have no doubt this is due in part to falling in love, not only with Chris but with myself even before that. My work has become very florid lately but I've been really abusing alliteration, it gets frustrating sometimes to be honest. It's definitely something I've been keeping my eye on and will continue to as I progress some more.

As for reading poetry, I never did get around to ordering that Robert Priest book but I will as soon as I get some cash. He really does make me melt all over the place. Now, Mr.Bukowski, I read the entirety of sifting through the madness... and it was as expected a beautiful bunch of poetry. so you want to be a writer is definitely my favourite of the collection still. I fell in love with Gertrude Stein recently also, and in her have found confidence in the gibberish-niche of poetry I was exploring before so I've picked that up again.

I'm not sure how reading will be going, as I'm currently trying to get a credit/job/probably my G1 as part of a deal to go see Chris. My dad knows too well how to motivate me. That's about it, I'll try to post soon.

Date: 2007-09-28 21:54 Subject: happy birthday to meeee Security: Public Mood: accomplished Music: heart

Updated list of books:

The Case For Christ, Lee Strobel
Sybil, Flora Rheita Streiber
1984, George Orwell
Animal Farm, George Orwell *
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
The Chrysalids, John Wyndham
Siddartha, Herman Hesse
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Misfits, Arthur Miller
A Room With A View, E.M Forster
Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Jade Peony, Wayson Choy
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Demian, Hermann Hesse

*Re-read
-new entries in bold
-as of 2008 newest entries in italics

Picked up a whole new batch of flea market books, and a brand spanking new copy of sifting through the madness for the word, the line, the way by Mr. Charles Bukowski. (And of course it is beautiful, my favourite poem so far being "so you want to be a writer") I'm going to order in one of Robert Priest's books for my birthday, compliments of my sister. His work has been giving me shivers for the past while, so I can't wait to read more.

Perhaps I'll write a bit about a few of those novels, but I highly doubt it. I've been procrastinating enough on independent study, for which I'm reading The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy.

I'm still, slowly working at Data of Ethics, with a lot of notes and thought. It's definitely an interesting read.

For a day or so I was into The Gulag Archipelago, but that trailed off for the shorter novels. It's pretty much the same deal with Barbarians at the Gate.

My poetry has been going well, especially with less time spent on the computer, and more with the dictionary. I've also been working in more structure lately, and it's not too shabby.

Altogether things have been going really well, which is the reason for my lack of posts, and also seeing as I'm the only one who reads these. 8-)

Date: 2007-04-20 06:07 Subject: What the world can do Security: Public Mood: cold Music: Mamas & Papas

Been reading essays and poetry, and writing a bit more productively. I'm having trouble getting into most books right now, and being able to focus but seeing as all I have is spare time it's pretty easy to get reading.

I read a few books and I'm not really in a place right now to organize my insights/ideas into something intelligable so instead have some lists.


Books read so far in 2007:

The Case For Christ, Lee Strobel
Sybil, Flora Rheita Streiber
1984, George Orwell
Animal Farm, George Orwell *
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
The Chrysalids, John Wyndham
Siddartha, Herman Hesse
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Misfits, Arthur Miller

*Re-read


Currently reading:

The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
A Room With A View, E.M Forster


Upcoming:

The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
Consilience, Edward O. Wilson
Lady Chatterly's Lover, D.H Lawrence
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky


5 book picked randomly from my gigantic book list:

William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Franz Kafka, The Trial
Robert William Service, Ballads of a Bohemian
Otto Weininger, Sex and Character
Shelley Jackson, The Melancholy of Anatomy

Date: 2007-04-09 13:50 Subject: Dusty old books. Security: Public Mood: anxious Music: tired of being alone-al green

Read: 1984 (read previous post) & Politics of The English Language-George Orwell

I went to 2 flea markets yesterday and got a whole bunch of new (old) books. Some are quite old, and have notes in them. There were a bunch of tiny books with poems/manuscripts/novels in German, including one by Goethe that I was really tempted to buy, but being unable to read German makes it a bit pointless. All the dates are date of print.

Karl Marx: Early Writings (1964)

Bernard Shaw: Pygmalion (1942)

Arthur Miller: The Misfits (1961)
I've been looking for this for ages, and I'm still looking for a new copy of Death of A Salesman since I lost it.

Coop Clark Literature Series No. 27 & 30 (1925 & 1926)
(No. 27 Five Poems from Tennyson, Arnold, Browning and Byron)
(No. 30 Four Poems from Colreidge, Tennyson, Milton and Keats)

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: Faust Part One (1949)

The Oxford Book of English Verse (1939)

A Library of Universal Nature Part 1-Vol. 2 and 9
Vol 2. Origin of Species-Darwin
Vol.9 Data of Ethics-Spencer
(I couldn't find information on the dates)

The Coop Clark books are definitely the best, I think they're old textbooks because they have questions/notes in the back on the poems. I also found a note beside one of the poems that said (Homework March 29, 1927.) It's amazing to think that the last time someone read some of these was 50 or more years ago.

In total for these and 2 books my dad got it cost $20. They have so much personality, and I can't wait to get reading. *wishes she could concentrate properly*

Next: I started Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) but couldn't get into it so I'm putting it off. I was planning to read Lady Chatterly's Lover (D.H Lawrence) but I think I'll put that off for a few of these. I still have yet to start The Gulag Archipelago, but I'll get around to it some time as well.

Date: 2007-04-09 13:47 Subject: 1984-George Orwell Security: Public Mood: anxious Music: love and happiness-al green

I read 1984 a few weeks ago and never even bothered posting. I have a whole bunch of notes/thoughts to rifle through before I can make any productive post so instead have a few of the many quotes that I enjoyed:

Date: 2007-02-21 19:17 Subject: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Security: Public Mood: artistic Music: rue de cascades-yann tiersen

I just finished reading Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I've been meaning to read it for quite awhile, as the movie is one of my all time favourites.

At first I found it hard to adjust to the book, because little of the book and movie are similar. The most glaring difference being that the book is written from Chief's perspective. After awhile I got used to the differences, and was able to become enamoured in the book.

It's wonderfully written, with descriptive language that made me melt. The book had a slightly poetic, almost confusing tone that fit the setting very well. There were a few places in the book that had me confused, but flowed back into the story very well.

The use of the "saviour" theme in the book, that is McMurphy being a sort of Christ, there to save the men, was pulled off flawlessly. It stuck out like a sore thumb, but not in a way that was detrimental to the work as a whole.

I much prefer the book to the movie, and would recommend you read it before seeing the film.

Altogether it exceeded my expectations, and has earned a place as one of my favourite books of all time.

Excuse the lack of content in this, I'm not too enthusiastic about writing a summation about a book that's been summarized a million times, plus the work stands on it's own.


I just renewed Consilience, so I should probably get around to reading it. I've had it for 3 weeks and it's been tempting me through all my other distractions.

Date: 2007-02-08 18:11 Subject: Super Pills & Junk English. Security: Public Mood: excited Music: if i had my way-big sugar

I haven't even started The Gulag Archipelago because I went to the library. I picked up Junk English by Ken Smith, which I read a few pages of, and flipped through the rest, and couldn't really get into it. It looked interesting, which was misleading because the format of the book is aggravating.

I also got Super Pills (The Prescriptions Drugs We Love To Take) by Steven Manners, and I'm about half way through. It's become a chore to read, mostly because I'm excited to start the third book, Consilience (The Unity of Knowledge) by Edward O. Wilson. Super Pills isn't bad, it's basically just fact stating about the drugs with an underlying tone (that was apparent from the introduction in a single sentence, "it's a new, if not brave world") of "We're destroying our society!"

I also bought a copy of Herman Hesse's Siddartha for 25 cents, so I'll start that at some later point as well.

Date: 2007-01-21 02:28 Subject: Sybil Security: Public Mood: bored

Sybil by Flora Rheita Schreiber
Published by Warner

This true story follows the treatment of Sybil, a woman with multiple personality disorder. As her psychiatrist Dr.Wilbur finds out, there are 16 separate selves, stemming to Sybil's early childhood.

A good book altogether, especially after becoming attached to Sybil. I was frustrated, however, with the ending. The entire book goes into detail about memories, events, and the progress of Sybil but as soon as she stops dissassociating it's skipping over years of treatment. I would of liked to have seen more in-depth near the end, instead of a bulky start, but the healing process probably wouldn't make for an exciting novel.

I'd write more but I'm lazy, tired and not-so coherent, so..that's pretty much it.

Next up is The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

Date: 2007-01-11 13:17 Subject: The Case For Christ Security: Public Mood: productive Music: Here's That Rainy Day-Oscar Peterson Trio

I finished my first book of 2007 a few days ago.

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
Published by Zondervan

I borrowed the book off of my friend Ben out of curiosity, expecting to just breeze through it like a history book. I was wrong. It actually had me questioning some of my own doubts.

It's written in a summation-interview format, followed by list of questions based on each chapter (which are pretty much useless). Strobel gives good background information on the scholars interviewed, and the purpose of each interview in the altogether "case." He goes at the question of Christ using his journalistic background to look into the mind of Christian scholars. The book follows his own quest into Christianity, and out of a skeptical mind.

I went at the book with an open mind and am now seriously reviewing my views on the Christian faith. Many of these doubts are rooted in growing up surrounded by the Catholic religion, and an ever more scientific/anti-religion bias in popular media. However, the book seems to debunk the common theory of science over religion. The book was good for a historical basis on which to build a study of the Christian faith.

Altogether it was a well-written book, in remembering the Pro-Christian bias and keeping an open mind. I'm now curious to read more from skeptics and other Christian scholars, and read some of the historical texts mentioned.

Date: 2006-12-31 20:30 Subject: Ming vase! Security: Public Mood: determined Music: Virgin Prunes

Basically I wasted the entirety of 2006 on new experiences, new people and put my development on the back burner. I lost short term memory, but more importantly...wasted a year's worth of enriching myself.

I can't remember anything I've read, let alone have I finished a book. I got halfway through The Picture of Dorian Gray, three quarters of the way through Dracula, skimmed over Man and His Symbols and I've barely absorbed any knowledge. Where I once would of felt joy reading, I've become existentially depressed in the never ending quest to find something that's not there.

I made this journal to keep track of books/articles/poems etc. that I read from now on. Any summaries or thoughts will be posted here. I've also created it as a venue to express any thought/share poetry. This journal is dedicated to my new-found sobriety and the dedication to discovering my 'self', over and over again.

Furthermore, it is not dedicated to a quantitative measurement of my elite speed-reading skills. It is a commitment to the qualitative intake of every word, every page and the observation of every brain cell used. Don't expect wonderfully laced up reviews, critiques and thoughts. Expect evolution, experimentation and expression.

Add this journal if you want any of my personal poems/thoughts/progress.