I am about to engage in a marathon grading session - must finish exams!
I did however, finally complete this insane paper on William Clifford and Soren Kierkegaard. I think I came up with a rather nifty title, hopefully the paper is as good -- "The Passion of the Infinite and the Vagaries of Belief: Faith, Reason, and the Individual in William Clifford and Soren Kierkegaard."
Party last night was much fun, I did manage to complete my costume. I will happily post pictures onto Facebook as a reward to myself when I finish grading.
ed. to add that at around 11pm I finally completed those god-forsaken exams. but then I made the mistake of looking at my neglected syllabi to see what else I hadn't done, I might have nightmares b/c of it...
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Random
Things completed:
Plane ticket to SF
Voted
Things not completed:
Grading Exams
Grading Papers
Halloween Costume
Paper for 600
RIP Challenge
Plane ticket for NO
Do I detect a pattern here?
Well anyway - Happy Halloween!
Plane ticket to SF
Voted
Things not completed:
Grading Exams
Grading Papers
Halloween Costume
Paper for 600
RIP Challenge
Plane ticket for NO
Do I detect a pattern here?
Well anyway - Happy Halloween!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Review: Exquisite Corpse
by Poppy Z. Brite
I had read this book before, but decided to tackle it again b/c I found a pristine copy in the used book story for $1.* Essentially, it is a love story - seriously, but to steal a line from Fiona McGavin "you shouldn't love anyone that much."
The plot very basically is that two serial killers, one from New Orleans and one from London meet up through chance in a bar called "The Hand of Glory"**, and decide to murder then eat this local from N.O. Actually, my favorite scene is the meeting b/w Jay and Andrew. Both are in the bar looking for a victim, but obviously get something completly unexpected, and find in each other similar affinities, which eventually leads to them attacking Tran (the local). There is a second subplot involving the potential victim's boyfriend who has AIDS and is angry at the world, but those sections have always annoyed me, and are the least interesting aspects of the book.
Actually, several parts of Exquisite Corpse are based on the real life story of Jeffrey Dahmer. And while I don't find many things truly horrifying, there are a couple of scenes in this book that are entirely too much. One occurs at the beginning involving a boy named Fido and some bleach, the second is near the end and has something to do with a screwdriver - enough said. Out of PZB's novels that I have read this is my least favorite, but her writing is still evocative and beautiful.
Now the real question is, can I complete this challenge and read one more book before the end of the month.....
* too good of a deal to pass up
**I'm too lazy to make sure that is the name, but I'm fairly certain.
I had read this book before, but decided to tackle it again b/c I found a pristine copy in the used book story for $1.* Essentially, it is a love story - seriously, but to steal a line from Fiona McGavin "you shouldn't love anyone that much."
The plot very basically is that two serial killers, one from New Orleans and one from London meet up through chance in a bar called "The Hand of Glory"**, and decide to murder then eat this local from N.O. Actually, my favorite scene is the meeting b/w Jay and Andrew. Both are in the bar looking for a victim, but obviously get something completly unexpected, and find in each other similar affinities, which eventually leads to them attacking Tran (the local). There is a second subplot involving the potential victim's boyfriend who has AIDS and is angry at the world, but those sections have always annoyed me, and are the least interesting aspects of the book.
Actually, several parts of Exquisite Corpse are based on the real life story of Jeffrey Dahmer. And while I don't find many things truly horrifying, there are a couple of scenes in this book that are entirely too much. One occurs at the beginning involving a boy named Fido and some bleach, the second is near the end and has something to do with a screwdriver - enough said. Out of PZB's novels that I have read this is my least favorite, but her writing is still evocative and beautiful.
Now the real question is, can I complete this challenge and read one more book before the end of the month.....
* too good of a deal to pass up
**I'm too lazy to make sure that is the name, but I'm fairly certain.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Review: The Club Dumas
by Arturo Perez-Reverte
I had a really hard time getting in to the book. I started it about a month ago, but the first 90 or so pages were slow and failed to engage my attention. However, after that when I finally when back to the book, the pace picked up and I quickly finished reading it.
So, basically it is a mystery. The lead character Corso works in the book business. The main drive of the story revolves around him traveling in Europe to find out if The Book of the Nine Doors(supposedly a guide to summoning the devil) is authentic. At the same time, he is also doing a favor for one of his friends, and trying to determine the authenticity of a chapter from The Three Muskateers. What do Dumas and demonology have in common? Well, that is exactly what Corso is left wondering throughout most of the book.
The Club Dumas is full of literary history, random obscure facts, scandals, betrayals, and the occult. I almost didn't like the end, and was completely prepared to write that the only good part was the middle, but the very last page sort of redeemed the book for me, though I still feel that the strongest section as far as plot, pacing, and general interest is the middle chapters.
I had a really hard time getting in to the book. I started it about a month ago, but the first 90 or so pages were slow and failed to engage my attention. However, after that when I finally when back to the book, the pace picked up and I quickly finished reading it.
So, basically it is a mystery. The lead character Corso works in the book business. The main drive of the story revolves around him traveling in Europe to find out if The Book of the Nine Doors(supposedly a guide to summoning the devil) is authentic. At the same time, he is also doing a favor for one of his friends, and trying to determine the authenticity of a chapter from The Three Muskateers. What do Dumas and demonology have in common? Well, that is exactly what Corso is left wondering throughout most of the book.
The Club Dumas is full of literary history, random obscure facts, scandals, betrayals, and the occult. I almost didn't like the end, and was completely prepared to write that the only good part was the middle, but the very last page sort of redeemed the book for me, though I still feel that the strongest section as far as plot, pacing, and general interest is the middle chapters.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Review: Teatro Grottesco
This is my first review for the RIP book challenge which I haven't been doing so well, but I still might finish.
This collection of short stories was my first introduction to Thomas Ligotti, I definitely plan on reading more of his work. The style is not for everyone, in the way that both Lovecraft and Kafka are acquired tastes. Many of the stories are vignettes - brief glimpses into a parallel, but strange world. Most of the stories lack a clear beginning or a definite conclusion, the reader is sort of thrown into the scene without much explanation about where the story takes place, or exactly who the characters are. Part of his overall style involves the use of repetition, of a word, an image, a phrase, or a general idea/theme. In some stories, this works better than in others. "The Red Tower was for me an example where the repetition did not succeed to build a particular mood - it just became annoying.
On to the stories more specifically, while avoiding spoilers, the book is broken up into 3 sections; Derangements, Deformations, and The Damaged and Diseased. The first part was my favorite overall, and reminded me of Lovecraft the most though with a decidedly modern flavor. The strongest piece I felt was the very first story "Purity," which strongly reflects the "vignette" nature of the author's work. The horror invoked by this story and the others definitely stems from what is left unsaid or merely hinted at. The reader is allowed only a glimpse into what is quite likely a thoroughly terrifying "derangement."
The second section "Deformations" invoked Kafka, especially the Castle. The stories in this section are connected by a specific setting "the northern border town", a few recurring characters, and this shadowy yet utterly controlling (and terrifying) bureaucracy known as the Quine Organization. I thought the stories in the section were pretty strong too, especially the first one.
Finally, in the third section, we get to the title story "Teatro Grottesco, which I felt was perhaps the weakest as far as pacing and overall interest. In this story, the repetition of a phrase is supposed to tie the piece together, but really it fails to have any sort of memorable impact. I read through the book quickly up until this story, and then it took me about a week to finish it. The story after it isn't all that great either, which leads me to believe that in general this is the weakest section of the book, but admittedly I haven't quite finished the whole thing yet (I think I have two stories left).
Some of the stories definitely have an obvious element of horror, but others are more subtle, just plain weird, or maybe unsettling in a way that isn't quite definable. Overall, I would recommend Thomas Ligotti if you are into similar types of fiction, and I plan on reading some of his other books.
This collection of short stories was my first introduction to Thomas Ligotti, I definitely plan on reading more of his work. The style is not for everyone, in the way that both Lovecraft and Kafka are acquired tastes. Many of the stories are vignettes - brief glimpses into a parallel, but strange world. Most of the stories lack a clear beginning or a definite conclusion, the reader is sort of thrown into the scene without much explanation about where the story takes place, or exactly who the characters are. Part of his overall style involves the use of repetition, of a word, an image, a phrase, or a general idea/theme. In some stories, this works better than in others. "The Red Tower was for me an example where the repetition did not succeed to build a particular mood - it just became annoying.
On to the stories more specifically, while avoiding spoilers, the book is broken up into 3 sections; Derangements, Deformations, and The Damaged and Diseased. The first part was my favorite overall, and reminded me of Lovecraft the most though with a decidedly modern flavor. The strongest piece I felt was the very first story "Purity," which strongly reflects the "vignette" nature of the author's work. The horror invoked by this story and the others definitely stems from what is left unsaid or merely hinted at. The reader is allowed only a glimpse into what is quite likely a thoroughly terrifying "derangement."
The second section "Deformations" invoked Kafka, especially the Castle. The stories in this section are connected by a specific setting "the northern border town", a few recurring characters, and this shadowy yet utterly controlling (and terrifying) bureaucracy known as the Quine Organization. I thought the stories in the section were pretty strong too, especially the first one.
Finally, in the third section, we get to the title story "Teatro Grottesco, which I felt was perhaps the weakest as far as pacing and overall interest. In this story, the repetition of a phrase is supposed to tie the piece together, but really it fails to have any sort of memorable impact. I read through the book quickly up until this story, and then it took me about a week to finish it. The story after it isn't all that great either, which leads me to believe that in general this is the weakest section of the book, but admittedly I haven't quite finished the whole thing yet (I think I have two stories left).
Some of the stories definitely have an obvious element of horror, but others are more subtle, just plain weird, or maybe unsettling in a way that isn't quite definable. Overall, I would recommend Thomas Ligotti if you are into similar types of fiction, and I plan on reading some of his other books.
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