the arbness of book lists

book lists, i really don't get them. whether it's 32 books that will change your life or 50 incredibly difficult books for extreme readers or the guardian's top 100 books of all time or just the list that my goodreads literary adventures group wants to read in 2014, they're all so subjective. tho' the guardian isn't as far off as the others. i mean, that 50 difficult books list doesn't even include ulysses. not even i, who have had an entire semester-long course devoted only to ulysses and wrote a 25 page paper on it, have finished the damn thing. then there's my own list of the 88 books i read in 2013 (+ 7 harry potter, which aren't on the list). it's not so much subjective as eclectic. and i'm not recommending that anyone else follow it. i just like that goodreads helps me keep track of what i've read. i'd never have remembered reading all those books. hell, at my age, i hardly remember yesterday.

that said, i do love the book lists on brainpickings. they're often recommendations by theme, like this one of 9 books on reading and writing. especially because no. 9, mortimer j. adler's how to read a book, advocates writing in books as you read them (something which i love to do), saying that it's even essential to do so (with apologies to denmark's libraries). or this one, on the year's best books on writing and creativity. or the best children's, illustrated and picture books of 2013.  quality lists, thoughtfully composed, that i like.

my reading right now (and most of the time) is all over the place. i've spent far too long on this nick harkaway angelmaker book. it was recommended by the same bloggy friend who recommended edna farber's marvelous so big, so i had to read it, even if it wasn't the kind of book i'd normally read.  it is very imaginative and well-written, with lovely and unique turns of phrase, and even features some steampunk machinery, which i love, but for some reason, i'm reading it at a snail's pace. and it's not going to help that liz gilbert's signature of all things just arrived via amazon today, as i'm going to want to dive right into that. and i have to, because in ten days, i have a book club meeting where we're going to discuss it (plus it was my idea to read it for the book club, so i'd better have finished it).

how do you decide what to read? do you read more than one book at a time (that's part of my problem)? does the internet get in the way of your reading? or does knitting? i recently listened to an audio book of a danish thriller while knitting but i wonder if that counts as reading? when do you read? i tend to read before going to sleep, but if i'm enthralled by a book, i read whenever i can. i also often read while i'm eating lunch. i also like to read in front of the fire in the evening, that's probably my favorite reading time, but that can also be social, family time, so i don't always get to indulge in that.

what are you reading right now? and what will you read next? will you consult a list?

everything is illuminated

things i've learned through observation in recent days (because it was time for a list)...

~  white leggings with a heavy, shapeless white sweater and brown suede pumps on a late october day is a fashion crime in need of an executioner.

~  teenagers crave attention, no matter where you find them. even if they're standing right next to a picasso and a matisse, they will still think you should have all your attention on them and make a lot of strange sounds and statements to achieve this. even if you don't know them.

~  to get along in norwegian, you should know the phrase, ikke sandt (which i may have spelled in danish).

~ i detect glee on the part of my coworkers at the thought that i do not go home to my family in the evenings when i am working here. what is wrong with people?

~ people really don't like it if you do not reveal everything they think you should. even when directly asked. but sometimes there's stuff that's just not people's business.

~ couchsurfing totally rocks. i highly recommend it. you meet interesting people who have traveled and seen things and have both funny and poignant stories to tell. go, sign up your couch right now! :-)

~ i am not hungry for lunch at 10:45 a.m.

~ the dutch make some seriously good headache medicine.

~ norway excels at cinnamon pastries. they're like to die for. exactly the right amount of cinnamon, breadiness and crispy sugar on top. worth a flight to oslo just for them.

~ i miss reading all of your blogs, but i'm writing my little fanny off right now on work stuff, so i have no time to visit. it will ease up in about two weeks.

monday weirdness

macro of an oak tree that was growing when the pyramids were built

morning came too soon. i was in the middle of a really cool dream in which polly and i were going around this awesome antique fair. what was really strange is that the stands kept moving and so as soon as you turned away from something, it became something else. but it wasn't in an annoying way, it was really cool. and there was this vintage clothing that was to die for and i was just turning to tangobaby to show her an especially cute blouse, when husband's stupid alarm rang. he uses his phone and he intentionally leaves it downstairs so he has to get up to turn it off. it rang for kind of a long time and i lost that great top...dark blue with some beading and a super cute fit. sigh. mondays.

so i thought i'd share a bit of monday weirdness.

: : top 51 places that are blocked or blurred out in google maps. especially strange is that william hurt's home is listed as a college or research lab. not to mention strange that it would be blurred out. i mean, who cares where william hurt lives?

: : that stupid new visa waiver program that the US has for people from countries who don't need visas to  go to the US, but have to get this dumb pre-authorization to travel there. it gives it to you instantly, online, which makes me wonder what the hell it's really about. big brother really is watching, people.

: : cartons of wine. that just sounds wrong, i don't care if the economist says it's right.

: : pride and prejudice and zombies. i'm reading this and i think it's really weird. in a good way, but really weird nonetheless. and it makes me think that perhaps adding zombies to war and peace would make that baggy monster a bit easier to take.

here's hoping your monday is less weird than mine. 

p.s. blogger, whatever that update you did this morning at 9 a.m. my time, just brought on a bunch of spacing issues that i hope you will fix in the near future.