Judging the book by its, er, cover
I thought you might like to know that I've started reading Crime and Punishment. I have no idea why I chose this particular point in time to start reading it, considering I've had it in my possession for aeons. If memory serves I bought it at a second-hand bookstore in Toronto during my previous incarnation as a North American person, althoughI can't for the life of me remember why.
At around the same time, though, I bought The Brothers Karamazov, which is still sitting unread on my shelf, and Anna Karenina, with which I had considerably more success [read it, loved it], which makes me think I must have had a period of hypothetical infatuation with Russian literature. I've tried a few times to get into Crime and Punishment but without success. I think I found the prose too dense and psychological in the first few pages to really absorb me, particularly as the main character seemed to me to be decidedly unpleasant and... in fact the only word that springs to mind at the moment is the German word 'abstoßent' - which means 'repulsive' only without such a heavy connotation. Either that or it was the hideous book cover:
Seriously, isn't that the most hideous book cover you've ever seen? I think the person who designed that book cover should be subject to punishment - I mean, what's it supposed to be? A woman occupying a man's brain? In the shape of a cross? Or in a grave? A giant mouth? Female genitalia? What?
Yes yes, ok, it's probably supposed to represent the guilt the unpleasant repulsive main character feels after he's DONE THE DEED that he keeps referring just like that in the first two or three dozen pages of the book. During that time he roams around hither and thither and we get extremely well versed in the contents of his brain and THE DEED that he keeps meaning to do and all the unpleasant people and squalid conditions that surround him. And then finally he gets around to doing THE DEED and even MORE of a DEED than he planned to, and then we get a minute, play-by-play account of his psychological state over the succeeding hours and days. And so far I'm only on page 126 and there's still 402 to go. And, you know, I'm starting to wonder. Is this, like, it?
Still, I figure rave reviews for the last 150 years have to account for something, so I probably shouldn't chuck it in the bin just yet. Even if that cover makes me feel like I have cooties on my fingers.
JUDGING THE WEATHER BY THE WEATHER
... And it's been a perfectly pleasant day. Very light winds and mild temps and even some beautiful midwinter sunshine. Believe me, YT is grateful for any ray of light we get up here these days, which is why I cannot comprehend why people actually wear sunglasses in Iceland in the winter. You know those fold-up aluminium tanning things people used to hold up in front of their faces in the 70s so they'd get a better tan? I'm seriously thinking of getting one of those just for shining sunlight into my eyeballs. Temps right now a lovely 4°C and sunrise in the capital was at 10.36 and sunset at 15.54.
At around the same time, though, I bought The Brothers Karamazov, which is still sitting unread on my shelf, and Anna Karenina, with which I had considerably more success [read it, loved it], which makes me think I must have had a period of hypothetical infatuation with Russian literature. I've tried a few times to get into Crime and Punishment but without success. I think I found the prose too dense and psychological in the first few pages to really absorb me, particularly as the main character seemed to me to be decidedly unpleasant and... in fact the only word that springs to mind at the moment is the German word 'abstoßent' - which means 'repulsive' only without such a heavy connotation. Either that or it was the hideous book cover:
Seriously, isn't that the most hideous book cover you've ever seen? I think the person who designed that book cover should be subject to punishment - I mean, what's it supposed to be? A woman occupying a man's brain? In the shape of a cross? Or in a grave? A giant mouth? Female genitalia? What?
Yes yes, ok, it's probably supposed to represent the guilt the unpleasant repulsive main character feels after he's DONE THE DEED that he keeps referring just like that in the first two or three dozen pages of the book. During that time he roams around hither and thither and we get extremely well versed in the contents of his brain and THE DEED that he keeps meaning to do and all the unpleasant people and squalid conditions that surround him. And then finally he gets around to doing THE DEED and even MORE of a DEED than he planned to, and then we get a minute, play-by-play account of his psychological state over the succeeding hours and days. And so far I'm only on page 126 and there's still 402 to go. And, you know, I'm starting to wonder. Is this, like, it?
Still, I figure rave reviews for the last 150 years have to account for something, so I probably shouldn't chuck it in the bin just yet. Even if that cover makes me feel like I have cooties on my fingers.
JUDGING THE WEATHER BY THE WEATHER
... And it's been a perfectly pleasant day. Very light winds and mild temps and even some beautiful midwinter sunshine. Believe me, YT is grateful for any ray of light we get up here these days, which is why I cannot comprehend why people actually wear sunglasses in Iceland in the winter. You know those fold-up aluminium tanning things people used to hold up in front of their faces in the 70s so they'd get a better tan? I'm seriously thinking of getting one of those just for shining sunlight into my eyeballs. Temps right now a lovely 4°C and sunrise in the capital was at 10.36 and sunset at 15.54.
posted by Alda at 11:20 PM
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