Love and Books
I started strong with the revitalized blog, but this week conspired to be a bit busy.
My dad and youngest two sisters came in town Thursday night, so we had to get the house in visitor-friendly shape---then entertain our guests once they arrived. Meanwhile, Dallas received an astronomical 12+ inches of snow. Then the Olympics started. My reading list has suffered as a result of all this activity.
Since I'm only about halfway through my next book (Netherland), I will provide a consolation prize in honor of Valentine's Day: some recommendations of books on love.
"It's better to have loved and lost:" On Love by Alain de Botton. This is love that doesn't end well, but it's an experience the narrator wouldn't have given up. (500) Days of Summer if it took place in London with less hipstery people.
A woman's love for her country: The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell. A book about loving something that also drives you crazy---like America. Laugh out loud funny with sobering truths about the necessary evils of politicians and the media buried inside. Not recommended for die-hard conservatives. Bonus trivia: the author, a one-time contributor for This American Life, is also the voice of Violet in the Disney movie The Incredibles.
Love of life and the world: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. "After that, how unbelievable death was!--that it must end; and no one in the whole world would know she had loved it all: how, every instant..." This a book for anyone who has ever had that feeling that the world is so beautiful it hurts a little. For those who think they wouldn't like Virginia Woolf, if you liked the first 1/3 of Atonement (a book that deserves a post of its own someday), you will like Mrs. Dalloway.
Love, stereotypically: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It's a cliche, but a deserving one.
If inquiring minds want to know, my Valentine gave me season 2 of Pushing Daisies today---a wonderfully adorable show about an unlikely romance. I'll have to squeeze some episodes in when I'm not watching bobsledding or downhill skiing over the next two weeks.
My dad and youngest two sisters came in town Thursday night, so we had to get the house in visitor-friendly shape---then entertain our guests once they arrived. Meanwhile, Dallas received an astronomical 12+ inches of snow. Then the Olympics started. My reading list has suffered as a result of all this activity.
Since I'm only about halfway through my next book (Netherland), I will provide a consolation prize in honor of Valentine's Day: some recommendations of books on love.
"It's better to have loved and lost:" On Love by Alain de Botton. This is love that doesn't end well, but it's an experience the narrator wouldn't have given up. (500) Days of Summer if it took place in London with less hipstery people.
A woman's love for her country: The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell. A book about loving something that also drives you crazy---like America. Laugh out loud funny with sobering truths about the necessary evils of politicians and the media buried inside. Not recommended for die-hard conservatives. Bonus trivia: the author, a one-time contributor for This American Life, is also the voice of Violet in the Disney movie The Incredibles.
Love of life and the world: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. "After that, how unbelievable death was!--that it must end; and no one in the whole world would know she had loved it all: how, every instant..." This a book for anyone who has ever had that feeling that the world is so beautiful it hurts a little. For those who think they wouldn't like Virginia Woolf, if you liked the first 1/3 of Atonement (a book that deserves a post of its own someday), you will like Mrs. Dalloway.
Love, stereotypically: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It's a cliche, but a deserving one.
If inquiring minds want to know, my Valentine gave me season 2 of Pushing Daisies today---a wonderfully adorable show about an unlikely romance. I'll have to squeeze some episodes in when I'm not watching bobsledding or downhill skiing over the next two weeks.
Labels: alain de botton, jane austen, sarah vowell, virginia woolf
posted by Darci at
9:31 PM
1 Comments:
Did you notice that he is reading an Alain de Botton book in (500) Days of Summer? (The Architecture of Happiness)
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