Sonntag, 18. Dezember 2011

A strange weekend and a quick reading update

As you might have guessed from the title I am feeling very peculiar this weekend, and what bothers me the most is that there actually is no reason for it. Nothing has happened and yet I am not in the right mood to do anything, least of all study Latin (which is bad because I have an important test tomorrow... My emergency plan is to just quote Horaz at every question, Pulvis et umbra sumus, you know). I have finally finished Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Prince which I won't review because it is the second book of a trilogy and I would have to explain too much in order to make you understand how awesome it is.

Anyway, let me just say that I feel the burning need to defend the whole genre of paranormal/fantasy YA because of Cassandra Clare, she's a master of her art and proves to me again and again that although a lot of novels which fall into this category are simply crap (there's no way to say it differently)it doesn't have to be that way.
So anyone who possesses only the slightest interest in either YA literature in general or in steampunk or in urban fantasy should definitely try either her The Mortal Instruments or The Infernal Devices series, I can't recommend one of them since they are equally good, the only difference is the setting (Manhattan vs. Victorian London).

Okay, that was my December fun read, now back to more serious business.
I am currently reading E.T.A Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King which is rather enjoyable because it is obviously a Christmas story and fits the season very well.
Also, it is one of those stories everyone knows thanks to Tchaikovsky's famous ballet although only very few have actually read it. In my opinion such books are always fun to read because one already has an ideé fixe of what they are about before even beginning and is in most cases surprised that they are not quite like in one's imagination after all.

By the way I still haven't decided if I should read A Christmas Carol this year, it is not very long but it is Dickens, so it would probably take me some time...
What do you think? Should I invest in it or move on to some Greek plays?
Argh, I hate being so indecisive!

3 Kommentare:

  1. Why not pick something shorter--say, Tolstoy's short story "Where Love Is, God Is"? Similar message, waaaay less time investment. :)

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  2. Jean, you're my heroine at the moment!!! Tolstoy is already ordered :)

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  3. LOL! Dickens--I feel the same way about him. Thanks for stopping by today.

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