Bloodorange
I'm a GoodReads user testing new waters after the serious website changes. I mostly read fiction, usually Anglophone classics/ modern classics; I like nonfiction (mostly social and cultural history), good fantasy and graphic novels. For guilty pleasure, I read advice and how-to books.
I made at least two reading resolutions recently; 1. read less, live more; 2. read books which give me more pleasure. I have poor filters, and books I find stylistically pleasing tend to be depressing, so I need to do something about that; if you think you know a book that is very well written, but won't make me weep, please drop me a line.
Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963
1. One must bear in mind, reading this selection from Susan Sontag's diaries, why they were edited and published in the first place: Sontag sold her diaries, along with all her writings, to the UCLA library, and since there was no clause limiting rights to access or publication of these materials, her son, journalist David Rieff, decided to order and publish the diaries as a form of preemptive strike (feeling/phrasing mine). 2. Three planned volumes are to represent nearly 100 notebooks.
3. The diaries are a surprisingly quick read: very fragmented, in shards even.
4. It's fascinating to see her list her subjects of interest - a good method of focusing/disciplining one's intellectual pursuits.
5. I've just started reading Volume II - I want to see how it compares, and whether it is a useful companion to Illness as Metaphor.
