Thursday, October 06, 2005

Listing Thursday

1. Finished Ender's Game. I enjoyed it - good content, easy read. A couple of synoposes I heard a long time ago really DID give away the good parts but because of the way the book developed, I thought they were wrong the whole time. And, that, friends, is a really confusing way to say that I didn't have the ending ruined for me, I liked the book, and, if you're a sci-fi fan, you should read it. According to my husband's facial expression upon learning that I had not read this book earlier, I am speaking to perhaps one other person in the history of the world. So, uh, I guess that guy should read it.

2. Out of the Science Fiction Future and into the 19th Century Past: I started reading Vanity Fair. WAY TO SWITCH GEARS, ERICA. So far I'm intrigued, although the last time I read something this gravely "classic" I got stuck in Jane Austen's Emma, which wasn't even 680-pages long like this bad boy. Let's see if I agree with my mum-in-law who LOVED VF.

3. In non-book-related news, dear Dad-in-Law gave us the use of the company car (Jaguar XJ8-L) while he was away and needed to fly out of BWI. K was in HOG HEAVEN since Monday night but abruptly crashed to Earth when the car was returned last night. We drove out to Annapolis on Tuesday for coffee and reading AGAIN because, oh yeah, he didn't care if we burned gas since we were sparing him the airport parking expense. Sweeeet. I love nice cars, but they always seem so unattainable and they really aren't a priority (i.e., car or travel? TRAVEL!), but K is of another breed. His dad's long-term involvement with the car industry doesn't help. I'm glad Hubster got to have his fun, however, and I will be the first to admit that pushing the pedal on a highway merge and having the car GOOOOO is addictive.

4. An small ensemble of church choir members are undertaking this gorgeous Renaissance piece entitled "O Quam Gloriosum" by Tomás de La Victoria. I heard a recording of it today and I'm obsessed! According to Her Fabulousness the Queen of Music Majors (RC) the violin is the closest mimicker of the human voice, but there's something about the poetry of the words (liturgy of the church in this case) combined with the music and then the interpretation of the two by the choir and director - it's indescribably beautiful. I think the first time I was bowled over by a piece was when the GCC Chapel Choir (including my Alto-singing self at the time) sang the Duruflé Requiem. Good choral music is still the surest way to make me awestruck of the greatness of God and the beauty of the universe. ¡Viva el coro!

5. Lunch hour is over, and while it's back to the gulag for me, YOU should have a great day! And if not, then there's always music and books!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the new set up. Very you. And I like again the pic of you. Have I ever told you that you have a beautiful nose. I like its shape. Mine is too bubbly. Yours is wonderful.

Havent read vanity fair. But actually would like to. I am reading Wilke Collins Woman in White. I havent read anything from that time period for a while and I am enjoying it for the most part. Though sometimes I want to strangle the women. Way too prone to fainting and near deadly illness.

E.A.P said...

Wow, Og, that's one of my favorites. I read that twice - once when I was 14 and I saw it in my grandfather's study on a trip to Argentina and once in college. The weakness of the woman is kinda infuriating. It gets better, if I recall. Oh and thanks for the kind compliments! Hug G and J for me!

Yax said...

I have read both Ender's Game and Vanity Fair. One was a joy to read and the other was not. I'll let you guess which was which.

I just read Vanity Fair for a class. And by "read Vanity Fair" I mean I read the first 200 pages, got hopelessly mired in Victorian sensibilities, and gave up in despair. Don't tell my prof though; he thinks I liked it.

RJ said...

Enders Game is definitely one of the best sci-fi books ever written. The immediate sequel, Speaker for the Dead, is pretty good too, although they get rather strange after that. The first half of the 3rd book, xenocide, is good, but the latter and all of "Children of the Mind" is just plain weird.