To balance out my excitement over having a TV (and University Challenge again), I’ve decided to keep a record of the books I’ve read this year. There’s an excellent library in the flat I’m minding, and I’ll have to be careful not to stay up late reading every night.
So far I’ve read Amy Tan’s “The Hundred Secret Senses”, which was much better than I thought it would be. Slightly less sentimentality, and I like the way she handled characterisation. It might not be terribly subtle, but it worked.
I’m currently reading Alan Hollinghurst’s “The Swimming-Pool Library”, which I’m enjoying, but it does seem to be an early version of “The Line of Beauty”: handsome Oxbridge graduate with a bit of a thing for black guys sleeps around a lot and enjoys the privileges of the British upper class.
I’ve also read Judith Butler (“Imitation and Gender Insubordination”) for a theory reading group, which has been great fun. I can feel my brain getting used to thinking about critical theory again.
I read “The Mill on the Floss” just before moving, but that probably doesn’t count.