Ruminations on Literature

1. You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned - The Alan Parsons Project
2. The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether - The Alan Parsons Project
3. Don't Answer Me - The Alan Parsons Project
4. Birdland - Weather Report
5. Zigaboogaloo - Nicholas Payton

So, guess what band I discovered this week. :)

My college list experienced a culling yesterday when I found out the Stanford app is due in early December, not January (!!), and I had to scramble to get myself organized. Berkeley, Princeton, and (sigh) Umich all got the axe. Cal Tech and MIT are both living on the edge, but I think they're here to stay. Person of the Week Award definitely goes to my mom for sorting out foot-thick piles of paperwork for me.

Some good TASPer-recommended reading has come my way through, surprisingly enough, my school library, which is not known for its comprehensive collection (e.g. they don't have a copy of Brave New World - unless you count the English department hoard, that is). I think I mentioned The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, which is pretty good so far, although it may be several months before I'm finished with it (think 500 pages, approx. 10 pages a day . . .). Also, I stumbled across Guns, Germs, and Steel, which happened to be sitting on the "new acquisitions" shelf (the librarian tells me I am the first one to check it out!), which looks like a fascinating concept, although perhaps rather dense in places.

Also, I realized this book I'm reading for English, The Sound of Waves (by Yukio Mishima), is more or less the complete opposite to Pride and Prejudice. There are some basic similarities (love story, concerns about wealth differences, initial surprise/disapproval of the match by other characters) but stylistically, and even plotwise it is a total inversion of Austen's tale. Huge emphasis on visual description, general lack of dialogue, straightforward characters lacking great intellect, focus on action and physical phenomena rather than verbal interaction. I don't really like the book that much, frankly, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but I think I will enjoy exploring this contrast . . . maybe I'll write my world literature part II essay on it.

OK, enough ramblings. Back to more productive (if less stimulating) endeavors.

Sam