Archive for Reading

Updated Summer Reading Garble

2009/08/05 at 2:44 am · Filed under Reading ·Tagged , , , , ,

From the looks of this blog one would imagine that I do nothing but read (and subsequently nothing exciting in my life occurs.) Though that is not true, I can do nothing but reinforce that image because I am about present another summer reading update. Ah, pity. Anyways, here are a few more books that I have read since posting the last list or books that I forgot to include in the last post.

  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s  Le Petit Prince
  • Thich Naht Hanh’s 화 (Anger) – read in Korean
  • 김정현’s 아버지 (obviously Korean)
  • Audiobooks: J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
  • Jonh Grisham’s The King of Torts

As usual, I will choose one more book to expand my views a little. Though this book has already received a rave of reviews, I shall join the chorus. I will admit, however, that I bought this book in 2007 and have just only finished it. I discovered in May 2007 that Clarke’s writing style, while highly entertaining, to be too ropey.  That year’s August, I found Clarke to be quite vivid, but with the college transition, the book lay forgotten somewhere in my library. The next summer, my excuse was the PCAT and subsequent pre-pharmacy duties, and only this year (sometime last weekend) I picked up the book and failed to put the book down (with a sane want/need of a casual reader) until I finally finished it last night past 3:00 AM.

Reader beware. Once Clarke captures you, she will bind you to the book, just as the gentleman with thistle-down hair envelopes Jonathan Strange in the Everlasting darkness. You will not break free until you finish the book, and even then, the world that Clarke has created will linger in the back of your mind, always ready to welcome you back into it. The scenes the writer painted gives a vivid pastel-tone aura; a piece of work that surprises the viewer with the strong memory and emotional tie that we didn’t even realize we had until we left it.

I’m getting all dramatic about the book, so I’m going to move on. In about two weeks, my summer officially comes to an end. Since a reading famine is sure to occur, I am determined to read as many as more books before leaving for school. Here are the desirables:

  • J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Children of Húrin
  • Jane Austen’s Emma or Sense and Sensibility
  • Peter Shaffer’s Equus
  • Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting
  • Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange

I have already read the script and seen the movie version of Trainspotting. While I did enjoy both tremendously, I would like to read the original work to honor the author and movie righteously. (I am one of those very unyielding people that almost always believe that the book to be superior to the recreated movie. Few exceptions occur, and I believe two of those are Joe Wright’s recreation of Pride and Prejudice and Peter Jackson’s making of The Lord of the Rings. Countless examples of failures exist; The Harry Potter movies are one. I would say Twilight was a horrible mistake, but then, so was the book.)

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Summer Reading List 2009

2009/07/13 at 10:20 am · Filed under Musings, Reading ·Tagged , , , ,

And walla! Here is the reading list for the summer so far!

  • Stephanie Meyer’s The Twilight Series
  • Roald Dahl’s The BFG, The Twits
  • Umberto Eco’s Baudolino, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana
  • Audiobooks: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter 1
  • Kate di Camillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie
  • Jacqueline Wilson’s Candyfloss
  • Thich Naht Hanh’s The Stone Boy
  • Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park
  • J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit
  • Gave up: James Joyce’s Dubliners

I know there are books here and there I have forgot to mention (mainly Korean. I’ve also been reading the daily newspaper much more often.), but the list is still not so scanty. As for a book report, I must admit that I’ve not much to say. I will bravely announce that I have read the Meyer books. That said, I would also like to mention that I did not pay a dime to read them and refuse to lavish them with more attention that they deserve. Besides the adolescent protagonist’s drama and the seemingly limited emotional range (dare I say that of a teaspoon?), the books do not offer much.

I did notice that I have read many children books: The Twilight Series, The BFG, The Twits, Harry Potter, Because of Winn-Dixie, Candyfloss, and technically, even The Hobbit. While an underlying cause exists (most of the books were chosen and recommended by one lovely student I tutor), I do not regret reading most. The syntax, vocabulary and even the ideas seemed refreshing. Perhaps slaving over countless pages of organic chemistry, et. al. for an entire year and dealing with adults and college students made me forget how easy life can be. I will say what has been said so often: I adore the simplicity.

I hope to spend this summer acquiring a refreshing outlook. Instead of complicating things more, I’m trying to appreciate the seemingly plain things. And maybe, this gratitude will prepare me for another challenging year… I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed! : )

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Back for now

2009/05/12 at 11:43 am · Filed under Musings, Pharmacy + Science & Whatnot, Reading ·Tagged , , , , , ,

This year has been quite the experience. Despite the almost impossible airplane trips to and from home, the slightly crazed class load and the huge shift in social dynamics, I’ve gotten through the loops and hoops that seemed to strangle me away from whatever the end of this year was supposed to accomplish.

First things are first. I’ve made my decision as of where I will be next year. I will continue to stay at Purdue University to finish my Doctor of Pharmacy education; so it’s another four years to get through, taking and making the best out of whatever comes my way. I think it’s quite easy to say that now, that I’m going to try my best since I’m not directly involved with the predicament. That said, I’m writing write now from the post-hardship phase – well, actually, my vacation hasn’t started yet – I’m writing this from Narita Airport. I haven’t arrived at my final destination yet: home. (Actually, I am writing from Incheon Airport, now.)

Since I’m on the subject of airports anyways, I’d like to lament about the unfortunate plane trips I’ve had since starting my college career. My first trip back to Korea, Chicago got a major snowstorm. Getting from Indy to ‘O Hare was no problem – leaving Chicago was. They made us board, and then we stalled for four hours! The worst part of it all was that they kept on saying that we’d be leaving in ten, fifteen, thirty minutes (keeping our hopes up, eh?) and wouldn’t let us go. Needless to say, I had missed breakfast because I had to leave at 5:30 in the morning from the big PU), and had not bought lunch because the plan was that the plane would feed me – so I was quite the hungry one. The return trip back from Korea was all right, but the snow storm hadn’t passed. Getting to ‘O Hare, once again, was no problem. The problem was that the luggage compartment had frozen over, and they couldn’t get out the luggage so we were stuck in ‘O Hare again. See my luck? The plot thickens, but all I’m going to say about this trip was that United Airlines did not provide even a blanket and it was delayed for at least three hours because a) the filter wasn’t working quite right, b) they messed up the legal work and c) the pilot was late. I think I’m going to start flying Delta or Korean Airlines again.

When we got to Narita, it was even more frustrating. Because of the Swine Flu that is apparently (and not really) ravaging the minds of clueless people, we got a bunch of confused looking Japanese health officials to poorly “inspect” us. They made us fill out paper work, and then provided masks. (Which, I thought silly again, because a mask doesn’t provide much protection from a virus. Viruses are way too small.) Whatever to my sarcastic point of view, and I put them on for my respect for even the dumbest of legal procedures, but what astonished me was that, they didn’t even have us wear it throughout the airport. In other words, they just had us wear the masks to communicate with the already air-filter/goggle, scrubs and et. al. protected people… Seriously? Seriously! Seriously. I mean, for real, people? They’re definitely not isolating a virus strain through some paper work and some flimsy fomite of a mask. All I’ve got to say is I love over-excited, over-reacting and overtly dumb public policies. In the mean time, I accomplished something that I would never do: I started reading the Twilight series (much to my own dismay, but I wasn’t really feeling Faulkner), and got a good laugh out of the self-important protagonists. I finished the first two books (Twilight and New Moon), and I think if I can acquire the other two books without cost, I may finish it.

So, it’s summer now. It hasn’t hit me now, but I suppose it soon will. It still hasn’t really hit me that school is out. I suppose it will become more obvious when I get accustomed to my work schedule and my summer life. I have two jobs (in a lab and as a tutor), but I wouldn’t mind picking up another at a hospital. I’m hoping to train for long distance running so hopefully in two years, I can run the Indy Mini-marathon in a reasonable time. On top of that, I’ll be picking up tennis again (more like re-learning) and learning how to drive… which, in all honesty, I’m not too excited about. We’ll see how it goes. This summer, despite all these plans, I want to focus on becoming more self-composed. I want to become more independent that before. I have good reasons for this decision. I’m quite the independent person to begin with, but self-maintenance seems to be an important quality to succeeding.

I’m starting pharmacy school next year, which means that classes are going to get harder, but most important, I’m a step closer to becoming a person that I wanted to, and I want to use that opportunity well. Like I’ve chosen to move on with my life, my two closest friends at Purdue University have, too. One is transferring to Pittsburgh University and the other is staring graduate school. I suspect this shifts some of the dynamics in my closest relationships, whether for the better or the worse. In order to maintain the academic standards, social security and healthy life style I want, it’s important that I know how to take care of myself well. I know I have wrap up the easiest part of my life – adolescence… and I definitely do not want to make this time an awkward phase of my life

Well, that’s it for now. I know I’ve been absent from the blog a lot, but school comes first. I hope I won’t get that bored over the summer ☺.

- the end -

*** that said, I do plan on watching re-runs of Grey’s Anatomy Season 5 and catch up on House M.D.

****** and read a LOT. I want to re-read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, try the entire series of 토지, a lot of poetry, Jane Austen, and other great books, classics and otherwise alike.

******** and spend time with the family and a good friend. : )

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Summer Reading Report

2008/11/01 at 10:47 am · Filed under Reading ·Tagged , , , ,

it’s NOVEMBER now. Just a “little” after summer. Hah! But I noticed the other day of how I still have my summer reading list up, and I decided to take it down. But here’s the list itself.

While the Summer lasts:
 Currently Reading:
:::::J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion
:::::Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Finished Fine:
  • J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings
  • Umberto Eco’s Baudolino
  • Yarn Martell Life of Pi
  • Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
  • Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility
  • Paul Zindel’s The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
  • George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion
  • Alain de Botton’s How Proust Can Change Your Life
  • Alain de Botton’s On Love
  • Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five
  • Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street

    • Sadly, I neither finished Silmarillion nor Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – hopefully I will on the way back to South Korea after my finals this year, which means that it won’t be until December that I get to have a relaxing read. I haven’t really read my Bible as much as I would like, but let me tell you, I’ve read my Anatomy, Organic, Physics, Sociology, Spanish and Health Science text books often… oh! and lab manuals, did I mention that? Good times!

    It was Halloween last night, right? Of course, with a tension, cluster or whatever headache, trick-or-treating is out of question, and with minimal rest, I stayed in (as usual). While I watched some horr-or(-ible)  movies (i.e. – I Know Who Killed Me, which has a 8% review on Rotten Tomatoes and Boggieman 2, which has 5.1/10 on IMDB) and did some homework (of course, what’s new?), I couldn’t refrain from being a nerd. When the murdered victims were described by court officials, a chill ran down my spine, not because of the images, rather due to the description. Yes, I had my eyes averted on my papers, but I actually understood all that sinus and artery stuff they were talking about… so I guess I am getting some practical application out of my college biology classes! :-)

    Anyways, getting back to reading, let me elaborate on a few things concerning this list. My favourites were (as usual) Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, but I truly realished Eco’s Baudolino. He has quite an attitude against the established church (a.k.a the Hole See), but it was a cute twist on what people used to think. A satire on delusional and destructive blinding of religious influence, Baudolino is Eco’s best reflection on his distrust. What I particularly enjoyed was how is mixed the reality and the fantasy – almost magical realism, but not quite. Too fantastic, I would say for Garcia Marquez to approve, but too down to earth to be nonsense work! Anyways, I can’t wait to get a chance to read more of his stuff!

    Speaking of a reading list… I should update that reading list with my text books. ;-) Sad as it sounds, it would be the truth. Actually, they’re not too bad – just too much at times. I enjoy learning about whatever that may be on those pages, especially, now that they’re becoming more specific to my studies. All I’ve got to say after all of that, though, is that I’m just going to keep on trying my best at whatever I’m doing now, and hope for the best, and that it’ll be worth it at the end!

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    From the Windy City

    2008/08/16 at 1:24 am · Filed under Friendship Bracelets, Musings, Reading ·Tagged , , , ,

    After twelve grueling hours, through a torrential rain (and getting most of my luggage soaked) and without food for a while, I finally returned to the US. Currently, I write in the Windy City, also known officially as The City of Chicago. The 67 degrees Fahrenheit hardly even qualifies as late spring weather. Let’s just say that upon coming to Chicago, I have acquired:

    • a cough
    • a need to dig through my wet luggage to bust out the slightly soggy jeans over shorts
    • inclination to hide under the covers (during the summer, you hide on top of the covers. The mere fact that you are in bed shields you from the world.)
    • craving for long sleeves (not available from my luggage)
    • lethargy
    • ORGANIC ALMONDS, STRAWBERRIES AND CHERRIES (I had strawberries and cherries for dinner – how pleasant!)
    • … and the list goes on.

    Surprisingly, I think I’m OK with jet lag. I have a mild headache, but I’m alert enough. I’ve read up to page three-hundred-something in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but I left The Silmarillion at home. I wonder how much time I’m going to have to actually read at my own leisure (that means, text books aren’t counted as relaxed reading.)

    An interesting note related to reading is what I’ve been using as bookmarks (They magically disappear, do they not?). I’ve been using the friendship bracelets I’ve made. When well made, friendship bracelets end up being sturdy but not too voluminous, so it’s a perfect substitute to the paper ones that I seem to always end up losing. (This summer, I tragically lost my Die Muik by Klimt bookmark. :() I advocate the making of friendship bracelets because a) it’s fun, b) it’s cheap to do, c) repetitive hand motion not only enhances brain function (especially good for the elderly) and d) de-stresses your brain e) it’s pretty! and f) quick project. So, instead of buying bookmarks, you can make your own!

    We’re staying at Naperville right now, and I do believe it’s quite a pretty and quaint little place. I, of course, checked out the library, the little stores and the cafés. While I’m not entirely sure of their food selection (which translates to I didn’t find any exciting gelaterias), but the library is quite pleasant. They had a eclectic nonfiction section (I didn’t get as far as the fiction section.) and seemed to have a nice audio selection as well. A little complaint I had, though not only on Nichols Library, was the amount of AC that was on. First off, going from a hot weather to extreme cold isn’t healthy for your body (everyone catches a cold during autumn). Secondly, it’s a waste of money and energy to just have the AC on as much. Thirdly, it’s summer. Why does everyone complain about the cold and when summer starts, everyone reverts to the cold? I know it’s nice to have a rest from extreme heat, but it’s not even eighty degrees. Take a nap with your cat on the lawn and just enjoy the warmth while it lasts.

    Tomorrow we head down to school. Let’s just say that Indiana isn’t known for cute little shops, but corn and, uh, more corn… at least, corn’s readily available for Thanksgiving.

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    I Know I’m Guilty

    2008/07/28 at 2:08 am · Filed under Reading ·Tagged , , , , ,

    I don’t like spending money. Well, I do, but I don’t enjoy wasting it. Frugality serves well to the light wallet, but one’s gotta live, eh? Anyways, two things I don’t save that much money are food and books.

    Well, actually, I do, but I speak in matters of relativity. Food serves as my fuel and reading, my forte. I absorb the flowing prose of great authors of the past with such grace… who am I fooling? I devour word after word of many a book (like food!) — most good works fail to be night-time reading for I have an unfortunate trait of thinking all books are one-sitters.

    On top of this gusto, I adore vintage books. Rather than the glossy, commercial looks of many books today (think John Grisham or movie tie-in covers); I prefer the papery, or perhaps woody or leathery, worn but well-loved waft from the books that have withstood the challenges of time.

    While I sincerely enjoy most genres, I love Tolkien’s epic style. I know Rowling’s Harry Potter series isanother popular fantasy read, I’m not that fond of it. It’s ok, but the plot dwindled a long time ago. I don’t deny the fact that I read the Rings Trilogy after I saw the first movie (I was12, give me a break. Besides, I lived in Korea and mostly read Korean authors.), I bought Harper Collin’s paper back movie tie-in in 2002 for around ₩ 10,000 (Won), which is around 10 USD (It says on the back that it’s £14.99! I was super lucky.) Since then, I have acquired The Hobbit (actually, three Hobbits!), The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales (the latter two being Harper Collins paperbacks – obviously more gorgeous).

    My humble Tolkien collection

    I have long admired Tolkien’s original drawings and have wanted to purchase the Boxed Harper Collins (UK) edition and The Hobbit, especially after my copy became lean after much reading. Harper Collins, one of the UK publishers for Tolkien has a gorgeous set of paperbacks and hardcovers. In the US it’s difficult unless I pay for an exorbitant shipping fee. Furthermore, I like the 1 volume editions. So what does a college student do when she faces such a sphinx-like question?

    She splurges despite all odds.

    Let me introduce you to The Lord of the Rings, Collector’s Edition, 1974.

    It cost me $30. It’s beautiful, antique and definitely shelve-worthy. The new deluxe edition that Houghton Mifflin published as a 50 years anniversary in 2004 costs $85. Besides the fact that the ‘04 version uses the fully corrected text for the first time, it’s not really that different. The new version, like the ‘91 edition contains illustrated images by Alan Lee, but I don’t find them necessary. It’s Tolkien narrating and I don’t need help envisioning the scenery; he already did a good job drawing out everything. After all, Tolkien touts his title as Father of Modern High Fantasy over all. Even Rowling with her Potter series cannot match Tolkien’s grandeurs.

    So you think I would stop there, right? I mean, I should keep a head. You thought wrong, very wrong. I mean, I have a head, though perhaps for shock-inhibiting purposes… These types of dangerous adventures must invite side effects.

    The Children of Húrin, published just last year. An epic on the Elder Ages, it contains previous occurrences to the trilogy. I hear it’s harder to read than LOTR, but this I find true with most of his unfinished works. To begin with, they were incomplete, thus the plots are not as well woven together; but many more serious Tolkien aficionados are fine with them. So best of luck to myself in my lazy quest to just read them over the semester… I must return to reading The Two Towers.

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