Reading

When I envisioned this year, I hadn't realized how much reading I would be able to do.  Reading on a regular basis is doing wonders for me.  While in college I was reading all of the time, but they were scheduled readings.  In Berlin, I find myself picking up any book that is in English which has led to some interesting finds.  So far, I have finished 5 books, and it just so happens that the first three were written by Stanford graduates. 

One of the books was written by David Sedaris... which I throw away as soon as I got of the S-Bahn.. about a minute after I finished reading the book.  This is not a usual habit of mine, however I dislike his writing so much that I think no other person should ever be subjected to this material.  I have also gone to a reading done by him and it only confirmed that he has no literary merit as an author. Most of his writing is based on such selfish and embellished material that it is difficult to gain any intellectual stimulation from.  He is an author that people read to feel better about how awful they really are to other people... justifying a degrading sense of humor.

Fail, David Sedaris, fail.

However, I just finished The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.  The Informers was a piece about the degradation of L.A. high society in the early 80's when the economic and technology boom just began. Of course it was based on fictitious events regarding sex, drugs, and culture, yet the way the events were described drew the reader into that time frame.  I even felt a sense of depression and void of a purpose for the characters as I was attempting to relate to them.  Overall, a good read if you are looking for that sort of book.

As for Lolita, I am still trying to process how I feel about the subject material and its presentation before I can even think how to critique in any way.