This is the epitome of genius. Nabokov must have some kind of freak literary gene that makes him so good with words. This is one of the few books I've wanted to start reading again the moment I reached the end. (I think Lolita was another...) On the surface, Pale fire is a 999 line …
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Kafka has some way with words that makes everything seem like a slow, surreal nightmare. This story, in simple, straightforward language, manages that feeling while still being somewhat comical. Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find he's transformed into a giant insect-like creature who's smell and appearance so horrify his family that they can't bear …
Starting at the action
I'm listening to Kafka's Metamorphosis, and the first sentence is him waking up as a giant insect. This is how stories should be told. So many other writers, amateur or not, would write however many thousands of words about the day before it happened--but why waste time getting there? Since the story is about him …
Too many books for patience
I started listening to Remains of the Day by the new winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Kazuo Ishiguro. After 15 minutes of nothing happening, and multiple restarts cause I zoned out thinking about something else, I gave up and returned it. I know I have criticized today's people for having no patience, for …
Thanks for existence, universe!
I'm thankful to exist, to be able to experience pleasure and thought and excitement and wonder, and even to experience sadness and longing and melancholy--because these are all things, all flavors of the world that mix together to make the meal of life. I'm thankful I can write without pain, and think without pain, and …
Jonas David 