Beginnings

This is the beginning of my "project", which I have devised because I have just finished a degree in English and Theatre Studies and now feel as though I have no incentive to read anymore. So, while I was watching "The Office" the other day (the episode where they do the pub quiz then throw Tim's shoes over the roof), I was struck by an unlikely boast from Finchy that he reads "a book a week". Now, I imagine that it's obvious what my project is, but for the slow of thinking, I am attempting to emulate that high-minded and noble goal.

My intention is to read one novel (or play, or full collection of poetry, depending on how I feel) every week, then post a short synopsis and my impressions of it. I often find that when I'm talking about books with someone, I can say that I have read a book but then remember nothing about it offhand. Hopefully this will help me to remember the things that I read, as well as providing a valuable service for those people who stumble onto this blog who are bored/lost/even a little bit interested.

There is no real rhyme or reason to the choices of book - I have a feeling I'll be choosing relatively short ones, for the simple reason that I'm unlikely to get through War and Peace in one week (another one that I've actually read but can't remember very much about except the fact that I enjoyed it at the time). I'm going to try not to be a snob about it, and go for newer bestsellers, but the fact is that I actually like reading the classics and stuff, so there'll be a few of them as well.

Neither is there going to be any structure to my criticism/analysis - just my general impressions. Perhaps a character list, and a little run-down of the main themes/symbols as I see them. Also, I like first lines of novels, I think they tell you a lot about whether you're going to enjoy the book, so a good idea may be to grade the first line out of 10, just for poops and giggles. For purposes of comparison, this is an example of a 10/10 first line in my opinion, I committed it to memory when I read the book a few years ago because I liked it so much:

"It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me" - Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers.

To me it has everything - the shock value of the old man and his catamite, the juxtaposition of this with the arrival of the archbishop, the mystery of how the archbishop knows him, what he wants, who Ali is, who the catamite is, where they are - I could go on. Again, I don't really remember much else about the book itself, other than it was very long but worth the read - I couldn't tell you the name of the narrator though, for example (except that I THINK the archbishop was called Carlo).

Another of my favourite first lines, perhaps 9/10 -

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years Of Solitude

Had to look that one up but I remember it as my second favourite, just didn't have the exact wording in my head. Okay we get the idea I think. I'm going to start with the book I finished last night, which can count as last week's read: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. Stay tuned folks.