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#26 - #33: hasty pudding book reviews!
Monday, 26 March 2012 05:24Hi! It's 6 AM and I haven't slept all night, since I have a flight to get on at 11 today. Today I went to the British Museum for part of it and read on the steps there, in the sunshine:
Discipline & Punish, by Michel Foucault.
( Really what does one say about classic texts? Well, I liked it...? )
Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, by Jonathan Culler.
In our last tutorial of term my tutor referred to short introductions of [whatever field] as 'idiosyncratic & prescriptive'. Goddamn it: how does it take her like three words to sum up like three paragraphs' worth of my rambling re: my unease about this sort of thing?
Nevertheless, I can't stay away from these Very Short Introductions, and this was fairly competent. It did annoy me, though, that Culler organised the chapters according to 'what sort of questions does literary theory seek to answer?' rather than 'what sort of ideas have literary theorists found fashionable in the last handful of decades'? Probably the former is a more thoughtful way of approaching the introduction, but really that tends to leave you with a longer reading list and prevents you from namedropping theorists quite as readily as the latter would facilitate, and really isn't that at least 70% of the reason most people pick up these books anyway?
Gather Together in My Name, by Maya Angelou.
( yes )
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, by Maya Angelou.
A bit more focused this time round, though it really pretty much is just careertalk and her getting to travel to amazing places, which can be either incredibly interesting or invariably dull depending on your perspective. I did love the bits about her son though! /insightful commentary
Gentlemen of the Road, by Michael Chabon.
( originally titled, according to Chabon, 'Jews With Swords' )
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.
( Saw this in Waterstones and couldn't resist because I really want to watch the movie and not be behind on the pop culture curve for once )
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins.
( spoilers, no quotes )
Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins.
( Still pretty good! But my least favourite. I don't know, I was getting pretty tired by the end of this race through the series. )
Discipline & Punish, by Michel Foucault.
( Really what does one say about classic texts? Well, I liked it...? )
Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, by Jonathan Culler.
In our last tutorial of term my tutor referred to short introductions of [whatever field] as 'idiosyncratic & prescriptive'. Goddamn it: how does it take her like three words to sum up like three paragraphs' worth of my rambling re: my unease about this sort of thing?
Nevertheless, I can't stay away from these Very Short Introductions, and this was fairly competent. It did annoy me, though, that Culler organised the chapters according to 'what sort of questions does literary theory seek to answer?' rather than 'what sort of ideas have literary theorists found fashionable in the last handful of decades'? Probably the former is a more thoughtful way of approaching the introduction, but really that tends to leave you with a longer reading list and prevents you from namedropping theorists quite as readily as the latter would facilitate, and really isn't that at least 70% of the reason most people pick up these books anyway?
Gather Together in My Name, by Maya Angelou.
( yes )
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, by Maya Angelou.
A bit more focused this time round, though it really pretty much is just careertalk and her getting to travel to amazing places, which can be either incredibly interesting or invariably dull depending on your perspective. I did love the bits about her son though! /insightful commentary
Gentlemen of the Road, by Michael Chabon.
( originally titled, according to Chabon, 'Jews With Swords' )
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.
( Saw this in Waterstones and couldn't resist because I really want to watch the movie and not be behind on the pop culture curve for once )
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins.
( spoilers, no quotes )
Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins.
( Still pretty good! But my least favourite. I don't know, I was getting pretty tired by the end of this race through the series. )