Fever Bird

It has been almost a year since my last post. I was discouraged by some horrible troll that posted a comment (which I deleted), but I am thinking I am ready to try a little again. I haven't read that many 1001 books recently, but I did want to post my favorite poem from one of my favorite books, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. This book is very long but well worth the time. Here is the poem: The Fever Bird The fever bird sang out last night. I could not sleep, try as I might. My brain was split, my spirit raw, I looked into the garden, saw The shadow of the amaltas Shake slightly on the moonlight grass. Unseen, the bird cried out its grief, Its lunacy, without relief: Three notes repeated closer, higher, Soaring, then sinking down like fire Only to breathe the night and soar, As crazed, as desperate, as before. I shivered in the midnight heat And smelt the sweat that soaked my sheet. And now tonight I hear again The call the skewers through my brain, The call, the brain-sick triple note -- A bone of pain stuck in its throat. I am so tired I could weep. Mad bird, for God's sake let me sleep. Why do you cry like one possessed? When will you rest? When will you rest? Why wait each night till all but I Lie sleeping in the house, then cry? Why do you scream into my ear What no one else but I can hear?

Busy Busy

October was crazy, and November is going to be even worse. I started The Once and Future King by T.H. White, but I haven't gotten very far. It is a very good book but I just don't have the time right now. I also want to rate the last 10 books I read, but don't know when I will get around to going back through them.

The Black Dahlia

Book #213, The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, is haunting and beautiful. Part of the reason why I haven't posted sooner is because I have been trying to shake the feeling that the story has become entwined with my own life (another part is lack of time). At first I thought the 40's slang was kind of silly, but now I find myself wanting to use phrases like "I was itchy to go."And the complete obsession over Betty/Beth/Betsy Short's life and death had me reeling. Read this book if you don't have problems separating reality from fiction.

Sucked In By A Mystery

I am now reading The Black Dahlia and it is taking over my life. It is an enthralling story that I need to finish so that it will stop messing with my head. Some stories just get under my skin and I think about them even when I'm not reading. It is great to come across a story that powerful, but it can also be exhausting.

The Purloined Letter

Book #909, The Purloined Letter, is an extremely short story by Edgar Allan Poe. I think it is a total of 15 pages, but still manages to be yawn-worthy at times. While Dupin is Poe's all-knowing detective, Conan Doyle did that type of character much better with Sherlock Holmes. While I agree that some of Poe's works are quite important literary contributions, I find that in many of his stories he spends too much time explaining things that really aren't that important or interesting. Case in point - a police inspector asks Dupin for help regarding a case involving a letter stolen from a female person of dignitary importance. The inspector knows who stole the letter but cannot find it even after searching the thief's residence. Dupin then spends several pages explaining how easy the letter was to find. Blah blah blah. At least the story was over quickly.

Ragtime

I finished book #335, Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, this afternoon. It ended up being a thoroughly engrossing book, and the short chapters made it easy to say "I'll just read one more." Among all the famous characters were two unnamed families who were caught up in the middle of all the important events happening at the dawn of the 20th century. We see the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, many of Houdini's amazing feats, the trial of Harry K Thaw, and event a tiny bit of the Mexican Revolution. I very much enjoyed reading this book.

Poe and Doctorow

I started Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, and I am almost to The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe in my complete collection of Poe stories. Ragtime is interesting so far, it is set in the early 1900s and discusses many famous people of the time, such as Harry Houdini and Sigmund Freud. The one thing I find annoying is that the actual fictional characters don't have names - they are called The Little Boy and Mother's Younger Brother. Kind of weird.