Wanted: a dose of fiction
I think I shall add a few fiction titles to the stuff I'm reading. Over the past almost six years I've been at Waterloo, I've forgotten how enjoyable it can be to read a good story. Except for a few breaks in between when I picked up some of my old novels and read one or two new ones, my reading has been restricted to course textbooks (mostly the day before the midterm and final) and some extra non-fiction material that's interesting but not fun. And then I usually read half of most of these books and forget about them until... well, I guess I never really read them entirely.
So, after I'm done this bloody human rights paper (it's due in two weeks, yikes!), I'm going to pick up some good novels. Some ideas:
Palace of Desire, number two in Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy (I read the first one last year).
Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.
Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.
Anything by Agatha Christie, my all time favourite mystery writer (although there's few books of hers remaining that I haven't read).
And yes, maybe even the latest Harry Potter, even though I haven't read any of the first five.
As they say, nobody ever killed themselves while reading a good book.
6 comments:
Hey Ali,
How about Non Fiction stuff? How was Paris 1919?
Paris 1919 was very detailed is the first thing I will say. Again, I didn't read all of it. If you're into that stuff, I recommend going through the chapters covering agreements and decisions that would be of interest to you and seeing how they came about.
Jumping a few decades, I found Gilles Kepel's The War for Muslim Minds quite informative on topics like the neocon movement, the Middle East conflict, Saudi Arabia's religio-politics, Al-Qaeda, Iraq etc.
I got busy with other things so I still haven't finished it. But I think I will now peruse through the final chapter "The Battle for Europe". Seems like an apt time to read on that.
I've been looking around for a used copy of The Brothers Karamazov but I have been unable to find one. That book is at the top of my 'must read' list, along with Clockwork Orange, and Anna Karenina.
If I get my hands on a copy I'll let you know, although I was just thinking of borrowing it from the library. I'm sure they have it.
I found a copy for $4 at Second Look bookstore in Kitchener. I'm excited to start reading it. However, I'm making myself wait until after the paper is done and my french class has been passed.
Good idea. I haven't gone past two pages for this damned paper. I think we should consider that idea of yours of just sitting down one evening and getting it done with.
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