Saturday, May 05, 2007

END OF A PUNISHMENT AND THE BEGINNING OF GOOD OMENS!


Wasn't that a mouthful? What I'm trying to subtly say is that I have finished reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor D. Finally. (see, I can't even type out the authors surname without looking it up... the book is far away at the moment!)

It took me slightly more than 3 months to finish it, and if it weren't for the conditions I set in early March, the book may have been chucked into the cupboard and be best friends with the silverfish (the insect) that lurk there (whenever allowed to), abandoned and yellowing and hating me for the desertion.

If any book could be called complex, this has to be it. The main character is a multi faceted and extremely complex guy that it makes it difficult for easy reading. (Of course it was probably never intended to be easy reading in the first place, but as I now do most of my reading before going to sleep, maybe this book was a bad idea! - It's like taking an encyclopaedia on airplanes (when you're not an airplane afficionado) to a vacation in Bali, or something like that)

So, after three months (and slightly more) of trudging through the pages of minuscule print and falling asleep while reading and losing the last page and then looking for the last page again, etc. I finally finished it. In what I'd describe as a strange occurence, I find myself to quite like it - the story, not the idea of reading it!

Anyway, the preset condition was this... 'as long as this book remains unfinished, I'm not going to read any other book that comes my way' including this one book which was recommended by a friend ever so long ago, but which I only recently found. Actually, the book found me, and told me... "Read me! Read me!"

And that is what I did. Surprisingly, I managed to stay sane throughout the month.
I actually typed out this post on April 3rd, which suggests that this post is awfully backdated. At present, Good Omens has been neatly stored back into the book cupboard as I have completed reading it! It's a hoot! It was 6 days of bliss!
Anyways, back to the dreariness of life, I find myself shoving another abandoned book into my hands before I hop on to other more interesting stuff that await.
Why do I do this to myself?

12 comments:

  1. I applaud you. It was one of my goals to read that book, but I abandoned the goal long ago.

    My education in the classics is so deficient. I'm actually embarrassed. Perhaps when I retire I'll make more of an effort to read some of the classics.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow.. I'm trying to read Great Gatsby now but I don't really understand it!

    I don't have that don't finish this book cannot read other book mantra. Maybe I should try that.

    So is it a recommend read then?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I usually avoid books that are of heavy read. It's either I get so hooked on it, I will ignore all other aspects of life, or it's utterly boring and it tends to drag on that I couldn't finish it. That was what happened when I tried to read The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova (I think). I stopped reading halfway and tossed it into my bookshelf.

    Anyway, kudos to you for finishing that book. It sounds like it's more like to chore to finish it than simply a leisure activity. At least the ending is pretty! =D

    ReplyDelete
  4. travis: I'm glad I finally finished the book. I'm also quite pathetic whn it comes to classics actually.

    princess: I can't say I'd recommend it, because reading it was rather depressing for me. But then, who knows, you might quite like it :)

    thefrolicsomekid: heavy reading is fine when you have plenty of free time. But I hink russian authors have the tendency to make their characters/stories extremely complicated. By the time I finished anna karenina about a few years back, I was very confused. In the end, all I can say is that I know she died rather tragically :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. I cant wait to start reading again, Ive been so busy renovating I have no time anymore.

    The last book I read is 'The Dark is Rising' series by Susan Cooper. I highly recommend it.

    Can't wait for the new Harry Potter!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh I love Good Omens it's so funny.. and a handy way to convert people to Pratchett I've found.

    I've read Crime and Punishment too, as part of a fit of 'read great books' when I finished my BA. Don't give up on the Russian classics. The first one you read is always the hardest I think, after that you get used to the nineteenth century russian approach. It took me a similar time to read C&P and then I read War and Peace after it in three weeks (granted a certain amount of that was hiding the book in my desk at work and reading it when no-one was looking). I think I'll always prefer Tolstoy to Dostoyevsky (sp?) and I think that has a lot to do with my brain-grinding experience with C&P.

    I love reading classics, as I think you're much more likely to get a good read than a random modern book (and also they're cheaper), but it can be hard on the head. For one that's an easy read, but still a great classic, I thoroughly recommend the Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas, if you haven't read it already. Its a total page-turner.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I read Count of Monte Christo when i was in school..and I agree, total page turner...

    ReplyDelete
  8. All that time to read the book and still you would've beaten me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. silversabre: i can't wait for the new Harry potter book either, but its kinda sad that it will be the last!

    aunty: perhaps i will be prepared for future 19th century russian authors in the future... thanks for the recommendation

    orhan: average of 1 page per day :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's quite an accomplishement. Now it is time to move on to Proust!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh wow! It's by a Russian author? Cool! I guess I have to put that in my low-priority reading list. Lol! =P (I don't think I have the commitment to finish thick books =P.)

    Anyway, just want to let you know that you are tagged by me. =D

    ReplyDelete
  12. Don't you just love a good old-fashioned classic, Terra darling?
    Thanks so much for coming by when I was ill. Really appreciated your good thoughts. hugs. :-)

    ReplyDelete

IT's THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

Time for the Annual Appraisal again.  It's a cloudy Sunday afternoon, and I had just finished giving scores to my subordinates on their ...