[mothman spirit]

I've been reading Borges, Kafka and Murakami. Only the short stories, though. I'm in the mood for short stories.

[mothman spirit]

Let's see. I finished Lolita yesterday and I kind of really liked it. I read a Murakami short story compilation, The Elephant Vanishes. It was only okay. Out of it, I only liked a few of the stories. I really liked "The Second Bakery Attack" and "The Dancing Dwarf", and I kind of liked "Sleep" and "The Silence". I couldn't read more than one story maybe every two days, and it pretty much drained any desire I had to read. I'm pretty sure that's because most of the stories were kind of boring. Like "The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday's Women". I'm pretty sure that one sucked. I recommended Sputnik Sweetheart to a friend (She recommended a collection of stories and poems by Poe) on the basis of this thread, because there was something or other that I liked about Murakami, even in the worse stories. I checked out Kafka on the Shore and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (another short story compilation) from the library, though I doubt I'll be reading either any time soon, especially since I've just started Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward, which seems pretty good.

So, Borges. I really really really like his writing, and I'd probably like him if I ever met him. I've read Doctor Brodie's Report and most of The Aleph, and I read "The Library of Babel" from Ficciones, which is likely my favorite of his. Not a single story of his I've read has been boring.

I read Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk, which I liked.

I read The Glass Castle for a class. I though it was good, but only because it was a memoir. What I like most about it is that it actually happened to someone, if that makes sense.

In summary, I like some books but not others, and I can't quite place my finger on why.