divine angst

Book #4: The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides

I know everyone else has already read this book, but I hadn’t. If you haven’t read the book, you’ve probably seen the movie. I saw the movie and loved it—it’s so poignant and touching. It also shows that, no matter how bad of an actress she is, Sophia Coppola knows something about making movies.

So anyway, I really enjoyed the book. It’s not long, it’s a pretty easy read, and the language is really lovely. I finally picked it up because the movie was on TV not too long ago and, as I stopped to watch, I realized the wonderful narration of the movie must be straight from the book. I’d read Eugenides before (Middlesex), and I really enjoy his treatment of words. This book was an obvious choice for me.

One thing I did have to get used to was how the “end” of the book isn’t a surprise at all. The story is told almost in the fashion of a memoir, and the what I’d think of as the climax of the plot (the actual virgin suicides) is not hidden at all. I kept not wanting to read the little references to the suicides that are peppered throughout the book. Once I got over that, though, I was totally absorbed.

Book #5: The Runes of the Earth, Stephen R. Donaldson

This is sci-fan/fantasy, lent to me by my brother, who has lots of disposable book income. It’s the first book of a third trilogy (except this one will have four books) in the Thomas Covenant series. I enjoyed the first Thomas Covenant trilogy, liked the second one slightly less, but it was still a good read, and I liked this book well enough. It wasn’t the best sci-fi plot I’ve ever read, although it’s very well-written (a big consideration in this genre).

I’ll say this: if you read the Covenant novels way back when and liked them, this is a nice read. Maybe not a purchase, since it’s only in hardback. And maybe you want to wait until he’s actually finished the series, since nothing is worse than the Robert Jordan syndrome, where you start reading a series in high school and fifteen years later he’s still not done with them.

I’ll add that I’m generally not a fan of authors picking over their older, better-selling books for new plots (hello, David Eddings). That being said, it’s been a long time since I’ve read the original Covenant books so this felt at least sort of fresh. Oh, and Dylan seems to think this book is a sign of the apocalypse. I say, lighten up. It’s not the worst retread out there (again, HELLO, DAVID EDDINGS).

While heating up my breakfast this morning in our break room (raisin and spice oatmeal, yum), I ran into our director, my boss’s boss’s boss, and he stopped me to talk about my future plans.

Yep, it’s out. I knew it was going to be coming out since the BMOCs are talking budget right now, but I wasn’t sure how high the news had gone. Apparently, it’s gone as high as it can.

Anway, he was very nice about, asking me all about my plans and my interests, and it was really a lovely conversation. And it struck me how lucky I’ve been to work for and with such good people for the last six years. Sure, my actual job isn’t the most challenging thing, and that’s at least part of why I’m going back to school, but the people around me are really some of the best people there are. (They have to be, to work in the public sector. Pride and dedication are about the only extra remuneration we get.)

Still, I’m keeping busy. Everyone knows I’m going, but I still have five months to get through. I try not to get caught in the “passing time” mindset. Thankfully, I’ve just passed out of a phase where everything I was working on was rote. Just in time for spring!