Administrative Professionals Day®/Pretzel Day/Bird Day/International Guide Dog Day
2006-04-26 @ 5:01 p.m.

Am thinking of exploring the works of Orhan Pamuk, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, John Cowper Powys, and Julián Ríos, all because of some blurbs at the back of The Stories Of Vladimir Nabokov. The books do sound tempting, and I'll probably buy at least one of them, assuming I can find it at Borders or Kinokuniya. Spent a very uneventful day freezing in an air-conditioned room, passing the time with the Nabokov volume. I suddenly feel as if my failure to finish Lolita were somehow a reflection of immature judgement. I am not overly fond of being told what I should read, and to be perfectly honest, the literature of centuries past holds no great attraction for me. Allow me to clarify that statement. For purposes of academic study, yes, I have no problem reading and appreciating a classic work. Conversely, if I were reading purely for pleasure, I would pick a contemporary work, however lightweight. The exception to this system is Thomas Hardy, whom I like for inexplicable reasons. Continental authors somehow seem more appealing regardless of which era they hail from, but that is perhaps merely the siren song of exoticism.