Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

So I just finished reading Lolita. I was slightly disturbed – not only by the story line, but by the fact that I pretty much devoured the novel.

Why, I asked myself, was I so interested in paedophilia (if it can be considered that) and why was I siding with the paedophile?

The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band – Tommy Lee , Vince Neil , Mick Mars , Nikki Sixx , Neil Strauss

As you may or may not have worked out, most things I read have some element of stupidity in it. I enjoy stupidity. Like when boys punch walls when they are angry and break their hand, or when 20-pluses insists on drinking like 16-year-old with parents on holiday, the entertainment factor is high. Extremely high.

Which is why I so enjoyed reading The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band; this bio is bascially an amalgamation of the two.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

Your relationship with your favourite book is not unlike what you have with your most favourite person in the world – they drive you nuts, they have ridiculous quirks, they can quite possibly annoy the bloody crap out of you, but you still love the heck out of them, you find them hilarious and you want to spend all your time with them.

That’s me and Tess. So many times have I cursed her idiodicy for listening to her equally idiotic mother, her foolishness for getting back on that bloody cab with that unfortunately (for Tess) named Alec d’Urberville, for that stupid note under the rug. Oh the pain! The PAIN!

The Rachel Papers – Martin Amis

So I don’t really have anything against this book, but I kinda didn’t like it. Like I kinda didn’t like Charles Highway – not in a ‘I freaking hate his guts’ kinda dislike, but more of a ‘what’s that bad smell’ kinda dislike.

Currently Reading: The Rachel Papers – Martin Amis

Gosh. It’s always great knowing someone who has a bigger collection of books than you do. Thanks Panty Shanty – I hope you never find out that I am only using you for your books…

Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami

I always get a bit nervous when talking about Japanese or Japanese-influenced books (of course, with the exception of Memoirs of a Geisha – totally made up by a white man) simply because there is so much to Shintoism that is so different from western culture. Kafka on the Shore is no different.

There is a whimsical quality to this novel and general avoidance of answers that is typical of Japanese art and way of living. These are also qualities that would rightly piss people off in any other book, but surprisingly, Kafka (and the rest of the Murakami collection) is much loved by the Australian reading population. Maybe Kafka on the Shore offers the true example of someone accepting and just going with the flow, a quality that Australians love to say that they possess.

Or (and this is probably more likely) the other possiblity is that Aussies love how Murakami makes Colonel Sanders a pimp. And what a rockin’ pimp he is!