Ouch

Actually not in as much pain today as I thought I would be. Right hip's acting up and it's a little tough to move my neck, but other than that I'm feelin ok. Finished Great Gatsby...liked it a lot. Whether because of the tone of the book itself or because I'd picked up hints from scattered cultural references, as I was reading it I kept having a feeling that it wasn't going to end well, and it didn't. Well, it did and it didn't. I don't know that the real thrust of the book is the love affair; I feel like it's much more a commentary on America and American culture, that of self-improvement which the middle and lower classes are fed and buy into, only to find a whole different set of barriers that the rich have erected. And yet they continue to strive, continue to live and procreate. Maybe that's what's great about America, the blind, continual reaching for an unreachable goal; the innocence or naivety making you think you can get there if you work hard enough, learn the right things and get to know the right people. Cynicism aside, there is a beauty in that unwavering belief, I think.

Anyways, the updated book list:

1. The Complete Poems, Anne Sexton
2. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
3. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
4. Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
5. Sideways, Rex Pickett
6. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
7. Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory
8. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
9. The Sonnets, William Shakespeare
10. To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
11. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
12. A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, Yiyun Li

Looking forward to reading this one; it's a collection of short stories that I saw mentioned over here (which is also where I got the 50 book challenge/book list idea from). I love that site; every time I go there I see another new author to check out. Even going over there to link to it, I just found another person whose stuff I'm going to keep an eye out for: Tao Lin. Groovy!