Arcadia and Others: A Reading List

Christmas Break (uh, Holiday Break)! Time to read!

I'm not going to read any 'great novels' this time around (as if I've ever been really successful at reading over break), but I checked out my bookshelves (which look like a free bookstore of all things that I like---I've forgotten about so many of these great finds! = pretentious?), and here's a reading list I'm going to try to...uh, read.

My Dinner With Andre--Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory. Script of a movie. Two film producer-type characters talking over dinner about trying to find meaning in their lives.

The Woman in the Dunes--Kobo Abe. A suspense/existential novel that inspired an apparently famous Japanese movie. Written in a simple style, it's about two people stuck in the dunes near a town threatened by a windstorm. Or something. After reading Autobiography of My Mother, I'm liking simple, sparse prose.

Signed, Sealed, Delievered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder---Mark Robinson. Biography of the greatest vocalist and probably song stylist in pop music history. I don't really need to explain myself on this one.

Book of Nonsense--Edward Lear. This stuff is so funny! These have got to be some of the first anti-jokes. I'm just going to read the first book of nonsense poems in his Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear. I would put one of his poems on here but I'm too lazy to get up. This is why it's hard for me to read over break.

Arcadia--Tom Stoppard. Been wanting to read this one for a while. I think this has been on my "Books I've Pretended To Have Read" list for years (although it hasn't made the hall of fame of that list, like All The King's Men has). This renowned play is a philosophical journey through space and time, from the Classical era to the Romantic, evaluating different, uh, things. Oh, and, yes, I've read it. Haven't you?

The Ego is Always Behind the Wheel--Delmore Schwartz. Yup, the guy who wrote In Dreams Begin Responsibilities. Great Books, anyone? (Flintridge Prep? High school? Anyone?) Short collection of short essays.

Do Llamas Fall in Love?---Peter Cave. Follow-up to Can a Robot be Human? which I really liked in high school (...compared to now. I HATE it now). Fun, interesting philosophy puzzles. Pretty light. I mean, it's not Kant.

And that's it.