David Rice > Recent Status Updates

I decided to try starting it again but I am still feeling like I don’t have the gumption at this point to finish it. He is a very good writer but I’m just not getting into the story yet.

The last time I read Steinbeck was on HS many years ago where we read Travels With Charley. Hence I remember very little about his writing and am basically experiencing it anew. His prose is very good and he looks to be a very good storyteller. This one looks like it’s going to be dark and I’m trying to decide if I’m ready for that right now or to shelve for another time.

I’ve finished part one of the book which ended on an apparently delineating event that leads into the second and final part of the book. The first person narration of the main character is sort of like a stream of consciousness dialogue over a few days in his life. The tone of the first part seems to be very muted in that nothing really moves him. He seems to have no capability of any meaningful relationships.

I’m having a hard time getting back into it. I sort of wanted to get through the allegory of the cave since everyone talks about it and I just finished it. I think I’ll put it back on pause and mull the cave for a while.

I actually started this book some time ago but only made it to page 182. Decided i should go ahead and finally try to finish it.

Some interesting thoughts and information so far but nothing earth shattering. I’m growing inclined to put this aside for now and move on to something that is calling me a bit more.

I continually find myself dumbfounded that this book was written(at least originally) by a teenager. Her writing and breadth of knowledge belie anything I could ever conceive of from someone this age. Her writing almost mesmerizes me. I like the motif of starting with the letters at the beginning. Very creative as well. I don’t think it will take me long to finish this one.

I always love the ‘Everyman’s Library’ edition of books because they usually have a great introduction, a chronology of the author’s life along with other works published and historical events, and a built-in bookmark. I’ve read the intro and chronology and am good to go for the story…

Dorian has discovered one should be careful what one wishes for.

So right out of right out of the starting gate he mentions the setting of a studio filled with pleasant smells from the garden but then mentions Lord Henry was smoking innumerable cigarettes as he sat in the studio. Seems to me all you’d be smelling if you were in the room was the cigarette smoke.

I’m 6 chapters in and it doesn’t really feel like anything substantive has been said yet.