It’s been several weeks since I’ve participated in Booking Through Thursday. I’ve just been so busy with offline “real life” stuff that I haven’t had time to keep up with regular blog posts, memes, etc. At any rate, I was able to check the BTT site today and decided to participate. I didn’t particularly like the current question that was asked, so I went back a couple of weeks for a simple one:
It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple–What are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?
I’m currently struggling through The Rainbow by DH Lawrence. This is a deadly dull book, IMO, and I’m sure I would have put it aside long ago if I wasn’t listening to the Librivox recording of it. Yes, I realize that the sexually explicit themes of the novel made it cutting-edge and daring at the time of its publication back in 1915, but it’s not at all shocking in today’s world (of course).
Because I’m reading it on my own without the benefit of lectures or analysis, I’ve no doubt that I’m missing out on a lot of important nuances, subtexts, and meaning. Indeed, if the characters were even remotely interesting, I’d start searching online for critical essays about The Rainbow to help my understanding of it, but as things are, I’m not motivated one bit to do so.
I liked Lady Chatterly’s Lover and Sons and Lovers, but can’t get into this particular Lawrence work at all.