specimens

i guess i didn't really care for edward carey's "observatory mansions." it didn't grab me, and i needed grabbed. so here i am reading the latest by michael cunningham.

i've read "the hours." i liked it quite a lot but was a tad surprised when it won the pulitzer. the movie was good too, but with a cast like that you could hardly go wrong.

i've read "a home at the end of the world" and i thought it went on a bit long. it was interesting and i liked the characters but it wandered and didn't seem to go anywhere. i actually didn't finish it. we saw the film several months ago and it was kind of like the book. i did watch the whole film though, and at the end it just sort of stopped without coming to any kind of conclusion i could discern.

so now i read "specimen days" and let me say that i am enraptured. like "the hours" it is set in three different time periods. today i finished reading the first section, set in the thick of the industrial revolution. that section was fantastic. i admit i have high hopes now for the second and third sections. i do hope i am not let down.

the city of new york is a character in all three sections (so i read on the back cover), as is walt whitman. he makes a brief appearance in the first section and it is rather magical.

can you believe i've never read "leaves of grass"? i totally should read it, shouldn't i? has anyone read it?

i haven't read "howl" either, though i should. i feel like i should. why do i associate allen ginsberg with whitman?

anyway. "specimen days." so far, so great.

and kara's reading ian mcewan's "saturday" and liking it a lot. from what she says i think i would like it too. (don't get me started on "enduring love"!) though she liked "observatory mansions" and i couldn't get through the first 75 pages. but the main character in "saturday" is a neurosurgeon!