Books, Sports, My center of mass!
I finished the book "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. If you are into novels, good novels, this one is definitely a recommendation from me. From the very first page you know what will be in the last page yet you can not stop reading it. The story is about a hermaphrodite who is born as girl and is telling us the story as a 42 year old guy. He starts with three stories from his time, his parents' time and the grandparents' time in parallel and gradually connects them together. As you read, switching between these stories is so smoothly done that is more of a pleasant surprise rather than being annoying. The book is winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
I started "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundrea last night. It is recommended to me by my friend Babak. I have read only 19 pages so far but it seems a good book. I don't know why I have never read anything by Kundera before although I have heard a lot about him.
The ski class was just great. I loved the sport. It was nice and sunny yesterday, I wore like 10 layers of clothes and really had fun for couple of hours. I learned to slide with dignity and almost learnt how to stop. If you are in Ithaca and want to go skiing keep me posted. I can't come up there yet but even down the hill is a lot of fun. It also brought me to the conclusion that I have to make going to gym a habit. The same conclusion that I got last summer after my water skiing classes but forgot about it at the end of last semester. I think I need to be stronger and also need to shed a couple of pounds. My center of mass seems not to be at the right place!
posted by Anar @ 1:47 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I've read "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" in Persian (it is funny to know they translated it to "baar e hasti"!!). It is a good book.
I recommend "Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann and "Conversation in the Cathedral" by Mario Vargas Llosa. You can find more information about them in my wishlist, and please don't buy me gift :))
You will have a nice time with Kundera's book although it is not an easy read.
Also, thanks for your kind comment. I'm still sick after two weeks, I think it is a coldzilla! By the way, I don't have exam, I have to mark undergrad tests because I am a TA. That's even worth than having a test.
Mo,
I couldn't agree more! grading is the slavory job of the TA assignment. Boring, boring,boring! I TAed for two years and grading was the only thing I hated about it. My best semester was the one that I was the head TA, hired an army of graders and did the pleasant job of grader management.
The "Middlesex" book sounds very unusual, but interesting. I have heard the title "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" before, but I don't know anything about it. Reading has been a fun pastime for me for much of my life. However, since I started blogging, I haven't been reading much in the way of books.
I hope that you will have Koozeh take a picture of you sking. :) I am glad that you are enjoying it. I definitely will encourage you to work out in the gym. Working out always used to make me feel good, both physically and mentally. Now, I pretty much just walk for exercise.
I taught a class when I was in graduate school, but I wasn't anybody's assistant. The department head made me the teacher. Also, I had to supervise several lab assistants. It was really tough at first, and a bit intimidating, but I eventually got comfortable with it. I created homework, lab assignments, and tests, and graded all of them. Boy, that was a lot of work!
Mo and Nil,
Thanks for the recomendations. I will put them in the queue:). I wish I could read faster. I am really slow when it comes to English.
David,
Middlesex is a good book. At least I like it. Blogging is a lot of fun but I didn't find it relaxing at all. I mean in general reading from an actual paper is much more relaxing than monitors. I sometimes even avoid reading news cause I can not tolerate the computer monitor for long.
Pantea, the books I've recommended are tough reads. Make sure you have enough time for them, otherwise they can be extremely frustrating, especially "Magic Mountain" (it took me more than a year to finish it, and I read a few other books in between)! But if you handle the pressure and read them, I'm pretty sure you will be in proud of those authors and yourself!
Unbearable Lightness of being is a pretentious waste of time. Kundera attempts to transform philosophy into a novel fitting to be read on the crapper, much like one of his characters. The only thing worse than the book is the movie.
Wow! My unknown friend, just because of your comment I will make sure to finish the book and announce my own opinion. It motivates me to read the book when I receive such contradicting comments about it. Thanks for the visit.
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