Well, during the 14 hour bus trip to Ktown, I did read this Christmas, but unfortunately I forgot the books in Ktown. Now that I think about it, they both had dealt with the life of academics, which probably should be making me think about my MA and maybe want to get back into the thesis that I've been putting off for over 6 months. But most books that comment on academics generally tend to make me want to run full speed away from any campus.
The first book is called The Bronte Project: A novel of passion, desire, and good PR and I thought I had found a nice little academic chick lit novel that portrayed a real girl. For the most part, this book captures nicely the life of girl doing her PhD in literature, finding out about the commercialism and general foibles of academic life, and finding out that reading literature was perhaps not the best way to learn about love and relationships. I won't be quoting specifically from the book as I don't have it on me, but the character mentions something about being insane for basing her ideas on life and love on three celibate consumptives (the Brontes).
She also mentions that critical theory might not provide all that many answers to questions asked outside of a literary text. After being dumped by her boyfriend she comments: What was it Lacan said about love? That it was giving something you didn't have to someone who never existed. Fucking post-structuralists were never helpful at times like these.
Up until the end of the book, I was finding this to be an intelligent novel with some humourous commentary on love and academia, but then it did the same thing that pissed me off about Bridget Jones - it took a totally realistic premise and tacked on a larger than life tv sitcom ending. In Bridget Jones, her mom goes off with this criminal and the guy breaks into their living room and there's this big police show-down thing. Like that ever happens. And in this novel, she goes off to Paris to do this TV show thing and then gets into a car accident in the same tunnel as Princess Diana and all these boys are trying to get her and well, I'm sorry but I of all people am fully aware that real life gets pretty melodramatic and over-the-top but I totally don't buy these endings and for me, they ruin the "slice of life" quality that I enjoyed about the books in the beginning. Still, The Bronte Project was some of the best chicklit I've read, just don't read the last 20 pages or so. Make up your own ending.
The other book I read this Xmas was The Sex Lives of Cannibals which so far is fantastic, but I think I'm going to leave off as I haven't finished it quite yet and what if the ending ruins this one too? Plus it fits in better with a blog on another travel book I'm reading. But if you're an academic who has just finished their degree, or if you're just at one of those stages in life were working in a 9-5 job seems like a committing yourself to a slow death and you're looking for a meaninful adventure, this book might convince you that maybe North America ain't so bad. It's been pretty damn funny thus far.
The first book is called The Bronte Project: A novel of passion, desire, and good PR and I thought I had found a nice little academic chick lit novel that portrayed a real girl. For the most part, this book captures nicely the life of girl doing her PhD in literature, finding out about the commercialism and general foibles of academic life, and finding out that reading literature was perhaps not the best way to learn about love and relationships. I won't be quoting specifically from the book as I don't have it on me, but the character mentions something about being insane for basing her ideas on life and love on three celibate consumptives (the Brontes).
She also mentions that critical theory might not provide all that many answers to questions asked outside of a literary text. After being dumped by her boyfriend she comments: What was it Lacan said about love? That it was giving something you didn't have to someone who never existed. Fucking post-structuralists were never helpful at times like these.
Up until the end of the book, I was finding this to be an intelligent novel with some humourous commentary on love and academia, but then it did the same thing that pissed me off about Bridget Jones - it took a totally realistic premise and tacked on a larger than life tv sitcom ending. In Bridget Jones, her mom goes off with this criminal and the guy breaks into their living room and there's this big police show-down thing. Like that ever happens. And in this novel, she goes off to Paris to do this TV show thing and then gets into a car accident in the same tunnel as Princess Diana and all these boys are trying to get her and well, I'm sorry but I of all people am fully aware that real life gets pretty melodramatic and over-the-top but I totally don't buy these endings and for me, they ruin the "slice of life" quality that I enjoyed about the books in the beginning. Still, The Bronte Project was some of the best chicklit I've read, just don't read the last 20 pages or so. Make up your own ending.
The other book I read this Xmas was The Sex Lives of Cannibals which so far is fantastic, but I think I'm going to leave off as I haven't finished it quite yet and what if the ending ruins this one too? Plus it fits in better with a blog on another travel book I'm reading. But if you're an academic who has just finished their degree, or if you're just at one of those stages in life were working in a 9-5 job seems like a committing yourself to a slow death and you're looking for a meaninful adventure, this book might convince you that maybe North America ain't so bad. It's been pretty damn funny thus far.
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