book and whatnot ~

[lookingland]

the other Styron for the 50bookchallenge:

no. 44 ~ The Long March by William Styron. this novella tells the story of a couple of marine reservists called up for the korean war who, at the whim of a somewhat paradoxical colonel set out on a forced march over 36 miles for no particularly good reason. the story starts out strong, but gets kinda mushy in the middle and then internalizes in a way that i don't think entirely works: like what happens is so psychological that the action gets sort of buried under the larger philosophical questions. it's not like styron to blunder around in his own writing, but this book feels unedited and not quite as well considered as his other works. it wasn't totally disappointing (the craft still soars here and there), but it was less satisfying than the book i just read before. this one's good for diehards of the military fiction genre, but doesn't offer much beyond that ~ it's just not very complex or riveting.

today i gotta write a "group" paper for which my group has failed to materialize. oh well. i will cobble something best i can. i just don't actually care too much at this point.

wrote about 1,300 words this morning. dunno if they are keepers. mostly i've been lazying and sleeping. i am groggy and tired. the dogs woke me up too early and like a robot i got out of bed and fed them and walked them. it wasn't even 5:30 in the morning (dang this early morning light).

now i feel shumbly and dumb. not exactly the frame of mind to do anything the least bit productive.

: o p

in happy news, Lunds now carries a brand of cheese called "the rosey goat" ~ goat cheese in rosemary. not quite like i used to have it, but a delicious and acceptable substitute at the moment. yum.