let's go exploring

I am conflicted! For the past couple of years, I've used LJ as a means of keeping track on other entries, rather than writing any of my own. But now that I've signed up for Dreamwidth, I feel that I should make some kind of effort to start blogging again? For the time being, at least. I'm not sure how long this pattern will last, but as long as I feel this way, I might as well make the most of it.

In bulletpoint:

1. Now that my Linguistics class has ended, I'm looking forward to reading more books for fun again! Not that LING 118 was dull, but I missed that feeling of poking around my bookshelves and pulling out something that I meant to read some time ago. On my list of Books To Read That I Will Probably Forget About Unless I Write Them Down are:

The Yiddish Policemen's Union: because I still haven't read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay yet. And am still somewhat ashamed of that.

Purple Hibiscus: two years ago, I went to a writing conference near Binghamton. (I found out about this through word-of-mouth advertising; if my creative writing professor hadn't mentioned it, I would have had no idea it existed.) On that Saturday, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie spoke there. I thought she was remarkably eloquent, but completely forgot about everything she said once classes picked up again that Monday.

Still, my friend bought one of her books there, and after doing some Google-fu yesterday, I managed to pull her name up again. So! I'm planning to read this the next time I'm in a bookstore and I get the chance.

The Kandy-Colored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby: Could you resist something with a title like that? I bought this one at a book sale! And I have read some of the essays. But I've never finished it, and with a name like that, this book deserves more.

2. Certain professional writers frown down upon "(superlative)-ly" words. And in my infinite wisdom, I (completely) disagree with this. I mean, overusing words like "tremendously" and "definitely" may make the text buckle under their weight. But cleaning up text can also go in the opposite direction. After a certain point, the text isn't clean, it's downright threadbare. And then there's no textual weight left to begin with.

I am prepared to be a lonely dissenter.

3. I miss using emoticons in my entries! I'm actively resisting them at this point, because I want to try writing entries with a cleaner voice at the moment. But it just feels weird to me.

I think bell will be the only one to read this entry!