Experiments in Ethics

Experiments in Ethics (by Kwame Anthony Appiah) was an amazing book. It was a fast read--it's not too long--but very engaging, complex, and like a piece of art, better the more you applied from the outside world to the text. I just finished it now during work (instead of looking up information on Uruguay...well, while looking up information on Uruguay...). I did extend my coffee break, and read it on the Metro, but no matter! It is finished, so all my intense reading today was totally worth it.

The entire time I referred to Appiah as a she, and I could never figure out why, and it turns out he's gay (looked him up on Wiki!), so, as Alyssa puts it, "That's probably why you thought he was a girl." Now I'll be connecting him to Michael in my mind all the time, because I miss Michael very much, but that will make my appreciation of his work even more awesome, so it's a good thing. I was very moved by the book as a whole, and was almost moved to tears this morning, but it's not a very appropriate thing to do during a coffee break, especially in front of a cafeteria full of employees. It felt like a mix of philosophy, very fun journalism (a la Freakonomics, a la The Omnivore's Dilemma), and literary criticism.

The entire book centered around ethics, but did so in such a way that it would show the faults in many ways we look at ethics, and then show that these faults, once we are aware of them, allows us to better our ethical views. The way he played around with ethics was absolutely wonderful, and it makes more sense now to know that, other than being affiliated with philosophy, he's affiliated with comparative literature and translation. I'm considering e-mailing him and letting him know I'm a fan, and that I'd love to talk about the criss-cross between comp lit and philosophy. This is especially important because many consider the two to be quite opposite one another (i.e.- East v. West dichotomy), but once you bring cosmopolitanism into the picture, the exact opposite happens, and there are many things the two subjects have in common with one another. (Come on. Everything relates back to philosophy.) I'm also apparently, for a while, the only person at school to double major in Philosophy and Comp Lit, so it'd be good to talk to someone who's a big fan of both (even though, Prof Deppman is big into philosophy and literature--but he focuses on continental philosophy, mostly).

This book, and George Michael's song 'I want your sex,' have made work today quite wonderful.

Benedetti Translations

I think I'll start some poetry translations of Benedetti this weekend. That'll help me get into his voice...I should really read La Tregua, I've decided, but that'll have to be not this week, since I have to finish the Appiah, and begin and finish the Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Submission!

Well, I offically submitted to another contest, and I just did that...good thing I did, considering the contest is over at midnight XD. It's through New Millenium Writings (www.writingawards.com), in case you're curious about that. I submitted my new short story--this time titled 'The Mortgage.' I would have loved to submit 'Red,' but they said short-shorts had to be a certain amount, and it's a little bit longer than that. Oh, well. Perhaps I should see what happens if I cut my short-shorts, although they already seem short enough. Anyway, I've got to finish the Appiah book, because I'm having a book discussion on The Unbearable Lightness of Being on Sunday. So. That's that.

Love to all!

Books I've Decided To Read, in the next couple months or so

Experiments in Ethics by Appiah--I'll be finishing that one up this week.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

And, before I go to France, at least, The Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.

There are of course the other books I spoke of, but those are the kind you can flip through randomly; what I mean to say is, the books just mentioned are ones that'll go stale if you don't read them with enough time on your hands.

Readings

I guess it's always important to write about what books you're in the midst of reading, if you're going to have enough confidence to write in general. So, here goes with the summer books:

Gracias Por El Fuego (Thanks for the Fire) by Mario Benedetti. I'm considering translating a couple of his books for Comp Lit, whether or not I do Honors. So I'm reading up on him. The book itself is *really* political--about Uruguay--so on the one hand I feel very comfortable with it (it's Uruguayan), but on the other hand I don't (it's about politics). My mother tells me his best book is La Tregua (The Truce) , and says I should read it, but she says it's terribly sad. I know what it's about--a widower who falls in love with a young woman at work--and I don't know if I could handle reading that considering preference for older men. But perhaps that will make the read all the worthwhile. Look Benedetti up here if you want... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Benedetti. Super-famous, only has had one book (of shorts!) translated into the English. I'm considering contacting his publisher next time I'm in Uruguay, although if he's in Spain, I should give it a try while I'm abroad next fall.

Experiments in Ethics by Kwame Anthony Appiah. This was recommended from http://www.ethics-etc.com/ (and I recommend that site to you). It just arrived in the mail yesterday, so I haven't started reading it yet, but I'm planning on doing a tiny bit of that while waiting for Kate today for lunch. So, hopefully, that'll be good.

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. One chapter left in this one--I read it for my botany book, and I'll be done with it soon (reading Pollan--not writing the book). I recommend ANYTHING by Michael Pollan. I heard he's kind of a jerk, but I want to bone him anyway. He has a very yummy love for thinking.

I'm up for reading some Edith Wharton or Haruki Murakami, but I'd love some recommendations. I'm also in the Raymond Carver mood, but I think I've read everything by him...why did he have to die? Got any recommendations?