Wednesday 21 April 2010

Update on literature

My quest to be better read is jogging along nicely. After finishing "The Picture of Dorian Gray" I went straight onto Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" and now I'm reading Joseph Heller's "Catch 22". In the wings I already have "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Frankenstein" waiting. Personally I think "Frankenstein" is bending the rules slightly so I'll be careful with what I choose to follow that up with.

So far though…what can I say? If this is the best literature in the world I'm glad they invented movies :)

"Catch 22" isn't that great for people with Asperger's. I have social blindness so I find it hard to build and maintain profiles of characters in books (and movies too sometimes) and Catch 22 throws lots and lots of characters around and things happen between characters that are revisited over the twisting chronology, but for me every chapter is almost like reading about these characters again for the first time. Crime and Punishment was easier as there were only a handful of main characters and it stuck to a standard time-line. There was some difficulty with the names as the characters all have at least three ways they can be named and there is little rhyme or reason as to which name is used at any time so it takes a while to realise who is being referenced. Dorian Gray was the easiest of them all as there were very few characters, a basic timeline and people only had one name :)

1 comment:

Wild Animal said...

I haven't read any of these books but your comment "every chapter is almost like reading about these characters again for the first time" reminded me of a book I first read as a teenager (and not since, although I really must because it's never really been out of my mind since then).

"Report on Probability A" by Brian Aldiss - a sci-fi story from the 60's, although "story" is probably not the right word. The reviews at Amazon probably give a better impression of it than I could but I find it strangely compelling and fascinating.

The minute observation of repetitive detail and different perspectives of 'familiar' objects is somehow comforting and calming.

I don't know if my reaction to this book is due to my (not yet diagnosed) AS but I'd be interested to hear your perspective on it if you decide to read it sometime.