Laptop Viruses and Printed Lit

Sooo, I have a virus – of the digital variety. It has overtaken my laptop and despite Pablos best efforts it seems irreparable. Heed my warning, porn on the web = bad and the cyber component will NOT protect you from STDs… of the digital classification… if you don't use protection… like Norton anti-virus…which I didn't. I'm kidding, I don't surf porn…most of the time... and I strongly support the use of protection… of the latex variety… and the software variety – to be clear. Anyway, Pablo is an absolutely incredible friend and the extent to which he watches out for me and takes care of me never ceases to amaze me. My appreciation cannot sufficiently be expressed.

As much as I'm missing my normal nightly reading material consisting mostly of fashion blogs and such, I have to admit I've gotten a LOT of legitimate reading done in the past week. Some was garbage and purely for entertainment value (as should be expected), but some was quality and a part of me doesn't even want my laptop back. My reading this week (thus far) has consisted of the following:

Chelsea Handler – "Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea"

Malcolm Gladwell – Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

Anais Nin - Delta of Venus

Charles Baudelaire – The Flowers of Evil

My reviews are as follows (I'll keep this brief and you can inquire further if interested):

Handler's "Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea" had a couple of amazingly funny chapters that made me laugh out loud while simultaneously sending me spiraling into a depression because they made me miss my ridiculous girlfriends on the east coast…and my father. It has been at least 3 years since I read Handler's last book, "My Horizontal Life", and I can't remember enough about it to choose a favorite- but I'll say that if you liked her last book, this one follows the same formula. I've since mailed the book to Loren – the most appropriate beneficiary I can think of. As a whole, I wasn't in love with the book - Augusten Burroughs is SO much better when it comes to this guilty pleasure of a genre.

Gladwell's "Blink" was good. It was essentially about first impressions and how you often subconsciously know things before your brain has officially 'recognized' them. That was a VERY general summation, but it's all you're gettin'. My one complaint is that the book could've basically been a quarter of the length.

Anais Nin was…different. I can absolutely appreciate it, although it's not a genre that I'd typically feel compelled to read. For those who don't already know, it's basically erotic lit. First published in 1969 (how perfect is that?), it is a collection of short stories that has remained controversial ever since. It's like porn with very little time wasted on story line (yay), yet simultaneously dense with visual imagery and somehow just enough back-story. It took me a couple of stories to get used to the fact that the author doesn't shy away from anatomical references and terminology that makes me cringe, however, I was soon thereafter desensitized. Judging from Amazon's reviews, people either love it or hate it and are repulsed. I wouldn't say I loved it, but I liked it. The only other thing I've ever read that even came close to this was a referral from Barbie, "The Sexual Life of Catherine M." – and at least this was more sensually written and poetic… if you don't mind being barraged with the "p" word (which I, personally, have never gotten used to).

I'd been dying to read more poetry for a long time and the fact that I was finally getting around to Baudelaire (who has been sitting on my shelf for 6 months now) excited me. In the end, I bookmarked a few favorites, but as a whole didn't love it- but I must confess that was mostly due to the subject matter. For the most part, I didn't relate to a lot of it so it was un-moving, although beautifully written.

In addition to seeking out the newest Augusten book, I'll be researching more poetry for my next read. I'll keep you all posted, and since I've got travel arrangements approaching and will need some new reading material, feel free to make some recommendations.