Hello, I am currently reading The Grapes of Wrath and The Master and Margarita. The latter was a book I was supposed to finish weeks ago for a Neocities book club, but around two hundred and fifty pages in, I realized I didn’t know enough about the time period and Soviet zeitgeist to understand the allegories forming the backbone of the book. In other words, I had almost no idea what was going on. Therefore I am postponing it to learn more about Soviet history and perhaps huff some copium.
Throughout the summer, I shall try (keyword: try) to read the following:
If I have more time (hardly likely):
I tend to focus on classics, specifically Russian and American literature. Of course, (many) masterpieces come from every country, but it’s easier to understand books’ historical contexts and authors’ mindsets when you focus on one or two countries.
To address the other part of the title, this summer a friend and I made a bonfire out of schoolwork. All of our constant fear and stress turned into a pile of ashes. If you’d like to try it too, I can say three things: do it in an open area, as it produces a lot of smoke; don't burn all your papers at once, but split them into piles and gradually add them to the fire. This ensures that all the papers are thoroughly burned. Use kindling, such as dead pine leaves, or it’ll burn very slowly. Anyhow, after indulging in our pyromanic tendencies, we bought root-beer floats and hung out at a bookstore until dusk.
Thank you for your interest, dear reader. If you’d like, here’s a pleasant Scriabin prelude.