Lately I have been doing something completely rare for me: extra-curricular reading. I ripped through Diablo Cody’s Candy Girl in a few hours one late, late night, and it was everything I expected: witty, compelling, and clever. I knew I’d like it since I enjoy her blog so much–she’s hilarious in pretty much any form.
The Post Secret book is great too–lovely and fascinating. I always recommend the site to people, who then promptly ask me "Is one of those cards from you?" No, none of them are. Many of them could be.
So that’s two blog-related books I have bought and read in the last week. Memo to you bloggers out there: Write Ye a Book and Alfina Shall Purchase It, Toot Sweet.
Other things I am enjoying at the moment: blue water in my toilet (it just looks so sanitary!), a huge bag of gummy bears, new rain boots (thank you Zemblan weather system, you cunt), and this book. Read it!
Arlington commented here once that Nabokov doesn’t like any of his characters except for Timofey, which may or may not be true–I do think, though, that Timofey is unique among the characters as someone a reader feels strangely compelled to protect. Reading that book, I spend a lot of time cringing and steeling myself against the disasters facing him–disasters I know, after so many readings, aren’t really coming at all. It’s a heartbreaker, but hilariously so. I can give no higher recommendation.
Miss The Vague: if you keep up with these posts containing gratuitous amounts of “literary content”, you will succeed in converting me into some kind of closet mathematician-turned-literary-type much to the humour of my colleagues and much more to my chagrin.
sweeeeeeeeeeet new rain boots. i might need some myself if these clouds don’t stop rolling in from southwest.
you reminded me, sorry i didn’t send that postsecret yr way. oh well, now we both have it.
and i have a lovely new book from “Found.” you should look into it.
and, pnin is first on my list of “off the reading list” books. maybe someday (june!) i’ll get to read it.
p.s. that said, i did find out i have one more month than i thought before the fellowship deadline. yay! more time to procrastinate.
No, none of them are.
None of them is.
None is singular, SINGULAR! Booyah.
A-B– I can’t believe this is a bad thing!
C– Yeah, I just ran into Found’s website–pretty cool. Anyway, I’m glad we both have the PS book now: I figured you might want to give it to W after all, or keep it. It’s great. And yay to procrastination!
T– Another common misconception: “none” can mean “not any” just as well as “not one.” Here’s American Heritage’s usage note:
Usage Note: It is widely asserted that none is equivalent to no one, and hence requires a singular verb and singular pronoun: None of the prisoners was given his soup. It is true that none is etymologically derived from the Old English word n, ?one,? but the word has been used as both a singular and a plural noun from Old English onward. The plural usage appears in the King James Bible as well as the works of John Dryden and Edmund Burke and is widespread in the works of respectable writers today. Of course, the singular usage is perfectly acceptable. The choice between a singular or plural verb depends on the desired effect. Both options are acceptable in this sentence: None of the conspirators has (or have) been brought to trial. When none is modified by almost, however, it is difficult to avoid treating the word as a plural: Almost none of the officials were (not was) interviewed by the committee. None can only be plural in its use in sentences such as None but his most loyal supporters believe (not believes) his story.
Thanks for the rec - it’s now on my wish list. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long but I’ve only just started reading Nabokov. Naturally, I started with Lolita, but I’m making up for lost time now…
Bad?!!? This goes far beyond simply “bad”. This is potentially career-destroying. You see, I am surrounded by “economics types” with scant amounts of mathematical training. Thus, my background ranks me implicitly (notice I didn’t split the infinitive) as some kind of alpha-mathematician within the social heirarchy of my laboratory. Now, like all predators, the alpha-leader is constantly challenged by his/her subordinates. Thus, were I to display cracks of a literary nature in the plates of my quantitative armor, the rabble would smell blood and I would surely be in peril of being toppled. This cannot and will not do.
So, while I secretly harbour dreams of writing the Next Great Canadian Novel (TM), fantasize about semi-colons and relish in dangling my modifier, it would be professional suicide (suicide!) to display “literary tendencies” to the pack.
Speaking of plurals, what is the plural of series? As in, I have multiple serieses of data…maybe serii?
A– Yay! You’re going to have fun with that!
A-B– Good thinking–but that wasn’t an infinitive (unless you say that, presciently, in reference to the two infinitves that show up later?).
It’s funny: I saw on some other blog somewhere someone make reference to a split infinitive that wasn’t there. Maybe I should do a post about that one day. Or not. Maybe I’ll continue to blithely recommend* books and talk about poop.
That’s a splitter!
Vague: I will hold on to my none-is-singular rule until they pry my AP style guide from my cold, dead hands.
Or maybe I’ll have to devote myself to unlearning half the crap they taught me in the J-school during my brief foray into their hellish company. Next you’ll be telling me that “since” can be used to mean “because” or that “10 items or less” is a perfectly acceptable sign for the express lane.
“ten items or less” will never be acceptable.
a grammar prof vague and i had in college bitched so vehemently about it at her local grocery store that they actually changed it to “ten items of fewer.” and they say grammar can’t change the world!
i concur with clarabella–those rainboots rock!
Yes, er, of course I was referring to the other ones…silly me!
T– Yeah, I kind of hate having journalism majors in class: they’re all suffering from delusions of adequacy, as far as writing goes. When I used to teach composition, and the kids had to do “peer reviews,” I had to tell them so often NOT to correct their partners’ grammar, because most of the time their “corrections” were completely erroneous and served only to worsen the problem. (Also, the dictionary does offer a third definition of “since” as “because.” ) No offense to you Journalists out there, I guess.
C– Dr. J. is the best! That class ruled.
M– Thanks! I will be getting a lot of use out of them. (Sigh. Sort of.)
A-B– OK! Anyway, most people agree now that split infinitives are perfectly fine. They were only briefly out of fashion.
Vague: The thing is they teach that shit in the J-school. AP style is this weird blend of British and American preferences (partial quote punctuation placement comes to mind).
I think the since/because thing is creep, and I’m not really much of a prescriptivist so I’m okay with it, but it still grates. Speaking of which, why the hell is the synonym for “thankful” spelled “grateful” rather than “greatful”, the hell?
Timofey has it coming. He’s a loser.