copy cat

I can't resist- I am going to be just a little bit of a copy cat.

My daughter is on a mission to read 100 books in 2012.

I don't know that I have that specific of a goal- but, I think that charting the books I am reading might be good grist for the blog mill.

So, here are some that I have been up to lately:

Major Barbara by G. B. Shaw- This reminds me of how slippery my memory is. I was in this play as an undergrad, and while I remember the broad strokes of character and plot, the unfolding of the action is almost new to me. Shaw's dialectical dramedy anticipates the exposing of the military-industrial complex.

A Dream Play by August Strindberg- This play really does capture the logical-illogical coherence of the dreamscape. It is eerie and strangely lovely. I cannot imagine how it was staged in 1907; as noted in my copy's preface, the play anticipates the quick visual montage of film.

Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry- I had many times read about this play without actually having read it. Jarry is still jarring, and discussing this play sparked a wild and hilarious discussion of scatology and the challenges to the theater and theater artists of having a human body.

A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen- Whenever I read Ibsen, it seems, I am shocked. How can these ideas still be so timely?

Just finished: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have to have something that is not drama related to relax with! A memoir of loss of innocence in love that is chilling and engaging at once.