random stuff

reading snow by orhan pamuk. last of the most recent list, for which, scroll down somewhat. enjoying it! oh what a terrible word. enjoy. i ought to erase it from my vocabulary. but... as a novel it breaks some rules: lots of narrator intrusion in the first person, lots of telling instead of showing, but still it's good. i'm not too far along yet... eager to see how this treatment of "the battle within" islam (as a recent CNN segment on those fulminating mullahs and rows of swaying boys in madrassas titled it) plays out... i love the snow of it. but. i'm not so sure about the main character, ka, yet. i feel like i don't know him well enough to believe he can meet up with terrorists and let friends (whom he doesn't like) get pummeled by police with such equanimity (or maybe i don't know him well enough to sense his non-equanimity). blarg blarg.

interesting (another word to erase from the vocab) argument brought up by one of the characters: i'm used to the argument - if God really exists, then how can he allow all this poverty and suffering in the world? well, this character asks the opposite: if God doesn't exist, how do you explain all the poverty and suffering in the world? if there's no God, there's no heaven, and what's the point of all this suffering if it's not going to be eased in a next life?

in some sections i get the strange feeling that pamuk is trying to make some characters look stupid and i'm not getting it, for some reason.... maybe me stoopid too!

what else. just got back from a semi-relaxing (minus a wedding) trip to the parents' place in NC. so happy to see the grandparents happy with the grandchildren. so much fun to see my son and nephew together! good to see old friends again. nice to not have to clean my house.

cousin koonj is back from pakistan!! my dear friend taiyyaba is back from syria and pakistan all married and everything. i got to see tibs but i dunno when i'll see koonj :(

must go get things done...