It took me a while to figure out where the setting of the novel was until I realized that it can't snow in the desert, that this place is entirely made up. And though there are literal barbarians in the novel (even if calling anyone a barbarian is politically incorrect) the barbarians are the so called civilized colonizers rather than the natives because by the end of the novel they're the ones who seem to turn into the barbarians themselves. If barbarian means someone who is uncivilized, their wrong judgement of others and unjust punishments make them the ones who are uncivilized. Colonel Joll is too obsessed with capturing the barbarians that his reasonings make little sense. 

Hmm, I think I'll write my essay on that topic, either that or the Magistrates fixation on helping those he cannot help. Or if I'm feeling frisky, I'll write it on the lack of intimacy between the barbarian girl and the Magistrate. 

Who says essay writing can't be fun.

---

Anyway, I've been reading too much lately that all these novels blur into one. I'm going to sort them out:

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin:

James Baldwin is a brilliant writer, even Michael Ondaatje says so, and I will definitely read his other novels for light, fun summer reading (being serious here). As always with these Gay and Lesbian novels though, it starts off interesting but then gets tiring after a while. It might just be a coincidence, but so far it seems to be a running trend with the Gay/Lesbian novels I've read, but the main characters, in this case David, are ALWAYS having too much sex. I think I complained about this in one of my earlier posts. 

Are they that bored? Is that what coming out of the closet means, having a lot of sex with your multiple partners? That's the part that gets tiring to read, the having a lot of sex part, and then the I-don't-know-what-to-do part after the I'm-so-in-love-with-insert partners name here-that-I'm-going-to-run-away part. The plot is so over done. I get really annoyed reading it because 

1) They fall in love too easily (usually after the first sexual encounter)

2) They never have only one sexual partner, they always experiment with others.

Yuck.

But nonetheless, Giovanni's room is still a brilliant novel, even if the plot is a little over done, there are other elements to the novel, like the unreliable narrative part and the bildungsroman thing. (The whole bildungsroman thing I thought of on my own before my professor mentioned it, it made me feel smart.)

Let's see, I've also read In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje:

It's hard to read because there is no linear sequence to it, it's very post modern. The book reminded me a bit of the Time Traveller's Wife though I don't know why. I like this book as well, though again, I don't like the part where Patrick has a lot of sex. Reading about people having too much sex is annoying and tiring. I decided that they have a lot of sex because they have nothing better to do. (So that's how they passed time before the internet was invented ...) 

The novel is set in Toronto and based on the lives of the nameless immigrants who helped build the city. In this novel they are given a voice, and because they were not given much of a voice before, this novel is not linear and hard to follow. If that makes any sense ... probably not. And i suppose this novel is a little bit of a bildungsroman thing as well, just because I say so. No .. because Patrick does go through the different stages of a bildungsroman narrative would, such as growing up and learning valuable life lessons, though like Rose in Who Do You Think You Are, I don't know if he actually really learns anything ...

Anyway, I'm just going to say everything is a bildungsroman narrative from now on. 

oh and I am also reading Fantasia by Assia Djebar:

It is a really fantastic novel with raw emotions and mini narratives, but it's written in first person and sometimes I have to question the narrative and the events because I don't know whether to trust the narrator or not. 

Some parts are quite annoying to read though, like when the Old Woman is narrating her life, there is an over use of !!!!!!!!!!! marks that pisses me off because it seems very juvenile. I haven't finished this novel yet because I have no reason too, I was suppose to read it before the break but only started reading it last week, don't think I'll finish it anytime soon.

And last but not least, I am also reading Paradise Lost by John Milton:

...

yeah, I'm reading it but I have no comment for it. It's like ... reading it makes me hate British Literature. I hate poetry. I hate prose (though not as much as poetry). I hate things that rhyme in old english that I don't care about. Shakespeare's sonnets can suck it =) 

Paradise Lost has a lot of sex in it too, Adam and Eve do it a lot, and very casually so, like how you and I would converse to each other or drink tea or watch t.v. 

I need to read an entirely sexless novel. I think I'm going to re-read Pride and Prejudice. Or Harry Potter. 

Ok this post is getting long and ridiculous -_- ...

(Harry Potter is awesome)