Tired.

Good hello my dear!

I hope you're well! I am tired. Last week was our first week back at school (and the beginning of my LAST semester) and while it wasn't that holy crap I need a nap kind of busy, it was still rough going from lazing around reading and knitting all day to working Tuesdays and Thursdays and sitting through hours of lecture the rest of the week.

But don't think I didn't read. Oh, I read. I didn't read NYPD Red, like I had promised. I got through the first page and just didn't care. So I read The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins instead.

Now, I have read them before, but I'm still counting it towards my 50 book goal (it fulfills the "trilogy" category on my list). If you have seen the movies and loved them, then you will fawn over the books. It has been so long since I've really loved a series, and I can't recommend this one enough. I love Finnick Odair with all of my being, more than Peeta Mellark (a close second) and maybe even more than I love zucchini tacos.

This week, I'm working on Fahrenheit 451 (I read it once ages ago in high school, but I also slept through 50% of that class so it doesn't count), while I also work through Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis) for class.

I'm taking a class on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tokein- so there will be lots of myth and interesting philosophy tossed about here and there. Be prepared.

A little knitting announcement will come soon, as soon as the yarn comes in.

Things to look out for:

• yarn dyeing tutorial
• Little Bean knitting 
• Hunger Games review
• Fahrenheit 451 review
• semester ramblings

I apologize for this lazy post today. More will happen soon! Promise!

All the best,

M

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On Wittgenstein, Jr.

Good hello my dear! 

I hope you've been well this last week. I've been having some sort of reaction to something- which is the vaguest way possible to say "I feel like shit but have no idea why". I'll chalk it up to anxiety over the new semester starting and call it a day. Soon I'll have finished my Doctor Who scarf, so be on the look out for that within the next week or so. 

BUT I DO HAVE A REVIEW. I finished Wittgenstein Jr. and it was a fantastic choice for the new year. It's quite a book, and I can say whole heartedly that I loved it. As the summary says, we watch as Peters and his cohort try to understand their philosophy professor, who is, without a doubt, a new Wittgenstein. Perhaps calling him Wittgenstein-reincarnate is more accurate. It is a coming of age story in which a handful of Cambridge boys realize they have no idea what the real world will be like and have an inane need to impress their professor. Characters come and go, we get glimpses of their lives together just as though we were Cambridge students as well. Secondly, however, it's a modern retelling of Wittgenstein's first stint as a Cambridge professor. The loss of his brother, his realization that his original work (the Tracatus Logico-Philisophicus) was wrong, and his need  to set it right. Wittgenstein's philosophy is woven in every page, through phrases spoken, actions lived, and the plentiful one-way conversations in class (and I would be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely delighted every time I caught it). 

  I found it difficult to pick up, but near impossible to put down (which only happened when I had to drive as I read mostly in the car). I giggled a lot, but I wouldn't classify it as  a comedy in any sense. The humor I found came directly from Peters, our main character, and his friends- all of whom are incredibly pretentious and entirely Cambridge. Their humor is definitely British- witty and brash, the kind of humor that strikes you with a bit of disbelief and you repeat whatever had you giggling because you keep thinking about it. 


The apparently excessive italics annoyed me for a while, but it just took a bit of training to read them without emphasis and by the end, it was easy to read along putting emphasis on the rights ones and ignoring the others. The words that Iyers chose to italicize don't initially seem to have a reason, however with most words (not all of them, but definitely most) I found that they were from various parts of Wittgenstein's philosophy. A lot of people seem to have trouble with all the italics as there are quite a lot, but it's worth the hassle. 

Another common complaint is the relationship that forms in the fourth quarter of the book. It is hinted at early on, and while many call it unrealistic or forced, I don't find it to be either. It follows relationships of ancient Greek philosophers and their pupils, and is representative of what many presume Wittgenstein had. Without saying too much as to cause a spoiler, I found that the relationship could be entirely plausible (based on being a college student and having friends in a variety of disciplines) and it wasn't forced. I know that quite a lot of readers are tired of having romance thrown into books, but they'll just have to get over it. Some sort of relationship, whether platonic, romantic, or some combination there of will be in any book- and it was a part of Wittgenstein's life and had a place here. 

I think I enjoyed this book so much for a variety of reasons, so here's a bullet-point list: 

• I love Wittgenstein. I suffered through a semester of reading the TLP, the Philosophical Investigations, and many ridiculous conversations (and one very concerning movie) about the private Wittgenstein, and during that time I found what I was looking for. 
• I love philosophy. I mean, I'm a philosophy major with a concentration in religion. I'm down for trying anything that combines fiction and philosophy. 
• My humor is weird. I laugh at the kid who tripped just as hard as I laugh at exaggerated recreations of philosopher's death scenes, so I giggled through this whole book. 
• My friends are a lot like Peters and Company. These pages felt like home, like I was back in PAR 393 studying Wittgenstein again. 

I don't think you need a background in philosophy or Wittgenstein to read this, but I think to understand it well and to really enjoy it, you would need a base knowledge of Wittgenstein (maybe a few Wikipedia articles before hand). 

Next Up: NYPD Red by James Patterson and Marshall Karp. I used to love James Patterson- his Women's Murder Club series was just about all I read during the early high school years (because hell yeah I want women being badasses and solving murders), but I fell out after that. This book will be a test- do I like Patterson or do I fall in with the lower reviews?

Stay safe, stay warm. 

2015. Sorry. Again.

Well, I think we can all agree that I absolutely suck at this whole blog thing. 

I hope that 2014 left you healthy and happy, as it did for me. I also hope that 2015 brings you all that you strive for and you prosper in all that you attempt. 

My main resolution is the old, "do no harm but take no shit". I strive to be kinder, more giving, and more honest in the new year, but I also refuse to back down from adversity and revolution. There is a lot happening in the world and I will be on the side of equality. 

Additionally, I have set the goal to finish all projects before starting a new one and to read more. I read for school, but I have lost my love for reading for fun. Maybe lost is not quite the word, as I still love to read however when faced with the decision of reading or knitting, I always choose knitting (which comes along with Netflix or a good Harry Potter marathon). 

To help with the reading, I pledged to read 50 books in 2015 over on Goodreads and I'm using the Popsugar Reading Challenge to pick those books!

I'll add my books to Goodreads as I choose them and will update the status as I finish. The Goodreads challenge is based on number, which all well and good, but Goodreads doesn't know me very well. When faced with choosing what to read, I get nervous and then usually don't pick a book at all in fear of choosing the wrong one. That's where the Popsugar Challenge comes in. They have listed 50 individual criteria for which books you should read. For example, "a book from your childhood" and "a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't". I still have lots of options for each criteria, but not so many that I can't make a hard decision. 

To begin, I'm reading Wittgenstein, JR by Lars Iyer. It will fulfill either the "a book by an author you've never read before" or the "a book set in a different country" category, depending on how I feel about it later. 

Why Wittgenstein, Jr? 
Well. Because I had a love affair with Wittgenstein and I wasn't quite ready to let go. As part of my final set of required classes, I had to take PAR 393, whose subject changes depending on the professor. I got stuck studying Ludwig Wittgenstein, a philosopher who I was certain to hate. But after a lot of work and 6-hour study groups, I walked away with a B+ and favorite philosopher. When you become a philosophy/religion major, you always hear that "you'll find that one class that just changes everything for you". I'm getting ready to graduate and just now found that one class. So why not read a book about a young group of students at Cambridge University who aim to impress their newest lecturer (nicknamed Wittgenstein Jr for his remarkable likeness in attitude and thought to the one true Ludwig) with a single, noble thought. 

Perfect. 

As I read, I will update here with reviews and new books. I also aim to put my crafts and thoughts here, as well life updates. I graduate on May 9th, if all goes well, and after that who knows! But when I know, you'll know. 

If you so choose, you can follow me on
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All the best to you and yours. 

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