Friday, spent Waiting for Godot

It's Friday, which means the weekend is nigh. As I'm writing this post I'm listening to 'I'll Make A Man Out of You', from Mulan, and I'm feeling incredibly capable. Let's see how long that feeling lasts! Onto what Friday is famous for: the memes.


Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Billy over at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. This week's question, coming from Elizabeth over at Silver's Reviews, is:
When you receive a book in the mail or from UPS, do you immediately catalog it or leave the books stacked up until the week is up and the catalog them?

I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean by cataloguing, which is probably an answer in itself. If by cataloging is meant do you take an inventory of all the books you got at the end of each week? Then yes, that's usually what I do but I don't really plan them out, as such. A lot of my reading is done in an impromptu kind of way. Although I do tell myself to finish certain books before a certain time, I never "force" books onto myself. So when I get a book in the mail, which is not often because I'm currently moving at least once a year so I don't want to carry around too many books, I either put it on my reading pile or I start reading right away. Now that the summer term at university is about to end (in blood and tears), I will have more time to actually read without feeling guilty about it!


Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee and this week's question is:
Share! Tell us about one of your hobbies that is NOT reading!

Why do I have a feeling writing might not count? Because there is a lot of reading involved in writing. But that's one of the thinks I like to do, creative writing. Here's a story I wrote a while ago, called Leftovers. I'm not entirely happy with it but I guess no one is ever completely happy with something they make.
I do have non-book blogging related hobbies though. One of my absolute favourite things to do, which I unfortunately only get to do once every year, is hiking in the French Alps. For the last couple of years I've escaped reality together with my sister and Father by hiding out in south-east France, where reception is bad and wifi worse. It's terrible for the blog, but it does wonders for the soul. I'm thinking about doing more walking/hiking back here, so I might join the Rambling society at university next year, which takes random hikes every once in a while! And yes, the picture below is one of mine!

This week I'm using Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett for Book Beginning (Rose City Reader) and Friday 56 (Freda's Voice). I finished this one last night and it was devilishly complicated to initially get my head around. My review is largely a garbled mess, but it's definitely one of the best plays I've ever read.

A seminal work of twentieth century drama, Waiting for Godot was Samuel Beckett's first professionally produced play. The story line revolves around two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone or something named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree on a barren stretch of road, inhabiting a drama spun from their own consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes, and nonsense, which has been interpreted as a somber summation of mankind's inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett's language pioneered an expressionistic minimalism that captured the existentialism of post-World War II Europe. His play remains one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time.

BB: (I've skipped the initial stage directions).

Estragon: (giving up again on taking his boot off). Nothing to be done.Vladimir: (advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart). I'm beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life I've tried to put it from me, saying, Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything. and I resumed the struggle. (He broods, musing on the struggle. Turning to Estragon.) So there you are again.Estragon: Am I?Vladimir: I'm glad to see you back. I thought you were gone for ever.Estragon: Me too.

Quite a promising beginning, no? Wait till the exact thing happens again in Act II. (Does that count as a spoiler?)

F56: (since p.56 is a blank, introducing Act II, here's p.60)

Vladimir: Say I am happy.Estragon: I am happy.Vladimir: So am I.Estragon: So am I.Vladimir: We are happy.Estragon: We are happy. (Silence.) What do we do now, now that we are happy?Vladimir: Wait for Godot. (Estragon groans. Silence.) Things have changed since yesterday.

This is a perfect example of how the dialogue in the play manages to emphasize the monotony of a lot of things said by humans.

So, that was it for today from me. I'm on my way to the library to write my essay. Surely 5000 intelligently written words about Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse literature aren't too much to ask of my brain, right?