I have been lax, I know

Not sure how to explain away the fact that I have not been reading much. Maybe it's merely a symptom of a general numbness and malaise that has overtaken me. It also occurs to me (and this is heresy, I know) that I perhaps I never enjoyed reading as much as I thought I did, and that I only convinced myself that I enjoyed it because it was the best way to do what I really do enoy, namely to acquire thought. At any rate, I have been pathetic, but what little reading I have done lately shall not go undocumented.

George R.R. Martin: A Game of Thrones

Yes yes, a good book, the reading of which only makes me wonder further about the above assertion. If I truly enjoyed the act of reading, I would have a book like this on hand at all times. Instead, I read them only rarely, those books that offer only enjoyment, and instead focus on books that one "should" read, crossing them off my list like little merit badges. As for the book itself, it left no real impression, unlike the TV series which bears its name, which I contend is the most perfect piece of television ever made.

Thomas Pynchon: The Crying of Lot 49

And on the other hand, we have this item, which is indisputably in the "should read" category, not merely because Pynchon is borderline canonical, but also because I can't bear my ex having an opinion about something which I do not. So I read this, and it was, as expected, very Robert, very postmodernist, blah blah blah. Wake me when somebody tops Tropic of Cancer
(never going to happen).

Various: Korea As Viewed by 12 Creators

This volume, an anthology of 12 manga shorts by a mixture of Korean and French writers, had a lot of potential, but I found it disappointing. This was partly due to the speed with which I consumed it, but also due to the general unoriginality of the individual pieces. The French writers were especially guilty of banality here, choosing mostly fluffy, if not downright cute, cultural asides for their topic matter. The exception was Igort, whose piece Letters from Korea was touching, but limited by the short format. The Korean writers fared a little better, and I am especially fond of both the art and the thought of 최규석 and 변기휸. They are colleagues, and have formed a collective called "Metamorphosis in Three Stages", into which I simply must look.  Nevertheless, I found all of the work limited by the short form, and was unsatisfied on the whole.