Loving Books

2012-01-01T16:24:00.000-06:00

2011, what do I have to say about you? If you've been following me for a while you'll know that ~~this~~ last year I graduated with a Bachelors of Arts and got a new puppy, who is now almost a full grown dog. I moved from Chicago back to my parents house in Michigan and that I had a few of my biggest reading slumps ever. Needless to say with so many big events 2011 was a bit of a mixed bag for me, and I am not sad to say that it is over. I didn't complete my original goal of 75 books over the year, nor my amended goal of 50 but came in with a respectable 40.

My goals for next year are simple. Enjoy what I'm reading, don't let blogging become a chore and not to let book/page count stress me out!

Here's a list of the books I completed in 2011
1. The Imperfectionists - Rachman

2. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk - Sedaris

3. The Crying of Lot 49 - Pynchon

4. The Winter Ghosts - Mosse

5. The Odyssey (abridged) - Homer

6. Clara & Mr. Tiffany - Vreeland

7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - Rowling

8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Rowling

9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Rowling

10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Rowling

11. The Paris Wife -McLain

12. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling

13. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Rowling

14. Exit the Actress - Parmar

15. Midnight Sun - Meyer

16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling

17. The Tragedy of Arthur - Phillips

18. Far to Go - Pick

19. Leaving Van Gogh - Wallace

20. Pride & Prejudice - Austen

21. The Alchemist - Coelho

22. The Night Villa - Goodman

23. My American Unhappiness - Bakopoulos

24. The Magicians - Grossman

25. The Ghost Orchid - Goodman

26. The Drowning Tree - Goodman

27. A Game of Thrones - Martin
28. Tree Of Codes - Foer

29. The Secret Lives of Dresses - McLean

30. Slaughterhouse - Five - Vonnegut

31. The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Allen

32. Coraline - Gaiman

33. The Winter Palace - Stachnaik

34. The Night Circus - Morgenstern

35. There But For The - Smith

36. The Lady of the Rivers - Gregory

37. The Secret History - Tartt

38. Mr. Fox - Oyeyemi

39. The Little Prince - Saint-Exupery

40. Winnie-the-Pooh - Milne

Have a great 2012!

New Year's Wishes from Neil Gaiman

2011-12-31T16:59:00.001-06:00

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever. - Neil Gaiman"

-Neil's three New Years wishes to his fans. Beautiful words to welcome in a New Year. I hope 2012 treats you all wonderfully. Be Safe and Have a great night!

Books in my Stocking

2011-12-28T20:56:00.000-06:00

As always I got a good selection of books for Christmas. This year they ranged from childhood favorites to memoirs young me would cringe at and I am excited to tackle each and every one of them!

For the child at heart I got The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne. Both of which I have already finished and loved to pieces.

I'm totally in love with the Winnie the Pooh cover, it comfort and vintage at the same time. It just screams "remember me".

The rest of my book haul:
Illuminated - Orloff, The Rules of Attraction - Ellis, The History of History - Hattemer - Higgins

Bossypants - Fey and Just Kids - Smith

Now comes the hard part, reading all these before buying anything new!

Was Santa good to you this year? Comment and let me know all about your awesome gifts!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T10:50:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas!

I hope you find many lovely books under your tree and bookmarks in your stocking! Eat good food, spend time with loved one, take the time to appreciate the silly Christmas music you can't get away from. It's going to be gone tomorrow! Hope you all have a great Christmas!

Unreviewable Books

2011-12-10T16:39:00.000-06:00

Four months ago I finished Slaughterhouse - Five. I liked it well enough. In fact I sped through it. Having never been able to finish Vonnegut before, but loving the idea of him as a person I was really pushing myself to like something, anything by him and I had finally found something sink my teeth into. Does anyone else do that? I love some authors as people but just can't love their work *cough Hemingway cough* and then just punish myself by trying to get through something that obviously isn't for me.

Seriously, who doesn't find Hemmingway just hilarious? Probably most of you. Right.

Anyways, I finished Slaughterhouse -Five and thought "Well, I don't have anything interesting to say about this." I don't know if it was the prose, or the story or just the overarching influence of the book but I was paralyzed by my lack of commentary. Luckily at the time I was behind on reviews. This was going to be future Sarah's problem. Only now future Sarah is really just Sarah, and I still don't have anything to say about one of people's favorite Vonnegut books. So instead of writing some halfhearted review of a book I now only vaguely remember I am letting me off the hook. Slaughterhouse - Five was good. It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of days back in the summer. I recommend it as a way to ease into Vonnegut if, like me you tried but didn't really like Breakfast of Champions. That is my review. Do with it what you will.

Does this ever happen to you? To you ever just blank on what to say about a book you really wanted to review? What was your solution? Let me know!

I'm Baaaaaaaaack

2011-12-05T15:28:00.000-06:00

Hello! Remember me? The girl who runs this little ol' book blog? It's ok if you don't. I kind of abandon you for a while. I got lazy, life got a little crazy and overall I kind of shunned books for a while.

It doesn't help that my Kindle broke right in the middle of The Secret History and I was to hooked to pick up another book and to scared of phone calls to call amazon until a week later, but I have a brand new Kindle and everything is right again!

Anyways, I'm back from my hiatus and excited to get back to everything that entails (like trudging through my overfull google reader. YIKES). Thanks for not giving up on me and stay tune for new reviews, musings and Christmas ideas!

Top Eight Books that Make Me Feel Lots of Things

2011-11-01T18:50:00.000-05:00

I have emotions. Surprise! I'm not a computer! These emotions especially like to come out when I'm reading.

1. Everything is Illuminated - Foer - You know that feeling you get when you see a war documentary and innocent people are just being slaughtered and all of your insides turn to goo and you don't really want to cry, but you don't really feel right the rest of the day? That's the feeling I always get from Everything is Illuminated. Don't get me wrong, I truly love this book. I'm always surprised by how strong my emotions are over certain situations in it.

2.Hard Times - Dickens - Dickens evokes a strong negative reaction for me. I have yet to actually finish any of his books but Hard Times is the only one that, when I have actually come across it in a store, that I have thrown to the floor and stomped away. I can never get into his writing style and I get so frustrated because when the story is discussed everything sounds so interesting.

3. The Book Thief - Zusak - Love it or hate it The Book Thief is a book about perilous circumstances and that's the type of book that leaves me exploding with feelings. I get sad when loved characters die, I'm happy when there are brief bouts of happiness and I'm all sorts of pensive when it's over.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling - There are so many things to say about Deathly Hallows. Looking back I still get angry at Dumbledore, and I still remember how scared I was for Harry. Really, this should be called "my list of books that create complicated feelings" because there isn't a blanket emotion for what this book makes me feel. The best word I can come up with is proud. I'm proud of the Order, and of Harry and of all the lovely characters who died. I'm proud of myself for being a part of something that is so much bigger than myself and even it's own fan base and I'm proud of a series that has reintroduced reading to millions.

6. The Lost Symbol - Brown - Where Deathly Hallow's left me with a sea of emotions, Dan Brown manages to leave me with just one. Anger. I liked The Da Vinci Code and Angel's and Demons enough. They were entertaining and at least gave off the appearance that Brown had spent more than 15 minutes haphazardly writing. The Lost Symbol, to me, reads like a sketchy film outline, it lacks description and subtlety, all the character development was handled in such a ham fisted way that I just couldn't care about anyone. Mr. Brown, if you just want your stories made into movies just sell the idea, don't write a 500 page outline.

7. The History of Love - Krauss - Back to being a happy Sarah! For me The History of Love is hope in literary form. Sure thing's don't always work out for Alma and Leo but hope and faith are what really matter here, and those are the feelings I keep with me long after I've turned the last page.

8. Brave New World - Huxley - Fear? Pensiveness? I read Brave New World last fall and all I could think the entire time was "well, this seems familiar." Now I just shudder when I think about where our world is heading"

The Secret Lives of Dresses - McKean

2011-10-27T17:27:00.000-05:00

The Secret Lives of Dresses

Erin McKean

Dora is vagueness personified. She is getting a General Studies degree from a small and unnoticed private university, she has a job at a coffee shop working for a man she loves but won't give her the time of day and her personal style can best be described as dingy comfort. When grandmother Mimi takes ill Dora must drop everything to take over at her vintage clothing store, finding herself and a fabulous new wardrobe along the way.

Here's the thing. Erin's a blogger and I have a lot of love for bloggers who are able to take their daily grind and make it into something I can pick up at a closing Boarders (this is not to say that you can't get The Secret Lives of Dresses other places, but I got mine at a Boarders that is presumably now an empty building with a Boarders sign above it.) but I wasn't a huge fan of The Secret Lives of Dresses. I went in expecting A Vintage Affair, the only other slightly chick litty thing I've read in the past year, which I realize was totally my mistake. Dora's indifference makes her hard to understand, and even harder to root for. Truly the beginning of The Secret Lives of Dresses was a fight to see if there were in fact dresses somewhere in this story.

Once I got over how questionable Dora was I really did enjoy the story. Mimi's shop is a beautiful setting and the stories behind her dresses are thought provoking and sweet. It is a perfect place for characters to interact and grow and live. It is even a place where a manly man like Conrad can enter with a cup of coffee without things taking an odd turn. Which brings me to Conrad. Hello Mr. Stereotype of Perfect, we haven't seen each other in a while but it's good to catch up. Conrad's the good guy to Gary's flighty free loving self. He's funny and charming and makes all the girls swoon in a the way Colin Firths sweater clad self does. Only, he lacks a Colin Firth type characters substance. Which kind of fits in with the rest of the novel.

Over all The Secret Lives of Dresses isn't going to be one of this years favorites, but it was definitely a fun read. Come for the fashion, stay for the cozy love story.

Readathon

2011-10-22T09:22:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! I'm a little late, but I'm super excited to partake in my 3rd readathon! I know you all are very busy reading and snacking on tasty things so I'll keep this introduction short.

1)Where are you reading from today?
Southeast Michigan, USA

2)Three random facts about me…
-I have a mild obsession with nail polish.
-I once had a fish named Ophelia and something happened to her swim bladder so she spent the last year of her life swimming upside down looking crazy
-I really want mashed potatoes right now.

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
I'm a little late, and once again I have failed to make my own advice and read short, easy books. As a result I only have two books that I'm definitely hoping to get though.
-The Lady of the River - Gregory
-The Secret History - Tartt

4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
Everything about today is kind of up in the air so I'm just trying for as much reading as possible!

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
take breaks, read short books, order take out.

Sincere Apologies from a Lapsed Blogger

2011-10-17T22:22:00.001-05:00

I've been a bad blogger lately. Between getting a new job, discovering addictive facebook games and generally just being kind of down because it's fall and that's what happens when it's cool but I can't wear my awesome winter coat yet I've fallen into a bit of a reading and reviewing slump.

This is my vow to you that I'll change my ways, spend less time upgrading avatar skills and rewatching episodes of Bones. Instead I'll pick up a book! Shocking, I know, since this is a blog almost exclusively about books (I know, I talk about nail polish too. humor me).

This is my fighting face.

I'll actually get around to reviewing things I've read, too! So don't give up hope on me just yet. I promise I'll check my google reader regularly and leave really deep and insightful comments and all that jazz.

In case you're wondering, Camp or Crap is still updated regularly in case you really really missed my friend and mines snarky movie humor.

Thanks for sticking around,

Tree of Codes - Foer

2011-10-05T13:06:00.000-05:00

Tree of Codes

Jonathan Safran Foer

Tree of Codes is interesting in it's complexities, it is part novel, part artist book and part poetry. The story itself was made by taking Bruno Schulz's The Street of Crocodiles, Foer's favorite book, and cutting out entire passages, leaving words, sentences or punctuation to make an entirely new story. The end result looks like this -

making an entirely unique reading experience. The pages are fragile and at first glance it's hard to see how this book, still meant to be read in a linear page-at-a-time pace. After a struggle I found that A. putting a sheet of paper under the page I was reading or B. holding the page up so that it wasn't flush with the rest of the book made the experiences much more enjoyable.

The story itself is less important. While I remember being entranced by the poetic narrative Foer carved out I'm hard pressed to remember actual details. Something about a deceased mother and father? I really don't remember much more than that. I don't think I'm alone in this aspect, though. You read Tree of Codes for the process and the story is secondary, though I do remember enjoying it quite a bit. That is my only pet peeve with Tree of Codes, but if anything it has me more excited to read it again than damning it to back of the bookshelf hell.

A Note: Don't be a chump and pay a ridiculous amount for this book. It's awesome but it isn't worth more than it's typical $40 price tag (even then it's pricey.)

Good Quotes from Banned Books

2011-09-30T11:17:00.000-05:00

So, what is there to say about Banned Books that hasn't already been said? This whole week has been filled with wonderful posts and lists and general blog-y goodness. In the spirit of the controversial book I'd like to add two cents to the argument, but not my two cents. I figure, who can speak better for these books then themselves? Here are some fantastic quotes from (in my opinion) amazing books that regularly make the banned/challenged list. I hope they make you think, or feel a little sad, or maybe even inspire you.

Catch-22 - Heller

What a lousy Earth! He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused, or abandoned. How many families hungered for food they could not afford to buy? How many hearts were broken? How many suicides would take place that same night, how many people would go insane? How many cockroaches and landlords would triumph? How many winners were losers, successes failures, and rich men poor men? How many wise guys were stupid? How many happy endings were unhappy endings? how many honest men were liars, brave men cowards, loyal men traitors, how many sainted men were corrupt, how many people in positions of trust had sold their souls to bodyguards, how many had never had souls? How many straight-and-narrow paths were brooked paths? How many best families were worst families and how many good people were bad people? When you added them all up and then subtracted, you might be left with only the children, and perhaps with Albert Einstein and an old violinist or sculptor somewhere

Brave New World - Huxley

But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.

Catcher in the Rye - Salinger

Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles, You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry.

Slaughterhouse Five

It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? all there is to say about a massacre, things like "Poo-tee-weet"

The Great Gatsby

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Now go read some banned books! Or any books, really.

Top Ten Tuesday - Rereading is Love

2011-09-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Books I want to Reread

Catch 22 - Heller - I recommended Catch 22 to a friend and she just finished reading it. In short she loved it and wanted more recs, but I realized this book, this lovely book that I see as my gateway into dystopian lit, satire and all things wonky in the world is fading from my memory. I can't let this happen. Catch 22 has been a favorite since high school and I absolutely must keep it fresh in my mind.

Everything is Illuminated - Foer - For some reason Everything is Illuminated doesn't get as much love as Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close but I love it just the same. While some books I reread like often (*cough* Extremely Loud *cough*) I've never reread everything is Illuminated. I remember setting quotes from it as my "away" status back in high school whenever I was feeling a little upset, or deep, or bored.

Franny & Zooey - Salinger - I talk a lot about Franny & Zooey. What can I say? I love the glass family. I really want to just get lost into Salinger's prose right now, and reading over Zooey's shoulder as he's taking a bath.

Falling Angels - Chevalier - When I younger I use to reread Girl With a Pearl Earring constantly. I read it so often I had to get another copy. Even though I was obsessed with the Vermeer story Falling Angels was always my favorite. My copy is frail, and falls open to my favorite passages.

Harry Potter Series - Rowling - We all know I'm obsessed with Harry Potter. I've already reread the books once this year but I'm still excited for the next time I'll reread them.

The Book Thief - Zusak - I first read The Book Thief two years ago and I don't think I've tore through a book that fast since. I absolutely loved it. Now it sits at the end of my YA shelf looking quite alone in the world. I don't want to let my books get to lonely.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - Sedaris - Sometimes I just need a good laugh. Sadly I usually don't have any of Sedaris's books on me when this need occurs. Maybe I'll just carry around When You AR\ae Engulfed in Flames as a preemptive strike.

Requiem for a Dream - Selby - This, like Catch 22 made up a very weird but integral part of my high school reading experience. I use to be able to see the huge differences between the book and the movie but now they're fading from memory. I do remember not being nearly as upset as my friends when I watched the movie, though. Disturbing books are great buffers.

The Other Boleyn Girl - Gregory - What can I say? I'm kind of in a heads will roll type of mood.

The Shadow of the Wind - I loved this book. Loved loved loved it. I haven't even gotten around to reading Angel Games because I don't think it will live up to it.

A Game of Thrones

2011-09-26T16:14:00.001-05:00

A Game of Thrones

George R R Martin

For your sanity and mine I'm going to yank the synopsis from goodreads. It's better for both of us. I promise.

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective wall. To the south, the King's powers are failing, and his enemies are emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the King's new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but also the kingdom itself. A heroic fantasy of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and evildoers who come together in a time of grim omens. The first volume in George Martin's series

There's a lot of hype around Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series right now, what with the HBO show and the release of Dances with Dragon's you've probably been hard pressed to avoid these books. Since you can find a galoption (I am making up numbers! yay creativity!) of reviews all over the interweb and I haven't even started a Clash of Kings yet I am just going to point out a few of my favorite things from A Game of Thrones.

The Stark's - They're your typical principled hero's and that is a very rare characteristic to have in this book. Eddard and his children all have distinct personalities, and most of them are POV characters. My favorite is a toss up between the bastard Jon Snow and Arya. Plus their motto's is "Winter is Coming" and for some reason I think that is really awesome.

Westero - Fantasy worlds are important. Well, they're important in fantasy novels. I don't think they're very important in non fiction or poetry. Westero is perfectly dissected into parts that are recognizable and things that are fanciful. Plus there are large wolves and dragons. That's kind of awesome.

The Narration - A Game of Thrones is told from the perspective of eight different characters (plus one prologue). It's fascinating to get inside so many heads and hear so many different sides to the same situation. It's also a huge plus to have so much variety in a 800+ page book.

There's More to Look Forward To - While the series is still in progress, there are five of the seven books published and waiting patiently on my kindle. As soon as I finish The Night Circus I'm going to start A Clash of Kings.

Top Ten Tuesday - The Only Blogger in the World

2011-09-20T12:27:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Books that Everyone But Yours Truly Have Read

Hunger Games- I actually started the first book. This was around when Mockingjay came out and you couldn't open up a web browser without seeing KATNISS AND BLAH BLAH FOREVER which didn't make me want to continue on in my reading. Admittedly the writing was much better than I had anticipated but I just couldn't get into it.

Huck Finn - One of my friends as well as several of my favorite bloggers absolutely love Huck Finn. I "had" to "read" it in high school (read as: was suppose to and but instead found out that sparknotes was a thing. I'm not proud of this.) I hated every second of every attempt to read it. I often think that I am older now, wiser, more tolerant of things that aren't completely up my ally and that I should really give Twain a chance. Then I high school me and how much she hated Huck Finn. How much did she hate it? More than Tuck Everlasting. And that's saying something.

Shiver - Fun fact! I don't know what Shiver and Linger and whatever the other one is are about. Something with Werewolves? Be completely silent if I'm write. Okay. Nothing. I'm assuming I'm right then. I really like the covers, and from what I remember of the reviews I've read they song like good books.

Water for Elephants - I actually want to read this one, only I've never gotten around to it. I picked up a copy years ago when it first started being a "it" book and then never got through the intro.

Freedom - Everyone remember last year when all anyone, including Oprah, could talk about was Franzen. Well I for one didn't like it. It didn't matter that Freedom sounded pretty good, and that I'd probably really like it. I just couldn't sit outside one of my classes and with the hardback looking all smug, again.

Wolf Hall - I have this. I am crazy excited to read it. I'm just hesitant with long historical fiction. Especially with protagonists I don't know inside and out. I have heard nothing but good things about it and yet it has still wound up on this list.

1984 - I like George Orwell a lot. He's a pretty great guy. I'm a big fan of Animal farm and I've seen a poorly executed stage version of 1984. Actually that may be what has stopped me from reading this blogger prerec.

Dickens - It's been months since I have ranted about my hate for Charles Dickens and his terribly dry prose. I've never actually finished anything by the man but that's not for want of trying. I got about halfway into A Christmas Carol, Hard Times and A Tale of Two Cities before I got so angry that I wanted to start setting fire to things. Now would be a good time to mention that I do not condone burning books. I promise.

The Forgotten Garden - By all accounts this should be my new favorite book, but I have yet to take it off my shelf despite all the awesome blogger recommendations.

The Rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series - I read A Game of Thrones this summer and really really loved it, but it took me longer than I had anticipated to get through all of it and made the executive decision to wait to start A Clash of Kings. Only now I see a few tweets each day about characters dying and plot twists and I know I have to jump back in the crazy boat.

Bookshelves - A Lesson in Organization

2011-09-16T11:03:00.000-05:00

In a struggle to make the bedroom in my parents house feel more like my old apartment I decided it was time to organize my bookshelves. Now, I don't actually have enough space for all of my books, but I just couldn't deal with shelf after shelf of Bronte next to Veerland and The Princess Diary books jammed against The Shadows of the Wind. Life's been out of control and my state of mind was being reflected through the haphazard placement on my bookshelves.

Houston, we have a problem.

So I'm in the process of organizing my abundance of books, and remembering that in terms spacial things I'm just terrible.I could never be an interior decorator, or an engineer. My biggest accomplishment so far has been organizing books by genre and then alphabetizing. So far I have done classics, historical fiction and a very tiny YA shelf. My contemporary fiction sections is posing much more of an issue. This got me to thinking, is there a better way to organize my books? Is it simpler to Jane Austen and Dan Brown side by side? What about by spine color? How are your shelves organized? I'm dying to know! Extra points if you include pictures!

Behind Every Girl is an Amazing Nail - Literary Series Edition

2011-09-10T13:30:00.001-05:00

Seasons are changing, and while some people are thinking of school books and sweat shirts I'm thinking about colors. Not just any color's mind you, but the ones that come in small glass bottles with the little brushes on the lid. I'm talking about Nail Polish. Since my nails can only be so many colors at one time (and right now they are master plan) I've fallen back into the habit of dolling up everyone's favorite literary heroins.

Luna Lovegood
Oh Loony Luna, Your off the wall notions of mythical creature and forever cloud bound head is so endearing. While some might think you'd benefit from a few months in St. Mungo's we all know you're perfect just the way you are! Right down to you're Spark de Triomphe by OPI nails!

Nothing but glitter here! Here is the perfect blend of happy go lucky odd ball and mysterious night owl. The way the light hits each nail is bound to distract Luna during her next Potions lesson.

Katniss Everdeen
This distopian darling is a survivor through and through. With a fierce Independent streak and a mindset hell bent on protecting the ones she loves Katniss is every part the heroin girls everywhere want to be. Like every perfectly tuned warrior I think Katniss would want to be prepared for a cunning fight to the death even down to the tips of her fingers. That's why I chose Green Up Your Act by Nicole by OPI.

This no nonsense green is perfect for the ever fighting girl who still wants to look her best.

Samsa Stark

Pretty demure little Sansa! With your love of fashion and girly personality you're sure to make your your decked out from head to toe in nothing but the best. No unnecessary gloomy colors for you, that can be left for Ayra. I'm sure you'd wear Buy Me a Cameo by Essie.

With this pretty in pink polish with a perfect ethereal shimmer you'll be able to keep your darling Prince wanting more.

Hermione Granger

Between late nights studying in the common room and adventures with you're silly and incredibly attractive best friends there isn't much time for personal upkeep. But secretly you long for the Yule Ball and Slughorns Christmas parties just so you get the chance to pamper yourself. That's exactly why you'd keep a bottle of Marrow by Butter stashed in your nightstand.

This beautiful purple will compliment anything from a periwinkle dress to a darling party ensemble, and would even look good covered in ink splotches during History of Magic!

Anne Boleyn

You're the ultimate temptress. Who else could make the playboy king of England sit around like a little for years! You're witty, sneaky and ambitious, but you play as hard as you work. Just be careful you don't climb to high, the fall just might kill you. For writing all you're sneaky documents why don't you adorn your nails with Black Pearl by Chanel.

Perfect for business meetings, formal parties and late night affairs your sure to intrigue with this shinning black. Plus you have the ultimate sugar daddy to pay for it!.

Let me know who'd you like to see in my next Literary Nail Polish post!

Hope you're all safe and dry!

Literary Hop

2011-09-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

Can I share a secret with you guys? I'm really excited the Literary Hop is back. This month's question is about difficult writing, and is always present by the lovely ladies at The Blue Bookcase (hey girls, I don' t know if you watch How I Met Your Mother but your name always reminds me of the blue horn, Just so ya know).

Must all literary writing be difficult? Can you think of examples of literary writing that was not difficult?

One of the things I love most about the literary hop is how subjective the questions are. Oh, and the other awesome bloggers, you're great too. This question all depends on what you think of as difficult. For me Jane Austen and Shakespeare aren't difficult and Fitzgerald and Salinger are easy reads. It's a combination of writing style and and familiarity that make authors like this accessible to me. On the other hand Victor Hugo and Virginia Woolf make me want to cry big wet tears of boredom. I find their style dry and am not familiar enough with each writing era to make my experience any more enjoyable.

Fun fact: I have started The Hunchback of Notre Dame no less than 7 times. I never get past the first six pages. I have also been lurking at page 80 of Mrs. Dalloway for over a year with not intent to return to her stream of babbling pages.

I feel the same about the modern literary writers. I find Jonathan Safran Foer easy to poetic and easy to read, but Zadie Smith is lost to me. In theory I should really enjoy both, but I just can't get into Smith's style. It grates on me, and leaves me stuck in the middle of her books forever. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying difficult is bad. I loved Les Miserable, even if it took me forever to read, and Autograph Man changed my reading habits in high school. I'm all about challenging myself and my comfort zones, and that's where the mythical "difficult" writing becomes important. Some books are about the journey and some are about the destination, and with difficult writing i'm all about the destination.

The Drowning Tree - Goodman

2011-09-06T12:57:00.000-05:00

The Drowning Tree

Carol Goodman

Juno McKay's life hasn't turned out exactly as she planned it, but that okay since she has her beautiful daughter Bea, and her best friend Christine to make up for all of the short coming. While at her 15th College reunion she witnesses Christine give a speech that shakes the ground that Penrose was built on. When Christine ends up missing Juno must investigate some of her outrageous claims and figure out were they enough to get her killed.

The Drowning Tree is the definition of mediocre. Juno's interesting, but not really interesting. She lives in a stained glass factory which she now also runs (+1 interesting point) but she's really overprotective of her daughter, doesn't really date and apparently hasn't done anything interesting since her ex-husband tried to kill her (-2 ). Since this is really all Juno is about she doesn't really have much spirit to carry the store, which is sad, because the plot doesn't really put in much effort either. In The Drowning Tree everything is about imagery. There are intense descriptions of settings, like the mental hospital Neil is in and the Penrose estates, as well as art and the river by the McKays. While not a fault in itself, using beautiful descriptions to supplement the already overworked and barely functional plot isn't a huge selling point.

While I have several other issues with The Drowning Tree, the one that really sealed it's back of the bookshelf shame is the Penrose diary. Usually Goodman is fantastic at telling a story within a story, pacing them out so that the reader is interested in both and using a device that makes sense and is intriguing to the reader to tell said second story. The diary entries are short and not very insightful. They become more about Juno's assumptions than about the Penrose sisters reality. Not the best way to add in a story, especially when it is needed to make scenes of the entire rest of the book.

Summer in Review

2011-09-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

Summer's been weird. Not weird in a bad way, more like weird in a I-have-a-new-puppy-a-have-kind-of-been-looking-for-a-job-and-life-is-full-of-surprises weird. Usually summer is where I get most of my yearly reading done, this year my numbers are down. Regardless I read some great books and am looking forward to a fall where my brother is back to school and Oskar the Pup has finished his training classes.

In case you forgot, this is my little Cavashon, Oskar Wild (at 2 months)

He's much bigger at 5 months!

Okay, you're here for books so I'll give you books!

Books Read:
Pride & Prejudice - Austen
The Alchemist - Coelho
The Night Villa - Goodman
My American Unhappiness - Bakopolous
The Magician's - Grossman
The Ghost Orchid - Goodman
The Drowning Tree - Goodman
A Game of Thrones - Martin
Tree of Codes - Foer
The Secret Lives of Dresses - McLean
Slaughterhouse - Five - Vonnegut
Total Number of Books Read This Summer: 11
Total Number of Books Read This Year: 30
Most Anticipated:
Tree of CodesBiggest Let Down:
My American UnhappinessFavorite Read:
A Game of Thrones
Overall Reflection:
As I was saying before. This summer has been crazy. When I've had the time to read I've found myself fighting through things I haven't been enjoying instead of looking for something better suited to my moods. One of my goals for Fall is to actually put down books I'm not enjoying. Other than that I've actually started to use my kindle and I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed using it. Plus it was a lot easier than carrying around A Game of Thrones!

I hope you all had a good summer and keep reading!

The Ghost Orchid

2011-08-29T14:22:00.000-05:00

The Ghost Orchid

Carol Goodman

Ellis Brooks is excited to be invited to the Bosco - A beautiful estate transformed into an artist colony. You see, she's working on her first book and it happens to be about the medium Corinth Black and the controversy that now surrounds her and the previous owners of Bosco - Miles and Aurora Latham. While fighting through writers block Ellis must learn to navigate a fragile ecosystem of artists and their habits but when her fellow residents start to emulate the infamous characters from the Latham situation Ellis must learn to trust her instincts, even when they seem anything but right.

Let's ignore the fact that I've read three Carol Goodman books this year. However, let's not ignore the fact that each one has had a slew of problems, from implausible characters to shady historical dealings. Even so it's hard ignore how addictive her writing is. The Ghost Orchid covers a few one of Goodman's specialties - groups of artists and academics living in close proximity. Not quite the boarding schools of Lake of Dead Languages and Arcadia Falls fame, but just as intriguing.

Goodman's Bosco estate is beautifully depicted, and the reasoning behind it is even more haunting. Aurora\Latham's story is heart breaking. Between her dead children and her likable, but not so great husband she had to retreat into the world of myth and fountains to create a safe haven, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to see Bosco's grounds (or library, or secret passageways.) With Bosco as a backdrop a store full of mediums, procession and lies seems more plausible, the characters plights more threatening and the heartbreak more real.

There's a reason why only a few of Goodman's novels are best sellers, The Ghost Orchid is an interesting and quick read, but it lacks the substance of many of her other novels. However if medium's and thrillers are you're thing check it out.

Top Ten Tuesday - Loved But Not Reviewed

2011-08-23T11:23:00.000-05:00

Top Five Books I Loved But Never Reviewed

Everything Is Illuminated - Foer - For the most part I've reviewed everything I've read since I started this blog. That mean's favorites that haven't been read in 2 years haven't gotten the attentiont hey have deserved. That is definitely the case with Everything is Illuminated. I read it my senior year of high school. It was one of the first books that really REALLY made me think, which in hindsight is kind of weird.

The History of Love - Krauss - Again, I haven't reread The History of Love since starting Loving books and that's the main reason for it's absents from my list. It's just such a fantastic book, guys. Go read it.

Catch 22 - Heller - Sometimes I have a hard time writing about classics. I get really worried that I'm going to say something too obvious or completely wrong or just plain stupid and then I panic about if for a few hours. That isn't healthy reviewing. It's not really healthy anything, really. I do really love Catch 22. I should probably reread it and give the review another shot.

Nine Stories - Salinger - I actually attempted a review of this, but please don't go looking for it. It's bad, guys. So bad. I'm not great with reviewing short story collections, but I love the Glass family and I love all of these stories.

Falling Angels -Chevalier - One of my favorite books of all time. I have a hard time writing coherently about it. For me it's the perfect blend of historical fiction and real emotions. Plus I love all of the characters and have tagged Lavinia as one of my favorite names.

The Magicians - Grossman

2011-08-20T16:57:00.000-05:00

The Magicians

Lev Grossman

Life is a chore for Quieten, what with his advanced classes at his Brooklyn private school, his best friend dating the love of his life and the nerve-racking Ivy Le age interviews he has to prepare for. The one thing that comforts Quinten is magic, and novels about his favorite fantasy land - Filroy. He's great with magic, well the stage variety at least, but when given the opportunity to go to the exclusive Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy Quientins life is changed forever. Here he learn, love and lives until the real world comes to take him back, but is that the only option?

The Magicians is often called the "adult" Harry Potter. It's easy to see why, schools dedicated to magic, a slightly neglected male protagonist and a good deal about friendship and relationships are all areas that overlap in both works, but if you've come to Grossman's first novel about the magic of Filroy (The Magician King came out earlier this month) hoping to find a Potter replica you'll be disappointed. Don't let that dissuade you from jumping into Quentin's head, though, because The Magicians is still a fantastic book.

Possibly the most interesting part of Grossman's version of "the magician" is how complex magic is. There are specific hand motions for each spells, along with different conjugations depending on the weather, the sun and various other things. Where as in many other fantasy novels the magic just pours out of the characters the students at Brakesbill have to work very hard to perfect their skill.

The only issue I had with The Magicians lies mostly with Quentin and his friends, while they're all interesting and happy go lucky and all of that they can air on the side of petulant. This is especially true once Quentin and company graduate and are allowed to live in New York work free, drinking and screwing and generally ruining their lives and their relationships. Though necessary to progress the plot I found this section to just be long (it really wasn't that long, it just dragged) and irritating. While most of the Physics Kids were in the same boat as Quentin, Alice and Penny became some of my favorite characters here.

Regardless of Quentin's sometimes trying demeanor I'm excited to pick up The Magician King and see where Quentin and his remaining friends go. Definitely a good, light fantasy read.

Bookish Things are all the Rage

2011-08-17T09:48:00.001-05:00

Bookish things are cool. Not just books, which are cool too, but things that are like books but not. For instance I'm really into outofprintclothing.com. You've probably seen their shirts around. They take classic covers, like this awesome iconic Catcher in the Rye image and put them on super comfy shirts and the occasional hoodie.

Sadly, I only have this shirt, but I've been dying to get the Pride & Prejudice hoodie and the stylish but girly Great Gatsby top. While their clothes are fantastic, and alert you to fellow bookish folk like Threadless unites college students my favorite thing about Out of Print is that for every shirt they sell they donate a book to a community in need.

If you don't want to cover your body with books how about your walls? Spineless Classics could be for you. High quality posters, framed or unframed with the entire text of a book in a cool design.

While I love the designs on most of their posters, my favorite is the single sheet version of War and Peace. In case you're wondering, to hang that beauty in your house you'll need around 15 feet of free wall space to hang that in your house. Admittedly I haven't gotten anything from Spineless Classics yet, but I already know what my first home-warming present will be to myself the next time I move.

Lastly there is the lovely Etsy. Of course I don't have enough time (or money, or space in my house) to try all the shops dedicated to all things bookish, but I can attest to the awesomeness of Brookish - A Jane Austen inspired shop. I'm a huge fan of her mugs.

I have two, actually. Aside from the adorable mugs she has fantastic shirts and decorative items.

So those are some of my favorite places to browse through bookish things. What about you? Do you like to flaunt your love for books on your sleeve or with things other than beautiful bookshelves? What are some of your favorite sties/stores to browse through?

PS: I'm working on another Behind Every Girl is an Amazing Nail Polish post and would love to know which characters you'd like to see featured!

Top Ten Tuesday - Favorites of 2011

2011-08-16T14:23:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday, which mean's it's a Top Ten Tuesday, which doesn't always mean I've managed to come up with a witty list...I digress. This week's a free week, and I'm going to use it to tell you about the 10 best books I've read in 2011 so far.

Top Ten Books of 2011 (Part the First)

1.The Paris Wife - McLain - The story of Hadley Richardson, Hemingway's first wife and mother of his eldest son is incredible. It's life in the 20's in Paris, it's the Fitzgerald's fighting in the background and it's Hemingway writing and running with the bulls and generally showing signs of the complete bad ass he is going to become. Also, there is no suicide, which is nice, only divorce. Oops, I guess that's a spoiler, but if you picked up The Paris Wife without knowing there were many other wives to come you kind of deserve it.

2. Exit the Actress - Parmar - The story of an Oyster girl turned Orange girl turned Actress turned Kings Mistress set during the mid 1600's is equal parts funny and informative. If you're into historical fiction it's definitely one to check out. Plus Nell Gwyn is hilarious as a historical figure, and she isn't a character you'll see on every cover. *cough cough Anne Boyle cough*

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling - My favorite book in the series seems to change with each read through, this year it's Deathly Hallows. Maybe it's Harry growing up that gets me, or Neville turning into a hero, or Snape being...well, Snape, but I just wept through Deathly Hallows like no one would let me read Rowling ever again. It was an situation. There were tissues everywhere and I kept saying things like "Harry no!" to no one in particular, and then I watched all of the movies again. Hello, I'm Sarah, I like books and I'm a Potterphile, if you know of any support groups please sent them my way.

4. Pride & Prejudice - Austen - I think Kate at Hark! a vagrant put it best -

5. The Alchemist - Coelho - I'm a little late on The Alchemist bandwagon, but it's a great little fable. It totally made me feel like I could go out and do whatever I wanted with my life. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but since I'm a recent college drag searching for job prospect and reading depressing books I'm going to pretend that it's the best thing ever.

6. The Magicians - Grossman - If you'll remember from #3 I'm a bit of a Harry Potter fan. I needed a fix so I tried this "Potter for Adults" book about a magical college and a land that resembles Narnia. It was great. Two whole Universes created in under 400 pages. I was impressed. While it wasn't really Harry for the older readers it is a good story about Wizards.

7. The Ghost Orchid - Goodman - I've read to much Goodman this year to not put her on this list, and this was my favorite of the three books of hers I read. Set at an artists retreat in upstate New York it has love, murder, psychics and a swamp. Also, secret tunnels. Really, tunnels!

8. A Game of Thrones - Martin - I've been wanting to start the A Song of Ice and Fire series for over a year but had always been intimidated by the page length and it's incomplete status but A Game of Thrones is totally awesome. I was definitely missing out by waiting. I wasn't a huge fan of all of the child POV characters (except Jon Snow. he seems like a BAMF) but overall I think I've found a new series to obsess over. On to A Clash of Kings!

9. Tree of Codes - Foer - Not really a book as much as an Art project, or Artist Book, Foer took his favorite book, Street of Crocidiles and cut it to pieces to make his own unique story out of Schulz original work. The story is almost secondary to the reading process, which with being able to see the pages is definitely a process (I started by using a sheet of paper behind each page but when that was taking to much time I just held the page up so it wasn't flat against the rest of the book), but was completely worth the trouble.

10. The Secret Lives of Dresses - McLean - I finished this last night. While it wasn't the most creative of stories or the best written novel it still gave me warm butterflies and an urge to go shopping. Both things are good in my book. So are Vintage clothing stores, coffee shops and shirt dresses, which this book has in spades!

My American Unhappiness - Bakopoulos

2011-08-12T10:47:00.002-05:00

My American Unhappiness

Dean Bakopoulos

(Amazon Vine Copy)

Zeke Pappas is on a mission - to compile a list of what makes Americans unhappy. Which is perfect, because he works at the Great Midwestern Humanities Initiative. Aside from having a pretty sweet job Zeke plays father figure to his twin orphan nieces and roommate to his elderly mother. When his mother has a change of heart Zeke needs to find a wife before everything he knows is taken from him.

My American Unhappiness sounds interesting, right? What with interviews of the general population and a man interested in compiling a list of their woes? Only it's not. The actual Unhappiness Project takes up a pitifully small portion of the book. Everything else is Zeke Pappas being....Zeke. This is truly a case of an unlikable protagonist ruining what could be a good book. The problem is that Zeke doesn't understand his life. He thinks everything is perfect, that he'll find love one day and that his ability to predict strangers Starbucks orders is endearing. When his life starts to fall apart he thinks he takes it in stride, but in reality he is crying in his office (which he denies) and proposing to near strangers after a first date. Maybe if My American Unhappiness had been marketed as a man unknowingly coping with some form of mental illness Zeke would be easier to stomach, and truly I tried, but his outbursts and routines broke me down.

While I didn't love the majority of Unhappiness there were a few things that stood out as brilliant. The Unhappiness Project is really interesting. I almost wish the entire book was just interviews with people talking about what makes them unhappy. Really, anything from technology to lack of sleep makes the list. The other thing I love was how well the Midwest was represented by Bakopoulos. Having grown up in Michigan (in Livonia, the city Zeke visits at the end!) and going to school in Illinois I really connected with the Madison setting and the general feeling these often overlooked areas can create. Truthfully, I finished this book because I loved how distinct each place, Madison, Ann Arbor, Chicago, came across.

Definitely not my favorite read of the year, but I'd lay a majority of the blame on the blurb being woefully incorrect and Zeke being a irritating pansy.

The Night Villa - Goodman

2011-08-10T14:31:00.001-05:00

The Night Villa

Carol Goodman

After a fatal school shooting Professor Sophie Chase finds herself on a trip she never expected to take.Quickly she finds herself in Italy with an ex lover, a computer mogul, several other academics and her favorite student, Agnes. While on the beautiful isle of Capris Sophie starts to find herself, and the subject of her research Iusta, an intriguing slave girl living in Herculaneum when Vesuvius erupted, are both growing in unexpected ways. As her research progresses and mysterious appearances start happening
Sophie will have to learn that the truth isn't always what it seems.

Let's pause for a minute to look at a very dangerous piece of rock.

If you've read Carol Goodman before you're probably aware that most of her books have three things 1.) ! rouge relationship that may turn out better than the heroin could ever anticipate. 2.) The Classics (usually Latin) or art. 3.) Murder. The Night Villa has all three. As a suspense/mystery (which if pressed is what i would classify most of Goodman's books) The Night Villa delivers. My predictions, which usually turn out correct were hopelessly wrong in this transatlantic who-done-it. Structurally, Goodman delivers, there is just the right amount of suspense, intrigue and false information to keep readers interested while still moving the story forward at a good pace.

Now for the story, or stories, is actually more accurate. Goodman uses her tried and true method of using her broken heroine, in this case Sophie, to narrate the majority of the book, but for the necessary glimpses into the past there is a lost scroll belonging to a man named Phineas, who spends most of his time talking about Iusta. Sophie's story is compelling, she's searching for information, and a way to heal the wounds left by her crazy ex. Iusta's story is different. True, she's "fighting" for her freedom and she's a historically interesting case, but her story running against the impending eruption of Vesuvius, while giving it a sense of urgency also makes it seem pointless against all of the deaths that are about to occur. Overall not my favorite Goodman novel, but if you're interested in crazy cults, Latin or Pompeii it's worth checking out. Good for a summer read to transport you to the clear sea side!

Other Goodman Reviews:
Arcadia Falls
The Lake of Dead Languages
The Seduction of the Water

Bookbinding + Harry Potter = The Best Final Ever

2011-08-06T13:02:00.000-05:00

You may remember I was taking a bookbinding class last semester. You may also remember I took a crazy awesome Fantasy Lit class exclusively on Harry Potter. No big deal or anything. Well, I ended up combing my final projects and creating three books from the Harry Potter series. I was totally going to post pictures right after I finished them, but being with out camera or webcam my plans had to be put on hold UNTIL NOW.

My interpretation of Tom Riddles mass marketed diary - sold at a wizard Target near you!

The Monster Book of Monsters! Made out of ripped up stuffed animals and googly eyes! (Note: Never sew through fake fur ever again. EVER)

Monster cover page!

My roommate drew a bunch of really awesome mythical creatures for me since I am about as artistic as a one armed blind lumberjack but my favorite is still the big ol' question mark she drew for the Boggart.

The Half Blood Princes Advanced Potions Book. It is actually dented and has stains on the cover but the camera didn't pick that up.

Snape has feelings.

And sometimes he invents spells.

And sometimes he uses Veritaserum on Lucius Malfoy to find his Cape and plays tic tac toe with Lily Evans.

There are also pages detailing Snape's plans to use Polyjuice Potion to turn into James Potter, snog Lily and then get James expelled, as well as Lily's schedule on the page behind Amortentia.

Top Ten Tuesday - Trends

2011-08-02T12:13:00.001-05:00

This Week's Top Ten Tuesday Topic is:

Trends you want to see More/Less of in Literature

Less, please, just less.

Vampires - I never got into the Vampire craze, so I know I'm biased, but that doesn't mean I haven't noticed what has been happening. I should be able to walk through any given aisle in the fiction section at Barnes and Nobel and not be assaulted by 10 different vampire stories. Also, series about vampires can leave. No more Suki or Bella and their Vampire loves for book after book after book. NO MORE! *starts minor revolution*

Classic + Monster = LOOK WHAT I CAN DO WITH THINGS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN - Okay, when it was just Pride & Prejudice and Zombies I was intrigued. It was an interesting concept, classic Austen but with slight rewrites, but then we got Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Android Kareninia. Oh, and don't forget that book about Queen Victoria being a demon hunter and that one with Lincoln. I guess I'm more of a traditionalist. I'd rather see a talented writer work on their own original work than take a seam ripper to things I had to read in high school.

Historical Fiction Covers with Girls in Low Cut Dresses and No Heads -

Point.

Memoirs About Your Sad Uneventful Life - Oh, your left your husband and now you want to write a book about how you're a new woman and you're 35 and life is so difficult. I don't care. I don't think many people care, actually. Maybe your mom does. Go show her your diary. Don't publish a Memoir with a stupid title.

Celebrity Memoir/Unofficial Biographies for the Under 20's - I know, Star's are a brand blah blah blah merchandise blah. Just keep it out of my book store. Also, if you're younger than my 22 year old self and didn't survive some amazing feat like outrunning Cyberman Nazi's wielding the elder wand I don't care.

Dystopian Anything - I'm a fan of Dystopian Lit. I really am. It makes me think. That being said I'd like to see less of it. It's become so popular in the past few years it's starting to become the new Vampire book. Only with hunky hero's and clever heroines.

Historical Fiction Titles that Suggest Romance When They Really Mean People Getting Their Heads Cut Off - I'm a huge historical fiction fan. Really any time between 1400 and 1930 I'm totally into. That being said I'm usually a little ashamed to tell people what I'm reading, not because the content is iffy, but because of titles like The Virgin's Lover. I just want the title of the book I'm reading to match the content.

New York - Hello most common setting, nice to see you again. Oh, you're going to go take a taxi uptown to go window shopping. That's nice. I get it. New York's a big city. People love it and it's an easy go to setting, but I'd love to see more of other big cities. Chicago, Boston, DC. They might not be as big as the Big Apple, but they each have their own history and unique populations. Use them.

MORE, Pretty Please!

Books About Artists/Writers - I'm a huge fan of books about Artists and Writers. This probably isn't a surprise if you're one of my followers. It's just so interesting to see a possible insight into the brain of someone like Hemingway or Van Gogh.

Real Life Book Clubs - There just aren't any around me, and it makes me sad. Someone read with me please?

Where Do Books Come From?

2011-07-28T16:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, I 'm not going to launch into some existential rant about the inside an writers mind or some long winded description of the printing process. My title's kind of deceptive like that. What it should say is Where do YOUR books come from?

I was at the library recently after moving back to Michigan. I was short on cash and wanted some books. It's not that I'm not a fan of libraries, just that my local one seems to specialize in romance novels and books for the under twelves and neither is really my cup of tea. Needless to say my trip was kind of disappointing. I couldn't find any of the books I was looking for and this got me thinking: where else do I usually get books? I know, I wasn't exactly musing about the meaning of life, but still.

The Library: When I lived in Chicago I was always at the library. CPL was good to me, and always had an abundance of books. It was the first time I actively used the a library as a means of getting books. As I mentioned above I am not a fan of my hometown library. Also when I was younger I loved to dog-ear pages. The librarians frowned on this.

Garage Sales/Rummage Sales/Thrift Stores: I've always found sales like this to be a fantastic place to find cheap books. You can't really count on there being any specific titles, or that there won't be coffee stains over the one book you're interesting in but for 50 cents it's worth it.

Bookstores - Indie, Used, Chain - Varying prices, varying stocks and varying conditions but you'll always be around bookish people, which is a plus in my book. Since high school I've always thought of Barnes & Noble as one of my favorite hang outs. I'm also a huge fan of walking through bookshelves and browsing. I've found some of my favorite books that way.

The Internet - While I'm an impulsive buying at bookstores and cheap sales I am very focused with my online shopping. I'm personally a big fan of half.com (part of ebay) for the dirt cheap books. I actually order books online rarely. I'm into browsing amazon for possible good books, though, and then promptly heading over to goodreads to get legit reviews. Oh, and I guess ARC's count as internet books, too, don't they?

That's my list! What about you? Where do you get most of your books from?

The Alchemist - Coelho

2011-07-24T13:37:00.000-05:00

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

Santiago is a Sheperd, not by lack of luck but by choice. He's in it for the adventure, the knowledge and the people, oh and the sheep, he does like his sheep. After have a weird dream about the Pyramids and talking to a dream interpreter and someone who may be a real King he goes in search of his own Personal Legend. Along the way he meets a thief, a crystal artist, and an Alchemist.

I've been hearing about The Alchemist for a while. A kid in my Character Development class raved about it, a friend told me it was the best book she'd ever read. Regardless I was skeptical. A fable written in the 80's? A journey for a Personal Legend? I passed. Well, I passed until I was at Barnes & Noble with a gift card and a list of books that were all out of stock.

What I loved most about The Alchemist was how fast it read. At 167 pages it reminded me of a Disney movie; true to it's theme and straight to the point. Coelho wastes no time in telling his story and the sparse detail really works in this fable setting. I was also surprised by how moving the spiritual and personal messages were. Very rarely do I come across a book that inspires me to go for my dreams, but that's really what The Alchemist is about. At times the"personal legend business seems a bit heavy handed, but overall the it's a very evenly paced story.

I'm not big on recommending books to non readers, but I handed my copy of The Alchemist to my dad along with a copy of the new Decemberists CD and he actually read it. After he told me how much he had liked it and that it was the first book he'd read in decades. What I'm getting at is this - read this book. You might not like it. You might think the concept is a crock of horse dung or that it's just unrealistic but I'm willing to bet it will at least make you think, and after all, isn't that part of what reading's all about?

Literary Hop - Bibliotherapy

2011-07-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

It's hot. This isn't news, unless you're watching the weather channel, then it's the only news. I don't like the heat. I find it very distracting. It makes me want to curl up in a ball on the kitchen floor and lay in front of the vent and read something less than literary. Hell, less than an actual book. I've been reading old Not Always Right posts for like two days. Mindless reading for the win. Which brings me to today's Literary Hop question:

Discuss Bibliotherapy. Do you believe literature can be a viable form of therapy? Is literary writing more or less therapeutic than pop lit or nonfiction?

I'd never heard of Bibliotherapy before reading this weeks question but I guess it's something that I, and I assume a lot of other bookish folk use regularly. I know when I'm feeling down, or in need of someone or something to relate to I often look for a book dealing with the same subject. However I find that my literary snobbery tends to go out the window when I'm looking for a pick-me-up. In fact, something light and easy to read without a heavy message is usually more uplifting. Not to say that literary fiction can't be those things, but pop fiction tends to cover that cheery quick read area better. Really it's just about finding the right book at the right time, which I think Christina said in her post.

It All Ends

2011-07-14T02:14:00.001-05:00

Unless you've been living under a boulder or something you are probably aware that the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hits theaters tomorrow at midnight. If you're like me you're crazy excited and more than a little sad. If you're not like me than you'll probably want to stop reading now. Since I've reread the whole series twice within the last 12 months and have been watching the movies every night this week I got to thinking - this is the perfect marker to the end of my childhood. Since '97 I've been obsessively reading Harry Potter. Deathly Hallows came out the summer I graduated high school and it is really fitting that the last movie comes out all of two months after I graduated college. I wanted to share with you some of my favorite Harry Potter memories plot based and otherwise. I mean, how often is a book going to come around that's going to change the way a generation views the world?

I'm ten and sitting in my 5th grade class. I don't remember my teachers name. Maybe it's really 4th grade. This isn't the important part of the story. We don't have "reading time". These are Michigan Public Schools and they are far to busy slashing the budget, even then, for such frivolities but my unnamed teacher still sits down my class and starts reading Sorcerer's Stone. We're all vaguely aware that this is probably something cool but no one really knows what's happening. She only gets a couple of chapters in before the class descends into anarchy. Actually now that I think about it I was probably eight.

I'm really ten this time and actually starting to enjoy this reading thing. Weird, right? I stay up all night reading these books I got for Christmas last year. I wasn't interested in them at the time but I'm bored and want something to read. I stay up all night finishing Sorcerer's Stone and then have to pretend I'm sleeping when my mom comes to wake me up for school. The rest of the week goes by similarly, me reading the only three books that are out and being way to excited about them.

I'm about to start high school and it's one of those weird transition summers where nothing really seems right. Order of the Phoenix comes out. My mom goes to pick up my pre-ordered copy and wins a free one, too. I spend many a little league game reading "those books" and avoiding the parents that think that because Rowling's writing about magic we're all going to Hell. Sirius dies while I'm one of those uncomfortable folding chairs that parents bring to games. It's an ice cream day for my brothers team but and I start rereading Order in the shop. I mean I couldn't have read that right, right? Only minor characters like Cedric Diggory die. Sirius was to cool for that.

High school is surprisingly less sucky than all previous schools. It's the first time I'm actually friends with fellow readers, and more importantly fellow Harry Potter fans. My best friend and I stay up crazy late theorizing about who the Half Blood Prince could be, and then a year later making list after list of what the remaining Horcruex's could be, at least when we weren't talking about Snape's questionable goodness.  I don't remember if we were ever right with any of our predictions.

It's 2007 and I get up at six o'clock to get a wrist band. not just any wrist band. The wrist band that will hopefully get me Deathly Hallows before two in the morning. There are still 50 people ahead of me in line but I manage to squeeze into the "A's" and I impatiently wait the rest of the day to go to the release party. My whole group of friends sits around Barnes and Noble with fake wands looking at costumes and being generally excited. There is some weird scavenger hunt, but I've never been any good at those. I get my book and am home before 2. I read until 5 when the excitement of the day and the fact that I got up at the crack of dawn to get a silly wrist band knocks me out. I get up again at 9 and read until I finish. I don't care if I'm the girl who loves spoilers, this time I'm avoiding them at all costs and the only way to do that is to finish Deathly Hallows before anyone else I know. It's a frenzied read, I've discovered that each of my rereads has been more enjoyable without the pressure of finishing a beloved series hanging at the end of each page. I cried through the entire battle, I hadn't bothered to take off my make up so by the time I'm mourning a Weasly it stings to keep both eyes open.

I go to college, I make new friends, the one thing all of us completely agree on is how much we love Harry Potter. We have other things in common but this is a connecting thread. Which leads to tonight, another four years later with another one of my best friends re-watching Deathly Hallows Part 1 and the speeches the cast and Rowling gave at the London premiere. I'm way to excited to watch something that isn't Harry Potter related and I should probably paint my nails Russian Navy, after all, I'm a Ravenclaw at heart. Mostly though I just want to send out a thank you to JK Rowling. My life would be so different if I hadn't discovered what a joy it could be to completely disappear inside a story. I think it was on her Oprah interview that she said the best compliment she ever received was the time a fan came up to her and said "you are my child hood." Well, ditto.

I hope at least a few of you will be crying with me tomorrow night.

Top Ten Tuesday - Authors I'd DIE to meet

2011-07-12T13:07:00.000-05:00

This weeks topic is:

Top Ten Authors I'd Die to Meet

1. JK Rowling - I'm sure she's on most peoples lists. I wouldn't even want her autograph or anything, just to thank her for my childhood and some of the best books I've ever read. Okay, maybe I'd ask her fro Rupert's number.

2. Jonathan Safran Foer - I absolutely love his books. I did get a chance to see him speak about Eating Animals but I didn't actually get to meet him. I'd still like the chance to say hi.

3. Stephen Fry - I know, not just an author but IT'S STEPHEN FRY. HE'S BRILLIANT AND AMAZING AND BRITISH AND ADORABLE AND I WANT TO MEET HIM. Okay, I'm done yelling.

4. Milan Kundera - I am such a fan of his work. Even though I am pretty sure he would be cranky and generally not fun to be around I would still want to meet him.

5. Jane Austen - Yeah I like Jane Austen. She was a pretty awesome lady. I'd love to talk to her about her books and how progressive some of her female characters are. Maybe we could have tea and then go to a ball?

6. Charles Dickens - Yes, I'd meet Charles Dickens. Then I could punch him in the face. SMACK. Black eyes everywhere! Bloody nose! No Hard Times!

7. David Sedaris - He's so awesome and funny and adorable. I always look forward to his new story collections. He's be great to actually meet.

8. F. Scott Fitzgerald - I'd love to go back in time and have dinner with him and Zelda. Flappers, booze, the Lost Generation. Yes please.

Leaving Van Gogh - Wallace

2011-07-08T10:26:00.000-05:00

Leaving Van Gogh

Carol Wallace

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I saw that everyone has heard of Van Gogh, you know, that guy with the pretty sort of impressionist paintings who was missing part of his ear. You probably sited Starry Night as your favorite painting when you were little and didn't know other paintings existed (I did). Leaving Van Gogh is about the last year of Vincent's life. Told from the perspective of Van Gogh's physician - Dr. Gachet - Wallace captures the pain and the occasional joy that marks Vincent's in around the doctor and the work he's creating as well as providing an interesting look into the 19th century's mental health practices.

Leaving Van Gogh was your typical artsy historical fiction. It provided a good insight into his deteriorating mental state and created a very sympathetic character in Vincent. When he's on he's really on, creating art, having interesting conversations, flirting with young woman, the usual for an artistic mad man. It's this Vincent that makes the novel so haunting. He is so aware of the other part of him, the depressed part that has fits and scares people that when he's just a normal man he is so passive and apologetic. Wallace's portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh is definitely what make's this story.

While Vincent is an important character, it is Dr. Gachet who the story is actually about. We see everything through his eyes as he interacts with the Van Gogh family, works on his own art and tries to make a happy home for his children. With that said, Gachet's obsession with mental illness can detract from the story. As the novel progresses the reader finds themselves spending more and more time inside Gachet's memories of sanitariums and on his wife's fight with TB. While these insights are interesting at the start, they become more self involved and less relevant as they take away from the present situation with Vincent. The main issue I found with these memories was that constantly changed the pace of the novel. Leaving Van Gogh started out as a quick, smooth read but around the half way mark I found myself shooting through the present day and struggling to get through the flash backs.

Overall Leaving Van Gogh is a good read, especially if you're interested in Van Gogh's art or the mental health system in the 1800's. At 288 pages it is a short and thought provoking summer read.

Guest Post: Concerning Teen Fiction

2011-06-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

I have this friend. Her name is Kelli and she has a pretty cool blog that kind of reminds me of Hyperbole & a Half. Today she's here to talk to you about Young Adult Fiction.

----------------------------------------------------

I want you to know how much I appreciate you coming to me. I know it couldn't have been easy. And of course, everything that you reveal to me here will remain in confidence.

Second. . . you're not alone. Hundreds of people have this problem; we can't possibly know how many, because a lot of them never come forward. They live out their lives, with the shame and the guilt bubbling just below the surface, their terrible perversions twisting everything they hold dear until they die, as defeated husks.

But that won't happen to you. You're getting help.

I know how easy it is to get hooked. Yes. I was there once, I was like you. I was inexplicably drawn to that darkest part of the Barnes & Noble. I've thought, It's nothing serious. I just need a break from Stephen King and Jane Austen. Just one book about proms, and boys, and fashion. Maybe even some vampires. Nobody has to know, and I can stop whenever I want, right?

Wrong.

Teen Fiction is serious business. It's not something you can just try once and quit. Once you're in, you're in it for good unless you reach an arm out of that horrible muck and cry to the heavens I NEED HELP!

I've heard your plea, friend. While I can't promise to cure you completely, I can give you the tools to cut yourself a path from the glitter-dusted high school hallways to real literature with developed characters and emotional plots.

My methods may seem counterproductive to you, but I assure you they've helped at least a few people. I can count, like, three, off the top of my head. You can't argue with results like that!

First, go to the library (or the bookstore, if you're a particularly strong person) and pick up this book.

Then, put it down, and go find one of these actually good books instead.

Armageddon Summer

by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville

This book is written from the perspective of two teenagers from freshly divorced homes, going to live on a mountain in Boston with 300 other people from their church, because the pastor says the world is going to end on July 27th. There's a lot of good stuff about religion, the corruption of the human race, mob mentality, and relationships, and even though it's about two hormonal teenagers camping out on a mountain, it doesn't focus much on the two of them. It's been one of my favorite books since I was in fifth grade, and I still read it regularly.

It's an amazing book, but it's classified as Teen Fiction and will therefore satisfy your baser desires, while at the same time weaning you off of them.

Big Mouth and Ugly Girl

by Joyce Carol Oates

Another one of my favorite books. This one is also written from the perspective of two teenagers, one of whom gets arrested for making a joke that sounds like a bomb threat. It focuses a lot on relationships and clashing personalities, and how careful you have to be with what you say.Part of the reason I like it so much is that it's written like how teenagers think and talk. I can't really explain the other parts. You just have to read it.

There's enough stuff in there about stupid jocks and annoying parents to satiate the dark hunger within.

Once you're done with those, you're ready for a series. These books have so many books with so many twists and turns in them that you'll never need to turn to more drastic, desperate measures. . .

. . . like I did.

STAY AWAY, KIDS.

The Princess Diaries

by Meg Cabot

No, I do not mean the movies. Although if you have seen the movie (the first one anyway) I won't blame you. It was hilarious. The books, however, have a few key differences.

First and foremost: Mia's dad wasn't dead, and her grandmother was a complete bitch. Also, Mia absolutely does not want to be a princess, but doesn't have a choice, and the throne is in no danger whatsoever. There are also quite few stupid little changes that I didn't really get, but really annoyed me. Here are the ones I can think of without going upstairs to grab one of the books:

-They live in a loft in Manhattan, not in a refurbished firehouse in San Francisco

-Lily's show is called Lily Tells It Like it Is, not Shut Up and Listen

-Lana and Josh's last names are Weinberger and Richter, not Thomas and Bryant

-Mia and Lilly are in ninth grade, not tenth

-Her mom dates her Algebra teacher (Mr. Gianini), not her Debate teacher (Mr. O'Connell, who DOESN'T EXIST EVER ASDJHALSKJDL:;)

I seriously just thought of like, five more while I was peeing, but we'd be here all night if I didn't stop there.

Anyway, the books are good. There's a lot more stuff about being an actual teenager than there is about princessy crap, which means she worries about sex and Britney Spears and failing Algebra and dating. There are like, ten books, and they're all pretty good. Some of them get a little whiny, but everything ties together in a satisfying way, and you can read them over and over again and always get your fill of teen drama.

Which is good for you and your unsavory addiction.

Pretty Little Liars

by Sara Shepard

Again, I don't mean the show. The show isn't fantastic, and it's way less interesting. I just thought the promo shot was better than the cover of the first book.

The Pretty Little Liars series revolves around four girls (one of whom, contrary to what the above photo would have you believe, is not of undefined ethnic descent) and their friend who disappeared three years ago, when they were in seventh grade. It's good, sordid stuff that combines typical high school drama with murder, scandal and intrigue about the community. There's a big dance in just about every book, so you're sure to get more than your fill of prom dresses and bitchy girls, while still feeling like you're reading a big book for grown-ups.

These boo-- er, steps, will make things much easier for you out in the real world. Soon you'll be able to taste food again. Colors will be brighter. Your husband/wife/nonspecific significant other will stop resenting you, and your finances will take a considerable upswing. Maybe you'll get that big promotion.

And if none of that happens. . . well, you can always do a guest blog about it.

(a guest post by Kelli Renas)

The Literary Hop - If Sienfeld was a Book

2011-06-23T17:05:00.002-05:00

Should literature have a social, political, or any other type of agenda? Does having a clear agenda enhance or detract from its literary value?

Chances are that if you reached double digits in the 90's or get TBS you've seen Sienfeld. You know, that show about nothing? I've always had mixed feelings about it. I love Sienfeld when I'm really bored and there is nothing else to do, but if there is anything on, and I mean anything I'll probably switch to that. You're probably wondering why I'm talking about a syndicated show that just won't seem to go away but I have a point, I swear.

No plot for you!

I won't read something about nothing. I don't need each book to have a really strong point of view with clear political ties and a message as big as the Hollywood sign, but I want there to be something. It can be something as simple as how solitude has effected a persons life, but even something as dull as a single person talking about their day to day life as a hermit speaks to how difficult a life like that would be in todays society. Really, I just need a little message, a hint that the author has something at stake in writing their work. I guess this is my real problem with the mystery/thriller genre. It's more about the author finding the correct formula that will keep the reader guessing but still sound plausible than anything else, and I don't like formulas.

Top Ten Tuesday - Reasons Why Book Bloggers are Better than Other Bloggers

2011-06-21T00:31:00.000-05:00

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday topic is:

Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Being a Book Blogger

- Reading is Now a Priority - I love to read. I do. Why would I be sitting here at my oversized laptop in the dark typing up post after post for you guys if I didn't. But somethings reading is a chore, especially when a book is slow, or if I just want to watch TV or stare at facebook. This blog is a constant motivation to keep reading when I want to slack, and I like having something to hold me accountable.

- I Know What I've Read - Originally I started writing reviews as part of a new years resolution in 2009 because despite the fact that I can tell my best friend what sweater she was wearing that one time we ate at applebees three years ago I often get books confused with each other. Now I have lists (oh, how I love lists) and summaries as well as my fresh opinions of each book I've read for the past two years. It's fantastic! No longer are the books on my shelf taunting me with their choruses of "You read me once but think I'm that one about that dog and that kid" (Because my books like to pretend they're children stories when they harass me).

- I Like Books and You Like Books - Surprise! I think books are pretty awesome. You might even call them the bee's knees. Or not. It's really up to you. Chances are if you're reading this you think they're pretty awesome too. According to a video I saw in my 11th grade health class that makes us friends because we have "things" in common (public school FTW). But seriously, I don't have very many bookish friends in real life. Sure, some will sit around quietly while I talk at them about Mr. Darcy or something but here in the blogging community I can have a real conversation about all things bookish. It's refreshing and helps keep me sane.

- Recommendations - Remember that part where my friends don't really read? That was really detrimental to my reading habits. Now I have a slew of blogs I read on a regular bases where I get awesome new books to put on my TBR list. These are also mostly books I probably wouldn't have come across on my own.

- Writing - Okay, I know this isn't serious writing but at least it's something. I love that I have an excuse to write something every few days. It keeps me sharp.

- Twitter - I love twitter so much. I love book bloggers on twitter even more. Every day it's like I get to read a dozen or so mini reviews, as well as get all the latest book news all from a constantly updating feed of awesome.

The Pride & Prejudice You Haven't Seen...

2011-06-20T15:38:00.001-05:00

As you're probably well aware I've been rereading Pride & Prejudice as part of The Book Rat's Jane in June read-a-long. Well, last week my roommate and I got to talking - what versions of Pride & Prejudice need to happen. I mean, of course the A&E Colin Firth miniseries is a favorite, and I'm also a huge fan of the more resent Kiera Knightly film, so what other versions would become instant favorites?

We decided the best way to do this was to take directors who have favorite actors use in most of their films, as well as a specific style of filmmaking. The first cast's we came up with were for a Wes Anderson and a Judd Apatow. If you have other suggestions for directors/styles/teams let me know!

My awesome roommate Jasmyn made the charts since I'm terrible with Photoshop. In case you're interested we also posted about our casting project on Camp or Crap (our bad movie blog).

Is this what normal people in their 20's do with their nights? Wait, maybe I don't want the answer to that.

One last thing: Wes, Judd, If you're reading this you should totally make these movies. I'd see them a bazillion times.

Pride & Prejudice Read-a-Long Part 3

2011-06-19T16:26:00.002-05:00

This is the summer I'm perpetually behind. Late for lunches, group outings, picking my brother up from school - so it only stands to reason that I'd chronically be posting my read-a-long updates a few days late. I decided to go back to Misty's questions, since without them I ramble like a big ol' rambling...thing...yeah.

How could you not love him?

Discuss the whole of Lizzie's stay at Hunsford. There are many great, famous moments in this stay, as well as memorable characters. Discuss your highlights and low points (if any), your thoughts on characters like Lady Catherine and Col. Fitzwilliam, etc., as well as the new facets we see of the familiar characters

I think Elizabeth's stay at Hunsford is my favorite part of the book. I may have said that about the ball in my last post, but I was wrong, this is totally my favorite. All of the characters in these chapters are really strong and memorable. Mr. Collins goes out of his way to be as proper (read:foolish) as possible around Lady Catherine, and since Elizabeth spends a lot of time observing Charlotte and sort of avoiding talking to Collin's his ridiculousness is easier to handle. Which brings me to the infamous Lady Catherine. To me, Lady Catherine is one of the funnier characters in Pride & Prejudice. Not in a haha funny way, but in a real life way. You know when you're sitting with someone who obviously thinks they know everything there is to know about life and more importantly, they know you're doing everything wrong? That's Lady Catherine, and she's hilarious to talk about behind her back. Sure, she's a witch with a capital B when you're with her, but she every encounter with her means you have a great story to tell at dinner parties!
Discuss Darcy's proposal. Prompts: What are your feelings on this scene; what do you think of the behavior of both Darcy and Lizzie. Contrast this to Lizzie's first proposal from Collins. Is Lizzie's complete surprise believable, especially in light of Charlotte's prolonged insistence that Darcy feels something for Lizzie, and the slight hints Darcy drops prior to the proposal?

First off, I love this proposal, even if I think it's really flawed and is not what I'd want to hear. I get it, Darcy knows Elizabeth is below him and that's why he's "Struggling" and fighting his own emotions and everything but THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY WHEN YOU ARE PROFESSING YOUR UNDYING LOVE FOR SOMETHING. You say things like "you're perfect" and "I'd catch a grenade for you" ...okay, scratch that, it's just as bad, but still you don't tell the object of your affection that you could do better but you'll settle for her. Especially since Darcy's pretty garuded about his feelings. I totally buy that Elizabeth didn't realize how he felt. She'a already formed her opinion of him by this point and despite the fact that Charlotte thinks that he might like her she has no reason to believe his feelings would be strong enough to come over and sneak propose to her.
Lizzie has to this point turned down two proposals. Share your thoughts on this from the perspective of the modern woman (presumably) you are, and from the perspective of a Regency gentlewoman. Consider the reactions of the people in her life, especially Mrs Bennet, if they were to find out. Also, consider her rejections from the males' perspectives. Is Darcy (or even Collins) justified in being shocked to be rejected?

I discussed this in my last post. I think it's very interesting that Austen chose to have Elizabeth turn down two socially acceptable proposals. As a modern woman I'm all for Elizabeth's independent streak, and if it happened today it really wouldn't be a huge deal (especially since Mr. Collin's is a buffoon) but in the 1800's that would be a huge deal. Mrs. Bennet would have gone crazy if she found out Elizabeth turned down a second proposal, and she'd probably become the subject of town gossip.
Discuss Darcy's infamous letter. Does/did it change your opinion of Darcy? Lizzie feels she has acted "despicably" and regrets much of what she said; do you have reservations about any parts of it, things you still think Elizabeth should hold against him? If you could question him or react to him, what would you say. Consider writing your own response letter.

I know when I first read Pride & Prejudice I had a really hard time liking Mr. Darcy until I read his letter and started to understand the man that is Darcy. He was right about the character of most of the Bennet family and his story of Wickham is very heartfelt and honest. True, if I had gotten that letter and he was telling me how he'd ruined my sisters life and how silly my family was I'd probably be pretty mad for a bit, but as an innocent bystander who has watched the Bennents be silly the entire book it's perfectly acceptable and makes Darcy more human.
In the first response post, we asked ourselves about our opinions of Darcy and Wickham. Give your opinions of the two now. Also, reevaluate your opinions of Collins and Bingley, our other 2 "eligible" men.

My opinions of the four men are pretty straight forward. Darcy's cool, Wickham's irritating, Collin's is a buffoon and Bingley is a pretty boy.

I'm running out of time so I'll leave you with with that. Hope everyone's enjoying their reading!

Pride & Prejudice Read-a-Long Part 2

2011-06-15T13:31:00.001-05:00

Keeping up with my I'm-not-in-school-so-scheduling-has-gone-out-the-window period that's been going on for the past couple weeks I bring you Part 2 of my thoughts of Pride & Prejudice for the Book Rats Jane in June Read-a-Long. Instead of answering the questions I decided I was just going to go over some of my broader thoughts of this section.

Oskar Wild is not as big a fan of Jane Austen as I am.

Now, if you'll remember back to Part 1, I was minding my own business reading Pride & Prejudice and BAM Elizabeth Bennett was just annoying the pants off of me. She was all judgmental and mean to Mr. Darcy, who was making me swoon with his timely placed eye comments and quiet disposition. I was very confused. I liked Elizabeth in my previous reads? She was the everyone! I was discouraged, I put my paperback down, went to the library, started On the Road and thought fondly about Colin Firth. I needed time.

Okay, I didn't need that much time. I was back to P&P within a few days and found my feelings completely changed. Elizabeth was the love-able heroine I remembered from several years back. She was poised and confident and completely awesome! The ball at Netherfield left me cringing, but in a good way, since I know that not all hope is lost. I was also starting to appreciate the roles of the umm... sillier...characters. Lydia drives me up the wall, but she certainly has her purpose and while I can't stand Mr. Collin's I love how oblivious to real customs Austen made him. Even Wickham's true character starts to show at the end of this section. Masterfully done, Jane, masterfully done.

I was also really thinking about marriage during these chapters. Okay, that isn't a surprising fact. Mrs. Bennett is always talking about marriage. If you think about it, Jane was living in a time where you needed a husband to have any sort of comfortable living, otherwise you were a burden on your family and that sad person people talked about at balls who is now the crazy spinster down the lane. So what does Jane do? She has good ol' sensible Elizabeth turn down the marriage proposal that could keep her family in their home because Mr. Collins is crazy irritating. Wow. That's a huge gamble girl! I feel like the reason Pride & Prejudice has remained a favorite so long is that Elizabeth is more of a 21st century girl than a 19th century one. She has her own thoughts and opinions and doesn't want to end up in some forced, loveless marriage just because it's expected of her and I think that's awesome. It also lead me to believe there needs to be a Doctor Who episode where the Doctor visits Jane Austen and tells her about feminism and then whoever his companion is inspires Emma.

Oh, last thing. I was right, the pages are starting to fall out of my crappy paperback, anyone have suggestions for good Pride & Prejudice editions?

Far to Go - Pick

2011-06-13T15:37:00.000-05:00

Far To Go

Alison Pick

1938, The Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia. The Bauer's and their governess, Marta, have it all - a profitable textile factory, good friends and what they think is safety - but when Hitler and his supporters start making trouble the Bauer's begin to realize how dangerous it is to be Jewish in these changing times. Far to Go is the story of how they try to keep their lives and their pride while protecting their dearest treasure - their son and ward Pepik.

Sometimes I pick up a book with the hopes of getting that warm fuzzy feeling that happy endings offer. This was not one of those times. Pick uses her personal connections and the stories she's heard of the Kindertransport to inspire the Bauer's tale, and all of her background information pays off. The Bauer's seem like a real family, with their own secrets and traditions. Their day to day life is pretty average, but in Pick's story it's part of their struggle - trying to keep their lives normal in a changing world. It's a refreshing take on a very common story. The Bauer's and Marta's struggles are against their old friends and their old lives and this made it easy to feel for them without having to see the bigger picture of World War Two.

Pick also inserts a modern tale told from Marta's daughters, Anneliese's, perspective. Her insight is interesting, but it often felt short and forced. In reality, the Bauer's story can stand on it's own, and even though Anneliese's story is connected it felt more like the subject of another book instead of one instep with the plot the reader has come to know. On the other hand I found the letter's from various family members inserted between chapters much more informative and moving. They gave the same insight into the fate of the characters as Annelieses's chapters, but did so in a more subtle manner that really made my heart ache.

Overall Far to Go was a good read. It was short, but that didn't stop it from being a total page turner. It is truly one of those books that will stay for weeks after you finish. If you're looking for something heavy, but still quick for a summer read this is definitely one to pick up.

Outside Influences - Literary Hop

2011-06-10T15:09:00.002-05:00

As always, the Literary Hop is hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Blue Bookcase. They're awesome. You should check them out.

What other outside influences affect your reading experience? Do you think these influences enhance or detract from the experience?

Okay, here's my thing with outside influences - I feel like everything is an influence. My knowledge of a period or place could draw me to a book, or a friend of blogger recommendation. Sometimes it's even movies and TV shows. After I saw The Princess and the Frog I went in search of books set in New Orleans in the 1920's, and after one of my many Tudor's marathons I picked up Phillipa Gregory for the first time.

Whatever you say, dear.

Really, after I saw the Tudor's for the first time I tore through anything related to Henry VIII, Anne Boyle or any of his other wives. I had a problem. My friends were worried. They also didn't know who Henry was, which probably explains why they didn't want to hear about my rants.

Which leads me to my largest outside influence - whatever my current obsession is. A few years ago I was crazy about Prague. In response I read pretty much everything Kundera wrote. I thought Monet was an interesting person for a hot minute and I read Claude & Camille after leaving his Wikipedia page up for three days. I go through months where I spend all my free time looking up information of a time period, a place, a person or theory, and this inevitably leads me to fiction based around the same thing. What it comes down to is that I like books that continue my understanding of a certain subject.

Overall I think these influences add to my reading experience. Usually they just leave me with welcome background knowledge that gives me a deeper understanding of my current book. Of course, if it's a book that is responsible for my current obsession it can become a bit distraction if I end up searching the internet for specific information, but mostly it's a welcome distraction.

Well, I'm off to watch Castle and then to probably find a book about a writer shadowing his latest inspiration. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Top Ten Tuesday - Amazing Settings

2011-06-07T13:55:00.000-05:00

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday topic is:

Top Ten Favorite Settings

1. Hogwarts - The Harry Potter series - Come on, you've all been around here long enough to know I'm Harry Potter crazy. Hogwarts is totally awesome. It's magical, it's safe and there is all of this awesome food everywhere. Plus, if you were at Hogwarts there is a pretty good chance that you're a wizard yourself and that's a pretty good reason to be happy. Fun times.

2. Pemberley Estate - Pride & Prejudice - I'm kind of a sucker for fantastic, old houses and that' is exactly what Pemberley is. I've always pictured Pemberley as this dreamy, beautiful estate filled with that large library Caroline Bingley is always babbling about and a family that wants to be happy. I'm also picturing it less like a museum than the miniseries made it out to be.

3. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books - The Shadows of the Wind - I'm obviously a bookish person, so it's not really a surprise that I love the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. It's exactly what it sounds likes. Okay, not exactly. The books aren't burned or buried, but instead hid inside of this building that doesn't look like a library but totally is. I'm sure there would be a ton of treasures in it.

4. Boarding Schools - A Slew of Novels - I wouldn't have actually wanted to go to a boarding school, but they tend to be pretty awesome in books. I mean their's Hogwarts, and then the boarding schools in the Carol Goodman novels - which tend to be more language and art oriented and crazy awesome - then there are the classic boarding schools like the one's Fitzgereld wrote about. It's just an interesting setting where knowledge is being shared, hormones are everywhere and drama is just around the corner.

5. Old Manor Houses - Everywhere - You know when you're reading a book and it's kind of old and everyone lives in a slightly creaky, mostly dingy, really old Manor. I love those houses. They're awesome.

6. England - If there is one place I read about more than any other it is definitely England. There are just so many fantastic English writers, and of course there are also some pretty amazing historical settings as well.

7.Faerie - Stardust - One of my favorite worlds Neil Gaiman has created. It's magical and dangerous, but also completely entertaining.

8. Paris between 1870 and 1930 - Paris is a magical city, and because of this there are a ton of books set their. A lot of the time I have a hard time finding novels set in Paris that fit what I'm looking for. However, I am almost always up for books about artists in Paris, and because of that I tend to fall head over heels in love with books set in Paris during these high art times. You've got the impressionists, Lost Generation, Channel. There are just so many interesting people walking the streets during this period.

9. The Tardis - Okay, I haven't read any of the Doctor Who books, but I do watch the show and since they are taking a mid season break and I spent a lot of time yesterday watching Matt Smith running around saving the world the Tardis makes my list.

Pride & Prejudice Read-a-Long Part 1

2011-06-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

So I'm doing the Pride & Prejudice read-a-long as part of Book Rat's Jane in June event. I'm a little behind though, so my post is a little late. Regardless, I'm crazy happy to be rereading Pride & Prejudice for the first time and spreading the Jane Austen love.

This is me with my beaten up copy of P&P. I'm not entirely sure it will survive the reread.

Tell us a little about your experience with Jane: is this your first time reading Pride and Prejudice/Austen? If so, What were you expecting going in? If this is not your first Jane, what makes you want to read this again?

For me I've always felt I like Jane Austen more in theory than in practice. I read Pride & Prejudice for the first time a few years ago and was really happy to have loved it, but my next few attempts with Sense and Sensibility and Emma (which I didn't finish) left sometime to be desired from my Jane Austen experience. When I started this reread I was really looking forward to rediscovering the things I loved about Austen from my first experience with her so maybe I could be motivated to finish her other novels.

Share your first impression of the book so far. What have the highlights been for you? Any favorite parts so far? Least favorite parts? Things you found confusing?

I remember the first time I read Pride & Prejudice thinking "Where's Lizzy?" for the first two chapters. Having seen parts of the movie and, you know, just existing in a literate world I knew she was the protagonist of the story, yet she isn't really important in the beginning of the book. Now that I know to expect all this Jane business everything read much smoother, and I was generally surprised at how fast P&P reads.

Jane Austen is known for her memorable characters. What do you think so far of the characterization? Do any stand out to you? If this is a reread for you, do you notice new things in the characters with each reread? Do your favorite characters change with each reread?

I use to really love Elizabeth. She was like the everygirl: smart, funny, easily misguided but with her heart in the right place. During this read I'm loving her less. She's still smart and witty, but she just isn't sparkling for me right now. However I am really enjoying Mr. Darcy in the beginnings of the novel. He's sweeter than I remember and it seems obvious now that he only had the best (if slightly misguided) intentions at heart.

What do you make of the principle characters so far? Do you relate to any particular one?

i feel like there is a lot of set up in these first 80 something pages. We're just learning the basic traits of each of the characters. Lizzy's smart and sassy, Jane's calm and sweet, Mrs Bennet is a crazy person (not really crazy just crazy irritating) and Mr. Darcy's kind of proud.

Discuss the eligible men of Pride & Prejudice: Impressiosn of Mr Bingley, Mr Darcy, Wickham and Mr Colins.

As far as eligible men go, the only two I think are worthy of my attention are Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Bingley's terribly sweet, and recognizes his own faults and is just all kinds of adorable. And Darcy's just Darcy. He's that men guy in class you had a crush on because he said stuff like "Hey Stupid! You're holding up the line!" and you laughed and laughed because he was cute and if he was cute he obviously deserved your attention...That's probably a really bad way to think about Darcy. Oh well.

Also. I hate Mr. Collins with a passion.

Discuss the Bennet girls stay at Netherfield.

Elizabeth and Jane's time at Netherfield is one of my favorite parts of the book. We learn so much about the Bingley's and Darcy while there. Plus it's really funny. Living in the 21st century intstead of the beginning of the 19th it's easily to see Elizabeth as a sensible and normal modern girl, but in reality she's kind of odd for her own time period. The time at Netherfield really plays off that. Caroline is irritating, but really kind of funny and it's interesting to see the Bennet's from someone else's perspective.

Discuss Wickham's revelation of Darcy's character: Judging solely on the text so far do you believe the things Wickham tells Lizzie? what impressions do you have of Wickham, Lizzie and Darcy after this?

Jane really got this part right. Wickham's Darcy tale is, in my opinion, completely believable. He's nonchalant about it and doesn't spend very much time dwelling on Darcy's "wrong doings". More so he convinces Lizzie that Darcy could actually be the type of man that would disregard his fathers wishes, and so far Lizzies opinions have been fairly accurate. I still don't particularly like Wickham as a character, but that could just be because I think he's kind of dull.

Discuss the humor in the book so far: There are a lot of different types of humor on display throughout the book, from Mr. Bennet's dry indifference, Lizzie's witty banter, Mr Collins ridiculousness, etc.

My thing with Pride & Prejudice is that it's funny, but it's not really HaHa funny. I really love Mr. Bennet's dry humor though. During my reread I've found several of his passages underlined with little "lol"s next to them. He's the insider that realizes his world is pretty trivial and kind of insane. Lydia's blatant disregard for manners makes me laugh too. She's just so, so silly. The one person who is probably suppose to be comic relief that I don't find funny is Mr. Collins. He just irritates me so much and It's all I can do to not picture to disgusting man that plays him in the movie whenever I see his name. It's like his words are nails on a chalkboard. They're not funny, they're irritating.

May in Review

2011-06-01T12:57:00.003-05:00

I don't know about you, but I thought May was kind of weird. Not just "what is this weather why is my basement flooding DEAR GOD DON'T LET MY CAR TURN INTO A BOAT" weird, but like real life weird too. I graduated in the middle of the month and ended up coming back to my parents house, which has been much better than I had actually expected it to be.

I also got a dog. His name is Oskar (like in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) and he's an 8 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/Bichon mix. Our older dog, Buddy, isn't overly thrilled by the new fur ball, but is adjusting. Anyway, I'm babbling about puppies. This isn't a puppy blog.
Without further adieu here is my May in Review post. As always, I took the template from the lovely Lily at Lily's Bookshelf.

This is Oskar. He has mastered the "I'm skeptical" look.

Books Read:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling
The Tragedy of Arthur - Phillips
Far To Go - Pick
Leaving Van Gogh - Wallace
Total Number of Books Read This Month: 4
Total Number of Books Read This Year: 19
Most Anticipated:
Leaving Van Gogh

Biggest Let Down:
The Tragedy of Arthur
Favorite Read:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I cried so much guys. So much.)
Overall Reflection:
I'm starting to think my original goal of reading 75 books this year might be unrealistic with the start I got off to. Regardless, it's been a slow reading year for me. Hopefully this summer will help me to pick up my pace. I'm kind of sad I'm done with Harry Potter for a while, but it will probably be best for my friendships and my own mental health if I can talk about things that are Hogwarts related. Other than that everything's been pretty normal.

How was your May? Read any fantastic books? Let me know!

The Act of Unsupervised Reading - Why Non-bookish Parents Made My Childhood Awesome

2011-05-31T00:55:00.002-05:00

A few days ago I was doing my browsing around the internet and I came across this article about books unsuitable for teenagers that they'll read anyway. Patrick Ness describes his childhood reading experience as "blissfully unchaperoned" and I really took that statement to heart. As someone who's reading experience was pretty much unchaperoned, but none the less encouraged as a child I got into quite a few books that were inappropriate for my age group. In the spirit of the Ness's article I'll list a few for you.

Requiem for a Dream - Selby Jr - You've probably seen the movie (starring Jared Leto and Jennifer Connlley) about a bunch of hard core, and sometimes accidental drug addicts. I came across the book when I had just started high school and was still blissfully ignorant of the terrible parts of the world. This book opened my eyes and my reading habits. It was completely inappropriate to read at such a young age (though probably better at 14 than 10) and am pretty sure if I picked it up now I'd have a hard time feeling any sympathy for the characters. Plus I tried to read another of Selby's novels not to long ago and couldn't get past his trying writing style, which I easily forgave in my younger years.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Thompson - Okay, so I read Requiem and then my next thought was "books about drugs are cool, I should find more" and to Google I went. Now, I'm still about 14 and the very innocent and shy me ends up tearing through several Hunter S Thompson books. It was a crazy experience, and to this day I'm not entirely sure I like Thompson as an author but I'm glad I read what I read.

The Boy Next Door/A Walk to Remember/Countless Romance Novels - I'm not quite 22 and I'm not entirely ashamed to say I went through a romance novel/chick lit phase. If you know me this is a pretty big statement. I'm not ashamed of this phase because I when it happened I was about 11. Yep. Between the ages of 11 and 12 I tore through books about girls in this late 20's working in magazines and looking for Mr. Right but only finding Mr. Only-for-tonight. Sometimes looking back on my habits I'm amazed that my tastes turned so literary, but I'm pretty glad they did.

I also asked some of my friends to come up with some books they think they read at an inappropriately young age.

Kirsten said that she felt 13 was to young for A Handmaidens Tale.

Jasmyn said she was reading Edgar Allen Poe at 9.

Some of my honorable mentions include Les Miserable, Candide and a mound of Historical fiction that got me through my tween years.

What about you? Were you reading King while you were in Elementary school or Kerouac after your babysitter put you to sleep?

The Tragedy of Arthur - Phillips

2011-05-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Tragedy of Arthur

Arthur Phillips

Prague, The Egyptologist, Angelica, The Song is You

The Tragedy of Arthur is complexly simple. In it's essence it is a faux memoir by Arthur Philips detailing his life and how he came to possess a forgotten Shakespeare play about King Arthur. Through the "introduction" to the "play", because there is an actual play at the end of the book, a pretty good one too, you get to see Arthur's complex relationships with his twin lesbian sister Dana, his criminal father and his distant mother.

If you are easily confused by characters sharing the same name you might want to shy away from this fantastic novel. First there is Arthur - the real Arthur, the one who is actually writing this book, but then there is also the alter-Arthur, Arthur's father Arthur and of course King Arthur, who The Tragedy of Arthur is about. If you can get past that then you're golden. Unless you don't like Shakespeare, then I'd strongly suggest moving on to something less Bard like.

The Tragedy of Arthur is a blend of childhood disappointment, hurt pride and forgiveness, but don't worry, it's not heavy like you'd expect. Phillips crafts his faux memoir in a fantastically light way, casting the characters he likes - his sister Dana - in an almost saintlike light and the characters he disproves of - his father - in a comedic criminal role. Since these are easily the two most important characters is his story (besides fake Arthur, since he's the protagonist and all that jazz) this creates a nice, sublet comedic outlet that boarders between Nabokov and Shakespeare. At times Phillip's can be a bit long winded, especially when he starts to go on about himself, but he always sites this as the main fault of memoirs, and that sometimes it is unavoidable. Oh, and the play's pretty awesome too.

Overall The Tragedy of Arthur is like a story out of Shakespeare, there is love, loss and laughter, and of course enough drama to keep a reader interested. It's not the best thing I've read all year, but it's definitely in the better half.

Author Love - Literary Hop

2011-05-26T16:10:00.002-05:00

I have a few favorite authors. Granted, it doesn't take a lot for me to go on an "Author Marathon" (I tend to read books by the same author back to back to back till I find a flop) but only a few of these marathon authors have earned a spot on my coveted favorites list. I say coveted, I am pretty sure Milan Kundera doesn't care that I a 21 year old American girl is singing his praises, but I can pretend.

It's Thursday. A Literary Hop Thursday to be exact.

As always, thanks to the ladies at the Blue Bookcase for hosting this fantastic event.

This week's prompt is:

Talk about one author that you love and why his or her writing is unique. Please be specific

As I was babbling about before, I love quite a few authors but if I have to pick one for this post I'm going to go with Milan Kundera. It was a tough choice but my one of my best friends just started reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being at my request and Kundera is now fresh in my mind. Back in the summer of 09 I was looking for some really fantastic books to sink my teeth into. This was a time before I'd started this blog and the best resource I knew of on the internet was a very nice, but someone limited community on livejournal that compiled reviews and recommendations. I came across some girl talking about The Unbearable Lightness of Being and I went straight to Barnes and Noble to pick it up. I tore through Unbearable Lightness that day and spent the rest of the summer devouring the likes of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Immortality, Slowness, The Farewell Waltz and Ignorance. In the end I didn't end up liking everything Kundera wrote, but I did love his consistency.

As a writer Kundera focuses on Philosophy in his fiction. I've always found this adds an extra level to his novels. There is the story, then there is the theory he is seeding throughout. It's not always effective, and it's easy for readers to find his work pretensions, but there are some true gems in his work. Some of my favorite quotes are from Kundera novels, and if just for that he can remain in my top three.

"People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It's not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past."

"You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange."

"Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost."

Hope everyone is staying dry and safe in this crazy weather!

Top Ten Tuesday - Throne of Lies

2011-05-24T22:33:00.000-05:00

I'm usually a fairly honest person. Mostly. Honest. Okay, sometimes I like to exaggerate, and by sometimes I mean fairly often. It's a flaw. I'm working on it. Okay, I'm not really working on it, but I am aware of it. Now what lead to this weird confession? Well this week's Top Ten Tuesday post is all about books we've lied about reading, and I must admit there are some skeletons in my closet.

1. Lolita - Nabakov - I've only read half of Lolita. I really wanted to finish it, but it got to the point where I was falling asleep halfway through sentences and wishing horrible deaths upon all of the characters. At that point I decided it was better to put Lolita down than continue down a road that might result in me setting fire to a perfectly harmless book. I tend to tell people I've read Lolita (I did sparknotes the ending) and sometimes count when I'm doing one of those weird facebook "which classics have you read" lists. I guess Nabakov just isn't for me.

2. The Boy Next Door and other chick lit books - Meg Cabot - These are my summer guilty pleasure books, but they're about as close as I'll ever get to reading romance novels. 8th grade a girl use to make fun of me for reading books like this and I guess the I still feels there is a certain stigma attached to them. It doesn't stop me from going back and rereading them every few summers but I do make sure to do it in the privacy of my own backyard.

3. Anna Karenina - Tolstoy - If I tell you a secret promise you won't be disappointed in me? I've never finished a Tolstoy novel. The seconds I've read I've really liked and I have every intention of actually reading Anna Karenina one day. This list isn't great proof of it, but I tend to really like Russian writers and people seem to just assume I've got War & Peace and this memorized or something. I don't. Sorry.

4. The Majority of Things Written by Hemingway - I liked A Farewell to Arms and I finished (with effort) For Whom the Bell Tolls but that's it. Nothing else. I had a mild Hemingway obsession in high school but it was more of a "wow, that man's kind of a bad ass" obsession and not a "I MUST READ ALL OF THE WORDS HE'S EVER WRITTEN RIGHT THIS SECOND" obsession. People couldn't really tell the difference, though.

5. As I Lay Dying - Faulkner - I was suppose to read this for a class two semesters ago. I got 90 pages in before I just couldn't take it anymore. I took a quick look at the spark notes page and then promptly wrote a five page paper on it anyway.

6. Hard Times - Dickens - Another book I was suppose to read for a class. I wanted to like Hard Times because I liked the rest of the books in my 19th century British Lit class and figured my awesome teacher could make me appreciate Dickens when no one else could. He couldn't. I never finished this book and sat quietly through most of the discussions. It's probably the closest I've come to finishing a work by Dickens though.

Bookstock or Booktopia? You decide.

2011-05-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

There's this huge book sale going on at a mall by my house. Like, huge. It's called Bookstock and was one of the best parts about coming home this week. I didn't even know it was happening until I went to meet some friends for lunch and found myself surrounded by books! Needless to say I was crazy excited, and came back the next day to browse to my hearts content!

If I had a camera I would have taken this picture but I didn't. The internet is a wonderful place.

I ended up with 7 books (2 new hardbacks) for $16 (and then I got some cookbooks, but this isn't that kind of blog). I'm quite proud of my findings, not just because I got a great collection of books for dirty cheep prices but because I've overcome the part of me that looks down on used books. I use to have a very hard time picking up a book if it had been read by anyone else. I guess I felt like it had already shared it's story with someone and I was getting some sad hand-me-down. Plus I like to underline in my books and would get very frustrated if I had to find a way to distinguish between my notes and some anonymous other persons. I thought these signs of other people made the books dirty somehow. Maybe they wouldn't handle all of those page turns?

Of course this wasn't great logic. True sometimes other people's writing is irritating - for instance I have a copy of 1984 that doesn't have a single clean margin and is filled with things like "Winston said this" and "Julia felt that" which isn't insightful and made that copy impossible to read - but there are many cases where there are just cute little notes or resonating phrases underlined, and that's fine. It's gives the book character, just like slightly loose pages and those coffee stains. Half.com is now my friend, and garage sales have hidden gems. Of course I'd still prefer a pristine new copy straight off Barnes and Nobles shelves, but now that isn't my only option

What about you? Do you have any prejudices against used books? Is there anything that's an absolute deal breaker when you're buying something pre-owned? I'd love to hear what you think!

In case you're interested here are the books I got!

The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon

Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer (a replacement for my missing copy.)

The Madonnas of Leningrad - Debra Dean

Let The Great World Spin - Colum McCann

The Magicians - Lev Grossman

The World to Come - Dara Horn

This is Where I Leave You - Jonathan Tropper

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling

2011-05-18T17:35:00.000-05:00

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

JK Rowling

It should be Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts, but thinks don't always go to plan. Instead Harry, Ron and Hermionie are off on a quest Dumbledore left them to destroy Voldemort once and for all. But are the pieces of Voldemort's soul the only thing they are meant to be searching for? After a year of searching can Harry comes to find the closure he needs, and steps in to take his spot in Wizarding History.

Deathly Hallows is definitely not a children's book. Mortality and virtue are written on every page. From the very beginning something is amiss - Harry won't be heading back to Hogwarts, and the house on Privet drive will no longer be his home. Emotions run high in this book with death following Harry, Ron and Hermione wherever they go; taking loved pets, protectors and friends and always threatening themselves.

Rowling does a fantastic job of creating tension in this epic finale. Even when the characters them self don't know what is going to happen or where they need to be their feelings for each other and the stress they are under creates a wonderful reading experience that will have you struggling to put this chapter down.
If you liked the rest of the series you're probably going to like Deathly Hallows. It's a great final installment, but you might want to keep some tissues near by.

Midnight Sun - Why There Needs To Be A Rehab For Book Crack

2011-05-06T12:58:00.002-05:00

First, a disclaimer:

I am not a fan of Twilight, well at least not a normal fan. I love to hate it. I've tried to read the books but couldn't get past the multitudes of problems everyone else will site. On the other hand the movies, while absolutely terrible, have given me more joy than I would normally admit in a public setting. I also respect what Stephenie Meyer has done for teenage readers, even if I not-so-secretly wish Neil Gaiman and Marcus Zusak had the same effect.

Last week I was relaxing in my living room watching the extended edition of Deathly Hallows and trolling around on the internet. In a freakish chain of events (or clicks) I found myself on the Midnight Sun Wikipedia page, and from this page very quickly found myself to the 12 chapters that had leaked back in 2008. Since Meyer had posted them on her site, I decided there could be little harm in reading them.

Now, I've never read Twilight (or any of the other books). I tried once. I couldn't get past the first page. I wanted to. I wanted to know why so many people were freaking out over these books, but in the end I settled for the movie version and did a lot of hysterical laughing whenever R.Pat said spider monkey. I know this isn't fair to the books. I've gotten into heated arguments with people who have seen the Harry Potter movies and never touched a copy of Sorcerer's Stone because I know these people, especially if they liked the movies, are really missing out. I totally understand if you're a Twilight fan and think I'm a big, stinky hypocrite. I accept this label.

It's scenes like this that have me laughing hysterically, as well as running away from the M's at Barnes and Noble.

Reading Midnight Sun was a lot like reading Dan Brown. You're vaguely interested in the story, but the person doing the story telling is irritating you, and then you finish and everything was kind of disappointing. Kind of like going out on an amazing first date to find out that he's actually your half brother. It's started out fun and ended in some form of vomit and horror. It's the crack of the book world. It's fast to read, bad for your mind and isolates you from other people for long periods of time.

As far as the actual story it wasn't as bad as I expected. True, it's just Twilight from Edward's perspective, but he can run pretty fast, and his thought process revolves around the possibility of mass murder, which is kind of interesting. Really, if you put the cliche writing aside for the first several chapters, Midnight Sun was actually almost enjoyable.

In the beginning all of Edward's thoughts were rational, he wanted to help protect his family and he hated high school. Pretty normal stuff. He would read some minds, was confused about Bella, but everything was fine. It isn't until he's actually around Bella that the shit starts to hit the fan. He spends an awful lot of time envisioning a mass murder, which would have been much more terrifying if Twilight didn't exist. Really once he gains control and decides he won't kill her it's "Edward is a crazy stalker" time. Really. He follows her around, watches her sleep and is just generally really, really creepy. Edward around Bella is intolerable. It's amazing the rest of the Cullens didn't get together and decide to put him out of his misery.

Since Stephenie Meyer had her little fit after these pages leaked Midnight Sun remains unfinished. Maybe this is a good thing. Edwards perceptive is that of an obsessive stalker who luckily finds the one girl who's into that (or to stupid to know she should GTFO before she dies). Midnight Sun is just a companion piece. Nothing more.

Love you all, even those who love Edward and think Bella's the Bee's knees! Have a great weekend!

Exit the Actress - Parmar

2011-05-04T14:14:00.001-05:00

Exit the Actress

Priya Parmar

Ellen "Nell" Gwyn comes from humble beginnings. Her mother is a drunkard, her sister is a whore and her father is long dead. When Nell decides that she wants a life different from that of her sister she gets a job as an orange girl at the Theatre Royal, changing her life forever. Over the next several years Nell works hard for her place in this beautiful new world and fights for the one things she really wants. Love.

With Exit the Actress Priya Parmar has done for the Restoration what Phillipa Gregory did for the Tudors. She spins the story of Nell Gwyn, one of Charles II's mistresses in a unique way that had me completely captivated. Nell's diary entry's are personal, and are the main lens through which the reader views this story. She's funny and lighthearted, even when her circumstances should make her otherwise. Her decisiveness and individuality rockets her forward in her career as an actress, and eventually help her earn her place in the King's heart.

While Nell's diary makes up the bulk of Parmar's 446 pages, they are not the only means of storytelling. There are letters from Charles, to and from his sister in France, as well as to and from his mother, giving insight into the workings of the court Nell doesn't get to enter until later in the novel. These letters are more frequent at the beginning of the novel and have nothing to do with Nell. The one thing I would have liked to see more of were letters written after Charles meets her to see the change in his character. There are also newspaper headlines and gossip columns and recipes for home remedies to break up the narrative.

Overall I really enjoyed Exit the Actress. It's set in an interesting era, with an intriguing main character and enough real drama to fill a season of the Tudors. If you're a historical fiction fan you should definitely pick this one up.

April in Review

2011-05-01T16:38:00.001-05:00

So April has faded into May, which means that A. I graduate in 13 days (that's not terrifying at all, right guys? RIGHT?!) and B. I should probably do a Month in Review post. Since the idea of working on final projects right now makes that sport behind my eyes ache, here is April in Review. As always, I took the template from the lovely Lily at Lily's Bookshelf.

On a slightly unrelated note, I love ducks.

Books Read:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Exit the Actress
Midnight Sun
Total Number of Books Read This Month: 4

Total Number of Books Read This Year: 15

Most Anticipated:
Exit the Actress
Biggest Let Down:
None
Favorite Read:
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Overall Reflection:
This has been a slow year for me, reading wise. School's been more work that I had originally expected for my last semester as an undergrad and it's definitely effected how much I can read. Regardless, I've been rereading the Harry Potter series for my Fantasy Literature class (in case you haven't been around, it's just a class on Harry Potter, and we get house points, and it's fantastic) and as always, it's amazing. Other than being HP crazed, I read Exit the Actress by Priya Parmar, and loved it. Finally, I stumbled upon the Chapters of Midnight Sun Stephenie Meyer had posted on her site after they leaked. I'm not a twilight fan, unless you count cackling at the movies being a fan, but for some reason I found myself speed reading through it. It was just as bad as I expected, but since I had such low expectations this didn't really upset me.

I'm working my way through Deathly Hallows right now, and I'm got several ARC's waiting to be read at the top of my To Read pile that I'm super excited to get to. Thanks for sticking around through my posting drought over the past two months! Everything will be back to normal very soon!

Top Ten Tuesday - Mean Girls

2011-04-26T02:16:00.001-05:00

6. Estella - Great Expectations - I haven't read Great Expectations. I haven't seen whatever movie versions exists of it. When I was musing about this list earlier tonight my roommate's immediate response was Estella. I trust my roommate, she's pretty awesome, so whoever this person Estella person is get's a place on my too-short list.

My lists seem to be getting shorter and shorter lately, I'll have to fix this for next week. Happy Tuesday!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Rowling

2011-04-25T19:59:00.000-05:00

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

JK Rowling

Year six at Hogwarts brings some unexpected twists and turns. Harry's NEWT courses are harder than ever and his added lessons with Dumbledore to uncover Voldemorts past can sometimes be more than he bargained for. On top of this is the monster inside him that has recently taken notice of Ginny, Ron's little sister, and romance has finally hit Hogwarts.

In many ways Half Blood Prince accomplishes everything that Chamber of Secrets doesn't. It succeeds in getting Harry to notice Ginny, helps Ron to grow up and Hermione to acknowledge her feelings, and explains a multitude of things about Tom Riddles(Voldy's) past that connect directly with Chamber. All in all, Half Blood Prince is about characters, and if you've been following this blog at all, you'll know that's pretty important to me.

Overall, I find Half Blood Prince to be one of my favorites. This may be because it is also one of Harry's best years at Hogwarts. Until the very end, his biggest problems consist of choosing a Quidditch team and dealing with the "monster inside" of him whenever he see's Ginny. I'm also a big fan of the romantic aspects of this book, as they had been pretty sparse in the proceeding five, and I feel like it really rounded out the series.

The other thing I love in Half Blood Prince are Harry's lessons with Dumbledore. Diving into various peoples memories can be fun, and helps to add new scenery to the typical Hogwarts sets. Oh, and did I mention that Voldy's back story is actually pretty interesting? Love potions, death, antiques. It's pretty cool stuff.

Half Blood Prince is the perfect set up for the final book in the series, Deathly Hallows. If you're one of those people who's been reading the books out of order, or using the movies as supplements, this is not the one to skip.

Top Ten Tuesday - Favorite Covers (rewind)

2011-04-19T15:01:00.002-05:00

Covers I Love:

1. Wuthering Heights - Bronte - Penguin

2.Atonement - McEwan - Vintage

3. Anna Karenina - Tolstoy - Penguin (Red)

4. Falling Angels - Chevalier - Harper (UK)

5. Her Fearful Symmetry - Niffenegger - Scribner

6. Stardust - Gaiman

7. Arcadia Falls - Goodman - Ballantine Books

8. When You are Engulfed in Flames - Sedaris - Back Bay Books

9. Immortality - Kundera - Harpers

I had a lot of fun making this list, I'm not sure why I didn't do it the first time around!

Happy Tuesday!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling

2011-04-18T01:23:00.001-05:00

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

JK Rowling

Harry Potter is now in his 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and things just keeping worse. After witnessing Lord Voldemort's return at the end of the last school year Harry finds that the Daily Prophet is slandering him, and that everyone thinks he's crazy. Oh, and did I mention he has a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that rivals Voldemort as the most terrible wizard ever? Through all of this Harry has to deal with his angst and limited contact with his loved ones to arm himself and his friends for the impending battle.

If I was to sum up Order of the Phoenix in one word it would be angst. Previously, Harry's never been one to give into self pity, but he throws that away during his 5th year at Hogwarts. No one understands him, no one believes him, his scar hurts, blah blah blah. I get that he's a teenage boy going through a tough time, but Harry's attitude is the thing that always makes Order of the Phoenix such a trying book for me.

In reality, this is the book where everyone messes up. Fudge won't believe Dumbledore, Dumbledore doesn't trust Harry, Snape can't get over his personal vendetta against all things Marauders and Harry's to obsessed with his dreams to see them for what they really are. That is the thing I like about Order - that no one is perfect. This isn't a children's book anymore. There is death and destruction hiding just blow the surface, and everyone starts to fear for their lives.

While Order of the Phoenix isn't one of my favorite books in the series it's still a masterfully written novel, and one of the most important books of the seven. Also, you don't need to be afraid of the length. I always feel as the books get longer they read so much faster, since things are happening much quicker.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books to Movies

2011-04-12T01:41:00.001-05:00

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish. I'm sure they'd love to share your lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten list.

This week's topic is books I'd like to see made (or remade) into movies!

*I'm a book purist, and have seen maybe two book to movie adaptations that I consider great, so some of these will be remakes of already ruined stories, and others just in the hopes that one indie studios with bookish producers get a hold of the source material.

1.Arcadia Falls - Carol Goodman - I am a huge fan of this book. Boarding school for the arts? Check. Fairytale's. Check. Mystery in journal form. Check Check Check. Now I know if a major studio got their hands on this there would be all kinds of changes. That's okay though, because it's highly unlikely this will ever actually become a movie.

2. The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri - I really really liked The Namesake as a book. Really, I did. So I obviously went and saw the movie, which I hated. So much. Like apologizing to the friend who went with me kind of hate (though she didn't seem to see the problem. It is possible this is all in my head). I had a hard time finding the movie Gogol endearing or interesting, and thought the essences of the story was lost.

3. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine - YOU CAN NOT POISON A CROWN. YOU CAN NOT. IT DOES NOT WORK. DESTROY ALL COPIES OF THIS TERRIBLE MOVIE AND REMAKE ONE THAT FOLLOWS THE STORY AND DOESN'T HAVE ME SCREAMING. DO IT NOW!

4.The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory - I'm a big historical fiction fan, and while I tend to consider Gregory historical fiction lite I do still devour her work like it's some sort of weird, damask covered crack. I really liked The Other Boleyn girl. I really, really hated the movie. I didn't think anyone was convincing in it. When you can say that Scarlett Johansson was the best actor in a movie, there is an issue with that movie.

5./6. The History of Love - Nichole Krauss/Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Foer - I lump these two together because their story structure is similar, the subject matter is similar and the same pitfalls would come to each movie. While I would love to see both of them up on the big screen I can also picture them being destroyed by big studios who would have a hard time selling these sudo world war two/post 9/11/family death stories that are centered around children. Oh, I also don't have much hope for the version of ELAIC that is currently being filmed with Tom Hanks.

7. Falling Angels - Tracy Chevalier - little girls growing up at the beginning of the Edwardian era running around cemeteries and learning about life? Yes, please.

8.House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski - Just the Navidson records. You know, the part with the growing house? Not, and I repeat, NOT the Johnny story. They just wouldn't work together well in the same film, in my opinion.

9. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Zafon - I loved this story, and it would be a great, noir-ish type film.

10. The Paris Wife - Paula McLain - I just read this a few weeks ago and I really loved it. It would be fantastic to see Paris in the 20's on screen, with Hemingway and Stien and Pound and everyone else being artsy and lost and amazing.

So that's my list. It's mostly me being angry, but that's typically what these lists turn into, isn't it?

Readathon - Wrap Up

2011-04-10T13:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the readathons been over for a few hours now. I almost made it to the end, but fell asleep around 3 am. Overall I had a really great time and got a lot of reading done. The only book I offically finished was Order of the Phoenix, but I came withing a hundred pages of finishing Half Blood Prince as well, so even with my chunky choices I feel like I got a lot done!

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
To be honest, hours three and four. I hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before and for some reason 10 am hit me like a ton of bricks!

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I enjoyed my Harry Potter themed readathon, but maybe the first three (or four) would be better for an event like this.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope!

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I was really impressed with how everything was run this year, everything seemed smooth and everyone was really kind.

5. How many books did you read?
1 and most of another. about 1200 pages.

6. What were the names of the books you read?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
I didn't finish Half Blood Prince, but I enjoyed it more.

8. Which did you enjoy least?
By process of illimination that makes Order my least favorite, but I love it too!

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I wasn't a cheerleader, but want to thank them all for being so great at their cheering!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I'll definitely read again in the fall!

Hope everyone had a great time!

Readathon - Midevent Survay

2011-04-09T18:07:00.001-05:00

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

2. How many books have you read so far?
1, it was long though.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
I may or may not stop halfway through HBP to try and read some Jane Austen now that my kindle has decided it wants to work.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
I had to push lots of homework around. Hopefully I won't regret it tomorrow!

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
one of my roommates and her boyfriend decided a very loud fight over deodorant was necessary, and it was very hard to read over!

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
My inadequate choice of books. I need to pick smaller ones next time so I feel like I'm getting more done.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope. Love the way you all are running it.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
Just the shorter book thing.

9. Are you getting tired yet?
Actually, yeah. Starting at 7 am was a bit trying and now I'm thinking about taking a cat nap.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
I'm trying not to get to caught up in pages/books read so that everything can stay fun. If it's not fun what's the point!

I just decided my day, and my blog needed a bit of an aww factor, so here are some teacup pigs.

Happy Reading!

Readathon - Recreated Cover

2011-04-09T16:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't done any post related mini-challenges yet, so I decide it was about time. The Hungry Readers is having a recreate a cover mini- challenge for a book read during the readathon.

Now I've only read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and just started Half Blood Prince, so my choices were pretty limited. The edition of Order I've been reading looks like this:

Which, while easier to recreate then the typical American cover, still required something...birdlike...and since the closest thing I have to a bird is a build a bear dog (which looks nothing like a phoenix and everything like a small terrier) this was off the table.

Which brings me to the cover I actually recreated.

I know, I know. It wasn't exactly a difficult task, a book on the cover of the book. But still, it was that or a weird bird dog. I made a "pretend" crappy cover for the book. Since it didn't show up well in this picture, it says:

"Suspicious Potions Book

(try all my fancy new spells!)

Forward by the Half Blood Prince"

Evidently I am not very creative today

Happy Reading!

Readathon - Hour 8

2011-04-09T14:33:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Just wanted to do a quick update post.

I started the readathon on time (7am ICK!) but fell asleep around nine thirty and didn't get up again until eleven! Other than that I've been reading pretty consistently. I just finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and am wishing I had decided on more half finished and/or shorter books, since reading around 600 pages in one book isn't nearly as fulfilling as finishing three! That's my only gripe so far. I just took a lunch break and am now trying to decide what book I should pick up next. Hope everyone is having fun! Happy Reading!

Readathon - Hour 1

2011-04-09T07:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's 7 am here in lovely (dreary and wet) Chicago and I'm awake and ready to start Reading

This hours post is a get to know you post:

1)Where are you reading from today?
2)Three random facts about me…
3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?

1. Like I said, I'm reading from my cozy apartment in Chicago. It looks really icky outside. Glad I don't have a reason to go out there.
2.Three random facts? How about -

I once had a fish I named Ophelia. This was my "go to" fact for all beginning of the semester fun facts. A surprisingly little amount of people got why it was awesome. I judged everyone who I though I named her after the girl in Pans Labyrinth
I really love to cook, which isn't really an interesting fact at all.
I graduate with my BA in a little over a month.

3. My TBR pile today consists of pretty much everything I haven't read on my shelfs, minus Infinite Jest.
4. Last Readathon I think I got to around 1,000 wages before I got hungry and cranky and more interested in non bookish pursuits, so I'm hoping to at least hit that.
5. I've participated before, but considering how sleepy I still am and how reluctant I am to dive back into Order of the Phoenix, I don't think I'm the one who should be giving anyone advice. Unless it involves which sweeteners to use in their tea. Honey. Obviously.

I'm starting at Chapter 20 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Hope everyone has fun!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

2011-04-06T18:49:00.000-05:00

Saturday, the 9th, is the next 24 hour read-a-thon! I wasn't originally going to participate because of lame reasons, like homework, but it's been to long since I've really read for any extended period of time to pass up such a great event.

When I participated in the Read-a-Thon in November I finished 3 books and a screenplay, so I at least have a general idea of what I can expect out of myself.

Here's a list of the books that I'm planning to finish:
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling
-Neverwhere - Gaiman

I'll also have these books on hand:
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling
Weird Sisters - Brown
Persuasion - Austen
1984 - Orwell
Tree of Codes - Foer (assuming it gets her by then)

Actually, that's really just a list of things I really really want to read right at this very second. It'll probably change by Saturday.

Literary Hop - The Stigma of Classics

2011-03-31T19:59:00.000-05:00

It's Thursday! The sun's out! Classes are over and I just had yummy pancakes! Okay, the sun isn't really out anymore, but it was when I first started thinking about this question. That totally counts. Anyways, It being Thursday also means another awesome thing -It's time for the Literary Book Blog Hop! As always a huge thanks to the ladies over at the Blue Bookcase for hosting my favorite biweekly event!

Now for the fun stuff. This weeks question is -

Do you find yourself predisposed to like (or dislike) books that are generally accepted as great books and have been incorporated into the literary canon? Discuss the affect you believe a book’s “status” has on your opinion of it.

I'd like to say I'm not effected by the public opinion of books, but that would be a bald faced lie. I spent the better part of my teenage years living under the opinion that classics were books everyone had heard of but no one had read. What can I say, no one in my immediate family is a big reader and I didn't really have anyone to prove me otherwise. So when I finally got around to reading the likes of Pride & Prejudice or The Picture of Dorian Gray* I already knew what was going to happen. However this doesn't really determine how I feel about the work after I've read it. In general I like to read "the classics". I like getting references ingrained in society and feeling like I'm in on some joke (or a really juicy secret), and in that respect, yes, a books status does effect me, but only so much as it gets me to read it. Once I'm speeding through the pages it has always been up to the author to really make me love their work.

I have a different sort of relationship with the contemporary "classics". You know, the ones everyone is reading and raving about, with prize winning authors and really deep subject matter? I feel like at least at first I'm predisposed to dislike them. I hate reading a book and finding that there are two dozen reviews posted within the last day that sum up exactly what I'm feeling. I hate it even more when I'm let down by one of these books and get attacked because I "must not have gotten it." Maybe I didn't get it, or maybe I just had a different opinion. I know. Shocking.

*and many others

Hope everyones thinking up some really awesome April Fools Day tricks!

The Paris Wife - McLain

2011-03-30T10:00:00.001-05:00

The Paris Wife

Paula McLain

Who is Hadley Richardson? That seems to be a question she herself is asking, that is until she meets a young Ernest Hemingway and falls madly in love with him. After a short time courting they find themselves married and living the starving artists dream in Paris surrounded by the pioneers of the "Lost Generation". But can they stay this happy forever?

Hemingway as a person has taken on an almost mythical persona in our time. A quick glance at his wikipedia page will show you numerous marriages, endless wars, bull fights, plane crashes and an eventual suicide. McLain does a fantastic job of exploring his early life in Paris, through the eyes of his first with Hadley. In The Paris Wife, Ernest seems like any driven young artist, working hard and living even harder. It is easy to see the transformation he goes through with fame, and he becomes a like-able antagonist.

While Hemingway's portrayal is great, that of Hadley Richardson is spectacular. The story is told by Hadley looking back on her life. Even knowing the outcome (the prologue ends with a warning to be on the lookout for the woman who will ruin your marriage) she speaks with an honest voice, looking back on the good times fondly and the bad honestly. She is hard on herself, which can be wearing at times, but it always comes back around. This is truly the story of a woman who put her life aside to help her husband and found that in the end it didn't matter. I know, that doesn't sound very modern, or even very hopeful - both of which are things that Hadley herself points out - but she grows from this experience and has her own happy life after Ernest.

I was very impressed with McLain's prose. Her words flow effortlessly together and I found myself swept up in them before I was convinced I would like the story (which I did).She also has a way with minor characters. Paris in the 1920's is a crowded place, especially in the ex-patriot scene. McLain presents Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stien, and the Fitzgeralds magnificently. With so many people coming in and out, often people one will have heard of in passing it could have been easy to get these minor characters confused with one another, but McLain works hard to make them each an individual.

Overall I was really impressed with The Paris Wife. It's not just for fans of Hemingway's work (which I am not) or of his life, but for people who love a good story. A great example of Historical Fiction not featuring someone related to Henry VIII!

Loving Books

New Year's Wishes from Neil Gaiman

Books in my Stocking

Merry Christmas

Unreviewable Books

I'm Baaaaaaaaack

Top Eight Books that Make Me Feel Lots of Things

The Secret Lives of Dresses - McKean

Readathon

Sincere Apologies from a Lapsed Blogger

Tree of Codes - Foer

Good Quotes from Banned Books

Top Ten Tuesday - Rereading is Love

A Game of Thrones

Top Ten Tuesday - The Only Blogger in the World

Bookshelves - A Lesson in Organization

Behind Every Girl is an Amazing Nail - Literary Series Edition

Literary Hop

The Drowning Tree - Goodman

Summer in Review

The Ghost Orchid

Top Ten Tuesday - Loved But Not Reviewed

The Magicians - Grossman

Bookish Things are all the Rage

Top Ten Tuesday - Favorites of 2011

My American Unhappiness - Bakopoulos

The Night Villa - Goodman

Bookbinding + Harry Potter = The Best Final Ever

Top Ten Tuesday - Trends

Where Do Books Come From?

The Alchemist - Coelho

Literary Hop - Bibliotherapy

Top Ten Tuesday -Required Reading

It All Ends

Top Ten Tuesday - Authors I'd DIE to meet

Leaving Van Gogh - Wallace

Guest Post: Concerning Teen Fiction

The Literary Hop - If Sienfeld was a Book

Top Ten Tuesday - Reasons Why Book Bloggers are Better than Other Bloggers

The Pride & Prejudice You Haven't Seen...

Pride & Prejudice Read-a-Long Part 3

Pride & Prejudice Read-a-Long Part 2

Far to Go - Pick

Outside Influences - Literary Hop

Top Ten Tuesday - Amazing Settings

Pride & Prejudice Read-a-Long Part 1

May in Review

The Act of Unsupervised Reading - Why Non-bookish Parents Made My Childhood Awesome

The Tragedy of Arthur - Phillips

Author Love - Literary Hop

Top Ten Tuesday - Throne of Lies

Bookstock or Booktopia? You decide.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling

Midnight Sun - Why There Needs To Be A Rehab For Book Crack

Exit the Actress - Parmar

April in Review

Top Ten Tuesday - Mean Girls

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Rowling

Top Ten Tuesday - Favorite Covers (rewind)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling

Top Ten Tuesday - Books to Movies

Readathon - Wrap Up

Readathon - Midevent Survay

Readathon - Recreated Cover

Readathon - Hour 8

Readathon - Hour 1

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

Literary Hop - The Stigma of Classics

The Paris Wife - McLain