I'm Checking in at Winterfell

I know it has been quite some time since I have posted anything, but it isn't my fault. George R. R. Martin is to blame. 

I started reading it about a month ago, after reading a post about the awesomeness of the HBO series, A Game of Thrones. Since I am a bit financially challenged, I decided that reading the book would have to be good enough. When I started reading the description and found out it was a series, I suddenly remembered someone recommending it to me a few years ago, saying how much I would enjoy it. As I am not normally a fan of fantasy or of medieval anything, I wasn’t originally intrigued, hence the years of not bothering with it. If I hadn’t gotten the recommendation, I probably wouldn’t have picked up the books after seeing the first book consists of over 800 pages. But, when someone tells me that something is good or that I’ll like it, I always give it a try.

I wasn’t expecting to get as involved in the story as much as I have. I am torn between loving and hating almost every one of the characters. I’m not sure who I am supposed to like, respect, fear, or hate, which is why I see its brilliance. I have never been a fan of traditional good guy/bad guy roles and therefore when I read something where, even though there are protagonists and antagonists, I am much more drawn to those protagonists with faults and antagonists who are not necessarily just evildoers.

All that being said, I am not incredibly frustrated because I cannot read anything else! I am usually someone who reads 3 or 4 books at a time, partially because I am a slave to my moods but also because I like switching between different genres and getting involved in different stories. With this series, however, I haven’t been able to put it down. It has been so engrossing, that even when I am reading something else, I begin to wonder where Tryion is and what Daenerys is doing. It is very frustrating.

So, in conclusion, if I don’t post for a while longer or if when I do I write about khals and maegis and measters, don’t mind me. I’ve only got 3.5 more books to go.

In lieu of an actual post...

So, I'm too lazy to do an actual post so instead I'm doing one of those stupid things you get on Facebook...although this one I actually like... Plus I've added my priceless comments, so it's really a win-win!

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?
Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put a 'Yes' after those you have read. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so i can see your responses!"

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - Y (This was the first Jane Austen I read. Molly made me. My arm is still sore from the twisting she did. Although, I've totally converted.)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien -Y (I know...I'm a big nerd)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte -Y
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - Y (Duh...)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - Y (Once again, I say Duh...any kind who went to high school in America has read this)

6 The Bible - (Sorta. I've read it in parts, but never as a whole. Plus, I didn't get into the Bible as Literature course I had wanted to when I was at Cal. Apparently I wasn't the only person who wanted to critically analyze the Bible.)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - Y (I read this when I was 12 and didn't get most of it. Then I read it again when I was 16 and enjoyed it. Then I read it for a class and fell totally in love.)
8 1984 - George Orwell - Y
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - N
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Y (I hate Dickens. HATE.)

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - Y (I wish I could tell you how many times I've read this but there is no numerical value large enough)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - N
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - Y
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare - Y (Yeah, even Titus Andronicus.)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - N

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - Y (Once again, I display my Dork Card proudly!)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk - N
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - Y (I actually didn't get it until I was in college...)
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - N (Should I?)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - N

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell -Y (My dad made me.)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald -Y (I know it's kind of cheesy with obvious symbolism, but I still love it)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens - N (Once again, I hate Dickens.)
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - N (Not that I haven't tried...)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - Y (This one does not get my Dork Card approval.)

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh -N
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Y (For a class. I would not have read it by choice.)
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - Y
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - Y (If you think the movie is a druggie's dream, read the book.)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - Y

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - Y (Do I make up points I lost from War and Peace)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - N (For the 3rd time, HATE Dickens!)
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - Y (I actually haven't read all of them, but I have read the majority of it, so I count it as a yes.)
34 Emma - Jane Austen - Y (SO funny...I never knew...)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - N (Not yet...It's on my list!)

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - Y (Duh...)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein -N (Once again, I say, Should I?)
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - N
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Y
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne - Y

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell - Y
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - Y (Yes, and I would like my 4 hours back please. Dan Brown is everything wrong with writing, cuz he's TERRIBLE.)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Y
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving - N
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - N

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - Y (My sister used to have the whole series and I would swipe them when she wasn't looking.)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - N
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood - N
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - Y (I still get all teary when I think about Piggy)
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - Y (I would recommend this to everyone. It's like SVU without all the overt evil.)

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - N ( I tried and failed)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert - N
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - N
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - Y (My second attempt at Jane Austen. I loved the movie too...)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - N

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - N
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - Y (Still, nuthin but hate for you Chuck)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - N
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon - N
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Y

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck - Y (And there is totally a guy who works at another Starbucks that we have dubbed Lenny...you can imagine why!)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - Y (Beautiful. And creepy...)
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - N
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - Y
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - Y

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - Y (Ramble much?)
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - N
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding - Y (I'm not proud of this fact...)
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie - N
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - Y (You kind of have to...)

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - Y (For someone who hates Dickens, I really have read a lot of his work..)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - Y
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - Y (One of the first books where I had seen the movie first and then read the book.)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - N
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - Y (Unfortunately.)

76 The Inferno - Dante - Y (Not only have I read it, but I have several analytical papers on it.)
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - N
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - N
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -Y
80 Possession - AS Byatt - N

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - Y (Ok, this one I actually liked)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - N
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker - Y (Hello, only one of my favorite books)
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - N
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - N

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - N
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White -Y (How has anyone NOT read this book??????)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - Y(Once again, I'm not proud.)
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Y (and I'm totally excited for the movie!!!)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - N

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - Y (This and The Waste Land duked it out for the bane of my English major existence...)
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery - Y
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - N
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - N
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - N

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - Y
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - Y
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - Y (Again, I say duuuuuhhhhh)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Y
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - N (Nor do I want to...)

Grand total: 51 1/2 (The half is the Bible)

BBC...I say I proved you WRONG. Although, I was an English major so I guess I cheated.

This is a Harry Potter Post (I'm sorry)

Yes, I am one of millions of people who read and love the Harry Potter series.

Yes, I am also one of millions who loves the Harry Potter movies.

I'm sorry. But I just can't help it.

I didn't actually start reading the books until after I watched the first movie on HBO with my friend Kasandra. I knew what it was and I knew that it was this huge series of kid's books, but I was a little old for it, so I had never actually read it. Well, she had and she insisted that I would LOVE the books and they were all amazing.

Begrudgingly, I borrowed her copy of the first book and read it. Despite that it was written for children, I thought it was written really well. It had interesting characters and a great plot. I'm not that into science fiction or fantasy, but for some reason, the first book caught my interest. So I bought the second and read it.

Then I bought the third and read it.

Then, I bought the fourth and read it.

Then, I went with Kasandra to reserve my copy of the fifth and I have been a fan ever since. I know that I'm a little too old for it, but to be honest, that's half the fun! Sometimes I need something that reminds me that there is a lot of fun in the world and all I have to do is let myself find it.

I really think JK Rowling did a great job with the series. Not only do the kids develop and grow up, but the writing actually grows with them. The books do not all read like children's books, but instead, well, grow up. Granted, they are not Ayn Rand, but there are subtle complexities that anyone can appreciate.

Now, the movies.

I treat these as a seperate entity becasue they have to change so much to make it translateable for the screen. If, after every movie, I compared them to the book, I would drive myself nuts. Plus, I would never enjoy the movies and it would be pointless to spend the money to see it. But, so far I have yet to be disappointed.

I think they did an amazing job at casting. Everyone, from Harry all the way down to the guys who play Crabbe and Goyle (the kid who plays Crabbe just plead guilty to growing pot. Just an interesting side note.), is cast exactly how I imagine it when I read the books. Alan Rickman as Snape is probably my favorite.

The effects and the acting can be a bit, to be perfectly honest, bad at times, but I really think they make an effort to stay true to the book, even if that means some things have to be cut out. It might be frustrating, but overall, I think they have done a great job so far.

So yeah, I'm a nerd. I like to go to the midnight showing the day it comes out because I get to see all the big fans who dress up and I can cheer without distrubing everyone. It's ok, though. I enjoy it and, at this point, I am not ashamed to admit it! (Although, up til now, I never wrote a blog about it. I am a nerd, aren't I?)

Don't you ever stop readin'?

It has been a really long time since I have written about what I'm reading, so, since I feel like writing something but don't really have much to write about, I figure I might as well write about the books I'm trying to get through right now.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. This is one of those books that got such great reviews from so many people, I finally caved and picked it up. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was on sale at Target. So far, I'm only about 70 pages in, but it really is interesting. He is talking about how the correlation between the month kids are born and their likihood at being successful hockey players. It is all very interesting, but I'm also finding it hard to read more than 20 pages at a time because I end up thinking too hard about it and losing focus. We'll see how it goes.

Eat, Pray, Love. Elizabeth Gilbert. My friend Cierra talked me into this one. She actually didn't talk me into it so much as insisted that I read it. Plus, I found it at the dollar book store. Anyone else sensing a pattern?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm seeing it at midnight next Tuesday! I can't wait!

Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown, Jennifer Scanlon. Helen Gurley Brown is a bestselling author and was the editor of Cosmo for 30 years and is overlooked as a great feminist. I read the review for this book in the NY Times Book Review one Sunday and, rare thing for me to buy hardcovers, too. I am about halfway through and I really find her when a book I'm interested in reading gets a good review from the Times, I go buy it. It's a very fascinating. Jennifer Scanlon has a tendency to be redundant, but overall it is written well and interestingly.

Slumberland. Paul Beatty. So one of the things I miss the most about working at Barnes and Noble are little things called Advanced Reader Copies. The publishers send these out to authors and bookstores to get feedback on the book. When the book actually comes out, they take quotes from this feedback and put it on the cover to try to intice you to buy. Well, once again at my trusted dollar bookstore, I found an ARC of this novel. It is not even out in paperback yet, so it was a major score for me. (Have I mentioned I hate hardcovers?) I read Beatty's White Boy Shuffle in my contemporary African American Lit class and fell in love with him. He writes very lyrically and I think the way he infers rather than tells with his satirical style is brilliant. This is about a DJ's quest for the "perfect beat," which leads him to West Berlin. I think the writing is beautiful, but I'm not quite sure about the plot yet. I just need to keep reading.

Now, here's my dillemma: I can't read fast enough! I want to finish all of these books because I have about 108 other books I want to read, not to mention the fact that I haven't even read the NY Time Books section yet today, which means there will be another 100 books I want to read.

This is just another reason I need to start waking up earlier.

Books, sunshine, writers and lectures: what more could I ask for?

It’s Saturday and a beautiful, clear 75 degrees outside. So what do I do?

Go to the LA Times Festival of Books of course!

I had planned on going for quite sometime, mainly because, well, it’s a festival of BOOKS! But then I found out that there would be a lot of great writers and publishers there, so I got even more excited.

It was held at UCLA and, even though I’ve been to UCLA more times than I can tell you, I realized today that I had never really seen it. The buildings are beautiful and, although the campus is huge, it was easy to get around and find my way. (Plus, there were no major hills, like at the better UC up north) It was the perfect venue to hold a festival like this and it made me miss school a lot.

The first panel I went to was called “Fiction: the Re-imagination of a Life.” Now, I’m not a fiction writer. I wouldn’t say that I suck at writing fiction, but I could name a few who would. But I am always curious to learn new and interesting ways to write, so this seemed like a great place to start. The panelists were people I had never heard of, but am now interested in reading. They brought up a lot of good points about character and theme and I got a few ideas for some fiction I might one day actually sit down and write.

Then I did the less intellectual part of my journey. I went to see Alyssa Milano talk about her new book. I wasn’t going to but I caught the end of the speaker before her (Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years!) and a seat opened up so I sat and listened to her. I’ve always been pretty indifferent to her, but today I realized just how cool she is. Her book is about baseball and how it helped her form a relationship with her dad, which is something I can totally relate to. She was very entertaining and interesting and, even though I considered this the less stimulating of my journeys today, I felt like maybe I should go buy her book.

The next panel I went to was a discussion with Ray Bradbury. Yes, as in Fahrenheit 451. (!!!!!) I was very excited, even though I had to choose between him and Gore Vidal. To tell the truth, it was kind of boring. It was more of an interview than a discussion and it was crowded and hot in the auditorium. Plus I had a man next to me who obviously thought that sporting sandals and socks while wearing no deodorant is an appropriate thing to do in public. But, how many people can say they got to hear Ray Bradbury speak for free? Well, probably about 500 because that’s how many the auditorium held.

The last panel I went to was called “Publishing: the Big Picture” and it was very interesting. They talked about how the problem isn’t really that Americans don’t read, it’s that they don’t buy books. They also talked about how the main reason people don’t read is because there is so much to read and people are overwhelmed by choice. It really made me think because, for me, when I walk into a bookstore and see all the choices, it exhilarates me. I love that there is so much to read and that there are endless possibilities. But, I do understand how hard it can be to have to choose when there are a million options.

I didn’t end up buying anything because I got turned off by the amount of people crammed into the little booths. I did, however, write down some presses to look up and a few authors to google. I had a great day there and am glad I went.

I also thought about how happy I am to be the kind of person that can go do something like this without needing someone to be with me. I know a lot of people who wouldn’t see it as fun or would think it was pointless, even scary.

But honestly, I do kind of wish someone would have gone with me, because there was tremendous mocking potential. I didn’t know you could still buy Hammer pants and Keds, but boy-o-boy was I wrong!

Ok, if I only have $20 to last me the week, should I save it for gas or should I get the cute top?

Don’t you hate it when the things you think you’ll love, you actually end up hating? Ok, maybe not hating, but really not enjoying as much as you had thought you would?

I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic with my mom recently and, even thought the clothes were great, I wasn’t very happy with it. Actually, I was rather frustrated.

For those who live under a rock, here’s the deal: Rebecca Bloomwood is a journalist who can’t control her spending habits. She buys things she doesn’t need with money she doesn’t have, thus leaving her in debt. She loses her job and, after embellishing her resume a bit, she finds a new one at a financial magazine. Needless to say, hilarity ensues while she finds success at the same time drowning in debt.

I’ll start off with the good: the clothes! Patricia Field, as per usual, does a fabulous job of styling Isla Fisher’s Rebecca Bloomwood. She puts together outrageous things that no one in real life could wear, but somehow work so brilliantly on screen. My personal favorite had to be the white suit worn with a huge blue anchor pendant necklace. It was a really simple suit that, without the necklace, would have looked almost practical. But, add this huge chest-covering necklace, and you get a sense of a woman who is extravagant and stands out.

Another thing I did like about this film was its star, Isla Fisher. I don’t know much about her, so I can’t say I was going in expecting anything. She was funny and charming, even if I wasn’t that fond of the character or the story. I am interested to see what else she does down the line.

Now, on to why I didn’t like this film.

I pride myself on being logical and financially conscious. I might not be "savvy," but I do know what I spend and why I spend it. I don’t go shopping when I don’t have money and I don’t buy things to make me feel better or more complete. I might not know anything about investing or IRAs, but I know that if I don’t have enough money to pay for a new pair of shoes, I shouldn’t buy them. (Unless they are super-cute and on sale, in which case, I remind myself that credit cards were invented for such occasions. But even then, I have to really be in love, and since I’m a commitment-phobe, it’s kind of a long process.)

Anyway, I knew going in that this was a movie about a woman who couldn’t control her spending. She can’t stop herself from buying crap she doesn’t need and gets herself into all sorts of predicaments due to her debt. But, I really didn’t think about how it would make me feel. She uses labels and worthless items to validate who she is. No matter how entertaining the movie was, I couldn’t believe her total lack of self-control and how frustrating it was for me to watch. I just wanted to shake her!!! Even though she eventually grows and realizes what she has been doing, it didn’t seem to me like she had really changed. She ends up with a man who could totally support her shopping habit, therefore making the need to change unnecessary. Plus, he's her boss, so it's not like she has an issue with job security.

I had started reading the book before I went to see it, but have since stopped. The same issue that I had with film—of her not truly changing—I’m sure I’m going to have with the book. Especially since it’s a series. I understand that this is a common problem with people in America and that’s why the series is so popular, but when I’m being entertained, I rarely want something realistic. Hence the reason I watch The City.

(A little footnote: John Salley plays a former NRebbBA basketball star who attends “Shopaholics Anonymous" with Rebecca. When he came on the screen, I was the only one that laughed. No one else had any idea who he was, and, consequentially, turned and looked at me like I was crazy. Which made me laugh even harder.)

Why read the book when they are just going to make it into a movie?

I don’t know if it’s that I’ve been reading even more than usual lately, or if I just never noticed before, but I feel like there are a ton of movies based on books that have just come out or are coming out.

Not that this is a bad thing. Sometimes, when I read a book, I think about all the ways it could be made into a movie and how cool it would be. I usually have to refrain from comparing a movie to the book, though, because books can go places emotionally that movies just can’t. There are only so many voice-overs or monologues a movie can have before it becomes cheesy and unbelievable, whereas in a book, a reader connects with a character because of the thoughts and emotions that are not necessarily vocalized. Unless of course it's Morgan Freeman doing the voice-over. March of the Penguins was enjoyable just because he narrated it.

I am not one of those people who will go into a movie and be unsatisfied if the movie doesn’t completely stick to the book, either. I hate people like that, actually. There is really no way to stay completely faithful to a book, especially because it would take many hours. People do not want to sit through a 6 hour long movie because the movie makers decided to include every single scene. By cutting out unnecessary scenes, the audience can still enjoy the story without thinking about how many days they have spent in the theater.

Also, think of how much money it would take to film every single scene. The movie industry already spends massive amounts of money on these films, and to add that by filming a scene that can easily be removed or cut out would just be plain stupid.

Sometimes, however, the films just get it wrong. They will stick to the basic story but will lose the point of the novel. Or, they will change some of the main characters so much that they are longer the same character as in the book. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen movie and been disappointed by these changes.

The best example of this that I can think of is The Devil Wears Prada. (The main reason this is my example is because it was on last night.) I read the book before the rights had even been bought, so I didn’t read it because of the movie like I do with a lot of books. I really liked the characters that Lauren Weisberger created, especially Andrea and Miranda. Andrea was seen as an idealistic girl with real ambitions and, most importantly, real emotions. She is frequently angry and smokes and stresses and complains. Not to mention, she doesn’t just walk away from her job like she does at the end of the movie. She tells Miranda off and then gets fired. Who hasn’t once wanted to tell off her boss? By doing this, it allows the reader to see that Andrea is gaining back some of herself. The whole point is that Andrea changed so much because of this job and not in a good way that she has to find herself again and the movie really doesn’t convey that.

Miranda Priestly became human in the movie. That’s the only way I can really describe it, and I hated it. She was supposed to be this superwoman who was manipulative and snobby and bitchy and unemotional that you feel for Andrea. She does not reveal things about her personal life and certainly does not make you like her, but are totally fascinate by her. But in the movie, while Meryl Streep did an amazing job, there is too much emotion in her. She smiles with approval and pride at the end of movie after seeing Andrea. No. There is none of this in the novel. They took the strongest character in the novel and took away a lot of what she is about. Between this and the changes in Andrea’s character, I really felt the movie lost a lot of what the novel was about.

There are lot of these adaptions coming out or that are out already that I am totally looking forward to, despite my skepticism of them. He’s Just Not that Into You is going to be hilarious and since the title literally is the story, I don’t think I’ll have an issue with the point being lost. Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Reader are ones that I haven’t read yet, but am looking forward to reading and seeing. Where the Wild Things Are should be interesting, and I’m interested to see what Peter Jackson does with The Lovely Bones. And, of course, Harry Potter is at the top of my list. Now that they are all legal, I can enjoy it thoroughly…

Follow the yellow brick road...

Lately I’ve been reading some of what I would call “intellectual” books, so naturally, I’m moving back to the trashier side of life.

I re-read The Great Gatsby for the hundredth time. I can’t pinpoint why it’s one of my favorite books, but every time I read it, I find something else I love about it. This time, it was Gatsby. I feel so sorry for this man who was in love with a woman for pretty much his whole life, then dies because of something she did. The whole time, I just can't help but feel bad because he did everything in his life because of someone he hoped would love him back, and even if she did, he never got to really be with her. It’s sad. But even still, I love it!

Then I read Toni Morrison’s new novel, A Mercy, which is about a group of people living on a farm/plantation in the pre-Revolutionary War era. It’s told through the owner of the farm, his wife, their three female slaves, two "hired" farm hands, and the mother of one of the slaves. It isn’t your typical slavery-is-bad novel, but it definitely doesn’t glorify it either. It tells the story of all these people and how they came to this farm and all the hardships they are facing while there, in addition to making a commentary on the land and the time period and human nature. I think it’s one of Toni Morrison’s best, so I understand why the New York Times named it as one of the best books of 2008.

So, after reading these two, I decided to read Chelsea Handler’s Are you there Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea. I’d read so many reviews of it online and heard about how hilarious it is, so, when I got it for Christmas, I’m began reading almost immediately. It was a really easy read and definitely funny, but I was kind of disappointed. It’s a book that’s listed as a memoir, yet it reads more like short stories. Short stories with very little cohesion other than the narrator. Now, I am really not one to talk since I write this blog and a lot of times it can be rather random, but I’m not planning on putting all of it into a book and calling it a memoir. I don’t know why it bugged me so much, maybe it’s that I felt like I missed a lot trying to look for something to connect one story with the next and it negatively affected my opinion of the book. I do, however, want to read her other book, My Horizontal Life, partly because it will be more unified, but mainly because I think I will enjoy it more.

Now, you would think after reading one “entertainment” book(not quite trashy, but it’s on the yellow brick road leading to The Trashy City), I would go back to my “intellectual” books, but I figure that I should keep going on this path. So now, I’m reading a book my cousin gave me for Christmas, Salem Falls by Jodi Piccoult. Normally, I don’t like to read books by authors who come out with new books every other month because they obviously don’t take as much time as is necessary to create a truly great novel, but since my cousin recommended it and since Piccoult is becoming one of the most popular writers of recent times, I’m giving it a chance. I like to read what I call pop-culture authors because they are so popular for a reason and I feel that it is an important part of our culture, therefore it’s something I feel I should have an opinion on. I believe firmly in the “don’t knock it till you’ve tried it” philosophy, so here I am. So far I’m about a 150 pages in and it’s not as bad (read: trashy) as I thought it would be. It’s not the best writing in the world, but it’s definitely better than Dan Brown. Although, to be fair, I’m pretty sure that a 7th grader could write better than Dan Brown. But, the story is really good so far, which is something I can enjoy.

Next, I think I’m going to read Confessions of Shopoholic. Like Dorothy, I’m going to follow the yellow brick road, meet the Wizard (VC Andrews, I think) and then maybe I realize there is no place like my intellectual book loving home. Hopefully, I’ll also find something great along the way!

I think I need a 12 step progam...

I have a problem. I've been told that the first step is admitting it, so here it goes.

While some women have an unnatural addiction to shoes or purses, this one has a very different addiction. Even though I do love my shoes and my purses, I don’t have the same problem walking out of the store empty handed or logging off of Amazon without exercising my credit card. What is this uncontrollable addiction?

Books.

Yeah, you read it right. Books. I have a very tough time going into Barnes and Noble and not buying something. Even if I go in with the intention of not buying anything or just picking up this month's In Style, I always walk out with at least one book I hadn’t planned on buying. I work across the street from a $1 bookstore (yeah, everything is ONE DOLLAR!!!!!), which I can no longer allow myself to go into because I end up spending 3 hours and $20. Which, at Barnes and Noble wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but at the $1 bookstore, that’s 20 books.

The problem is that I just find so many things interesting to read. I can go from reading short stories about people in all different kinds of love to reading about the slave trade to reading about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to reading Twilight and falling in love alongside Bella all over again. There is no end to worlds I can enter and the things I can learn about. It just shows how far the human mind can stretch, which fascinates me to no end.

Would you like to know how I discovered that I truly have a problem? Or at least how I realized that this problem has become more of an obsession?

Well I opened today, which sucks because I have to be up at 3:45 am to be at work at 4:45 am. Usually, when I open on Mondays, I grab a Sunday NY Times because I want to read the book reviews but refuse to spend $5 on a newspaper that I’m sure I can find online if I really looked. So I had my paper and sat down for my lunch. Today was the “Holiday Book Special” which included “100 Notable Books of 2008.” I’m a total sucker for these kinds of lists. I like recommendations and where better to get the best recommendation than the NY Times? Anyway, so I’m reading this section and see a ton of books I want to read and I see a highlighter just calling my name. I pick it up and proceed to highlight the books that I want to read. That’s no all.

After spending 2 hours at the mall Christmas shopping with Chad, which was 2 hours of “We’re not shopping for you, Chad” and “What would you’re parents like?” and “Well I don’t really know what you should get your mom if you keep vetoing everything I suggest,” I come home and look over my list. Then I go on Amazon and read the descriptions of almost all the books on my list to make sure they are really something I would like and get through. Then, I added all of them to a spreadsheet I have of all the books I want to read someday. Yeah, I have a spreadsheet of all the books I want to read someday. That’s how serious I am.

The thing about having a list like this is that I never actually follow it. I’ll go to a bookstore or the library and find something that strikes me right now and I’ll get that instead. It’s like never going to the supermarket hungry because you end up with a bunch of stuff you don’t need. The problem with me is, there is never an end to the hunger. No matter how may books
I have on my shelf that have gone unread because of my slight ADD tendencies, I don’t quit want to buy books.

I think the other reason I buy certain books at certain times is because, just like some people are in the mood for a certain type of movie because they feel like something funny or action-packed or mindless, that’s how I feel when I go into Barnes and Noble. If I feel like something mindless, then I pick up Twilight. If I feel like something romantic I go straight for the Jane Austen. You get the picture.

I guess it is better than spending $500 on some bag that I’ll wear out by, oh yeah, putting too many books into! So I guess that’s one for the “healthy” column.

Reading is sexy...so is putting Xmas music on your iPod

I realize that it’s been awhile since I’ve written about books, despite the fact that I’ve been reading quite a bit, so I figure now is as good a time as any.

The last book I finished was by Dawn Powell called The Wicked Pavilion. It’s about all these different people who frequent the Café Julien, all of whom end up being connected in some way at some point in the novel. It’s a really great story and so well written, I can’t believe that I have never heard of Dawn Powell. I really love Jerry Dulaine, a woman on the rise of the social scene who has been taken in by Elsie Hookley, a Bostonian socialite with all the wrong ideas. The craziness of these two women is so entertaining, yet sad at the same time. I love it.

One of the other main plots in the book is that of two artists, Dalzell Sloane and Ben Forrester, who decide to fake the works of their late friend in order to pay bills. This plot is so good because it’s like watching a car crash about to happen. You know it’s going to end badly but you can’t help but watch anyway. The way this plot drives the novel without completely taking it over is so brilliant, I couldn’t help but fall in love!

I am really going to have to pick up more of Dawn Powell’s books. She wrote like a dozen novels yet she was never a success. Her writing is so witty and so real that it’s truly a shame she didn’t get more credit than she did. But at the very least, I’m going to help her estate by buying more of her books! I do what I can…

Another book that I recently re-read is called Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster. It’s a nonfiction book about her struggle to lose weight, despite loving food and herself. It’s hilarious! She’s so funny because she’s completely honest with herself and realistic in her goals. She tries all the fads, plus Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, all with hilarious results. It’s kind of inspiring in a not-trying-to-inspire-just-trying-to-tell-you-my-story-and-if-it-inspires-you-then-yay kind of way. Plus, I’m always a big fan of a fat girl trying to get thin while not really wanting to.

Right now, I’m reading a book by Robert Handler called Adverbs. I picked it up at the same bookstore I picked up the Dawn Powell book. It’s a small bookstore off of Los Feliz that I found via Yelp and am officially in love with. I bought these books because of the “staff recommends” tags on the shelves, which is my favorite way to find new books. Even though I haven’t gotten too far into Adverbs, I feel like Skylight Books is going to be 2-for-2!

I’m also reading the new Toni Morrison book, A Mercy. After taking a semester long course on just Toni Morrison, I decided that I think she is my favorite author, or at least in my top 5. Her last book, Love, was my favorite of hers, and since it was only written a few years ago, I figure she’s still got it. Also, I read a review of it in Sunday’s New York Times that praised it, so I definitely had to pick it up. Even though I hate hardcover books. Thank you Amazon.com for selling it for 10 bucks cheaper than the cover price.

On another subject, I am officially starting off my holiday season tonight. I usually wait until after my sister's bday on the 10th, but since we have already started with the cheesy Xmas music at work, I have to get my playlist going. Curious as to what it will consist of? Here's a few highlights:

"Little Saint Nick" by the Beach Boys
"Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt
"The 12 Days of Christmas" by John Denver and the Muppets
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Kermit the Frog
"Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano
"Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" by *NSYNC; and of course
"All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey and the version from Love Actually

Whoever said Christmas music sucks obviously doesn't have any fun with it!

Damn Twilight

Have you ever had something that you hate to love? Not really a guilty pleasure, but more of a “dammit I really should spend my time on something more worthwhile but I can’t stop and kind of don’t want to and fucking hate that I don’t want to!” kind of thing?

For me, it’s Twilight. Honestly, I started reading it not because I was really interested, but rather, because I had heard so much about it and everyone raves so much about it. When you go online and all you see are trailers for this movie and dozens of groups dedicated to it on Facebook(my favorite of which is “Because I read Twilight I have unrealistic expectations in me), there are only two choices: give in and read it, or stay ignorant and be happy.
I, of course, chose the former, so I am now totally screwed. Completely. It’s really bad.
When I first decided to read the book, I was only going to read the first one and I was going to get it from the library because I didn’t want to spend my money on some teen book about love and vampires. Unfortunately, the wait at the library was soooooooo long I wouldn’t have gotten to read it until at least New Year’s and, since I am the least patient person in the world, I broke down and went on Amazon. I was already buying a book there, so I figured adding one more to my order wouldn’t really hurt. Of, with Amazon being the amazing website it is, the first and second book were 2-for-1, so I just went for it. Why not right? At least I would be able to say that I really gave it a good try.

The books came and I began reading almost right away. It was my day off and I had nothing to do and we all know I wasn’t going to do any of the chores I needed to do when I had a brand new book just waiting to be read. Who needs clean clothes anyway?

By the time I went to work the next night, I had already finished the first book, was on to the second, and had ordered the third and fourth on Amazon, and had to wear a shirt to work that I had already worn twice without washing but it had the least amount of shit on it. I was officially hooked. And pissed about it.

I hated the fact that this thing that was so popular actually lived up to what people were saying about it. I was hoping to mock it endlessly and make fun of all the losers who were in love with a silly series about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. But no. Now I was mocking it of course because nothing is off limits when it comes to my mocking, but instead of making fun of the people who loved it, I found myself debating with Michael at work over whether Edward or Jacob were better for Bella. (I’m totally on Team Jacob).

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not going to say that the series is well written or brilliant, because it’s not. It is, however, really easy to read and really entertaining. The story itself is a decent enough love story that if you kind of get over some of the exposition (especially in the first book), then you will really enjoy it. There is a scene in the first book with Bella and Edward in a meadow and the intimacy of the scene and the way Stephenie Meyer (yeah, the spelling of “Stephenie” is correct…and kind of stupid) writes it shows some actual talent for writing. The whole series really brings you in and hooks you to the point that you don’t want to stop until it ends. It’s that good.

But now, of course, I have to go see the movie and be one of those people dying to go at midnight the night it opens. I hate those people. They are annoying and they always ruin the movie for everyone by telling them how good or bad it is and they start posting on websites about the differences between the book and the movie and casting decisions and sequels and…you get it. They are annoying.

As much as I don’t want to be that person, sure enough, as soon as people talk about it, I can’t keep my mouth shut so I join in. I have something to say about ever aspect of the book and will pretty much share it with anyone. Except on websites and the internet in general. I might be opinionated and obsessed, but the whole internet does not need to know it. Except now….Damn.

The end of Valley of the Dolls...

In an effort to write something on a consistent basis, I'm writing about the latest book I finished, Valley of the Dolls. (Yes, my life is so boring that I am resulting to writing about the lives of fictional characters...) If you haven't read it, then stop now...


The book is all about the 3 "friends" and their relationships, both with people, themselves and their "dolls" (aka the drugs that make them function).

Jennifer begins using because she has trouble sleeping due to the overwhelming demands of supporting her mother, as well as never being able to realize her life's dream of being a mother herself. In the end, she kills herself because she believes no one loves her for more than her body, and finding out she has breast cancer, she will lose her perfect figure.

Neely is a young energetic girl with a lot of talent and uses her friendship with Anne to get a role on Broadway that eventually leads her to big success in Hollywood. She uses the "dolls" to lose weight and to sleep, becoming so dependent on them that she is never able to kick her habits.

Anne is a girl who moves from a small town in Massachusetts to Manhattan in hopes of changing her life. She becomes a successful model but goes through her most of her life pining for her old boss/ex-lover, Lyon. She never uses the "dolls" to get her through life, until she finally marries Lyon and has a child, but has to resort to the drugs in order to escape the reality that Lyon is having affairs.

To start off with, I really liked this book until the end. It has a very negative, yet realistic, outlook on life. Jennifer kills herself to avoid dealing with the loss of the only thing she thinks she has going for her; Neely becomes a monster because its easier than admitting her unhappiness; Anne stays in a bad relationship because it is what she always wanted, even if it isn't exactly what she thought it would be. No one ends up happy and, while everyone achieved success, none of them ended up happy. Jennifer is the closest, but when she finds out she has breast cancer, she gives up because she doesn't think she has anything going for her. Neely becomes extremely famous, but she doesn't know how to handle the fame, so she loses everyone and gains nothing. Anne has the best chance out of the three, but she decides to stay with Lyon because their relationship is what she wanted for so many years.

All three of these women's lives are examples of what happens to women in the real world all the time. While it may no be as obvious or with as many pills, it is something that we can see in everyday life, which is sad to me. I hate the idea that some women settle for men who cheat on them, but they stay because its easy or because they don't think they deserve better. I hate that there are women out there who will end their lives because they believe the only thing they have going for them is their looks and if they don't have that, they are worth nothing. I hate that there are women out there who get power out of genuine ability and talent, but then throw away everything in order to hang onto that little bit of power. The worst part about hating this is that there is really no way to change it. If this book, published in 1966, can chronicle the lives of these women, and that it is still relevant to women today, then how do we change it? How do we make it better?

The one thing I will say is that the book doesn't make any attempts to overtly blame society. It's written in such a way to show that each of these women made individual choices that shaped their lives. Even though it's easy to say that Jennifer's boyfriend's comments about his love for her breasts cause her to believe that he only loves her for her looks, it is also evident that Jennifer did not believe she was strong enough to fight the disease and find herself in a completely new way. Neely's choices are based a lot on the pressure of her profession but she never also overdoes everything and makes bad decisions. She attempts to take the easy way out and ends up making everything harder. Anne moves to a new place to get out of a trap that she has seen her mother and grandmother and everyone else from her little town fall into, only to fall into it herself. While a lot of the problems these women face can be placed on society, I really think that the individual responsibility is written underneath the surface.

The last thing I will say I enjoyed about this book is how all the women are taking the easy road out rather than putting in the work that will make them happier in the end. Anne stays with Lyon, knowing that she will love him less and less as time goes on, but she believes she cannot live without him and she doesn't want to live without him. It would be harder for her to leave him but, in the long run, she would be happier. Or at the very least, she would not be left in a bad marriage. Jennifer can't stand the idea of living without her beauty, so she ends her life. If she had lived, she would have had to find out who she was beneath her beauty and she would have to show that to the world, instead of her breasts. Neely falls into the same cycle continuously because she does not want to put in the actual work it would take to make her career work solely on her talent. She relies on the pills and, even when given the chance, she is unable to give them up.

In the end, I really do like the book. It's easy to read and it's got a good plot, so it keeps you going. I don't think it's the best book I've ever read, but it is definitely worth a read, if for no other reason than to be able to understand all of the random references to it.