So, you see, I have red ten books now. I read a book about Symbolistics and I do not remember the title. I finished Les Miserable today. Uhm. But you see, the problem is, keeping up with this blog is becoming annoying. I want to get a notebook and just record what I read on my own.... I'll do that as soon as I get a note book. Yeah. Sorry blog! You loose. LJ is becoming annoying. :)

I have no read Eight Books this year. I finished a book on Seinfeld and a book about death. Presented with the fact that I was too lazy to blog about either, it has been about three weeks since I've read a book.

I have read two books a month based on average... Go me. /fail.


Hopefully I'll read more over the summer? Right now I'm being attacked by research paper and - the greater hindrance - laziness.

Book Six


...by John Ajvide Lindqvist.


This book, and the author, is now undoubtedly one of my favorites. One of the few still living authors to hold me in a fierce grip. So many things about this novel were amazing. Sure, there are a few things I could poke at and claim they are horrible - but I can blame a lot of it on translation, I'm sure. If only I spoke Sweedish...


to begin with, this is a vampire horror romance novel. NOT Twilight, no, certainly not twilight. So much of this novel is messed up.  It frightens me, too, frightens me like House of Leaves frightened me, only, perhaps, worse. Because it was violence, gory things. I fell in love with the characters, so in love. Poor Oskar! I fell in love with all of the characters. Lindqvist carried numerous plot lines, all culminating in the same horrible thing, and all holding on what was a very similar theme: lost love, becoming happy, finding  your way...essentially, letting the right one in. It's... terrible and amazing.

I wanted to cry when I finished it, but I didn't, probably because I'm in school. It's such an amazing ending. Really, if the book has a horrible ending, I cannot forgive the author, but this book never had a dull moment. Sure, there were probably times where he changed POV and I'd rather be at another - but it was all so well mastered and put together.

Basically, this book makes me really, really happy. It's horrible, and dark, and ugly disgusting brutal, but beautiful and wonderful. Among all the horrible things - happy things, problems being solved. It's not another Anne Rice, it is just a Steven King, and it isn't at all Stephenie Meyer. It is, wholely, Lindqvist. And I love it.

I cannot wait to get my own copy of this novel (I borrow a friend's) because I could easily reread this in a few months. A year. I want other books by him too.

The fact that it was a book written in 2005, I believe, and had amazing characters, plot, actually had a theme (so I believe) makes me hae hope. I don't think of this as a junk novel. It's literature. You'd have to be in the right mind to really stomach some of it (the acid?) but it's literature. I looooved it. It's not JSF, but it's up there. Most definitly, it's up there.

What next? I have no idea. Still in the thick of The Count of Monte Cristo. And guess what ? I'm going to Chateau d'If!

Alright, so this isn't really a book, but I was thinking about it: I read a lot of things that aren't books, why don't I blog about those as well? For example, long poems and short stories!

This was interesting, to say the least. I liked the beginning bits of it and thought it had some beautiful, wonderful languages. The ending, however, was a bit lost on me. What, exactly, was his penance?? A friend and I argued about this for a bit. So he's forced to tell his story forever? Though awkward, it doesn't seem like that big of a punishment. I find the dead crew members to be a lot more frightening. Maybe if the burning in his breast had been more descriptive... who knows?

We also read Kublah Kahn by Coleridge. Didn't have much of an impression on me, probably because I couldn't comprehend it. Heh.



As to how my reading is going? Well, I'm sticking to The Count of Monte Cristo, although I am trying to find a copy of it so I can actually read it when I have freetime instead of listen to it only... It's so terribly long. But, for example, I have free time now with which I could be reading! I also purchased The Alchemist's Daughter for 50 cents. I'm not sure it was worth it. I've only read the first page, but it's first person present tense and that annoys me. The back sounded good, and heck, it was 50 cents. Couldn't kill me to read it. ... Can it?

Book Five

Finally, I've read something! And, it was Evelyn Waugh. I really enjoyed this, I have to say.  At first it was a challenge because I thought, "Waugh is a satirist, where is the funny!" but as it moved on I began to understand it more. Also, a quick glance at the themes of the novel as well as a good find of foot notes on the novel online helped me a lot.  It's an interesting piece of work.  Not an amazing thing, but certainly a lovely thing. Poor, Poor Apthorpe. I did love his wild character.  The incident with the Thunder Box had to be the best.

Of course it ended, a bit, in the middle of no where because it is a trilogy. I have the second book, but now I'm frightened by the fact that I don't have the third... I'll have to remedy that. Shouldn't be too hard? It's terribly good.  Waugh has a particular way of writing that is so sparse and unique, I cannot help but love it and want to eat it up and become like it.  Some of his methods of writing I will fondly pick up and hope to use.  It was great to read, real great.  A few years too far for my novel, but still a great thing.  

I also started listening to The Count of Monte Cristo on audio book. (Do you find audio books to be cheating?) I'm really enjoying that as well.  I chose audio book because, today, I was on a four hour trip and needed something to do... I couldn't read because I get sick so I thought, audio books! Plus, the count is such a terribly, horribly long book...

Not sure exactly where my reading adventures are going.  At least, I am reading now. Before I was not moving anywhere.. I'm thinking of attacking things I haven't finished. Brideshead Rivisted, anyone? (I'm on a Waugh binge....)

Book Four

Well, for once I have read four books in a month! Which more or less means I've read a book a week... kind of. I'd prefer I could finish another one quickly, though I doubt I'll be able to.

This book makes me really happy. Some of it, not so much, but as a whole it makes me really happy. I bought it for personal reasons, and it did everything I wanted and more. I feel more confident in myself and in my faith, in God and in my beliefs. My only dislike for this book comes from the fact that it is most certainly a book for conversion, which at times can upset some things I agree with. At the same time, though, Green said things that made me feel more confident in those beliefs. Never did it break any of the things I believe, and some of them are opinions. (Yes, believe it or not, one can have opinions regarding these kinds of things!)

If I was an era, this would be my second Great Awakening, I think. I've always felt passionate about God, but now I feel passionate about Jesus, too. I understand him better, I know him better, and he makes sense to me for once. He used to be confusing, I couldn't wrap my mind around Him, and now... I know Him better than before, and all the things that mystified me have their explanations.

I think anyone who believes there is no God, or wants a renewal of their Christian faith, or is considering the Christian faith as opposed to what they currently practice (I respect Judaism, Islam, and other faiths as much as Christianity, so I will in no way suggest this to someone who "Doesn't know Jesus' love") should pick this up. I think every Christian should read it, honestly. I don't know if everyone who goes to church on Sundays realizes just how powerful Jesus is. I like the name Immanuel more though. Really, why can't we call him Immanuel more often??

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father. (John 1:14)

I'm also in the middle of My Antonia and Triple Your Reading Speed. I'm not certain I can ever actually finish the latter. It isn't actually a book! It just has lovely exercises, which I should practice more if I plan to quicken my pace...Despite MA because one of my favorite novels of all time, I'm struggling to finish it! I'll try to punch through a large chunk of it tomorrow, then I can perhaps get it all done before February.


Until the next book!

Book Three

Ha, ha! Well, Just like I wanted I finished the other story in the same day. I liked this one slightly less, and for specific reasons. What I did like, however? I loved the poetry. There was also a lot more word play, and peculiarities that were even harder to comprehend than that found in the previous book! 

What I didn't like what the style changes I could see in Carroll's writing. For example, he now and then spoke  in the first person, in a more annoying manner than he had in Alice's Adventures. He also would mention that Alice said this, that, the other when she was retelling the story to her sister, or she felt later - I did not like being pulled so easily back to reality. We had the great awareness, in this one, that reality was still there... for she would tell it all to her sister. It simply did not suit me at all! 

Otherwise, though, I think this was just as enjoyable. The poetry was a real treat, as was the complete nonsense! Both stories were so fun and I'm so glad to have read them.

I have a great feeling I'll be reading My Antonia next, although there is no telling how long it will take me. A week would be nice - I could even fit a fifth book in then!

Now I'm off to watch Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland on the You Tube!

Book Two



Well, isn't that an adventure? Luckily this did not take me so long to read, which I suppose does make up for taking forever on the other novel. I loved it to pieces, I must say. Not only was it hilarious in many places and the word play was wonderful, but it was just so odd and peculiar I couldn't help but love it. I'm going to follow it up, of course, with Through the Looking Glass but being that they were not published together originally (though I have them in the same binding!) I consider them two separate books.

I loved the Mad Hatter, of course, more than anything else, and so the Cheshire Cat. It was charming. I love British banter and language like that. It was most peculiar... I'm not certain what else to say? I'm glad I've finally read it because I've found the image's of Alice (particularly the Disney version, as you can see) to be so interesting. Now I've actually read the original! What could be better?

I loved the art, too. The drawings were adorable. Wiki helped me figure out some peculiar references and such, so that was neat. If I had a more annotated version, it would either be wonderful or annoying and I'm not sure which! I like the version I have, though. I'm reading it for the nonsense, to be honest. Who doesn't love nonsense?

So, I am to read Through the Looking Glass next, and hopefully then I will read My Antonia. How long all this will take me I haven't a clue.


In the meantime I think I've decided that rather having Frank read from Vile Bodies in my novel, he'll read from this. It would be a fun reference to make, even if I like giving more of a tribute to Alice. We'll see how I feel about it later!


(I cannot wait to get my proof copy... I cannot wait, I cannot wait, I cannot WAIT.)

One Book

It took me far too long to finish my first book of the year - BUT I can explain. You see, it became unbearably boring. I can explain more.

It started in the most perfect manner. Fifty pages in, or less even, I swore this would be a favorite of mine. Her writing was spectacular, the subject manner (cannibalism as a form of love) also seemed interesting, and the way it used language, or lack there of, was wonderful. Then I started to notice the things that would slowly annoy me into not picking the book back up for a week. Occasionally she flickered into present tense, for whatever reason. Her movement from the past to the present (events, not tense) jarred me like a quick turn in a car. And then, the plot easily because a smutty book regarding how much sex can you really have? Or something to that effect. It started to annoy me. Mostly, I realize now, it was the utter lack of conflict. I have problems like this with books. If there is no conflict of some kind, then I feel there is nothing happening. Nothing happening occurs even more often when the story is in first person and the narrator is describing things, telling old stories that may or may not have anything to do with the current situation, contemplating one thing or another. It left me bored. I knew what she was going to do - that was never the problem. It was the anticipation, the desire to see her go insane and go for it that had truly been the reason I continued to read. And yet Slavenka dragged it around for too long. Yes, there was so much interesting things to be heard, and I liked a lot of them, but it all develop, move forward, do something? By the time she actually got to the act of murder and cannibalism it had lost all it's glimmer because she had discussed the before and after so profusely before then. Why should I care, now, if I know all that is going to happen? When I finished the book I didn't know anything more that made me think, "Wow." Instead, I thought, "That was unsatisfying."

I suppose it is one of those books that starts wonderfully and then crashes, mostly because I am so particular about the books I read, in that manner. I cannot tolerate (for too long) nothingness or introspection. A book, made of introspection, is even worse. If one is telling you the story through introspection, in truth, nothing is happening. Many things happened, but in the most important places, I feel nothing happened. The situations didn't surprise, shock, amaze me. It flopped.

So I stopped reading it for a week and finally finished it now because I want to read other things. I went to the book store yesterday not expecting to get anything but I was greatly surprised:

My Antonia - Willa Cather
Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carrol
This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Complete Oscar Wilde Illustrated (This was for only $5 and it is HUGE.)

So I will find something scrumptious to devour and hopefully do it in a more speedy matter than the start of this year came with! My book on tripling one's reading speed still has not arrived but I cannot complain until the twenty first, so hopefully it will arrive! I also need to scrounge some money so that I may buy the novel on 1930s England.

Twenty Ninth Book

I forgot about this, didn't I! This does count towards my overall reading. Which makes me happy. I am that much closer to 30 books for a year.

You see, we read this in French class over the course of a few months. Now I'm supposed to be working on my paper for it. It was an amazing book, very cute, tiny, and with a lot of good quotes in it. I enjoyed it a lot. I will, however, not be enjoying my paper a lot. =]

I'm not sure what else I should even say about this book. I read it in French. I'm hoping to do wonderful on my paper, though I avoid working on it so well. It's not like a huge, eight page paper anyway. It'll probably be a page or two. It'll just be a difficult page or two. I'll survive - perhaps. We shall see.

I pulled Fitzgerald's short story collection back off the shelf with the intention of reading that, but I'm not sure I want to.

I asked for a few books on my Christmas list, so hopefully I will have something good to read soon! 

Twenty Eighth book


I'm not sure what to think about this book. I got it as a gift, and to be certain, I like it! I'm just not sure what to think of the ending... it felt kind of lost and unresolved. I'll admit this book has a lot of amazing quotes in it, but I'm not sure what Kosinski was suggesting with the end. It just left me perplexed. Either way, I liked it, even if I felt it led no where. (I might have missed the whole point?) Like I said, great quotes:


"Plants [are] like people; they need care to live, to survive their diseases, and to die peacefully." - One has to wonder how Chance knows this if he doesn't know anyone besides The Old Man, the Maid, and the Television.

"As long as one didn't look at people, they did not exist. . . . By looking at him, others could make him be clear, could open him up and unfold him; no to  be seen was to blur and to fade out."

(Only aptly followed with...)

"He wanted to tell her how much he preferred to look at her, that only by watching could he memorize her and take her and possess her. He did not know how to explain to her that he could not touch her better or more fully with his hands than he could with his eyes. Seeing encompassed all at once; a touch was limited to one spot at a time. Ee should no more havewanted to be touched by him than should the TV sceen have wanted it."

There are a few others, but ah well. I have them highlighted. Maybe I should put them in my quotes journal...

I am still [sort of] reading Tom Jones. It's hard for me to focus intently on one, long novel. Hell, it's a 1,000 pages!

Twenty Fifth book - Great Expectations: I read this for Brit Lit. I like Dickens descriptions and secondary characters, but he answered too many questions and made his plot too predictable. I do, however, plan to read Tale of Two Cities eventually.

Twenty Sixth book - No Plot? No problem! This was fun to read, what else could it be? It has me looking at my novel with some form of hope that I might manage to salvage it in due time and publish.

Twenty Seventh book - Macbeth: Also read for Brit Lit, though more read to. We listened to an audio production of sorts, which helped me understand more than I thought I would. I like it a lot, but without the audio, it was impossible for me to comprehend. I drew a picture which can be found here for a project based upon the play. I enjoyed it.

Currently: Tom Jones - It will take me forever, but it is a riot.

It is easy to see there is no way in hell I will even read 30 books before the year is out. I do believe I read more books last year. Once more, I can only sit in anticipation for 2009 and say that, ah, this year! I will read 50 books in a year. Perhaps I will, chances are I won't. We shall see, won't we, what comes of the new year?

As to NaNo WriMo. I failed to post here as much as I should have! It was so much fun. My final word count was 112,761. That is A LOT for one month. I think I deserve a large pat on the back.

Should I finish Tom Jones, I'll try to  be a good blogger and actually make a reasonable post about it.

This is really something I should record in my history.

I've written 100,000 words in NaNoWriMo. Which is, uh, yeah, A LOT.

I've been so lazy with my LJ.


Honest, I've finished Macbeth now too and I haven't written about that. I need to get on this! '09 is coming people! I'll catch up in December. ><

I'm really failing at posting in my LJ this year. I was certain I would be all consumed by amazing excerpts, wonderful rants about how I either hate my characters or love them, how I am so ahead or so behind, and yet I've hardly managed to post anything.

I still have not made a post for Great Expectations, either.

What I do not fail at, however, (as you see from the word counter above!) is NaNoWriMo. In fact, I fail so little, that I won on the 12th day. Less than a fortnight and I had 50k written! I'm proud of myself, to say the least, but that fact that I am perhaps 1/3rd of the way through my entire novel makes me shakey here - I still have a lot to write. The fact that I have hardly any details in some chapters, leaving it to dialogue and brief actions as I will tend to in rough drafts, leads me to believe that no matter what my word count by Dec 1, the second draft will be of much greater proportions.

I just thought it would be proper for me to finally come and say something here. Something like, don't I kick but? Za! I do.

I'm on day three and I have 15,064 words. Which is a lot for the third day.

This is really good but at the same time it is really bad. I'm not sure if it is becuase of my novel its self and the fact that I'm sort of at the point of rewriting old scenes from the previous draft so this section is boring, or because I'm at such a high count. It feel like a miniNaNoWriMo to me. First day I loved my novel, Second day I was irritated, and now I don't want to write at all. Why did the joys of week 1 go away so quickly?

But I'm going to try to make it to 20k by the end of the day, or more. I think 25k is a good goal for the end of the fourth day. That will be 1/3rd of my total goal, though I'm not sure how far I'll be to the ending. That's the real wild part. I'm at 15k but I'm only at chapter seven. And I have 40-50 chapters? It's wild. And long. And it is goign to SUCK to edit. I'm keeping in mind how I can simply edit one chapter at a time, discounting the fact that I'm finding all these really plot ugly places. It's horrible.

I also have not posted about Great Expectation even though I finished that last week. I have to work on my paper for that and my college apps and it's really...gross. But, oh! NaNoWriMo is so fun.

So, you see, I was thinking about certain plot points, and I recalled particular things, and then it hit me. Really, rather, attacked me as though I were the old lady in the dark ally and it were the criminal. (perhaps that would have sounded better if I hadn't compared myself to an old lady.)

My ending attacked me! It flashed, and I knew it. For months I had been, so to say, endless. And here it is, perhaps, THE ending. I thought I would let you know. I'm not sure I will tell anyone what it is, that would be more sizzling. I'm not even sure it is proper and fitting. I'll find out eventually.

There are five days and seven hours and I'd much like to have a different mood theme before then, as well as a nice widget.

Oh, and I need someone to dare me. What shall I do if I don't read 80k in a month? Please, do dare me.

I'll finish Dickens soon and have a post for that. It's required reading. OH! and I've bought No Plot? No Problem! Joyous!

This is required reading.

Also! I have 36 chapters. I'll probably have more soon. ^^

I have the day off and I've been "working" so I thought I would update randomly. A few people have added me, I think, via NaNoWriMo which is always awesome.

I've made it to 30 chapters - in fact I've made it to 32. But my novel isn't over and it makes me want to pull my hair out, sort of. I would like to have a whole novel by December or at least 75% of a novel. I'd also like to hit 80k because I'm wild and crazy and like challenges that involve failing [hard]. I think I could do it, really, because I would just spend any free time I have rubbing my head against the keyboard like it is a cheese grater, and therefore, I would come up with 5k in no time. And then continue.

But you see, the outline has stopped or the inspiration has dried up, for where I am, because I'm at an odd place. And it is getting colder, so I turned the heater on and it smell disgusting. The counter says 14 days now. I'd like to get 10 or 15 chapters today so I can feel proud of myself and on task, but I don't know if it will happen. I keep recalling to the fact that I finished some of my outline in mid-November, so perhaps there is hope. I'm just working a lot for it, aren't I? I want the whole thing. Again I'll say that I've not an ending and that's my fault but I think it's simply that I've not anything - yet, it is improving. I just need to throw some more blood on them, ruin the whole party, and make someone scream. It'll work out, somehow. Hearts will be crushed, I can assure you.

I made an amazing cover page which I am wickedly proud of:

The counter I has says 26 days and 2 hours and some-odd else. I was hoping to go to bed roughly early tonight, you know? But I was sucked into a few holes and thought I would post here while I'm at it.

I beat my muse against some rocks and churned out a few chapters for my outline in which my characters make no logical sense but they move the plot forward. I can't figure out if I should throw a hissy fit and make them (or rather, find out how to persuade them to...) behave, or charge forward and fix it later. (AKA when I am trying to rewrite?) It's funny how much I forget doing this last year, and whether my outline completely sucked in places or not. Oh well... This year is just a rough one. With 25 chapters, I can't tell if that means I have about 25,000 words or 50,000 words. Last year I had a rule about 2k per chapter. The Party Killers is a wild beast that doesn't let chapter length - or lack there of - get in the way of its nonsensical violence.

I really want to make a novel banner too, but that means I need pictures. Mehr. Pictures my foot. I've found a 2008 report card though, that'd good! Doesn't look like it was the lovely one I used last year. I'll have to hunt for it... I liked the graphs it had. Hmpf.

C'est tout.