Sweet Catastrophe

Sting’s Memoirs. Probably the only work of non-fiction I’ve ever voluntarily read. *shrug* I read to escape and real life isn’t always good for that.

Enjoy it on YouTube (didn’t watch the whole video myself but I think it’s missing some of the interludes and fun asides)

The Outsiders.

Not only do I love the book and movie and have re-read the book many times over, but it reminds me of my 7th grade year, probably my favorite year in grade school. The next year, my 7th grade homeroom teacher passed away. It was probably the first profound occurrence in my life. And I’ll never forget this poem:
Nature’s first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

–Robert Frost

Honorable mention: The His Dark Materials trilogy. This is The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, & The Amber Spyglass. Forget the movie. Please, please forget the movie. This was the best-written fantasy world I’ve ever read. I got completely lost in these books.

I still haven’t decided if I’ll continue on with the Sookie Stackhouse novels before season two of True Blood starts. The first book was definitely different than the first season, but there were key elements that were the same and I don’t know if I want to know what’s coming before it happens on the show, ya know?

I’m also intrigued by what’s going to happen to make me prefer Eric over Bill… I mean right now that’s not even an option, though the actors who play them both on the show are equally tasty. I’ve been told by multiple people that I’ll definitely switch teams soon.

I also really wanna pick up the DVDs and have a little Season 1 marathon before Season 2 begins. I don’t know if I’ll have time for that though.

I might have to hit up this sale and splurge a little.

Have you been watching True Blood? When we all started watching here, we just laughed– it’s a little bizarre and the accents were way over the top, but they eventually evened out and it’s just a damn good show. Being an HBO series, there’s sort of an excess of sex and violence, but it doesn’t kill the story.

I hate that anything and everything ‘vampire’ has become the trend now, but at the same time, it just gives me more good material for a subject I’ve loved pretty much my entire life.

I was a vampire for Halloween every single year for at least 10 years growing up, no joke. I’ve worn more than my fair share of pointy teeth!

I did it! I saved up some money and we got our year-end bonus (fiscal year) on this paycheck so I just ordered my Kindle!! There’s the slightest tinge of buyer’s remorse but only because it’s been so long since I spent so much money on a single item. I’m happy though. I’ve already got a ton of ebooks ready to load up and this weekend I’ll prep a bunch of online reads to put on as well. I just can’t wait to take all my online loves away from this glaring computer screen! *squee* My inner book dork is having a party right now!

I’m spending my first vacation afternoon reading (*cough* for the third time *cough*) New Moon and watching Pride & Prejudice– the BBC 6-hour version =)

PJs and an oversized sweatshirt– I couldn’t be more comfortable!

I hope the rest of the week is just as enjoyable =)

When Henry meets Claire, he is twenty-eight, and she is twenty. He’s a hip, handsome librarian; she is an art student with Botticelli hair. Henry has never met Claire before; Claire has known Henry since she was six…

Henry has a genetic disorder which spontaneously sends him through time– mostly to the past.

This story is absolutely incredible. I found myself amazed by the amount of detail that could be included and all still make perfect sense. I kept waiting for a slip-up or something contradictory to happen with such an elaborate setup, but it was total perfection.

You follow the story more or less in chronological order for Clare, with the story coming sometimes from Clare and sometimes from Henry. When I first started reading, I thought it would all be terribly confusing as there are random moments out of order, but it all comes together to serve a purpose and make sense.

I don’t know what to say about the book other than to give it my enthusiastic recommendation. I could barely put it down. It’s one I think I’ll be soon re-reading to look for more connections that I know escaped me the first time around.

It’s also been made into a motion picture but there’s some red tape to take care of before it’ll be released. Essentially, there are those who worry that it will be thought of as too similar to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but of course, they’re entirely different stories, but I suppose it’s hard for some to ignore two stories involving someone ‘old’ meeting their future love while she’s still young.

Anyhow, this one gets my total seal of approval. I’m so glad to have found it.

S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

The “Good Parts” Version Abridged by William Goldman

I’ve loved the movie adaptation of The Princess Bride practically my whole life. It’s always been cherished. I picked up the book….well I don’t even know how long ago and finally decided to read it.

Apparently S. Morgenstern put a great deal of Florin history and satire in his story, such as spending 56 pages on the Queen packing, traveling, and unpacking, meeting with a princess of Guilder, her packing, them traveling back and unpacking. Well, William Goldman has cut out all of this and just included the ‘good parts’. Call me silly, but I was probably a good halfway through the book before I went to look up something online and discovered that S. Morgenstern only exists as a sort of pseudonym/literary device for Goldman. It’s entirely his creation. Hooray for me not knowing what’s up! Anyhow, I thought that was incredibly interesting and pretty brilliant of him!

I LOVED this book and will certainly be reading it again. I always knew I would.

Inigo and Fezzik are just as they are in the movie. Most of my favorite lines are there such as, “I only dog paddle” and “Inconceivable!”

Of course some of the story details are a little different, but nothing so much as to really change the story for me.

One big difference is that we really see how Buttercup goes from not caring at all about Westley to what we see in the movie. The transformation is fantastic! I loved that extra insight into her character. There’s a bit more development to Inigo and Fezzik as well =)

I don’t really know what else to say about it other than if you enjoy the movie, you’ll absolutely enjoy the novel as well!

I would very much love to see if Goldman delivers on finishing his ’sequel’ Buttercup’s Baby. Supposedly it was set to be ready for the 35th anniversary edition in 2009. The first chapter is included in the book edition I own and I hate cliffhangers!

Last week I used some credits to pick up some books from amazon. Of course, as soon as I submitted the order, I was itching to start reading them all!

I love to order books online but I hate having to wait for them to show up! I’d love to have a Kindle, but at $359, I can’t even add it to my ’saving up for’ list!

I ordered The Time Traveler’s Wife:

This clever and inventive tale works on three levels: as an intriguing science fiction concept, a realistic character study and a touching love story. Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with “Chrono Displacement” disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she’d known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare’s childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old.

I got the urge after reading that someone was reading through it for their third time in a “what are you reading” thread at DMI. The description and then following reviews caught my attention and then I found out it’s set to be a movie this year, so I added it to my cart.

I also ordered Fantasy Lover (Dark-Hunter, Book 1), and A Girl’s Guide to Vampires. These were suggested in a discussion where someone was asking for books similar to Twilight, but less PG13. Most of the suggestions are different series, as these two are, so I looked into them and found some of the ones that seemed like they would pull me in quickly.

I couldn’t get a real feel for the direction these last two novels will take, but I’m preparing myself for the fact that they may very well end up leaning more toward the ‘trashy romance novel’ genre. I might be okay with that though, we’ll see!

Being a music nut and falling in love with a book (or entire series, for that matter) eventually leads to crossovers.

There’s no shortage of Twilight playlists rolling around, but I have two songs that I absolutely adore that fall into the Twilight series too perfectly for my ears. I had to share, if for no other reason than they’re just amazing songs as is.

Since there’s two songs and lyrics get lengthy, I’ll hide them away. Enjoy!

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