Update?

I finally broke down and read Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games. For the longest time I wasn't particularly interested in reading this book, but I kept seeing rave reviews, so in the end I caved. I'm really glad that I did.

Hunger Games is an interesting dystopian/futuristic YA novel. Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist, is a strong and dynamic character, and it is interesting to see things through her point of view.

I'd definitely recommend this book to others. Of course now I'm completely hooked and need to read the other books in the trilogy. Once I finish the other two, maybe I'll review the whole trilogy.

I also just finished Stealing Athena by Karen Essex. It took me about six months to read, but that isn't really the book's fault. I had to keep stopping to focus on school and editing and other things of that nature. Anyway, it wasn't really what I expected, but was somewhat interesting at times. It's under historical fiction, but it often feels like romance, so I think I wasn't into it at first because I was caught off guard. I started liking it a bit more once I got furhter into it, but overall it wasn't my absolute favorite book. It did, however, make me more curious about the real historical events upon which it is based. Maybe I'll look into it, but I just decided to participate in one of the 2011 Book Challenges on goodreads.com, so now I have to prepare. I also have to do thesis research. Oh joy. Gah. I'll be in touch...

Banging my head against the wall

At times it boggles the mind how many horrible books get published. Not only the horrible books that become popular and sell well (coughTWILIGHTSAGAcough), but also the books that publishers just decide to take on. Sure, there's self-publishing, so given the right information and enough money anyone can publish anything, but some of these things are published by well-known and respected publishers.

I'm not saying that every book published now has to be another Pride & Prejudice or Great Expectations but I feel like they should have some sort of substance. I just think books should be worth something. Not necessarily monetary worth, but some sort of worth.

This is one of the things that worries me about entering the publishing industry as I've planned. If I think a book is really horribly written, or just really horrible, I'm not sure I'd feel able to publish it, even if others thought it might turn a profit. I think I care more about books than money (which might explain both my dwindling bank account balance and shelf space), and that might not be a great trait in someone in the publishing industry. I guess I'll just have to keep my book love (or snobbery...) in check while on the job.

Things I learned the hard way

So I had this long, lovely, coherent post about A.S. Byatt's Possession and the film adaptation of the story, but then Word decided to freeze on me multiple times and I lost the whole thing because I'm an idiot and I didn't save it. I've been learning a lot about backing up my info these past few weeks. My phone also died recently, and if you know me, you know my phone is my life. I always swore I wouldn't be one of those people tethered to technology, but the crackberry won out and without the damn thing I'm entirely lost and can barely function. My phone tells me where to be and when to be there. Without it I'm hopeless. ANYWAY... I have a new phone now and am back to my dependent ways.

Back to Possession. The book was great. I still think I prefer The Children's Book, but I really enjoyed Possession, and it was truly a literary feat. Byatt essentially wrote two narratives, diary entries, letters, literary criticism, and a boatload of poetry. I'm not saying the poetry is the best thing I've ever read, but there's a lot of it and it must have been a huge undertaking.

But the movie. The movie was terrible. Filmmakers made absolutely ludicrous choices that completely messed up the entire plot. Since they destroyed the main conflict of the story, they majorly played up the romance between Maud and Roland. That relationship, as well as the relationship between LaMotte and Ash, was just uncomfortable. I found myself alternately cringing and wanting to stab things as I watched the movie. I planned on writing about adaptation with Possession in mind, but the notes I took were so riddled with obscenities and question marks that there was no real way to write an academic paper.

I have a migraine and a possible allergic reaction (to peanut butter nonetheless. I'm truly distraught), so that's all I'm writing for now. I've managed to actually finish my semester on time for the first time in a year, so now I'm on break and somewhat free. That means that I should be writing more. Well, that's the hope anyway. Off I go for now.

Languishing in Library Land

So I am sitting here at the desk in the library, working two more hours than expected because one of my coworkers got sick and needed someone to sub and I am a GOOD PERSON.

You'd think I would be somehow cosmically rewarded for such good deeds. And you'd be wrong. I am a bit past my third hour in a row (seventh today) and I have run out of things to read.

OK, that's not entirely true. I finished Possession (review to come) for my class today and the only other book I have is The Drowned and the Saved. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing againts Primo Levi. He's a fantastic writer. But I can only read so much about the Holocaust before I need a break.

So here I am. Essentially book-less. What is a poor bibliophile to do? Read other book blogs, of course.

Now, maybe it's just me and my never-ending need to be entertained, but I much prefer the blogs that have some sort of personality or character to them. When the blog is nothing but reviews, I get bored. It's not that those blogs don't have merit, it's just that while I am reading your blog for more information about books and the like, I'm also reading to be entertained. Some book reviews are funny. Some are not. There's nothing wrong with a straightfoward book review, but sometimes I just wanna laugh.

Is that so wrong? I thought not.

And now I return to wasting time on the internet.

Note: I just realized how ridiculous it is that I'm book-less in a library. Also, most of these books are architecture or art history related. Not my usual reading material.

So I had an action-packed evening tonight. The student activities office at my school was having a shoe decorating party. They had pure white converse all-stars (for $15) and a bunch of high-quality paint markers and we all went to town.

As you may know, I am not the most artistic person alive, so while I was excited and enthusiastic about this opportunity, I also had my doubts. I actually ended up with something that I really like.

You may not know this, but I am also a big fan of polka dots. It's actually kind of ridiculous. I went through a phase where the only clothing (and most accessories) that I bought were polka dotted. The obsession has eased up a bit, but I'm still drawn to them every time that I enter a store. 

I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned my obsession with owls. I am, as previously mentioned, completely artistically-challenged. My friend, however, is not and she drew this adorable owl on the back of each one of my shoes!

After I finished decorating my shoes, I headed across campus for my friend's event. I won't go into details, but I will say that there was a sexpert (Juicy Justine), questions, cupcakes, and a raffle (and yes, I did win something). All the money went to a great cause — the Afghan Women's Health Initiative. A good time was had by all. Between these two events I missed out on margaritas at the fiesta themed senior cocktails, but I'll make the next one. Also, I'm not overly fond of tequila. 

Well hello again dear readers. Now that the cult activities have slowed down, I just have the regular school insanity to deal with. I am sick and therefore behind on everything ever, but once things are squared away I shall recommence my book reviewing.

In other news, I made a terrible choice. I started looking at graduate programs in publishing. I thought I'd decided on waiting a bit before grad school. Now I'm not so sure. The applications for some of the programs don't seem that time consuming, but if I decide to go to grad school in the fall, that means I need to take the GRE... yes, imagine me with a look of sheer terror on my face. Ugh.

I've decided I'm not thinking about that right now. I have a paper due tomorrow, books to read, and a thesis to continue doing research for. Also, there are at least 3 things going on on campus tonight that I'm interested in, but of course they're all at the same time. Doesn't it just figure? Alas.

Seriously though, I promise book reviews or at least a post not whining about my life in the very near future.

Don't worry, we don't have any Kool-aid

Last Sunday was Lantern Night. "What is Lantern Night?" you ask... Well, it is undeniable proof that Bryn Mawr is actually a cult masquerading as an educational institution.

You think I'm exaggerating.

Each Bryn Mawr student has a lantern, the panes of which are the student's class color (go green lanterns!). Lantern Night is when the freshman class receives theirs. In and of itself, not so creepy.

Did I mention that the freshman are led into the cloisters in pitch darkness? That we're all wearing giant black "bat robes?" That we sing in ancient greek?

Sounding a little bit more bizarre now, isn't it?

And after this ceremony we move outside for the traditional step sing — we sit on the steps, freeze our asses off while singing ridiculous songs, and (some of us) drink copious amounts of alcohol.

It's just icing on the cake that this time it fell on Halloween.