A smorgasbord 'o reviews

So I'm a bit behind on things. I've finished a few books recently, but I keep forgetting to write about them, so now you get a lovely little sampling.

First up: The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker

There were some great lines in this book and I ended up reading it with a notebook nearby so that I could write down quotes and the names of different poets I wanted to look into. But the brilliance didn't really extend beyond certain lines. It read like a disjointed, stream of consciousness journal that was accidentally published. The basic idea of a guy who's supposed to be writing the introduction to an anthology while he feels like his life is falling apart sounds interesting, but the way Baker presented the story, it just wasn't. I just got really annoyed with the protagonist and wanted him to just get along with it. So the fun quips could make it worth the time for some readers, but overall I might suggest skipping The Anthologist.

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

It's a classic. Love. That is all.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The conclusion to the Millenium series. As with its two predecessors, I really enjoyed it. As you may remember, I grudgingly gave into the hype and started reading the series, but I've continued to be pleasantly surprised. The characters and the intrigue are great and the writing is just.... smart. Yeah, these are books I feel are deserving of all the praise they get. Haven't read them yet? Go for it.

London by Edward Rutherfurd

A sweeping saga showcasing the history of London. What more can an anglophile wish for? I really enjoyed this book. With every era, the stories changed, yet we saw echoes of earlier characters and earlier times. It was a masterful historic piece. A million thumbs up.

 The Tiger's Wife by Teá Obreht

I've accidentally gotten into the habit of picking up and reading books without reading the back cover or figuring out even the most basic setting/ideas of the book. I did that with this. Thankfully, it worked out pretty well. The Tiger's Wife was a great read, though I wish I'd done a bit of research so I had some sort of historical understanding. In any case, still phenomenal. The intertwined stories of the protagonist's present day, her grandfather's history, and the stories he told work off of each other in a way that gives the larger picture great depth.

Whew. There we go. Now you're all caught up. I'm reading 2666 and The Plantagenet Prelude at the moment. Also, I'm sort of reading A Red Herring Without Mustard (the third in the Flavia de Luce series), but it isn't the highest priority right now. Then there's the collection of Edna St. Vincent Millay poems I've been reading during random lulls in my day. I still have her biography to read. So many things out of the library. I can't even handle it.

In entirely non-book related news, I've applied to start training as an EMT with a local rescue squad. I was a junior member very briefly in high school, but I wasn't really ready for the responsibility and I had a lot of other things going on. Now, I think I'm ready. At this point, I practically crave responsibility. It can take "several weeks" for me to hear back, and I just mailed my application on Tuesday, but I'm already vibrating with impatience. Hopefully I'll hear back and start training soon.

Off to my books for now!

Well this is depressing. Where am I going to get my books now?

And the sharing continues

You guys are (apparently) really lucky that I spend so much time on facebook, since I follow a bunch of pages and find (without any actual effort) gems like this.

I have grown up with Harry Potter and as the end is finally here, I've been feeling a little lost. This article (written by a former high school classmate, I believe) gives voice to pretty much all the emotions I've been feeling as tomorrow's midnight showing looms nearer. I definitely plan on checking these books out.

Does anyone else feel lost as the HP saga comes to a close?

Something to consider

Thanks to a friend's post on facebook, I found an interesting article on fanfiction.

As you may have guessed, I am no stranger to fanfic. I'm more often a reader than a writer, but fanfic gets a really bad rap a lot of the time, and I think that this article treats it very fairly. It was interesting to see that some authors are so vehemently against fanfic. On some level I do understand their position. If I wrote a novel with original scenarios/characters, everything about it is my brainchild. It might seem like a complete invasion for people to take them in completely different directions. However flattering it might be to see that people love your characters so much that they want to use them in their own stories, I can see how it could also make authors uncomfortable.

So. What are your experiences with fanfic? Would you feel comfortable with people writing fanfic using characters from your original work?

So this isn't necessarily book-related. Well, actually, it isn't at all book-related, but it is life-bettering related, and that's all that matters.

Last night I had an ice cream cupcake. Yes, an ice cream cake in cupcake form. Delicious. Everything I wanted and more. Don't formulate any delusions that it's easy to eat though. It is just as problematic as it sounds. The best way to eat it (though I didn't realize this until I'd made an unfortunate mess), I think, is to eat the ice cream and frosting out of the chocolate cup, and then eat the cup. We have more, so I might decide to try that way tonight.

Almost done with The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay. Then I'll probably move on to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I have a ton of library books right now, so I need to read faster.

For some reason, it seems as though everything I own gets wet at some point. It's like a rite of passage for all my possessions. So, naturally, during my (vehicular) trek to and from New York for an interview earlier this week, my water bottle popped open and emptied itself into my bag. Mercifully, the library book I had in there escaped the deluge. My lovely new copy of People of the Book, however, was not so lucky. It isn't ruined or anything, but if it had been a library book, I definitely would have had to buy a new copy for the library. I've decided that it adds character...

During the drive, I managed to finish reading The Bell Jar. Usually reading in the car makes me nauseous, but this time it was fine. I must say, I really enjoyed The Bell Jar. I've seen it described as comparable to Catcher in the Rye in the whole coming-of-age thing, and I kind of see what people mean. There were times when I really did feel a connection to Esther.

I also just finished reading The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag, the second book in the Flavia de Luce series. I'm usually not a huge fan of mysteries, but I guess when solved by a precocious 11-year old chemist, they capture my interest. There's one more book out right now, so I plan on getting to that one in the near future.

I just started The Anthologist. I don't really know what to think about it yet. The concept is very interesting, but it's very stream-of-consciousness and not something I expected. Given my aversion to leave a book unfinished, I plan on sticking with it.

The other day I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and yesterday I finished The Girl Who Played With Fire. Both were great books.  

The Elegance of the Hedgehog wasn't really what I was expecting. Then again, I'm not sure exactly what I did expect. In any case, it mixed together the tales of a precocious 12-year old girl and a middle-aged concierge working to preserve a facade of simplicity. It was fun and the characters were generally likable. Those are really my main things when it comes to books. Do I enjoy reading them, and do I like the characters? In The Elegance of the Hedgehog, you like the characters you're supposed to like, and dislike the characters you're supposed to dislike. It's pretty straightforward, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Girl Who Played With Fire met the expectations I set based on my impression of the first book in the series. It was intriguing and, at times, surprising. Once again, I would begin reading and eventually look over at the clock and realize it was 3 in the morning. All the same, I still found it difficult to put it down. Once you get into The Girl Who Played With Fire, it's hard to stop. You simply want to know what's going to happen. I will say, I found the ending a bit abrupt. I'm left with a feeling of "OK... but now what?" Since there's another book to go, maybe I'll find out.

Now I've moved on to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Vanity Fair, and The Bell Jar. I'll update when I have more to say about them.

On an entirely different note, I did a little experiment today and ended up with a delicious smoothie: frozen raspberries, 1 small apple (w/ skin for the antioxidants!), and a splash of limeade. Yum!


And now back to watching the Tony awards (I taped it)!