New Book!

I know that I said that I couldn't take any more fantasy right now, but the third book in the Inheritance series finally came in for me at the library, so I had to take it, lest I lose it to the person behind me and have to go to the bottom of the long long list. I read Eragon and Eldest over the summer on a whim, and, while they're not my favorite, far be it from me to ever leave a series unfinished. You're reading the blog of the girl who read all 11 of the Gossip Girl novels. I have a high tolerance for these sorts of things... not that Eragon and Eldest even approached the coma inducing powers of Gossip Girl, I'm just saying.

I'm looking forward to seeing how some loose ends tie up in Brisingr (yeah... that's the title), though I read somewhere that while this was supposed to be the last book in the series, Christopher Paolini thinks he's going to need another book to adequetly finish his story. I'm a bit suspicious of this. Personally, I would sacrifice some nit-picky details for a concise story, and it makes me a little sad to think of authors writing more books just for the money (who am I kidding, if I got a book deal I would quit everything and write all day). I guess that I'm okay with it, because it means I still have something literary to look forward to now that Harry Potter is over.

November Disappointments

I'm so disappointed in myself. My reading this month has been seriously lacking. I am still wading through Abhorsen by Garth Nix. I really do like it, honest, but it just doesn't grip me. I'm close to the end, and I like a lot of the ideas Nix has about death, and any book with a nod to the multiverse gets an A+ in my book; however, this battle sequence is getting pretty drawn out. I want something to just happen! It seems like there are a lot of tiny, unnecessary obstacles that Lirael has to get through, and because there are so many of them it is getting cumbersome.

I'm also having trouble where to go next with my reading. I have pages of books to be read and an entire county library system at my fingertips, but I'm just lost. I don't think I can take another fantasy book right now, but if Brisingr by Christopher Paolini comes in for me at the library, I have to take it. I've been waiting for that book ever since I finished Eldest, and now I'm number 3 on the list, and the two people ahead of me already have their books waiting, so technically I'm number 1. I also feel like maybe I should read something classic. I've never read any of the Brontes, and I think that should be rectified. I also have been hankering for a good non-fiction book. There's this one by Tom Standage called A History of the World in Six Glasses that I thought looked good, and another about tomato farming, by Tim Stark. I love tomatoes. There are just too many choices. I know it isn't true, but I feel like they're all going to go away if I don't read them all right now. I wish I lived in communist China where I would only have one option.

Okay, I Think I'm Ready Now

Last night I got the first Twilight book back from my aunt and embarrassingly stayed up until two in the morning reading it again. Don’t judge me. It wanted me to. And then I lay in bed for lord knows how long thinking about these ridiculous books, these insane characters, and I decided that I liked them. At the same time I decided that what compels me (granted, somewhat reluctantly) to stay up half the night reading it is their extreme power to suck me in. I am compelled by Twilight because of the escapist factors it offers to me. Here I am 22, monumentally single, broke as hell, considering grad school. Why be myself when I could exist in the greatest, most intense, passionate love story EV-AR? I mean, I know that in reality I would never ever for a moment consider being in a relationship like Edward and Bella’s—the misogyny and abusive aspects totally gross me out. But when I’m reading these books I am 17 again and worried about what’s happening Friday night. I’m hanging out with my friends watching the OC, and if I had read these books when I was 17, I don’t know if I ever would have come out of them. I just may have existed in Forks forever, walking around like a zombie looking for Edward around every corner. I think being 17, maybe a teenager, really, is the cruelest joke of all. You’re continually teetering (God, this sounds trite) between wanting to act on a gazillion different feelings and the actual gory agony of growing up. And Twilight finds that balance so perfectly. Seriously, great job, Stephanie Meyer.

I mean, I remember being 17 and half of me wanted to strike out on my own away from my family, and the other half wanted desperately to be taken care of for the rest of my life. Bella, at 17 gets all of that. She unlocks a secret world of vampires that only she is privileged to, and in that world she is practically worshiped as the prodigal daughter, come to lift their brooding son out of his darkness and into the fluffy clouds of first and true love. So she finds this person who she gets to stay with forever, masquerading as an adult, plus she’s completely taken of, never needing to make another real decision again. Okay, so there are some meddlesome vamps to deal with, but really? WTFC? Lord knows it’s not the gripping action scenes that make this series successful.

Twilight plays on every single fear and desire I had when I was 17, and does Stephanie Meyer do it well. She is, I believe, an agent of the patriarchy, but oh… she has created the perfect storm of stories—they will eat you alive and you’ll enjoy it until they spit you back out in your bed at your parent’s house and it’s 2:30 in the morning and you have to get up for work in four and a half hours.

Disbelief Buttresses

I have fo' real been behind in my reading this month. It is already the 10th and I have only finished one book (Lirael) so far in November, and I started that book at the end of October. I'm a bit disappointed in myself. I did very much enjoy it, though. I love series. I love a long story that is in depth. I need a lot of information to buttress my suspension of disbelief. The more details an author can give me, the more willing I am to believe in a world that an author has created, and Garth Nix does a good job of this. I have just started on the third book in the series. I hope that with my day off tomorrow I can make a serious dent in Abhorsen. A serious dent... like the dent Edward put in that van that was about to hit Bella... 11 days until Twilight!
I blame my lack of reading on the first two seasons of Weeds that my aunt loaned to me. I already watched them both and have started on the third. It's an interesting show. Bizarre. And only getting bizarrer, but I really like it. Unique characters, totally odd situations-- love it.

This American Life Forsakes Me Again

The main problem with working in a library is that I can write down books I want to read much much faster than I can read them. It is mostly a problem, and it is illustrated, too, as I sit on my bed this afternoon listening to This American Life. Ohh... that reminds me-- we just got the first season of This American Life in at the library. I have to request that. Anyway, I'm cutting out recepies that I want to try from my Paris Gourmet magazine, laughing uproarously at David Sedaris when I realize that I have never read a David Sedaris book!
And just like that, I have five new books on my reading list. I know that others out there have read David Sedaris, and perhaps could help me to narrow my list down, or at least decide what to read first.

Otherwise, most of the reading I got done today was chapter 10 in my math book, which was terrible. You may ask me, "Hannah, do you care at all about/have any interest in modular arithmetic?" and my answer would be no. In fact, on a scale of one to I believe that modular arithmetic is pointless, I would have to say that modular arithmetic is pointless.

I did read Lirael for a while today. Currently the story is being told from the prince's POV, and he's a whiny little bitch. I wish I would get back to Lirael's story, which is awesome because she's a kick-ass, strong, independent girl. Like Buffy.

Time Zones

Good lord... it took me like... 20 minutes how to figure out how to change my time zone on here. I didn't want people to think I lived on the west coast... Lord in heaven. I would never. Ugh.

As I begin the process of applying to grad school for Library Sciences and continue to work at the local library full time, I find myself overwhelmed with books to read. I am about half way through my ninth book this month, (though, I admit, my numbers for October were padded a bit with the Twilight series that I read in about a week) and I need to start expressing my thoughts about the information that I am taking in.

I have been meaning to start blogging about books that I'm reading. I think that now is a good time to start, though. It's the end of the month and I can reflect on October's books for a moment.

Like I said, I started off October by reading the Twilight series. I had waited for a couple of months for the first book to come in. It came in on a Wednesday, and by Thursday at 8:15 in the evening I was three-quarters of the way through it, at which point, instead of waiting on long waiting lists for the rest of the books, I went to Borders and bought all four books. I was finished with them by the following Tuesday. My feelings about these books are very complicated, and I don't think that I want to go into them in my first post. Maybe I will find the will to talk about them in conjunction with whatever post I make on the movie (which comes out in 21 DAYS!!!!!!). After Twilight I spiaraled downward into a long string of teen reading including such highlights as Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants III by Ann Brashares, and What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones. If you continue on this journey with me, I imagine you will notice that one of my biggest indulgences and worst habits is sucking down young adult literature with abandon. It is crack, or as my brother-in-law put it today, book porn: you just can't look away.

The most excellent book I read this month was Sharon Creech's newest book Hate that Cat. I love love love Sharon Creech. She will forever be my favorite author, and I will forever strive to write juvinile fiction like she does. Sigh. I love her.

Currently, at the recommendation by my equally reading-obsessed BFF, I am reading a series by Garth Nix. I read Sabriel in the middle of the month, enjoyed it, and am now in the middle of Lirael, which is awesome because it takes place in a magical library with doors to unlock and secrets to find out.

In the future, I see this blog (a word I am still hesitant to use-- it sounds so gross) allowing me to write about my adventures with what I read, because I read too much... mostly in the staff room at lunch, at which point I talk myself into an extra five minutes thinking that no one will notice my absence. I hope that is true.