Uhh...

So I started House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Got 100ish pages into it but I decided that I should read my library books and take my own books with me to Alaska. So I put it aside, even though it was a decent book. More of the whole early 20th century class issues. I like it though, the protagonist is a lot better than Sister Carrie. So instead I am reading Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler which is the sequel to Parable of the Sower which I read for Lit earlier in the semester. It is good, although I can't really say why. It's really critical of Christianity and organized religion and all these bad things keep happening and it's basically just really depressing. And because it's Memorial Day weekend I do not have to work so I have been doing a lot of reading which is nice.

Before starting Talents though I read the first chapter of Huck Finn and also fifty pages of Saturday by Ian McEwan. Huck Finn didn't thrill me (sorry Prof. Rohman), but McEwan is an amazing author. I absolutely love his prose.

I really need to decide which books to take on my Alaskan cruise which I am leaving for in less than a week!! Which books, but also how many. Does four sound like a good number? I'll be gone 12 days I think. I guess it depends on what books they are though. Saturday for sure, hum hum.
That is all for now, I just wanted to update because boy and I are sitting here intrawebbing it up.

Second book done! Also, I am pathetic.

So I finished my second book a few days ago. Sister Carrie* by Theodore Dreiser. It was... okay. It was recommended by my American Lit professor when we were reading Main Street. I liked Main Street a lot. They are supposed to be sort of opposite each other, in Main Street, Carol Kennicott goes from the city to a small down and tries to culture them, whereas in Sister Carrie, Carrie is coming from a small town to the big city and getting "cultured". I say "cultured" because she really just becomes more materialistic. Carol actually cares about poetry and ideas and architecture, and Carrie just cares about money. I could definitely see why Main Street was more popular than Sister Carrie. The characters are so weak and unlikable in SC. Carol just moves from guy to guy, going to whoever can give her the best time and the most money. And she lives with all these guys without marrying them, which isn't so much an issue but just the fact that she is totally using them in the process. She is just too controlling to be naive as she seems. She "falls in love" with this guy who she uses for his money, but somehow she doesn't realize he's married? Uhhh no. I just did not like her. I don't think I'd recommend this book for anyone besides those interested in the genre. I kept reading and reading and wondering what else could possibly happen. Usually that is a good thing, but this time I just wanted it to end.

Now I am reading The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips, who was apparently a child actor and five time winner of Jeopardy. Although what he acted in remains to be seen. Miss Jesi mentioned this book and I liked the title (great reason I know) and so I decided to check it out. It's been slow going. Only last night did I get to a point where I was reading without checking the page numbers to see how far I've gone. Part of the reason it's not so easy to get into is the fact that there are two narrators, both of whom are writing letters to someone. Epistolary is the word. The first narrator is the arrogant egyptologist who is writing to his fiance, the second is a private investigator doing research into this rich man's son. I think it only starts to pick up when the stories start to connect to one another. But it still isn't amazing or anything. Hopefully I can finish it in the next day or two.

I really am pathetic though because this is only my third book. I'm averaging like a book a week which is completely horrible. I only read at night because I have been working over 20 hours a week and that takes up a lot of time. And the rest of the time I am sleeping. I just need an afternoon or two alone on my hammock. I've also been redoing my room so that is taking up a lot of my time. But also now I am finished with the first season of Bones so less distractions!

And I don't know what my next book will be. I will have to think. It's time for another classic so we'll see.

* Blogger apparently doesn't have a handy little underline button so I am just going to skip it. Wah.

First book done!

So I have been home two days and I have finished my first book of the summer. Looking for Alaska by John Green. I am in many kinds of love with John Green. And his book was good. I mean I think he is a good writer, but maybe it is just YA fiction that I have a problem with. This is the third book I've read about a kind of loser/shy kid who goes to boarding school and ends up making friends with crazy weird people and they get into these relationships that aren't really relationships and I don't know. I just do not find it to be believable. The other two books in question are Bloomability by Sharon Creech and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (a girl). Bloomability I absolutely adore and will not say bad things about it except in this context. They are just pretty repetitive. And they're all about kids who wouldn't typically go to boarding school, or scholarship kids or something like that. It just bothers me. Still good though.

Today I read the first three pages of Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. Recommended reading by my American Lit professor. I would quote it, but it is downstairs. Perhaps later.

Also, I went to another booksale today. I picked up another dozen books or so. I think that I am developing a problem. I got some anthologies, one called Scribbling Women, which amused me. Nathanial Hawthorne said something about "that damned mob of scribbling women", complaining about America. I also got some Camus in French and a Booker prize winner and all sorts of fun books. I am thinking that I will have to open up a lifetime LibraryThing.com account to contain all these. I've already run out of room in my two existing accounts. Ridiculous!