Well, didn't finish quite as many books as I'd hoped. The 8 books in December plan ended with an unexpected romantic rendezvous and a very stressful last couple weeks of work. In other words it's taken me like a month to read the last 100 pages of the book I just finished. Such disappointment.
So, the last book for 2011 was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Boy did that really bring me down! It started with me thinking, well this is kind of like a Catcher in the Rye for college girls, perfect, love it. But then it got to the point where I would return after lunch breaks of reading, completely morose, and say "Well, she just spent the last chapter trying to kill herself!" And my co-workers would nod in understanding. Did that sentence make any sense? Anyways, I truly did love this book. It was beautifully written and made me feel the worst bit of mad. It didn't help me at all psychologically. But I loved it. Five stars. The end.
SOOOO End of the Year Summary. 15 books. That's pretty sad. And honestly I got pretty sad going back and getting the number, partly because of the fact that I've gone in a full circle and am in the same arms only there's a lack of color here. And those months spent not reading just remind me that they were actually just bouts of depression spent trying desperately to entertain myself with things that would distract me from thinking, something that books are incapable of. So, boo hoo, let's keep emotion out of the book blog and say Heigh Ho for the new year!
-1/10/12
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Phantastes
I just finished Phantastes by George MacDonald. Maybe my expectations were a little high because I remember really liking his books when I was a kid, and one of my friends told me I would love this book so much. I found it rather slow and uninteresting. I will say though that it was very beautifully written and super magical. It was charming and I really liked the dark eerie mood. K thanks bye.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
More Medieval Drama, Please
Wow, I've just noticed that I'm nearing the end of my 4th year of this blog. That's pretty ridiculous. I've gone through so much in these four years. :-/
SO, I finished World Without End by Ken Follett last night. Yes, I read two 1000 page medieval dramas in one year. This one I began "to prepare myself for the release of Skyrim". Success.
I just got off the phone with the friend I was borrowing it from and we realized that it can be summed up in one word: stressful. I would read it during my 15 minute breaks at work and returned to work even tenser than before, mumbling things like "I just can't handle this book anymore. It's way too much". It was basically just a chaotic rotation of graphic sex, violence, and political struggles.
Again, Follett does a great job of taking ordinary readers and dropping them into another time. Everything about life in the time of the plague is explained in great detail. Remember being a kid and wondering why book characters never showered or went to the bathroom? Oh it's okay, all bodily functions are described in this book. It was fantastic.
And Oh So romantic. Lovers separated for thirty years by various circumstances? Yes please. All of the dramatic deaths were great too- an evil character dying of the plague somehow managed to have a shocking exit.
The only thing I really had a problem with was all the boob descriptions. Literally any time a new female character entered the scene, her breasts would be described in great detail. If she was wearing a loosely fitting garment, another character would grab her boobs and describe them to the reader since the narrator couldn't tell. If any amount of time passed, we were given an update on how the years changed the shape of her body. It was just so unnecessary. I got really tired of all the "soft and round's", the "gently sagging's" and the "small and perky's".
Now off to read as many books as I can before the year ends.
SO, I finished World Without End by Ken Follett last night. Yes, I read two 1000 page medieval dramas in one year. This one I began "to prepare myself for the release of Skyrim". Success.
I just got off the phone with the friend I was borrowing it from and we realized that it can be summed up in one word: stressful. I would read it during my 15 minute breaks at work and returned to work even tenser than before, mumbling things like "I just can't handle this book anymore. It's way too much". It was basically just a chaotic rotation of graphic sex, violence, and political struggles.
Again, Follett does a great job of taking ordinary readers and dropping them into another time. Everything about life in the time of the plague is explained in great detail. Remember being a kid and wondering why book characters never showered or went to the bathroom? Oh it's okay, all bodily functions are described in this book. It was fantastic.
And Oh So romantic. Lovers separated for thirty years by various circumstances? Yes please. All of the dramatic deaths were great too- an evil character dying of the plague somehow managed to have a shocking exit.
The only thing I really had a problem with was all the boob descriptions. Literally any time a new female character entered the scene, her breasts would be described in great detail. If she was wearing a loosely fitting garment, another character would grab her boobs and describe them to the reader since the narrator couldn't tell. If any amount of time passed, we were given an update on how the years changed the shape of her body. It was just so unnecessary. I got really tired of all the "soft and round's", the "gently sagging's" and the "small and perky's".
Now off to read as many books as I can before the year ends.
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