Without further proscrantion

Spring Break '10 Reading List!

It was only a week long & I went to Utah (YEEHAW! & the mechanical bull)

Since this is to be a short list- I will detail the books with following of either quotes or my commentary on it.

I started with:

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

My favorite quote:

"Five hundred souls. I carried them in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I'd throw them over my shoulder. It was only the the children I carried in my arms. "

& I am glad that death carried the souls of children in his arms w/such delicate gentleness that it brought upon a love of death through this book that wasn't there before. ♥ This book was beautiful, no mystery as to why it was a runaway bestseller, beloved by bookclubs. Great way to start Spring Break.

2. Diary by Chuck Palahnick.

Now this was on the other side of the spectrum from the Book Thief as far away as you could be. I wrote about this that it's a fuckup mindfuck. Thank you Palahniuk, you never fail to put the weather into perspective for me. Tonight's forecast is mostly clear with little clouds of self-actualizations & a light breeze of self-improvement, self-destruction through sexuality, mocking his style of writing in the book & imitation is just another form of flattery. It was sweetly disturbing to say the least & that's always good.

3.The Word Desire by Ducornet.

That book left much to be desired. It was one of my spontaneous reads (not on my book list, just something I grabbed off the shelf. I'll still do the spontaneous reads & keep an open mind. It wasn't that her stories were bad. I was just expecting something more blood pumping & less existentialist.

4. I am Legend by Richard Matheson, Steve Niles (Graphic Novel)

Steve Niles, Richard Matheson never disappoint, especially in graphic novel form. I am Legend is legendary. Okay that was cheesy. Still :) One of the best graphic novels I've read in years, and I'm being biased because I don't read them very often, but still very nice!

"...His fingers gripped the sheets like frenzied talons." =Fav Quote.


5. Sula by Toni Morrison (Re-read it).

I was halfway through the novel when I came upon the realization that I read it already. I got to the scene with the one leg woman throwing herself out the 2nd floor story window to save her daughter from burning & realized I was reading it- You just don't encounter one legged women throwing themselves out the window in 1920's twice for plot points.

I read it when I was 13-14. It was my first year of reading adult books, not crossover genre & so I was going through the canon obsessively but didn't know that it was the contemporary canon that I was reading out of of.

Still a lovely bittersweet book, very worthy of it's rereading.

6. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

I was expecting this book to completely sweep me away like his another one of his books-The Virgin Suicides, which I became completely obsessed with, bought the movie, the soundtrack, just LOVED LOVED LOVED the book that it is one of my few books that I own & have reread. But Middlesex was not the Virgin Suicides.

It reminded me more of One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Gael Marquez Garcia) combine with Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt), yeah I don't know why I would think of such a strange combo either. The book was stunning, and leaves little doubt as to why it was given the Pulitzer but still was no dream sweeper to me.

6 1/2-Started Cat's Eye by Maragaret Atwood. Didn't finish it, still reading but it's such a different viewpoint in comparison to her other books. I like it very much so :)

One week-5 books, 1 GN. Not bad! Now just waiting on summer for the Summer Reading :D WOOT!