Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I've Never Read:

I'm doing it again! The Broke and the Bookish have put up another excellent Top Ten Tuesday subject, so I am going to feed my obsession with lists and participate!

TOP TEN BOOKS I CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE NEVER READ:

1. East of Eden by John Stienbeck
If you'll kindly look to the right you will notice East of Eden has been on my Goodreads "Currently Reading" shelf for some time. I picked up the book one night while on vacation, read the first chapter, and have yet to pick it up again. I am ashamed. I love Stienbeck; The Grapes of Wrath is one of my favorite American novels. I don't know why my hands never reach for it these days.

2. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
It seems like everyone read this book in the ninth grade. Somehow, I missed out. Oh well, I saw the movie and I almost cried when Piggy died. I can't decide if I want to experience that again.

3. Brave New World by Adolus Huxley
I borrowed this book from my sister-in-law a little while ago, but I have yet to actually crack the cover. I hear it is a good read, especially in comparison to 1984. The print is just sooooo small...

4. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Okay. I have a good reason for this one. My professor for Brit Lit assigned this book to be read in one class period. That's TWO DAYS to read Dickens' 250+ pages. Yeah. He obviously didn't realize I had a Russian test at the same time. Not happening.
(I'm still ashamed I never read it...I hope Dr. Walker never sees this post)

5. Anything by Virginia Woolf
This one is particularly shameful given the extended research paper I did on her a year ago. I've had Jacob's Room since that time period, but have yet to open it. At least I got an A on the paper.

6.Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
I might be the only person in the world to have read Alice in Wonderland but not its companion. I think I missed out on some elements in the movie. (Did anyone like that movie? I was impartial)

7. Where the Red Fern Grows by by Wilson Rawls
I just can't muster the courage to read this book. I have a huge aversion to dog drama. I refuse to watch movies where dogs die ("The Secret Window," "I Am Legend"). Let's just say too much exposure to "Old Yeller" in elementary school. I don't think I could deal with a book about dogs dying any more than a movie. Never the less, I feel guilty for avoiding such a classic.

8. Anything by Henry David Thoreau
I love the transcendentalists. I feel like I'm selling them short by not showing any love to Thoreau.

9. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I have owned this book for, honestly, five years. I've started it at lease six times. I am going to Russia. I feel an obligation to read Russian authors. And yet, I cannot read it. I guess my will to be intelligent is overwhelmed by by will to be lethargic.

10. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
Dr. Burton, I am ashamed.

Great topic this week, what's on your list?

# 19

ANNOUNCEMENT:

For those of you who recall my birthday post I made a list of 20 things I wanted to do before I was 25. 

WELL, for all of you dreamers, goal-setters, list-maker-nerds, I have officially earned at least +10 awesome points in your books. This past week I accomplished #19 on my To-Do List.

19. Take a spontaneous road trip.

Yep. A little over a week ago my recently married friends encouraged me to accompany them to their 2nd wedding reception...in California. After a number of wish-washy "maybe's" I finally decided to go almost exactly 24 hours before take off time. 

Spontaneous much?

So, I enjoyed an entire week of California sunnin' and lovin' (less emphasis on the lovin'). I swam in a pool, I rode roller coasters, I saw an ice show, I was a stand-in maid-of-honor, I ate my weight in cupcakes, I stood in the Pacific Ocean, and had a blast with my friends. And, I went on a 9-hour car ride there and back! 

So good!

And, to add a little literary lovin to the mix, we listened to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the way to Cali and "Much Ado About Nothing" on the way back (we are intellectual road-tripping-college-students).

My friend downloaded these classics for free from LibriVox.org, a site that offers MP3s of books that are public domain. The reading is done by volunteers, so some of the recordings are a little shotty. "Much Ado About Nothing" was particularly irritating because over half of the male parts were read by women. I know, I know, in Shakespeare's time all of the parts were read by males, so maybe I should be rejoicing over this breakdown of gender barriers. The main problem with this recording was that there were some male readers, but they just had the minor roles. All of the important characters, Benedict, Claudius, Don John, and Co, were read by women. Blegh. Perhaps that's why I fell asleep for Acts II and III. Regardless, LibriVox.org is a pretty awesome site with a range of free classics that will make anyone feel intellectually accomplished without trying that hard. I recommend it.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, however, was a really excellent choice to listen to out loud. The voice inflection really did play up the mysterious nature of the book, and, in my opinion, made it a much more enjoyable read. I really think there are some books more inclined to reading out loud. Mysteries, thrillers, and dramas definitely fall into that category, but I wonder what other genres work well in an auditory setting. Any opinions on the matter? I'm pretty much convinced to listen to Mary Shelly's Frankenstien sometime; hopefully I'll enjoy it more the second time around. 

Anyway, the point of this post is to 1.Brag that I went to California and 2.Brag that I actually did intellectually stimulating activities while on my trip. 

Maybe I should be more humble...

Top Ten Tuesday

So, I have been following these other blogs [The Broke and the Bookish] that do this Top Ten Tuesday thing where bloggers create lists based on a new theme each week. Given my already disclosed obsession with lists, I suppose it is time for me to join the club.

Plus, I like this week's theme:

Top 10 Characters I Hate:

1. Macon from Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen.
This is my least favorite Dessen book, and mainly because Macon is such a sleaze bag. Sure, in the movie he comes off as dreamy and pure, but in the book he is just another trashy, pushy guy. Yuck.

2. Achilles from Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
Ugh. This guy gives me the serious willies. Find every synonym for evil and disturbing in the thesaurus and you've got him. Sick. Sadistic. Demonic. Creepy. I could keep going.

3. Victor Frankenstien from Frankenstien by Mary Shelly
I'm sorry, I know that his life sucked and so many people close to him died, but oh my gosh, he was whiney, selfish, and in the end, very, very stupid. I felt like he was more of the monster than the Creature he created.

4. Daisy from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Daisy is one of the reasons why women are perpetually criticized. She makes my feminists senses tingle with disdain until my nose itches, and I hate itching my nose.

5. Richard III from Richard III by William Shakespeare
I think good-old-Richard is one of the most iconic villains in existence. But he really isn't one of those villains you just love to hate; you just hate him, a lot.

6. Catherine from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
I don't know why every iconic contemporary heroine must be obsessed with this book. Who wants what Catherine and Heathcliff had? And who WANTS to be like Catherine? She was a selfish jerk who married for money. Even in my emotion-driven high school days I knew she sucked.

7. Gene from A Separate Peace by John Knowles
I didn't feel bad for him. I felt bad for his best friend who he knocked out of a tree. On purpose.

8. Napolean from Animal Farm by George Orwell
He was based on Joseph Stalin, how could you not hate him?
And he killed Boxer. I'm still bitter over that and I haven't read the book since 9th grade. Yeah. Jerk.

9.Rogerson from Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
This book is designed to make you hate Rogerson, and honestly, it's hard to resist. He has no redeeming qualities. He makes me sick. And the way he destroys Caitlin, from the outside in, makes me never want to trust another male in my life.

10. Assef from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
He is evil.

Hope you enjoyed!

Marathon Read!

Dear Readers,

I am so scatterbrained. After a month long vacation in my hometown, you would think I'd have a better handle on life. You know the math: One month + no homework + no job + minimal responsibility + beach + delicious food cooked by somebody else (in my case a very kind sister) = clear head for when reality strikes upon return.

False.

If anything, I resemble a slowly deflating flotation devise more now than I did when I left.

Ugh.

But you know what is the best escape from an overwhelming sense of overwhelmingness?

Reading a book.

So today, that is what I did. I read an entire book. In about five hours. Straight. It felt soooo good. It's also nice now that I live alone. I tend to get really crabby when I am in an intense-reading-session, so the fact that there was no one around to nag me and receive subsequent snarky remarks was good for all parties.

The book I read? Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I've seen it on a few blogs I follow, and then saw it in the bookstore today during a therapeutic browsing session. The cover is so beautiful that I couldn't resist reading it. Unfortunately, I am incredibly poor at the moment, so I couldn't buy it. But fortunately, it was at the BYU library. YAY school!

So, was it Shiver that drove my insane reading-feast, or my strong will to avoid reality?
A little of both.

Shiver is a story about a girl, Grace, who falls in love with a werewolf, Sam. Sound familiar? Don't worry, it would have been way too Twilight-esque for my taste if she hadn't fallen in love with the guy while he was still a wolf. More interesting, right? or maybe just weird? Okay, it is definitely a little weird, but rather than acting like Grace's wolf-romance is normal, the characters acknowledge the creep-factor. Don't worry friends, he does turn into a real boy, and the plot really picks up when he does. Basically, Sam (wolf-boy) and Grace (wannabe-wolf) fall in love and must fight to keep Sam human.

I sound like I'm mocking it, but actually, it was really intriguing. Stiefvater did a good job of creating the circumstances around this trans-species romance (can you say Little Mermaid?). The plot held up through most of the book, although about 3/4 of the way through I got a little queasy with the romantic proclamations. And the characters are fairly endearing. I thought Stiefvater could have done a better job with developing here characters because I didn't understand their motives 5/8 of the time. But once again, they are endearing. Grace and Sam, the main characters with a capital M, are a cute couple, with less oogling than Bella and Edward. Stiefvator plays with POV by having both of them narrate, which works okay, except that they start to sound the same after a while. The rest of the cast stay pretty flat and uninteresting, even though you can tell Stiefvater wanted to play with them more.

The best part of the book was Stiefvater's writing. It didn't always flow in content, but she had some figurative language that left my heart in a tizzy. Her metaphors were honest and unique, and while the lyrics she included were a little hokey, they were charming nonetheless.

In the end, I liked Shiver. I don't necessarily want to read the sequel Linger yet, because the characters were not that appealing to me (and I can't find it at any local library), but I am planning on reading her other book, Lament, in the next few days because I was so intrigued by her writing style.

Over all: Better than Twilight, worse than Goose Girl, and right on par with The Hunger Games. B-

And an A for distraction :]

Useless

What does it mean to do something useful with your life?

Does it mean to be like Ghandi or Mother Teresa and change the lives of millions of people?

Does it mean to be a doctor and save the lives of hundreds of people?

What about the nurse who helps the doctor? Does he/she get any of those "you helped somebody, your life now has a purpose" points?

What about the doctor who accidentally kills someone, does he/she lose points?

And what about that guy? You know, that guy who drives the bus you get on every day? Does his driving skills make his life useful? Does it matter that there are possibly 20 other people just waiting to replace him? Maybe some of them are wishing he could be a little bit less useful...

And what about me?

I want to be a teacher. Does that make my life meaningful?

What if I don't want to be a teacher the rest of my life? What if I am just using this meaningful career to do something less meaningful like make money so I can go to grad school?

Is that bad? 

Should I just be satisfied with my meaningful career and not hunt for any more personal satisfaction?

Is my goal to one day be a stay-at-home mom make my life more or less meaningful?

Does my politically correct use of "he/she" make my life more meaningful?

Okay, probably not.

You know what makes my life useful?

The fact that I'm living it.