Lack of Books

I haven't finished Garp yet.

Once I finish it, I will tell you about it.

I miss blogging about books.

But I haven't been reading anything. Except Garp. And various thesis sources. Mostly I've been avoiding reading Garp. And sleeping. And playing Paper Mario with my little brother. Oops.

Richelle Mead's new Vampire Academy book, SPIRIT BOUND, came out yesterday. I really want to read it.

Stupid Garp.

Love,
Bex

Mini-Post, Re: LOST

Someone please tell me that you watched tonight's episode maybe please?

And I wanna know where Miles is. And Jack - and Jacob - and Desmond - and Ben - and I really need to shut up because two of the people actually read this blog I know have not seen it yet (AF and CH: love you guys...). But erk. Quiero hablar con alguien sobre el programa! (Translation: I wanna talk to somebody about the show!)

Series Finale. This Sunday. 7pm. I bet it'll be right smack in the middle of Mom's birthday dinner. If I miss it, I might cry.

Love,
Bex

Spies...and Summer

The CASTLE Season 2 Finale was tonight. There were spies. There was a real-actual put-together plot for the murder case. There were authors (including James Patterson). There was comedy. There was romantic tension. There was...

...an ending that did not make me happy. I would like Season 3 now, please. September seems so far away...

...and then I think about the "summer plan" I made today for thesis (due, signed by my advisor, on Monday, along with an updated draft of my introduction, lit review, methodology, and anticipated findings), and realize that September's not so far away after all. Especially when you consider how much I'm doing this summer.

Up until now, summer was about the only time I could read and not feel guilty. Bye-bye, guiltless summer pleasure reading...

I thought this wasn't supposed to be an issue until we got to The Real World that school is always trying to prepare us for. I'm not out of high school yet! It's not time for The Real World!

Or college apps. Or possibly retaking the SAT. Or maybe taking the ACT. Or thinking about summer jobs. Or taking my driver's test. Or thinking about how to fund a college education. Or something like a car.

Ahhhhh I am being attacked by The Real World and Growing Up.

I have gotten rather sidetracked from CASTLE, it seems. You should watch it because it is awesome and I love it and I am very sad that it is gone until late September. *sigh* I shall miss you, Richard Castle and Kate Beckett...

Okay, I'm weird. And the second-to-last episode of LOST is tomorrow night as well. More eekness.

I'ma start rambling in a second, so I'll take this opportunity to bid the internet farewell for the night and maybe get some reading done before I go to bed. (School reading, of course. Not one of the Very Tempting Library Books on my floor. Sigh.)

Really shutting up now. Good night! Love,
Bex

Weekend Sans Internet

Apologies for the lack of posting, but this is really the first time I've been online all weekend. I know I know - me, all weekend, with no internet? Believe it or not, it can (and does) happen.

So, you may ask, have I suddenly gotten a life?

The answer, unfortunately, is "no." I slept. And then I took a nap. And then I played Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Paper Mario with my brother, which is the first time I've been on the Wii in a long time. And today was church, nap, youth group, blog post. Since, you know, I'm sure you're all very interested in a play-by-play of my weekend.

Seriously though, it was kind of nice going a long time without the internet. I did other things. I realized that at least one of my brothers is actually still fun to hang out with. I caught up on some sleep (ish). Didn't do much reading, although I need to - I have 600 pages to get through in the next week, and it's not a Harry Potter 600 pages, it's a Garp 600 pages, so it'll take longer. Didn't do much writing, either - one of the side effects of not being on the computer. Still, I feel like it was a good weekend. Relaxation is something that I've kind of been missing out on lately.

Try it sometime. Just shut off your computer and don't worry about it for a day or two. I bet you'll feel better.

Love,
Bex

Book Update

So, I will probably maybe finish GONE WITH THE WIND at some point, but 139 pages a day was going to be ridiculous. I have talked to my English teacher and I have switched to a long but not nearly as long book called THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.

So far, it's a little weird. Read: a lot weird. It reminds me a little of Catch-22 but less...paradoxical. It's interesting enough to keep me reading, anyway. Which is good since I have to write an essay about it by next Monday.

I hope I finish before that, seeing as just about everything that I put on hold at the library back before they had it came in at the same time. So I have eight books lined up to read once I finish this one.

Love,
Bex

Pages and Pages and Pages

Sooo I'm reading GONE WITH THE WIND for my AP Lang class...turns out this monster of a novel is 1448 pages long.

And the first 62 pages are spent on Scarlett whining about the fact that Ashley Wilkes isn't marrying her, and explaining that Gerald O'Hara came over from Ireland.

I have another 1386 pages to get through by May 24th, because that's the day my style analysis essay about the book is due. In that time, I have to generate lots of progress on thesis for a major thesis deadline also on May 24th, the series finale of LOST airs, the season finale of CASTLE airs, I have to study for a pre-calculus exam, I take the End-Of-Course test for US History, we celebrate my mom's birthday, there's a youth group lock-in at my church, and my library books apparently sit on my bedroom floor begging me to read them even though I can't because otherwise I'll never get through GONE WITH THE WIND.

I apologize for whining. It's just that I have a stack of books that I really want to read, and I have to spend the next ten days reading this book and writing an essay about it.

Oh gosh...ten days...1386 pages...that's about 139 pages each day, assuming that I don't even start the essay until the night before it's due.

Maybe I should see if I can switch to a different book.

G'night, all. Love,
Bex

Do I Read Too Much?

The answer is a definite "maybe." I finished another book today, guys. Incidentally, it's one that I bought about a week ago for my dear friend SH's birthday (even though her birthday was back in April. Love you, S) and then borrowed when she shoved it into my hands and said "Read this." (Okay, I asked.)

It's called THE IRON KING and you should read it if you are even remotely interested in faerie tales. (Not fairy tales. I'm not talking Rumplestiltskin or Sleeping Beauty. I mean Mab and Oberon and Titania and all that. Faeries with an e.)

THE IRON KING is about Meghan Chase. On the day before her sixteenth birthday, she is thrust into the world of faerie when her four-year-old brother is replaced by a changeling. Meghan sets out to rescue Ethan, but she finds more than she bargained for in the faeryland, including a heritage she never knew she had.

Okay, so that summary was crap. But it's more than the back of the book told me, I had to discover the rest for myself, and you will too. You guys, it was awesome. Read it.

At first I was a little wary of another faerie story that was dropping names like Mab and Oberon and Titania and Puck. Something like this: "Really, you guys? Seelie and Unseelie Courts, changelings replacing children, and Puck as the merry prankster? What next, she's the faerie princess? I have heard this before." But then there were the Iron Fey. I'd never heard of those before. And the characters. Like Ash. And Puck. And Grimalkin. Oh my goodness, Grimalkin. Teehee. "I am a cat." Julie Kagawa does an excellent job of taking familiar mythology and twisting it to make it her own and mixing it with her own creations. Yes, there's stuff in here you'll recognize if you've read any faerie stories, but there's also stuff that's new and original. Which is a very nice change these days.

I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel, THE IRON DAUGHER, due out this fall according to the author's website. You can also check out her blog. I will be reserving judgment on the romantic interests from the series until then. Maybe. No comment on whose team I'm on right now.

Ah, see, there I go talking about romance. Yes, there's an element of it, but guys - THE IRON KING has a PLOT. It is NOT a romance novel. You're not gonna find anything that has no romance whatsoever. This does a nice job of adding PLOT.

So, in conclusion, you should read this book, because it's awesome.

Love,
Bex