The Two Towers
Man alive, this book was easier to read the second time through. I still maintain that I think the narrative choices Tolkien made were poor - I know a lot of people who just lost interest in the books part way through Book IV, when Sam and Frodo and Gollum are just walking walking walking, myself included first time through - but it didn't kill me as much as last time, partly because I love Faramir and I read quickly to get to his part.
I'm now a good ways into The Return of the King, and I'm trundling along trying to finish so I can read something else!
I should mention - I also read a book about the making of the Gollum character in the movies, written by Andy Serkis. It was decent, though occasionally a little self-indulgent, but it was interesting to see how the process evolved.
I don't think I've read anything else. Damn Tolkien, taking up all my reading time!
Fellowship of the Ring
I have finished the first book of the trilogy, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I remember enjoying it the first time. I think it helps to read it a second time, when you know where things are going and are in a better position to notice the overarching storyline and how it lines up. But I have to confess, I don't know if I would have read and enjoyed these books if it weren't for the movies. I probably would have read them, because Jamie loves them so much, but being able to picture things from the movie makes it a more interesting read, I think, and that's something I very rarely admit about a book that's been made into a movie.
These are such dense works, though, that I think the movies made me more able to pick out the descriptions and visualize them, something I don't usually do when I read. Tolkien has so, so much description that somebody (like me) who doesn't tend to pay much attention to description tends to get very bogged down in reading. But this time, I don't have to try to translate the words into pictures, something I'm awful at, because I know what they look like.
Anyway. I'm now wading through The Two Towers, and I'm still finding myself skimming some sections. Like the ents. I'm sorry, but he's just so freaking wordy! I like Treebeard, but occasionally I wish he'd be a little more hasty.
I'm curious to see how I react to the second section of the Two Towers. The first time I read it I got totally bored and annoyed with Sam and Frodo, and I kind of felt that way in the movies too. I realise that they are supposed to be the central story and everything, but I really prefer the rest of the Fellowship over them.
I took a brief break from LotR the other day to read
First French Kiss and Other Traumas, a YRCA book in the senior category. It was very funny and well-written, and it kind of struck me as a David Sedaris-style book written with teens in mind. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it a lot. Given that most of the YRCA (Young Readers' Choice Awards) books this year have been grossly underwhelming, it was nice to read one that actually entertained me for a change. The senior ones in particular have just been...mediocre. Unfortunately, this is not a widely available book because it's not out in paperback, so there's just no way it's going to win because not enough people have read it. Now I feel like I'm gunning for an independent movie against Titanic at the Oscars, or something. It's a shame, really.
I have a ton of books out from work at the moment, and I ought to organize myself a little better to get going on some of them. Or return them and just accept that I can't read every book ever written. Sigh. Does anyone want to hire me to be a professional reader? Please?
Waiting for June
I have this compulsion about bad teen fiction. I can't resist a drama-filled YA novel, and although I try to pass it off as keeping current in my field, I think it's mostly just the remnants of my love for Lurlene McDaniel and her ilk as a pre-teen. And teen.
Anyway. I picked up this book called
Waiting for June about a pregnant teenager, because I never learn my lesson about these kinds of books. And surprise! It was crappy. I've only really read one decent book about teen parenthood, called
No More Saturday Nights, and even it might not live up to close scrutiny. I would love to find some more relatively well-written ones, because I have read some truly, truly awful pieces of crap on the subject.
I read it. It only took me a lunch hour to do it, so I suppose I didn't waste much time on it. It ranks a hearty meh.
Fellowship is very nearly done. Woo! I'm racing through it, and it's only not finished because I didn't bring it to work today. (I have a really heavy illustrated version, which is glorious, but I didn't want to haul it in to work today to read 30 pages, so it's waiting for me to get home.)
Eats, Shoots, and Fellowships
I finished Eats, Shoots and Leaves the other day, and I really enjoyed it. Anything that is making me actually pay attention to the punctuation I use on a daily basis has to be a good book. It was also very accessible, though, and I enjoyed the balance of nerdy punctuation talk and well-written wit.
Having finished that, I decided it was time for me to tackle the re-read of the Lord of the Rings, something I've been meaning to do for a while now. I think it'll be interesting to read them having seen all three movies - the last time I read them all, it was shortly after the second movie came out, so I'm looking forward to doing some comparing and contrasting. And probably some grumbling.
I have so many books out from work right now. I really need to step up the reading, but I'm thinking that's not going to happen what with the massive trilogy weighing on me.
Eats, Shoots and Leaves
I know, it's hard to believe I haven't read this already. I just never got around to it, I guess, despite the fact that my mother owns it. But I guess my grammar nerd tendencies are well known enough that I got two copies of it for Christmas.
Anyway, I'm finally working my way through it, and it is definitely one of the better grammar books I've read. It's very entertaining and written in an understandable way, but it doesn't talk down to people who do know a lot about punctuation, which is nice.
Plus, it's forcing me to contemplate the ways in which I use (and overuse) punctuation. I like to think I have a pretty good variety of punctuation in regular use, but I know all too well that I overuse parentheses and dashes, and underuse the semi-colon. I'm sorry, semi-colon; it's not that I don't love you, it's just that you intimidate me sometimes and most of my writing these days is lazy online writing. Back in the days of my writing classes, I used them all the time. I've been neglecting you, my semi-colon friend.
I miss my writing classes.
You'll notice I haven't been reading much lately. I must admit, it's because I've been almost exclusively reading my Disneyland guide book in anticipation of my upcoming trip. Stay tuned to the regular journal at
http://sarahjanet.diaryland.com for updates on that!
Just as an administrative note: it was pointed out that it would be easier if I used the title of the book I was talking about as the title of the entry, so I've switched over to that format. In cases where I'm talking about more than one book, I'll just use the first as the title.
Funeral Party
I finished
The Funeral Party today, for one of my online book clubs. It was an interesting and unusual book, quite unlike anything I've ever read before. As I often find myself struggling with when I read books originally written in another language, I occasionally had trouble keeping the names straight, but the personalities were distinctive enough that I figured it out before too long. I think that's a fault of my own, for reading too fast. I occasionally think about forcing myself to read more slowly, but I'm not sure I could bring myself to do it.
When I read books like this, which are translated and full of very artistic language, I always feel like they kind of go over my head. Despite the fact that I do have an English degree from a perfectly respectable university, I am frequently reminded of the fact that when it boils right down to it, what I'm good at is children's lit, and that's hardly equipping me to deal with the major themes and images in intelligent literature.
But once we've discussed it, I'm sure I'll have a better feel for it. Things that I didn't pick out on a first read always appeared after a class discussion, so I'm optimistic that I'll get more out of this book after some other input on it.
Lioness Rampant
I think I'm going to have to give up on the idea of interesting titles for this log and just use the date, because otherwise I'll spend all my time trying to think of something pithy to call it and I'll never actually update.
I finished
Lioness Rampant on my lunch hour today, and it served to remind me that Alanna is not actually my favourite series of Tamora Pierce's Tortall books. I like Kel the best, I think - most of her books are set at the palace, and that's what I like about them. Day to day life type stuff rather than grandiose adventures. Plus all those animals.
Next up, I have
The Funeral Party waiting for me on my shelf at work, and we're doing that in one of my online book clubs so I should really get going on it. I am determined to read most or all of the books for that book club this year, as I'm often in need of good book suggestions and that's a good place for them. I also have a book about weddings at home that I should read so I can lend it to Karen.
Story of my life: so many books, so little time.
A start
This is a new year's resolution blog. On one of my boards, someone mentioned that one of their new year's resolutions was keeping better track of what they read, and it occurred to me that I really missed keeping track of what I read and what I was reading and what I thought of books and stuff. I don't want to clutter up my regular journal with it, mostly because I figure very few people care, but I really do want to have some sort of record.
So here goes nothing. Right now, I'm off to read
Lioness Rampant, a book I have read more than once before, but it's a good solid book and a nice easy start to the year. After I read
We Need to Talk About Kevin a few weeks ago I haven't quite yet managed to bring myself to read anything else genuinely intense. I've read the first chapter or so of
Our Lady of the Circus but I haven't been able to get into it. So I read
Trickster's Queen, by Tamora Pierce, which was excellent and satisfying, and now I'm enjoying a little more Pierce before hitting
Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding which will probably depress the hell out of me.
There are a lot of books I want to read in 2005 but I think that's a list that will have to wait for later.
