What I'm Reading Now

My lovely friend Krystal bought me coffee this morning (thank you m'love!) and I splurged on a Big Train Chai - No Sugar Added Vanilla Chai (12oz. Resealable Bag) latte with fat free milk, knowing full well that my tummy would punish me later. It was very yummy but I could only finish about half. So now I'm spending lunch time with an upset stomach. Why do I punish myself this way?

At any rate, instead of eating lunch I'm updating my Reads!

Since I completed Spring Quarter back in June I have been loving the opportunity to read books that I choose though I really did enjoy the required reading for my two courses. In particular, I really enjoyed Make No Law by Anthony Lewis. I highly recommend it! I actually read this book in about a week, mostly because I had procrastinated but it was a surprisingly easy read, given the content. I read Make No Law for a Poly-Sci class, and it made me want to dig out my old copy of Shadow by Bob Woodward. I read that my freshman year of community college and I just loved it. Oddly, this is my first political science class since then.

           

After wandering down this road just had to (finally) watch All the President's Men. After I got over my jealousy of Dustin Hoffman's girlish figure and beautiful hair, I loved it! I tell you, investigative journalists are right up there with secret agents in coolness.

But school's out for the summer! Huzzah!

My summer book choices, it seems, have been dictated by film and chance. In anticipation of the film, I read Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (a selection by the 1001 group). Books: masterful; Movie: disappointing. I expected so much more from the magical Burton/Depp/Bonham-Carter trifecta. But the books were just great, it makes me sad that I waited this long to read them. Visit my Goodreads page to read my review.


The next book is, I admit a bit embarassing. Not the book itself but the impetus for reading it. As you are likely aware, a certain vampiric/lycanic tween phenomon birthed its latest installment upon the silver screen on June 30th. Try as I might to aggrandize my literary chops, I will never be able to ascape the dirty truth that I read the Twilight Saga...and I liked it. 


I can never run for office now.


They're like Peachie-O's or Pringles, I sit down to have a nice little indulgence and before you know it there are six empty containers on the floor or, rather, it's 2 am and I'm crying because Bella has broken poor Jacob's heart...again. Sickening.

But there may be a ray of light yet, as I do not have any desire to read Eclipse for the *cough*-th time. Instead, it was The Host, that I loaded onto my Kindle. I'm not sure what Stephenie Meyer is cutting in with her novels but it is probably with the same stuff with which Proctor & Gamble is lacing their peculiarly poppable potato-based snack. I admit that, afterward, I IMDB'd it to see when the film was coming out. I tell you, that woman is a Siren!

Speaking of books adapted for film, I have taken to listening to books on tape while I run so I've been "reading" Les Miserables for the past month as well. Gosh I love this book! If you've never read it, you really must. It's such a heroic picture of tragedy and grace, just lovely!

The last book came to me wrapped in a bit of serendipity. I just happened upon a copy of Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky at Goodwill for $.99. Obviously, Crime and Punishment is on pretty much every list of must-read books (saving those upon which the Twilight books also appear, when will we all learn to get along?) but I had heard the Dostoevsky is a bit cumbersome and had not yet read any of his work before. Thus, I was pleasantly suprised when I plowed through the first 5 chapters while sitting on a second-hand couch waiting for my mom and my grandma to finish shopping (We're big fans of Goodwill in my family).

I think that it was really providencial that this was my first Dostoevsky and I'm glad I didn't just dive into C & P without wading around in the shallow end first. It is pretty short (233 pages) and focuses generally in one direction (so far). It seems that Dostoevsky is fond of wandering around in his musings with very loose direction. I really think that Notes from Underground is very much like what one would encounter if they took a peek in my head. There are some organized thoughts and general themes, but there are millions of neurological pathways that meander, noodle-like, through these themes without an apparent destination. Narcissist that I am, I like anything that reminds me of myself, so I'm enjoying it!


Don't you fear, I am still slowly reading Middlemarch by George Eliot and  Confessions by St. Augustine. These are great books but more marathon than weekend reads.


Visit my Goodreads page to see what I'm reading now.

          And that's it for me! So many books, so little time...