quick reviews

   While working on writing assignments for school I have dutifully kept my writing energies focused, but of course you can't do school all the time so I've gotten some reading done as well. And so! A few wee lil reviews for a few books I've finished recently. Also: writing for school is somewhat difficult to re-adjust to. What do you mean I have to write what you want me to?! In a certain format??!!! Heaven preserve us. I'm sure I'll be on the essay train in no time but the first couple are going to be a bit of a slog.

   Anyways, who cares about essay writing woes? Certainly not I. Get over it, am I right? Just write the dang essays. And that's what I'll do. And so! Books books books!

1. The Rook / Daniel O'Malley

   This book comes charging out of the gate with this doozie of an opening line: "Dear You, The body you are wearing used to be mine". I read that and said "HEYO" because clearly this was going to be my kind of book. Myfanwy Thomas opens her eyes and, oh no, where are her memories?!? They have been myteriously erased! She is surrounded by bodies wearing latex gloves! What could it all mean? We are in for a delightful ride, let me tell you. This was a book I stayed up too late for. Friends, I set a timer for how long I could read it but then my timer went off and I was all "who set this dumb timer" and just kept reading.

   It turns out that Myfanwy has mysterious powers and works for a mysterious government organization and her pre-memory-loss self left mysterious letters WELL let me just say that it's a great read. And funny! And clever! And it features my all time favourite thing: BFFs. If there are characters who I can easily imagine high-fiving whenever one of them does/says something awesome, I am all over it. Myfanwy and Ingrid should be non-stop high-fiving, is what I'm saying.

2. Attachments / Rainbow Rowell

   Speaking of BFFs! Here they are again, in this charming little number. Premise: it is 1999 and two friends are emailing each other at work. Little do they know that there has been someone hired to read flagged emails and ensure that employees aren't using company email to chat it up etc. Hijinks ensue.

   After I read this I was interested to see what others thought of it and found a couple reviews. One of them called it "chick lit" and I was inwardly downcast. Aren't I better than that? I don't want books just to play with my emotions and then give me warm fuzzies! No! But then another review said "this isn't chick lit, like some have said" and I breathed a sigh of relief BUT ALSO began to wonder "what is chick lit anyways?" And I realized that when I hear the words "chick lit" I think "Shopaholic or some such nonsense" but not only have I not read the Shopaholic books and can therefore not pass judgement on them, but who cares if people think my reading choices are a bit shallow sometimes. Also you shouldn't be ashamed of your reading choices just because someone gives them a label like "chick lit" and says that they are less worthy than other sorts of books. What's with the whole "chick lit/flick" idea anyways? Why do we have to look down on people for wanting to read/watch books/movies about love? We don't have a "bloke lit" so why have a "chick lit"? Why can't it just be "books", and some are better written than others?

   Suffice it to say that Attachments is enjoyable.

 3. Book of a Thousand Days / Shannon Hale

   If you were to ask me what genres I have held a deep and abiding love for since I was but wee I would say "fairy tales" and probably carry on to tell you about some gruesome ends that characters came to in the un-disney-ized stories. For example, did you know that the Little Mermaid a) didn't marry the prince, b) had her tongue cut out, c) had an opportunity to become a mermaid again and return to the sea BUT ONLY if she murdered the prince with a magic knife and let his blood soak her legs, and d) opted out of killing him and drowned herself instead. What? Yes. Hans Christian Anderson, you really know how to wound your readers.

   Taking into account my love of fairy tales, and really, everyone should love them: they are so weird/great, I take a certain delight in retold fairy tales when they are done well. Oh boy, can they ever be done badly but we won't talk about those. Shannon Hale has written a few reworked fairy tales and I've very much enjoyed every one I've read. Book of a Thousand Days is based on an obscure tale called Maid Maleen and it is great. There are people locked in a tower. There are scary wolves. There are magic songs. There are yaks and cats. It's written in diary form. I recommend it to anyone who likes fairy tales.

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   I also read the last volume of Locke and Key but I don't know how to write about/am still processing it so THERE YOU GO. Some books. Oh and also! The movies from the last post arrrrrre:

1. An Affair to Remember (1957)
2. Barbara (2012)
3. Frozen (2013)
4. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)
5. West Side Story (1961)

   They are all in the good-to-very good range. Barbara is in German so if you don't like reading subtitles then I guess don't bother, but why don't you like reading subtitles? Does that mean you've never seen Life is Beautiful in Italian? If so: that's a crying shame. That movie is so good and dubbed just does not stand up to the original voices, I'm sorry.