The Hobbit

A tale about a Dragon, a hobbit, some dwarves-and some jewels! My hearties, this is a tale of adventure that everyone needs to read!
This one is so completely different than the Lord of the Rings. I would almost say that this one is childlike. It's innocent. It's magical. It's wonderful!!!
My favourite thing about this was the Dragon, Smaug. I loved that Tolkien took you into his thoughts. That the Dragon regretted not closing up all the entrances to the mountains, and that he wanted to roast Bilbo. I mean, cmon! The Dragon had personality and he wore jewels. I need to meet this Dragon, Smaug! I cannot wait to be introduced to him in the motion picture, but I don't think he'll be as likable!

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I cannot remember how long I've been wanting to read this book, never really knowing what it was about. If I had known that The Smiths were mentioned quite a bit, I would have read it years ago!
The book is bittersweet, melancholy, and nostaglic...but beautiful and profound. The music mentioned = remarkable. The characters were all so amazing. I even loved Charlie's sister (and his brother!)
Could I indetify with Charlie, what with being a wallflower and all? Yes, in some parts almost exactly. I haven't figured out what the perk is though, at least for me.
Some lines that stood out are:

"I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

"I had an amazing feeling when I finally held the tape in my hand. I just thought to myself that in the palm of my hand, there was this one tape that had all these memories and feelings and great joy and sadness. Right there in the palm of my hand. And I thought about how many people have loved these songs. And how many people got through a lot of bad times because of those songs. And how many people enjoyed good times with those songs. And how much those songs really mean"

-I definitly said that about my iPod! :) I am in awe of my iPod. :)

Charlie, about his father "I love him. And I don't know him."

and this is SO me...

"I would have told the table that, but they were realy having fun being cynical, and I didn't want to ruin it. So, I just sat back a little bit and watched."






and this is also me and I am sad to type it out, but here it is...

"You can't just sit there and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things."

Inferno

I do not have a picture for this title. Important to remember though, it's the Robert Durling translation...beautiful beautiful beautiful.
My favourite thing about reading this was researching what happened during or after Inferno was written.
A few scenes from Inferno had been depicted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. And I loved researching pictures of the chapel looking for those small details.
The Canto that affected me most was Canto 13.

Canto 13
Seventh Circle, second subscircle: the violent against themselves-the posioned wood-Pier della Vigna-the chase of prodigals-the anonymous Florentine

Not yet had Nesses reached the other side, when
we entered a wood that no path had marked.
Not green leaves, but dark in colour, not smooth
branches, but knotted and twisted, no fruit was there,
but thorns and poison.
.....
I heard cries of woe on every side but we saw no
person uttering them, so that all dismayed I stood
still.

My belief is that he believed that I must believe
that so many voices, among those thickets, came
forth from people hidden from us.

Therefore, my master said: "If you break off some
little twig from one of these plants, the thoughts you
have will all be cut off."


I just picture this one and its quite stirring. It gives me chills even now.

Shopgirl

My personality mirrors Mirabelles way too much to be comfortable. Even though I had read this when it first came out, I fell in love again with Steve Martins storytelling. I love his writing!!! I really do. And I love that he gets it. I also think that what he writes about Mirabelle is a lot of what he see's in himself. And Ray, too. Steve Martin, I heart you.

Einsteins Dreams

In this book, which was more like short stories with a common theme, Einstein dreams about time. Beautiful philosophical dreams that created images in my mind I would never be able to create on my own.
I often wonderered what my dreams what be like if i could narrow it down to a common theme. Unfortunetly, I feel like an outsider in most of my dreams. Like I am walking into someone elses life, or like I am maybe a loner. Hmm...however, if it were a work of fiction and I didnt have to write what my dreams were actually about, then they would all be about love. Like my songs. My songs and poems and short stories are all always about love...always with that twist in the end. They are never "oh woe is I, you're leaving.." the end. Mine are more like "You're leaving, woe is I, but then whats this? Happiness is just around the corner, just make sure you dont miss that left..", or "i dreaming of you while you dream of me..." etc etc.

The Devil and Miss Prym

The Devil and Miss Prym. Re-read. One word, amazing.

The Monsters of Templeton

Ok, let me pose a question: Who doesn't like stories of the lockness monster. Right?
I was hoping that this would be a lot like that. WRONG.
Its about some pregnant chick who goes back home to find herself during her pregancy. And there is a monster in the neighborhood lake that had always been there...but it had died and thats just a back story. Like it'll be on the news or something, no biggie.
And so most of the book is the main character going through her genealogy..and her ancestors are the real monsters, not the one in the lake. I was a little dissapointed...