Today should have been Tell Me Tuesday, and it was going to be. I was also including in my post the fact that I finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower last night, but I was conflicted about how much I should say about the book. Do I tell Ben that I really didn't like it and why exactly? Ben who has a line from the darn thing tattooed across his back? Sheesh. So I was writing and rewriting my post today in various levels of honesty. Then I got a bad headache and went to take a nap. Then I woke up feeling better and had dinner. Then I had to go to work. Now I come back and see that some family member of mine has deleted my "almost" post. So the details of my review were not meant to be read by the world, probably especially Ben. Let's just say I didn't love the book. And that I think Catcher in the Rye did it first and better. But it's a beautiful tattoo.
Oh, and I went to hear Charles Shields talk last night. He wrote a biography on Harper Lee called "Mockingbird." He spoke for an hour about his research, Lee's life, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Very interesting. Yes, she's still alive. No, she's not a recluse; she just likes her privacy. She lives with her 90-something-year-old sister in the same brick ranch that she's lived in since the fifties. She makes about a half a million dollars a year from royalties but lives simply. She wouldn't answer Mr. Shields' letters, but her sister did. I haven't yet read his biography, but I got a bargain copy at B&N for under $6. Maybe that will be my next book. I also noticed a bargain copy of Sylvia Plath's restored Ariel poems for the same price. I could always just borrow that from Don, though.
What's everybody out there reading?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I am glad you read it, and we all have different tastes and dont all love the same books! I would never be offended you didnt like it or to hear your true feelings about this book (you told me a bit today about why you didnt like it and i can see where you are coming from on the observations you made, even if i dont see it that way, haha). I was able to identify more with Charlie than Holden, but thats probably because Perks was written from the point of view of someone closer to my generation. Thanks for taking the time to read it! Ill email you that pic of the tattoo as well.
Christine-
I'm with you on that, only since I'm exceedingly judgmental, (ha ha) I would go as far as to say that I think Perks is extremely overrated by a lot of the teens that come in looking for it. A modern day Catcher is it not. (Although I must say, Ben, I think the fact that it is part of the MTV books series is what biased me before I even read it, to be perfectly honest. That and people saying it's BETTER than CitR without EVER reading Salinger.)
Anyway...Still trying to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is definitely obvious that it's a foreign book. I'm still wondering what the devil 'aquavit' is...It's a really interesting mystery, but man, does it make you EARN it. *sigh* I'm making myself plow through it (at a very sloooow pace) so I can move on to more interesting things, namely Dewey (about the library cat!!!!) or anything else that does not talk about herring and people's names consisting of more consonants than vowels.
P.S. Christine, I picked up that bargain copy of Ariel also, even though I have a paper copy of the Complete Poems. But hey, it's Plath! :)
cool tattoo. I'm a little curious about the book...good or bad review. But having finished Nickled and Dimed and whatever magazines I had sitting around (including a Dig magazine on forensics), I am planning on reading "In Cold Blood."I also like the idea of a library cat named Dewey.
I like the idea of a library cat in general.
I am reading a moronic play called The Relapse, just finished The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford, which turned out a good deal better than I was expecting, and started A Model World, by Michael Chabon, which is interesting but I'm not sure I get it yet.
Also still have Y: The Last Man sitting on my pile, and Tsubasa 2, and, to my everlasting shame, I began Twilight, which has a horrible main character, poor structure, and stupid writing, but I still can't wait to find out what happens next.
Danika, I know, right?! It's sickly disturbing how fascinating it is! I read the first three in less than a week, promptly forgot about them until Breaking Dawn came out, STILL didn't pick up Breaking Dawn when it immediately came out, but when I did--BLAMMO! Sucked back in. (Pun not intended, but not retracted.)
P.S. Cats in ALL forms: intensely awesome! ^-^
Post a Comment