Stuff As Dreams Are Made On…

Currently listening to The Cranberries. I haven’t listened to them in AGES! Sorry, this will be a very random post if you can’t tell already :p The Cranberries were my first concert experience in 1995 or 94…can’t really remember. But they were my favorite band at the time and I was beyond thrilled to see them! They’re one of those bands that just instantly brings a sense of nostalgia over me. I’m waiting for them to turn up on VH1’s Where Are They Now? any day now :p Don’t know why I decided to share this with everyone, they just make me happy

Topic 2, books. Because that’s what we’re all really here for, right? Sadly, I don’t have much to say on the topic. See those 4 books in the sidebar? I’ve been working on those same books for about 2 weeks now :/ And they’re all fantastic! But I got put on the day shift again this week and I’ve had migraines like every day lately, so I haven’t gotten more than like a chapter a night read in each. But the good news is, I’m coming to the end of all of them now and soon I’ll be able to mix things up! I’m thinking I’m going to read Dragonquest, the second Pern book after this. I can just hear Pat right now screaming FINALLY!

I also kind of forgot about Mailbox Monday and Bad Bloggers When I started this Music Munday thing, I didn’t even think about it replacing my favorite weekly meme! So I’m thinking that I’ll just move Bad Bloggers to a different day of the week…that should work. Believe it or not, I’ve only gotten like 7 books in the mail in the last 2 weeks! That’s shocking for me…It’s usually like double that in one week :p And I only have one point to hand out, which is for King Dork…that point goes to Becky. I’m thinking it’s time to wrap up this first week of Bad Bloggers soon…gee, I wonder who the worst blogger will be? lol…Nymeth, you might as well just let me know what book that I’ve read that I can throw onto your TBR stack…mwuhahahaha…yours shall grow too!

Finally, I discovered the best tv show that’s just made of awesome. So Renay over at YA Fabulous and Bottle of Shine is a really cool girl…I mean really cool. So she mentioned how much she loved Glee today on twitter, so I decided to see what it was about. I’ve seen the commercials on TV and it didn’t do all that much for me…though I did enjoy singing along to Don’t Stop Believing. But I figured that if Renay liked it, there had to be something cool about it. And there is! It’s such an incredible show! I mean, maybe not incredible…that may be pushing it, but it’s fun…and awesome! Seriously, it’s like an hour long YA book. Did anyone else see it and feel this way? I mean I really felt like I was watching a John Green/April Lurie/Drew Ferguson novel. Did you miss it? Or is it not available yet on TV where you are? Have no fear…you can go watch the pilot episode on Fox.com! And then you have to wait until Fall to get more

Debi’s hosting a fantastic mini-challenge this month for the Dewey’s Books Reading Challenge with a prize of a copy of a subscription to Bookmarks Magazine! How can you pass that up? The mini-challenge is to write a book coveting post. I don’t know about you, but Dewey’s book coveting posts were always some of my favorites of hers. They were just fantastic and I usually ended up coveting all of the books that she did as well :p So I thought this was a fantastic way to remember her. I actually did a book coveting post not long ago which you can read here. But I’ve added quite a few “yet to be released” titles to my list since then. Here they are:

1. The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan - I thought that The Forest of Hands and Teeth was just amazing! So I can’t wait for this companion novel to come out! I don’t think it comes out until 2010 though

2. Green Porno by Isabella Rossellini - I heard an interview with Isabella Rossellini about this one! I’ve always thought that she was a fantastic actress and I just love her accent. Well now she’s writing a book too! It’s a non-fic book about the sex lives of animals and it will come with a DVD that has a number of short films about the sex lives of animals! They’re all acted out by her and they’re directed and produced by her too. Sounds strange, but tres cool! It’ll be released on September 22nd.

3. Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica – I like to read sports books every now and then and this is a young adult book by a fantastic sounding author who writes young adult sports stories! I just bought a box set of his that has three books in it…two about basketball, one about baseball. Million Dollar Throw will be released on November 3rd. Heard about this one through shelf awareness.

4. Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett – Another one that I heard about from Shelf Awareness. I saw the trailer for this one and it looked really cool….can’t really tell what it’s about entirely, but it has something to do with a girl in chat rooms and looks like it may be a little creepy. This one comes out on August 11th.

5. A Monster’s Notes by Laurie Sheck – This one looks so cool! And I adore the cover. It’s a journal type book told from the point of view of Frankenstein’s monster. Pretty nifty, huh? Heard about it from The Book Design Review. Great blog by the way that focuses on cool book covers…you should add it to your reader! It comes out on June 23rd.

6. Crash Into Me by Albert Borris – This one is about a group of 4 teenagers all determined to die and deals with the topic of suicide.  There is a sad story behind the author. Apparently he’s struggling with some bad health problems and there’s a big push to have this book do well. It does sound good! Comes out on July 7th.

7. The Hurricane Party by Klas Ostergren – A new book in the Canongate Myths series! About the Norse gods, specifically Loki! I’m so there. This one is released on August 6th.

8. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby – Need I say any more? It comes out on September 29th.

So that’s enough for now, huh? I’m sure I’m missing like….thousand of more books that I’m going to want! But here are 8 that are on my radar in addition to the ones mentioned in my last book coveting post. Take a look at all of the pretty covers:

So what are you waiting anxiously for right now? And what am I missing??

Ok….so I’m mixing up two weekly memes here. And it’s a fitting title for what I plan on doing all day tomorrow!

I don’t usually participate in Booking Through Thursday, but I saw this week’s question at Bart’s Bookshelf and thought…well that’s a subject I’d like to talk about. Here’s the question:

What book would you love to be able to read again for the first time?

So many is the simple answer! But there are a few in particular that come to mind.

-The Witching Hour by Anne Rice – You know I’ve actually read this one three times in my life and I plan on reading it for a fourth time this year and then maybe reread Lasher and Taltos as well. And me and Nymeth had planned to read Interview With a Vampire once again together. The Witching Hour is probably my most memorable experience ever reading a book. I was so blown away by that novel and it still remains one of my favorites. I’ve never read a book that captured the feeling of a city so well and I remember feeling privileged to live in New Orleans when I first read it. I read that book for the first time while listening to the Cranberries album, Everybody Else is Doing it so Why Can’t We? and everytime I hear that album now, I get that same haunting feeling back. The cool thing about The Witching Hour is that every time you read it, it still gives you that first time feeling.

-The Time Traveler’s Wife – This one just left me speechless. There were moments in this novel that left me feeling like I was punched in the gut and had my heart ripped out or my head turned around 360 degrees. I fell in absolute love with Niffenegger’s writing and with the story she told and I just wish I could have the feeling of discovering that book for the first time all over again. Just fantastic stuff.

-The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield – Definitely needs a reread, though I don’t know if it would be quite the same as the first time I read it. This one just took me by complete surpirse. I didn’t expect to love this book nearly as much as I did. It quickly became a favorite with it’s gothic atmosphere, the beautiful and often bizarre storytelling and characters, and the amazing, amazing ending.

-The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova – I read this around the same time that I read The Thirteenth Tale and it’s one of those few moments in life when you read back to back books that just completely blow you away. I didn’t expect to find another book that I’d fall in love with so soon, but I did. This story kept me up in to the wee hours of the morning just hovering on edge. And it creeped me out to no end, and I usually don’t have that emotion evoked so strongly in a book. I remember just feeling that something lurked around the corner waiting for me while reading it. It also made me long to go back to places like Romania where I have never been in reality.

-Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling – I still get horribly sad sometimes when I realize that the series is over. I just didn’t want it to ever end, though I know it had to. I clearly remember discovering this book for the first time. A friend of mine was reading it at a coffee shop I worked at and called it “HP Crack” as it’s nickname…once I discovered it too, we referred to it as “HPC” from then til the end of the series :p (Leah, are you reading this? lol). We would ask each other “did you get the new HPC yet?” Ok…so it may not be that funny to anyone else, but seriously…that series was like crack…so addicting! And I just loved it. Harry’s world is one that I will never forget.

-John Green the author – I just wish I could discover John Green again for the first time in general…it could be any of his books…he’s one of those authors that just made me thrilled when I found him. It was like I was let into a secret society :p The man just rocks. And so do his books.

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Friday Fill-Ins

1. Moving is something that is so exciting! I’m currently moving into my brand new counseling office, though I’m discovering that it’s very expensive to do so :/ We’re also getting ready to move into our brand new house! I need to post an update on that soon.

2. A smile is free. Share it with someone.

3. My best quality is not going to be shared here because I honestly have no idea what it is :p Seriously have never been into self flattery…though I tell all of my clients they should be, lol…and I do believe that!

4. The true signs of friendship are in the details.

5. In nearly 10 years, I’ll be looking back on the last 10 years of my life and hopefully I’ll be happy.

6. Sleep is what I need right now! Probably…but I’ll be up for at least another 2 or 3 hours.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a thunderstorm and a book, tomorrow my plans include working in the morning and then enjoying the continued rain and Sunday, I want to probably still be enjoying the rain! It doesn’t take much more than a thunderstorm to make me happy.

Weekly Geeks asks us to post all about literature that takes place in our hometown, is inspired by our hometown, or is written by authors from our home town! I could make this a huge post, but I’ll just post about some of my favorites. New Orleans is a city that lends itself very well to literature. It’s a dark and mysterious city, it’s as unique of a city as they come, and it has a fascinating history. I complain about my city quite a bit, but I doubt that I could find another city that I love as much as New Orleans when it comes down to it.

Most people think of A Confedarcy of Dunces when they think of New Orleans literature. Or they think of the plays of Tennessee Williams. Both are literary references that we pride ourselves on. In fact, we have a Tennessee Williams festival every year down here (yes we use anything as a reason to get drunk) that includes a Stella! screaming contest And one of my favorite fine dining restaurants down here is a little place called Stella that’s in the French Quarter.

When I think of New Orleans literature though, I can’t help but think of horror and gothic novels. I think they capture the feel of the city perfectly. And who else but Anne Rice can capture it so well. I was truly sad when Anne Rice decided to stop writing horror novels and instead focused on Christian novels after she was “born again”. But to each their own. Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles (starting with Interview With a Vampire) take place in New Orleans for the most part, but I think that her Mayfair Witches series, which begins with The Witching Hour, is the greatest feat in New Orleans literature. If you want to know the feeling of New Olreans, read the Witching Hour. Not only is it amazing book, but it caputres our city perfectly. The mystery, the intrigue, the haunted past, the haunted present. It fantastic. The house that the Mayfair Witches live in is actually based on her own house, seen here on the left. I’ve visited her house many times. It’s located in a part of New Orleans called The Garden District and the houses are absolutely gorgeous. It’s all traditional New Orleans architecture with tons of old beautiful trees.

If Anne Rice isn’t your cup of tea and you want your vampires a little more risque, you can go with Poppy Z. Brite. She’s another local author that has since changed her tone quite a bit, but still focuses on New Orleans. She captures it well too. My favorite books of hers are her early vampire books, Lost Souls and Drawing Blood. She’s now writing more about the food scene in New Orleans with novels like Liquor and there is a lot to write about there as well!

I’m just discovering a series all about voodoo written by a fantastic author named Jewell Parker Rhodes. I’m reading Voodoo Season, which is actually the sequel to Voodoo Dreams, but it works really well as a stand alone novel. I’ve always been fascinated by Marie Laveau. She’s our voodoo queen and everywhere you go in New Orleans you’ll find voodoo shops…shops that cater to tourists and some that cater to people who still practice voodoo. I highly recommend Rhodes’ books from what I’ve read so far. They’re stunning and do a wonderful job of capturing that ehthereal feeling that New Orleans gives where the line between the living and the dead is relatively thin. Marie Laveau’s grave is located in St. Louis Cemetery #1 and it’s a place that people flock to still when they’re having problems or seeking help. The picture of her grave is to your left. It’s a tradition to say a prayer to Laveau, light a candle beneath her grave, and draw an “X” on her tomb. And yes, we bury our people above ground in New Orleans :p

So that’s all of the tour for now! But I know I could think of plenty more! These are just the big names that popped into my head. If anyone wants to come visit, I’ll give you a personalized tour of all of the literary spots here

So it wasn’t that long of a blogging break, but I’m feeling a little better now. I just needed to get away for a couple of days I think. As for reading, I’m lucky if I’ve read 100 pages this past week. With work and migraines, reading time has been close to zero. Still reading Voodoo Season right now and I’m THRILLED to find out that it’s actually the second book in a series. But it works great as a stand alone too. Then I’m working on The Photographer which is a fantastic graphic novel/photo memoir.

I have a tour coming up this week for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and I’m afraid that I didn’t love it. But I’m still going to do my post as I think it had a lot to do with my current state of mind, not the book. It was certainly written beautifully and nearly everyone loves it…I think it was just a little too slow paced for me right now. But more on that on Thursday.

I’m going to try to do my book coveting post sometime this week as there are LOTS of books that I’m coveting right now :p Isn’t that always the story over here. But there are so many books that I want to go and pre-order! 2009 has been a really good year for books. I always think, there’s no way that next year is going to be as good as this year when it comes to books, but it always turns out that it is. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for us all in 2010! Can you believe I’m talking about 2010 already? Where has this year gone so far?!

I also want to do the Weekly Geeks post for this week so hopefully I’ll have something up on that too. This weeks geeking out is all about literature from your hometown or about your hometown, and living in New Orleans, I have an abundance of that! Mostly horror novels. Those are some of my absolute favorites. I just love horror stories set in New Orleans…our city lends itself well to that. In fact, the book I’m reading right now, Voodoo Season, is all about the decendant of Marie Laveau, our famed voodoo priestess. It’s good stuff, trust me!

Trish also had a really interesting post up today about talking about your book blog with other people and I’d like to respond to that sometime. It’s something that happens all too often in real life….you mention your book blog and just get strange looks from other people. It also sort of relates to that IRL friends vs. Blog Friends debate. I’ve actually had somebody yell at me and tell me it was really weird that I considered bloggers friends and shouldn’t share my personal life with them…you can imagine what my response was to that :p

Anyway, I don’t really have much to say today…just wanted to check in and let everyone know what’s going on, that I’m back, I should start commenting again soon, and you can expect a few posts for a change from me this week! What I’ve learned from my little blogging break….I have to slow down. Blogging for me started as a place to talk about the books I read and just escape and sometimes it feels like I’ve made it a job…I’m not going to do that anymore. I need to stop overcommitting myself because that’s when I get burned out. I want the 2007 blogging Chris back :p And he’s coming back…

Yep, it’s been one of those busy weeks. Hence the reason why I haven’t been online all that much! I’m used to working night shifts (which I love) and this week I’m working day shifts while my boss is in Paris. I HATE day shifts…I really don’t function all that well until about noon :p But I’m making due. The good news is, when my boss gets back, I’m being promoted to night supervisor of my department! And with that comes a raise..which is always a reason for celebration. This comes right after my 1 yr anniverserary of being with the hospital and also just happens to fall on my birthday which is Monday!! Score!

As for reading, I’m not reading near as much as I was in April. Right now, I’m reading Glass Houses, the first book in the Morganville Vampire series and it’s a lot of fun…fluff, but fun fluff! I’m also working on Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet for a blog tour and it is fantastic! So much more than what I was expecting. It’s a great little book about love set in a chinatown during World War II. And the boy who lives in Chinatown is falling for a girl who lives in Japantown. I just love it so far. And I’m slowly working on Voodoo Season which is kind of on the backburner right now. Just finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth and it was so good. So so so sad, but so good. Review with Kailana will be coming up next week!

Finally, thanks to all of you wonderful people, I’ve figured out my camera a little bit more and am in love with the macro setting. Here are a couple of pictures I took of my mom’s bouquet of flowers that she got from her boss for her birthday:

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Friday Fill Ins

1. Apples are to oranges as Headaches are to Thunderstorms (don’t like the former, but I love the latter).

2. Life is good and that’s all I have to say about that.

3. I think I hear the sound of baked goods being prepared in the kitchen. I am a happy man.

4. I love the Tibet flag.

5. Do what you want to do, but leave me out of it.

6. Once there was a boy who loved to walk through the library and behind him was a Radio Flyer wagon; in the wagon was a bucket filled with books of every kind.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to maybe going out with some friends, tomorrow my plans include going to a crawfish boil and Sunday, I want to go out after work to celebrate until the wee hours of the morning when it will become my birthday!

I’m being a bum today. Yesterday was Jazz Fest, ever heard of it? The long name is The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and this year was it’s 40th anniversay. This was only my third time going, but it was a lot of fun….and hot…very hot..I was sweating ALL day! Jazz Fest runs for two weeks at the Fairgrounds (the race track) over here. It runs the last Friday, Saturday, Sunday of April and the first Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of May…this is the last week.

It’s so much more than just music too. There are arts and crafts everywhere…everywhere you look. Some really amazing stuff. Lots of local artists come out to sell their wares. And then there’s the food…my God, the food! There are literally a couple of hundred of food booths and everything sells something different from po-boys, bread pudding, crawfish bread, crawfish bisque, crawfish etouffee, crawfish monica (yeah, we like our crawfish :p), gumbo, jambalaya, and stuff you’ve never heard of before! They even had mediterranean and sushi this year! For food, I had a paneed chicken poboy, some crawfish monica (which is crawfish and rotini pasta in this delicious spicy cream sauce, and a falafel sandwich. And I had LOTS of water.

Music wise, we stayed at pretty much one stage the entire time. We saw The Wild Magnolias who are this group of African Americans who dress up in elaborate Native American costumes and do this incredible tribal/jazz music. The we moved over to the main stage and saw Buckwheat Zydeco (really big in New Orleans), Dr. John (really, really big in New Orleans…did the original Iko Iko), and then Bon Jovi. I was less than thrilled to see Bon Jovi..sorry fans. But he was so so…very 80’s. Felt like I was thrown back in a time machine actually. The reason I was less than thrilled, really, is because Kings of Leon were playing at the same time, but all the way across the fest. And my friend who got the tickets for the day wanted to see Bon Jovi…so since she saved me $50, I stuck around :p

It was lots of fun! Oh…and they had a giant book tent…so you know I had to stop in there. You’ll see this book tomorrow in my Mailbox Monday VLOG, but for now I’ll just let y’all know that I got a book called Voodoo Season by Jewell Parker Rhodes and it sounds fantastic!! Takes place in NOLA, and it’s about the great great granddaughter of Marie Leveau. I had to share the opening line with you:

She was cloaked in mist – soft as silk, cold as ice, darker than the bayou on a moonless night. “Marie.” She was blind in a world without parameters, borders. Only Sound. Raw feelings.

Seriously, could you pass up a book with a first line like that?

Ok…enough rambling now…see y’all tomorrow with a vlog!

I must say that April has been one HELL of a month for reading! I got so much more read than what I ever would’ve imagined…but has the TBR pile shrunk? Hell no…it’s grown :/ Here’s what I read…click on the title for the review:

27. Antediluvian Tales by Poppy Z. Brite, 2007, 114 pgs., 2/5
28. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 2008, 374 pgs., 4.5/5
29. Every Man For Himself: Ten Short Stories About Being a Guy ed. by Nancy Mercado, 2005, 154 pgs., 4.25/5
30. The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin, 2007, 112 pgs., 2.75/5
31. Embryoyo by Dean Young, 2007, 105 pgs., 2/5
32. We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter Beagle, 2009, 219 pgs., 3.5/5
33. The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson, 2009, 357 pgs., 5/5
34. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, 2009, 278 pgs., 5/5
35. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix, 1998, 153 pgs., 4.5/5
36. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, 2005, 199 pgs., 3.75/5
37. Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, 2008, 143 pgs., 5/5
38. Silk by Alessandro Baricco, 1996, 91 pgs., 3/5
39. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, 2009, 312 pgs., 4.75/5
40. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, 2004, 341 pgs., 5/5
41. Wetlands by Charlotte Roche, 2008, 229 pgs., 4.75/5
42. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, 2004, 472 pgs., 5/5
43. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan, 2008, 96 pgs., 3.75/5
44. The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot, 1995, 136 pgs., 4.5/5

That’s 18 books!! And 3,885 pages!!! Yep yep yep…April has been my all time reading record! Go me Favorites…that’s a tough one this month..so many good books. I LOVED Let the Right One In. It’s everything I look for in a vampire novel..or just in a novel in general. Skim was an incredible graphic novel…really loved that one. Marcello in the Real World is fantastic YA that I’d recommend to anyone. The Horse Boy is the best non-fic I’ve read in years. Just an incredible story. Wintergirls: Wow. The Hunger Games: Wow. Every Man For Himself was a great short story collection that I liked as a whole and I usually don’t like short story collections in their entirety. Wetlands just kind of rocked my mind…in a good way, though slightly disturbing..just slightly

As for least favorites..hmm..I was really disappointed by Antedelluvian Tales and I so didn’t want to be. The Ice Dragon wasn’t my favorite story ever, though I read it during a very stressful time…and I didn’t fall in love with the poetry in Embryoyo. Can’t wait to see what fantastic things May has in store!!

As for the winner of my mosaic giveaway, that’s going to be Lily I’m super impressed with her. She actually did research on this and got 10 out of 12 correct!! Wow! Here are my answers:

1. First name? That would be Chris
2. Favorite food? Cheese!! Not hamsters….
3. What high school did you go to? Brother Martin
4. Favorite color? Blue
5. Celebrity crush? Evangeline Lilly…A man can dream, right?
6. Favorite drink? Newcastle Brown Ale (if we’re talking alcoholic)
7. Dream vacation? Osaka, Japan
8. Favorite dessert? Cupcakes! Preferably chocolate with vanilla icing.
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? A counselor
10. What do you love most in life? Friends.
11. One word to describe you. “zany”
12. Your flickr name. chrisa511…though I had to search as “chris a 511″ to get something for this (that wasn’t entirely obscene) I knew no one would get that one :p

How some of these pictures relate…I have no idea :/

Send me your snail mail address Lily at chrisa511(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll get your copy of Four Letter Word out to you!

Just as I felt myself starting to fall into a funk again, the lovely Pat (Deslily) gave me a call and pulled me out of it. That goes to show how wonderful these friendships we make online are. To anyone who says that blogging friends are not the same as “IRL” friend, I challenge that notion! Seriously, from our little 30 minute conversation about all sorts of topics, books included, I feel totally refreshed…thanks for reaching out Pat

So let’s talk about what we’re reading. I’m afraid I’m in over my head right now :/ I used to be a one book reader…I was always only buried in one book. Now, I can’t remember the last time that I was only reading one book. The good thing is, I’m knocking stuff off of the TBR pile quicker and I’m reading such a variety of subjects. Right now I have 4 books going, so I thought I’d talk about them.

I’m still working on Let the Right One In and it really is fantastic. It’s a vampire love story in a way, but this is NO Stephanie Meyer book!! I saw it at Barnes and Noble today in the “staff recommends” section and the guy who recommended it wrote “Vampires! But not the angsty, sparkly kind” I laughed out loud in the middle of the store. This is a dark book, a book full of murders, vampires that can be pretty, but not all the time, evil evil people, and just a hugely engaging story…I’m loving it.

Second on the list is an ARC of Spiced by Dalia Jurgensen. I’m reallly enjoying this little book too. It’s Dalia’s memoir of becoming a pastry chef. She leaves her job as a publishing agent to pursue a life in the culinary field. And her first job is as a pastry chef at New York’s asian fusion restaurant, Nobu. She writes so well and I can just picture myself in the kitchen with her as she learns her new trade and I love reading about the nights spent after work with the restaurant gang as well.

I’m about to start Charlaine Harris’ Dead Until Dark, so I guess that one doesn’t really count yet It’s the first novel in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Another vampire book that takes place in Louisiana and it looks great!

Finally, I heard an interview with the publisher of Charlotte Roche’s Wetlands and knew I had to have it. He equated it somewhat to American Psycho from a female perspective, but he described it as so much more than that. I was never in love with American Psycho, so that alone wouldn’t have made me buy it. What made me buy it is that he said he’s very hard to shock and this book shocked him! And I love to be shocked It’s about an 18 year old girl exploring her sexuality, it’s about feminine heigine, it’s about her identity as a woman…and it is shocking! The book starts off with this line: “As far back as I can remember, I’ve had hemorhoids.” And it only gets more graphic :p This one is DEFINITELY not for the easily offended…I can tell just from the first chapter that this is going to be a very in your face novel…and she likes the “p word” (referring to the female genetalia) quite a bit. We’ll see how I feel about this one when all is said and done. From reviews I’ve read, it seems to be a love it or really really hate it book.

So that’s it for me…what’s everyone else reading right now? Do you have more than 1 book going? Have a great weekend everyone!

I saw this at Kailana’s blog and had so much fun reading her answers…and I have no idea what to post…so I’ll do this :p

1. What author do you own the most books by?
For sure, that would be Orson Scott Card…I own over 40 books by him :O

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
The Hobbit…I have SO many copies of The Hobbit :p You can tell that I love it…I still don’t have the one I want the most though and that would be the gorgeous edition that Alan Lee illustrated. One of these days I’ll get it. My favorite current edition of the Hobbit is one that I got from Barnes and Noble on their clearance rack…it’s an Annotated Hobbit! And it has all kinds of cool stuff in it!
3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Nope…trust me, I have no right to correct anyone else’s grammar :p

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
I wouldn’t be too upset if I bumped into Victoria Gardella from Colleen Gleason’s Gardella Vampire Chronicles And I thought Keri (or is it Kerry?) from Martin Millar’s The Good Fairies of New York was a really cool girl

5. What book have you read the most times in your life?
I’m sticking with Kailana’s answer here…A Wrinkle in Time…though the Hobbit would be a close second.

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
It would either be A Wrinkle in Time or The Indian in the Cupboard…remember that book?? I LOVED it!

7. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Probably Antediluvian Tales by Poppy Z. Brite…which is really ashame because I like her stuff and it was a book of short stories about New Orleans I did like the last story in the book though!

8. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Good Lord, I have to choose one! Let’s go with Looking for Alaska by John Green…or The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman…or Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest…or The Book of Flying by Keith Miller…or A Fine and Private Place by Peter Beagle…or…you like how I’m sneaky like that, huh?

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

10. Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
Give it to Neil Gaiman!

11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
American Gods by Neil Gaiman…with the right director…

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
American Gods by Neil Gaiman…with the wrong director

13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Mmmm…nope…don’t think I have one off the top of my head.

14. What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
I don’t like this question so I’m not going to answer it :p

15. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Probably some crap that I’d never want to read again that I was forced to read in high school….like delving into every single little tiny piece of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter…can’t we just enjoy our books instead of tearing them apart?

16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The French, though to be fair, I don’t know the Russians all that well. I took French as a language from first grade all the way through college though, so I’m partial to them! J’adore France!

17. Roth or Updike?
Haven’t read either….

18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
100% Sedaris! Though I have read nothing of Eggers…but he can’t be better than Sedaris whom I love.

19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Considering that the title of my blog is taken from a line in The Tempest, I have to go with Shakespeare :p

20. Austen or Eliot?
Definitely Austen, though I’ve only read Persuasion

21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I’m with Kailana here…classics. They just don’t interest me all that much :/

22. What is your favorite novel?
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Though American Gods is really tied with that.

23. Play?

The Tempest

24. Short story?
Hmmm…I always really liked Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper even though everyone else hates it…I like just about any Neil Gaiman short story as well…and there’s one by Orson Scott Card where a baby gets flushed down a toilet and comes back to haunt the father that’s really cool, but I can’t remember the name of it :/ It’s the first story in Maps in a Mirror.

25. Epic Poem?
Haven’t read many, so it’s really tied between Homer’s The Odyssey and Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf…would have to go with Beowulf if forced to choose!

26. Short(er) poem?
I don’t really have a favorite poem persay…but I love most all of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and I used to be a big Sylvia Plath fan.

27) Work of non-fiction?
Oh no…another one of these questions…What it Takes to Pull me Through by David Marcus or (:p) Dream Homes by Joyce Zonana….or The Horse Boy by Rupert Isaacson!

28. Who is your favorite writer?
As a whole, I have to go with Neil Gaiman

29. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Ok…I worry too much about other people’s feelings, so I’m not going to answer this one :p

30. What is your desert island book?
Can I have a desert island suitcase???? Seriously I think I might just end it all if I was given this scenario, lol.

31. And … what are you reading right now?

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and about to start Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris…right Kailana?