Friday Pop Culture Check In

Dear Loyal Reader,

Now that I have some time to actually pause and think about stuff I've been doing this thing called "enjoying myself" again. It's a new concept I know. I hear the French invented it and then the Italians perfected it. Either way, if its European its a win for me.

I know you're dying to know what I'm talking about so I'll review by medium -

Book wise -

I'm currently reading "Speaker for the Dead" at the little brother's invitation. Apparently these Ender Orson Scott Card books have been very influential on him and he wants to share. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I was originally and am looking forward to finishing. I also read "Ender's Game" for the same reason and I liked it - eventually. These are the book version of "Star Wars" to him in terms of sacredness so a good sister should maybe know what he's talking about. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I've also thoroughly been enjoying the King Killer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. He's a newbie novelist out of Wisconsin but has written some of the most lyrically beautiful stories that I've read in a while. "The Name of the Wind" came out a few years back and my oldest brother gave a copy of it to my Dad for Christmas. The book made the family rounds and I really liked it as I mentioned before. The second book of the series came out in early March "A Wise Man's Fear" and I read it with much the same vigor. I think I literally lost a whole Saturday to it and then some. Time well spent.

Movie Wise -

I've been a bit light on the movie side of things because, well, they cost money, but I did, like any self respecting bookie babe, make time for the new Jane Eyre



It was good. I recommend it. It's not a train wreck but it's not the strongest telling either. It was deliciously true to the Gothic aspects of the novel though which I appreciated. Movie makers get a bit distracted by the love story and ignore that the fact that it's set against these dark Gothic edges. I think that canvass makes it that much more of a beautiful story and it's almost always left out but they got it this time around. They didn't cut out St. John either. He's a common causality to the editors but he survived too.

In Future Cinema News Peter Jackson released one of, I hope, many short behind the scene videos about the making of "The Hobbit". There are not words for my how much I'm looking forward to this but I will try HOWZA! MAMMM WHHHE KKKKK! LOOOKK! ITSSSAAAAAA! IttzzaahRichardArmitage iookkk kwkkwoo woww waaaaaa PeterJacksonkjfweo nndsojf onklnlkenknewljrenlkn ;nivnIloveNewZealandakjdfjkdhhHH HAHAHAAAAKKKK ohmagahgagagaghgahgah.




Music wise -

I've been informed that I have tickets to see these gargeous bright stars called "The Civil Wars" in the near future and, like always, I'm very excited. They're a group I've had a hard time not listening to. They're amazing. I wholly endorse them. Yay for some real musicianship and for genre blends. They're always the best. Much like mixed babies.



Also, GREAT NEWS! The Beastie Boys are putting out a 25th anniversary album on May 3rd and have released this new track that I have been listening to practically on loop and cannot get out of my head. They put together this hilarious promo featuring nearly every funny person alive. I might have watched 7 or 8 (teen) times. LizPAA warning - there are two "F" words for the tender-eared



TV wise -

I've been sucked into the very funny world of BBC's "Top Gear". It's a car show hosted by three middle aged perma-adolescents. It's been on the air for about 10 years and most of the series is available on Netflix's Instant Play. I love cars. I love British humor and I love informative playful approaches to things and that is what I love about this show




They go on hilarious adventures like driving to the North Pole and they periodically have Formula 1 drivers on and WOWZAH - some of these boys are quite handsome. I've picked out Jenson Button (UK)



and Mark Webber (AUS) as my favorites.



Why has Formula 1 been keeping these darling boys to themselves?! It's just not fair.

This show has also reinforced my want (read: lust) for some WAY too expensive cars. The show is great though. I have heartily laughed during every episode I've seen. Which is many. Don't ask.

Blog wise -

Hot Guys Reading Books

Enchanted Serenity of Period Films

and Best Week Ever remain places for constant giggles and happiness.

Win Blog deserves an honorable mention as well.

So yay for enjoying myself again and yay for having so much good stuff to enjoy! I hope your weekend is made up of some of the best stuff possible!

love,
your Liz

Hi Again!

Twice in two months! I know! Things are changing around here :)

I finished an AMAZING book last week and I have to write about it. It's one of the best books I picked up since Harry Potter. No joke.

It's called The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss


It's been a long time since I've read book this good. Sometime I've found one that engaged me as well as this one but it's over just as I'm starting. This one was a week's worth of delight.

I loved a lot of things about this book:

One - the writing. It's been a while since I've come across such patient writing. It's not writing that's trying to convince you or charm you or condescend to you or shock you. It's just telling you a glorious story patiently, effectively, and brilliantly.

Two - I love how this is a grown up book. As in, this was written by a self-respecting adult for other self-respecting adults. It nobly steered away from any inappropriate sexuality. It was still there of course, this a story about how a boy became a man. But it's never abused, it's treated with the dignity it deserves. I appreciated that down to my bones. By so you can sense what a real hero the protagonist, Kvothe, is. This is a book I'd read to my kids but discuss with my professors as well. That's a RARE thing to me and I appreciated it more than anything.

Three - this book is laced together with love. It's a love letter to Stories. It's a love letter to Music and the Theater. It's a love letter to Family. It's a thank you note to Struggle. It's letter of recommendation for Nobility and Humility. It comes from such positive places it's impossible not to feel like a better person after reading it.

Four - I love how brave this book is. It directly addresses Religion and History and Faith and Spirituality. It's honest about the veracity of each. It's unapologetic about the good and bad each one has and what a vital roll each one has with our day-to-days. It was refreshing to be able to engage that part of my person and heart with this story because it's not usually not addressed like this in modern Fantasy works. Usually it's much more glib.

Fifth - I love how I didn't feel lied to by this book. Sometimes when you're picking up a "Fantasy" book it's good but it feels a bit plasticy. Almost like a show at Chuck E Cheese. You're entertained by the painfully stiff audio-animotronic 6' mice and beavers but well, much like the pizza there, they leave you feeling unsatisfied. This book feels like a walk through a museum. You feel nourished as well as entertained, you feel spoken to, not spoken at and I deeply value that.

So all that quality combined with a story about the Fae and magic and battling the demon forces of a world and commanding the elements makes for a VERY good read. The next one can't get here soon enough.

Lizzie's 2009 - Literary Edition

So I'll admit it. I'm a learned English major type but do you know how many books I read on my "reading level" this year?

The big bagel - 0

I have found that when under duress reading is an escape to me. 2009, for the most part, = duress. Hence I have not been too interested in most grown up books.

I've got my daily blogs I read and stuff. I keep up with my Economist etc so I'm still reading grown up stuff per say - I'm staying informed. But in terms of the time I've taken to cuddle up with some glue, binding and black print I've been picky and I'll be honest... most of my reading has involved multicolored covered books that are found in the Adolescent Reading section of my B&N. They're simply the best kind of books. They're fantastic story telling, amazing characters, and pertinent plots but without all the angst and bawdiness that is so prevalent in most (grown up) fiction.

So I'm not sure how valuable a 2009 favorites list of mine would be to my faithful 7 readers but I think the books merit recognition anyway.

They're both series and they're both wonderful.

One is The Old Kingdom Books (ie Abhorsen Chronicles) by Garth Nix.
I've mentioned these previously on here when I was in the midst of them. They're just beautiful. Until my friend E recommended them to me, it had been a long time since I had come across a book that was original and written so gently and so brilliantly. Its a fantasy-genre book about a few magical girls named Sabriel and another named Lirael. Sabriel has grown up "across the wall" in a non-magical world but is a part of an intricate and beautiful magical civilization on the other side of the wall and its a story of their brilliant journeys. Its everything I love in books; strong but feminine female characters, humble Christian undertones, a good dose of fantasy and the impossible, music, a clear Good vs Evil story, and a beautiful love story.

The other series are The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Books by Rick Riordan.
I'm not sure if there is something else that has given me more giggles and absolute pleasure than these books this year, with the exception of my friends. Rick is another amazing writer that I kicked myself repeatedly for not discovering earlier. I love Greek Mythology and I love smart, character driven writing and I have a huge soft spot for scruffy, frustrated, brilliant kid types. I worked in a day care center my freshman year of college and I was routinely given the 4 year old A.D.D. kids (mostly boys) that always had dirt on their faces and ripped clothes and were constantly bored, and therefor rambunctious because they were so smart. Pipe-cleaners and circles didn't interest them, taking things apart to see how they worked and bugs did. They were my specialty. I somehow got them to focus and cooperate, or wash their faces and not destroy things for a prolonged period of time. I think its because I just loved them and in turn I LOVE Percy. He is one of those kids, my kids, and now I know why my kids were so squirrely and obstinate. I won't ruin the charm of these books by summarizing but I will say this; the Greek gods are still alive, they're still in charge, they're still moody, they're still having kids, they live in New York (Olympus is on the 800th floor of the Empire State Building), they're still fighting with each other and mortals are still in the middle of it all. There's a movie coming out soon but there's nothing better than those books. My children will have them and love them and be the heroes of their own lives.

So yeah - that's about it for my literary pursuits this year. I'll try harder next year. I promise.

Media Corner

So I've got a bit of time on my hands but even when I don't I'm a HUGE media consumer. Music, movies and books pepper almost every corner of my life. This is what I've been the most excited about recently or am very much looking forward to.

MOVIES

So I think, Summer wise -

My favs were Star Trek, (500) Days of Summer, The Brothers Bloom, Up, Harry Potter 6, and Taking Woodstock

Honorable mentions but not favs include: Moon, The Proposal, Ice Age 3, Julie & Julia

Train wrecks would be: Year One, Transformers 2, and I Love You, Beth Cooper

And ones I missed that I still want to see are: My Life in Ruins, Food, Inc, Whatever Works, The Hurt Locker, Funny People, The Cove, Paperheart, and Ponyo

However, I was paroussing my favorite release site that includes all the indie flicks the big box ones don't and there are more amazing films coming out this holiday season. Its a great time for movies I think. A lot of indie writers are getting money and there is just a lot of talent out there right now.

What I'm looking forward to in September is -

Coco Before Chanel with the timeless Audrey Tautao from another fav Amalie









October is looking like a solid month

Where the Wild Things Are


The Invention of Lying





November starts all the Christmas Season blockbusters; Disney's Christmas Carol, The Princess and the Frog, yeah yeah yeah

but some good indies are coming out too that I'm sort of in love with already



The Boat that Rocked






And December has a crown jewel. They've recovered a lost screenplay Tennessee Williams was working on and made it and its coming out on Dec 20th!! I'm SO excited!




MUSIC

Joe Pug. I started watching this video prompted by a gmail status of a fellow musicphile. I was a bit skeptical and hes not exactly a trained voice but I was transfixed. It had been so long that I had heard such good writing so honestly sung. I'm kind of in love with the guy now. Hes coming to The Mint in Oct. I'm going. Tickets are $10. Let me know if you want to come. I'm pretty sure it will change my life. My friend who tipped me off when he saw him said it was so beautiful he almost cried. I. Cannot. Wait.



I caught a Greg Laswell set when I was in SLC this summer and he had an opener that really caught my fancy. They're called Elizabeth and the Catapult. I really liked the jazzy voice of Elizabeth and its pairing with the rockabilly band. This is their one existing official video but my favorite off the album is this Leonard Cohen cover.

Imogen Heap's new album Ellipse is constantly blowing me away (thanks Brett). This is one of my favorites

Muse's new album The Resistance came out today too. I've yet to procure it but I'm pretty excited to do so.

The Knife has been rocking my world pretty consistently lately too. Another pass along from Brett. They're rather fabulous.



BOOKS

On the literary front I've been stuck somewhere between Dr. Seuss and coloring books. I keep thinking I should read something a bit more elevated and stuff but then I think "Why? Adolescent lit is the best of both worlds. Its amazing story telling with quality multi-dimensional characters but without all of the depression, lameness and lasciviousness that is in modern "high lit". So lately read all 3 of the Howl's Moving Castle books (totally awesome and very different from the movie. Read it and love it for it's unique wonder) and have moved on to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (equally but differently awesome). I'm still deciding if I'm a daughter of Zeus or Athena... Anywho - they're super fun quick reads that I totally recommend. Rick Riordan writes like your reading your best friend's blog. I kind of love him and the premise for the whole series. I'm off to Barns and Noble right now to finish reading the third one now that I'm thinking about it.

Long live the arts and God bless YouTube!

Lizzie out

Standards people! Standards!

Dear Barns & Noble and Customer Service Girl,

We have to talk.

There are certain levels of ridiculous that I love and welcome, my latest experience in your store was not the welcomed kind.

I, like any responsible English Major Alum, have been improving my exposure to The Classics post degree so I've been reading Uncle Tom's Cabin online. It just wasn't a pleasurable process so I decided to go get a copy of the actual book. I'm broke and unemployed but I'll still spend $6 on a book.

After looking around for a clearly labeled "Classics" section and finding none (strike 1), I approached the very nice girl at the Customer Service desk to ask for Uncle Tom's Cabin.

You know, just one of the most influential books written in it's century? That short work of fiction that was HIDEOUSLY popular for it's day and accelerated the already eminent Civil War in the name of "freedom" (IE: Slavery)? I couldn't help but notice that this particular individual shared African heritage as well so I thought I'd get a smile at least or a awesome-book nod. But no, do you know what her response was?

"And who's that by?"

You're female, you're Black, you work in a book store and you're asking me who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin??!

Disappointed, disgusted, and resignedly rubbing my eyes,
~Mz. Liz

The Real Ms. Stacy

There are a lot of things I need to remember more. One being that despite being of the Land of Bonkers, that my mother is magical and two, that I am very lucky to have her.

We have this adorable family that comes and takes care of our yard. The father and mother and kids all show up every week and roar their horrid leaf blowers to life and prune and pluck and all that jazz. One of the members of this family is this sweet 13 year old girl. None of them really speak English too well but you can tell from just meeting them that they’re good honest souls. They even bring their little dog to help work. It’s serious ohana on Saturdays at our place.

Mom has a little garden that she loves a lot. It’s this random hodge-podge of potted this and thats put around the outside of the house in about the same order that they would go in her brain, which is in circular order from the door on out of which one is prettiest and makes her the happiest. That day. A garden in a distinctly sectioned off patch of earth with rows of things??! Please – that is for the common folk… And we all know that that is not my mother.

So, though mom loves piddling in her garden getting to it and getting everything watered regularly is a bit of a challenge, she’s befriended this little girl (they’re about the same age I think) and she helps her with her garden. Well amongst a Saturday chat it came out that this girl likes to read (she goes to school and speaks good English, it’s just the parents that don’t) and mom started chirping about Twilight and the girl said that she’d love to read it but her family has no extra money for books and she has no time to get to the library because she works when she’s not in school.

So mom went directly into the house and got the book, handed it to this adorable 13 year old girl and she almost started crying and gave my mom a tearful and silent hug. Mom said she could bring it back whenever she was finished and the girl was so excited she didn’t let it go the rest of the time she was there. The whole family sleeps in the same room so she had to stay up at night reading in the bathroom so the light wouldn’t wake everybody else and she finished it in days with nothing but smiles. She brought it back and mom gave her New Moon but couldn’t find her copy of Eclipse so she snuck into my room and gave her my copy.

So when I came home from AZ on Sunday night mom had that busted kid look on her face and I knew exactly what it meant. She only gets that way about stuff that she’s messed with that I truly care about which is usually my books. She has a bad habit of not asking about stuff and an even worse habit of being super hard on books. So I said “Which book did you borrow mom?” and she explained the story to me and swore on Odin’s eye patch that if anything happened to it she’d replace it and throw in some chocolate as well but the last thing on my mind was the safety and structural integrity of my book. I was floored and humbled.

Humbled that I don’t have to stay up late sitting on a cold bathroom floor to be able to read, humbled that I have a mother who is so capable of touching and giving the magic of books to the exact person who needs it the most, humbled that that magic lady down the street that dresses funny but changes your world is my mother. Like this little girl will never forget my mom because of her kindness and because of her ability to see people as people, that she was an honest friend, that she was concerned about this little girl’s mind and heart insomuch that she gave her a book to read, a book that she’ll love.

I complain more than I should about my insane mother, but she is some of the best kind of people that does the best kind of things and I consider myself truly blessed to have her and for the mental and emotional freedoms she’s given me by reading to me and handing me a book. By seeing my mind and my heart and knowing how to affect both. Mom truly understands Christmas. She truly understands a lot of things.

I need to get a set of Twilight for that sweet girl for Christmas. And a reading light, or a pillow. Or both. Who’s with me?

Wednesday Giggles

And it's been a while since I've laughed -

Food for thought for us members of P.O.E.M.

Proper Chagrins

I think this is going to be a recurring series of blogs (I think that makes 3 for me) because that seems to be what my life turning out to be about. Eating crow. And in all reality, I'm not minding at all.

This time around is in regards to a series of books that I have purposefully avoided for awhile. A long while. Like 4 years-awhile.My old roommate, shortly after we both fled from the Pit of Despair and found our own little niches was all squeals and giggles about it. I was excited at first because she is a total book soul mate. Harry Potter - same page. LOTR - same page. The Georgia Nicholson Confessions - same page. I don't know why I doubted her. I knew she had a particular love for vampires that I didn't really share but no biggie right?

What turned me off the most was *gulp* that it was and LDS author.

I know - I know!
I'm such a snob.

But every single run in I've had with LDS fiction up to this point in time has been campy and a total let down. The only LDS fiction that I own and love has principally been written by people that I know directly and because one of the books was dedicated to me. I mostly find it to be the equivalent of that Halloween candy that sticks around forever and ever. You know, those strawberry candies and multi colored versions of those pinwheel mints. Its candy, but not really candy. Blah - no good.

She found it in the Deseret Book Catalog and typically anything in there that isn't written by a General Authority just doesn't blip on my radar. She had the good sense to pick up on it, but I wasn't feeling it. Her whole experience is here.

Her passionate recommendation was the first in a long line of people from almost every different aspect of my life. It seemed everywhere I went I was getting "What??! You haven't read these yet?!" People from work, people from school, people I happened to be chatting up at Jiffy Lube... It was getting ridiculous. This disinclined me even more because if too many people like something I'm automatically more skeptical. Like all those people that told me to go see Titanic. You know who you are!...... 4 hours I'll NEVER get back. Ever.

So, I started to consider picking it up when my mother turned into a big pair of eyes and half finished incredulous sentences at the thought of me not having read them-

What do you mea....?
How can you....?!
They're som......
You simply hav.......

My mom brought it up at book club as a possible book and one of the ladies who had read it and loved it was like "I wouldn't give it to anyone younger than 16 to read... I wouldn't want my girls thinking its OK to lie in bed with their boyfriends" and I thought -

Whattha....? That's weird... That's not a part of the Mormon Fiction formula. Maybe this is just a normal book that happens to just be written by an LDS author and the Mormon Culture PR machine simply picked it up.

The final needle in they straw stack was one of my Beehives (I'm the 1st counselor in my ward's YW). She came up to on Sunday after church all far off looks and fluttery eyelashes just sighing about how much she loved Twilight and how they're her FAVORITE books ever and how she doesn't really like reading but she's read them three times and how August 2nd can't come fast enough etc and I thought -

OK - so this book is getting my girls to read AND it might not be appropriate for a 12 year old... I'm the book geek/adult type here. If my girls are reading these I should know what's in them in case something needs to be discussed that's not appropriate and so I know whats going into their little heads. These are my girls. It's my job to know.

That was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend I had just finished The Other Boleyn Girl and I needed a new book.

Total aside of an unsolicited review: The Other Boleyn Girl was lovely. It was.... Elizabethan. Not PG rated by any means but fabulously engaging for us costume freak types and I'm obsessed with the Tutors anyway. It doesn't take much. Elizabeth I is a hero of mine and anything surrounding her = awesome. Pure awesome as a matter of fact. She makes me proud to have the name I do. Love love love her. Lovelovelovelove.

I ploughed through The Other Boleyn Girl the beginning of that weekend. I was slightly reeling from the strange weekend I had had the week before and needed to escape for a bit.

So with all this preamble, and ice cracking, and prejudice overcoming, and not being too ready come up for air in reality -

I picked up Twilight.

Now, you need to understand - I love books. As a function of my genetics and upbringing they are the next best thing to marzipan, and foot rubs, shoe shopping. I'm a dyslexic kid but my love for them overcame that, saw me through adolescence, AP English and they have been my sanity and refuge since. I'm an English major, the daughter of and English major, the grand daughter of and English major, and a great granddaughter of an English major. Some families have jewelry, mine has books.

So - that being said, it's a given that I loved this book by the simple fact that it was bound, had words on paper and told a story of some kind. Also, it had added stock because it was an Adolescent Lit book. They're the best kind. There really isn't much getting around that.

But from go I didn't just love this book. It was a book that I fell in love with. I started when I woke up the next morning and stayed up till 2. I didn't eat or do much of anything. Just shifted from one posture to another in my reading chair. I got strangely annoyed every time my mom knocked on my door or when my text message alert chimed (*gasp* - I know! It was an annoyance to text! Me!! It's Armageddon.) I was mad that my eyes were too tired to work anymore after 16 hours, not to mention that I had to work in 6.

I woke up and seriously considered calling in sick to work to finish. I didn't. I didn't! But I did think about it and that made me sit up and take notice. I haven't been that into a book since Harry Potter. These characters were real to me, they were people I was invested in and their story was fantastically real. I loved falling in love with Edward alongside Bella and being just as confused and fascinated with what on earth was going on in that lovely lovely head of his. I saw many if not all of my own awkward and beloved moments of falling in love with hers and Edwards relationship.

Yup, yup. I've been in that sitting at the same lab table and being so distracted by how attracted I was to the person sitting next to me that whatever we're doing was all but noise in the background situation before etc etc...

I loved her goofy old truck that tapped out at 45 mph. My first car was a '69 Ford Falcon that wasn't in much better shape but I loved just a much, if not more.

I could smell the humid air and feel the angst and sympathize with the gravity of feeling yourself for the first time and seeing yourself for the first time through someone else's eyes.

I loved how it was this marvelous look at what it meant to be human and the humanizing effects falling in love has. How it brings out the best and worst in us and that suddenly both are OK. I loved how Bella has a hard time accepting the excellence that is just laying in wait to be hers in the form of the Cullen family and Edward. With every page turn I found something else to love in this simple, totally heartfelt story.

I took the book to work but kept it in my car because I knew I'd just ignore my work if I took it in. I snuck downstairs and to my car for both my breaks (which I never take), took a long lunch and read and finally finished that night and had the second book New Moon within arms reach as soon as I was done.

New Moon was another 600 some odd pages of awesome with better writing and a whole new side of the story.

Same with Eclipse. I was done with all 3 by Thursday cursing work, eating and sleep the whole way. St Francis of Azizi always called his body and the appetites binding it "Brother Pig" and for once I understood that concept. Sister Sow (that's the girl version according to my mom)! I'd say, Behave yourself and just let me get through this one part.

I didn't find it inappropriate for my Beehives to read at all. In fact, I had an emphatic discussion with all my girls about it last night at mutual and it opened up a nice and constructive dialog about boyfriend dynamics and what's appropriate and what wasn't. It was fantastic. I told them since there is a good chance whomever they decided to date probably won't be a vampire a different set of norms applies but Edward should teach them the difference between a boy and a man and never to settle for the former. It was great. I felt all grown up and sagy, but in-the-know at the same time.

I started talking to whomever I could remember that had read it so that I could gush. I had to. This was too much good to not be spoken of. This isn't a casual read. These aren't wall paper characters that adorn a house or a mind. These are limelight people that harrow as much devotion out of you as Frodo and Harry. I know that's big talk, but for me it's true and from what I've seen of others, it's true for them too.

I even told a fellow Harry Potterer guy type that he needed to read it. He gave me crap about it being a chick book and a smutty romance, neither of which is true. But he went out to Borders and got it anyway and is reading even though he's in medical school and on rotations. Ha! Good man.

It's an amazing set of books and I'm really excited for Aug 2nd now too. I have no idea where it's going to end and who is going to end up with who or how any of the brewing impossible situation is going to work. I'm not sure a happily ever after is possible, but I'm hoping and Stephanie has shown a marvelous talent for figuring out how to do that.

It's a book that is lovely, of good report and all that. Also, it's moral and entertaining and really positive. It's SO RARE to find that anymore and I can't help but want to send a hefty, card stocky, embossed thank you to Stephanie for it. We owe her a lot.

Journey to the Past

So now that I'm an official degree holding member of the Literature Legion I've been looking back on the number of books that I've "read" through my education and I find that I can barely remember who wrote what and my general emotional reaction to the work. Site content or or characters or governing metaphor? Forget it.

So I have these precious 9 months (well 8 now really) being totally and completely assignment free so I've decided to use this time to revisit the books that I've read, or "read", or should have read to equip myself for whats coming and what I'll be expected to know in grad school. I'm hoping I'll be able to see them with new eyes since I'm a bit older and have a little bit more of an education. Who knows, I may even like them this time around.

The list I've put together so far

Tom Sawyer
Huck Finn
The Lord of the Flies
Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
The Grapes of Wrath
Invisible Man
Things Fall Apart
A Tale of Two Cities
Great Expectations
To Kill a Mocking Bird
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Red Badge of Courage
The Scarlet Letter
The Sound and the Fury
The Return of the Native
Ivanhoe
Of Mice and Men
Cry, the Beloved Country
1984
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Les Misarables

I know there are a good number of ones not mentioned so if you have other suggestions or memories of high school English Class lemme know, or if you've read one of these books and it really is a horrific downer warn me. I'm off to Borders.... *da-ta da-ta da-ta*

Giggles and Snorts

There are a great many hilarious things in this world. It's one of the aspects of life that makes it less Inquisitorial (the Spanish kind of course). Because of the Internet we have access to many of them. Some of them highly stupid but others are in slightly more tangible form and have much more to offer

One of these things is Louise Rennisons' book series -The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson - I'm a fan. A HUGE fan. I want to make her my best best besty mate (Louise, not Georgie. Though Georgie wouldn't be a bore by any means. Louise sort of has that "real person" appeal though.) Where was I? Oh -yes we'll be besties and do nothing but people watch from fabby London coffee houses and try on shoes all day. Rachel actually turned me on to these books and I owe her my first born and rooms full spun gold for it (love you Rachel! More than a lot.).

Last night in particular I was reading the 8th installment of Georgie's adventures and about every other page had to put the book down to guffaw and wipe away the tears of mirth.

As an example the chapter headings go something like this "Blah-blah rubbish rubbish dribble dribble dribble arse".

One of the most charming features of her books is the glossaries. She provides them for those of us who haven't grown up on Britcoms or BBC America and who might get lost in the knickers, daft, naff, spotted, lippy of it all.

These were some of my favs

(They just need bloggy immortailization)

Milky pops - A soothing hot milk drink, when you are a little person. (No, not an elf, I mean a child.) Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, when you are a child, people give words endings to make them more cozy. Chocolate is therefore choccy woccy doo dah. Blanket is blankin'. Tooth is tushy peg. Easy is easy peasy lemon squeasey. If grown ups ever talk like this, do not hesitate to kill them.

Emily Plankton - Hang on, now that you mention it, I may be getting muddled up between the famous suffragette Emily Whatsit and the stuff that fish eat. Was it Emily Pancake then? No, wait a minute, Pankhurst - Emily Pankhurst. What is this anyway, some kind of general knowledge quiz?

The Sound of Music - Oh are we never to be free? The Sound of Music was a film about some bint, Julie Andrews, skipping around in the Alps singing about goats. Many many famous and annoying songs come from this film, including "The Hills Are Alive with the Sounds of PANTS," "You Are Sixteen Going on PANTS," and, of course, the one about the national flower of Austria, "IdlePANTS."

Prat - A prat is a gormless oik. You make a prat of yourself by mistakenly putting both legs down one knicker leg or by playing air guitar at pop concerts.

I just laugh and laugh. And then laugh like a laughing loon on laughing pills.

Manna for the soul ladies - manna for the soul.

A New Advent

So - It's July 20th. Well, nearly anyway, and one would think that it would take a ridiculously large life event like getting into the PhD program I really don't have a shot at or a proposal or finally meeting Emma Thompson that would finally drive me from the halls of the blogless - but here I am and you know whats on my mind? ... Harry Potter.

Yes - this emotionally constipated, angst filled, abused and tussled boy that has been a buddy of mine for the last 6 years and his posse are occupying a good part of my heart and brain tonight.

Yes it's just a book.

Yes it's a young adult book at that.

Yes it's formulaic

And has been talked about ad nauseum

and there are freaky and unbalanced people out there trying to write dissertations about the social strata in the Wizarding World

As a total aside: I will be honest, that royally creeps me out. People with so little identity that need to glom onto a story like this in such a fashion need a few adventures of their own to work with before they delve into such a story.

But you know what?

I love it.

I love it like I still unabashedly love Saturday morning cartoons and swinging my arms high and walking with out bending my knees like a 5 years old does in the hallways of my cubicle farm when no one is looking. I love it like I still love shooting pixie sticks with my brother. I love Harry and everyone he loves. I've watched him grow up. I've even cried for the bugger.

As a serious literary academic (or someone with a degree) I suppose I should point out the nearly bottomless value of character composition and placement and the flawless Classical, Neo-Classical and Medieval allusions and metaphor. Or the perfect execution of telling a new story about a universal theme. I could outline the brilliant social satire it is and how it poignantly addresses multiple, pretty much every, significant question and theme in individual and group think. But, honestly, that's not why I love it and that's not why the books are great. All the academic vernacular just outlines the reasons why the books are so good, but I love it because these characters, these places, these events and heart aches and cracked bones and lost battles and won battles and inside jokes and crazy families and a slew of desperatly important people that all seem to be on society's fringe and just general brilliant catastrophe that has happened to this cast resonates so profoundly with my own journey.

For example: I have had a professor that was very much, down the half-moon spectacles, Dumbledore. Childlike, powerful, humble, adventuresome, fierce and fatherly and always with life changing questions with an eye twinkle and a wink. No wrong could happen on his watch or in his classroom - we were safe, and not only safe but respected and given an education(like taught - the kind of teaching that goes straight to the heart. Like the kind that skips he brain/logic sentinel) when the rest of the school was pretty much a struggle on an easy day

I could go on - and if you ask me to I will - I have much to say on the subject, but that isn't what finally made me decided to start my blog.

It was how sad I am that in about 24 hours and some change it will be over. The story will be done. JK Rowling is finished and even though I finally get to see that Snape is a good man and he and Harry will FINALLY understand each other for a fleeting second before he gets killed and Harry gets Voldermort (that's my prediction at least) - but the thrill of the "next book" will be gone. Its the end of an era - of an institution. I wonder if this is how the original Star Wars fans felt about Return of the Jedi? I should ask my dad -

But that's not the point.

The point is - I've rarely felt so conflicted over an element of pop culture before. If they discontinued pixie sticks or Saturday morning cartoons I think I would feel much differently. Like I would be sad, I might even throw a party to say good bye if I was feeling saucy enough.

But I will miss Harry. I will miss all the thrill of a new installment very much. I am excited for Harry to finish his journey, but I am sad to see him go.

Harry Potter is more than a story - he has done what good books should do. He became my friend. All of them did. That's how good these books are to me and I am positive that in time they will be a marker and probably a bulwark of our generation. I was glad to be a part of it. But mostly, I will miss him.