Fragile Things Group Read, Week 3 Ketchup

Week 3 group read of Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman and I’m all caught up. And as always, the ever mindful SPOILER ALERT so here we go! For the third week, the assigned stories were:

Going Wodwo

Bitter Grounds

Other People

Keepsakes and Treasures

Going Wodwo: A poem. I had to look up wodwo. It’s a wild man of the forest. The poem made a lot more sense reading it a second time. I really like this line at the beginning...

“Shedding my shirt, my book, my coat, my life

Leaving them, empty husks and fallen leaves”

Once again, Neil has a gift with words. And while I admire someone with the courage to run free, I don’t think I could live without hot running water.

Bitter Grounds: I didn’t understand the zombie coffee girls and I don't want them bringing me any coffee if it means that's it for me. So the main character said in the beginning that "In every way that counted, I was dead." Then a few lines down there was this "If I could have physically passed away, just let it all go, like that, without doing anything, stepped out of life as easily as walking through a door, I would have done." From this I got he was basically done with life. Something happened to this man and he was ready to check out. So he did. He left. Kept driving and even assumed the identity of someone else. Maybe this was his last road trip before passing on? Or maybe he was the walking dead the whole time? I haven't really decided. It reminded me of American Gods, where the main character's dead wife kept stalking him.

Other People: An interesting story of what hell and eternal torment could be like. Something to look forward to maybe; the chance to torment others once you’ve had your turn, but the path to get there? Not for me.

Keepsakes and Treasures: This too felt like it could have been part of American Gods. Myths and legends I don’t know about (or perhaps they were just made up?) and sordid people. Smith I did not like. I’m not sure if he was joking about having a preference for young girls or if he really does. I’m pretty sure he does so... GROSS. Human trafficking and men who prefer little girls... SO NOT MY FAVORITE AT ALL!

I liked the stories from the first and second weeks so far. These last four I couldn’t connect with, similar to the way I didn’t quite connect with American Gods. So far my favorites are October in the Chair and Faceless Brides in the House of Dread or whatever it’s called. It reminded me of Good Omens - a book I truly loved - with it’s cheekiness.

Banned or Challenged Books: What's On Your Shelf?

In honor of Banned Books Week I decided to sort through my collection to see what books I have that have been banned or challenged:


The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Challenged for language and sexual references. So it was challenged for representing normal adult behavior?

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: One of the most challenged books for its offensive language and being sexually explicit... my kind of book, obviously!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Challenged for being sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and for its violence. I can see that. It is intense, but seriously, let a parent decide, don't make that decision before they even get a chance to.

1984 by George Orwell: I haven't read this one but my husband has. The copy we have has some fun notes and newspaper clippings. Someone did their homework. It was challenged for being "pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter". From what I do know of the book, it seems awfully familiar.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway: My husband picked up a huge box of free books that we then sorted through and kept what we wanted, then donated the rest. I kept this one so I would look smart with it sitting on the shelf. I think I’ve broken some unspoken rule that a reader should read Hemingway at some point. It's been banned and challenged and even burned by the Nazis! Why have I not read this yet?!

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: Burned?! Really?! Please tell me what’s wrong with good triumphing over evil? Book burning Nazis!

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote: Banned then reinstated, the drama started when "a parent complained about sex, violence, and profanity in the book that was part of an Advanced Placement English Class." Ask the instructor for an alternate book to read, duh. I must get this one read by the end of the year. I will be ashamed of myself if I don’t.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: Challenged for it's racism. I can understand that. I only read the first part in high school and managed to get by with the assignments. Someday I'll go back and give it another go. And even with my limited knowledge of the book, I believe there is a reason it's assigned reading, such as, oh I don't know, learn from our country's past mistakes!

The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling: Challenged for promoting Satanism and it's violence. So? I've read them and as far as I know I have no desire to practice black magic. My daughter though... should I be concerned?

And there are many that have been banned or challenged that I would like to read, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Slaughterhouse Five, etc.

So, what banned books have you read or would like to read? Which are your favorites?

Also, if you have a few minutes, check out the Virtual Read Out Youtube channel. And this put a smile on my face: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/molly-raphael/banned-books-week-censorship_b_977058.html

Fragile Things Group Read, Week 2 Ketchup

Alright, remember I’m playing ketchup with the group read for Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. And, once again, there will be SPOILERS. For the second week, the stories were:

The Hidden Chamber

Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire

The Flints of Memory Lane

Closing Time

The Hidden Chamber: Another poem. Dark and frightening “knowing that there’s a space without a door knowing that there’s a place that’s locked but isn’t there.” That line really stood out. Gaiman really knows how to write. It’s a poem about Bluebeard. I had to do some homework and once I did and reread it, this poem made a lot more sense and was even more chilling.

Forbidden Brides of the yadda yadda yadda: This story I found quite silly and fun. It’s a “facetious” (a word a learned from Neil’s introduction and now love) gothic thriller with a pretentious writer trying to write a... gothic thriller, who then comes face to face with a long lost brother who has returned to claim his birthright to only then be killed by the writer brother. It makes me smile thinking about it. Oh, just read this!

“Yes - I! I, your elder brother, whom you thought dead these many years. But I am not dead - or, perhaps, I am no longer dead - and I have come back - aye, come back from ways that are best left untraveled - to claim what is truly mine.”

Then just a paragraph down there’s this...

“Proof? I need no proof. I claim birth-right, and blood-right - and death-right!”

Cracks me up!

The Flints of Memory Lane: This one didn’t leave much of an impression. It’s a recollection of a unimpressive ghostly encounter.

Closing Time: Okay, all I want to know is what happened to the three boys that walked into the play house and if that old man in the end was one of them, why didn’t he say what happened?!

Alright, so in this batch of stories I liked three out of four. Let’s see what the third week stories bring...

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming To Bring You This Very Important Message...

... for Banned Books Week from September 24th to October 1st.

Now, I don’t have plans to read a banned book this week. I believe I’ve read plenty that have been banned or challenged (The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, Brave New World, Gone with the Wind, The Lord of the Rings...) and will read more in the future. Also, I’m almost done with House of Leaves and I have other books waiting their turn. So, I’ve decided to participate in the Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out.

My book of choice will be The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I bought a copy not too long ago just to have one. I’ve read it twice in my lifetime. I’m reading a favorite part me and a good friend of mine got a real kick out of when we first read it in high school. Also, on a side note, our English teacher at the time ran the Holden Caulfield Fencing Society, a fencing club at our high school. Cool.

Don’t ban books. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. Don’t take away the rights of others to choose for themselves.

Celebrate the right to read!

Fragile Things Group Read, Week 1 Ketchup

Stainless Steel Droppings, the same blog hosting the R.I.P. Challenge I’m participating in, also hosts group readings. One of them is a group read of Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, a book I happen to have that had been sitting on my shelf, unread for the past year, so I figured why not.

I am, however, a bit late to the party, having missed the first three weeks of discussions, so this week I’ll be playing ketchup.

So, the first week stories are:

Introduction

A Study in Emerald

The Fairy Reel

October in the Chair

Be warned, there will be SPOILERS!

Introduction: I really liked reading about the inspiration and back-stories to some of the writings in this collection. There’s also a secret short story hidden within. Plus, there was this:

“Writing’s a lot like cooking. Sometimes the cake won’t rise, no matter what you do, and every now and again the cake tastes better than you ever could have dreamed it would.”

This made me smile and brought a tear to my eye when I first read it. Still does. I’ve been writing an original story of my own and sometimes it won’t speak to me. This made me not lose hope.

A Study in Emerald: A role reversal with Moriarty investigating a crime committed by Holmes and Watson. I’ve never read any Sherlock Holmes. My husband has and the style of Neil’s version is similar to what my husband described. However, it is not revealed who is looking for who until the end, so throughout I was under the impression it was Holmes and Watson and therefore imagining Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. I was a little disappointed that they were the bad guys. But it was an interesting idea.

This story was a mixture of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft. Having not read either I didn't really get it. I'll have to revisit after doing some homework.

The Fairy Reel: A poem. I don’t read much poetry and it was nice but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me when I first read it. Neil said it was fun to read aloud so I read it to my daughter and it was quite nice.

October in the Chair: I really liked this one. I didn't really get the months of the year, portrayed as people sitting around a camp fire, who gathered together to tell stories. I did like October's story very much though. There is some lovely writing here:

“Then the railroad came and they built a stop in the next town over, and our town sort of dried up and fell in and blew away.”

“Everything waited. The night was ending. The world was holding it’s breath, preparing to begin again.”

In the Introduction, Neil wrote this was a “dry run” for The Graveyard Book, a book I will have to read on my own very very soon now.

So far so good. Looking forward to the next four stories. I’ll have a write up for them on Wednesday.

From Miss Congeniality To Pirate Princess?

In Libba Bray's Beauty Queens, twelve Teen Dream beauty pageant contestants are the survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island. Together they will break the stereotypes society has boxed them into, discover their self worth and learn to survive on their own, becoming much more than what is expected of them; perfect role models who say the right things, wave, smile and stand around looking pretty.

I enjoyed reading about each girl embracing their new found freedom and self discovery. But just when it seemed Beauty Queens was getting After School Specially on me, head Teen Dream, Miss Texas, has a complete breakdown, and goes Rambo in the jungle! Then, after the teasing of the reality show, Captains Bodacious IV: Badder and More Bodaciouser, the muscular, shirtless stars in breeches who sail the high seas end up shipwrecked on the same island as our Team Dreamers! This book did not disappoint and sealed the deal with Sinjin St. Sinjin, the Captain with a penchant for transgender vixens, heels and fishnets with “sexxy” and “beast” tattooed on his knuckles. And I thought Confessions of a Shopaholic had a couple of nice laugh out loud moments but it has now become the forgotten runner up as Beauty Queens wins the crown and roses!

But even though I did enjoy the arrival of the sexy pirates it just led into teenage drama territory with it's boys vs. girls nonsense. I would have preferred its Lord of the Flies-lite vibe and it ending with a Cast Away feel; with the girls escaping on their own.

The end was a little disappointing with it’s "rescue" and soul train send off of the girls but it was still a fun book and the laugh out loud moments throughout made up for it. There were plenty too. You can see where I marked them:

I’d recommend it as a good weekend read when you want some good laughs.

The Remake I Don’t Really Have An Issue With (Yeah, right! I always take issue with something!)

I liked The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. But the last time (the only time, actually) I read The Great Gatsby was in high school. I also saw the Robert Redford version of the movie once. It was long ago and I guess I liked it but who cares because there’s the new one to look forward to! And in 3D!

Confession: I’ve only seen one movie in 3D and that was Toy Story 3. All I have to say was THANK GOODNESS for those glasses because I was (damn you Pixar) crying! But that also exposes my limited experience with 3D.

I have faith in this 3D version of The Great Gatsby though. 1) It’s actually being filmed in 3D, so from what I’ve read of films converted to 3D post production, those don’t always work out so well. 2) I LOVE Baz Luhrmann. I ONLY sing the Moulin Rouge version of Your Song. Sorry Elton. 3) Well, obviously based on the previous statement I love me some Moulin Rouge. Musicals make me happy and it's so visually interesting so I’m curious to see Baz’s vision of The Great Gatsby.

Another reason I have faith in this remake... Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby. Have you seen The Departed or Shutter Island? So good. We’ll just ignore the fact he was in Romeo + Juliet because we all know he didn’t get good until he grew out of that teenage heartthrob phase. But The Departed? I really liked that movie. Of course it’s not the best from Martin Scorsese (that’s because nothing can top Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or Goodfellas) but of everyone in The Departed, I thought DiCaprio was the best. But I was disappointed by the ending because SPOILER ALERT he is killed and the only person left was Marky Mark! Seriously?! I was not a happy movie watcher. Oh, and he was good in Inception too. So, Leonardo DiCaprio fan? Yes I am.

My only issue is that The Great Gatsby is a very American novel, being adapted (again!) and filmed in Australia. Oh well, I believe it's in good hands so I am looking forward to seeing it.

Your pizza delivered on time by Yours Truly, Hiro Protagonist

Hiro Protagonist - pizza deliverer (The Deliverator!), hacker, swordsman - lives in an alternate reality/future where the United States has been carved up into franchises, each ruled independently; all which feels very real and highly possible. With the help of fifteen year old Y.T., a skateboarding Kourier, he’s racing to discover the mystery of Snow Crash, a computer virus/drug that has been striking down hackers in the metaverse and is known for causing people to speak in tongues.

I really really really liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I love how it’s written from the point of view of someone in this alternate/futuristic society. There’s no dictionary to refer to for the slang or charts or maps to show how California has been carved up into these franchises. You have to insert yourself into this world and keep up. Nobody is going to hold your hand or explain everything to you. You just have to hold on and go along for the ride.

I found it refreshing that Neal Stephenson didn’t feel the need to have to explain everything to me. I had fun as I read, realizing that over time we could possibly adapt and evolve into this kind of society. It’s a smart read that moves quickly and while there’s not a whole lot of background on the characters, you like them. There’s no hokey, cheesy sympathy story that says you HAVE to like them. They are there, they are in this situation, and while there is some background, you ultimately get to judge. It doesn’t feel like the author is forcing you to have certain feelings for them. Does that make any sense?! Well, it will if you read it. HINT HINT.

And I guess this means I'm ready to read Reamde now!

My First Reading Challenge!

I will be participating in my first reading challenge! From September 1st to October 31st, Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting the R.I.P. Challenge. The purpose is to read a book classified as a Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror or Supernatural. There are several levels to choose from and I’ve chosen two different levels:

Peril the Third

My book of choice will be House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I’m kinda cheating because I already planned to finish up House of Leaves after Beauty Queens. A friend highly recommended it and I was also asked to participate in a planned book review for our office newsletter. So this just fits perfectly into my grand reading scheme.

Peril of the Short Story

My short story of choice is At The Mountain of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. I picked up a book of Lovecraft short stories from the library a week ago so it’s just in time for the challenge. And I’ve been dying to read this short story for a very long time now.

I don’t normally participate in challenges or keep a strict reading schedule. I let books call to me and read whoever shouted the loudest. But the stars were aligned (Fall/Halloween around the corner/Scary Book Season), the books readily available and staring at me from the big pile next to the bed so I happily accept the challenge.

P.S. Hugs and kisses to my husband who had knee surgery today! Let's get you healed up!

P.P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!

I Want To Get Away, I Want To Fly Away

If it had not been for the No Reservations Shangai episode, I never would have considered reading Lost Horizon by James Hilton. It was the title and the idea of Shangri-La that caught my attention. This was one of those books that lingered on the fringes of my conscience whispering, “Read me, read me, read me...” So I finally gave in.

Lost Horizon is the story of Hugh Conway, who, along with three others, are kidnapped and left stranded in the mountains of Tibet, at a place called Shangri-La, a hidden monastery. Finding there is no easy way to return to friends and family, they are forced to wait for an opportunity to leave through the perilous mountain passes. Shangri-La, is a sanctuary, that, throughout his stay, Conway, a weary veteran of the trenches of World War I, is discovering that perhaps he’s not in a hurry to leave; that maybe he’d like to stay. Shangri-La offers him peace and contentment.

The more content Conway became in Shangri-La, the more I began marking the beautifully written passages that described the inner peace he was discovering. From a man who describes is war experience like this:

“I was excited and suicidal and scared and reckless and sometimes in a tearing rage - like a few million others, in fact. I got mad drunk and killed and lechered in great style. It was the self-abuse of all one’s emotions, and one came through it, if one did at all, with a sense of almighty boredom and fretfulness.”

To feeling the full effects of Shangri-La:

“... in the midst of the still-encompassing dream, he felt himself master of Shangri-La. These were his beloved things, all around him, the things of that inner mind in which he lived increasingly, away from the fret of the world.”

You can’t blame Conway for wanting to stay, especially with the threat of another world war looming in Europe. I loved the sense of quiet contentment felt by Conway throughout his stay in Shangri-La. It felt well deserved after all he’d been through.

And I felt I deserved reading Lost Horizon. It was such a relief to read. It was so well written and provided a sense of calm to my Mockingjay rattled mind as I joined Conway on his discovery of inner peace. Sometimes it feels like with some books, such as Mockingjay, there’s too much focus on concept and not enough on execution (or logic). Lost Horizon is a great combination of both and it was a joy to read.

The X Marks The Spot of Some First Class Entertainment!

This weekend I bought X-Men: First Class on DVD. There’s a bit of back story when it comes to X-Men movies and me. As the movie came rolling around I was skeptical and I wasn’t the only one. Observe:



Did you see that? 5 times!!!

We saw the first X-Men movie in the theater five times because we loved it so much. And the second X-Men movie was awesome too. So of course I was skeptical. Especially after the tragedy that was X-Men 3 and Wolverine. I didn’t want anything else to taint those memories of fun I had with the first two X-Men movies.

Then I started to read the reviews for X-Men: First Class:



Wait a minute. So after two bad X-Men movies, a terrible X-Men: First Class trailer, it was good. It can’t be!


And well, I’ll let my next Facebook update speak for itself after I finally saw X-Men: First Class:



So why is X-Men: First Class so great?:

1. Magneto pulling a sub was actually pretty awesome, as well as that entire action sequence near the end.
2. They have a pretty darn good explanation for Mystique’s age controversy my friend pointed out above. But the makeup in the first X-Men movie was still better.
3. Sebastian Shaw was an interesting Bond-like villain with all his gadgets and getaways.
4. Magneto the Nazi Hunter in a pub in Argentina, with the music building up the tension, Magneto being awesomely dangerous and kick ass...It’s so intense!
5. One of the reasons we saw the first X-Men movie five times was because we felt it was too short. X-Men: First Class did not suffer from that shortcoming and gave us lots of character development and great action sequences.
6. The performances of James McAvoy (Charles Xavier/Professor X) and Michael Fassbender (Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto) are great. To watch these two characters form a bond of friendship and then to watch it disintegrate until they become enemies yet still caring for each other though having different visions of the future for mutants… seriously, it’s so good you’re heart breaks for them (and you won't even mind my run-on sentence).

It just shows that you can't judge a book by its cover, or a movie by it's trailer.

Buy it today!

And If That Mockingjay Don't Sing, Sarah Won't Buy You a Diamond Ring

If you haven't heard of The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, it's a better alternative to Twilight, but not quite epic enough to reach Harry Potter-like status. It is big enough, though, for MTV to make a big deal of a bunch of trees catching fire.

I enjoyed the first book, The Hunger Games, and really really, REALLY enjoyed the second book, Catching Fire. Mockingjay, however...

This book was seriously suffering from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End/Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Syndrome: a whole lot of talking and moving around but not a whole lot making sense.

There were just too much of Katniss moping over two boys and recovering in the hospital after some injury. It felt like Suzanne Collins had a word quota to fulfill, and having run out of ideas (or just not having enough to begin with in order to fill three books) she just wrote and wrote and wrote about Katness injured, in the hospital or hiding, napping somewhere in a morphine induced haze of YOU’RE BORING ME!

Another thing that bothered me was a ridiculous break down of a song and it’s meaning (another word quota moment) and the end, while somewhat dramatic, fell flat emotionally for me. There were altogether three action scenes (the third being extended over a couple of days) in this book that had potential but just felt lackluster and ended up with Katniss in the hospital.

I kept reading hoping it would get better. Nope. Even my two favorite characters, Finnick and Haymitch, could not save this. It was disappointing because I felt they were written well in Catching Fire and were actually the more interesting characters out of the whole series. They each had their moment in Mockingjay to remind me why I liked them in the first place. There was one Finnick scene where he stripped off his hospital gown, standing in nothing but his underwear and says:

"Why? Do you find this" - he strikes a ridiculously provocative pose - "distracting?"

Yes, I giggled. Especially when I imagined Chris Hemsworth as Finnick (I’ve been wanting to work this pic in somehow, somewhere. YOUR WELCOME.)

Really, that was the only highlight for me.

There was a moment I felt teary eyed as Katniss finally had her moment to mourn over the events of the three books. But it didn’t last long before it was wrenched away by Suzanne Collins uneven writing style. There were parts that were supposed to be emotional but you feel nothing and the action scenes were confusing and hard to follow.

A good example of writing about someone mourning and making the readers care: The Outsiders. That last chapter is perfection and written by a then fifteen year old S.E. Hinton! That is how it’s done.

There was nothing of the Katniss from the first two books. Maybe that was the point. She had finally broken down. But she was the face of the rebellion, she had survived so much already in the first two books. I wanted a strong heroine and Star Wars level of rebellion excitement and I got none of that.

My advice, read the first two, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Then, if you still want to know what happens next, I’ll summarize it for you, it’ll only take two minutes. And they want to make four movies from these books! But they might actually be able to improve on Mockingjay. The book was written from Katniss’ point of view, and there was some fun stuff happening without her around so maybe we'll get to see that in the movies.

I'm So Excited! I'm So Excited! I'm So... Scared... Waaahhh

“The library is a helluva drug.”

- Sarah

True Stories of a Book Hoarder

The library is the biggest enabler of my book hoarding habit. They make it so easy to search for books, place a hold on them and tell them you’ll pick it up at the closest branch that is conveniently located where I can drive in and out easily coming home from work. And they provide free storage so you don’t clutter up your already cluttered shelves!

Shame, shame on you library for making knowledge and entertainment so easily available and FREE!

And shame on you books for being hilarious, having a lovely cover, zombies and Arctic explorations gone wrong. HOW DARE YOU.

Hey now! Look at what we have here...

It’s not only the library where I’ve got connections it seems. Thanks, Caz!

Labor Day Review of King Solomon's Mines

I almost gave up on this book and questioned reading it. But I soldiered on and found that it got really good through the last third of the book!

So a quick run-down what King Solomon’s Mines is about: Allan Quatermain lives in South Africa and is fairly well known as a outdoors-man/big game hunter. He is approached by Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good to help Sir Henry find his lost brother, who went in search of King Solomon’s Mines. They hunt, they barely manage to cross a desert and survive a trek over a mountain and they help a long lost prince claim his throne; all while trying to discover the legendary, King Solomon’s Mines.

I've read historical fiction that feature naval battles, civil war battles, castles under siege but this was the first time I read about an army fighting with knives and spears; with no armor or guns or swords! It was quite an experience and all very nail biting and brutal! Even a final one-on-one battle between a false King and Sir Henry was so intense I wouldn’t let anyone talk to me until I finished reading how it ended! Then of course I spoiled a part for myself by reading a Wikipedia entry but, surprisingly, it didn’t diminish the impact of the tragedy that followed.

I have to say H. Rider Haggard did his job. There were some very lovely lines written throughout and some very inspirational speeches given and vows of friendship. The action scenes were told in a very straight forward style and I didn’t get lost or confused. I knew exactly what was happening.

While I’m not a huge fan of Allan Quatermain as a character, I do appreciate how honest he was of his shortcomings, namely being frightened out of his wits and that he would rather be running away from an attacking army than towards one. I am, however, a fan of his friends Sir Henry, Captain Good and Ignosi, all very loyal and kind-hearted, who stuck by each other through the hardships of their journey.

I'll file this under "To Be Read". It's free at Project Gutenberg so why not.

You’re a very bad girl. A very very bad bad girl, September!

Oh, September, why must you do this to me?! There are four books that will be released this month that are making me shiver with antici -


- pation:


Modelland by the fabulous, smizing expert, Tyra Banks! (September 13, 2011)
I’ve got two friends lined up to read this craziness along with me. It’s Ty-Ty and you know it’ll be full of ridiculous gems of nonsense and quotes. Just read the excerpt (and the reviews!)! THERE’S ALSO AN AUTOGRAPHED EDITION!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (September 13, 2011)
Might as well jump on the bandwagon now. It’s getting the royal promotional treatment as the next Harry Potter. We shall see. I do like the cover.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson (September 20, 2011)
I’m going to read Snow Crash first. The fate of Reamde lies with you, Snow Crash!

Aleph by Paulo Coelho (September 27, 2011)
He’s wonderful! One of my favorite books is The Alchemist and if you Like his Facebook Fan Page, he posts everyday and leaves wonderful inspirational messages.

As if I don’t have enough to read already but I guess I have no choice but to purchase all four. But you know, you can never have enough books. Let the reading frenzy begin!

P.S. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!