Friday, January 25, 2013

On my bookshelf


So, I read several books at once. I've never been very good at sticking with just one book at a time, and while school is in session, that's practically impossible. From top to bottom, my current reads are:

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin

This is really good so far. I'm about a quarter of the way through or so. I love post-apocalyptic stuff, so this one is right up my ally. I did get a bit bored at first because so much time passes at the start of the book, and I was kind of sad to leave behind the characters that the book starts with. 

2. Emma by Jane Austen

I actually just started this after watching Clueless for the first time (having grown up during the '90's I don't know why I hadn't seen it before). The movie was hilarious. I've also always liked the two Emma adaptations with Kate Beckinsdale and Gwynyth Paltrow. Sense and Sensibility was my first Austen novel, so I'm looking forward to this being my second. 

3. Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gehrman

This one is a young adult (YA) novel that I finished reading last week for a YA fiction class I'm taking in school. It's an adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The author is hilarious and slightly irreverent (if you're anti-offensive language you may want to skip it). The story's pretty standard and follows the play pretty closely. It's a great read though even if you've never read the play. 

4. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I also started this one over break. I'm loving the gothic tone of the novel, and the style of writing is beautiful. It's a great winter read.

5. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

This is another one for my YA class. It's an adaptation of Peter Pan, and so far is pretty good. I love that it's written from Tinkerbell's perspective. I haven't yet read Peter Pan, but it seems like this one is a lot grittier than the original. Having seen the Disney movie though, I'm guessing the book doesn't end well (at least for Tiger Lily). 

6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I actually started this quite a while ago. I really love Russian lit, but I tend to take my time with it. The language so far is beautiful. I plan on reading it slowly in between other books. 

This is a pretty good representation of what I read on a normal basis. I like to mix up classics with more modern books. I've been trying to read more modern adult books (e.g. The Thirteenth Tale) because I tend to stick with YA, classics, and mysteries (not actually represented here, but I'm a fan of Evanovich, Grafton, and Christie). 

Later, Dena

Friday, January 18, 2013

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Clarity

This blog has sat blank for some time now. I first started this back when I was an undergrad, and it wound up being a quasi-diary thing that was amazingly embarrassing. Luckily I believe it was rather anonymous. However, I've finally had a moment of clarity as to what I want this blog to be.

As a creative writing graduate student in the middle of Virginia, I want this to be about my love of books. I enjoy reading and writing (necessary for being a creative writing student), but I also love vintage things, especially vintage office supplies and books. I just recently got ahold of a vintage fan that is a gorgeous green color.

Anyway, I want to fill this space with all things vintage, book, and writing related. That will also probably include things that are dog and cat related as I think both go well with books. I'm probably going to be thinking about these things for a while, but I'll be back. One of my goals for the year is to blog regularly and meaningfully.

And now a picture of something both vintage and book-related. My life will not be complete until I acquire a beautifully old card catalog. I can still remember Marian our elementary school librarian (no joke, her name was actually Marian) showing us how to use the card catalog.



Incidentally, I spent a lot of time in the library in elementary school. My mom was very anti-DARE program, so during the DARE program in fifth grade I went to the library. Apparently my mom either thought teaching me not to do drugs insulted my intelligence or she figured if I knew about drugs I would immediately seek them out. Still not sure, but I like to think her reasoning was in line with the former.

Goodnight...Dena