The Magical Reading Adventure of 2014

I made a resolution this year (as many people did) to read 100 books. I thought tumblr would be an easy, creative, and appropriate place to keep track of the ensuing shenanigans. So, here we go. xx

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Just finished this. I don't normally read graphic novels, but I loved the film so much, and a friend offered to lend me the book, so I gave it a shot. So. Much. Fucking. Brilliance. I already knew that this book caused quite a stir when it was first published, but when I saw the panel where Eben's eye slowly transitions into the setting sun disappearing below the horizon for the next month, I started to realize exactly what level of mind-blowing I was in for. It's easy to see where the filmmakers were inspired by the book, matching certain panels exactly. The artwork in the book is so visceral, so raw, so beautiful and feral. I cannot wait to read the two sequels. What a treat.

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Read this tonight. Another lovely little entry into the Holmes canon. Although I have to say, either I'm getting really familiar with Doyle, or he's getting lazier, because I felt like I saw the twist coming from the word "go". Of course, that didn't make the experience any less enjoyable, and the camp is part of the ACD/Sherlock charm. Love. <3

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Read this tonight at the library. I think it's a great example of a piece that needs to be performed as opposed to read, but the reading of it was still a delight, there's just a lot more to get out of it as a full performance. Nina Raine has an excellent feel for this deeply disturbed, utterly fucked-up family, who manage to be incredibly endearing anyway (well, some of them). Two thumbs up^^.

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Also listened to this on audiobook. Finished it about a week ago on October 30th. I'll get right to the point: I HATE this book. Maybe hate is slightly too strong a word. Maybe it was the female reader who read the chapters from Valentine's perspective (the same reader who narrated an audiobook I listened to in high school. She is terrible and fake-sounding and her voice and acting are atrocious and I despise her). Maybe it's the relatively pompous writing style, or the fact that there are only like, two female characters in the whole thing (although, compared to some of the other stuff I read, that's two more than usual). Or maybe I just hate Orson Scott Card for being a pompous, homophobic ass, and the extended audio monologue he gave that was tacked onto the end of the last cd about how fucking successful he is because of this book was just nauseating and really didn't help. At all. Maybe it was that. Anyway, this book is disgustingly overrated and not exciting. There is plenty of good/great/marvelous/fantastic sci-fi out there just waiting to be consumed, and this is not that. Fuck this book, and fuck OSC. Read something else.

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I listened to this via audiobook while I was working (I drive for my job). Finished it on August 17th. I feel like I really can't say too much about it that hasn't already been said; I'm obviously terribly late to the party on this one. But wow. Vonnegut really did something that hadn't been done before. I can certainly see why this book is so highly regarded; he changed the literary landscape with this book, and I'll never look at literature quite the same again. Marvelous.

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Read this sometime in the beginning of August. A hilarious dark comedy about love, family, and murder. J. M. Synge is delicious.

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Also read this on August 6th. Depressing as all fuck. Read it.

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Read this on August 6th. Sort of funny, sort of sad. Not the best thing I've ever read, but still excellent. Much less tepid than this review.

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Read Hall of Healing at the end of April. It's a one-act play, relatively short, somewhat heartbreaking and yet it has little bites of wry humor throughout. I definitely have to recommend this one.

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Read April 28th. A deliciously dysfunctional family comedy. 

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Also read this on April 27th. This piece is hysterical. Coward plays each of the characters perfectly against each other, and the result is a complete joy to read from start to finish.

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Read this on April 27th. Really really really enjoyed it. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between myself and Sean O'Casey.

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Finished this on April 27th. It's a wonderfully written, really depressing play about three POWs biding their time in captivity and wondering if they're ever going to get to go home. I would love to see this performed.

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Getting Back On The BookHorse

So I really fell off my game with this whole read-100-books-this-year thing, not to mention updating this page, but I'm going to try my damnedest to salvage the year and get as close to my goal as I can. Brace yourselves for a deluge of posts.

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Finished this morning. A good, if slightly phoned in and unremarkable, entry in the Holmes canon. A quick read, and nothing too terribly interesting to say about it. Either that or I'm just being lazy of a Monday morning.

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Also finished Friday (Friday was a good reading day for me, obviously). This is the best play I've ever read in my life. So sexy, so cynical, so utterly smart and sarcastic. Merteuil and Valmont both hate all the other characters while simultaneously being completely obsessed with them and just wanting to fuck them. What a giant mess of hormonal games, all while keeping up appearances for the sake of propriety. Delicious.

Also, Alan Rickman was the original Valmont in 1985. WHY WAS I NOT BORN WHY WAS I NOT THERE WHAT BETTER THINGS COULD I POSSIBLY HAVE HAD TO DO THAN WITNESS THIS BRILLIANCE AND SEX???

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Also finished Friday. "Art" is a quick, hilarious read all the way through. What I wouldn't have given to watch Albert Finney as Marc in the original production. Brilliant.