Apologies for the lack of updates. Things have been interesting. I’ve had quite a few family commitments that have made internet time almost non-existent. In fact, it’s taken an early night on a business trip for me to even get a chance to poke my head in here, but while I haven’t been online much, I’ve definitely been reading.
I’m really starting to wonder if I’m a little ADD when it comes to reading, because I haven’t been finishing books very quickly, and I’m on a trend of reading at least four books at a time - three novels and a book of poetry - that I don’t know when it will end.
The one thing I have finished is my reread of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host. I really resisted reading this the first go around, and took every chance to scrutinize it vocally that I could, but by the time it was over I couldn’t deny that I loved the thing. It’s still a very bizarre book the second time around - bits of it remind me of a Miyazaki film on acid - but rereading it and knowing those parts were going to come in, it was a little easier to swallow. I still have issues with a few little points where someone along the line (and that of course starts with Ms. Meyer herself) didn’t fact-check things very thoroughly (ask me about the honey issue sometimes… that one really irks me), and I still hate the first ten chapters. But. Ian. O’Shea. I have to admit, that if it came down to a fight to the death in Meyer characters for my affection… well, Ian is the only one who could give Jacob Black a run for his money. Well maybe that Garrett fellow from Breaking Dawn—he was pure beauty.
I still get frustrated with various aspects of Meyer’s hackneyed sense of literary justice. In Twilight, Bella gets her little circle of weirdly immortal friends/family, with no change, ever, and here we get a very strong character made pointedly weak and all but helpless at the very end of the novel. It’s for that reason, mainly, that I wouldn’t mind it terribly if there aren’t any sequels to this, despite the fact that the ending leaves it very open for continuation. My one leaning for a sequel, would be so we could learn more about Burns, because I just happen to have a weakness for tall redheads in stories (and in real life, for that matter).
I’ve also been rereading some other things - I guess it’s a trend lately. I’m indulging in a life-long crush and rereading Anne of Green Gables. I haven’t read this series in years, and never read all of it, actually, and I’d really like to. Anne Shirley was one of my very first fictional friends, which I guess is true for millions of people. The love story between Anne and Gilbert Blythe, which I’ve barely touched as of yet in the first novel, is one that’s influenced my taste for fictional pairings all my life—it’s something a half-step beyond “will they or won’t they,” there’s that spark that’s just as likely to explode in your face as it is to combust in a more positive way. Anne is completely disdainful of Gilbert for years, on account of a percieved insult she recieved from him at their very first meeting, but Gilbert is struck, full victim to Anne’s overenthusiastic, romantic charms despite her temper. That said, he never moons over his losses, and he doesn’t roll over and play dead, either. While I wouldn’t say he fights back, really, Gilbert gets his digs in here and there, and his patience runs out at various times (very understandably), which is something I’ve always appreciated. It makes the pair of them much more real than a saintly ever-lasting patience would. (And along that line, how does Stephenie Meyer compare Edward and Bella to this? Really?)
I’m reading Emma, also, to finish out my round of Austen novels, but it’s going surprisingly slowly. I’ve always enjoyed this novel before, but it just seems to be dragging, which is strange because I know I’m comprehending more of it than I had the first two times I’d read it (Both for classes, and both rushed. And both years ago). Maybe I’m just distracted by the fact that the fourth Fablehaven novel comes out March 24th. I am looking forward to that an awful lot. Maybe not to Harry Potter proportions, but up there with Jasper Fforde, which is high in my book.
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