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Entry tags:
- book: a series of unfortunate events,
- book: his dark materials,
- book: perks of being a wallflower,
- book: the chronicles of narnia,
- books: fantasy,
- books: fiction,
- books: italian,
- books: non-fiction,
- books: young adult,
- event: birthdays,
- event: my birthday,
- ex-boyfriend: andrew,
- fandom: books,
- fandom: video games,
- fandoms,
- gadgets: ereader,
- gadgets: kobo,
- game: animal crossing,
- game: harvest moon,
- journal: icons,
- life: friends,
- real life,
- real life: university
the bookworm entry
I have too many fandoms and not enough icon space. You'd think a paid account of 250 icons would be enough, right? Nope. Not for me. I'm trying to delete some icons so I can make space for other fandoms and I'm trying to have between 3 and 5 icons for each fandom... but of course it doesn't work that way. Because for some fandoms I want to upload 10+ icons and that leaves no space for other fandoms. Also, the ever-present problem of 'which icon do I delete'. I want to keep pretty much 90% of the icons I already have uploaded. So I have no space to upload new icons. I'm seriously considering giving in an just buy some permanent icon space, but I don't know if I should.
My advisor of studies replied to one of my emails. She wants to meet on Thursday, which is the day of my last resit. That, and the fact that she did not reply to my second email (the one where I had asked her some serious questions and told her I was considering not going to the resits) slightly ticks me off, to be honest. I kinda needed some advice about my resits. I know she probably wants to meet and talk about this calmly, but she could have written something via email. She could have told me what she thought about me not going to my resits. But nope. Nothing. She's not exactly doing much to make me like her.
I have some great news though - I think I've made a new friend! :D Her name is Aisling and she's an American who's lived in Scotland for most of her life. I met her a while ago, while going with Andrew to this place where young christians hang out (although I'm not religious, Andrew is and I decided to tag along for the discussions). I added her on Facebook, but I was too shy to talk to her. But I wanted to get to know her better, if that makes sense? So after thinking about it, I decided to send her a message and we started talking. She's studying coding and programming at a college, so we geeked about that for a while and then moved onto a variety of other topics, like books, games, university and such. We talked for hours. She doesn't play much video games, but I told her that there's a variety of games out there and that she probably hasn't played the right game yet! So I told her about the Harvest Moon games, which I'm completely addicted to. She told me she'd like to try them out! :D So we're meeting sometime next week, on Andrew's day off from work, to hang out and I promised her I would lend her my Harvest Moon game so she could try it out! Ahh, it's so great to make friends. Shows that I still can make friends. And as usual, I make more friends outside of my uni course than in the actual classroom. So yeah, I'm really happy about having made a new friend. ♥
Andrew and his dad went away yesterday with their climbing coach to do some serious climbing and they won't be back until Thursday, which is the day of Andrew's birthday. I'm getting him a cover for his Macbook, because I don't know what else to get him and I already got him a copy of Catcher in the Rye last year as a random present. Ever since he started his job he's bought me quite a lot of presents: a pair of earrings, the whole Sailor Moon manga in Italian and Animal Crossing: New Leaf! And I'm pretty sure he's going to buy me the new Harvest Moon game (A New Beginning), as soon as it comes out in Europe, as a present for my birthday, which is... relatively soon, actually (20th August). I'm going to be 22, you guys. Scary thought.
So, I promised I'd talk about books... and here it is! Beware though, I've read quite a lot of books in the past few months, I'll try to summarise my thoughts as much as I can, but for some books I need to rant, so... you've been warned!
FINISHED
❖ I finished His Dark Materials. Overall the second book is definitely the one I liked least, but the third was not much better in my eyes...
I couldn't stand the parts with Mary Malone and the Mulefa, I thought they were there just to be useless filler. I didn't care about Mary, didn't particularly care about the Mulefa... I felt they just interrupted the action and the events of the book. I mean, you're reading about a war, about Lyra and Will going to the underworld, there's all this tension and action going on... and the next chapter is the one about Mary doing... whatever exactly she did with the Mulefa. You can't interrupt your book like that! With pointless and boring filler!
God was a disappointing character. The idea that Heaven is a Kingdom, ruled by an angel who gained power over all the other angels for no reason - basically, the idea that Heaven is a dictatorship of sorts, really intrigued me. So who exactly is God? What does he do on a daily basis? How did he grow old? Don't angels live forever? I had (and still have) so many questions about this God, which I saw none of, if not a tiny glimpse in battle, and Pullman answered none of my questions. But it's so interesting! This is the stuff he should have been focusing on, not bloody Mary and the Mulefa!
I grew to somehow like Ms Coulter and Lord Asriel and was kind of sad by their deaths. That said, I feel like I should point something out. I've heard religious people tried to campaign into persuading people not to read these books because they're "blasphemous". I can sort of see why they would say that - I mean, the characters basically go on a mission to kill God. Honestly, though? It's not blasphemous, at all. For one, God is barely present. Nothing is known about God, other than he's possibly a monarch or a dictator and that he's grown old. That's it. The characters don't even kill God - the kill Metatron, a wanna-be God, God's regent. They don't actually kill the God that is described in the Bible - they kill his secretary! Granted, Metatron was basically as powerful as God and had the same authority over the other angels, but it's still not God. He appears in one chapter and he dies in that same chapter. He was the series' antagonist and I knew absolutely nothing about him and I still don't after having finished the book. So it follows that I don't particularly care that he died, I don't feel happy that Heaven/the world(s) have been saved, because a) the antagonist's master plan was not clear to me; and b) I knew nothing of the antagonist until he was introduced and killed. I was sad that Ms Coulter and Lord Asriel died, but I couldn't have cared less about Metatron. And he's the antagonist!
Dust. We finally learn that Dust is what we call "dark matter" in this world. So, according to Pullman, what really gave us life is not God, but Dust, or dark matter. Okay. The only problem I can see with that is that Pullman involuntarily created another deity. Dust gives life and is an entity with will. Okay. How is that not other God? God gives life and has a will. See what I mean? I know that God is a person and Dust is just particles... but the element of deity is still there. I guess people can't really worship Dust... or can they? I still think Pullman swapped one god for another... I guess it really depends on how you look at it.
The priest sent to kill Lyra. Worst. Anti-climax. Ever. He was basically just pure filler to keep you hooked on the story. And then... he just dies. Without even attempting to kill Lyra. Just. It must be the worst anti-climax I've ever read in a book.
Lyra was not so much a sidekick to Will as she was in A Subtle Knife... but she was still far from being the heroine that I loved in the first book. She was still kind of submissive to him and that really drove me nuts.
And finally, the finale. I felt it was so quick and anti-climactic, it was... kind of hilarious, to be honest. So Mary Malone finally "plays the serpent" by... telling Lyra of Will of that time when she ate marzipan and kissed and Italian and decided to quit being a nun? LOLWHAT? And then Lyra and Will finally realise that they're in love, decide that they must be the love of each other's lives (at... 14?), kiss for a bit... and then an angel appears and tells them they can't be together. Why? No reason, they just can't. Is there anything that can be done about it? Nope. Okay then. And then they get separated. Again, LOLWHAT? It all happens so fast and the characters basically speak in code the whole time, so you can't understand exactly why they have to be apart (something about how they're from different worlds, maybe the balance of the universes has to be restored and, no kidding here, Lyra even says it's so that everyone can create the "Republic of Heaven", lolwhat?) and it all happens so quickly, you're probably going to miss something and not grasp why anyway. I was so mad at this ending. I waited the whole book for Mary to "play the serpent" and for Lyra to "be tempted like Eve"... so her temptation was to decide to be with Will even though that would not create the "Republic of Heaven" for some reason? And Mary played the serpent by telling two kids that she ate marzipan and kissed an Italian once? (I know she's supposed to be tempting them by describing the "feeling of love" or something, but come on, that story with the marzipan and the Italian is hilarious, I don't think I will ever forget it.) That was... such a disappointment, seriously. I was expecting something more exciting from this book. The thing with the bench was sweet, but I can't ignore everything that happened and that lead to that point. So disappointed.
And I think those are the main things that bugged me about the third book. I still like the series overall... I just have A LOT of things to say about it.
❖ Finished A Series of Unfortunate Events. I really liked those books. The last book felt a bit random at times (the Baudelaires taking care of a child, what?) and not all of the questions I had got answered (but I know those answers lie in other books by Lemony Snicket so I'm not complaining much), so I can see why some people would be mad at this book, but overall I liked it. I don't mind that not everything got clear answers and that we, as readers, should get all the bits of information from various other sources and connect the dots on our own - honestly, I quite like it, it makes me feel like a detective.
I felt sorry for Count Olaf towards the end and I kinda wanted to know more about his love for Kit Snicket. Lemony Snicket's writing is brilliant. His subtle references to other pieces of literature are great. So yeah, really enjoyed this series.
❖ Finished The Chronicles of Narnia. I think The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Trader and The Last Battle are my favourites, but I like all of them.
I was shocked by the ending of The Last Battle, but somehow it... seemed to fit? I can't describe it very well. I can see why some people might not like it, though. Overall, I enjoyed it. C.S. Lewis writes really well, as usual.
❖ Re-read Jonathan Livingston Seagull while I was at it. I found a copy in Andrew's house and I remembered enjoying the book quite a lot when I was younger. I still enjoyed it. If you're looking for a quick and pleasant read, give this one a chance!
❖ The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens. I never looked that much into Mother Teresa's life, I thought she was just a nun doing some good in third world countries... but this book really opened my eyes. Hitchens presents facts, witness testimonies and evidence to his claims as to why Mother Teresa wasn't as saintly as we all think... She really worshiped poverty and suffering, didn't treat her patients to cure them or to help them have a less painful death, got tons of money from dubious sources that she never used to help the poor... You can read all about it yourself in this very well-written book.
❖ The Late Mattia Pascal (or, in Italian, Il fu Mattia Pascal) by Luigi Pirandello, one of my favourite Italian authors. What's there to say about this book - I really enjoyed it, but I enjoy any book by Pirandello. It's a very original and peculiar story about a man who is not satisfied with his life and is mistakenly thought dead when they find a corpse in the village. But he's not dead! So he decides to get himself a new name and start again. You'll have to read the book to know what happens next!
❖ Finally read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. It was okay. Dawkins really only attacks the crazy Christians, but he does raise some very good points as well (which I highlighted for quick reference, thanks to my lovely Kobo ♥). I don't really have much to say about this one. Overall it was fine.
❖ God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitches, who has quickly become one of my favourite authors. I found this a really good book. It addresses various things that are wrong with religion (any religion) and treats religion as something we can look at objectively and decide for ourselves if it's good or not. I really, really liked it. Highlighted a ton of things from this book as well.
❖ Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I wish I hadn't read it. C.S. Lewis writes really well and he had become a favourite author of mine when I read Narnia. I was expecting this book to make me understand why people believe in God, seeing as Lewis was an atheist who then converted to Christianity. But I have so many problems with his ideas. His arguments, for one, are full of fallacies. He tried to explain the existence of God, but failed to do so in my opinion. Some of the things he says just plain bug me (like the thing about punishment and how we're allowed to kill and torture our enemies, our fellow human beings who have done wrong things, as long as we keep in mind that we're doing it for their sake, because we love them. That's just... wrong. I know he wrote the book in the '50s, but some things he wrote are just wrong). I liked his idea of "faith" and the concept that God is timeless, but other than that? Nothing. I have so many problems with this book. It kinda ruined C.S. Lewis for me.
❖ Misquoting Jesus: The story behind ho changed the Bible and why by Bart D. Ehrman. Really enjoyed this one. Gave me a good background and history on the Bible as a book and on Christianity as well. I'm really interested in the Bible as a book, I find some of its stories amazing and fascinating (Moses and Joseph are some of my favourite stories)... but I'm far from being religious. If anything, I think the Bible makes an amazing fantasy book. But anyway, I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in the history of the Bible and of Christianity in general.
❖ Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I read this because I'd heard good things about it. Unfortunately, I didn't think much of it. It's an okay book, but it has its problems. I didn't think the book was particularly racist, but I can see racism being a problem of this book. Some scenes or some dialogues just left me a bit uncomfortable. I couldn't understand Eleanor. I couldn't quite sympathise with her. She was very contradictory. She wanted to be with Park, but at the same time she tried to put some distance between them any time she had the occasion. Also, it became a pretty cliché book pretty quickly. Park saying "I love you" to Eleanor after having talked to her exactly two times? Telling each other extremely cheesy things, like, "I don't like you... I need you"? Seriously, I burst out laughing more than a couple of times. It felt like a fanfiction written by a fourteen-year-old. Not even I wrote such cheesy things at 14! The way they went from being strangers, to being friends and to being boyfriend and girlfriend also didn't seem natural to me. It was too quick. They spend ages not talking to each other on the bus and suddenly they have a connection. I just couldn't believe their love story. And the ending was just... weird. And kinda rushed. It was a very quick and light read though, and it made me laugh (although that was probably not the intention of the author, lol), so I guess it was okay. Nothing amazing though.
CURRENTLY READING
❖ The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I'm so enjoying this one. It reminds me of Catcher in the Rye. But yeah, I'm loving it. It's quite possible this could become on my favourite books (and I'm very picky with my favourite books).
❖ The Innocent (or L'innocente in Italian) by Gabriele D'Annunzio. I just started this one, so I can't say much about it. I'll let you know if I like it or not.
❖ Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Reading this one very slowly, as the story moves really slowly and to be honest, it's not really got me interested at this point. It's weird, I've never read a book without wondering what was going to happen next. I still want to finish it and see what these books are all about. All I can say is, I can see that this book was written by a young author. At times it really feels like a fanfic. The writing is not as polished as it could be.
❖ The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. Decided to start this series because why not. I can't say much about it because I'm only three chapters in, but I will let you know if I like it.
❖ Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them) by Bart D. Ehrman. I'm reading a lot of books about religion, as you can see. I'm just really interested in the subject. This one I've also just started, so I can't say much about it, but yeah, I'm really curious, so I will keep reading.
Aaaaand that's it! Whew, that was a long update. Do follow me on Goodreads if you're interested, though!
My advisor of studies replied to one of my emails. She wants to meet on Thursday, which is the day of my last resit. That, and the fact that she did not reply to my second email (the one where I had asked her some serious questions and told her I was considering not going to the resits) slightly ticks me off, to be honest. I kinda needed some advice about my resits. I know she probably wants to meet and talk about this calmly, but she could have written something via email. She could have told me what she thought about me not going to my resits. But nope. Nothing. She's not exactly doing much to make me like her.
I have some great news though - I think I've made a new friend! :D Her name is Aisling and she's an American who's lived in Scotland for most of her life. I met her a while ago, while going with Andrew to this place where young christians hang out (although I'm not religious, Andrew is and I decided to tag along for the discussions). I added her on Facebook, but I was too shy to talk to her. But I wanted to get to know her better, if that makes sense? So after thinking about it, I decided to send her a message and we started talking. She's studying coding and programming at a college, so we geeked about that for a while and then moved onto a variety of other topics, like books, games, university and such. We talked for hours. She doesn't play much video games, but I told her that there's a variety of games out there and that she probably hasn't played the right game yet! So I told her about the Harvest Moon games, which I'm completely addicted to. She told me she'd like to try them out! :D So we're meeting sometime next week, on Andrew's day off from work, to hang out and I promised her I would lend her my Harvest Moon game so she could try it out! Ahh, it's so great to make friends. Shows that I still can make friends. And as usual, I make more friends outside of my uni course than in the actual classroom. So yeah, I'm really happy about having made a new friend. ♥
Andrew and his dad went away yesterday with their climbing coach to do some serious climbing and they won't be back until Thursday, which is the day of Andrew's birthday. I'm getting him a cover for his Macbook, because I don't know what else to get him and I already got him a copy of Catcher in the Rye last year as a random present. Ever since he started his job he's bought me quite a lot of presents: a pair of earrings, the whole Sailor Moon manga in Italian and Animal Crossing: New Leaf! And I'm pretty sure he's going to buy me the new Harvest Moon game (A New Beginning), as soon as it comes out in Europe, as a present for my birthday, which is... relatively soon, actually (20th August). I'm going to be 22, you guys. Scary thought.
So, I promised I'd talk about books... and here it is! Beware though, I've read quite a lot of books in the past few months, I'll try to summarise my thoughts as much as I can, but for some books I need to rant, so... you've been warned!
FINISHED
❖ I finished His Dark Materials. Overall the second book is definitely the one I liked least, but the third was not much better in my eyes...
I couldn't stand the parts with Mary Malone and the Mulefa, I thought they were there just to be useless filler. I didn't care about Mary, didn't particularly care about the Mulefa... I felt they just interrupted the action and the events of the book. I mean, you're reading about a war, about Lyra and Will going to the underworld, there's all this tension and action going on... and the next chapter is the one about Mary doing... whatever exactly she did with the Mulefa. You can't interrupt your book like that! With pointless and boring filler!
God was a disappointing character. The idea that Heaven is a Kingdom, ruled by an angel who gained power over all the other angels for no reason - basically, the idea that Heaven is a dictatorship of sorts, really intrigued me. So who exactly is God? What does he do on a daily basis? How did he grow old? Don't angels live forever? I had (and still have) so many questions about this God, which I saw none of, if not a tiny glimpse in battle, and Pullman answered none of my questions. But it's so interesting! This is the stuff he should have been focusing on, not bloody Mary and the Mulefa!
I grew to somehow like Ms Coulter and Lord Asriel and was kind of sad by their deaths. That said, I feel like I should point something out. I've heard religious people tried to campaign into persuading people not to read these books because they're "blasphemous". I can sort of see why they would say that - I mean, the characters basically go on a mission to kill God. Honestly, though? It's not blasphemous, at all. For one, God is barely present. Nothing is known about God, other than he's possibly a monarch or a dictator and that he's grown old. That's it. The characters don't even kill God - the kill Metatron, a wanna-be God, God's regent. They don't actually kill the God that is described in the Bible - they kill his secretary! Granted, Metatron was basically as powerful as God and had the same authority over the other angels, but it's still not God. He appears in one chapter and he dies in that same chapter. He was the series' antagonist and I knew absolutely nothing about him and I still don't after having finished the book. So it follows that I don't particularly care that he died, I don't feel happy that Heaven/the world(s) have been saved, because a) the antagonist's master plan was not clear to me; and b) I knew nothing of the antagonist until he was introduced and killed. I was sad that Ms Coulter and Lord Asriel died, but I couldn't have cared less about Metatron. And he's the antagonist!
Dust. We finally learn that Dust is what we call "dark matter" in this world. So, according to Pullman, what really gave us life is not God, but Dust, or dark matter. Okay. The only problem I can see with that is that Pullman involuntarily created another deity. Dust gives life and is an entity with will. Okay. How is that not other God? God gives life and has a will. See what I mean? I know that God is a person and Dust is just particles... but the element of deity is still there. I guess people can't really worship Dust... or can they? I still think Pullman swapped one god for another... I guess it really depends on how you look at it.
The priest sent to kill Lyra. Worst. Anti-climax. Ever. He was basically just pure filler to keep you hooked on the story. And then... he just dies. Without even attempting to kill Lyra. Just. It must be the worst anti-climax I've ever read in a book.
Lyra was not so much a sidekick to Will as she was in A Subtle Knife... but she was still far from being the heroine that I loved in the first book. She was still kind of submissive to him and that really drove me nuts.
And finally, the finale. I felt it was so quick and anti-climactic, it was... kind of hilarious, to be honest. So Mary Malone finally "plays the serpent" by... telling Lyra of Will of that time when she ate marzipan and kissed and Italian and decided to quit being a nun? LOLWHAT? And then Lyra and Will finally realise that they're in love, decide that they must be the love of each other's lives (at... 14?), kiss for a bit... and then an angel appears and tells them they can't be together. Why? No reason, they just can't. Is there anything that can be done about it? Nope. Okay then. And then they get separated. Again, LOLWHAT? It all happens so fast and the characters basically speak in code the whole time, so you can't understand exactly why they have to be apart (something about how they're from different worlds, maybe the balance of the universes has to be restored and, no kidding here, Lyra even says it's so that everyone can create the "Republic of Heaven", lolwhat?) and it all happens so quickly, you're probably going to miss something and not grasp why anyway. I was so mad at this ending. I waited the whole book for Mary to "play the serpent" and for Lyra to "be tempted like Eve"... so her temptation was to decide to be with Will even though that would not create the "Republic of Heaven" for some reason? And Mary played the serpent by telling two kids that she ate marzipan and kissed an Italian once? (I know she's supposed to be tempting them by describing the "feeling of love" or something, but come on, that story with the marzipan and the Italian is hilarious, I don't think I will ever forget it.) That was... such a disappointment, seriously. I was expecting something more exciting from this book. The thing with the bench was sweet, but I can't ignore everything that happened and that lead to that point. So disappointed.
And I think those are the main things that bugged me about the third book. I still like the series overall... I just have A LOT of things to say about it.
❖ Finished A Series of Unfortunate Events. I really liked those books. The last book felt a bit random at times (the Baudelaires taking care of a child, what?) and not all of the questions I had got answered (but I know those answers lie in other books by Lemony Snicket so I'm not complaining much), so I can see why some people would be mad at this book, but overall I liked it. I don't mind that not everything got clear answers and that we, as readers, should get all the bits of information from various other sources and connect the dots on our own - honestly, I quite like it, it makes me feel like a detective.
I felt sorry for Count Olaf towards the end and I kinda wanted to know more about his love for Kit Snicket. Lemony Snicket's writing is brilliant. His subtle references to other pieces of literature are great. So yeah, really enjoyed this series.
❖ Finished The Chronicles of Narnia. I think The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Trader and The Last Battle are my favourites, but I like all of them.
I was shocked by the ending of The Last Battle, but somehow it... seemed to fit? I can't describe it very well. I can see why some people might not like it, though. Overall, I enjoyed it. C.S. Lewis writes really well, as usual.
❖ Re-read Jonathan Livingston Seagull while I was at it. I found a copy in Andrew's house and I remembered enjoying the book quite a lot when I was younger. I still enjoyed it. If you're looking for a quick and pleasant read, give this one a chance!
❖ The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens. I never looked that much into Mother Teresa's life, I thought she was just a nun doing some good in third world countries... but this book really opened my eyes. Hitchens presents facts, witness testimonies and evidence to his claims as to why Mother Teresa wasn't as saintly as we all think... She really worshiped poverty and suffering, didn't treat her patients to cure them or to help them have a less painful death, got tons of money from dubious sources that she never used to help the poor... You can read all about it yourself in this very well-written book.
❖ The Late Mattia Pascal (or, in Italian, Il fu Mattia Pascal) by Luigi Pirandello, one of my favourite Italian authors. What's there to say about this book - I really enjoyed it, but I enjoy any book by Pirandello. It's a very original and peculiar story about a man who is not satisfied with his life and is mistakenly thought dead when they find a corpse in the village. But he's not dead! So he decides to get himself a new name and start again. You'll have to read the book to know what happens next!
❖ Finally read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. It was okay. Dawkins really only attacks the crazy Christians, but he does raise some very good points as well (which I highlighted for quick reference, thanks to my lovely Kobo ♥). I don't really have much to say about this one. Overall it was fine.
❖ God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitches, who has quickly become one of my favourite authors. I found this a really good book. It addresses various things that are wrong with religion (any religion) and treats religion as something we can look at objectively and decide for ourselves if it's good or not. I really, really liked it. Highlighted a ton of things from this book as well.
❖ Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I wish I hadn't read it. C.S. Lewis writes really well and he had become a favourite author of mine when I read Narnia. I was expecting this book to make me understand why people believe in God, seeing as Lewis was an atheist who then converted to Christianity. But I have so many problems with his ideas. His arguments, for one, are full of fallacies. He tried to explain the existence of God, but failed to do so in my opinion. Some of the things he says just plain bug me (like the thing about punishment and how we're allowed to kill and torture our enemies, our fellow human beings who have done wrong things, as long as we keep in mind that we're doing it for their sake, because we love them. That's just... wrong. I know he wrote the book in the '50s, but some things he wrote are just wrong). I liked his idea of "faith" and the concept that God is timeless, but other than that? Nothing. I have so many problems with this book. It kinda ruined C.S. Lewis for me.
❖ Misquoting Jesus: The story behind ho changed the Bible and why by Bart D. Ehrman. Really enjoyed this one. Gave me a good background and history on the Bible as a book and on Christianity as well. I'm really interested in the Bible as a book, I find some of its stories amazing and fascinating (Moses and Joseph are some of my favourite stories)... but I'm far from being religious. If anything, I think the Bible makes an amazing fantasy book. But anyway, I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in the history of the Bible and of Christianity in general.
❖ Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I read this because I'd heard good things about it. Unfortunately, I didn't think much of it. It's an okay book, but it has its problems. I didn't think the book was particularly racist, but I can see racism being a problem of this book. Some scenes or some dialogues just left me a bit uncomfortable. I couldn't understand Eleanor. I couldn't quite sympathise with her. She was very contradictory. She wanted to be with Park, but at the same time she tried to put some distance between them any time she had the occasion. Also, it became a pretty cliché book pretty quickly. Park saying "I love you" to Eleanor after having talked to her exactly two times? Telling each other extremely cheesy things, like, "I don't like you... I need you"? Seriously, I burst out laughing more than a couple of times. It felt like a fanfiction written by a fourteen-year-old. Not even I wrote such cheesy things at 14! The way they went from being strangers, to being friends and to being boyfriend and girlfriend also didn't seem natural to me. It was too quick. They spend ages not talking to each other on the bus and suddenly they have a connection. I just couldn't believe their love story. And the ending was just... weird. And kinda rushed. It was a very quick and light read though, and it made me laugh (although that was probably not the intention of the author, lol), so I guess it was okay. Nothing amazing though.
CURRENTLY READING
❖ The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I'm so enjoying this one. It reminds me of Catcher in the Rye. But yeah, I'm loving it. It's quite possible this could become on my favourite books (and I'm very picky with my favourite books).
❖ The Innocent (or L'innocente in Italian) by Gabriele D'Annunzio. I just started this one, so I can't say much about it. I'll let you know if I like it or not.
❖ Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Reading this one very slowly, as the story moves really slowly and to be honest, it's not really got me interested at this point. It's weird, I've never read a book without wondering what was going to happen next. I still want to finish it and see what these books are all about. All I can say is, I can see that this book was written by a young author. At times it really feels like a fanfic. The writing is not as polished as it could be.
❖ The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. Decided to start this series because why not. I can't say much about it because I'm only three chapters in, but I will let you know if I like it.
❖ Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them) by Bart D. Ehrman. I'm reading a lot of books about religion, as you can see. I'm just really interested in the subject. This one I've also just started, so I can't say much about it, but yeah, I'm really curious, so I will keep reading.
Aaaaand that's it! Whew, that was a long update. Do follow me on Goodreads if you're interested, though!
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Other times I'll just look at a book on Goodreads and decide, "Ok, it's time I read that one!", even though I'm already reading something else, and I'll just start another book. (This was the case for Perks of being a Wallflower.) I'm weird like that. XD
But yeah, I don't have any trouble keeping up so many books at the same time. I actually quite enjoy having a list of books I'm currently reading and being able to choose what I'm in the mood for. :)
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Argh! Tell me about it. :/
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*more blushing because I can't handle compliments*no subject
Did you see the Christian ~analogies~ in the Narnia books? I think we've discussed this before, but people always bring it up, and I just don't see them, even though I know they're there. I love the end of The Last Battle - it just seems right, you know? I love that the series starts with the creation of Narnia, and ends with its destruction.
I understand the icon feels, by the way. I'm constantly annoyed that I can't access my other icons because I haven't currently got a paid account and even though I whittled them down from 70+ ! But even when I have got 100 slots, or whatever, that's still not enough. And I don't currently want to get rid of any of the other icons, even though I may not use them so much.
(Like, for instance, I want to use my reading icon, and I can't access it! Grr!)
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As for the book, I've lurked on Goodreads for a bit and yeah, I've seen lots of horrible reviews of it. It's basically Star Wars but with dragons and a LotR setting. I've never seen Star Wars, so I can't see for myself how similar they are, but apparently they're pretty similar. This is another reason why it sounds like a fanfic to me when I read it. The author was pretty young when he wrote it and he was obviously influenced by other stories. I'll see how I feel about the story after reading the first book, at this point I'm really not that invested in it (even though apparently I'm 40% of the way through) and if I still won't be invested at the end of the first book, I just won't bother with the rest of the series.
Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure we've talked about it before! But yes, I could spot the Christian analogies in Narnia really easily. It's partly because of my background - having grown up and gone to school in Italy, Christianity was practically force-fed to me everywhere I went and especially in school. But I choose not to give them much importance, if you know what I mean? I think of Aslan as a magical talking lion, rather than a lion version of Jesus, and I like it better that way. And yeah, I guess it makes sense that the Chronicles would end with the destruction of Narnia.
Ah, glad I'm not the only one here! I just feel so silly, because at the end of the day they're icons, you know? And yet it takes me so much time to decide which ones I want to keep and which ones I should swap for others. But I'm just so obsessed with them. Some icons I've had for years, ever since I started blogging over at LJ and I want to keep them because they've always been there, I don't want to give them up, you know? I'll have to grit my teeth and decide which ones to delete and which ones to keep.
By the way, what did you think of my rant on His Dark Materials? :)
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I think of Aslan as a magical talking lion, rather than a lion version of Jesus, and I like it better that way.
YES! Much better that way.
I don't know what to say re: your Dark Materials rant, because it's been so long since I read it (must've been 2004/5 when I read them? I'd have to check my LJ). I remember liking the parts with the Mulefa (they go around on wheels! I think that's pretty cool!), but I can see your point about it detracting from the main story and Mary's entire point does seem to be to set her up as the voice of dissent/the tempter/whatever. I don't know. I may not like it so much once I re-read?
God is supposed to be disappointing, however. I believe Pullman is quite a vocal atheist, which is why there was so much hoohaa about the books when they were first published.
I'm really going to have to re-read these soon as you've brought up some points I can't remember bog all about, and it's niggling me now!
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Ah, good point about God. I knew Pullman was an atheist (which is also why I was interested in His Dark Materials) and I guess it makes sense that God would be disappointing. I never thought about it that way!
Do let me know if you re-read the books! We can discuss them some more then. :D
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Me either, till I pointed it out! Which is a bit daft on my part, huh? ;)
Oh I will! Better get my library books read first, though.