well read

It's been a while. School's out. Thank goodness. I can drink beer again! I'm pretty sure I aced math and probably yoga. Communication...not so much. I'll post my grades as soon as I get them. Now on to today's post...

I often criticize myself for not reading very much, other than comic books. While comics are a valid form of art, once in a while I'll feel like I'm not as intelligent because I don't read. However, I just as often remember that I have in fact read quite a few books, some that might even be considered literature. I would say that these are some of my favorites, but when it comes to reading I haven't read a book if I didn't really like it in the first place. That's why I never finished books like Candide, The Ice Storm, or The Stranger. I just didn't enjoy them (although I like "Killing an Arab").

Here's a rundown of my favorite favorites:

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Just enough science-fiction, mystery, action and all around entertainment to satisfy my need for intelligent garbage. The hardest part was wanting to envision this naked man but not being able to because, well, he's invisible.





The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. Kind of like what I said about The Invisible Man. A little trashy but so much fun, and I don't expect trashy fun from such great writers. I have yet to see or read any of Levin's plays but other books I want to experience are The Boys from Brazil and Sliver (even if I will think of UB40 with every turn of the page.) Both novels I've read are almost exactly like their movie adaptations. Needless to say I love both movies also. Now, the Frank OZ Stepford remake was total crap, but I know it was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. If I look at it that way, it was kind of funny. Sometimes.

The Bad Seed by William March. I reviewed this book on my review site. You can go there and read about it, but I warn you, I give away the ending.






Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I read this in my senior year AP english class. The unabriged version. I still can't believe I did. Well, I did skip the part about Waterloo. It didn't really have to do with the story. I can see why I liked the book, what with my love of long, drawn out soap-opera-like stories. There's lots of melodrama and plot twists. I also liked to believe that Jean Valjean and Javert were, or had been, lovers. I don't know why, perhaps because of the obsession. I haven't seen the musical, but the movie version with Liam Neeson was kinda lame. If I ever read this again, it's going to be the abridged version!

Lots of Stephen King. Hey, its' like the highest quality fast food you can find.

So, I still have to finish Le Livre Blanc which should take about 30 min if I get myself started. And Seth just let me borrow The Life of Pi, which I'm pretty excited about.