Keeping Sane Through Books

So Far This Semester

I like how I measure time in semesters instead of saying “So Far This Year.”

Anyways, my reading has consisted of (in my nice orderly list):

• Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
• A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
• Rebel Angels - Libba Bray
• The Sweet Far Thing - Libba Bray
• Wesley the Owl - Stacey O’Brien
• The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

Catch-22 ended up being almost a project for me. Maybe because I started it so close to finals last semester, it took me until maybe mid-January to finish it. I didn’t have too hard of a time with it as I was warned I might by one of my dorm-neighbors (although I’d have to look back and remind myself who people were sometimes). I think the most focused I ever was on this book was riding the train to and from Chicago my first week back for Christmas break while I attended the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.

I feel the need to explain the Libba Bray section of the middle together…I’d read the first one in maybe, 8th grade? Freshman year of high school? (perspective…I’m a freshman in college) and enjoyed it. Read the second one a year or two later and enjoyed it despite the fact that I remembered absolutely NOTHING from the first book at this time. So when I bought the third one this past summer (on a huge shopping trip with my cousin where I dragged her into Barnes and Nobles because I had a gift card) I put it in the pile of books I brought to college. As first semester ended I realized I did not remember the first two so over break I brought back the first two as well and proceeded (after finally finishing Catch-22…which there’s apparently a sequel to…I wanna read!) to read the rest. They’re quick reads and rather interesting, intertwining historical fiction with the supernatural. Meant for younger audiences than me probably, but I enjoy reading books people meant to write for a younger age group. They’re fast and fun.

Wesley the Owl was the one book I got for Christmas this year. This is unusual because normally my brother gets one and about three or four show up under the tree for me. I think my mom’s seen the amount of books in my “to read” pile (when I’m home for Easter I’ll try to remember and take a picture) didn’t want to add to it. This book is actually non-fiction and absolutely adorable. I am a sucker for anything having to do with animals. It’s about how the author raised a barn owl from when it was about 4 days old until it dies at age 19 (yes, it dies…I ruined the book. People told me that when I told them Marley dies at the end of Marley & Me (back before the movie when I had read the book)…okay, the book’s about the life of the animal…yes, it’s going to die). Not only does it have some cute stories about trying to learn how to fly but it also has some interesting insights to animal psychology.

I stole The Thirteenth Tale from my mom when I raided her books at the beginning of last summer (most of which I’m still trying to get around to) and I wish I’d gotten to it sooner. I couldn’t put the book down, it was completely captivating. And all it’s about is this famous author who nobody knows any truth about finally telling her story to the main character. And you just keep guessing what’s going to come up next and you never expect the final turns in the book. It’s insanely awesome.

Okay, so I think that’s got me about caught up. I realized keeping this tumblelog will not only be fun but it’ll be nice to remember what I read later down the road in life.