The Things That Matter

After finishing Rebecca, I realized with an unpleasant jolt that I had nothing left from the library to read. So of course I had to go yesterday and get some things. I got Everything Is Illuminated, a bio of Audrey Hepburn, Brave New World, The Things that Matter and a book called The Accidental. The ones I've not read look interesting and the one I have I know is good; I just want to review it.

There was a terrific thunderstorm this morning. I haven't heard it rain so hard since Findlay flooded a couple of years ago. The thunder was fantastic, too. It sounded like the world was tearing open. I loved it.

Right now I'm reading The Things That Matter. It's an analysis of 7 great works of literature and how they relate to seven different stages of life. So far it's been really good; I've read the first section, which deals with Frankenstein. It dragged on a little towards the end of its 40-some pages; I got the feeling that the author ran out of things to say and so repeated them a lot. However, it did get his point across. Lots of biographical information on Mary Shelley and a perspective on Frankenstein and the creature (not the monster, as I usually see it called, which I thought was interesting in itself) I haven't really seen before.

So far so good.

I also got the movie La Vie En Rose, which is about Edith Piaf. La Vie En Rose is one of my favorite songs. Audrey Hepburn sings it in Sabrina, and Edith Piaf is famous for it; it's a beautiful song. The actress who plays Piaf in the movie, Marion Cotillard, also plays Billie Frechette in the movie Public Enemies, which I saw a week ago...it's a good movie, by the by. Worth seeing, despite its length. It's one of the most beautifully shot movies I think I've ever seen. There's one scene in particular, in a bar, where the only thing in the frame are the heads of the characters talking at one side of the screen, the edge of the bar extending away from them, and darkness. It's unspeakably gorgeous.

Now that the storm is over, it's sunny and humid and sticky...I know my mom isn't going to turn on the AC, which sucks since (for once in Findlay) there is no wind. But it's a pretty day. Everything is crackly and wet.

I like Saturdays.

It's so damn hot

As Rob Burgundy would say, milk was a bad choice. Or would have been, had I had milk. Fortunately I stuck with water. However, it's still hotter than Hell on a Sunday outside, and I don't like it. I'm wearing jeans like I always do, and it's just not fun. I feel like someone stuck me inside of a radiator and left me there. Trying to type on a laptop is just not doing it for me....I have it on a pillow to keep the direct heat off my legs, but the pillow is warm as well. There is no winning in this scenario.

I finished Rebecca. I woke up this morning afire with the thirst to know what happened -so in lieu of going to work, I sat in bed for an hour and ripped through it. It's just as good as I thought it would be, and largely more surprising. It's a well done book. I'd recommend it to anyone. Funniest part is that my mom watched the movie version of it several months ago, and they're vastly different, which is to be expected, I suppose.

I also have another review up. (Two, actually, if you count the one on Helium, but that one'll be up on Examiner next week, so if you want to find it, either DIY or wait. ;) ).

So, all things considered, I need to get me to a library. I'm out of books to read, unbelievable as that sounds. Off I go.

Newspapers and further thoughts on Rebecca

Sometimes "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" comes through -sometimes it isn't about dating or making extremely stupid choices as a result over an overdeveloped sense of competition. The episode I just watched was about the power of the press to actually enact change, even if it's a school newspaper. I wish my school newspaper had done interesting things like that, as opposed to self-congratulatory back-patting and stories about the editors' friends. Some of those people are my friends, too, and I mean them no offense, but where was the investigative reporting? Where were the stories about the teachers that played favorites or stacked grades? Where were stories about corruption on the school board? Perhaps there wasn't any, and Findlay is just as boring as the school papers made it sound...but somehow, I think the real corruption was just in the newspaper.

I'm still reading Rebecca, and still loving it. It's getting weirder and more disturbing as the story progresses, and I'm loving it. This is the first time in weeks I've confined my reading to a single book -it's a strange experience, actually, not to switch between three or so books every hour or chapter I spend reading. I wouldn't say it's more relaxing, even. It's just different. Pleasant, but different.

A review will be up soon after I finish it, and it'll probably be a hefty one. There will also be a review up tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that!

Rebecca

Last night I started reading Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, and I'm already hooked. There will be a review up this week or next, depending on when I finish it. Yay books! Seriously, if you haven't read Rebecca go check it out from a library or just buy a copy and read it along with me. It's totally worth it. I'm 23 pages in and I'm telling you it's good.

I had other things to write about, but none of them are really relevant.
I do have another review up, though! Dead Until Dark, the first of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels. Check it out. Leave me nasty comments, etc. The usual. You know how we do.

Short blog post is short! But you will survive. I have reading to do, anyway.