Reading Books

Oh, the Irony

Before I discuss the books I've been reading this summer, I would like to share (because I noticed how popular my last blog was) the really funny thing about that blog for those of you who hadn't heard the story. So I wrote that last Wednesday and then I went to a Young Women's activity at church because I teach the 12- and 13-year-olds. All the girls (12 to 18 years old) were together for this activity and it didn't involve a lot of participation from me since they were planning for Girls' Camp (which apparently I can't attend when I'm pregnant), so I was sitting visiting with another woman.

One of the Laurels (16-year-old girl) came and sat down beside us while we talked and said very directly, "You're all ready to go. You're sticking out just like a turkey. You're all set!"

I replied a little tensely, "Actually, I have three more months to go still."

"Well," she said, completely oblivious to me personally and to the situation socially, "You're fat. No offense."

First, I was slightly offended. However, I couldn't think of any proper response, so I just sat there and took that. Second, I made myself accept this as a humbling situation and swallowed my pride. Third, I was so amused. After all, the timing and the things she said just made the whole thing very, very ironic. So maybe I got a little worked up about it all in the blog. In the end, you might as well laugh because you can't control what people say. And it makes for a great story. (The other funny thing about it, was the flashback to my teenage years when I wanted to slug people who said "no offense." I wanted to inform them, "If you have to say 'no offense' you're probably being offensive. So shut your trap!)

Books

The first book I read was The Bonesetter's Daughter. I liked it. It was a good way to start the summer. It was different and a little challenging. I really had to use my imagination for some of it because the culture was just so different in some respects than ours. The read wasn't a challenge, though, so that was perfect as my transition from school to summer.

I then read A Thousand Splended Suns by the author who wrote Kite Runner (which I still haven't read). I really liked it. Some of it was very sad, but I thought the characters were well-developed. Also, there was a glimpse into the history of Afganistan from a civilian's perspective, so it was informative without being overwhelming (since what I wanted was a novel). It's a book that made me think and ask questions.

Now, I'm reading New Moon with Aunt Pattie. We read Twilight already and are almost finished with this book, too. Part way through Twilight I was getting pretty sick of the stupid teenage romance and we gave it up, but we picked it back up again after encouragement from a friend. I have really mixed feelings about this book. To be honest, I really hate some things about it. This is nerdy, but from an editor's perspective the number of really obvious errors in the book really bugged me. In the first book, the errors were excusable, but by the second book they knew these books were huge and were going to sell so you'd think they would have devoted more effort to making them as error-free as possible. I'm interested to see what happens in the third book in that regard. If we weren't borrowing the books, I think I'd probably be marking the errors in red. It's not a matter of commas, either. I mean, it's repeat words or missing words and it's way more than should have been allowed, I think.

Even more irritating to me from an editor's perspective is the substantive edits that I wish they would have done. I mean, come on! Let's cut out about 75% of the references to Edward's beauty and perfection. She could have made the point just as well without actually saying it so stinking much. It got to the point where you just want to roll your eyes and gag. So, the book is read by thirteen-year-old girls and maybe it doesn't bug them, but it wouldn't hurt them to use their imagination and just remember that, okay, he's supposed to be extremely good-looking. Let's cut the adjectives, my friend. It's killing me.

I'm also annoyed by the teenage romance. The girl says things about how you don't do rational things when you're in love and the she compares her love life to Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo and Juliet came into the picture, that didn't bode well for me. I have never liked that story. Give me Merchant of Venice or Much Ado About Nothing or The Tempest or Julius Caesar or Henry V, but dang it I want to shoot Romeo and Juliet myself a good deal of the time. The story loses me near the beginning when Romeo's mooning over Rosaline one minute and then gets spurned and falls madly in love with Juliet. And then the constancy and the whole drama of the thing just annoy me. So throw some of that into a modern setting and, again, I'm gagging. This character is so morose and obsessed and says all sorts of stupid things about being irrational in love (and she's seventeen by the way) and she's dying to become a vampire. Psh!

So, you ask, why am I still reading this book? Why am I probably going to finish the entire series? Because the action is pretty interesting. Because the author really does have some fun ideas in the plot. For example, the vampire (unknown to the Italians) who is considered a saint for getting out all the vampires . . . even though he's still living in the city with quite a large little society of vampires with him (again, unknown to the citizens)-- I mean, that's kind of funny. And because the plot keeps you coming. Those are the reasons. And I just push my way through the main character's long bouts of depression and shrug off her stupid ideas about love. I don't, however, think that I will read these books more than once and they definitely won't make "My Top Favorites" list.