Viola!

I finished reading The Host around 12:30 this morning. I practically devoured the last half of the book. Like I've heard mentioned, I'll agree that it is a bit strange. It's mildly slow in the beginning, but soon becomes fast-paced and hard to put down. For anyone who doesn't know what this book is about, and without giving too much away, it's about an alien (they're called Souls; this one's name is Wanderer) who inhabits a body (the host; Melanie). Melanie, however, doesn't disappear like she's supposed to, and Wanderer is stuck with her memories and emotions. Shennighans ensue.

Strange, yes, but totally an awesome read.

This novel, and the four books from the Twilight Saga, further confirms my theory that Stephenie Meyer was a Roswell fan. No one can convince me otherwise. That's probably another reason why I enjoyed the book so much.

With that said, I still have a few issues with the way she wrote her book(s).

I just don't do 1st Person very well. It's too limited, and more often than not that author tries to break through the limitations. They fail; only succeeding in irritating me.

Also, and I don't know why she does this, but SM likes to tell stories within her dialogue. She did this in the Twilight Series (I think it was Eclipse? Whichever one that Rosalie told her story), and she did it a bit in The Host, too.

She tries to have a character tell the story of his/her past. She goes into detail, which is great...but when she gets to the dialogue portion, she flubs it up. It's not believable; I don't like it. I...can't explain it very well. While a character -- let me use Rosalie...

While Rosalie is telling her story, she gives great detail. Which is wonderful. Good stories require a lot of detail. When she is telling Bella what the guys said to her, though, that's when it becomes unrealistic. She uses tags: "he said maliciously" within her story, as in, within the dialogue.

No one talks like that. No one tells their best friend what their douchebag ex-boyfriend said to them -- not like that. It's weird. I noticed it right away. I don't like it. It irritates me. (This is probably horribly confusing...)

...But I still really enjoyed the books, lol! People think that when I nitpik about stuff like that, then I don't like what I'm reading. Unfortunately, it's quite the opposite. The more I like the book, the more I pick at it. I think it should be perfect.

Unrealistic, I know. *shrug*

So, I went to the library today and picked up four books. I'll probably end up having to recheck some of them out, haha. But I'm starting, today, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Then, I think, I'll read The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle. The other two books I checked out are A Northen Light by Jennifer Donnelly and Atonement by Ian McEwan. Pretty stoked about it.

I totally forgot how awesome libraries are. They smell nice. And they're quiet. It's pretty much heaven.

Dinner and movie tonight. I wanna read some before then....

Byye!

& It Feels So Good

So, I've been gone for a bit. I've actually just returned a few days ago from the Happiest Place on Earth. I *love* Disney World.

With that said, battling the masses of people and the elderly on scooters, while racing madly through the Magic Kingdom (and the rest of the parks), it left me little time to read.

I have...much to my chagrin...shelved Anna Karenina for now. I do fully intend to pick it up later. Right now, I'm just not into it. I did start reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer before I left for Florida. I'm just about half way finished with it -- it's so wonderful. I do enjoy it immensely, just as I suspected I would. I feel much better, actually being able to sit down and get absorbed in a book again. Yay!

I have no idea what to read next. I bought, recently, East of Eden by Steinbeck; my co-worker was reading it and was just gushing the whole way. She said it was awesome. So, I wanted it to put it on my list.

I also bought a hardback edition of Charlotte's Web, but that's just because it was my favorite childhood book and I lost my old copy. I put it in my bookshelf, and I just like to stare at it. It was such a darling little book!

But this is what I'm thinking about picking up next::

I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin -- this is pretty much a biography, which I swore I wouldn't do. But I love her, and made the exception.

Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Sharon Lathan -- this I bought at Target on a whim. It's supposed to be the sequel to Pride and Prejudice. I hope it's good....

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult -- I own several of her books, and I loved them. So I'm sure this is going to be win, as well.

Those are all books that I currently have waiting in my shelf. I could, instead, breakout my library card and pick something else::

The Story of Edward Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Or I can look for that odd series by the author who wrote Crank and Identical. Those are supposed to be wicked.

*shrug* We'll see. It feels good to read again.

" "

I have about fifty pages left to read of Three Weeks with My Brother. I've practically devoured that book; it's so awesome. I'll definitely have it finished by tomorrow - probably while I'm at work. With that said, I need to figure out what I'm going to read next. I want something contemporary. Not quite ready to jump back into the classics yet - so Bronte, and Hawthorne, and Tolskoy are going to have to wait.

I'm thinking I should probably finish reading The Time Traveler's Wife, being as I started that ages ago - and had to stop once the semester started. I'm not quite halfway finished with it. It makes sense to start that book, but I kind of want to start something new, too. I want to give my library card a workout.

To choose from, I have:

The Time Traveler's Wife - again, this would be ideal to finish.
A Northern Light - which Sarah swears is amazing. I don't know when I'll see her again to borrow it from her, so...I guess I can get it from the library, though.
The Host - I should really save this for the summer...It looks to be an epic.
Marley & Me - totally random, and heard-tell it's a tear-jeaker, but whatthehell.

Hmm...decisions, decisions. Oh, well, I'll figure something.

...in unrelated news, I need a freakin' title.

And that is all.