Friday, February 17, 2012

Pride and Prejudice

I started reading Pride and Prejudice about 24 hours ago and am already 15% done. (If I had a nickel for every time that happened...) For all my dreading of Austen and agony of suffering through this book in AP English, it's not actually as bad as I had anticipated. I really am attributing this to the edition that I happened to find at the library.



The library that I go to is generally not as well-stocked as other branches, but it was the closest, so I stopped in on the way to dinner. The website said that they had a copy in, but when I got there I couldn't find it. I checked the young adult paperback racks a few times, and finally found a copy. I think I was expecting a penguin edition or an old one with tiny print and yellow pages. However, the copy I found was kind of an over sized paperback that claimed it was the "insight edition." As I looked inside, I saw that every page or so had a note in the margin from the publisher, including things such as historical notes and tidbits about Austen's life. The notes are almost like footnotes, except much more accessible, and on the side of the page rather than the bottom. For me, the notes are WONDERFUL because they help keep my attention on the story and give background that is generally lost on me.

It also helped that I was hired to do nothing but read today, so I got 10 or so chapters done. It's actually a more interesting story than I originally thought in high school. But we'll see. I won't write my opinion of Darcy at this point because people would probably come after me with pitchforks or something. I'll have to see if he's really any better than Rhett Butler, who is much more interesting than a grumpy rich dude with lots of books. (cue Anchorman reference: I'm very important. I have many leather bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany. Haha, I wish that was in the editors notes).

Anyway, I'm hoping to finish this book before February is over. It might be fun to finish while I am recovering from wisdom tooth surgery.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Check!


I just finished THGTTG this morning (title is too long to write out every time). The beginning was entertaining and captivating, but as the book went on, it got a little too involved and strange for me. I think part of it was that this book is actually part of a long series, and so not everything could be resolved in the first book. However, it was a fairly quick read, with many many short chapters, so while it was not challenging, it was kind of hard to keep track of. I guess science fiction is not really my thing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

My next book I think will be Pride and Prejudice. We'll see, though. I know how things turn out when I plan to do something...