Ding dong, the witch is dead...

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is an awesome book, which I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear.

It was a lot more of an "adult-read" than I had expected. I hadn't exactly expected it be a children's book, but it was a lot more grown-up and intellectual than I anticipated. There was a lot going on and I found it amazing that someone could create a whole 'nother world like that of Oz, with various political parties and lives intertwined. I really look forward to reading the sequels, and of course hopefully someday seeing the play.

Next up for me is Home by Marilynne Robinson. Like I said before, it's a title I saw when browsing at Borders. I guess Robinson wrote another book set in the same town, but completely independent, that was extremely popular.

done da-done done donnnnneee

I finished Lolita today. It actually did not end the way I thought it did, but it's just as well. It was a very enjoyable read, I have to say. One would think that in writing a story from the perspective of a character like this, he would make himself out to be the good guy, in a relatable and sympathetic fashion. But he doesn't glamorize it. He knows the extent to which what he did was socially unacceptable, to say the least. But he is not particularly apologetic about his behavior, for he was acting out of pure, almost otherworldly love, as unorthodox--and illegal--though it was. In one of the last pages of the book, he is talking about his Lolita saying "I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I know I am to die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth, or hoped for anywhere else." Vanity Fair is quoted on the front cover as saying "The only convincing love story of our century." I understand how it could be hard for a lot of people to not dismiss his story as a one of a creepy, disgusting pedophile who took advantage of a young girl. And it indeed is that very thing, but it is revealed at the end that his love for her was more than just a lust or infatuation for a child, but a pure, real and eternal love for a person that he takes with him to his grave. It is also clear that he is aware of his crime and ashamed of what he had done.

Anywho, I definitely recommend this book, though I think it is likely to be interpreted and accepted in many different ways by different people. I don't have my next book lined up, but chances are I will have one picked out before the night is done and will post about it tomorrow.

Quote

"Spring tipped in like green well water, frothing at the hedges, bubbling at the roadside, spalshing from the cottage roof in garlands of ivy and stringflower" (32).

Reading List

Still reading Eat, Pray, Love. Still Meadow and Sugarbridge is still on my nightstand. I have been reading a book on creativity called Creative Time and Space. I'm also reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, using it daily as a devotional/reflection.

"You don't bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your abilities or by trying to be someone else. You only bring him enjoyment by being you." (pg. 76)

Do you know your purpose? Just wondering.

Lolita

I am really enjoying this book. As I said before, the subject matter is rather disturbing, but the writing is really beautiful and descriptive. I wish I had been keeping track of more quotes and his word choices, but it's hard to remember to mark the page or write them down while I'm reading. Here is one quote from today that demonstrates pretty well his inventive and almost lyrical writing style:

"While a few pertinent points have to be marked, the general impression I desire to convey is of a side door crashing, open in life's full flight, and a rush of roaring black time drowning wih its whipping wind the cry of lone disaster."

I read this one ages ago and I can't believe I found it again. Thank goodness for my photographic memory so I remembered what part of the page it was on...Hello alliteration...

"I spend my doleful days in dumps and dolors."

I am towards the end and am very interested in how it turns out. I have a vague idea, but nothing specific.

And just for fun, a few things to be happy about from my book:

• baby bootees
• secret caves
• old tintypes
• the cat acting foolish
• sweeps of white beach that surround the ocean's edge
• the dancing of fireflies as the moon rises

Happy reading!

Wicked

Since Karen and I weren't able to see the show, I've gotten the book instead. Maybe someday I'll get to see the show too! I also hope to read the two other books in the series, Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men.

I also took out Home by Marilynne Robinson, which is one of the books I saw at Borders that I thought might be good.

Finished!

One more quote from The Kite Runner: "I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night" (359).

I actually finished The Kite Runner this weekend after reading most of it on Friday at work. It was a really great book and I definitely recommend it. It's an intense story, but a beautiful one.

I'm not sure what's up next, but I've got a list going and I'm planning on going to the library tomorrow at lunch.

Quote

"But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie" (p. 58).

Eat, Pray, Love

“In that moment, it was as if my strong mother reached across the table, opened her fist and finally showed me the handful of bullets she’d had to bite over the decades in order to stay happily married (and she is happily married, all considerations weighed) to my father. I had never seen this side of her before, not ever. I had never imagined what she might have wanted, what she might have been missing, what she might have decided not to fight for in the larger scheme of things. Seeing all this, I could feel my world start to make a radical shift.”

Amir's Baba...

When Amir describes his father, it reminds me of Grampa.

"... hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree..." (p. 12)

"... impossible to ignore, even in his sleep." (p. 13)