I always over hear people making great plans for summer of having lofty expectations: a summer romance, traveling, partying (? I actually don't know about that one, but I'm assuming?), making some radical memories, etc. Me, not so much. My idea of summer is this: laying out in the sun and reading. That's all I really need in my agenda for summer. This year I incorporated writing and maybe working out a little bit so I look good while laying out in the sun (and so it looks like I'm actually productive during the summer and my mom doesn't nag me to work out).
My internship ends soon (two days to be exact). And do you know what that means??? I GET TO READ!! I'M FREE TO BECOME A SUMMER BOOK BUM!!
I'm a little excited.
Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
Started: May 10, 2015
Finished: June 1, 2015
Stars: 3/5
You know how you have authors you admire, authors you want to be like, authors you want to be friends with and then authors that fit into all of the above? I, at least, have a mental list of my top authors for each category. (And a physical list but that's irrelevant.)
Well, after reading this book of short stories, I've decided I want to be friends with, write like, and admire J.D. Salinger.
I could honestly write an entire post (and possibly a 10+ page research paper) about how much I love J.D. Salinger. Seriously though. It's verging on unhealthy.
In my defense, it took me so long to read this short little book of a whopping 198 pages because I was working hard on my internship... [actually, it was probably because I had to take a pause between several of the short stories because I was soaking it all in and trying to understand it all.]
His stories were gold. They were simple and completely ordinary, yet they messed with me! I would sit at the end of finishing one and try to understand what he meant, what the story meant. Sometimes it was easy. And when I say sometimes, I mean maybe 3 of the stories the meaning clicked. Each of these stories was so ridiculous ordinary, but it had this complexity about it. If you want my English Lit opinion, I think it was supposed to resemble the uniqueness of our lives (the reader's) even though our lives are usually mundane. There is always something special or unique about our mundane every day life.
Nothing will ever live up to my experience of reading Franny and Zooey, but that doesn't mean that this should be disregarded. His writing is just i n c r e d i b l e. He could've written a grocery list and I would read it with a pen in hand, trying to understand what it all meant. I would read way too far into every mark. He's that good.
[this was my "book of short stories" for my 2015 Reading Challenge]
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Started: June 2, 2015
Finished: June 3, 2015
Stars: 3/5
Let me just preface by saying that Gillian Flynn is twisted and a pure genius. This book was really good. I had low expectations for it, honestly. And even though the characters were almost impossible to relate to (they had some serious issues), I was rooting for some of them and predicting the outcome almost instantly.
I even prevented myself from reading the last few pages which is always successful. I did try to coax my mom into telling me who did it when I was a third of the way finished with the book, she claimed she didn't remember. Yeah... Sure.
[this was my "popular author's first book" for my 2015 Reading Challenge]
I'm really not feeling up to reviewing these books right now, so I'm sorry that these two are short. Maybe in the near future I'll bulk them up a little bit... Until then.
SOP: Hate to See Your Heartbreak by Paramore
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