The Jar

I'm writing this post as I watch Merlin on Netflix (I'm on season 4). So who's having a great night? That would be me. I am having a fabulous knight. (Get it?) And side note about the show Merlin: The producers/directors/writers were brilliant because they include a bunch of little details that are related to the King Arthur Legend that you wouldn't catch unless you knew about them or watched for them. It's really satisfying for me as the viewer (and slight obsessor).

Update on my very exciting (not) life. I am drowning in reading homework. Which is my own fault because I enrolled in 3 upper-upper division classes that all occur on the same day. But all of my professors are great and the readings are actually entertaining and I'm having a swell time underneath all these pages of mandatory reading. (send help or food or tea)

Sadly, because I am spending all of my free time doing the reading homework for my classes,  I (so far) don't have the time to read books for leisure. So all those sequels and new releases that I've been waiting to come out and wanting to stick my nose in, all those wonderful pieces of literature will have to wait. *sigh*

The roomies of 214 have also decided to use a "wtf" jar for all the weird stuff that we do. If you've seen New Girl, it is much like the concept of the "the douchebag jar." I think that I'm the victim of this situation because I do a lot of weird things. Like prance around and meow. It is undecided what the proceeds of the jar will go towards, but it will be something cool. Something big.

Night Train by Martin Amis
Started: January 14, 2016
Finished: January 16, 2016
Stars: 3/5

I have read a couple of Martin Amis' short stories so I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this novella. Mike Hoolihan, despite the male name, is a female detective. And a well-skilled and trained detective who has been in the force for a while. She is chosen for to determine whether the Colonel Rockwell's daughter was the victim of a murder or her own suicide. It is obviously a case that's close to heart for Mike and the rest of her task force and she is chosen because of the closeness between Mike and Jennifer Rockwell.

This isn't a book that is centralized on the mystery or the action of the book. It's an emotional journey through Mike's head. Mike talks about how the "police" don't look for the why in a case. They don't care about that answer. They care about the who, the what and then how. What is interesting is that the whole book is about the why. Why what happened to Jennifer happened? Why? Mike is distressed with this question as she stays up late to listen to the Night Train that runs by her house.

The only problem with this book was the fact that it was a British author writing about the American police force. Amis used terms to describe the American police system that just aren't used. I was confused at the beginning because I was thrown off by the language and the terms that Amis used.

While reading it, I wasn't particularly intrigued by the characters or the plot, but when I finished the book, I was confounded by the concept of the novel. As police they don't ask the why question because they aren't emotionally attached to the case (usually and ideally), but with Mike and Jennifer's case, she is emotionally invested. Jennifer's father is a close friend of Mike's and Mike was fond of Jennifer— everyone was fond of Jennifer. This emotional attachment is what causes Mike to ask that heavy "why" question.

[this book was my murder mystery book for my 2016 Reading Challenge]


SOP: Love Yourself by Justin Bieber
I have no idea why he hasn't made a real music video for this song because this song is great. Ily Biebs (but not in a weird way, just you know normal level.)