Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Once Upon A Time...

"A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it." ~William Styron, 1958
As I pondered on what to write for this post, my mind thought back through the events of the day. Not much there. For the next two weeks, my co-worker, Philip is getting married and thus otherwise occupied; so I am bored at work. We usually talk and I have some new interesting topic of conversation to wow my friends with. Not for awhile folks. It doesn't matter, this will just force me to be more creative.
On our way to work this morning, me and my friend Chelsea (the only other person in the vicinity awake at 4:45 a.m. I guarentee it) were talking about a variety of different things and she asked if I was planning on going to Harry Potter. Alas, I am not. I read the series until about the fifth or sixth book and then I got tired of it and the fan-mania. So I went on a Harry Potter strike. Surprisingly, it's been really healthy for me. The only downside is trying to explain it to other people.
When I told her no, Chelsea said something interesting along the lines of: You are a classical book kind of person then? And here I paused and have devoted some thought to this question. I don't know if I would describe myself as such. It's flattering to think that I may have developed high scholarly tastes but as I think back over my favorite books, some of them are not so scholastic. I don't know what it is, all I know is that once I have developed some sort of memory to attach to a piece of writing, I love and praise it forever. I guess the fact of the matter is I like good books?
I like what the quote I found at the beginning of the post says. I have a really good imagination (not bragging it's just a fact), hence why I can't help but look at the ending of a book and also why movies affect me so much. I get really attached to the drama that is playing itself out before my eyes, and I need to know how they end so I don't fall to pieces if something bad happens to my favorite characters. Trust me, I have cried through several books and movies.
All I know is that I hate Mormon/Christian romance novels, Harry Potter/Twilight and uber fantasy novels (you know the ones that go on for like, fifteen books?) I think the main reason why I dislike these genres so much is because they are the same thing written to the same types of people over and over again.
I like books that you find hidden in some random corner of the library, ones that no one has heard of before. I like the real folk and fairy tales, like the Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Anderson, so like the stuff that has been passed down orally for generations! (there is so much history in those fairy tales, you can't make fun of it). I like books that make me think! Books that make me want to find someone to talk about it with! I like books that make me want to be a better person, not just morally obligated to do so.
I am always up for suggestions on what to read and I'll read everything once, I am not a book snob.
Anyways, what do you guys think?

The End

1 comment:

  1. I totally agree on most points! Except I love love love classic novels, I can just eat them up! And I'm not nearly as emotionally attached to characters as you are, lol. But, I am tired of the hype over freaking Twilight and other such books.

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