New Things in My Life

I have so many new things happening in my life. They may not seem that important; but to me they are monumental. I moved into my own apartment again in June (sadly have been slacking on getting internet set up). I also signed up for an online journaling class that is helping me to learn how to express myself more and work through the changes in my life.

I am currently reading "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and am enjoying it. Right now though I feel like they should have reached the middle by now. I will journal on the book once I finish it. Some other things I am doing are trying to get back into my creative side with poetry and art. We'll see how they go. I have a lot of decorating to do in my apartment and gifts to make so I am getting back on board with my creative side. 

This is quite embarrassing. I haven't written on here for over a year. Yet I have been reading books and updating my library on LibraryThing. So much has been going on - yet I haven't been posting. So, I am going to make it a set day of the week to ensure I am staying up to date with my blog. If there happens to be a week with more than one post that's okay. There is so much to talk about with literature and this is where I see the best outlet for myself. If only I would utilize it! I am starting out on my own again. New apartment with no cable and internet so I will definitely have time to read and re-center myself to what my priorities and needs are. I am also enrolled in an online course on how to journal so some of my thoughts on that may show up here also.

The Prophecy of Days by Christy Raedeke

For March book club we read book one of The Prophecy of Days by Raedeke. It was a cute and quick read. There are questions raised about the Mayan calendar and prophecies. I never buy into the end of the world prophecies when people talk about them. It was fun to see how Raedeke had a teenage girl (Caity) be the center of the plot and have to unite other teenagers around the world to keep a prophecy from coming true. Raedeke writes the book from Caity's viewpoint. There are emails and texts between Caity and friends that are convincing with abbreviations and token teenage sayings. The reader can easily believe it is a teenage girl telling the story. The plot moves along fairly quickly. For me it was a little strange how everything just worked out for Caity. In discussion someone talked about how things happen when a prophecy is supposed to come about. That things just fall into place. I understand that; but it was anti-climatic for me. The characters are likable though and I will probably eventually pick up book two so I can see what happens. Another aspect of the book is Caity's guilt for continually lying and deceiving her parents. She knows that it is safer for them to not know. However, she knows that she is supposed to be honest with them too. This is troubling for her and adds to the intensity of her role in the prophecy.

Currently Reading

Of course I'm not only reading Jurassic Park. I'm not sure why I always have a couple books going at the same time. I finished our book club book for March. There will be a post after our meeting on it. I also finished the third book in the Stephanie Plum series and will be working through the rest of them. This is a series that I can read a book in a couple days and be in a good mood after them. The books are just hilarious! I also picked up The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction (sixtieth anniversary edition) at the library. There are a lot of authors I haven't read anything by yet. I figured by reading some short stories I will know if I want to pick up a larger work. I've read two stories so far; "Other People" by Neil Gaiman and "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. Both stories piqued my interest. Gaiman's story is very short but brings up some harsh questions about the afterlife in Hell and how one is punished for the sins they committed. The ending threw me a little but it makes sense to me. Vonnegut's story was just scary in how the human race has tried to make everyone equal to each other through hiding differences and adding weights to slow people down. The idea of this government that wants everyone the same is ugly to me. You root for Harrison but know that there was no other way the ending could be. I'm sorry - I don't want to give too much away!

Jurassica Park by Michael Crichton

For the past couple weeks I have been working my way through Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. It's taking awhile mainly because I have been only reading at work. I am enjoying it though. There is just so much extra technical stuff in it. Crichton puts a lot of content in the story that is difficult for me to follow because of the terminology used. But it is helpful content. I have seen the movie and can see parts of it in the book; but luckily there is a lot that isn't in the movie. This is the first book by him that I've read and I am liking it. There are a lot of questions raised in this story. The whole idea of being able to bring dinosaurs back to life and be able to control them is very pompous. Hammond, the money behind all of it, is very blind to everything that could (and is) going wrong with his island.  I'm only at the part where things begin to go wrong. I'm waiting to see how Hammond is in the rest of the book.