Current Listen: Mostly Hamilton the musical...but I did start The Martian by Andy Weir
Whoo. Got a doozy of a post for you tonight. I've been reading and listening a ton, and I also bought some books. OOPS.
First, I finished Go Set a Watchmen by Harper Lee. I purposefully tried really hard not to read any reviews of this book before reading it myself. I pleasantly drifted through the first half, very much enjoying the vignettes about events later in her childhood (I particularly enjoyed the one about what happens when the church musical director tries to change the tempo of Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow) and the strong voice of Jean Louise. The stuff that everyone got upset about isn't until about half way through. I understand why they are upset, and I was sure for awhile that it would all turn out to be a big misunderstanding. I understood the point of it, and I think it's very interesting that Jean Louise must accept the same thing as we as readers have had to accept when it comes to Atticus: He is not a god. We shouldn't idolize him, I was a little let down by how everything turned out, and I don't think that it was meant to be published but I don't regret reading it at all.
I also just finished Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which is another one to cross off the reading challenge! This was my book that came out the year I was born. It was quite enjoyable. There were a few characters that I did not like AT ALL and thought were super annoying (the granddaughter, Lex, in particular, was way whinier than any child I've ever met), but that didn't impact my enjoyment of the suspense or the story. It was fast-paced and QUITE scary in places, much more so than the movie, which I also obviously love. No spoilers, but there is one scary dinosaur scene that scared me during the movie but was even more intense in the book. Oh, man. It was quite effective as an audiobook, as well.
Alright. Now for the confession. I had a pretty substantial book buying relapse this week. It was multi-faceted as well. First, on Monday I was browsing Audible because I get my credit for a new book on the 6th of every month. I generally use Audible when I want to read any lengthy nonfiction. I'm a huge nerd and love books that teach me things, but sometimes physically reading a nonfiction or biographical tome takes me AGES. I thought it might be fun to read Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, since it is the basis for Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, with which I AM COMPLETELY OBSESSED. I CAN'T STOP, GUYS. Since I couldn't decide between the Chernow and The Martian by Andy Weir, I decided to get both. I'm very excited to read the Weir (hopefully before I see the movie, but we'll see). I also picked up M.T. Anderson's Symphony for the City of the Dead, which is about Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony and the siege of Leningrad during World War II. Excited about all three of those.
Then later in the week I was feeling a little burned out and just generally MEH, and when I was going for a soothing, meditative walk I somehow ended up at the Half Price Books across the street from my apartment. OOPS. Picked up a few things there. I found two HarperPerennial Olive editions, which are really streamlined and PRETTY. Since I already have a copy of Everything is Illuminated by Johnathan Safran Foer (one of my favorites ever) in that edition, I thought I would pick them up. Those were State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, which I haven't read, and The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, which I have.
They were cheap, I promise. And then further down the shelf was a book that I didn't recognize that had NICK HORNBY in big letters on the side, so obviously I had to at least look. It's called Speaking With the Angel, and it's a short story collection that Hornby contributed to and edited. It was produced to benefit The Treehouse Trust, an organization that advocates for education for children with autism. There's a Colin Firth story in it! Other author highlights include Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers, and Helen Fielding. Plus, there was no price anywhere on it so the guy rang it up for two bucks. I'll take it, I say! And then finally I picked up The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone, another one of those fun history buff books. It's a novelization of the life of Michaelangelo that I've heard is fun.
Seven books. Serious lapse. I have been doing very well overall, though! I have a pile with at least that many to give away. As for currently reading, Musicophilia is awesome, and I'm sure I'll ramble about it here in the new future. There are people in the world with "amusia" that literally cannot perceive music. And people have musical hallucinations. It's just so interesting, as I knew it would be. Alrighty, folks. That's all she read.
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