Back After a Long Weekend...

Sorry for my very extended blogging absence of two days (gasp!) but it could not be helped I assure you. I had a very long weekend of birthday celebrations and I simply had no time (or the proper brain capacity) to compose a thoughtful post.

But I’m back now!

I did finally get a chance to finish the book that has been taunting me for over a week however: All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren.

I’ve written a bit about this one already and I plan on writing a full review later this week but I just have to get a bit off my chest now. I’m irritated. It had a lot of potential and in the first 200 pages I really thought it could be a 5 star book. I was excited. But then in the middle it really started to drag and as a result I started reading slower and slower and the book ended up taking much longer than usual to finish. It wasn’t a bad book at all, I just think it could’ve been much better than it was.

It reminded me of Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. I don’t know if you all remember my review or not but it was going along great when Wilde decided to insert a chapter that, in my opinion, was completely irrelevant to the story and slowed the reading pace to almost a complete halt.

Why do author’s do this? Someone told me that in Wilde’s case his publishers requested that he lengthen the book, but I don’t actually know if that was the case. But really to me it seems like the author is writing about one subject but wanted to get in something of a totally different subject in the SAME book. But it is as if they didn’t want to take the time to write a whole other book on that other subject so they just wanted to find somewhere in the book they were already writing and kind of insert it. The end result is annoyance (or at least it is for me!) and a much lower star rating come review time.

Has this happened to any of you? What book(s)?

Oh, and the most important question of all, did you miss me?

Happy Birthday to Me!

If you somehow failed to grasp this from the title of my post...it's my birthday! Yup, it's finally here! I'm the ripe old age of...well, I'll just keep that one to myself because a lady never tells ;)


I'm going to do a real post later about books and stuff but I thought I'd just leave this quick post right now so everyone could flood the comments with posts saying how much they love me.


And here are some other awesome people that share my birthday (just being born on this day obviously makes one awesome):
-Harry Houdini
-Steve McQueen
-Bob Mackie
-Peyton Manning


And since this is a literary blog first and foremost I feel I must mention these two writers that had the bad fortune to die on my birthday:
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1882)
-Jules Verne (1905)


Adios for now!

Happy Book Day to Me

So, I'm still sick. Impossible right? Wrong. I went to the doctor yesterday where I was diagnosed with...they have no clue. A bad cold most likely. But I got some extra strength cough medicine because what I have most resembles Pertussis (otherwise known as whooping cough). It's seriously not fun. But while the meds work great on my cough, they make me really sleepy and a bit dizzy and I've still been battling a fever all day. Woo...hoo...

So instead of the greatness I usually bring you all (see, I can still be full of myself while sick) I'm just going to list off all the cool new books I've gotten lately.

My birthday is this month (March 24, mark your calendars so you don't forget to all buy me awesome gifts!) and my parents already gave me some books on my Kindle. Hooray! Although, my mom said I got them now as opposed to on my actual birthday because she could not figure out how to do it any other way. I don't know how it works either. But thanks Mom! I got something in every genre really. And they are...

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

This will be my first Wharton so I'm excited. And it's not too long so I figure it's a good book to start on with her.


American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by Craig Ferguson

I LOVE this guy. I think he's hilarious but he's also extremely intelligent. Have you seen his late show? Awesome! And I needed to read a good memoir. It's been a little too long (as in a couple months). Also I've heard a bit about this one and it's supposed to be good.

Weeds Like Us by Gunter Nitsch

This is non-fiction history in the mix. It's about the author's young childhood in East Prussia following WWII as his family was uprooted. It's something I've actually never read about before. And I "know" the author through Shelfari so I'm excited to read it sometime soon. Maybe when I'm done I can post some sort of interview with him on here for everyone.


The Husband by Dean Koontz

When it comes to mass-market paperback books, this is the author that I like. He's easy and you don't have to think too much. So when I just want to get away and have a good suspense book, this will be it for me.

So thanks again for the early birthday gifts! Who knows when I'll get around to reading/reviewing them for everybody as I have so many books on my plate as it is, but I love them regardless. Oh, and I'm about halfway done with Tess of the d'Urbervilles. So far I like it but it's hard to concentrate on such beautiful language with this sickness :(