Time Traveler's Wife: the Movie >>>SPOILER ALERT!!!<<<

If you haven't seen this movie yet, WAIT AND RENT IT! Just trust me on this one!


>>>SPOILER ALERT!!!<<< >>>SPOILER ALERT!!!<<< >>>SPOILER ALERT!!!<<<

Okay, who else saw this mediocre movie?

They left out most of Claire's childhood, her friend that almost sees Henry at the party, Henry's friend with AIDS, etc. By far the most annoying thing left out was when Claire wakes up because she hears a shot in the woods and Henry witnesses/almost witnesses his own death. The movie didn't have enough detail to be viewed without previous knowledge of the book. Claire's hair is only occasionally red and Henry's crazy ex-girlfriend is completely left out with the exception of the lipsick Claire finds after the first date.

On the flip side, the actors did the best possible job with the script. It still had that magical feel I associate with Autumn. Eric Bana was crazy hottt. (Should I bullet point this paragraph since it sounds like a list?)

miraculously on track!

As of today I am still on track. I'm a little surprised by this, to be honest. I'm started to fall behind however, so I need to step it up. As soon as I clear this week I will have more time. This week has been kind of crazy and I haven't read much. Next week I'll need its calming effects since I have my first three tests of the semester. Reviews to come at a later date. Right now I'm on my way to see The Vagina Monologues.

Review: The Shack

This book was given to me and I've been told by many that its great. Honestly? I think I would connect to the storyline better if I had children or had suffered my own Great Sadness. However, this is book isn't bad. I really liked the conversations between Mack and Papa! They were amazing! I could read the conversations over and over because they weren't about the storyline necessarily. They were relevant (unlike Napoleon) but they are the types of conversations you've always wanted to have with God or with a friend about God. They aren't just nourishing and balm-like because of the subject matter but because the author does a superb job at relaying unconditional love in every word spoken by Papa. At the end of the day I give the book as a whole a 4 out 5 stars. The dialogue though? 10 out of 5!

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

So good! Tense feelings, confusion, greed, ignorance, obsession, love, fear, confession, guilt, its all here. The ending had me on the edge of my seat! I'll be trying to re-read this year!

Review: Prep

I didn't technically finish this book. To be honest however, I wish I hadn't read as much as I did. It was boring. The entire book was from the perspective of a teenage girl who prefers to avoid human interaction for no real reason. There isn't a whole lot of interesting situations a girl like that can get into. In fact, all she thinks about is how to talk to a boy she likes and how to get out of talking to everyone else. Maybe I'll finish someday when I'm bored but it isn't likely.

Review: The Green Dwarf

I couldn't believe this was a Charlotte Bronte! Any Bronte, really. It was slow, there were no peaks, no valleys, no real emotion. It only took about an hour and half to read which was a blessing because it was a long hour and half. The main characters have no substance. The best part of the book happens to be the most random. There's a small bit of an invented story about Napoleon Bonaparte that is quite interesting but has nothing to do with the book. The ending is dull, the middle is dull, the beginning would be dull without Napoleon. But it's impossible to have a good story without discussing Napoleon.

Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

What can be said? Its Harry Potter so it encompasses the right amount of action with the perfect skill of J.K. Rowling. The ending was a bit gut wrenching, in a good way. Harry is growing up as are Ron and Hermione and Ms. Rowling has a tactful way about the crazy things we do at that age while under the influence of our hormones. To be honest I was a bit concerned when I started reading them that she would glaze over their growing up to keep it a kids' book but the blending of the adult and innocent is perfect. And, hell, who doesn't love a good story about magic every now and then?

End of January Update

All's well that begins well. Right? Well, something like that. ;) The end of month one is here and I am in excellent shape! My January commitments were as follows:

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
3. The Green Dwarf

I read:

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
3. The Green Dwarf
   
4. Prep
5. The Shack

Yes, folks, that's a February book and an alternate. I thought it would be difficult, maybe even involve sleep deprivation or anti-social behavior to do this but it didn't. I'm enriching my mind in about hour and half (sometimes two hours) a day. That's it! The Shack only took today to read. I could not be more stoked at how easy it has been to get ahead! Tuesday I'll be at home waiting for the cable guy so my goal is to start Sense and Sensibility tomorrow and finish on Tuesday. By then, I'll be three weeks ahead of schedule. Which, considering how small The Communist Manifesto is, I'll about three weeks to read The Tea House Fire.

Reading List 2009

This may seem like a hefty list but since I read about 30 books last year as well as my school reading I feel like this isn't a big deal. So here is my 2009 reading list.

January

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
   
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
3. The Green Dwarf by Charlotte Bronte

February

1. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin
2. The Tea House Fire by Ellis Avery
   
3. The Communist Manifesto by Fredrich Engels and Karl Marx
   
4. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
   

March

1. Northanger Abbe by Jane Austiny
2. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
3. Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
   
4. Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
   
5. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
   

April

1. Emma by Jane Austin
2. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
   
3. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
   
4. Marie Antoinette the Last Queen of France by Evelyne Lever and Catherine Temerson

May

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
   
2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

June

1. About a Boy by Nick Hornby
   
2. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
   
3. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
   
4. 1984 by George Orwell
   

July

1. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
   
2. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
   
3. Walden by Ralph Waldo Emerson
   

August

1. Civil Disobedience by Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
   
3. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

September

1. Mansfeild Park by Jane Austin
   
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
3. The Odyssey by Homer
   

October

1. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
2. Artemesia: A Novel by Alexandra Lapierre and Liz Heron
3. Dracula by Bram Stoker
   

November

1. The Transformation by Catherine Chidgey
   
2. Cultivating Women, Cultivating Science: Flora's Daughters and Botany in England, 1760 to 1860 by Ann B. Shteir
3. We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
   

December

1. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
3. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
4. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
6. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
7. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
   

Alternates

1. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
   
2. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder and Paulette Moller
3. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
   
4. The Shack by William P. Young (This one I know I'll be reading while reading the other I just had no where else to put it.)