Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Readerly Rambles: 09/19/2012

What I read: The only book I finished last week was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first five reads (I think this is my 6th time reading it?). During this reading I had two thoughts.  First of all I find I'm more and more ambiguous towards Dumbledore and I think that he is the most complex character (next to Snape). I cannot tell how much he knows about Harry's "condition" and sometimes I think he baits Harry or at least puts him in some sort of training to prepare him his destiny.  Secondly, as much as I would like to fancy myself a Hermione, I am actually a Mrs. Weasley.  The descriptions of the Burrow reminds me of my home (i.e. in that I'm cooking, baking, knitting, taking care of kids, and cleaning and everything is worn or cluttered), my need to feed people (if you come to my house I will feed you whether you want it or not), my fierce love for my children, and my belief in discipline and chores.  In fact, Molly's Boggart (as seen in The Order of the Phoenix) is my my boggart.  My greatest fear is something happening to the people I love. 
EDIT:  I just remembered I finished another book as well, Fables: Superteam. Mr. Dark is defeated, but at a cost, and I'm anxious to see what trouble Gepetto is starting.  This series is so good and I can't wait to get my paws on the next book.

What I'm reading:  I'm in the middle of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  It is my pre-bedtime read and I haven't been able to read in days.  I'm eager to get back to it.

My other read is Gone with the Wind.  I hate it.  I think I would rather read a narrative history of the civil war, because I do enjoy and historical research and aspects of the novel.  I cannot stand the "love" story and I absolutely *hate* Scarlet O'Hara.  She's up there with Anna Karenina and Emma Woodhouse.  Sassy is one thing, but she is selfish, a horrible mother, and a flirty little hoochie mama.  And Rhett is so over the top bad boy.  I think I'm finding the characters very one dimensional. It isn't that I don't like them, I don't care about them.  There is no introspection, subtleties, or the incongruities that make us human.  I'm sticking with it, but it is frustrating to read over 200 pages and realize there are 800 left!

What's up next:  I really, really, really, want to get to my copy of Tooth and Claw.  I making myself get to page 400 in Gone with the Wind before I pick it up.  My ultimate plan is to work on reading Gone with the Wind enough to annihilate it during readathon, which would put my book completion day on 10/13 or 10/14.

If you're reading Gone with Wind leave me some encouragement or give me some feedback!

2 comments:

Debi said...

I have a fair bit of Mrs. Weasley in me, too. It's not such a bad thing. :)

I admire your stick-to-itiveness. I don't think I could push through another 800 pages having disliked the first 200 so much. Of course, I'm far to wimpy to ever attempt Gone With the Wind to start with. Finally watched the movie not too long ago because my mother-in-law adores it so. I was frankly underwhelmed. Just not my thing.

Cass said...

It's so good to hear someone else say the don't like Gone With the wind. I also hated it and found Scarlett to be one of the most horrible human beings ever written. It was hard to enjoy any other aspects of the book, history, war, etc. because of how grating she was! I actually didn't finish it, I made it about 600 pages through. Always enjoy seeing what you're reading and what you're up to.