Good News

I finished Team of Rivals over the weekend. And have since started and finished Austenland. It's a quick read. And it was so nice to be reading fiction again that I just had to stay up and finish the last 60 pages. (And it didn't hurt that it was finally getting into the fun stuff with Jane and Mr. Nobley.) Yay for reading fiction!

I discovered the URL for Shannon Hale's website while perusing the reading group guide at the end of the book. And even though it was ungodly early in the morning I felt duty-bound to check it out, which is how I found her blog. On her blog I found this post, which notes that Austenland is the rare movie written, directed, produced by, and starring women and, therefore, the Hollywood establishment is sure it will fail. If you have any interest in the film please see it in the theater. It's always fun to prove the Hollywood establishment wrong.

And I must say that I really liked Team of Rivals. (I wouldn't have been able to bang out 40 pages at a time if I hadn't.) I bawled my eyes out when President Lincoln was assassinated. I hadn't expected to cry since I knew it was coming, but then again there are books and movies and TV show episodes that never fail to make me cry no matter how many times I read or watch them. (There are even some movies and TV episodes that I watch when I want to cry.) I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised by my reaction.

And now to read some more Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone before I go to bed.

Austenland

I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to see Austenland when it finally hit theaters down here, but my fear was unfounded as I talked my mom into seeing it with me last Friday. (We had to do something to kill the time before my brother and sister-in-law flew down after all.)

I absolutely loved it! In fact, it will be on my Christmas list (assuming it's released on DVD in time for Christmas). Naturally, I tended to focus on things that didn't fit with my memory of the book, but I was much more willing to let them go than I was the first time I watched The Host (which may or may not have been due to the fact that I much prefer the casting of Austenland to that of The Host). Incidentally, I did enjoy The Host much more the second time I watched it, so buying it was a good idea.

As for my mom, she's pretty sure she stayed awake for most of it (which is the best you can expect from her when watching a movie in the theater). She liked it, but probably not as much as I did. That's okay, though, because I don't think she liked the book as much as I did, either.

Speaking of Austenland the book, it has jumped to the top of my TBR list. I still have about 100 pages to read in Team of Rivals, but I had 140 pages to read this morning, so things are looking up :)

Powering Through

I know, I missed last week entirely. I'm sorry. Let's not dwell on that, though.

I've been reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin for the past month and a half and I can't tell you how often I think about abandoning it in favor of re-reading a YA series. That's not to say that it's a bad book; it's not (and it's gotten much better since the Civil War started). It turns out that I much prefer fiction to non-fiction. And my preference for fiction is why I can't read one of the YA series that are calling my name while I'm reading Team of Rivals. I actually tried that in January and Team of Rivals lasted all of eight days. I'd tell myself that I'd read a little of whatever novel I was reading at the time and then 10 or so pages of Team of Rivals, but then I'd get caught up in the novel and by the time I pulled myself away it was too late at night to attempt something as dry as the beginning of Team of Rivals.

Why am I forcing myself to continue reading a book that by my own admission I don't want to be reading? Because I actually do want to read it. I may really want to re-read Harry Potter, but I also want to read Team of Rivals. And I would like to finish it sometime this year so I can give it back to my dad, so I may as well read it now. Harry Potter will keep. So will Uglies, Divergent, The Selection, and The Hunger Games.