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.

An Apology And Penance (In Link Form)

I have been remiss with this blog and I apologize. (I never said it would be a good apology. It is, however, a sincere one.) In my defense, I must tell you that I came home last Wednesday and discovered that my Internet was dead (it turned out that my [physical] cable was cut in two different places). My cable company, like all cable companies, wasn't particularly interested in fixing the problem at a time that was convenient for me (because, really, why should they make sure I'm happy with the one and only service I pay them for?), so it wasn't fixed until Saturday and by then I'd forgotten that I hadn't blogged. And that forgetfulness carried over to this week (apparently I need to do something more than once a week if I wish to make it a habit), but I remembered now.

As for my penance, it's from BuzzFeed. I can always find interesting and/or funny lists at BuzzFeed and that's why I love it.

• My old roommate shared the link to 17 problems only book lovers will understand on Facebook a while ago and I've been meaning to share it here.(Yes, I know it's from HarperCollins, but they're not trying to sell anything.) And I couldn't agree more with Donnie Darko that a book is a Do Not Disturb sign.
• Did you know that BuzzFeed now has a section devoted to books? I didn't until Laurie Halse Anderson tweeted a link to it. I apologize for destroying your productivity for the rest of the day :) Of course, it's currently the Friday before Labor Day and no one is ever productive on that day. The rest of my links are some of my personal favorites that are currently on the BuzzFeed Books front page.
• There's the 13 worst things that can happen while you're reading. (Contributed by another publisher, but they're not trying to sell anything either.)
• I love all the Belle GIFs in the list of 12 signs you're really into your book. I think I may need to re-watch Beauty and the Beast.
• How could I not love a list that gives love to one of my favorite YA authors, John Green? Some of the life lessons are better than others, but that's to be expected when the list has 56 items. Would someone please buy me the poster at the end of the post?

Summer Of Jane

First, I must apologize for not posting this last night. I've been having weird sleep issues for a while and last night that led to me taking a nap at 4 PM but not waking up until 1 AM. And I just didn't feel like getting up and writing a blog post at 1 AM.

Last summer was my own personal summer of Jane (Austen). I re-read all six completed novels and capped it off by reading All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith. This summer, however, is everybody's summer of Jane. Austenland, the film adaptation of Shannon Hale's fabulous novel of the same name, opens in limited release tomorrow. I cannot wait to see it, but it appears that it won't make its way to the Tampa area until September 13.

This New York Times article makes the case that this isn't just the summer of Jane but 2013 is the year of Jane and I think it is a pretty strong case. There have been completely random news stories out of the UK about Jane, both Jane's inclusion on British currency (and the resulting controversy and disgusting behavior of people opposed to that decision) and the story of the legal limbo of one of Austen's rings that Kelly Clarkson purchased at auction last year. (By the way, I really don't understand that story. If the ring is such an important cultural artifact that shouldn't leave Britain, then why didn't culture minister Ed Vaizey prevent the auction from ever happening in the first place. It all just seems like posturing on Vaizey's part.) And then, of course, there's the upcoming Austenland movie and a bunch of books mentioned in the Times article. (I'm trying not to read the list too many times because otherwise I'll end up adding titles to my TBR list, which is already very long.) The Times piece also includes a fun interactive quiz. I only got 12 questions right, and I'm quite disappointed about that, but it was fun nonetheless.

More Links

I'm always looking out for things to share on my blog, particularly for weeks when I'm not inspired to write about something specific. This is one of those weeks.

• I nearly edited last week's post to include this skit from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but drunk Ron Weasley singing "Happy Birthday" to Harry Potter is still funny this week.
• Nick Offerman's summer reading recap from last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live! is also really funny. Do schools really have summer reading lists, though? I don't remember ever having to read books during summer vacation. I did read books during summer vacation because I've always loved reading, but nothing was ever assigned. Also, was my high school the only one that didn't include Of Mice and Men or Lord of the Flies in the English curriculum? I've still never read either of them.
• Finally, a friend of mine passed along this link to pictures of the abandoned Wal-Mart that is now the largest single-floor public library in America. I would love to visit that library because a) it looks amazing and b) I want to laugh in the face of an abandoned Wal-Mart. (I am not a fan of Wal-Mart.)

Happy Birthday, Harry!

Today is Harry Potter's birthday (or it would be if he were a real person). It's also J. K. Rowling's birthday.

I still remember the first time I read Deathly Hallows and how shocked I was to realize that Harry was only a month younger than me. I'd never had any idea that the books took place in the 90s until Harry found his parents' headstone in Godric's Hollow and their death dates were listed as October 31, 1981. One of the beautiful things about the world of Harry Potter is that it doesn't really matter when Harry was born or when the books took place, but I found it interesting.

Of course, I didn't remember that today was Harry Potter's birthday until I saw this quiz on BuzzFeed. (I did not do as well on the quiz as I would've liked. I guess I don't remember the books very well.) BuzzFeed also published a list of 28 things that happened after Deathly Hallows. I knew some of the stuff on the list, but a lot of it was news to me. I think it's awesome that Rowling has thought about it, though.

Thanks to BuzzFeed, I really want to re-read all of the Harry Potter books. Like, right now. But I really ought to wait until I finish Team of Rivals. Maybe the Harry Potter books will be an effective bribe.