LES MISERABLES trailer

What a year for movie adaptations, AMIRITE? So gather your tissues and watch this shiz. Then we'll have a chat. I'll wait.

Ok, so is your heart all over the floor in a puddle of your snot and tears? Excellent. ANNE HATHAWAY FOR THE WIN, huh? She's a little pitchy but it seems to work with the emotional aaarrrrgghhh of the song. And Russell Crowe as Javert? YES PLEASE THEY'RE BOTH ASSHOLES. I'm a bit hmmmm *shifty eyed* about Mr. Muscles McGee (known to lesser mortals as Hugh Jackman), especially since his acting chops are nowhere close to Liam Neeson's (though his real chops might be). 

Otherwise, I think it looks like a fan-frickin' tastic movie. Annnnndddd I may be abandoning my Summer of Re-Reading list so I can re-read Les Miserables. 

TAKE SOME NOTES, BAZ. TAKE SOME FRACKIN' NOTES.

What say ye, movie/book goers?

Summer of Re-Reading

It's almost summer on the east coast! <---That exclamation point should convey some false cheer. I actually hate summer. It's hot and people around here should generally wear more clothes, not less. Despite my *gives summer the shifty eye,* there is a positive- it's time to re-read! That's right folks, summer is when I take the time to re-read some old favorites and/or Books About Which I Remember Nothing But People Say They're Great?

What? I don't need a reason.

The super-whiz-bang thing about re-reading classics around this time is that, well, it's too damn hot to think too much. So concentrating hard on a new classic is generally out. But if I've already read it, it's a bit easier. ALSO most of these are in the public domain, i.e., free to download to my Nook for ease of travel 'n shit (don't get me wrong, I also have ACTUAL COPIES of these books because I still think of e-books as NOT REAL even though my brain-piece knows better).


SO. Here's what I'm planning to re-read this summer:


Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Persuasion by Jane Austen

The rules aren't hard and fast. I'm also considering Lolita, but probably won't go there because that book takes work no matter how many times you've read it.

Care to join me? If you're planning to re-read anything awesome this summer, let me know below! Or write a post about it on your blog and send me a link. I suppose I could make this a Thing Where People Sign Up And There Is Organization, but it's summer and that would defeat the purpose of Lying Around Not Thinking Or Doing Anything Except Maybe Shopping.

Carry on.

THE GREAT GATSBY movie

*I'm not sure why this is all wonky-sized but I'm not good with the HTML so wonky it stays. You can watch it on regular YouTube if you want.

So, the trailer's finally here. And you know what? I HATE IT. I'm using the word hate to describe my feelings for a movie trailer. Let's start with the music...I'm sorry, is that T-PAIN? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? This is the JAZZ AGE. It comes with its VERY OWN MUSIC. MUSIC THAT IS GOOD AND YES I AM YELLING NOW.

And ok, it's Baz Luhrmann. So I was expecting a little Moulin Rouge- but Moulin Rouge still managed to be elegant. This does not look elegant. This looks like a frat party with better haircuts. Now, Carey Mulligan looks like she does an excellent job and I'm sure Leo's Very Brooding Gatsby will be interesting but I can't STAND this cinematography. It's taken one of the most subtly heartbreaking books and turned it into a LOOK AT ALL THIS JAZZ AND PARTIES AND BOB HAIRCUTS AND SPARKLY THINGS AND DON'T YOU LOVE THIS MOVIE PLEASE LOVE THIS MOVIE!

I get that it's just the trailer. I'll probably still go see it? But this is my favorite book of all time all time all time and I went from cautiously excited when the poster came out to very, very irritated now.

What do you guys think of the trailer? Did Baz ruinz it?

ETA: Twitter has informed me that the awful opening music is Kanye, not T-Pain.

Slumpalicious

All books are blergh. I have slumped, I am slumping, I will have slumped. I have picked up and put down six books in a row without finishing them. For some reason I cannot name, for the past few weeks all I have wanted to do is stare at the wall and think about nothing- especially not Odysseus and his Greekitude. I do know that I'm on the tail end of the slump. I was able to sit down and read a full 100 pages yesterday! TRIUMPH! VICTORY! (And I've written a post for Book Riot about what I do to overcome a reading slump that should go up tomorrow, which mostly involves watching lots of Doctor Who and eating ice cream). 

What I'm really thinking about now is the origin of a reading slump (a reading slump being defined as that weird, nebulous place where no book you pick up seems worth the effort and everything is impossible to finish). Is it seasonal? Circumstantial? Biological (that would be interesting)?

I tend to slump when I'm stressed out and have too much on my plate. Right now, I'm gearing up for BEA, working like a mad woman, and dealing with two teething toddlers killmenow. I WANT to read. I WANT to enter a good book and do a bit of escapism. But escapism isn't my normal reason for reading, so maybe that's why I can't do it when I'm stressed. What I CAN do is tons and tons of laundry. It involves lots of wall-staring. Wall-staring's my favorite.

So tell me, what brings on your reading slumps? They don't really worry me now because I know they're always temporary, but I'm curious about what causes them in other readers. TELL ME. TELL ME EVERYTHING.

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

So, once upon a time I read The Shack, and I hated it. (See also that other writer of questionable Christian silliness: Mandino, Og.) Also once upon a time, I read The Alchemist and I hated it. And ALSO once upon a time, I read The Devil and Miss Prym because I like to give a guy a second chance, and I hated it and decided that if I were ever forced into a TO THE DEATH cage match, I would challenge Paulo Coelho because EVEN IF I DIED at least I'd get to punch that guy in the face.

The obvious theme here is that I don't dig "inspirational" literature. As you all know, my number one literary pet peeve is being preached at (WRITE AN ESSAY FOR GOD'S SAKE) so what possesses me to ever pick up a book that EXISTS FOR THAT PURPOSE I will never know. I think it's because I wanted to go back to the source. I was curious about the fountainhead of all inspirational/spiritual fiction: Gibran's The Prophet. The book at whose altar Deepak Chopra probably makes daily ablutions. That's right people. Gibran was your spiritual guru before being a guru was a million dollar enterprise.

So basically, The Prophet is about a prophet. He lives in a city and decides he's going to peace out because prophets? They're a traveling band. Just before he peaces out, all the Townsfolk are like, yo. Tell us about some shit. So he does. The beginning of each chapter features a new Townsfolk saying something like, "Tell us about clothes (no I'm not joking, really, tell us the spiritual aspect of clothing)," or law, or crime, or beauty (which The Prophet is a BIG FAN OF, obvs- you can't be a guru without loving the trees and flowers and ugly people, etc.), or death, or whatever. And it's all very deep and flowery and Oprah would love it.

 

DUDES. Let's be clear. My blleeerrgghness about this has little to do with the literary merit and everything to do with my personal preference (hating inspirational psuedo-lit) and the style. It also irritates my pre-existing spiritual sitch because it has a lot of Biblical stuff going on, except Gibran does things like quote the Bible and then contradict what he just said by watering it down a good bit, generally with a cute little literary flourish. I don't like literary flourishes, and since I'm pretty familiar with the Bible and it's No Nonsense, Generally Straightforward Proverbial Business, I'm more comfortable with that. So then I moved from I Don't Like How This is Written Because This Genre Makes Me Violent INTO Also I Think A Lot of What He Is Saying Is True But Also A Lot Of What He Is Saying Is Feel-Good Oprah-liscious Bullshit and the bullshit distracts me. 

So yeah. If you dig your literature with a heavy sidecar of Inspiration, and if reading what is basically a very hugtastic sermon is your jam, SPREAD THIS SHIT ON TOAST. However, if you're on the cynical side and think that anything that would be shelved next to anything by Ekhart Tolle (including Ekhart Tolle) is probably crap, approach this book with dread and fear. 

ONE STAR due to personal preference. You may love it.

What is Up, Home-Skillet?

Well! The following is up: I am reading AND ENJOYING The Odyssey. Believe me, after my frightening experience with the slog that was The Iliad, no one is more surprised by this than I am. 

 

I'm only on Book Six, so I'm not going to go into too many details. Suffice it to say there are women. Women with lines and internal dialogue. Which is a thing The Iliad doesn't really have, barring lines from goddess-i. But I'm talking about human women who talk and do things and rend garments, etc. There's also a familial element that The Iliad didn't really have, aside from the one scene with Hector and his wife and son. So at this point, it's More Interesting Things I Care About, and also a translation that's a bit livelier.

I'm also delving into The Prophet, which may end up being a bit Paulo Coehlo for my tastes EVEN THOUGH in reality Paulo Coehlo is probably just a cheap Gibran knock-off. But I read The Alchemist first, so. BUT AGAIN. Just started it. We shall see.

BEA APPROACHETH. Who is going? I am going. I want to meet all of you and possibly smush your faces, except I won't because in real life I'm very socially awkward and don't really like touching. ALSO this will be my first time at BEA and I could use some pointers. What do you DO, really? Wander around and snatch ARCs off tables? Have tickle fights (say yes)? WHAT? I will have various meetings and whatnot and who-ha in my capacity as the FridayReads sales person and as a bookseller, but other than that I don't know. I WANT TIPS. GIVE ME TIPS.