The Finches do crazy things. They install their own skylights, move everything outside and live there. Their house is a MESS. I don't understand how people live like that. It doesn't make sense.
Last week I put this book off for a couple of days to do other stuff I guess. But I picked Running with Scissors up again and I couldn't put it down. It ended up being around 2 or 3 in the morning when I finished, which wasn't good because I had other stuff I should have been doing.
Besides the Finches messy house and unusual behavior, the ending really bothered me. It was just like "My mom accused Dr. Finch of raping her. I believed her. I left the Finches for good to be on my own. Epilogue. The End." I felt like there wasn't any closure, but that's life I suppose... But I do really wish I could have seen Augusten's furture. I know he's written other books so perhaps next time I'm at the library I'll look for them. I enjoyed his writing a lot in this book so I definitely think I'll read Dry which is mentioned in the back of my book.
One thing that I wish had been touched on more was how his parents got to where they were. Burrough kept talking about how both his mom and his dad were from Georgia. And how he could remember being at his grandmother's house. I just wish I knew because well, I'm from Georgia, I live in Georgia and I like reading things about Georgia because I can relate a little bit.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Running with Scissors
Running with Scissors: a memoir by Augusten Burrough was published in 2002.
Burrough has a distinct voice. I love the way he says things. "My bother had a unique way of communicating though grunts and snorts like, one can only assume, our very distant ancestors." It makes me laugh. The very nature of Burroughs adventures with the Finch family are comedic which I guess was nice after being stuck between the terrible fights of his parents.
Personally I think Augusten became a spoiled brat with not responsibilities in life at all. He didn't go to school AT ALL. How can his parents do that? I don't understand. He was intelligent, I'll give him that but I just really wish he could have done something normal like go to school.
It's entertaining to me that Augusten wants to be a hairstylist, so he practices on himself and everyone in the Finch house, but he's just terrible. The thing is he doesn't every want to be a hairstylist, he just wants to be a hair styling product package designer. But he insists on doing and ruining EVERY ONES hair.
So far Running with Scissors reminds me of The Glass Castle by I think it was Jeanette Walls... Memoirs about people with crazy families are always interesting to me.
Burrough has a distinct voice. I love the way he says things. "My bother had a unique way of communicating though grunts and snorts like, one can only assume, our very distant ancestors." It makes me laugh. The very nature of Burroughs adventures with the Finch family are comedic which I guess was nice after being stuck between the terrible fights of his parents.
Personally I think Augusten became a spoiled brat with not responsibilities in life at all. He didn't go to school AT ALL. How can his parents do that? I don't understand. He was intelligent, I'll give him that but I just really wish he could have done something normal like go to school.
It's entertaining to me that Augusten wants to be a hairstylist, so he practices on himself and everyone in the Finch house, but he's just terrible. The thing is he doesn't every want to be a hairstylist, he just wants to be a hair styling product package designer. But he insists on doing and ruining EVERY ONES hair.
So far Running with Scissors reminds me of The Glass Castle by I think it was Jeanette Walls... Memoirs about people with crazy families are always interesting to me.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Elizabeth I and Her Conquests
I'm on a roll. My second book for the year is a short biography on Elizabeth I by Margaret Simpson. I think I actually borrowed this book from a friend during freshman year. She'll be glad to know I got around to reading and and even more glad to get it back on her bookshelf.
Elizabeth I is an amazing historical figure. The Queen lived to be 70 years old in a time when the life expectancy was half of that. She almost died at 25 when her half-sister (Bloody) Mary put her in the tower. There were several instanced in her early life before she was on the throne and even after having gained the throne when she could have been beheaded or hung.
All of the plotting to take the throne and execution to keep the throne that the Tudors did all together brought me to the conclusion that they were a little nutty and in their own way barbaric. However, a lot of issues they fought over in 16th century England are still prominent issues in today's world. Religion, for example: There might not be as much conflict between Protestants and Catholics these days, but there is a lot of conflict between Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
I found it very interesting to see England as a small child. I'm accustomed to seeing it in the big leagues with the United States and Russia. But during Elizabeth's time Spain was the big explorer, conqueror, etc. And England was very lucky to have defeated their Armada, very lucky.
The biography I read, Elizabeth I and Her Conquests by Margaret Simpson was actually published in the UK. It includes a couple of comic strip/letter tidbits which speeds the reading along and kept me engaged. I think I retained a lot of what I read instead of some it "going in one ear and out the other." (Does that make sense?) The book actually kept me up to speed in APUSH this week when we talked about Roanoke, the lost colony and the founding of Virginia which was named for the Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess. And of course all of the religious persecution that led us to the New World in the first place.
Elizabeth I is an amazing historical figure. The Queen lived to be 70 years old in a time when the life expectancy was half of that. She almost died at 25 when her half-sister (Bloody) Mary put her in the tower. There were several instanced in her early life before she was on the throne and even after having gained the throne when she could have been beheaded or hung.
All of the plotting to take the throne and execution to keep the throne that the Tudors did all together brought me to the conclusion that they were a little nutty and in their own way barbaric. However, a lot of issues they fought over in 16th century England are still prominent issues in today's world. Religion, for example: There might not be as much conflict between Protestants and Catholics these days, but there is a lot of conflict between Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
I found it very interesting to see England as a small child. I'm accustomed to seeing it in the big leagues with the United States and Russia. But during Elizabeth's time Spain was the big explorer, conqueror, etc. And England was very lucky to have defeated their Armada, very lucky.
The biography I read, Elizabeth I and Her Conquests by Margaret Simpson was actually published in the UK. It includes a couple of comic strip/letter tidbits which speeds the reading along and kept me engaged. I think I retained a lot of what I read instead of some it "going in one ear and out the other." (Does that make sense?) The book actually kept me up to speed in APUSH this week when we talked about Roanoke, the lost colony and the founding of Virginia which was named for the Virgin Queen, Good Queen Bess. And of course all of the religious persecution that led us to the New World in the first place.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Pefect Fifths
I started the Jessica Darling Series by Megan McCafferty this summer while I was vacationing at St. George Island. I heard/read about them on the internet via blogs. When I started reading the first one I couldn't put it down. And when I got home I yearned for the next one, but my wallet was empty and this is how I discovered the beauty of the DeKalb County Library's WEBSITE! (Well, I discovered it earlier in the year before school got out, but during the summer I really learned to use it to my advantage.) I put the books on hold (via the internet) and the bring the first available from which ever library in the county straight to the Decatur Library. You can even get DVDs and CDs. I was ecstatic. I didn't have to pay $13 for a paperback and god know how much for the last two hard covers and I never had to go back to Blockbuster again.
But anyways, Perfect Fifths by Megan McCaffety is the last installment in the Jessica Darling Series. The series follows Jessica Darling, from the middle of her freshman year in high school all the way to age 26. There are some gaps between each book because they're her journals. She doesn't right everyday, or every minute of everyday and she remembers every single piece of dialogue when she does write that day. And she destroys some journals because she's disapointed about what she wrote in them and she's looses some that don't belong to her when her car get's hijacked. I really like books written as journals because I just do I guess. I consider myself as a journaler I guess, and I like to read blogs and journals of my friends too... though I probably shouldn't.
Perfect Fifths is basically when everything comes together. The love interest in the story Marcus Fluttie and Jessica bump into each other in the Newark Liberty International Airport, (which I thought was cool, because I've been there.) the two hadn't seen each other in years, since Jessica turn downed Marcus's marraige proposal. It's very awkard for the two of them to be meeting and talking again after all of that time. They try to keep things platonic which they do for all 300-or-so pages, except the last one when they kiss. And it doesn't say that they live happily ever after, but I'm going to assume that they do.
I started this book Friday night, or Saturday morning, I can't remember which but I'm sure I was done by Sunday. It was a nice last taste of summer before I had to come back to school, again this week. It's strange how much weekends are like summer.
But anyways, Perfect Fifths by Megan McCaffety is the last installment in the Jessica Darling Series. The series follows Jessica Darling, from the middle of her freshman year in high school all the way to age 26. There are some gaps between each book because they're her journals. She doesn't right everyday, or every minute of everyday and she remembers every single piece of dialogue when she does write that day. And she destroys some journals because she's disapointed about what she wrote in them and she's looses some that don't belong to her when her car get's hijacked. I really like books written as journals because I just do I guess. I consider myself as a journaler I guess, and I like to read blogs and journals of my friends too... though I probably shouldn't.
Perfect Fifths is basically when everything comes together. The love interest in the story Marcus Fluttie and Jessica bump into each other in the Newark Liberty International Airport, (which I thought was cool, because I've been there.) the two hadn't seen each other in years, since Jessica turn downed Marcus's marraige proposal. It's very awkard for the two of them to be meeting and talking again after all of that time. They try to keep things platonic which they do for all 300-or-so pages, except the last one when they kiss. And it doesn't say that they live happily ever after, but I'm going to assume that they do.
I started this book Friday night, or Saturday morning, I can't remember which but I'm sure I was done by Sunday. It was a nice last taste of summer before I had to come back to school, again this week. It's strange how much weekends are like summer.
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