City of Glass - Cassandra Clare

Today after work I decided I was going to sit down and finish reading City of Glass (not to say that I had to force myself to read this one - quite the opposite). I took my book outside, enjoyed the sunshine, and enjoyed the last quater of this very good book.

It begins days after the the last one ended, and shoots you right back into the plot of the series, with the usual bits of narative to remind you of things, but done in a way that didn't feel like it was being shoved down your throat for the third time.

It had action, suspense, mystery, angst, death, love, and a happy ending. **Spoiler** The first time I read books one and two I was not happy with the idea of Jace and Clary. I wanted Clary and Simon together, period. Second time reading it, I knew what to expect and that made me more open to the Jace/Clary pairing. So I am actually very glad that Clary and Jace weren't siblings afterall. **End Spoiler**

This book was better than the second, and on par with the first. Overall it is a very good series for anyone who likes action/supernatural type stories with plently of drama and magic.

I think I just may have falling back into my reading niche. Yay for City of Glass for pushing me back in! To Be Read pile here I come!

To Reread, or not to Reread!

I would take the time to review a book right now, but the last book was a book I had read for the third time. I did this so I could read the third in its series. I contemplated just reading the second one, but I couldn't get into it without having read the previous ones.

I do this for pretty many series' that I am reading. When a new one comes out, if I hadn't read the previous one for maybe a year, I reread the previous books: Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl are two examples. And I can't continue reading the Pendragon series precisly because there are too many books I would have to reread - I have just fallen to far behind.

I love to reread books. Back in the days when my book collection fit along the top of my dresser I would have to reread my books because I didn't have the money to buy new ones, nor could i hope in my car to go to the library. Yes my parents would take me to the library, or buy me a new book, but at the rate I read books I had to find something to read in the mean time. I recall fondly those days where I had the leisure to pick which book I wanted to read again. Now I have a stack of unread books by bed all yelling at me, "READ ME! I have been sitting here for a YEAR now!" And all I can do is answer meekly back, "I'm trying! I'm sorry!"

Of course I love buying new books, and I'm not complaining about having to many books. So what am I trying to say here? That I guess...rereading is both a wonderful, lovely thing that I enjoy immensly when I am revisting a favourite, and a chore when one feels they must reread in order to enjoy a new book. City of Bones, for the third time, was alright. But its not the kind of book that one enjoys reading for a third time. The story is still good, but I know what happens and the writing isn't particularly special enough to make me enjoy the third reading.*

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* Some books, in case your were wondering, that I found I can reread again and again? Ella Enchanted, Jane Eyre, Howl's Moving Castle, Artemis Fowl (though i think I sprained my Artemis Fowl enjoyment in my last Fowl-a-thon), Harry Potter, and Beauty by Robin Mckinley. I would make lists to Amazon for all of these to support these wonderful books but if my one reader is interested in them she can ask me about them :)

Money Makes the World Go Round *

aaaand a new post! Wow!!

My friend over at ibotherthee manages a new post a week, where I am averaging one a month maybe?

I should be ashamed. But I am too tired right now.

I spent a busy busy afternoon watching my pretties that just came in the mail.

Yes I gave in to temptation and purchased the Angel Special Edition Box Set. In my defense, it was on sale one day only and I had to make a fast decision.

So far enjoying the pretty box, and the wonderfull fullscreen, beautifully clear and unpixally video.

It looks so nice sitting beside its sister...

(I took this photo with my new Blackberry and sent it to my computer. Yay technology!)

MAN have I spent alot of money latley.

No time to think of a witty ending for this post - if any of my endings have been witty, I don't know, probably not. Off to rehearsal for Earnest! (the last one *tear*)

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* Song that popped into my head as I pondered how much money I have been spending. Video -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q so entertaining :)

"Horrid, horrid [finals]!"*

A few months ago I auditioned for The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, a play being put on in my community, and won the role of Cecily.

I have to say, I adore this play! I am sure it has been said many times by many people but Oscar Wilde was a great writer. Everything said in the play either advances the plot or is finely crafted wit and satire. Having wikipedia-ed Oscar Wilde upon joining the cast there is one line that sticks out in particular to me.

And certainly once a man begins to neglect his domestic duties he becomes
painfully effeminate, does he not? And I don't like that. It makes men so very
attractive. (Gwendolen, Act 2, The Importance of Being Earnest)

Besides being a satircal comment on men and women in victorian times, it relates directly to Wilde himself. He was a very effiminant man, and I can't believe that this quote is a coincidance; it amuses me. :)

There are so many other very funny and clever lines, it is just a really amazing play and I can't wait to perform it. The cast definitly has a hand with the deliverance though, I feel so lucky to be on stage with such talented people.
And actually, I won't have to wait that long, we perform in two weeks. Not so lucky is that we are performing in two weeks. :O But I have confidance in us, and we shall work hard these next two weeks and it will all be worth it!

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* Actual quote, "Horrid politcal economy! horrid geography! horrid, horrid german!" (Cecily, Act 2, IoBE)

Restless

I have had some pretty epic dreams lately. There was the one were me and my friend Anna were escaping this evil house, and had to evade a religous cult who wanted to drug us to keep us quiet, avoid a pen of cheetahs, climb through this crazy mountainous valley (oxymoron yes, but In my dream it totally worked) and ended up being award a cure for a friend who was stil suffering in the evil house by these god-like people (think "the powers that be" from Angel).

Last nights dream was very Buffy-esque. There was this snake/lizard dragon thing that was trying to kill me (it had already succeded in killing someone before me) and so I was running aorund my neighbourhood trying to figure out how to defeat it and I met up with some guy who I beleive represented Xander (but i can't remember who it was, or if it was an imaginary person) then my Taekwondo instructer, who I think represented Giles (the training aspect) and my friend Anna was Willow because when we decided to just gather up the people from my DoJang to attack the dragon with swords I needed to call Anna to find out how to kill it (beheading, go for the eyes, ect). Sadly the morning mayhem woke me up before the conclusion to my dream.

I would love to know what these dreams mean (besides that I am maybe a little too obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer... but Spike wasn't in this dream, so thats new! Progress maybe?) but these are way to complicated to look up in any dream dictionary.

I shall have to search deep within myself to discover their true and deeper meaning.
...
...
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Ok, thats enough of that, I'll just let myself enjoy these dreams at face value.

"Is Everyone In This Room Very Stoned?"

I just finished watching the last episode of Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Oh. My. God.

I definitly balled my eyes out. A-MAZING ending, but oh so terrible...

Gotta love Spike tho.

I'm posting now cus I don't want to go to bed so soon after such a such episode, and I don't have much really to say other than...

Curse you Joss Whedon for your amazingly addictive genius-cruelty inspired writing! And those actors, with there amazing acting skills, there no help...making the words come alive, and creating attachements to the fictional characters that are either gonna die, do something to make you mad/frusterated, or your gonna love'em and be tortured cus there just fictional.

Dang thats a good show.

It has been a while since I have last posted, has it not? Well after finishing Candide I read Something Rotten by Alan Gratz. It was alright - It was a mystery and I am not a huge mystery fan. It was Shakespeare themed though, so that was cool; it was what made me pick it up in the first place. So that took my a while to get through, and then I didn't/don't really have anything to say about it, so no blog. Then I read American God's by Neil Gaiman, and it was a fairly long book, though it was pretty good, so that took a while.

The book I read after that is the book that I will review today- My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison. After Savannah's older sister steals her boyfriend, Savannah is given three wishes by her "fair" godmother (Chrissy, the godmother, hadn't done well enough in school to be consider a "fairy" godmother, just a "fair" one). Chrissy misinterpets Savannah's wishes and sends her back into medival times as Cinderella, and Snow White, and it is not as nice as the fairy tales make it sound. A boy from Savannah's school gets sent back to the medieval age by Chrissy and Savannah as to help him so they can both get home. It was a very cute book, with a very easy to get into kind of style of story telling. I liked the characters, and how you got to see the boyfriend stealing from the perspective of both sisters which gave the characters a more rounded feeling. The story had good pacing, and a interesting plot. I liked it very much, and will look for other books by Janette Rallison. Oh! And I discovered this book from the blog of one of my favorite authors, Shannon Hale! Here is a link to the interview she did with Janette Rallison!

Now I think I am going to go indulge in my current obsession, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I bought the Chosen collection over ebay a few weeks ago, and I am already into season 5. Spike is my favorite =). And I will just leave it at that or I will be drooling all over the keyboard...