Out of Order

So I should probably be posting more about my vacation last week because there are a few good stories still to come [drunk parasailing....], but I feel like writing about books today.  So here is a very very delayed update on what I've been reading.

As always, a list of everything I have read this year, and everything I am reading now is available here.

The Lord of the Rings ~ Fellowship of the Rings and The Lord of the Rings ~ The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien

What good books!  I feel like its a little redundant to even really talk about these novels because there is obviously a reason they are so famous, but they really were awesome.  I can't wait to finish the trilogy and read The Return of the King. 

I think I was a little hesitant to read these books because its often hard for me to concentrate on a story when I already know whats going to happen, and the movies did such a good job of sticking to the story that sometimes I do feel myself drifting when I'm reading.  Tolkien has a way of writing that just pulls you in, and for the most part I am happy that I decided to read these books even though I have already seem the movies.

I was also a little scared to even approach these books because I had read The Hobbit when I was younger and I HATED it.  At the time I just wanted to hear about Bilbo's adventures, but Tolkien just kept on describing flowers and every single bend in the road.  I'm starting to wonder if I would feel the same way if I read the book again.  Maybe I will give it another try in light of how much I am enjoying LOTR. 

ANNDDDDD..... the LOTR's is on my 27 before 27 list!  So I am 2/3 done number 21, and I should be finished the last book by the end of September!


Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne 

I've started reading books at work.  On the internet.  Obviously I can't just whip out a novel in my spare time and start flipping through it.  I need to, at all times, be staring intently at my computer screen and looking thoughtful.  And solving jigsaw puzzles on the National Geographic website was starting to get old. So I am now reading books. Its working out well. 

Around the World in Eighty Days was my first internet read and I enjoyed it.  Verne wrote his books in the 1800's and he wrote them for kids so it wasn't exactly a difficult read, but it was entertaining and I would read more of his stuff, especially if I am just looking for something mindless.


My Horizontal Life - Chelsea Handler 

FUNNY!  This book was great and honest and total Chick Lit, but I enjoyed every second of it.  I read it out at the cabin and it was perfect for sitting on the deck with a book in one hand and a VERY STRONG MARGARITA in the other.  And I laughed a lot so it totally worked off all the added calories I gained from the tequila.


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Another internet read.  This book was started and finished in one afternoon and I also managed to squeeze some work in.  Inspired by a Mark Twain quote, this novel was certainly interesting, though I really felt that it didn't hold a candle to the movie.  RARELY will you ever hear me say that a movie was better than a book, but in this case it was true.  The book just outlined bare facts and stated things very matter-of-factly, and as much as Fitzgerald told you things such as 'Benjamin was in love' you didn't feel any of it. In the movie you felt it.  Its probably because of Brad's superior acting skills.