So yesterday, I went to Borders to return two DVD boxed sets that I got for Christmas (they were duplicates). The two sets were worth a little over $100 in store credit. Here’s what I got:

Undead & Unemployed, the second book in the “Undead” series
Diary, Chuck Palahniuk
Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult
The Ice Queen, Alice Hoffman
*books were buy 2-get one*
Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Collection (I got this for Jen for her b-day, and couldn’t bear to not have a copy of my very own!)
South Park (the movie)
Field of Dreams (anniversary edition)
The Importance of Being Earnest
So I Married an Axe Murderer
*all DVDs were buy 3-get one*

So all in all, it was a pretty good day. 🙂

23. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Oh my GOD, this was fantastic. I picked it up Saturday morning at Media Play, using the gift cards I received for being appreciated as a teacher. 🙂 I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get a copy, not having reserved it and not feeling up to attending a midnight party. But fortunately for me, copies were plentiful.

I liked this much better than book 5…I felt it was a much tighter story…better editing, less waste. I admire JK Rowling for her ability to keep me (and millions of others) on the edge of my seat, to finish one book and be crawling out of my skin in anticipation of the next. That is some great storytelling talent.

I’ve enjoyed watching Harry and his friends grow up…and I’m going to be awfully sad when it’s over. That’s when, I suppose, my rereading and rewatching will begin.

I don’t want to give too much away, not having the ability to hide an extended post, but I invite anyone who wants to discuss the finer details to send me an email. 🙂

29. The Stranger
My introduction to existentialism came in a fiction writing class in college. It was a workshop course, and a French student wrote an incredibly bleak, dark story in which his protagonist wandered around brooding and smoking a lot. I don’t remember whether or not anything else happened. What I do remember is that I hated it, and that my professor thought it was brilliant. And that was what I thought about when I read The Stranger. I also thought about this song. For years, because of the fiction writing experience, I believed that I hated existentialist writing. I now realize that isn’t true…Ron Hawkins, after all, writes incredibly existentialist lyrics and I like him just fine…maybe it’s the French part that gets to me. 😉

Um, anyway…I’m glad I read this, but it didn’t inspire any great emotional reaction in me. I read some of the reviews at Amazon, and saw that a number of people loved it *because* they hated it so much. I didn’t hate it, but like Meursault, I was emotionally indifferent to it.

28. Ishmael
A guy sits around and has conversations with a telapathic gorilla about the meaning of life, the nature of humanity and our place in the world. A lot more interesting than it sounds. 😉 What I enjoyed about the book is that it raises good questions and forces the reader to question his or her attitudes about the aforementioned topics. I picked this up at the school where I was subbing yesterday…apparently, the teacher had used it in a class, and I can see why. I’ll bet they had some fascinating conversations. 🙂

27. The Virgin Suicides
I finished this one so quickly that I never even got the chance to put it up on my sidebar! A fascinating and utterly compelling read. I haven’t seen the movie, but I think I might check it out now…I really, really enjoyed Lost in Translation, so I’m interested in seeing what Sofia Coppola did with this story.

26. Cry Me a River
Yeah, I needed a little break from Solitude. I liked it. I found it to be highly emotional and very moving at times. Although your sympathy was mainly with the protagonist, a father just released from prison, trying to save his son from death row, you could understand the anger and hurt directed at him by the other characters (his wife and sister, as well as his father-in-law). The ending may have been somewhat predictable, but still touching.

25. ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings
I thought this book was really entertaining. I’m definitely enjoying Alisa Kwitney’s style, and would like to continue reading her stuff. My one quibble with this book…was the main character, just a teeny bit taller than me and exactly my weight, really supposed to be fat? Or was it the idea of her struggle to fit into a thin world? Was the author trying to make a point about our culture’s attitudes about weight? Um, anyway…I did like this book.

24. Preacher
What a fantastic story. Rand and I have been reading this together (my first time, certainly not his…) for quite a while now and just recently finished. The most compelling thing about this, I thought, was the love story between the two main characters. Somehow, amidst all the weirdness (and it was weird, believe you me) this romance worked. Also some good stuff about friendship and grace and redemption.

Uh, still working on One Hundred Years of Solitude… 🙂

See the rest of my list here.

*updated!*

37. The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith
This is the second book I’ve read by Marcus J. Borg, and I very much appreciate his style. He’s an academic, but manages to write readable, accessible prose that doesn’t come off as condescending. One thing I found interesting was his description of a common image of God as king, judge or police officer, stating that in this monarchical model of God, God becomes the superego. I also found his commentary on social justice particularly moving.

When I said I was reading this book, Jen said “Because you want to?” Well, yeah…I’ve always said that I wished I’d taken some religious studies classes in college. There’s so much I don’t know anything about. Luckily for me, I met a man who has a master’s in theology. 😉

36. Matilda
I really liked Roald Dahl when I was a kid…Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach were among my favorite books…but I missed this one. Luckily for me, Rand happened to have it lying around, and once I got started, I couldn’t put it down. A cute story, funny, well-told, with lots of heart. I simply adored this book. 🙂

35. Naked Pictures of Famous People
Jon Stewart before The Daily Show. A fun little read of Woody Allen-esque essays. Quite entertaining. 🙂

34. Fahrenheit 451
How could a self-respecting English teacher not have read this book before? Ummm…I don’t know, but I’m catching up now. 🙂 I finished this during my free time this afternoon, completely engrossed. This is a short little book, but I literally devoured it once I started reading. Fantastically entertaining and thought-provoking, and definitely a story that holds up over the years.

33. Cat’s Eye
I have to say it again…I adore Margaret Atwood. I wouldn’t say this was my favorite of her work (so far, that’s a toss-up between The Blind Assassin andThe Handmaid’s Tale), but I did think it was very, very good. The stories of Elaine’s childhood are gut-wrenching. I would agree with some of the reviews I read that didn’t think Atwood did such a good job of following Elaine into adulthood, of allowing the reader to feel that same emotional-connectedness, except that I think that was kind of the point.

A side note about Atwood…a few years ago, I was applying to a creative writing program (which I later decided not to pursue) and asked one of my professors to write me a recommendation. He wrote me an absolutely glowing letter, and in it, he described my writing as “delightfully Atwoodian.” At the time, I had read zero Margaret Atwood. I now take it as an amazing compliment. 🙂

32. Anthem
This would be my first, and thus far only, experience with Ayn Rand. When Jen read this, she commented on how similar in theme Lois Lowry’s The Giver was, and I would have to agree. What is clear in reading even just this short bit of Rand is her dissatisfaction with Communisim and Socialism, the theme that permeates all of her work.

I had to roll my eyes at one of the Amazon reviews. I’ll bet you can figure out which one. 😉

What I get from Anthem and all of the dystopian fiction I’ve read is this…any ideological extreme carried too far can be frightening and dangerous.

31. Pride and Prejudice
Part of my quest to read more classic literature. I enjoyed this, especially in tandem with listening to The Jane Austen Book Club. I didn’t realize how much Helen Fielding *really* had Austen in mind when she was writing Bridget Jones. Now I definitely need to sit my butt down and watch the movie. (mmm…Colin Firth…)

And wow, I just wanted to smack Lydia. Eek!

30. Catalyst
I read and absolutely loved Speak, so I had to read more Laurie Halse Anderson. I picked this up last night at Barnes & Noble and finished it during my free time today. I really appreciate the way Anderson captures the teenage voice. I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as I enjoyed Speak…I thought that story was more compelling. Also, I felt that the protagonist’s main storyline was left somewhat unresolved.

Next book starts a new post…I’m almost at the halfway mark. 🙂

See the rest of my list here.