Thank Goodness for Winter Break (lots of reading)

So I have a lot of reading to talk about--so much that I'm going to do a quick summary and give my thoughts on each in one post. I'm on Winter Break (yay!) so all I've been doing is sleeping, eating, and reading- my three favorite things. Anyway, here's the rundown:

1. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Susanne Collins: a bleak young adult series that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm a big fan of YA- it's easy to read, and most of the time it's fun and entertaining. This is certainly much better than Twilight, although not quite as awesome as Harry Potter. The themes are quite mature, however. I would definitely recommend- and Target has the entire series for a reasonable price.

2. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer: continuing in the bleak reading theme, this nonfiction follows the story of Chris McCandless as he gives up a comfortable life, disappears off the grid, and journeys across America, eventually ending up heading into the bush near Denali National Park in Alaska. It's an interesting read, if a bit graphic and gut wrenching at times.

3. Songbook by Nick Hornby: I started this blog with a post about Nick Hornby's book about reading; this book follows in the same tradition, though it's focus is on music and how it relates to life and the memories a particular song can hold. It's a nice read, though if you don't know the songs, it can seem a bit tedious.

4. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson: I'll spare you another long winded post about my love for Larsson's Millennium trilogy and simply say: I LOVE THESE BOOKS. I finally got to finish the last one, and it was great. Just like the others, it was suspenseful, well written, and the details were amazing.

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday! I'll be back soon with another combo movie/book post. Until then, Happy Reading!

Angel Headed Hipsters (Howl by Allen Ginsberg)

A few weeks ago I went to see a film with a friend of mine entitled "Howl." Obviously, being a good bookworm, I had heard of the poem by Allen Ginsberg, but I had never read it--my beat reading was cut short after On the Road because I got distracted by Hemingway, which is much more to my tastes.

The film focused on the obscenity trial surrounding the publication of the poem "Howl." Jon Hamm was in it! I do love me some Don Draper...and also, James Franco played Ginsberg. Those of you that know me know that I'm slightly obsessed with James Franco; he can do pretty much anything. He was excellent and almost unrecognizable as Allen Ginsberg. The film was interesting; it juxtaposed the trial with a reading of Howl (which Franco did, it was easily the best part of the film) and with episodes out of Ginsberg's life. The only parts I didn't like were the cartoon interpretations of the poem--it was much too literal and it kind of took me out of the film.

Anyway, I watched the movie, and still hadn't read the poem. So my friend lent me his copy, and I finally got to sit down and read it today. I turned on some music, and sat in my papasan reading and feeling a bit like a hippie (the music definitely helped with that--it was kind of a sixties soul type thing). Although I liked Howl, I liked some of the other poems in the book much better- for example, "Transcription of Organ Music" and "Song."

I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but I can stand a little. I'm not going to recommend this, per se, but I know I have some friends that would enjoy it.

I'm almost done with my semester, so I'll have plenty of posts during the winter holidays. Until next time, Happy Reading!