*yawn*

Ugh... I hate early mornings. I am not a morning person by any means, especially when it is cold and dark out when your alarm clock goes off. Personally, I think that if the sun isn't up yet, no human being in their right mind has any business being out of bed.

Unfortunately, this semester I have early classes every morning, the earliest of which are on Tuesdays & Thursdays. On these days I feel some very anti-alarm clock leanings, and desire to chuck the thing out the window when it goes off... after hitting the snooze button three or four times, of course.

I suppose it's not so bad, but the 8:30 class on Tues & Thurs is my Intro to World Lit class, which requires having a fully functioning brain. The rest of the week my first class is one in which I can leisurely power up my brain cells. World Lit class, however, requires that I be on the top of my game, ready to make obscure connections, thorough character analysis and catch every iota of symbolism.

I was kind of worried about this World Lit class at the beginning of the semester, because the book list revealed that my teacher is obsessed with modern literature (Woolf, Rushdie, Marat/Sade, etc.). It's not even good modern literature! Where is Lewis, Chesterton, Waugh??

However, the beginning of the class hasn't been terrible, thankfully. I'm actually enjoying the reading we've done so far- Kipling, Yeats and Joyce- but we'll see what happens the further we get away from Romanticism...

Anyway, speaking of Joyce, I've just read The Dead, which is a lovely short story. It's full of depth and symbolism, and it resonated deeply with me, perhaps because I identify with some of the characters. Although a short story, by the end Joyce had hooked me, and the final paragraphs made me verclempt. I definitely recommend it, especially if you're looking for something to read that has some philosophical depth to it.

It Has Arrived!!

Oh Joy! Thank the Lord for free express shipping from Barnes & Noble! Seriously, the amount of waiting time saved makes the thirty-some dollar yearly fee worth every penny... never mind that 1-3 day shipping is free for everything!

I've been looking forward to the arrival of this book since I finished Allies over the summer. Honestly, Allies tore me up, and I wasn't able to even re-read the thing, which is my habit to do before embarking upon the newest book in the series, to ensure that I don't forget anything important. Certainly, Allies wasn't a BAD book by any means. It was actually a very GOOD book... and in truth, it was too good, because it ensnared me emotionally right from the first chapter.

I don't think I have been so emotionally involved in a novel since my last re-read of Little Women a few years back. And I'll say that it inspired some of my best writing to date.

Christie Golden writes a good book. What more can be said?

I really hope this is the case with Vortex. I hope Denning successfully picks up where Golden left off and, as much as I hated it, I hope I'm as drawn in by his writing as I was by Golden's. If Denning manages to do half as well as he did with Star by Star (which still makes me cry), then I think I shall be very pleased indeed.

I apologise for the geekiness of this post, but it really can't be helped. *sheepish grin*

I do promise, however, that normal programming will return after Vortex has been read, digested, and commented upon.

Until such time, May the Force be with you! ;)

How Many Years of My Life Have Been Lost...

... to my insatiable appetite for good literature?

There's been a meme floating around on Facebook for a good long while now, and several of my friends have completed it. I, however, have always been too lazy and never actually done the thing. Alas, being bored and more than a little depressed about not being able to finish NaNo on time this month has made me more inclined to entertain myself with such nonsense.

A note before the meme: There are two lists. The first, which was on Facebook, claims that the BBC said that the average person  wouldn't have read more than 6 books on the list. This is not true; it is merely a ploy to get unsuspecting, prideful people to take a meaningless and time-wasting quiz. The second list is the actual list from the BBC- their Top 100 reads list, which was compiled by vote.

Anyway, here goes, and I hope I don't scandalize anyone. :p

According to the instructions, you are supposed to bold the ones you've read and italicize those that you started but didn't finish.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (Please note: I read these before I knew any better!)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
   
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen 
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi- Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Inferno – Dante
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 
98.  Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

On this list- 31 read and 5 started.

The BBC's list-

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Only 28 on this list, and 2 started.

And this hardly counts the hundreds of books I've surely read that aren't on this list- The rest of the works by Austen, Alcott, L. M. Montgomery, the Hornblower series, all of Dumas' books about the Three Musketeers, etc., etc.

It's too bad my library card doesn't keep track of what books I've taken out over the years... it would be pretty neat to have a list!

A fun Blog Gadget!

I found this nifty little gadget thanks to Mac McLernon over at 'Mulier Fortis'!

I write like
William Shakespeare

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

The funny thing is that I used bits of my NaNo Novel that I'm currently working on, and I came up with several different writers! One scene gave me Rudyard Kipling (which I suspect was due to the mention of an elephant [Thank you, Seraphic's inner child!]), another gave me Agatha Christie, and there were a few others for various different scenes. I did get Shakespeare twice, though!

I must say I'm happy that I managed to get British writers for the most part... I really do think they've given us some of the best contributions in Literature. Never mind the fact that I'm an Austenite through and through. :)

But if this little gadget says anything, it tells me that I really do have my own style. My writing may have undertones from other writers, whose work I've studied and read a lot of, but I'm not consistently writing like someone else does.

I write like me. :D

Something Different

After I said my Rosary this evening, I happened to glance over at the bookshelf where the religious books are kept. My eye almost instantly fell upon a book that my dear Grandmother (God rest her soul) had given me for my Confirmation. The book was a fitting gift, being about St. Therese of Lisieux, who I had chosen as my Confirmation saint.

Unfortunately, I did not read it for many years, not being inclined to do any spiritual reading that was outside of what was necessary for catechism class. When I finally picked it up ten years later, I was so pleased to find that my Grandmother had given me a veritable treasure chest of spiritual wealth.

The book is entitled The Little Flower and the Blessed Sacrament. It was written by the Rev. Joseph Husslein, S.J. (Jesuit, I believe?) in the year of Our Lord, 1925.

After many fruitless searches, I've been unable to find another copy of the book. I wish it was still in print, because I'd give it to everyone I knew.

And then, tonight, after spying it on my bookshelf, I decided that the book needed to be shared. It is too precious and full of beautiful, edifying thoughts to sit on my bookshelf. Some further research reveals that the book was copyrighted in 1925, but after the initial 23 years the copyright wasn't renewed by the author, which makes it public domain, to the best of my knowledge.

Therefore, I've decided to post bits from the book for my reader's enjoyment. With God's grace, I hope it will bring people closer to The Little Flower, and through her to the Blessed Sacrament and the Catholic Church.

St. Therese of Lisieux, ora pro nobis!

The Little Flower and the Blessed Sacrament- Beautiful cover illustration of a young St. Therese showering rose petals on Our Lord.

Signature inside cover- Monsignor Joseph J. Gavenda, S.T.D., J.C.D.

(It seems my great-great uncle had a devotion to the Little Flower as well!!)

Lovely image of St. Therese sending forth her "Shower of Roses" with the Blessed Mother and the Christ Child looking on.

Imprini Potest- Lawrence J. Kelly, S.J. Nihil Obstat- Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D.
Imprimatur- +Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York

New York, October 25, 1925

Dedicated to St. Therese of the Child Jesus on the occasion of the 28th International Eucharistic Congress, Chicago 1926

Time to Catch Up...

... on my progress through Dickens' Great Expectations. I haven't blogged about it since the beginning of the month, and I feel very remiss, especially after reading a little snippet in Seraphic's Blog Seraphic Singles. (Yes, I know her blog is directed at singles, but she has so much practical advice on how to deal with men, which I need desperately at times. And I do read her 'married' blog as well. Anyway...) In the snippet, Seraphic says:

"My personal feeling is that blogs are a great way to meet likeminded people and make friends. The trick is that your blog should be about something that you are passionate about (and not just about you)."

It got me to thinking, and I realised that my blog is mainly about me and that's most likely what is making it hard for me to blog everyday. I need to write about what I'm passionate about- the Catholic Faith, books, films, music. Perhaps, then it will be easier to keep this up (and not so boring for my readers).

So, to keep in step with this resolution, let's take a look at some Dickens, shall we?

CHAPTER III

Poor Pip.

That's really all I can say. He's gotten himself into quite a quandary and he feels absolutely terrible about it. He's been practically forced to steal from his sister, and the guilt is nearly driving him mad. Then, on top of it, he runs into another convict, which scares him half to death. He finally meets up with the right convict, gives him the food, and then gets frightened again when this convict almost throttles him for seeing the other convict.

It's quite confusing at this point, because no one has any names. It's just 'the man' and 'the young man.' And poor Pip.

I must say I'm enjoying the various accents, thus far...

CHAPTER IV

Here we have a full chapter of Pip on pins and needles, and on Christmas, too! He's so worried that Mrs. Joe will find out that he's taken things from the pantry, that he can hardly enjoy what should be one of the most joyous days of the year.

I'm starting to be fascinated with the extreme sense of guilt that Pip is carrying on his slim, young shoulders. Mrs. Joe is constantly making the poor boy feel unworthy and unfit to live. Pip remarks:

"I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the dissuading arguments of my best friends."

And yet, for all her preaching and penance-giving, it's Mrs. Joe who doesn't go to church on Christmas Day because she's too busy preparing for the guests coming later. Hasn't she ever heard the Gospel about Martha and Mary?

During the dinner, Pip has no repose from his guilt, because Mrs. Joe insists upon making him the subject of ridicule in front of the guests, who take up her habit and berate Pip, too! If Dickens was trying to instill a sense of pity for Pip in his reader, he has certainly succeeded! By the end of the chapter, I wanted nothing more than to whisk the poor child away from his sister and the Wopsles and Uncle Pumblechook. Only Joe had any sense of how to act decently towards Pip. Unfortunately, he isn't much better off than Pip himself, as Mrs. Joe treats him with very little respect.

The woman is a Pharisee, I tell you...

Oh, and I laughed with wicked delight when Pumblechook drank the Tar-water... I just wish it had been Mrs. Joe. But I suppose those are uncharitable thoughts, even if they're towards a fictional character.

---

There is more to follow, as I've read up to chapter eleven, and I shall post again shortly. For now I am wondering briefly if a certain Scottish gentleman will be sharing his thoughts with me about the book, as we had promised to read it in a book-club fashion, and compare notes as we made our way through the novel. Hmm...

In Which An Account Is Made...

... of Soaring Soprano's Reading List.

So, now it is Day Two of AugBlogWriMo... and already I'm out of topics. Okay, well maybe that's an exaggeration. I do have things to blog about, but some of them are borderline on complaining, and if there is anything I don't want this blog to become it's that- an online outlet for my (oftentimes ridiculous) frustrations. As it is, complaining is hardly a good habit to get into, because it usually indicates that we're not accepting the crosses that we've been given as our means to sanctity. As the wonderful Jean-Pierre de Caussade points out in Abandonment to Divine Providence,

"...to attain the utmost height of perfection, the safest and surest way is to accept the crosses sent [them] by Providence at every moment, that the true philosopher's stone is submission to the will of God which changes into divine gold all [their] occupations, troubles, and sufferings..."

But despite this lovely bit of spiritual reading, I do still have the tendency to complain... but I'm determined not to do it here. When speaking with friends, however, things get a bit trickier, as evidenced by a conversation I had with a good friend of mine earlier this evening.

"I don't know what to write about..." I sighed via GoogleChat. (My friend lives on the other side of the pond [Scotland to be exact, and by virtue of this he will gain the appropriate, although hardly original, nickname of Scot for the purposes of this blog], and so Google has become the most convenient and inexpensive forum for our conversations.)

Anyway, I sighed, to which Scot very kindly replied that he was sure I'd find something. "You always seem to cover your bases," he said and despite the distance I could hear the confidence in that statement, for which I was grateful. (Sometimes GoogleChat is invaluable for increasing your self-esteem...)

So, I promptly started wracking my brain for ideas. I almost decided to do a bit of blogging about Husband, who was trying to eat an artichoke for the first time without knowing what he was about. It was quite hilarious to watch him actually, but I hid my snorts of stifled laughter behind the screen of my netbook. No, no extensive blogging about Husband today... it wouldn't be charitable, even if he was laughing about it too.

I went back to the drawing board again for about another thirty minutes or so... And then I had a scathingly brilliant idea and started collecting the necessary materials...

At which point in time, Scot pinged me again on GoogleChat. "How's it going?" he asked.

I bit my lip. "Okaaayyy..." (Oh, yes. I was going to be mysterious and hesitant.)

"What does that mean?" (Hee hee, I could feel the tension already getting to him.)

"It means," I replied, baiting the hook, "that I'm doing research..." (I couldn't help smirking to myself at this point. Scot is a very academic type of guy, into reading ancient manuscripts written in obscure languages and stuff, so research is like... well, I'm not sure what it's like, but it's pretty awesome.)

"NOW I'm intrigued!" he exclaimed, grinning. (And yes, I know he was grinning; one, because he's Scot and two, because he typed it. In bold font actually, like this: grins)

So, amidst all this intrigue, I really did discover what I meant to write about tonight, and I promise I'm getting to it. And, wait for it... here it comes...

SoaringSoprano's Reading List

I've always got a bunch of books that I read simultaneously, and so my idea is to blog a bit about what I'm reading. It'll help give me stuff to blog about for the next month, and maybe I'll even finish a few of them by the time September rolls around.


1. I've already mentioned Book #1, which is actually my *coughdailycough* spiritual reading: Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade. My parish priest had recommended it to me when he learned that I had enjoyed Conformity to God's Will by St. Alphonsus Liguiori. Both are full of fantastic little bits that you can mull over all day... which is the whole point of spiritual reading, I suppose.

2. Trianon by Elena Marie Vidal. Now, this is a fantastic little gem. It's an account of the events leading up to the French Revolution, centered, of course, on Queen Marie Antoinette. The refreshing part is that the story has been carefully researched and for a change we can see the life of the Queen and her husband, King Louis XVI, from a truly Catholic perspective. And what a perspective! Nowhere are their faults excused or the mistakes that were made glossed over. Rather, they are addressed honestly and straightforwardly, but through the light of grace and Catholicism.

This is probably my fourth time reading the historical novel, and I love it even more every time I read it. Last night I got through the Prologue and Chapter One. What's interesting is that Vidal changes the point-of-view every chapter, giving a multi-faceted view of the Royal couple. The Prologue is from the perspective of Madame Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, who was the portrait painter of Marie-Antoinette, while Chapter One is from the viewpoint of Madame Louise of France (Louis XVI's aunt), who was also known as Mother Thérése of St. Augustine.

Each of these characters reveal interesting little pieces of information: Vigée-Lebrun muses about the change in the Queen over the years, how her eyes changed from being "large, bright and expressionless" to having "a warmth, a light, a genuine amiability," which the young painter attributes to the Queen's love and approaching motherhood.

Madame Louise prays for her nephew and his bride, contemplating the difficulties the couple are facing. She remembers how her heart went out to the pair when Louis XV died, and the twenty-year-olds fell to their knees, weeping, and begging God to save them because they were too young to reign. And still, thirteen years later, Madame Louise knows they are still scared and beset with troubles and decides to send them brown scapulars and Sacred Heart badges, knowing of the Royal couple's devotion.

3. Okay, well, I need a little segue before revealing the last book, which will come in the form of more dialogue between Scot and I, since it is more than fitting. (Honestly, the double meaning here was intentional... but he didn't know that.)

"I want to work out what you're doing!" Scot says, grinning again. (Oh yeah, the research bit really got to him... go me!)

I laughed. "I'm glad your curiosity is piqued..." I replied, smiling mysteriously.

He grins again. "So am I..." (Aww, how cute! But now, for the set-up...)

I laughed again. "You may be disappointed however..." (Oh, I'm clever...)

Scot shoots me a wry smirk. "I rarely am." (Well, I'll admit it. I giggled at that.)

"Well, don't get your hopes up too high..." I warned. (I was grinning like a Cheshire cat by this point.)

And I really meant it... because you do know what they say about Great Expectations, after all... (I'm so witty sometimes...)

So yes, Book #3 is Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. I've never read the book before. I've only seen the film adaptation with Ioan Gruffudd and Justine Waddell, which I enjoyed, despite the very Dickensian weirdness in places. So, I'm going to tackle the novel finally and see if I can't get my head around it.

I read the first two chapters today, and I must say, for all the complaining I did about Dickens and his descriptions while in High School, I'm really enjoying them now. He's not just describing stuff for the sake of filling up page space. His descriptions manage to lend flavour to the scenery and insight into the characters. My favourite by far is Pip's description of his sister, Mrs. Joe:

"My sister, Mrs. Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes used to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap. She was tall and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in front that was stuck full of pins and needles."

 In one short paragraph, Pip establishes for the reader that his sister is not a very refined woman. She's rough and ready, and the pins and needles in her apron very subtly set up the sharpness and prickliness of  her personality. Mrs. Joe certainly isn't a very lovable person, at all...

I couldn't help laughing at Pip's descriptions of things either, as his voice seems so fully to have captured that of a young boy. The narration aptly puts you into the world of this young boy and the uncomfortableness with the circumstances he's found himself in. The best bit, in my opinion, is the relationship between Joe and Pip, the silent camaraderie of two men who both suffer under the iron rule of Mrs. Joe. It's just priceless and an honest picture of human interaction.

And I think that it's time for me to end this very long blog post. Honestly, I applaud anyone who actually read it all the way to this point...

Here I had nothing to write and now I've got a post a million pages long! Oh, the irony...

In Which Soaring Soprano Must Avoid...

...libraries.

Yes, you read that correctly. I must avoid libraries. It seems that they are just as dangerous, if not more so, than bookstores.

It began innocently enough; I was on a routine trip to the library to return a book I had recently borrowed.

[It was Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev, for those who may be curious. Turgenev is my first excursion into the world of Russian literature, to be honest, and I quite liked it, although I fear I must brush up on my Russian history if I'm going to really understand the genre and its characters.]

Anyway, I was walking down the busy street towards the library, my book tucked under my arm, enjoying the warm weather and admiring the architecture of St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral as I strolled by (it's really a shame that the Protestant churches in my area have some of the nicer architecture). My thoughts were a million miles away, busy comparing and contrasting Arkady's and Bazarov's personalities, contemplating each character's philosophy and final outcome in the story...

And then, my hitherto wandering gaze alighted upon a curious sight-- a tent was set up on the library lawn, and on tables beneath the white canopy were boxes and boxes of books. My heart leapt for joy at the banquet placed before it, for, indeed, the library was having their annual book sale!

In some greatly ignored part of my brain, a little voice tremulously hazarded a reminder that I mustn't fill the new bookshelves too quickly.

"Tut, tut," said the bigger, stronger, more willful side of me. "We'll only take a look. Where's the harm in that?"

The little voice didn't have the courage to even whisper an answer after such a firm rebuke.

So, I quickly returned Turgenev to his place in the library proper, and then I practically skipped outside to peruse the offerings beneath the tent.

Now, please don't pass judgement on me when I confess that I made a beeline directly for the table of books marked 'Science Fiction.' There is a part of me that hasn't yet grown up, and never will if I can help it, and this part loves reading science fiction. To be exact, this perpetually youthful side of my persona will devour anything Star Wars and so my eyes scanned the numerous titles, looking for any book bearing that distinctive gold-lettered logo.

I was in luck this time, because amidst the stacks of Tolkien-wanna-be's and novels bearing paintings of dragon-riding witches and wizards (all of whom, curiously, have red hair or long grey beards) I found six Star Wars paperbacks. Three of the six were even in mint condition, price stickers on the back cover and all! Luckily, they were all titles I didn't have yet in my home library, and five were novels that I had been looking for specifically for quite some time (Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy and the 2nd & 3rd installments of Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy).

My child-like side happily satiated, I turned then to the table labeled 'Classics and Philosophy,' and to my delight , I came across two beautifully bound, old, hardcover books. The first was Rostand's hysterical Cyrano de Bergerac and the second, which is an even greater find, was C. S. Forrester's Commodore Hornblower. Both are in fantastic condition, and will be wonderful additions to my library.

Finally, I turned to the table that was marked 'Music,' and found a fabulous hardcovered book with 102 of Gilbert & Sullivan's songs from their operettas, complete with coloured illustrations and a synopsis of each operetta. What a treasure!!

The best part of all of this? I only spent $6.00!! On nine fantastic books!! Six dollars wouldn't even get me one Star Wars paperback at the bookstore!

Ahem... despite my good fortune, I do have nine more books to tote home, and while there is ample space on the new bookshelf, I do need to be careful of filling it up too quickly, lest I need to buy yet another bookshelf and take up even more of our precious wall space.

And so, I must avoid libraries... or at least libraries having book sales...

In Which Soaring Soprano Needs A New...

...bookcase. Seriously.

Today, I realised what dangerous places bookstores can be.

After a lovely lunch, I headed out to Barnes & Noble with the sole intention of grabbing a tall Mocha Frappuccino and using the free wi-fi in an artsy environment (I find it helps me to write better... plus the air conditioning was nice on such a hot day...).

So, I arrived with my laptop bag slung over my shoulder, and resolutely stepped through the doors, fully intending to march directly to the cafe.

However, as the doors swung open to admit me into the cool, well-lit, comfy place that is our local Barnes & Noble Booksellers, I was attacked. My fellow bibliophiles will know what I mean when I say that I was suddenly assaulted by the irresistible scent of new books. There's something magnetic about the aroma of crisp, freshly printed, unread pages, and I found my pace slowing as my eyes gazed lovingly at the rows of delectable reading material.

I knew my fate was sealed when my gaze settled upon a table placed strategically by the doors. There, stacked in gleaming, glossy-jacketed, hard-covered glory, were numerous copies of a new book I had been wanting. And to top it off, an inviting little sign announced that the book was 40% off with a Member card (which I have).

I was mentally salivating.

I reached for and reverently picked up a copy, enjoying the feel of the slick cover beneath my fingers. I flipped gently through the pages, the distinct perfume of Eau d'new book wafting around me as the firm, turning pages fanned it about. I looked inside the dust jacket and found the price neatly printed on the upper corner... $13.99...

I immediately placed the book back on the table, one part of me foolishly trying to convince the other that it was too much to spend right now.

But the crazed book lover in me was too strong for that brief moment of self-control.

I hadn't taken more than two steps away from the table, before I turned back, snatched up a copy of the book and walked just as resolutely to the checkout counter.

I'm not sorry I made the purchase, but I sigh now as I realise two important things:

1) That I have a hopeless addiction for new books, and I cannot be trusted to walk into a bookstore without buying at least one book, no matter how determined I may be to the contrary.

2) I really need a new bookcase... Somehow I manage to convince myself that I can squeeze one more book on my already overfilled shelves, but this time there'll be no squeezing...

I suppose my next trip will be to the furniture store... Maybe they'll be having a 40% off sale, too?