May 03, 2014

On books.

I just finished reading The Hobbit this morning and I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I hope we can still be friends after I say what I'm about to say and I ask you to judge me kindly for it. Because, well, I liked the movies more. The new ones.

When The Lord of the Rings movies came out I was in high school. I attempted to read them and powered through The Hobbit before slogging through The Fellowship of the Ring, yawning my way through The Two Towers up until the end when I couldn't put it down, and getting about two chapters into The Return of King before forgetting my copy at a friend's house and, after repeated requests to get it back, finding out her sister "returned it to the library." (I don't want to talk about it.)

Well, I decided that my mid-twenties were a good time to give Mr. Tolkien another go. That and the fact that I hate waiting another year to find out what happens in something that's already written. (You hear that Game of Thrones fans? If you were really eager to know what happened you wouldn't have been surprised by the red wedding. I've known for years. So. There.) Besides, the books usually have more details and greater story depth. But guess what? The Hobbit is not one of those books. Unlike last time I read it, I didn't have any problems putting it down. Not that I didn't enjoy it, it just wasn't my totally gripping kind of book. I still planing on reading the other books, but right now I need a break.

Okay, now that we've gotten through that I hope we're still friends and you'll still come visit me. This is also probably a terrible time to recommend a book to you, after you've decided you hate me, but I'm going to anyway.

My dad bought me The Art of Racing in the Rain for Christmas. If you recall, the last half of December was a pretty stressful, emotional time for me because I had a really big decision to make as to where life would take us in the near future. I have a lot of feelings and I cried a lot, okay? So when Dad gave me the book with the promise that it was a tear jerker I decided that it could wait until I was feeling a bit more emotionally grounded. I read World War Z instead.

I picked up The Art of Racing in the Rain about a month ago, right before I started reading The Hobbit. I started reading it while in bed one night and let me tell you, bed is the perfect place to read this book. You do not want to start reading it on the bus, in Starbucks, or at work on your lunch hour. And certainly don't start reading it before some sort of photo shoot because your mascara will be all sorts of messed up. When my dad told me that this book was a tear jerker, he was not kidding. 

By page four I was in tears. I'm not talking about one little stoic solitary tear, either, I'm talking about both eyes fully involved, leaking tears. By the time I turned off my light my whole face was a boogery, teary mess. Karl came to bed and had to ask if I was okay. You know, in case I had finally lost it. I was forced to inform that yes, I'm fine, it's just the darn book.

Just to be clear, I have never, ever cried reading a book before. And I cried ever single freaking time I picked this one up.

I won't tell you much about the book, but that it's told from the perspective of a dog and makes several references to car racing. In case you're wondering, I'm not a dog person and I don't care about race car driving. That said, I still really, really enjoyed this book.

Maybe it was the cover photo that made me like it so much, or the fact that it made me cry it all out (whatever it is), but I just feel like you should read this book. Like I said, though, preferably alone, or with your teddy bear nearby for comfort. Just trust me, okay? And then report back with your findings.

And since you probably still have a bit too much respect for me, I need to tell you about something truly amazing that I read on the Twitter this week. I actually shrieked when I read it, which made me really glad I was at home and not at the gym or, worse, work. Meg Cabot is going to be coming out with an eleventh Princess Diaries book for adults next year as well as a new spin-off series for younger readers that ties into it to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the first book. It makes me wish I had more eight year old girls in my life I could corrupt (I can think of a few off the top of my head, though, so look out parents!) with my love of Meg Cabot and her series.

And on that note, I've been reading and listening to other stuff but it's not nearly as note worthy so I'll quit while I'm ahead. That and it's wayyyy past my bedtime.

2 comments:

  1. Here's my LOTR confession: some guy I was dating in college forced me to watch the first movie with him, and I fell asleep. FELL ASLEEP. I hated it. But I've been talking to some nerd friends of mine, and I think it's time to try again. I have a friend at work who keeps telling me to read The Hobbit, so I think I'm going to try that this summer.

    If that book is a tear jerker, I might have to pass. I hate when books make me cry, and it has only happened twice (The Hiding Place & The Book Thief). Same reason I won't touch The Fault in Our Stars with a ten foot pole. I want to remain emotionally stable!

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  2. I've been powering through The Hobbit myself. And...it's funny, you watch the movie and expect it to be somewhat as in depth and mature as Lord of the Rings, and it's just not. It honestly reminds me more of the Narnia books - kind of humorous, pretty light in a lot of places, more like a young adult novel. I like it, but only because we're die-hard Tolkien fans. As far as books go, though, C.S. Lewis wins this one.

    I kind of want to read The Art of Racing in the Rain but I have a hard time with stories told from animal perspectives...

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