Update to Josette's Meme

So I should really post an update to my respond to Josette's meme.

I ended up really enjoying The Time Travelers Wife. And I have felt sort of bad ever since writing that I couldn't care less about the characters.

I did care about Henry and Claire after all. I cried at the end of the book. I will admit it. So I take back what I said before. If you can make it through the beginning you should stick it out and will be glad that you did. I think. I mean it is sort of mushy, but also touches on the metaphysical, and they talk about fucking...a lot. So it sort of has something to offer everyone. (Oops! Did I just write the f-word and skirt on the edge of adult content in my Blog? My parents and parents-in-law read this! Oh well...).

That being said (iew, I sound like I am writing an email at work), I finished that book and started reading a collection of Pablo Neruda. Really lovely South American writer. Lots of poetry and travel essays. But not really what you would consider light summer reading. I figured I would read him to kill time before the arrival of the next Harry Potter book. If you have ever read Gabriel Garcia Marquez then you have the idea. Actually, I read Love in the Time of Cholera last summer by Marquez (excellent book, but again, not a beach read), when I started Neruda I thought it was the same guy. So there you have it. They must have known one another.

Well, I thought I was in to the heavy reading, but Randy told me he had just finished reading Rilke. Ick. Not a great summertime read. More appropriate for the fall or the winter by a fire wrapped in a big afghan. But an admirable undertaking, just the same. But that's just the kind of guy Randy is (I know you are reading this...but I would have said something nice about you even if you weren't).

The new Harry Potter, by the way, is just fabulous, in case you haven't yet picked it up. I wouldn't recommend it for the beach simply because of it's girth. It isn't really a Subway book either, but I find myself lugging it into work every day just the same. I love it (I am on page 355. I refuse to speed through it, but rather prefer to savor it slowly). Reading the books makes me really hate the movies. They should have published the entire series of books before releasing the first film. I hate having the images of the actors in my mind as I read. It really takes something away from the experience for me. But either way it is a brilliant story. I can't help but notice all of the parallels JK Rowling has drawn to the Bush administration, Terrorism, et al. It will stand as a testament to our time. I hope Tim Burton gets the chance to direct one of these films. I want to see a really dark film that can do the books justice rather than sugar coat the thing. The last film was pretty close to capturing the vibe, but was still a tiny bit too sanitized. How cool would it be to be one of JK's kids?