Waiting on Wednesday:

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Here's what I'm waiting for:


Entice
Carrie Jones
Pub. Date: December 14, 2010

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that’s not how things have worked out. For starters, well, Nick is gone. He’s been taken to some mythic place for warriors called Valhalla, where Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. It’s just not going to be easy.

Meanwhile, Bedford needs its warriors more than ever, since a group of evil pixies is devastating the place, with teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent. But even if Zara and her friends can find the way to Valhalla, there’s that other small problem: Zara’s been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to leave with her? Especially considering she hasn’t turned into just any pixie . . . She’s Astley’s queen.

So, what are you waiting for?

Second Helpings -- Megan McCafferty

Ah, the love of Marcus Flutie and Jessica Darling... Oh, wait! She gave him the big "Fuck you, Krispy" last New Year's Eve. Since then, we haven't heard jack shit from Jess.

We next pick up with our literary anti-heroine as she embarks on a summer of creative writing, about 6 months after the conclusion of the previous book. She can't keep her mind off of He Who Shall Not Be Named and it's threatening to turn her latest journal into flame food.

One of the greatest parts of this book is the growing sexual tension that envelopes Jess and Marcus. Even as Jess is dating Marcus' best friend, Len Levy, we can still sense the string that holds these two together. They are inseparable. The tension ebbs and flows along with the many events that occur within Jess' senior year.

It's easy to understand the changes that all of the characters go through. Senior year of high school is not an easy time for just about everyone. Jess' problems resonate with just about every audience. It's a time of change and, sometimes, pain.

Another aspect of the story that I enjoy is the relationship that Jess has with Bridget. In all honesty, I think her friendship with Bridget is much healthier than the one she has with Hope. The friendship with Hope is based more on the fact that they are always separate, and with Bridget it seems easier and more fluid.

All in all, this book extends and helps to keep the story of our beloved Jess Darling to continue and thrive.

Sloppy Firsts - It's only the begining

In honor of the imminent release of Perfect Fifths (9 DAYS !!), I've decided to revisit all of the books in the Jessica Darling series. Let me preface this whole post by saying that these are some of my favorite books of all time. If every book that I was required to read for school was as interesting and compelling as these, I would eat them up and ask for more.

Jessica Darling, cutesy name aside, is a cynical, borderline depressed high school student. After her very best friend moves away, she's left to cope with the Clueless Crew, three of her friends who have no idea how shallow and materialistic they are. As a track star, she's constantly hounded by her dad and by the embarrassment of her compilation of race-losing moments, Notso Darling's Agony of Defeat, Vol. I. Jessica comments on her world through a journal that she obsessively writes in to try to defeat her persistent insomnia.

Enter Marcus Flutie, an infamous Dreg who taunts and tempts Jessica at every turn. By egging her one he helps her to come to grips with with her lackluster friends and her hidden desires.

One of the most realistic things that Jess brings up is her obsession with her virginity. It is something that she thinks about at every turn in the road. Her other obsession is her nightly conversations with Marcus. He becomes her Tylenol PM, lulling her to sleep every night. For the first time, she is seriously considering giving up her virginity to someone she has previously considered the source of all her problems.

This book gives us two great literary characters: Marcus and Jessica. He becomes one of our fantasies (I've had sexy dreams about him :). She is relatable, she is each and every one of us. We are all Jessica, looking for that someone who is our best friend, in male form. We are all looking for Marcus. Someone who relates to us on every level and is an equal in love and in friendship. Their sexual tension is what drives the novel and, in turn, drives us.

I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!

I am about to pee my pants with excitement! I literally cannot wait for this book to come out. This is byfar my favorite series ever. I love, love, love all of the books because I sometimes feel as if I am reading the story of my own life. The love story between Jessica Darling and Marcus Flutie is one of the most amazing things I have ever read. I cannot wait to find out how it ends. Pretty sure my next few posts will be my re-reading of these fantastic books. OOOO I AM SO EXCITED!!!

"Humans find meaningfulness where none exists because we want to create a sense of order in this chaotic universe. It's called apophnia."

Wuthering Heights -- Passages and Thoughts

Always, after reading this classic peice of gothic literature, I feel like there's a sadness that settles over my soul. The only thing that makes Heathcliff and Cathy into some semblance of a romantic couple is the passion with which they love each other. They have not a single other redeeming quality. Cathy is an awful person: selfish, concieted, and uncaring. Heathcliff is not any better, he is vengeful and can definitely hold a grudge. Why, then, do we hold them with some of the greatest love stories of our time? Why are they seen in the same light as some of the most romantic couples in literature, like Romeo and Juliet or Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. I think that they love each other because they know no other way. They see their love for each other as the only thing that is holding them to this frail world.

Lord, I love this book. It is passionate and somehow sad at the same time. Each character feels with such intense emotion that it is impossible for them to be ignored. Even the younger generation of Cathy, Hareton, and Linton feel emotions much more strongly than could be believed possible. everything is so intense that it cannot be stifled for any reason. Sometimes I wish life was like this. That love and emotion is more powerful than life itself.

"I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire." -Wuthering Heights, p. 79

"If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and her were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like a foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary." -Wuthering Heights, p.80

"Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" -Wuthering Heights, p.164

Twelfth Night -- My favorite passages

Far and away, Twelfth Night is my favorite Shakespeare play. I love the love triangle and the passion that the characters feel. It's almost too good for a play. The words that they speak are words that I wish I could hear. Some of the sexual tension between the characters is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. I think that the reason I enjoy this play so much is because of Viola. She pretends to be everything she is not, while she is continually forced to hide her true feelings. Many people of any age can relate to the idea of being in situations that hurt them or make them feel as though they are never truly themselves. Viola is one of the most interesting characters of literature because she bends so many rules and conventions that were popular at the time. I love this play for many reasons, but the primary one is the constant feeling of longing that pervades everything that all of the characters do: from Orsino's longing for Olivia, to Olivia's for Cesario, to Cesario's for Orsino, and even Antonio's for Sebastian.

It makes me feel as though my own longing is not fruitless of hopeless. I think it makes everyone feel as though they are not alone in this world that seems so huge. We are all connected by our essential humanness. I think that on some level all of these passages give us certain feelings that we are often not adequately prepared to deal with. Emotions that we are not always ready to handle. By reading any of these passages, we can see our link with humanity and sometimes the futility of love.

Act I.v.269-277
Viola:
Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Hallo your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out "Olivia!" O, you should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth
But you should pity me.

Act II.ii.17-41
Viola:
I left no ring with her. What means this lady?
Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her.
She made good view of me; indeed, so much
That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue,
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me sure; the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord's ring? Why, he sent her none.
I am the man. If it be so, as 'tis,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper false
In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we,
For such we are made of, such we be.
How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly;
And I (poor monster) fond as much on him;
And she (mistaken) seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am a man,
My state is desperate for my master's love.
As I am a woman (now alas the day!),
What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe?
O Time, thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me t' untie.

Act II.v.106-122
Viola:
Too well what love women to men may owe.
In faith, they are as true of heart as we.
My father had a daughter loved a man
As it might be perhaps, were I a woman,
I should your lordship.

Duke:
And what's her history?

Viola:
A blank, my lord. She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' th' bud,
Feed on her damask cheek. She pined in thought;
And, with a green and yellow melancholy,
She sat like Patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?
We men may say more, swear more; but indeed
Our shows are more than will, for still we prove
Much in our vows but little in our love.

Duke:
But died thy sister of her love, my boy?

Viola:
I am all the daughters of my father's house,
And all the brothers too, and yet I know not.

The Drifters - James A. Michner

"Youth is truth."

I thought I'd start my literary adventure with my very favorite. The summer before my freshman year of college, my dad handed me a copy of this book. He told me that it was his favorite book growing up and he wanted to share it with me. I read it once, and then I read it again. It's one of my favorite books to this day.

This is the story of six disillusioned young people from various walks of life in the 1970's. Joe is a California draft-dodger who is trying to keep his morals and his life. Britta is a beautiful Norwegian girl, escaping from the long tunnel of night that the Northern winters bring. She's looking for a better life for herself that is focused on the warmth of the Southern hemisphere. Monica, the most troubled and troubling of the youths, is a British girl who takes everything and everyone for granted, including the only people who have ever cared for her and taken care of her. Cato is a black man who is escaping an inevitable life of terrorism and poverty. He has gotten himself into trouble in the States and is looking for a way out of his life. Yigal is a boy struggling with his national identity. He is a citizen of the struggling country of Israel and the monster of America. He is trying to reconcile his love for his homeland with the certain security that the US holds. Gretchen, far and away my favorite character, is a proud democratic supporter who has run into some trouble with the law. She wants to find herself, find the American dream and her life's work overseas. These are the main characters that make up the bulk of the novel.

There are also two supporting characters who lend a great deal of perspective to the novel. The narrator, Uncle George, is an older man who has a stake in the lives of all of the main characters. He is the one who introduces us to the kids and delineates their adventures. The other supporting character is Harvey Holt, a tech rep. He brings the perspective of an older generation and also lends a hand to the kids and becomes a father/older brother figure for many of the boys.

The first six chapters consist of intimate backgrounds on each of the main characters. Each section concludes with the character arriving in Torremolinos, Spain. Torremolinos is where the real action begins. The kids come together as a group and realize their ambitions to see the world and be free of the things that limit them. Their travels take them through Algarve, Portugal; Pamplona, Spain, Mocambique Island, Mocambique; and Marrakech, Morroco.

The travels that the group goes on exacerbates many of the problems that are present in this time period. Yigal is struggling with his identity, constantly on the verge of not being able to decide what he wants and when he wants it. Monica is a full fledged drug addict that doesn't care to stop using drugs, even as she is wasting away.

The relationships are also something that is central to the novel. Monica and Cato's troubled, consuming love that is the obsession of one and the infinite shame of the other. Yigal's unrequited love for the beautiful Britta. Britta's surprising love for the tough skinned and tough hearted Harvey Holt. Joe and Gretchen's comfortable casual love that makes the others look like fools.

Relationships are central and the driving force of the novel. They make everything possible. I think that's why I enjoyed and enjoy it so much. Relationships are a crucial part of life and they mold and shape us. Everything is possible, everywhere.

"The permanent temptation of life is to confuse dreams with reality. The permanent defeat of life comes when dreams are surrendered to reality."