Readerly 2011: A Bump (or two) in the Road

I am the worst at finishing books. How many times have I started Moby Dick or The Jungle? Even though those were greats books and I loved them while I was reading them, something up often pops up and takes away my attention for a couple of days and then some other book shimmies its way into my eyeline and then suddenly I've forgotten what Ishmael was doing and I have homework to catch up on and I'll get back to it when I have time, which is 2017. (Come to think of it, maybe this is why I have such a hard time finishing my own writing. I have limited experience with the endings of books. Man!) Anyway, I was hoping this Readerly 2011 would help in that front, but so far it has not.

The Kite Runner is sad, you guys. I just can't handle all the sadness in the winter, and while I've got a couple weeks to kill until class starts, I don't want to be all bummed out during my days of sweet freedom. Sigh. So that's being put aside.

Here's what I've picked up. Kate: Kate Middleton: Princess in Waiting. Um, why am I so obsessed with William & Kate's wedding? I'm even thinking of taking April 29th off work so I can watch it live! What is my deal? I'm not British or even remotely British. I'm kind of Irish, but the Irish & British have notoriously bad blood, so that can't be it. And I was never one of those girls who wanted to play princesses. I would have much preferred playing Presidential Daughter on the Titanic. Nonetheless, I picked up this paperback bio of the possible future queen of England, and am devouring it. Right now, it's just a basic chronology of the different branches of Kate's family from Victoria's time until now, so I love it. So much coal mining, I tell ya! And they keep on bringing up Durham. You know how I love Durham!
So because reading two books is not enough for me, I've also picked up third. I'm going through a really big Romeo & Juliet phase at the moment. Honestly, I've been going through this phase for the past two years, and I'm just now admitting to it. It's very much like the princess thing. In high school, I thought R&J was pure crap, and now I still think that the characters are pretty silly, but for some reason I love the story! Seriously, if someone could just explain to me what it is in my psyche that makes me love R&J, I could figure out my whole life. Although, probably it's because of this:
Oooh, I love you 1968 Romeo! Best Romeo ever! He's so whiny and stupid and rolling around on the floor crying! "Come on, boy! Get yourself together! Stop those tears from rolling down your beautiful face!" That's literally what I yell at the screen during most of the movie. It's just oh so good. If you haven't seen it since sophomore year of high school when your entire all-girls class was mooning over Leo D, I highly suggest you check out the 1968 version again. It can be a little hard to get a hold of, maybe they're rereleasing it, I don't know, but watch it on Netflix or something. Come on.

Anyway, in my R&J obsession, I bought O Juliet, by Robin Maxwell. I stumbled upon it by accident while working at B&N and then couldn't get it out of my head, just like Romeo with Juliet, and then I impulsively married it--I meant bought it. So far there's been one mention of Juliet's bosom actually, literally "heaving", but many many mentions of Juliet's bosom existing, as well as a lot of quoting of Dante. Whatever. It's amazing, so cheesy and enjoyable. And I don't usually say this, seeing as how I am a prude, but I just cannot wait until these two crazy kids do it. It's going to be so good.

Class starts two weeks from today, so wish me luck getting all the reading possible in. I have a lot to tackle.