Today is supposed to be nice and sunny with a high of 19. I've heard varying reports that lead me to believe that we could even hit the 20s at some point today. It's the perfect opportunity to wear a nice spring dress. On my 20 minute walk to work this morning (cardigan, cropped leggings, dress) I saw people wearing scarves, winter jackets, and nothing but greys, browns, navy blues, and blacks. I felt ridiculously optimistic except for the fact that I wasn't cold. I may be the only person in this city that pays attention to the forecast and pushes the limits of business casual. Whatever. I will be the under dressed ray of sunshine today.
So I finished two books this past week. Both were in the 400+ page range and I don't want to brag but that's pretty awesome. It's less awesome once I tell you that the shorter of the two I read in a week on my computer at work (clearly slower than usual) and the other took me two and half weeks or so in my not at computer time. I much prefer a real book to a computer screen. It's less strain on my eyes.
I finished The Magicians on Thursday. I'd read somewhere that it was supposed to be good so I figured I'd give it a go. Right away I was struck by two things about the story. First, the main character was really into a book series that sounded like Narnia and, second, it was like a grown up Harry Potter.
It was an interesting read. I've got the second book The Magician King on my computer in case I feel like reading it but I'm not sure that I want to. The Magicians was kind of dark and I prefer lighthearted during my work day. I'm at work, let's not make this any more un-fun than it already is. I was curious what the rest of the world thought about the J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis rip off that Lev Grossman had come up with so I looked up some reviews. It turns out people loved it although on more than one occasion I read that most readers didn't like the main character. That's when I realized that I don't think I really did either. In order for me to get really into a book I need to like the main character and Quentin, the one in the book, was kind of a whiny dink.
All that said, I think The Magicians is worth a read because, really, who doesn't want to know what would happen if wizarding schools really did exist and Narnia and Hogwarts got all mixed up? The one thing I did appreciate was the one or two references made to Harry Potter; clearly the author did see the connection he was making.
It's not a kids' book, though. Like I said, it's darker and features some kind of messed up university-aged people.
I also read, for the sake of transparency, Getting Over Garrett Delaney which I'm not going to talk about except to say that it made a good work day read. Evidence of my two favourite book genres.
This weekend I finished Blackveil. I don't have a lot to say about it except that it's the fourth book in the Green Rider series and is a little too much about horses for my taste but it's not bad. I picked up the first book as a paperback a few years ago thinking it was going to be no longer than a trilogy and looking for something to read and pass the time with. Now we're four books in with no end in sight. I think the big thing that keeps me reading is the background romance between the main character and the king. As expected, it's complicated and probably only going to end in heartache or something even naughtier but at this rate I doubt anything will ever happen.
I took this book out from the library after initially planning to get it online. I'm glad I didn't buy it although it'd be nice to have the whole collection. I'm just not excited enough about what's happening to spend my hard earned money on something my bookshelf really doesn't have the capacity for. I plan to keep following the series, though, because it isn't bad and once I find an author and series I enjoy I like to stick with them. There's so much stuff out there I don't like that I might as well stick with what I do.
Right now I'm reading the second of three books I took out from the library: One for the Money. This was a recommendation that I wasn't too excited for. I've seen the previews for the movie and, I have to say, even they were boring. It looked like another stupid family comedy with a young woman trying to deal with her kooky family and even kookier grandmother. Yeah, I was wrong. The previews don't do the story justice. It's definitely enjoyable and the family provides moderate comic relief but is certainly not the focus of the story. I can't say anything for the movie but I'm liking the book for sure.
On that note, I'm going to be scoping out what Douglas is wearing today to see if I'm the only optimistic one out there or not. So far I've seen two people leave the hotel across the street looking rather summery but they don't count. Tourists never count.
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