more book reviews for books no one but me would be interested in

i grabbed a couple books when i was home in massachusetts; at the very barnes and noble i used to work at after i graduated from college! i had wanted to pick up one of stephen fry's novels and a book by bernard cromwell that an intellectual, currently studying english at oxford friend of mine suggested. however, the B&N didn't have the particular cromwell book (the winter king) and had NOTHING by stephen fry, which i took as a personal affront. i also saw a girl working who had been there when i worked there, and who i am pretty sure was my age. i felt all sad for her, and then like a jerk for pitying her (maybe she LIKES working a steady job in a nice town and didn't want to be working as a 'comedian' in new york, eh!?) and ultimately fled away from her, and towards the fantasy section.

WHERE i happened to see that 'son of a witch' had finally come out in mass market paperback (it first came out over 3 years ago, so it took awhile) so i decided to grab it. it is the sequel to 'Wicked' by gregory maguire, which still stands as one of the most intensely epic novels i have ever read. i am sure that makes me sounds like a prattling idiot; 'omg they made a musical out of it so sexy i love singing omg LOL OLOLLll'. well, the book manages to be about civil rights, the gold standard, genocide, love, family, aids, and the process of growing up. not to mention trauma and friendship and magic and 1930's middle america. and all those themes are in one, generally cohesive story. i've never seen the musical, and i understand it's WAY simplified, but it's an instance of the source material being GREAT so i am not surprised it's been fucking huge. anyway, i haven't read it since 2005, in part because it's an intense and emotional book for me. i definitely cried in public while reading at least one part. not as much as i cried during the last 1/5 of 'the dark tower' though. and i was on a chinatown bus. and i am pretty sure some girl i went to college was sitting across the aisle from me. sigh.

ANYWAY, i just started 'son of a witch' and i am looking forward to finishing. i am kind of regretting not rereading wicked before starting it, but i think i've remembered most of it now.

the other book i got was 'the alchemyst' by michael scott (lulz). i'd seen the damn things every where for the past year or so, but had avoided picking it up because on suspicion of it sucking balls. unfortunately for me, it was, indeed, pretty terrible. similar to 'twilight' in that it's a GREAT idea hacked to death by a sub-par writer. it's like if harry potter was written by whatever abortion wrote the babysitter's club. i was hoping that the young adult / children's authors coalition would realize, once and for all, after harry potter that they don't need to write as if they expect their audience to be mentally handicapped guppies with 3 second attention spans. i was wrong, it seems. the author's irish too...disappointing. i don't really feel like describing the plot, but it's kind of like... american gods written by the babysitter's club in 2008. yeah, that's pretty much it.

Reading! It's FUN-damental!