HOLE. E. SHEET.

I'm not sure I've ever been more excited for a movie.

Summer Reading List

With all this newfound free time the summer has provided me, I have big plans to catch up on the reading I have had to forsake in the name of "school."

I was originally going to take an Arts Criticism class during the second summer term, but I got a summer internship at a regional magazine called Art New England - yay! - which I'm going to do instead. But the internet is basically as good a teacher as real professors, right?? (No.) And everyone wants to read my opinions on everything, right??? (Unlikely.) So I will be practicing my reviewin' skillz here on the blog.

Here is my summer reading list:

Just kidding, that's our whole beautiful bursting bookshelf. Here is my real list:

1. The Help, which I actually just finished yesterday. I had to read it before the movie came out and I'm so glad I did. This will probably be my first review...

2. Catch Me if You Can. I am about halfway through this. I wanted to finish it before going to see the new musical of the same name in NYC with my mom and Tait, but I wasn't able to. Still, it's already interesting what is different and what is the same among the book, movie and musical.

3. Bossypants. I read this in about two days last week. Great read, particularly because Brian and I are currently making our way through every episode of 30 Rock in order. (We're through the fourth season, now just waiting for the fifth to come out on DVD/Netflix.)

4. The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Vol II. I read Volume I sometime last year, before grad school started and consumed my life. I started Vol. II but had to pause while we moved to Boston and a year later, I'm going to finally finish the dang thing.

5. Black Mass. This book was co-written by one of my professors from the fall semester. It is the true story of an infamous Irish mobster in Boston – the movie The Departed drew a lot of inspiration from this book (although they don't credit it). 

6. A Writer's Life. One of the books I got signed at the narrative nonfiction conference, by a journalist who has been doing it forever.

7. The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People. The other book I got signed at the conference (see my love letter to the author here), a collection of shorter pieces.

8. My Booky Wook. I started this one over Christmas, but again kept having to put it down when the spring semester started up and never finished. I promise this isn't a thing with me, I typically finish every book I read (as long as it's good of course), but this past year has been rough on the ole' book list. 

9. American Nerd: the Story of My People. Judging from the title, I might as well have written this book myself.

10. Lost in Shangri-La. This is a new release (another narrative nonfiction) that one of my professors from the spring semester wrote. It got some seriously huge buzz, top of all kinds of lists like Amazon's Best Books of the Month, etc.  

And, because I'm insane, here is my B list in case I finish all the first ones quickly:

1. The Eight. I have a few books that I can read over and over again, and this is one of them. As evidenced by the wear, it has been read many many times, by both of my parents as well as myself.

2-4. The Hunger Games trilogy. Even though I just read all of these last summer right before school started (when Mockingjay, the third book, arrived I opened it and didn't move until I finished it many hours later), I'm ready to read them again. They are a near-perfect balance of fun/easy and thought-provoking/emotional, bested in the so-called "young adult" category only by His Dark Materials and Harry Potter. 

5. The Secret History. I've been told this book is reminiscent of Millsaps (it's set at Bennington College in Vermont, a small liberal arts college). Plus, another Mississippi writer!

6. The Search for God and Guinness. This is one of those books I picked up on a whim but has sat on my shelf ever since, unread. I got it in a fit of home-away-from-homesickness shortly after I got back from my semester in Ireland. Since I've been feeling that same homesickness for a place that was only my home a short while, this seems like a great time to finally get around to reading about the genius of Arthur Guinness.

7. The Book of Lost Things. One of my favorite genres is actually fantasy/adventure, and this is supposed to be a "vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond" about a 12-year-old who loves to read during WWII. Sounds right up my alley. 

 8. Catch-22. A book I've started several times since high school but failed to finish. I know it's a classic and blah blah blah but I just could never get into it. Maybe its time has come? We will see.

Not pictured: Harry Potters one through seven.

Yes, I really want to read all 4,100 pages* again before the final movie installment comes out except that SOMEONE** refused to let me bring our hardcover copies to Boston*** and I haven't yet dropped the $100+ on a new set.

And because I am ridiculous, here is the C list, comprised of books I don't own yet, but will buy if I finish both the A and B lists:

1. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. Philip Pullman is one of my favorite authors, and one of the most versatile writers I know. This is his latest and I've been wanting to read it since it came out.

2. Eating Animals. Although I don't think I'll ever be able to give up meat completely, I think it's good to know more about our food and the culture around it, and this book should fit the bill nicely.

3. Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Rules for Making it Work. This is actually more of an etiquette-based book rather than a fashion manual, but it also has lots of stories from Gunn's life. Which I plan to read entirely using the accent he has when he says, "Designers! Time to go to the runway!"

4. The Warmth of Other Suns. At the nonfiction narrative conference I attended, this book was basically the poster child of the genre and the author is on staff at BU, so I probably should read it.

5. Spoiled. Young adult ain't just for kids! The women behind one of my favorite blogs, gofugyourself.com, are also the authors of this book. Fun beach read? Check.

6. The Psychopath Test. This book was featured on a re-run of The Daily Show I caught last week. It's all about the ways in which power and psychopathy (psychopathness?) intersect. It looks super interesting, but also... I just want to know if I'm a psychopath, y'all.

So! This is what y'all can look forward to learning about in the coming months as I inch my way through glorious prose. 

* Yes, I looked it up, and that is the total number of pages in the US editions. Nice round number, don't you think?
** My mother.
*** I did, however, sneak all the DVDs up to Massachusetts before she noticed.  

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

my true love gave to me
FIVE POTTER PRESENTS!!

There are 23 pages of (just movie related) merchandise on Warner Brother's gift shop, plus the countless other Harry-centric sites, which means there is a ton of cheesetastic Harry Potter merchandise out there.

for example, this is a HAT, y'all

But since it would be impossible to pick only five absurd things, here are five things I actually think are really cool and would unashamedly would wear and/or use and/or drink out of:

Represent.

I don't think this (the necklace, not the book) necessarily screams Harry Potter... at least, not to the 2% of the world who haven't read the books or seen the movie.

I need to drink my butterbeer coffee out of this mug. It changes colors when you pour something hot into it!

If I can't "accio" my groceries back to the apartment, at least I can carry them in this bag.

I actually think this Horcrux ring is really funky/cool/pretty. Say what you want about Slytherin, he's got taste. 

...four snuggie knockoffs

three Ed Hardy hookahs

two handerpants

and an ornament of yummy sushi

 Category(s): awesome

[Find them HERE: shirt, necklace, mug, bag, ring]

P.s. Oh em gee, y'all, I haven't gotten around to posting about HP7.1, but it was SO so good. 

Harry -- I mean, Happy November!

I can't believe Halloween is already over, which means the holiday trifecta is one-third behind us. But I guess the Earth spins on, so let's continue looking forward, shall we?

November typically is the month of delicious whole turkeys and even delicious-er leftover turkey sandwiches and imbibing and family and eating until you want to die. However, this November, something takes precedent.

HARRY POTTER

Which is why I will be watching this and various other trailers between one and one hundred times per day until November 19:



Holy shit, goosebumps every time.

life's important questions

The scene:
Our living room, last night.

The players:
1. Me, on the couch in my underwear watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on ABC Family, passed out due to massive amounts of Mexican food and red wine; possibly drooling... I am attractive.
2. Brian, coming in to find me in said position.

The time:
Evening. Harry Potter is nearly over.  

Brian: “You know, it seems like a lot of work to get Harry into this tournament and try to make him win. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier if Voldermort just made a portkey out of one of his Playboys or something?”

Wouldn’t it indeed.

In an unrelated note, he also asked the following:

“You know its 10:30, right? What are you going to do when school starts and you can’t just sleep all the time?”

To which I responded, “I don’t know WHAT you are talking about,” rolled over, mumbled something else about ice cream and/or kittens and drooled some more.

In an unrelated (but still related to the first note) note, Daniel Radcliffe’s hair was seriously JANKED UP in HP4.

Thank god he cut that shit.

Disclaimer: Brian is a great fan of all the Harry Potter books (after I brought him into civilized society by making him read them last year). Don’t send him hate mail for allegedly not appreciating J. K. Rowling’s genius.