diary by chuck palahniuk

I finished reading 'Diary' by Chuck Palahniuk yesterday, and my feelings on it are... well, I don't even know. I enjoyed the novel, though. The plot was just so weird and strange yet it made me want to keep reading it and some parts made me go "what the fuck" and I would go back and reread it and etc but I really like Palahniuk's writing style. The first novel I read by him was 'Fight Club' which I enjoyed because the film adaptation is one of my favourite movies, and so I decided to read more of Palahniuk's work, because I really love his writing style, and I came across this one. When I first read the synopsis, I thought it seemed interesting, especially with this whole 'conspiracy' thing going on here, but the novel was kind of confusing in a way where I wasn't exactly even sure what this conspiracy was or what was supposed to happen until around the last quarter of the book, which I guess kept me reading.

It took me longer than usual to finish reading this one though. I don't know why, I just felt in no hurry to finish, like I usually am. Usually, I read, like, literally 1/6 of the book on the first day or less, and the second day, I just sit there for hours finishing the novel. I've even stayed up until 2 in the morning reading just because I wanted to finish the novel even though it was a school night. This novel, however, took me, like, over two weeks, because I found myself only reading a couple chapters per day, until yesterday when I sat in my room reading the last third of it.

Well, I have put on hold at the library another one of Palahniuk's novels, 'Invisible Monsters', which I hope will be just as interesting, if not more.

go ask alice

go ask alice novel

Yesterday, I finished reading Go Ask Alice by Anonymous. To be very honest, I did not really like this novel and but I can sort of understand why people would like it but I don't. To explain this novel simply, it is narrated through diary entries by an unnamed protagonist who writes about her life dealing with drugs, love, sex, running away from home, and other teenage issues that eventually leads her to understand and appreciate life a bit more. The mood in the novel frequently shifts quite dramatically; in one diary entry, she appears to be very happy and elated, and in the next she is bitter and upset. I guess that somewhat reflects the typical view of adolescence as constantly changing in mood and identity, and trying to fit in. But, I didn't really like this novel. I'm not sure what quite drove me to actually complete the entire novel, but at the end, when I closed the book, I didn't exactly feel much. I like books that leave a lasting impression on me, where I can sit there and think about the novel and reflect, and wish that I could reread it again without knowing what happened so that I could relive the experience of reading such a wonderful book. As for Go Ask Alice, I hate to say this, but I found it somewhat pointless. I mean, I understand that this is a very informative novel that gives the reader an idea of the sensation of drugs, and the effects of it that will in time lead the user to an eventual downward spiral, but I didn't see what was so amazing about this novel that made people love it so much.

I've read that people think that this book is absolutely magnificent, and that only those who are not mature enough will not appreciate the quality of this novel. Maybe I am immature for this. Maybe I'm not. But either way, this is just not my cup of tea.

the trees like lungs filling with air

the virgin suicides novel, the virgin suicides still

I'm currently in the midst of reading The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (I'm about three quarters of the way through) and I'm really enjoying this novel. For a while now, I've heard of tons of positive remarks about the novel, and seen many lovely, dreamy stills from the movie version (directed by Sofia Coppola), and for some reason I had never thought to read the novel or watch the film (honestly I don't know what was wrong with me). After finishing The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, I was googling books similar to it since I really liked it, and I came across The Virgin Suicides, and I was reminded that I had not read it ever in my life. So I borrowed it from the library, and after I'm done the novel, I plan to watch the film version. There are so many notable quotes from the novel that I've seen floating around that are really quite beautiful: "Basically what we have here is a dreamer; someone completely out of touch with reality. When she jumped, she probably thought she could fly." "The trees like lungs filling with air / My sister, the mean one, pulling my hair" "Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl." etc etc.

both by natalie kucken

But something that I found that was really magnificent were these photographs by Natalie Kucken. They have such a pretty, dreamy look to them. The girls reminded me of the Lisbon sisters from The Virgin Suicides, the way they look so out-of-touch with everyone else and in their own world. These two photographs, to me, look almost like they were taken in the same area as the novel cover above - in such a isolated yet enchanting natural place.

I think I'm going to go read - and hopefully finish - the novel now.

misery

misery (1990)

Here are various stills from the movie version of Misery (1990). Yesterday (but then again it's past midnight so I suppose I should say two days ago) I finished reading Misery by Stephen King, which is the first novel I have ever read by this author. This is going on my list of favourite books. I really enjoyed this novel, although there were some parts that were quite gruesome reading it (by hey, that totally adds to the whole creepiness/weirdness of Annie Wilkes). But um to be honest I really don't know how to describe something I read. I mean, I see it all the time - novel reviews or, like, a brief, nicely written paragraph outlining the reader's opinion of the story. I just can't seem to do that. All I can say is that I thought it was really interesting. Okay.

And no, I haven't watched the film version yet. I think I should. I mean, now that I've actually read the novel, I'm tempted to see how the images I pictured in my head while reading compare to the actual film. I actually did not even dare to look at how the characters from the film looked like or how anything looked like whatsoever because I didn't want to corrupt my mind. Hm, I think corrupt is actually I good way of describing this. What I'm getting at is that I prefer to read the book first without having the slightest clue as to how anything in the film looks like, and then watch the film to compare everything to how I had imagined it. If I were to watch the film before reading the book, then as I read, all the characters in my head would be the exact same people portraying the characters in the film, and I find that kind of dull. That's all.

Today (or should I say yesterday), I borrowed two more novels by Stephen King. I borrowed Bag of Bones and The Mist. I saw that A&E is having some sort of two-part special that's like a movie-adaptation-type-thing of Bag of Bones which got me interested in reading the book. The Mist, however, I just picked up randomly, and I'm hoping it's just as good. I don't think I'll have much time to read these during this week or next week, but these books aren't due till January, so I'll have winter break to read them, I suppose.