Onto the Next Order of Business

I gave you all a glance at what I've been reading lately in my last post. Now I'm going to tell you a couple random things about my favorite literature "stuff" (for lack of a better word). I have a couple favorite authors.

• Neil Gaiman
• Neal Shusterman (I don't even care much for the name Neal/Neil, but apparently it makes for a great author, who knew.)
• Laurie Halse Anderson
• Janette Rallison
• Maureen Johnson

So those are my top five. I didn't even know I had a top five but I definitely would say those are it. Mind you, they are not in any particular order and I do like others but those are my top. I actually get a lot of my books from the library. Practically all of them. I love owning books but I don't love spending twenty bucks for something I'm only reading once. Since we're on this topic of book borrowing here is something that I've found from one of my aforementioned favorite authors that is very admirable and as a writer myself (although unpublished) I find myself agreeing with it.

"[D]on't ever apologize to an author for buying something in paperback, or taking it out from a library (that's what they're there for. Use your library). Don't apologize to this author for buying books second hand, or getting them from bookcrossing or borrowing a friend's copy. What's important to me is that people read the books and enjoy them, and that, at some point in there, the book was bought by someone. And that people who like things, tell other people. The most important thing is that people read... "

— Neil Gaiman

I've always been one to praise the people who do what they love for the joy of it and for getting it to others, not the ones that do things for the fame or the money. If an author or a band are more interested in doing what they love to do just for the sake of it, I'm going to love their finished product that much more. I'm more likely to spend the money for someone I respect than someone I don't and from this quote I tell you I respect Neil Gaiman.

Love and Baby Sloths,

Maggie

Night Life

In the past month or so I've read three outstanding books (they're not the only books I've read but they are the ones I liked the most). The first book was "The Great Gatsby", I read it for school but it was actually fantastic. It normally is rather painful to read books that are assigned but "The Great Gatsby" is a "great" book. Pun kind of intended. There were a lot of hidden things in the book, and I'll admit I didn't pick up on nearly all of them but I have a personal belief that not every author rights a book with the intention of having every word containing a hidden meaning. Sometimes an author will just write to tell the story that is inside of them, not to make a treasure hunt for readers. I honestly believe that those things that people claim the author intended something to mean something just make it up so that they appear very intellectual to those who will listen to them. I know this can happen because I've had to write essays before that contain that very thing. Made up stuff meant for someone to go, "Wow! I didn't know that's what the author meant!" (AP English class forces you to do that.) Now, don't get me wrong, there are definitely times where authors write with the intention of communicating a message but if a six year old wrote a poem that rhymed, the rhyming pattern does not always contribute to the meaning of the poem! The kid probably just wanted it to rhyme because they think poems have to rhyme. Not because it has anything to do with what they're writing. I know I've even written poems that rhyme before and I didn't think, I want it to rhyme this way to provoke this emotion. Sorry but it does not always happen like that. But "The Great Gatsby" definitely is a book worth reading. I was surprised how attached I got to the main characters. Even the title character!

The second book that I got swept away by was "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen. I absolutely hated Nora in the beginning of the play (yeah, it's actually a play, not a book, sorry about that). But by the last Act, I actually found myself rooting for her and developing a life long hate for her husband. I had never even heard of it before it was assigned in my AP class.

The third and final book that I'll mention for now is "Night" by Elie Wiesel. It is my new favorite book. I do not even know if I can explain it in any way to give it justice. I never thought much about World War II before reading this. I thought it was a horrible time but I never really took the time to imagine what the people thought when it first started happening. I never thought what they really went through. Just as a human, like me, with real emotions. It was the most intense book I have ever read. Plain and simple.

Love and Monkeys -Maggie