TV.com needs to change back. The new layout sucks balls.

Great Reads-Lately I've started reading a lot again. I lapsed a little after Twilight, but I'm back to "normal" now. I went to Central Library, and tried out some classics. (I checked out The Scarlet Letter year before last, but I found it really hard to get into) Fortunately, that wasn't the case with The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Those are both books on my reading list, and yippee! I'm almost done with the entire list. I just finished The Silence of the Lambs today. I thought the movie was brilliant, but if it was, the book is indescribable. Seriously one of the best books I've read in my life. So anyways, I'm in an opinionated mood, so here are the books I've put on my summer reading list, plus my rating and thoughts-

-Bartimaeus Trilogy (The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, Ptolemy's Gate) by Jonathan Stroud: 7/10. My friend Jayme suggested I read this series, and I tried them out. They're quite good, and I don't mean to be offensive here, but to me the author lacks creativity. TAoS took me TWO DAYS to read. I felt there wasn't a lot to hook me in, but the wry humor is admittedly rather amusing.
-Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn) by Stephenie Meyer: 8.5/10. A really easy to get into series. The books aren't what you're looking for if you want a light read, yet they're not too thought-provoking. There's a lot of vivid description of settings, objects, and most importantly, feelings. That's what I admire about Stephenie Meyer's writing, along with the obviously original concept of a human and vampire falling in love with each other.
-The Princess Bride by William Goldman: 7.5/10. As good as this literary fairy tale was, it actually went below my expectations a little. Despite being a fairytale-like story, it's not a light, airy book, and that's what I like about it. It has elements of realistic fiction, including concepts like sacrifice and perseverance, which is what's different from the clas.sic fairy tale (think about it. Snow White never had to make any sacrifices. The Little Mermaid, maybe. She DID give up her family to go live with the prince as a human.). Another special thing about this novel is that it's timeless. There's no specific bearing to let the reader know what time period everything's happening in. Therefore, people can still read, understand and enjoy The Princess Bride, years and years from now. Apparently, William Goldman's churning out a sequel, and I'm looking forward to it.
-Gemma Doyle Trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing) by Libba Bray: 8/10. A fantastic series I managed to stumble upon. This trilogy of books is set in the Victorian era, where women are oppressed, and a lot of them are kept from realizing their true ambitions. Libba Bray combines this struggle against oppression with the blessing, which is also a curse, of escaping into the Realms, a mystical place Gemma can access through visions. That's the wonderful element that makes me want to recommend this series to everyone, along with Libba Bray's wry, sardonic, almost Gothic sometimes, st.yle of writing.
-The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells: 8/10. A science fiction cl.assic, this. The Invisible Man went up and beyond my expectations of it. I enjoy modern sci-fi, of course, but I can honestly say I did not expect The Invisible Man to be as good as it was when I read it. Even though it was written more than a hundred years ago, it was still as gripping and thrilling as any modern sci-fi novel. Some of the language and phrasing is rather hard to understand though, this novel having been written in 1897.
-The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: 8.5/10. This semi-autobiographical work of fiction reads more like a historical account, or a biography. Normally not the type of book I'd read. The Bell Jar pleasantly surprised me, though. It gave me a lot of insight into Sylvia Plath (as Esther Greenwood)'s mind, and was a fantastically descriptive (in terms of personal feelings) book.
Janie Johnson (THe Face on the Milk Carton, Whatever Happened to Janie?, The Voice on the Radio, What Janie Found) by Caroline B. Cooney: 7.5/10. I really got into TFotMC. I was really expecting WHtJ to be absolutely brilliant, but it totally disappointed me. Apart from that, this is a pretty good "realistic" series. The third person narrative that incorporates many of Janie's thoughts is a great way to channel this tale. Caroline B. Cooney really allows the reader to emphsize with Janie's struggle for identity, and that's the big uplift it gets after the terribly written second book.

Friends-I may be starting to, sort of, maybe make friends. Though my super-fast speech freaks a lot of people out. So, yeah. It's been sorta rainy and cloudy lately, so everyone's been hanging in the library a lot.

Today the weather was really weird. It's autumn, ya know, and it's supposed to be dry and crinkly. The leaves were. The sky was blue, but it was raining. It was really wonderfully contradictory and poetic when I was contemplating it from my high vantage point on a swing.

Freedom-I wrote my descriptive essay about it at school today. I don't believe I have enough freedom now, as an *ahem* "35-year-old with cats". I asked my mom if I could walk to school alone. She insisted on going with me. For heavens sakes, THIRD GRADERS walk to school alone!!! Yeah, I know it's all in the interest of my safety, blah blah blah, but it burns to know she doesn't think I'm responsible/smart/alert enough. And the really demeaning thing is, I know I'm not good enough, but I have no way of finding out what to do in order to prove I am.

Last, but certainly not least, how is everyone? Things on the blog front have been really quiet lately. Please tell me how you're doing!

Tata.