On Addictions...

For some reason, I have one of those personalities where I easily become singularly focused on one thing just shy of the point of obsession. I essentially get easily addicted. Right now, here are my top three addictions:

Law & Order: SVU

I don't know what it is about this show, but I have probably scene every episode and still whenever I flip the channel and land on a rerun or TNT marathon, I get sucked in and watch all over again. Half the time, I'll even be watching the show thinking, "I'm sure I've seen this..." but I still don't change the channel.

Bejeweled

I was never that kind of kid who played video games. Ever. What I know of video and computer games is next to nothing. (It was my boyfriend who supplied some of the Worlds of Warcraft references that are in Unraveling). But now that I have an iphone, I downloaded a few games to play on the subway. And the one that's sucked me in, is totally Bejeweled. I don't know what it is about those stupid gems but I'm always convinced that with one more game I can score better!

All things

and

Jane Austen

(as played by Anne Hathaway, here it Becoming Jane Austen)

This is one of those addictions that I've had ever since I read Pride & Prejudice, which I read late. I had my masters before I sat down with a copy of the book and started to read, mostly because I couldn't believe I hadn't read it yet. I didn't necessary expect to like it. (There are some classics that I just don't like very much). And I certainly didn't expect to love it, but I did. I promptly read all of her books and her letters and a bunch of Jane Austen inspired books. I watched all the movies and the miniseries and even started to dream "in British." At the time, Jane Austen took over about six months of my life. Then I moved on to a new obsession (I think it might have been Veronica Mars).

But now this obsession is back. It started with Downton Abbey which I watched in two weekends (one for each season). And then it continued with  For the Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund, which I read several weeks ago. It's a post-apocalyptic retelling of Jane Austen's Persausion which is probably my favorite. The romance is swoonworthy and as soon as I finished, I wanted to go back and read the original. Instead I started watch some new BBC shows that people had recommended like Luther and Sherlock and it's safe to say I am completely hooked.

 

Best Book Ever

 

I have a hard time nailing down my favorite book. Part of the reason is because I have so many and it's hard to narrow it down and pick just one. Most of the time when people ask me what my favorite book is, I say Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card or The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald because they're both books that have been favorites for such a long time.

But in the past few weeks, I've been talking books that I love and elements of stories that I love and even writers that inspire me. And on book keeps coming up more than others.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Here's what I love about it. First, it's an amazing and page turning plot about a girl who was abandoned by her mother when she was eleven and is not struggling to just get more from her life. There are several mysteries that crop up in the book--to the point where I felt a little unsure of what was happening in the beginning, but I was well rewarded when everything tied together in the end. The characters are wonderful--they're full developed, well realized, and flawed in a way that makes them so real. I want these characters to be my friends. And as always, the writing is exceptionally beautiful, and there were a number of quotes that I read and thought "Yes, that is exactly how I've felt." And for those reasons, Jellicoe Road is my best book ever.