I Miss (Enjoying) Reading

Lately I've been feeling very "blah" about books.
I have to literally force myself to read every night. Reading is becoming more of a chore than a relaxing activity and that worries me. I used to loveee reading! Also, I'm not in class this semester and I fear I may become dumber and less able to concentrate if I stop educating myself through recreational reading. Or maybe I'm just reading books that do not really interest me right now. Once I start a book though, I need to finish it.

The two puppies that I've been working tirelessly on for a bit are
The Red and the Black by Stendhal (Super good, but sooo long, I feel like I've been reading it for a year. I'm just ready to be done with it already.)



and Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (Not as funny as I initially thought.)


I also started Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger the other day (Which I loveeee, but I really want to finish other two books before I really get into it.)



Today however, I came across two lists of books to read that I think (hope) with reinvigorate my appetite for literature.
They are: 100 books every man should read (http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books-the-essential-mans-library/) and 100 books every woman should read (http://www.thecompletewomanblog.com/2009/01/100-books-every-woman-should-read-1/).
I'm going to (try to) read all of them.
In doing so, I shall conquer the looming fate of my own illiteracy while also mastering the complexities of both the male and female sexes. Or not...but it's a good challenge :).

Here they are, I'll update this post and review each in a new post as I go.
I think my strategy will be to read the books alphabetically by author.
And if more than one book by one author is listed, I will read them in chronological order by the date they were published.
Also, even if I've read a book on the list before I'm going to re-read it.

(Obviously if a book is cross-listed I'm just going to read it once...but if that's the case, it's probably a super awesome book so maybe I will read it twice just for fun)

Yay! Excited! Books!

200ish Books Men/Women Should Read
*cross listed
bold = read

Chinua Acebe: Things Fall Apart
Douglas Adams: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide
Lousia May Alcott: Little Women
Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy*
William Alocott: The Young Man's Guide
Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale
Stephen Ambrose: Undaunted Courage
Aristotle: The Politics
Saint Augustine: The Confessions of Saint Augustine
Marcus Aurelius: Meditations
Jane Austen:

• Sense and Sensibility
• Pride and Prejudice
• Mansfield Park
• Emma
• Northanger Abbey
• Persuasion
  

Daniel Carter Beard: The American Boys' Handy Book
Boy Scouts of America: The First Edition of The Boy Scout Handbook
James Boswell: The Life of Samuel Johnson
Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
Pearl S. Buck: The Good Earth
Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita*
John Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress
Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes
John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion
Italo Calvino: If On a Winter's Night a Traveler
Albert Camus: The Stranger
Dale Carnegie: How to Win Friends and Influence People
Willa Cather: Death Comes for the Archbishop
Raymond Chandler: The Long Goodbye
Geoffrey Chaucher: The Canterbury Tales
Anton Checkhov: Short Stories
G.K. Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday
Winston Churchill: The Crisis
Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
Stephen Crane: The Red Badge of Courage
Daniel Dafoe: Robinson Crusoe
Roald Dahl: The BFG
Joy Davidman: Smoke on the Mountain
Don Delillo: White Noise
Charles Dickens: David Copperfield
Fyodor Dostoevsky:

• Crime and Punishment*
  
• The Idiot
  
• Brothers Karamazov

Alexandre Dumas: The Count of Monte Cristo*
Umberto Eco:

• The Name of the Rose
  
• Foucault's Pendulum

George Eliot:

• The Mill on the Floss
• Middlemarch
  

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Self Reliance
William Faulkner: As I Lay Dying
Dorothy Canfield Fisher: Seasoned Timber
F. Scott Fitzgerald:

• This Side of Paradise
  
• The Great Gatsby

E.M. Forster: Howard's End
Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique
Elizabeth Gaskell: Cranford
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther
William Golding: The Lord of the Flies
Kennethe Grahame: The Wind in the Willows
Graham Green: The Human Factor
H. Rider Haggard:

• King Solomon's Mines
• She
  

Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison: The Federalist Papers
Cicely Hamilton: William: An Englishman
Dashiell Hammet: The Maltese Falcon
Thomas Hardy: Jude the Obscure
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlett Letter
Ernest Hemingway:

• Men Without Women
  
• A Farewell to Arms
  
• For Whom the Bell Tolls

Herodotus: The Histories
Herman Hesse: Steppenwolf
Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan
Homer: The Iliad and The Odyssey*
Joseph Heller: Catch-22
Anthony Hope: The Prisoner of Zenda
Aldous Huxley: Brave New World*
Henrik Ibsen: A Doll's House
Conn and Hal Iggulden: The Dangerous Book for Boys
Denis Johnson: Seek: Reports from the Edges of America & Beyond
James Jones:

• From Here to Eternity
• The Thin Red Line
  

James Joyce: Ulysses
Roger Kahn: The Boys of Summer
Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis
Jack Kerouac:

• On the Road
  
• Dharma Bums

Soren Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling
Maxine Hong Kingston:

• China Men
  
• The Woman Warrior

John Knowles: A Separate Peace
John Krakauer:

• Into the Wild
  
• Into Thin Air

D.H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers
Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird*
Gaston Leroux: The Phantom of the Opera
C.S. Lewis:

• The Great Divorce
  
• Chronicles of Narnia Collection
  
• Till We Have Faces
  

Jack London: Call of the Wild
George Macdonald: Lilith
Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince*
Denis Mackail: Greenery Street
Norman F. Maclean: A River Runs Through It
Norman Mailer: The Naked and The Dead
Sir Thomas Malory: Le Morte D’Arthur
Thomas Mann: Joseph and His Brothers
Catherine Marshall: Christy
W. Somerset Maugham: The Razor's Edge
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
Larry McMurty: Lonesome Dove
Herman Melville: Moby Dick
Henry Miller: Tropic of Cancer
John Milton: Paradise Lost*
Margaret Mitchell: Gone With the Wind
Edmund Morris

• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
• Theodore Rex

Freidrich Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil
Flannery O'Conner: A Good Man is Hard to Find
Baroness Emmuska Orczy: The Scarlet Pimpernal
George Orwell:

• Animal Farm*
• 1984

Ovid: Metamorphoses
Thomas Paine: Common Sense
Boris Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago
Gary Paulson: Hatchet
Robert Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Christine De Pizan: The Book of Deeds of Arms and of Chivalry
Plato: The Republic*
Plutarch: Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans
Gene Stratton-Porter: A Girl of the Limberlost
Peter Post: Essential Manners for Men
Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged
Erich Maria Remarq: All Quiet on The Western Front
Tom Robbins: Another Roadside Attraction
Theodore Roosevelt:

• The Rough Riders
  
• The Strenuous Life

Edmond Rostand: Cyrano de Bergerac*
Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Don Quixote
J.D. Salinger: The Catcher and the Rye
Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe
Anna Sewell: Black Beauty
Shakespeare:

• Hamlet*
• The Complete Works
  

Michael Sharra: The Killer Angels
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: Frankenstein*
Murasaki Shikibu: The Tale of Genji
Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Robert Southey: The Chronicle of the Sid
Elizabeth George Speare: The Witch of Blackbeard Pond
John Steinbeck:

• The Grapes of Wrath*
• Cannery Row
  
• The Pearl*
  
• East of Eden
  

Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island
Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels
Paul Theroux: The Great Railway Bazaar
Henry David Thoreau: Walden*
J.R.R. Tolkein:

• The Hobbit
• Lord of the Rings Triology
  

Leo Tolstoy

• Anna Karenina
  

John Kennedy Toole: Confederacy of Dunces
Frederick Jackson Turner: The Frontier in American History
Mark Twain:

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Joan of Arc
  

Sun Tzu: The Art of Warfare*
Unknown:

• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• The Bible*
  

Kurt Vonnegut:

• Slaughterhouse-Five
• Bluebeard

Lew Wallace: Ben-Hur
Winifred Watson: Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
Evelyn Waugh: Brideshead Revisited
H.G. Wells: The Island of Dr. Moreau
Dorothy Whipple: The Priory
Oscar Wilde:

• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The Importance of Being Earnest
  

Owen Wister: The Virginian
P.G. Wodehouse: Very Good, Jeeves
Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Johann David Wyss: Swiss Family Robinson
Malcolm X: Malcolm X: The Autobiography

Activities of An Isomniac (This One to be Exact)

Loads of people have trouble falling asleep at night, and I am unfortunately one of that multitude. When I am lying there in my bed not sleeping, I am instead spending the wee hours of the night/morning doing the following (5 the least often, and so on to 1):

5) Planning the Next Day:
VS.
I envision myself waking up early, doing yoga, eating healthy meals, doing productive things, and going on adventures. However, the next day I usually get up at 12, eat less than healthy meals, do nothing productive, watch about 8 hours of Mad Men/Conan/Craig/30 Rock, waste money on movie tickets/dinner/unnecessary purchases such as tv box sets, and then go back to bed. The initial exercise of planning is therefore pointless and kind of sad. Which leads me to my next activity...

4) Berating Myself:

Here are some sample questions I ask myself/torture myself with: "Why didn't you do anything today?" "Don't you know that your time on this earth gets shorter every day?" "Why didn't you flirt back with that cute boy on the T?" "Shouldn't you have taken a shower today?"

3) Having Mock Conversations:

Such as with the aforementioned "cute boy on the T". We usually discuss how excited we both are for the last season of Lost, how awesome fun. is, and the changes in Conan's approach to comedy on the Tonight Show compared to Late Night.
Wow. That looks even sadder written down.
Moral of the story: worst life.

2) Writing:

I am currently typing The Rum Diary on my portable underwood, and writing The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye in notebooks. I started doing this because I read/saw? somewhere that Hunter S. Thompson used to type his favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway works to better understand the flow of the writing.
There are sometimes (sad) attempts at writing my own stuff, mainly poems and short stories.
I have also started (and scrapped/gave up on) mock Grey's Anatomy scripts, an orginal tv series called "Chuckleheads", and the next great american novel about 12 times.
On another note: Why haven't I become a wunderkind yet?

1) Interviewing For Prospective Jobs:

I do this a lot in the shower as well. For reasons unknown, I really enjoy daydreaming about future interviews I will go on. (While re-reading this before posting it I am proud that I wrote "will" instead of "want to" or "might") It is usually for jobs with NBC page program, Tonight Show, 30 Rock, Late Late Show, or SNL. Basically what I do is think of what kind of questions they will ask me, and then attempt to craft the perfect response. I've come to the conclusion that if I never get a job in television the last few years of my life may or may not have been a waste.

Inane and Insane

Goo...

All I write about is the inane: music, television, movies, clothes and my love for Johnny Depp.

I wish I could write about and/or have sound options on REAL STUFF. For me though, thinking/writing about the BIG ISSUES like religion, war, politics, and all that jazz just doesn't work. They are not things I consider in my everyday life, and therefore I feel it would be too contrived for me to write about them.

In conclusion, I think I shall continue to address the inane.

Here are some gorgeous pictures of Johnny Depp:

Listen!

This is going to be a really lame update because I have suddenly found myself having CRAPLOADS of work to do.

Just wanted to direct your attention to some songs that are beyond amazing (in my opinion). These are the song I am absolutely loving at the moment (such as today..which I spent researching in the library ALL DAY...blahh)

So listen! & most of all...enjoy :)



Run by: Snow Patrol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAQOWViUm0I


At the Wake by: The Format
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_AIA2qualg
(not real music video, I don't think there is one)


Because by: The Beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWkZ9ZQyVzw


Blankest Year by: Nada Surf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXRLUeVXpMA

okay tots very random songs but w/e I love them & you will too!

Ta

room where the bed is

So today I signed the lease for my apartment next semester :) I feel like a grown-up. Now I am debating like crazy over what I want my room to look like.

I go back and forth mainly with three VERY distinct/different themes:

1) cozy bookstore-y
similar to this:


anddd
2) frank llyod wright-y
example:


3) gypsy caravan-y
...couldn't find a good picture


I never make clean-cut decisions & if I do they are usually not so good...so I'm probably going to have my room look like a strange mixture of all three of these styles.

yay can't wait to move in! august 1st!

Mmm ham[m]

So "30 Rock" is awesome, if you don't think so, you clearly don't know what constitutes awesome. My love for Tina Fey has only grown with the addition of the super gorgeous and adorable Jon Hamm to the show.

(can't take credit for making this but it is about accurate)

I have now started watching "Mad Men"...and am HOOKED. Since it's been around, "Mad Men" to me has been "that show that's really amazing, and wins every award under the sun, but I don't know one person who actually watches".
Now I watch. And shall continue to watch.

(look how sly/good looking this man is)

In other news...I WENT TO A TAPING OF LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN LAST NIGHT! It was beyond amazing. I was in the second row! I could have jumped over the railing, beat the security guy, and touched Conan...that's how close he was to me. But I am too much of an upstanding citizen.

here are some pictures!

My bestest friend julie mac with her awesome (and hand-made!!) bag and me - next to the greatest sign of all time! (yes we do have the same coat in different colors)


a tad bit of "office" loving


my wristband! (now sealed with multiple layers of scotch tape to preserve itself on my wrist for as long as possible)


had to buy a conan mug obviously!


Okay now I need to read some Aristotle...woo good times! yay english major!

The List

Although never a static list for more than a few weeks, I decided to give you all my current top ten men list:

"Top 10 Men: Those I Love But Will Never Love Me Back"

Number 1: Johnny Depp

All the other ranks tend to fluctuate but number 1 NEVER changes.
There is just no contest.

Number 2: Mr.Darcy of Pride and Prejudice (book)

I see a Keira Knightley trend happening...haha
I know the BBCColinFirth fans probably hate me for putting up THAT Mr.Darcy, but I own and have seen both versions and prefer Matthew as well as the newer film version. My pick though is not for either film's versions of Darcy, but the way I see the Mr.Darcy of my mind in reading the actual book. He is a perfect gentleman, distant and shy but so utterly in love with Elizabeth it is heartwrenchingly beautiful to behold.

Number 3: Howard Roark of The Fountainhead (book)

There is a film version of the book with Gary Cooper, but I have yet to see it. Also, Gary Cooper is not at all what I had in mind for the character of Howard while reading The Fountainhead, and therefore do not want to use his picture.
Howard Roark is pure and everything a man should be. He also rapes the love of his life and it's romantic...yeah...he can make rape romantic.

Number 4: Robert Downey Jr.

Ah RDJ! I feel he and Johnny are similar in that they can be both adorable and bad-ass at the same time. RDJ just seems so goddamn cool. Also I love reading his interviews because he's completely insane and makes little sense, but you just know he's brilliant. He and Johnny should be best friends, that is if the world doesn't implode with too much awesomeness in one place. Favorite movie of his by far is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, go see it now! Iron Man obviously is dynamite as well. Ah! And how can I forgot Tropic Thunder! It's sad that he doesn't have a chance to win the Oscar (obviously going to be Heath) but I think his role in that movie is both really hilarious & important.

Number 5: Conan O'Brien

AKA the funniest man on the planet. Although he may be no Johnny Depp, his humor is so attractive to me. Also sidenote: I AM GOING TO LATE NIGHT ON FEBRUARY 16th! BE JEALOUS! I cannot wait, I think I've watched every single episode of late night for at least the last 3 years.

Number 6: Clive Owen

A beautiful, beautiful man. It was love at first sight when I first saw Closer, a film I now consider one of my favorites of all time.

Number 7: McDreamy of Grey's Anatomy

To make this clear, I do not mean Patrick Dempsey. I personally think Patrick Dempsey is a huge tool, but his character of Derek Shepherd is a wonderful, gorgeous man. I used to like McDreamy a lot better, but now that Merder is all stable and normal now his appeal has sort of lessened for me.

Number 8: Vampire Bill of True Blood

I have recently discovered the wonderly creepy show True Blood and therein found Vampire Bill. If Mr.Darcy was a vampire he would be Vampire Bill. Nuff said.

Number 9: Ned The Piemaker of Pushing Daisies

ADORABLE ADORABLE man & show (recently cancelled...ABC=thumbs down) The vulnerability and innocence of Lee Pace's character is so endearing and hard not to fall in love with him.

Number 10: Jack Driscoll of King Kong & kind of Adrien Brody himself

I loveee this character, maybe it's the playwrite thing. However I go back and forth on Adrien Brody in general though.


That's what the list looks like as of this moment. I guarantee in a few weeks it will be completely different...well all except number one :)