Finally

Books I've been reading:
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Quotes:
"My uncle will never know it. He'd insist on doing it too. He'd want to know all about it. Nothing could stop him! Such a determined geologist! He'd go, he would, in spite of everything and everybody, and he'd take me with him, and we'd never get back. Never! Never!"

"To hell with dinner! and the one who made prepared it, and those who will eat it!"

"In April, after he had planted seedlings of mignonette and morning glory in the clay pots in his living-room, he would go every morning and tug them by their leaves to accelerate their growth."

All of these quotes come from Journey to the Center of the Earth; I've found that I like this book more than Verne's others, and I think it's because this one actually has some comic relief that goes along with the story line. The first quote is from Axel after he finds out the secret to a hidden message. There is a frantic atmosphere around him after he figures out the message for fear of what his uncle will do. The second is by Dr. Lindenbrock when he is working on the message, he tends to give off a mad scientist vibe...I love it :D The same goes for the third quote, which is again about the Professor.

Reading:
I've reached the end of the required time for this blog, but I've started like sharing my point of view about books. I've always been a big reader, since about the 1st grade...mostly because that's the age when I learned to read. Etymology class has given me a reason for reading, normally I merely read for fun. Although reading was required, I still enjoyed the freedom of reading what I wanted. I'm actually quite thankful for the class, mostly because when I could have been doing other homework, I read. And when I was asked if I had any homework left, I would simply say "but I am doing homework." I don't know if I've particularly developed better reading skills, however I have read books that I ordinarily would not read. Instead of only reading classics, I expanded my horizons to random books that had nice covers when I went into the library. Also, this was a great way in which I could share my ideas about reading and writing and other such nonsense to the rest of the world. So for now I bid thee goodbye.

Pages this week: 101
All pages read: 409

P.S. Fear not I shall be back.

Light v. Dark

Long time no blog. How's life on the interweb?

I recently finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and started Journey to the Center of the Earth. So far I have liked the new one a lot better compared to the latter. It's going to sound petty but, the book is less scientific and more action. I haven't gotten too far, so updates will come soon. I'm too brain dead at the moment to actually delve into the details of Jules Verne and the wonders of his writings. Instead, here's a poem that I like. Enjoy :)

But Men Loved Darkness rather than Light
Richard Crashaw

The world’s light shines, shine as it will,
The world will love its darkness still.
I doubt though when the world’s in hell,
It will not love its darkness half so well.

Currently

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Quoteable Quotes:
"Like snails, we were fixed to our shells, and I declare it is easy to lead a snails life."

"Place a beehive on my grave
and let the honey soak through.
When I'm dead and gone,
that's what I want from you.
The streets of heaven are gold and sunny,
but I'll stick with my plot and a pot of honey.
Place a beehive on my grave
and let the honey soak through."

"She marched over to the sweeping woman to get a look at her and discovered it was none other than Mary. Mary smiled at Beatrix, then led her back to her room and gave her back her nun outfit. You see, Lily, all that time Mary had been standing in for her."

The first quote is from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Professor Aronnax is talking about life on the Nautilus and every time I think of living life like a snail I immediately think of Doctor Doolittle (not the one with Eddie Murphy). At the end of a movie his friends live inside of a giant snail shell, while Dr. Doolittle travels to the moon on a giant moth...ahh such a good movie. The last two are from The Secret Life of Bees, the first is a song that the honey harvesters sing and the second is part of a story that the main character, Lily, is told by the woman whom she is living with. Although the first is kind of morbid I like the peacefullness of it. And the second is simply a good story. I would highly suggest reading the book.

Pages this week: 162
All pages read: 308

Botherations

When I started reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, I didn't know what to expect. Yet, after the first chapter or so I was pretty excited. Although that may be because they kept refering to the narwhal in the book as a "unicorn," but that's just me. Anyways, the only draw back that I have come into would probably be the fact that Verne has a tendency to make lists, long lists, page long lists. And as much as I want to know the coloring and physological tendency of a bonito fish, I find the information a little unneccessary. The listing and the usage of latitude and longitude are what really bother me. The longitude and latitude part bug me mostly because I don't (normally) have a map in front of me when I'm reading the book, thus they seem quite pointless. Maybe people back in the 1800's had maps with them at all times. Maybe. Oh well, overall it's a pretty good book.

Women and Skin

*Enjoy my mini rant...I was feeling rather philosophical at the time*
I've been reading The Secret Life of Bees lately and I realized that for all that I have learned about the Civil Rights movement and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, I don't think about rights that often. So many of us are growing up in an age in which many of assume that we should all have certain rights and, thankfully, many of us have those rights. Not many little girls today think about that fact that about 100 years ago they would have been expected to learn how to sew and take care of children. If I was born in that lifetime I would have gone insane. Men assumed that women were inferior and deserved to stay at home. Even women had problems taking leadership roles, during the Seneca Falls Convention, a man was asked to head the project because women didn't think it was proper to have a woman in that position. Crazy. Along with women, African Americans didn't have the same rights as others. This book I'm reading has in a way opened my mind to some more thought into the matter of rights for blacks. It's odd to think that when my grandmother was a little girl there was still segregation. There were Jim Crow laws and literacy tests, all of those horrible things that we learn about in history class, and yet, all of if happened 50-60 years ago. Not that many people who are growing up in this age of technology and "information" realize that life was extremely different not that long ago. It's kind of hard to wrap your mind around. People, ordinary people, hated others simply for the color of their skin. I think that shows how cruel humans can be.

Bees and Seas

I finished Little Bee, it's been a long time since I've taken the time to finish a book in a week. It feels nice. I have decided to stick with bees and I have started The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I saw the movie a long time ago, but I loved it; hopefully the book will be just as good.

*Side note*

I recently got The Mysterious Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, so I will be talking about those two soon.