I'm feeling in a contemplative mood tonight dear readers, because I am about to kick off the last month of this project (although not the last month of the blog, as I will be continuing the blog into 2010.) A month from now I will be sitting down to write my final blog entry of the year - and I'm both excited and nervous. I also spent the day contemplating how I need to step up my reading efforts if I'm going to make it to my 100,000 pages goal by the end of the year. I was planning out my books for December - and looking at the numbers - and I've come to the conclusion that December is going to have to be filled with a lot of 500 page books if I'm going to meet the goal by December 31st. Despite the 100,000 pages goal being a really bad idea, that has caused nothing but stress in my life, I have been unable to talk myself out of it no matter how hard I've tried. So it's full steam ahead with a really crappy idea - and you will have a front row seat for the whole hideous mess dear readers (are you trembling with excitement?)
Today's book, "When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun - but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl."
Shallow thoughts:
- Okay, first we have to deal with the most obvious thought: 19 Katherines? Really? I could believe 19 Jennifers or Ashleys or Haileys, but 19 Katherines? I've only ever met one in my life, and her name wasn't spelled the elegant way with a K (and she would never share her toys with me, no matter how many times I shared my Baby Heather doll with her - in short, she had problems.) So, in order to enjoy the book, I had to slide aside the improbability of the scenario (which I'm very good at doing because I watch really crappy TV on a regular basis) - and then I was able to enjoy most of the book. The first 1/3 was really good, the second 1/3 was good but not really good, and the last 1/3 was sketchy as can be. That was the point where the book got really odd and started to unravel a bit - kind of like that really crappy movie from the 40s with Jane Wyman in it "The Doughgirls," which unraveled so fast at the end that it took on a train wreck quality and I just couldn't turn away.
- Favorite passage, "Colin has always preferred baths; one of his general policies in life was never to do anything standing up that could just as easily be done lying down." - That passage occurred on page 3 of the book (well technically page 1,which was labeled as page 3 - which is one of my book pet peeves. Is there some reason why all publishing companies can't try the crazy idea of starting page 1 of a book on page 1?) I knew that I was going to be able to connect to the main character. Not because he's lazy (although that does speak to me on a deep level) but because he is honest about his laziness. I can overlook so many flaws in a person or character if they are honest about those flaws - in fact, I find an ability to freely admit to ones flaws to be a very endearing quality in a person.
- Most annoying passage, "Colin notices she looked different, but not quite how, and then he saw it. No makeup. She looked prettier than she ever had before - Colin always preferred girls without makeup." - Every time I've ever heard a man say that I have challenged them to point out all of the women in the room who aren't wearing makeup, and they always end up pointing to the women who are wearing makeup, but just very subtle makeup. I have yet to see any woman who looks drastically better without makeup - despite all of the efforts People Magazine goes to in order to try to convince us that there are people (read: celebrities) who look stunning without a drop of makeup on. Yeah right People, sell is somewhere else. I will never believe those people aren't wearing concealer when the reporter shows up. But, lest you think I'm the most shallow person on earth, I can assure you dear readers that I am not one of those people who whines about how they can't leave the house without makeup on - I often leave the house without it, but no one will ever be able to convince me that it's my best look.
