Hitchhikers and Hamilton

YO. So I finished 2 books this month--I think? Maybe 3? In all honesty this month has been a bit of a blur. Between college decisions (a new form of misery and elation bundled together) and a strenuous senior year and soccer season back in motion, time is just...not there. At least not there for me to read, write, or update this blog.
But here I am. Finished gov reading, finished psych homework, and it's time to update my life.

For starters, I finished reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams this past weekend on my camping trip (in which Fran was in attendance of). The book had some amazing elements to it, such as it's satirical wit and SPACE. Conversely, sometimes the sci-fi sections were too much and confusing, and this is coming from a girl trying to write a space opera. Either way, this story was full of a lot of humor and great quotes and interesting characters. My attraction to the book was solidified by it's first page alone. With its laughable criticisms of humankind, I knew I'd discovered a book that fulfills one of my criteria: poking fun at human nature.
I'm excited to read more of Adams' works within the Hitchhiker's galaxy, but with how much I have to read, I don't know how soon that will be.
4/5 stars

"Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realized what it was.
"Is there any tea on this spaceship?" he asked.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Now, to the latter of this entry's title, something that is totally unrelated to my reading: Hamilton. GUYS if you haven't listened to the Hamilton soundtrack yet...please, listen. From a girl who spent several years of her youth listening to Wicked on repeat, this musical is amazing. Like, history with rap and pop and a diverse cast that doesn't care about what race the Founding Fathers were? Where can you possibly go wrong, especially when Lin Manuel Miranda is at the forefront.

Thus, to lead you in your listening of Hamilton here is a list (what a surprise) of my top 10 songs:

1. Washington On Your Side 
2.  Right Hand Man
3. Satisfied
4. Alexander Hamilton
5. Take A Break
6. What’d I Miss
7. Wait For It
8. My Shot
9. Your Obedient Servant
10. Non-Stop

Do note that this is an extremely loose list. Like my Star Wars score list, it's fluctuating constantly. Also, if you really are reading this and thinking about listening to Hamilton, please do so in order of the actual album, not this list. You get the story (and the emotions!!) by listening in order.

So yeah, there's March. Binge-listening to Hamilton, suffering under school's reign, and occasionally reading and writing. Big emphasis on occasionally.

Currently reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Book Thief by Mark Zusak (both for school)

The Burden of Aspiring Writers

Another episode in which I deviate far from the contents of what is entailed in a "book blog." But I feel as though this is some noteworthy things to share.

That's a misleading title though because first off, I am not writer. And I don't think I will ever have the courage or persistence to consider myself as one. For the past four years or so, my mind has always been coming up with these new stories and ideas that never make their way onto paper. Little snippets of scenes are the closest things I have to a finished product, and it's so infuriating. Although there are the joys of being stuck in your own little world, the means of getting it down on paper is extremely difficult. It's maddening and horrible and intensifies my mental instability to an all-time high.

Here's a journal entry I wrote about my frustrations and it sounds absolutely insane for people who don't know what I'm talking about but I swear it pertains to my creative process 98% of the time.

3/6/16

An Open Letter to My Characters

The thing is that I've given up so much of my time for you. I could be 60 pages closer to finishing Crime and Punishment, I could have been working of my makeup work for Stats, or I could have been revising my extended essay. But I dropped it all and I will keep on dropping everything until you have finished your business with me. 

I understand that I am blaming you for the procrastination that I have imposed on myself, but every year this happens. You are taking a toll on my mentality and physically making me sick from exhaustion. My mind can't ever think straight without reverting back to you. Like what in the actual fuck??? Who does that???

All I ask is one thing: for you to tell me your story. But every time I try to give you time to expose yourself, you somehow always change your mind. I'm left with wasted hours of staring at a blinking cursor or a blank page. You have led me to believe that mental constipation is just as bad as actual constipation. (I should know. I am a veteran in both areas.)

I know it's nice to be able to dream about things like this, but no one really tells you how exhausting it all is. Writing a novel - writing anything that is valuable enough to be read in public - is such a laborious job. 

So please, just stop wasting my time and tell me what you want to tell me. 

-fq

A couple days after I wrote this, I found a video that perfectly describes everything I feel in regards to the pressure of being creative and being successful in channeling that creativity. I highly recommend watching Elizabeth Gilbert's (author of Eat, Pray, Love) TED Talk linked below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA

Crime and Punishment

It's March and this is the first book I have finished this year LOL.

And yes, I broke almost all of the points listed on my New Year's Checklist. My apologies. 

Anyway, I was assigned to read Crime and Punishment for my IB English class and although it was cool to be learning about Russian literature, I had to trudge my way through the denseness in this book that so often put me to sleep. You're essentially in the mind of a killer and taken through the journey of guilt eating you from the inside out. (There were a lot of prepositions in that previous sentence, please ignore them.) First of all, the names take a bit of getting used to: Raskolnikov, Svidrigailov, Razumihin, Pulcheria, they all sound like a type of exotic fruit. After the first 60 pages or so, however, you get used to it. The next challenge would then be your ability to stay awake through the explanations of abstract ideas. For example, Raskolnikov, the main character, has a theory about humans being separated into either the "ordinary" or the "extraordinary" and how these labels play a crucial part in the advancement of society and the justification of breaking the law. That whole section took me about three times to read over because I did not understand what the hell they were trying to say. Dostoyevsky does a good job of manipulating the readers into sympathizing with characters that would typically be seen as antagonists. In fact, almost all of his characters were very complex and elicited a strong emotion of either hatred, pity, or admiration at one point or another. I don't know if it's because the work load was relatively heavy or if it's because the book is really meant for more highly intellectual minds, but I found myself getting more frustrated than interested throughout the book. However, I do feel really accomplished to have finished this novel. It definitely would not have been something I would have picked up on my own, so I'm glad that I was exposed to a new type of literature. 

Goodreads summary: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7144.Crime_and_Punishment?from_search=true&search_version=service

Rating: 3/5