High Hopes

Lately I've been awfully lazy about reading. Nothing has appealed...until today. I read a recommendation for Justin Cronin's The Passage, including the following details: dystopian/post apocalyptic fiction, 600 pages, and first in a series. An online search gave me access to the first chapter, and a trip to B&N later, I was hooked!

I'm two and a half chapters in and I can't figure out this book. It opens with the abandonment of a young girl by her mother who has lost all hope of being able to provide for her. According to the blurb on the back this girl, who I last saw on the doorstep of a convent in Memphis at the end of chapter one, will be the protagonist. Chapter two brought me on a scientific expedition to Bolivia, with overtones of vampires, while chapter three promises a gritty legal drama, complete with death row inmate and FBI agent. Quite frankly, I'm not sure what to make of the plot yet, but I'm pretty engaged and I've got great expectations for the next 580 pages! I'll keep you all posted...
RDeW.

High School Throwback

In anticipation of the movie coming out, I recently re-read The Great Gatsby.  This was the first time I had picked up the book since being required to read it in the 10th grade, at which time I came away with only a mediocre opinion of it.  I can remember not really understanding what all the fuss was about.  On this go, I enjoyed the novel much more.  Perhaps I needed to spend a few lost years of my own in NYC in order to understand the true beauty of the book.  The experience has set me raiding the boxes in my closet to find some other classics read in high school that perhaps will be more appreciated at this time.  I started East of Eden yesterday!

What are some of your favorite classics? 

-Dani