bookie!

1. slept in today and didn't even leave the house. it was so nice! i miss just having absolutely no plans.
2. i watched peter pan because the song "you can fly!" had been stuck in my head. now the whole soundtrack is stuck in my head.
3. i baked orange-pecan-bluberry breakfast bread because i was bored. it was a bit of an experiment but it turned out well!

disclaimer: contains some plot elements for listed books, so don't read it if you haven't read these books! so why harry potter, life of pi, and east of eden? when examined together, they all seem to invoke a similar question about human nature and attempt to answer it in different ways. humans innately need to know the answers (if my previous posts have not made this clear) and we seek out those answers primarily through works of art--books, dramas, paintings, music compositions, etc. my first selection, though not necessarily my favorite, is the most well known. the harry potter series is...the closest to my heart. i grew up with the books and with the characters and my pre-adolescent and adolescent years were characterized by reading the newest book and waiting for the next one. the whole series tackles the question of good and evil remarkably well. it captures the imaginations of younger readers and raises difficult questions for older readers. the seventh book, though, stands alone as a superior work of literature. the finesse and the detail and the allegory is captivating and thought-provoking. i love the story element combined with the philosophical element. and yes, harry becomes a jesus figure, but this is the coolest way of portraying that story that i have come across. i am still waiting for my hogwarts letter... on to life of pi. again, a way of talking about life that is unique and fresh. i read somewhere that yann martel used animals as a way to project characters so that the reader would have no preconception about the characters while reading the story. it seems like the perfect palate for characterization, even though we do stereotype animals, it is not in nearly the same way as we stereotype our fellow humans. the twist in life of pi where pi offers the story that the animals on the boat were actually humans...it kind of blew my mind. i didn't see it coming, but maybe i'm just dense. the story itself is such a good read and woven so well, but the questions it raises about morality, humanity, and sanity are fascinating. east of eden i love. it's over 600 pages of wonderful writing and even better storytelling. the plot is fast-paced and gripping. i have read it three times and each time find a new piece of the story that i missed before. and the pure hatred that i have for cathy is only matched in one other novel by one other character--dolores umbridge in the order of the phoenix. that should tell you something about the characterization capability of  both authors. but the pure evil of cathy and cal is horrifying, while the extreme goodness of aaron is almost sickening. the story asks questions about the way one lives one's life and the morality of that way of life. all three are fabulous books and i love them through and through and can re-read until my heart's content and never get tired of them. another note, poisonwood bible was a very close fourth place for this list. another excellent book that has similar themes of these three!