Begin the Begin

Xanga is dead. Facebook provide little room for a daily posting without severe forms of mockery. And so, I have come to blogger to feed my insatiable want to write about the minute details of my daily life. I have, however, decided to dedicate this particular blog to a subject much more important than the un-necessary details of my life. I have decided to cemement a place for myself and my books in the eternal effervescence of the internet.

That is write. I intend to write here about the books I read, the books I desire to read, the books I have no desire to read for all the world, and all other topics so related to my almost diseased compulsion to buy, read, and talk about books. I have a best-books list on facebook. I have a Librarything account. I have every other available form of book-related internet site. Why not have one where I can write for myself about the books I read, and the books I want to read. And so, the adventure begins...

The book I have most recently finished would be Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This would be the second time I have read this book, and I find myself being as contemplative about it as the first time. This is the kind of book that requires a darker room, some Iron and Wine and perhaps a strong cup of coffee. The book, a psuedo-diary written to an anonymous friend by a young boy named Charlie, makes the reader realize just how hard core and indie their life is not. The characters in the book, although occasionally flat and one-dimensional, make you want to be friends with them. The prose is stark, yet strikingly beautiful:

"When we got out of the tunnel, Sam screamed this really fun scream, and there it was. Downtown. Lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder. Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing. And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

Probably one of the few problems I would have with this book is just how young the narrator sounds. I mean, yes, he is only in ninth grade, but sometimes the way he speaks makes him sound as if he is much, much younger than that -think maybe sixth or seventh grade. But its a small problem to deal with for such an amazing book. Perhaps I really am not critical enough. There are few books that I have read that I dis-like. If I don't like a book, I usually stop reading it. But there are also few books that I have read that have made me want to change something about myself, my own writing. This book has done that.

-Chelsea.