Just A Random Day

Noticed I haven't been updating for a while. Interesting.

I came home from gym about an hour ago - I'm still half asleep. (It's about 1:30pm now.) I'm trying to get a grip of myself and start reading English. I know I like it, I just have to begin. Those who don't know this - I'm aspiring to get into the University of Helsinki this spring, majoring in English Philology. Three books to read, I'm not even halfway through the first one. >_< But it's interesting, so I'll manage.

Yesterday there was a free lecture (first of six) on Shakespeare. I was there, and enjoyed my self a great deal, even though I knew most of what the lecturer told us beforehand. Next week we'll discuss Hamlet and its translations, which I think will be interesting. The same woman is giving a lecture on Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray on Monday, and I'm hoping to participate. The unfortunate part of all this fun is that I've got a driving lesson at the same time, and I can't move it around too much because I'm having my inspection drive on Tuesday. But we'll see what I can do. (Which reminds me that I've forgotten to call my driving teacher about it...)

Driving! It's so much fun! I had my winter driving thingie on Tuesday. We drove about an hour to get to the course and then got to try driving 40kmph and making sudden brakes. It was so much fun and I enjoeyd myself - particularly when I got the car to spin one and a half rounds.

My friend's having a fancy dress party tomorrow night. I still have no idea what I'm going to go as. Oh well.

~Wilzo

The Booklist

So, during 2009 I kept a list of the books I read. Now I'm going to publish it here.

BOOKS READ 2009
Stephenie Meyer: New Moon
     -This was bad, but it could be taken humorously. The reason I okayed it might have been the werewolves.

 
Terry Pratchett: Maskerade

Terry Pratchett: Going Postal
     - Fell in love with this. So hilarious!

Neil Gaiman: Stardust
     - Better than the movie. 

Terry Pratchett: Making Money
     - Sequel to Postal. This wasn't quite as good, but very entertaining anyway.

Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman: Good Omens (x2)
     -One of my all-time favourites. You don't get bored with this one, no matter how many times you read it! 

Merja & Marvi Jalo: Pappilan ponitytöt ja rokkiromanssi

Merja Jalo: Ponisaaren kirous
     -Both of the above are horse-books directed to 10-year-olds. They made good summertime reading.

Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora
     -The find of the year! Great book, read it! 

Robin McKinley: Beauty

John William Polidori: The Vampyre

Jasper Fforde: The Eyre Affair

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
     -First re-reading after publishing. Still cried like a fountain.

Scott Lynch: Red Seas Under Red Skies

Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange
     -I was pleasantly surprised. I liked this book immensely. 

Henrik Ibsen: Villisorsa
     - The Wild Duck.

George Orvell: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Diana Wynne Jones: Howl's Moving Castle

Diana Wynne Jones: Castle in the Air

Toby Barlow: Sharp Teeth

Henry N. Beard & Douglas C. Kenney: Bored of the Rings

Terry Pratchett: Wyrd Sisters
     -A great one! 

Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Oscar Wilde: Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
     -I like these stories very well, best one's being Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and A Sphinx Without A Secret 

Stephenie Meyer: Eclipse 

     -It's hard to believe, but this was even worse than the ones before. I'm seriously considering not reading the last one, though a friend (who finds these equally Gods-damned awful) said it's worth a try.

I left two books unfinished this year: Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan and Heart-Beast by Tanith Lee. The first one was boring and intended to someone younger than me, and with the second I'm not sure. It just didn't sweep me off my feet, which is quality I feel a good book should have.

Currently I'm reading Macbeth (my first Shakespeare in English!) and have Pratchett's Night Watch coming. Finally.

So it's 2010 now, and there are loads of books to read! :D

~Wilzo