As a result increased hours at work, gallivanting with the Trio (as Meg, Steve and I have begun calling our little dinner + drinks club), and Netflix, I’ve slowed down my pace in building my Gap Yah book list. Nevertheless, I have managed to add a few more titles. Surprisingly, I’ve been able to limit myself to new reads these past few months. This time around, I’ve decided to bold must-read titles. For the sake of brevity, I’ll limit myself to two sentences per book:

• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: Guy Montag is a “firefighter”/book burner in this dystopian take on a future America where citizens have blinded themselves with quick thrills and sensory over-stimulation. Without sacrificing the pace or intensity of the story, Bradbury explores the themes of ignorance, the composition of happiness, and, most prominently, the a value of literature.
• The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells: The horror story of a scientist who turns himself invisible and terrorizes a small, English village. Bottom line: being invisible isn’t all the fun it’s cracked up to be. 
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: A boy and a runaway slave take a journey down the Mississippi River together. Though some of Twain’s depictions of race definitely would not fly in a novel written today, I can certainly see how the Huck’s realization that people who are/used to be property are human beings whose relationships and rights are just as important as anyone else’s was pioneering at the time of the book’s release. 
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Stieg Larsson: I’m not sure why I was so slow to jump on board this series, but I am glad I finally took the time to immerse myself its the page-turning-stay-up-until-4AM-reading suspense. The story follows the the brilliant, misunderstood Lisbeth Salander as she finds herself at the heart of a decades long conspiracy within the Swedish government. I’m thoroughly enjoying the wave of badass heroines featured in recent pop fiction. 

Any suggestions for good books to pick up? I’d love to start something new before cracking open The French Lieutenant’s Woman for its yearly re-reading.

Update: I forgot a book!

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When I created this blog, I two major goals in mind:

1. Share random tidbits that tickle my fancy with friends near, far and/or interested.
2. Keep a personal record of a potentially life changing/character-making period of my life.

The following post is a rant focused mainly on the latter goal. For those interested in goal 1, feel free to move on. This post is mostly an exercise to purge the livejournal-y whining that has accumulated in my mind these past few months. For those interested in my ongoing quarter-life neuroses and potential future plans take the jump:

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While flipping though old notebooks, I came across an old sonnet that I had written right before my high school graduation. As we arrive at yet another graduation season, I thought it would be fun to share this time-capsule of old thoughts. It blows my mind to think that I wrote this during the same time of life that my younger brother is currently experiencing. Having matured [a little bit], I can now read the naïveté in my high school voice. Still, I would love to recapture the same optimism for the future that I had five short years ago.

Our friendship must end here. It’s time to flee
Before the dreaded dreams of futures flown
Give haunting proof of my life left unsown,
Trapped in old habits, no new light to see.
I’m guilty of hiding behind your mask,
Claiming your voice, despite knowing better.
So many years spent under your shelter;
How did  this journey pass us by so fast?
I’m limping away with bittersweet heart.
I’ve dropped you in dust, my beloved crutch,
To walk on my own. As I go don’t fuss:
You know I must leave for my solo start.
A future of hopes comes not without toll-
I bid you farewell, my dear childish soul.