Woopsies

So maybe I was a little conceited when I was all "Oh 50 books challenge? Pshaaaww" because thing is, I sort of stopped keeping track of the books I read. And the end of the year is ever nearing. I'm sure I could easily top the challenge of a simple 50 books in one year, especially when I'm a psycho in the summer and reading everything I lay my eyes on, but keeping track of them is a different story.
One book I can easily track and would like to discuss via myself and blog was The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Definitely one of my top ten books, if it would even be possible for me to narrow them down to ten. This novel is remarkable in every single way. The narration, story line, characters, dialogue- every tiny individual piece of it is amazing, and when they're all combined, they form this unheard of story that teaches of relationships, life, happiness, everything. I cried in happiness and sadness, and I certainly did not want it to end. I wanted to keep in touch with Liesel and Rudy and Max and Papa, they were some of the most real and touching characters I've ever read. All I can aspire is to one day be able to create something that could vaguely approach the level of impact this book had and will continue to have for me.

My Uncle Pete died today. He was in a bad motorcycle accident yesterday and landed on his head. It didn't look good from the start. We prayed and prayed, but I guess he was needed impossibly more elsewhere. I'll miss him forever, we lost him too soon. Everyone is still numb, it doesn't feel real at all. I don't know when it will.
The weirdly comforting part of it all is that he was an organ donor, and with his heart and kidneys he'll save three people. That is so incredible to me, he is just the guy that would go out while saving three people.
I've been thinking about that. I think now I'm going to start looking for the three good things that come from every bad thing. Its like my history professor says, everything happens in threes.

So I'm home from school for now, which is going pretty well. I like it a lot for the most part, but for right now its good to be home.

My kids are never getting motorcycles, thats for sure. I need some sleep.

50 books? really?

Thats it? Internet challenge: read 50 books in one year. I think I read over fifty books in one summer, so this should be pretty easy cheese. soooo I think I'll do a lil' review thing for each book I read? I have three so far (and a half). aaaand go:

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Required for AP Lit, but I loved it. Every single bit of it, I thought it was great. I will definitely read it again. I just wanted to give Nick Calloway a big hug, cute little innocent man. And I'd definitely love to time travel to the setting of Gatsby, what with all the fashionable lifestyles and parties, but I'd probably skip over the depressing emptiness bit. Fitzgerald was such a genius.

2. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Also required, and pretty skinny, but I found I really enjoyed it. I liked the way it was written, with all the shifts in narration. I loved Robert, a lot. And though Edna was a little pathetic at times, I found I could really relate to some of the raw emotion Chopin described.

3. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
Also also required, also also loved it. For cereal, it was so so so great. A little hard to catch on to the dialect at first, but it definitely got easier as the book went on. Lovely descriptions, and awww Tea Cake! I was a fan.

thats all! Now I'll just finish Recovering Charles (not required!), but first English/government homework beckons. Cruel world.