Does music compliment a good book?

A lot of people talk about how they cannot read and listen to music at the same time, but I find that I do my quickest and most comprehensive reading while listening to music, albeit it is generally a single song on repeat. I have an obsessive/addictive like personality which "encourages" me to re-read books often and, well, listen to songs I like on repeat. Weird, yes. Do I at least listen to good music, hell yes. These are a few of the songs I listen to that are great from background to a good book.

1. "Cosmic Love" by Florence and the Machines
2. "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
3. "Siren Song" by Bat for Lashes
4. "I Was Broken" covered by Robert Pattinson
5. "Running Up That Hill" by Placebo
   
6. "The Weight of Us" by Sanders Bohlke
7. "Keep on Tryin'" by Poco
8. "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez

I'm likin' the lists. I'm likin' the music. And yes, Mike Newton, I'm likin' the rain.

Lions, Tigers, Quotes, and Italics. Oh My!

I have no idea how to catch up on how to write about all of the books I have written, nor how to read all the new ones I have on my shelves right now. I am running out of time! Law school will start soon and that means the ONLY thing I will be reading in case books. Yay. However, here is the stack that is sitting by my bed (and has been for the past few weeks at least. Senior year is hard...)

1. Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann
2. The Help Kathryn Stockett
3. Picking Cotton Jennifer Thompson-Cannino

By no means does the list end there. I just have to be realistic and go one at a time. Or three. My current recommendations are:

1. The God of Animals Aryn Kyle (hands down one of the best and most powerful books ever written. By a first timer no less.)
   
2. Emma Jane Austen (chances are you have read Pride & Prejudice but this is arguably Austen's greatest work. Even her brother said so.)
   
3. East of Eden John Steinbeck (top 5 favorite book of mine at least, most powerful and thought provoking of all his works)
   
4. The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath (sad and depressing but, my god can Plath get into your head. moving coming of age story, but I use coming of age, well, loosely.)
   

East of Eden--John Steinbeck

I bought this novel as a fluke, kind of. I have learned that one of the best places to get book recommendations and to buy books is from college book stores because they are all being read for some reason and often have used copies in good condition (if you find the one previously owned by a slacker taking English as a requirement). So one day last semester I was doing my walk through the English aisles and saw East of Eden and bought it to buy it (along with my 18 other novels for the semester--yes 18!). It took me 3 days to read its 600 pages, not uncommon for me, but I am not a fast reader so I know it was a serious good book to keep me from 3 days of sleep (the again i read the last Harry Potter in 16 hours and didn't even stop for class so maybe that doesn't say much). Despite the time line it quickly become one of my favorite books of all time.

I had never read much Steinbeck, not for any particular reason, just had not but since I finished this one (the longest and one semi-autobiographical of his works) I have bought everything else he has written (including a first edition of Cannery Row) and am working my way through them. I do not even really know where to begin when talking about East of Eden though. My brother and I had a long and deep theological discussion based on it and Lee's quest to discover the exact meaning of god's response to Cain after he killed Abel. The Chinese elders he consulted determined god said "thou mayest" [avoid sin] however, this is contrary to many teachings which portray it as a command "thou will." This is just one of the interesting times in which Steinbeck puts life into better perspective. He encourages open thought and communication but does not condemn crime or other mistakes.

The novel basically is a retelling of the Cain and Abel story that follows for two successive generations. Sibling rivalry at its most deadly. Money is made and lost. Husbands and wives go crazy and centuries of theology is not simplified but reexamined to eradicate man of many of their mistakes while still holding them accountable for the harm done to family. East of Eden is one of the most powerful and thought provoking novels I have read in a long time and will likely remain my favorite of all of Steinbeck's works.

Jane Austen

Despite how disappointing my Jane Austen Studies class has been so far this semester, I have still had the opportunity to re-read her six amazing novels, and for that I am grateful. (Disappointing because of our lack of discussion and new or useful insight by my professor who generally goes off on tangents about how much of a bitch Mrs. Bennet is or how Willoughby is an asshole--we get it already!) However, I still love Austen, and she remains my favorite author of all time. One thing that has come up a lot in our class is about whether or not Austen was the prototype for the modern feminist, and, as an extension of that, would she be disappointed at the state of women today were she able to see it?

My answer to part A, yes, and part B, yes. Her novels, all six of them, are focused on women that are somehow stronger then the norms of her time and she herself went against the grain (A rebours) of the typical English woman by becoming a writer. She lived in poverty and off of charity for much of her life, however, this is mostly because she wanted most of all to be able to do what she loved and that involved not conforming to societies expectations such as concerning marriage and occupation (or a lack of). Each time I read one of Austen's brilliant and numerous works, I am reminded not only of why I love literature, but also of why I love being an independent woman. Elizabeth Bennet always excites the passion for sarcasm and strength I think I (sometimes) posses, Catherine Morland makes me laugh at how I too live in a dream world and am easily excited, Emma always makes me appreciate Clueless a little bit more while also inspiring me to set up some of my friends. And it keeps going because I love living in Austen's world, she wrote timeless novels that are still applicable today, especially since women have not been quite as liberated as I expect she would hope. However, there are at least 65 women (and 2 men) in my Jane Austen Studies class that agree she is a powerful and inspiring character herself, one from which more contemporary American women would do good to take some advice from.

Benj. Fanklin on Perfumes

It is amazing how often I come across seemingly forgotten books and a google search fails to return any valuable information. Such was the case when today I was book browsing between nursing a hangover and completing my philosophy assignment and I stumbled upon a thin volume which was labeled on the spine "Benj. Fanklin of Perfumes." I did a quick google search on my iPhone to see if I could figure out what it was since the last page said "One thousand copies printed. Nine hundred seventy five are for sale. Made at the sign of the Blue-Behinded Ape, Mcmxxix." All in all a curious way to end a book that totaled no more than 20 pages. I bought it (for $1) in spite of the lack of available information and it took me all of 10 minutes to read it, twice.

The contents of Dr. Franklin's Letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels are fairly well know as of 1990 or so when the collection of his works "Fart Proudly" were released, however, my little volume published the entirety of Franklin's letter about farting in 1929, apparently the first to do so. It is a funny little "book" that shows Franklin's humorous side as he is trying to convince the Royal Academy of Brussels to begin experimenting on how to make farts smell better, for the benefit of all people. The letter was supposedly in response to a call by the government for scientific papers, but Franklin thought European academics were pretentious and impractical and sent what he thought was a fitting alternative. Interesting that one of the most brilliant minds of American history should be so concerned with farting, but luckily his satirical tone is not lost on a more contemporary audience.

I laughed out loud on reading this letter, which I don't often do, as I was quite entertained not only my Franklin's subject and writing style but also by the introduction written by the "Blue-Behinded Ape." Of who or what this is, I am not sure, other than to surmise it was a publisher of more humorous or satirical works of at least the 1920s and 1930s. My edition was published in 1929 and remains in remarkably good shape. I am sure it will be an interesting conversation starter at some point in the future.

I am 22 and I do not know what I want to do with my life. However, I love to read, always have and always will. I am a typical college student in my last semester who goes out with my friends and shops and for the most part gets good grades. Most of my friends have hobbies like playing beer pong or working out, I, however, hunt for books at local bookstores and then read them. I have read a lot of books in my life and now it is time for me to review them so I can remember them.