TIME TO REFLECT

It's hard to pick three but, I'll go with:
Best: Battle Royale, Fight Club and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.
Worst: Any three of the Twilight series.

Battle Royale is amazing because it captures the emotion of such a bizarre and unlikely scenario in such detail that it almost feels real. Its complexities are a lot to deal with though, so it's definitely not one of those books you read just before you go to bed. You kind of need to be fully awake to appreciate it. And yes, it is the novel which inspired the manga which inspired the movies.

Fight Club is just insane. I mean, literally. The narrative is so unusual, and typically for Palahniuk, gives you a strange perspective of insight into the narrator's character. The way it flows is incredibly natural, and whether there are subliminal meanings hidden within the wording of the story matters not - the novel is a modern masterpiece.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a great book, hailed as a modern Catcher In The Rye. Incidentally, I found it much easier to read than Catcher In The Rye, so perhaps that's why I've mentioned Perks instead. Anyway, it looks at the life of a reclusive young boy growing up through high school, finding his friends and his feet, and living life to the best of his ability.

The Twilight series, whilst being hailed as the new Harry Potter and whatnot, is just simply not that good. The narrative could have been written on Quizilla by a vaguely talented seventeen year old, published, and then ignored. In fact, it's notable that Stephenie Meyer was rejected by several publishers before finding one who finally decided to be like, 'what the hell, let's go with it'. She unfortunately has turned the entire vampire genre into something that is now at best farcical. 'Sparkly' vampires, srsly. Whatever happened to vampires burning, or turning into dust in the sunlight? Whatever happened to them having a weakness that was feasible in terms of science fiction? Whatever happned to simple blood-drinkers with nothing different to humans except their diet and insanely pale complexion (and lack of a pulse)? All those ideas will probably be lost until some heroic writer comes up with a way to make vampires the creatures they used to be - fearsome, mysterious night-dwellers who will most likely kill you given the chance.

okay, so it's been a while since i last updated. probably because i've not really had much to talk about. but now i do, so.

my insomnia, which i had very mildly back home, has rapidly increased whilst i was here, sending me through a three day straight run of no sleep last week, and i had no sleep last night. therefore, i (somehow) managed to fall asleep on the coach back to chester whilst listening to dir en grey. and admittedly, yes, some of their songs are relaxing. but i fell asleep in the midst of kyo screaming like crazy, which is not normal. the being able to sleep, i mean. nor is it normal for me to fall asleep sat up. only i could screw up my circadian rhythms with such ease.

in other news, i have started to notice something. i do not feel comfortable in the house that i'm in. there is something about it, something that just makes it feel really weird and creepy. it's so big and no-one ever seems to be around, which just serves to make it more creepy. i also think this reinforced by the fact that everyone else's houses that i've been to feel fine. probably doesn't help that i saw a freaky horror movie the other night that actually scared me (first time that's ever happened, too).

anyway, it's not long 'til christmas; two weeks (or thereabouts). which means it's soon the end of the first semester and that means i probably have some kind of assessment exam type thing coming up. i.e. fun times, not. oh well. university life i guess.

peace out!

xo dan