1. weekly read: pretties.

    Thursday, June 16

    one of my unwritten goals for the summer has been to read more. considering my previous track record of reading (aka, the last book i read was because it was assigned for english class. fail.), i'd say i'm doing pretty well! i plowed through uglies by scott westerfeld the last week of school, and i just finished the sequel, pretties, today. yes, i know these are old, and yes, i am rereading them. the verdict: just as good the second time around. not quite as intense as maximum ride or hunger games (but then, what is?) but still an entertaining read. i find westerfeld's futuristic society--can i call it a dystopia? that's a great word--fascinating, what with the brainwashing and the pretty-making operation. i can't say i'd be able to pull a tally youngblood and leave new pretty town with its parties and free clothes and no worries behind, though. could it be such a bad idea to brainwash us to like each other?

    anyway, it's too bad i don't have the third book in the series, specials, otherwise i'd be engrossed in more of tally youngblood's crazy adventures with a hoverboard and the crims instead of jane eyre. literature snobs, please don't shoot me, but i've found that i enjoy sci-fi adventure books with a hint of romance much more than i do the wordy 19th century classics.

    that said, i have it on my to-do list to actually read some of the classics. grapes of wrath and tale of two cities, for instance. but, knowing me, i'll probably scrounge the library for more scott westerfeld or start james patterson's witch & wizard series instead. or maybe reread harry potter for the millionth time. hogwarts has always welcomed me with open arms.

    xoxo julia

  2. 3 comments:

    1. Kirk said...

      You could just be ahead of your time. Who knows? maybe Harry potter et al will be considered classics in the (not dystopian) future.

    2. eacpryor said...

      You can definitely call it a dystopia (you could even say that Westerfeld's series - as well as The Hunger Games - belongs to the Dystopian Fiction genre). Have you seen the book Leviathan around at all? It's another book by Westerfeld. I haven't read it yet, but I have it with me while on vacation... Anyway, it looks good. Or, I think it looks good. I May have purchased the book on a whim after looking at the map. Yeah... the map at the very beginning, the one that doesn't really tell you anything about anything... What can I say? I liked that map.

    3. julia larsen said...

      hey, if it's westerfeld and has a pretty map, it must be good! tell me how it goes!

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