The Moonstone Readalong! (and a question about Emma)

Last night I, on the spur of the moment, decided to go to the Women's Classics book group at the fantastic bookstore Women and Children First in Andersonville (it's on the northside in Chicago). I was kinda down and was like "It'd be really great to be around people who aren't work-people," and they were discussing Emma! Which is my favorite Austen! And I just watched Clueless, so I was obviously all set (aside from forgetting the character Mrs Elton existed, so when she was brought up, I believe I made a "Hnyer?" face).

Anyway. The point being that someone brought up an excellent question about Mr Woodhouse (Emma's father). Namely, does his railing against marriage throughout the novel serve as a counterpoint to Emma's matchmaking/eventual marriage, or what is the structural point of it? I think this is worth pondering.

NOW. MOONSTONE READALONG IN AUGUST. Wilkie Collins! Apparently a moonstone! Dudes in turbans! Surely some intrigue!

If you were around for the Woman in White readalong, or saw it but didn't participate, you are aware that these readalongs are kickass and involve many GIFs and hilarious observations by fellow bloggers. I was a loner when it came to reading for QUITE some time, as I tend to assume people in book groups will offer idiotic opinions and I'll be left rolling my eyes and feeling superior, but INSTEAD my experience has been that they point out things I would have missed and make the book far more enjoyable. Except for Norwegian Wood, but then we all got to commiserate about how much it sucks (except for Laura, whom we all love anyway).

So sign up below. As always, ignore the 'please comment' thing. I don't care if you comment. That sentence is forced upon me by Mr Linky. The readalong's gonna start Wednesday, August 1st and go through to the 29th. Here's your classy graphic:

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Book Blogger Hop, Pt II

All right. The question for this week is: "Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?" Oh-ho my. I have an issue with book commitment. I start a new book, and it's exciting and fresh, and I get really jazzed about it, and then 20% of the way through, almost without fail, I start getting bored and want to start another book. I once had seven books going at the same time, because I kept getting bored and starting new ones. It's a sickness. Right now I'm being pretty good and working on The Monk , Northanger Abbey , Kissing the Witch , and I'm about to start Waiting for the Barbarians since my friend lent it to me. But The Monk and NA are basically books I only read when I'm at work, so I don't see it so much as working on four books, as having books in different locales. Yes. This entry wasn't as good as some of the others, but I shall rally on the morrow. Yes I shall.

Fanfiction and Why It Doesn't Suck

Like most female 20somethings, I was at one point very into the fangirling scene. I wrote fanfiction, I made music videos, put together fanmixes, and created horrible graphics using a version of Photoshop I or someone bearing a resemblance to me possibly downloaded in my college dorm room off Limewire. I would here like to interrupt myself by stating that perhaps “most” was the wrong word, as I have met many normal female 20somethings who don’t have a fricking clue what I’m talking about when I use words like “fangirl” or “ship” as a verb involving the romantic involvement of two fictional people. So by “most” I mean “most of the people I met online in fangirl communities.” Or perhaps “all” in that case. Anyway. Fanfiction is probably always going to be controversial, in the dumbest way something can be controversial. Are we talking about climate change? Well, no, we’re talking about whether or not it’s at all okay for a 15-year-old to write a scene where Mulder and Scully get stuck ...

Harry Potter 2013 Readalong Signup Post of Amazingness and Jollity

Okay, people. Here it is. Where you sign up to read the entire Harry Potter series (or to reminisce fondly), starting January 2013, assuming we all survive the Mayan apocalypse. I don't think I'm even going to get to Tina and Bette's reunion on The L Word until after Christmas, so here's hopin'. You guys know how this works. Sign up if you want to. If you're new to the blog, know that we are mostly not going to take this seriously. And when we do take it seriously, it's going to be all Monty Python quotes when we disagree on something like the other person's opinion on Draco Malfoy. So be prepared for your parents being likened to hamsters. If you want to write lengthy, heartfelt essays, that is SWELL. But this is maybe not the readalong for you. It's gonna be more posts with this sort of thing: We're starting Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone January 4th. Posts will be on Fridays. The first post will be some sort of hilar...

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