a few more years shall roll

it’s been a long time since i read a good biography. i ate them up when i was a kid. seriously, i read a biography of mary, queen of scots from my school library at least ten times. one of my favorites was abigail adams. the more i read about her, the more i wanted to know her.

throughout high school and college, biographies didn’t really make the reading list for classes, but as an english major, history minor, i was always interested in the lives of authors and poets as i was reading their work. hence my concentration in “american literature and society,” i suppose. since college, most biographies i’ve read have been of church fathers, reformers, preachers, missionaries (i strongly recommend the story of Ann Judson’s life My Heart in His Hands).

At the library last week, while I was picking up some videos (This is Spinal Tap (my first ever viewing!), X-men, and Clueless), I grabbed a copy of John Adams by David McCullough. I’m trying to read it slowly, usually on my bus rides to and from work. McCullough writes really well, using lots of personal correspondence between John and Abigail, which is fascinating. Their love and respect for each other is a true model. I haven’t even gotten to the Declariation of Independence yet, but I’m really enjoying this in-depth portrait of the man and his times.

shoot–i did the no caps to caps switch again, didn’t i?

i’m late in the harry potter game. i admit it. i avoided the books on purpose because of all the hype. i watched the first two movies on dvd with slight interest.

but i went home to visit my family over memorial day and found that my little brother had brought the first four books with him. i picked up the first one and devoured it and then the second before i headed back here on memorial day. last week, i checked the next two out of the library and within three days i’d finished those as well. and, i just re-read the ending of azkaban over my lunch break to remind myself how good it was. i love these books. i would have eaten them up as a teen. (not that it was hard to get me to read back then either).

i went to see the movie on saturday and really enjoyed it. i’ve seen the director’s work in A Little Princess (which is just a beautiful film, by the way). i would have loved a little more quidditch (especially the match where harry casts the patronus on draco malfoy) and a little more back story on the four animagi and their friendship. but, for an adaptation, i thought he did an admirable job–far better than the first two. alan rickman is my favorite. his perfect sneer makes him so deliciously fun to watch (and despise).

anyway, i’m hoping that i can get to the public library before it closes tonight so i can check out the fifth book to read while i’m in boston for the next few days.