and oh yes, on the topic of books, how about a little summer reading recap so far. books are so hot right now.

the big sleep – raymond chandler – 5 stars

style in spades wrapped around a strong detective story heart. i didn’t just love it because of my taste for the noir aesthetic, but because chandler wields words like weapons — with flair and precision both. how can you not love a book that has sentences like ‘dead men are heavier than broken hearts’?

rabbit, run – john updike – 2 stars

this was supposed to be some sort of american classic, but i mostly found it unnaturally written and detached. some good descriptive passages though. then as i was reading it someone pointed out to me how it’s all written in present tense, which i hadn’t picked up on as the source of the oddness, and then i started thinking about how that fit with the character, and how meaningful that was, and how i still didn’t really care that much anyway.

eragon – christopher paolini – 1 star

go ahead, click on that link. that’s right, i read a book about a boy and his blue dragon, written by a 15 year old. don’t laugh — it was a gift, i had to read it. my take on this book: gee, was this written by a 15 year old fantasy nerd? umm, yes. i’m really sorry emily, you know i still love you as a friend, but that’s a swing and a miss on this one.