Ghostwriting - Really?

I was recently thinking about some of the books that I read as a child and did some online reading about them.  I came across some startling facts while reading the Wikipedia article about the Babysitter's Club Series.  I discovered that Ann M. Martin wrote only some of the books and that many in the series were actually ghostwritten.

Ghostwriting is when the publishing company hires another author to write books and then publishes them under the name of a well-known author.  The author that the book is said to be written by may have had some input (they probably wrote a summary of what it should be about) but did not do the actual writing. They seem to do this when books are selling faster than the author can write them.

As I continued my research, I was shocked to find that most of the series' that I read as a child were not written by the people that their covers said that they were.  Not just the Babysitter's Club but also: Animorphs, Goosebumps, Sweet Valley High and I'm sure many more.  This absolutely shocked me.  How can a book be written by someone and then said to be written by somebody else?!  It just seems so fundamentally wrong!  Usually all the ghostwriters get in these cases are a small mention saying that they helped with the production of the book.

The author will write the first few books and then once it seems that they will be popular, ghostwriters take over so that the books can be written faster and the publishing companies can make more money.  I understand that these series' have 50 - 100 books in them, but it still just doesn't seem right to me.  I actually feel like I've been deceived.  I always thought that it was amazing that these authors wrote all of these books so quickly and now I find out that they really didn't.  I feel like they cheated me for my money when I was a kid.

And it's not just children's authors.  Famous authors like James Patterson and Tom Clancy (including the first two Splinter Cell novels) haven't written all of the books that have their names on them.  James Patterson has actually admitted that he is "better at coming up with ideas than actually writing sentence after sentence".  Often the ghostwriter's name will be on the cover as a a secondary author in small print at the bottom.

I have no respect for an author that would let someone else write a book and then slap their name on it.  I don't care if it is the publishing company's idea, they can't do it if the author says no! Why should this author get the credit when all they did was come up with the idea for the book?

There are a few cases that I think are more acceptable.  VC Andrews is a famous romance writer who hired a ghostwriter before she died to continue writing books under her name.  This still seems a little sneaky to me, but at least it seems to be a pretty well-known fact that this is what is going on.  Also, the Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene are all written by ghostwriters.  Carolyn Keene does not exist, which in my opinion makes it alright.  She's not a real person so no one is really getting the credit for another author's work.

Everyone knows that musicians use ghostwriters and then say that they wrote their songs themselves, that happens all of the time.  Some people may even realise that a lot of celebrities use ghostwriters to come up with cookbooks and other little books that are credited to them.  But, did you know that many celebrities (including politicians) have hired people to write their own autobiographies?

Hilary Clinton paid a ghostwriter $500,000 to write her autobiography.  Ronald Reagon had a ghostwritten autobiography and two of JFK's books were almost completely ghostwritten.  One of those books was Profiles in Courage which won the Pulitzer-Prize, a good chunk of it was written by his speechwriter Ted Sorenson. Other celebrities who have used ghostwriters (that we know of!) are Victoria Beckham and Sharon Osbourne.  It really makes me wonder how many celebrities have actually written these books about themselves, by themselves.

Obviously the ghostwriters are okay with this happening.  They are getting paid good money (although I'm sure it's not as much as the credited authors and publishing companies are making) and they won't get blamed if the books are bad (or would they?).  But does this mean that we need to be okay with it?  No, I don't want to read a book that is being written by a lie and I will try my hardest not too.

People need to own up and be honest.  Write on the cover of your book "Idea by ____, Written by ____ because I was too lazy to do it myself!"

Dog Days - John Levitt

Book - Dog Days - John Levitt
Where I got it - This book was given to me by a friend a few years ago, it was kind of 'Hey, you like books, I have a book that I'm not going to read - you can have it!'
Why I never read it before - I was reading something else at the time and just never bothered to pick it up after that.
My rating - 4/5

Review - 

This was a good book.  It had just enough fantasy and action for to like it, without feeling overwhelmed.  It's the kind of fantasy world that I can get it into.  It was very well thought-out and described in a way that you understood that magic of it very well, I like that in a fantasy book, I like things to be explained.

It also catered to the animal lover in me, one of the main storylines in the book has to do with the main character's dog (who is actually an ifrit, not a dog) and I liked that.  A lot of the practitioners (kind of their words for wizards) had ifrits (who took the forms of dogs, cats, birds etc.) and I really liked that.

The one thing that bothered me about this book were some of the main characters decisions and opinions, I didn't get them and I didn't understand them and I found that this took away from the book.  For example, Mason hates this guy in the book named Victor.  I could never understand why, Victor is nice, smart and always helps Mason out when he needed it.  The author spent a lot of time telling me how Mason and Victor  didn't like each other and didn't get along, but I could never really understand why and it irritated me. 

Ooh, another thing!  I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but my biggest pet peeve with books is when they are part of a series but don't say anything on the cover or in the description about it.  Sometimes I will be left with a feeling that not all of the loose ends are tied up, so I'll google the book and then find out that it is the first of a series!  Seriously, if your book is in a series, it should say 'book 1' clearly on the cover!  I hate that!!!  This book was one of those.

Fire, Water, Earth and Air - Deborah I. Mahy

Book - Fire, Water, Earth and Air - Deborah I. Mahy
Where I got it - This book was written by a lady that went to Linden Park Church, my parents bought it for ten dollars for my sister when I was little.
Why I never read it before - It didn't interest me as a child.
My rating - 0.5/5

Review - 

This book is crap.  I enjoyed it to a certain point, but I have to say I enjoyed it much more when I read it the first time...When it was call The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  This book has to be just about the biggest rip-off novel that I have ever read.  As I was reading it, I thought 'there is no way that any publisher in their right mind would allow this book to be produced.'  One of the 'author comments' on the back is written by a lady who I know also goes to Linden Park Church.  I looked up 'Ashlin Books', who is the publisher, and can't find anything about them on Google.  I think that this book must be self-published and I feel bad for any kid that read this and thought it was awesome before they ever read any of CS Lewis' Narnia books.
Basically the story goes, a girl named Elaine Maddock (which happens to mean Light, Fire) is obsessed with reading 'lots of books about people finding magical worlds' (the only one that is specifically mentioned are the Narnia books).  She and her friends Adam Boliston (meaning red earth and clay), Brooke Coburn (meaning Brooke an Stream) and Clarence "Clark" Zoltan (meaning clear life) set out on an adventure to find a magical world.
They randomly meet a lady, named Mrs. Nestor (meaning traveller), who gives Elaine a book that has magic poems in it that give them clues to finding the magical world.  It turns out that Mrs. Nestor is the gatekeeper to the world and the four children travel through her clock to into the world of Keenan.
Once in Keenan they meet a butterfly named Parveneh (which, of course, means butterfly in Persian). He tells them that they are the 'Four Human Elements' and that the people of Keenan have been waiting for them to come and save the day.  They find out that the princess (Hope) is dying and that they must take her some medicine.  Parveneh gives them the medicine before dying himself.
The children travel along with no problems on a sea creature named Beriah (meaning creature) to meet the Desert Hermit who tells them that to get to the castle they must pass through the dangerous Takara Forest.  He tells them that there are bad people there and that anyone they meet was answer a specific question before they should trust them.
Once they reach the forest they are kidnapped by the 'brown boot dwarfs'.  Elaine and Adam are captured together and Brooke and Clark captured someone else.  Elaine wakes up and overhears the bad guys discussing eating them.  The bad guys leave and Elaine and Adam run away.  They never even see the freaking bad guys, let alone fight them or anything.
They then meet Prince Lowell in the woods and don't even bother to ask him the loyalty question. Lowell (which I know means loyal even though his name meaning isn't mentioned the way everyone else's is) of course turns out to be a good guy and tells them that Brooke and Clark are already at the castle waiting for them.
They go to the castle and meet the Last Wizard who helps them to save the magic of Keenan and then they all go safely back home to discover that only two hours have passed (they're back right in time for Elaine's mom to pick them up).
Now, it's been a long time since I read the Narnia chronicles, so I can't draw exact comparisons, I just know that I felt so many times while reading this book that I was reading something that I had read before.
On top of that complaint, the dialogue was awkward, the characters were boring and this book literally had no conflict in it whatsoever, everything went the way the children wanted it to.
At first I liked how all of the kid's names meant something relating to their element (I love name meaning and have used it in my own writing).  The problem is, every single name in the whole book (almost, but I'll get to that next) meant something important.  Not only did these names mean something, but the author felt the need to point out every single name meaning, which in my opinion pretty much destroys that point of using name meanings for foreshadow and character development. 
Even bigger problem - every name meant something important with the exception of two of the most important characters.  The 'Desert Hermit' (who I would say is this book's Aslan) has a completely stupid and meaningless name.  Also, the 'Last Wizard', what the hell is that?  This guy tells them so much stuff and helps them save the magic of Keenan and that's the name he gets? Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
I have to say, this book pissed me off more than anything I have ever read before. I would not recommend it to anyone. The only reason that I gave it 0.5 was because I liked the idea of the name meaning for the four 'Human Elements'.

Sunday at Tiffany's - James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

Book - Sunday at Tiffany's - James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Where I got it - My mom gave me a couple of books that each have four novels in them. The books are put together by Reader's Digest and are actually condensations of famous novles.
Why I never read it before - The books that were in this special edition didn't appeal to me when I got it.  The idea of them being condensed novels also through me off.
My rating - 4/5 

Review - 

First off, I have to say that these are really well done.  If I didn't know that this was a condensed novel, I never would have guessed.  I expected it feel choppy and not detailed.  It didn't feel like that at all.  The editing is amazing and I wasn't left feeling like anything was left out of the story.
The basic plot of this novel is very cute.  It is about a girl who has an imaginary friend as a child.  When she is nine years old, Michael tells her that he can't be her imaginary friend anymore but that she will forget about him as soon as he is gone.  Michael moves on to another kid, to be their imaginary friend, but Jane doesn't forget.
Years later they run into each other and Jane realises that it was all real all along.  They fall in love and go through some troubles before finally ending up happily married with children at the end of the book.
I liked it a lot surprisingly.  It was a little cheesy and a very light easy read.  There wasn't much depth.  I think that might have something to do with the novel being condensed, maybe if I read the whole thing that plot would have gone a little deeper.  Either it way, it was an enjoyable, if light, read and I would recommend it.

The Boy Next Door - Josie Lloyd and Emilyn Rees

Book - The Boy Next Door - Josie Lloyd and Emilyn Rees
Where I got it - I actually have no memory of ever getting this book and for some reason it wasn't on my original list of books I need to read, even though I know I have never read it before.
Why I never read it before - I don't remember getting it.
My Rating - 4/5

Review -

This book is a good, if a little corny, love story.  It's about two childhood bestfriends who meet up later in life just as one of them is about to get married.  The book is written from the point of view of both Fred and Mickey and shows their current lives as well as their memories of their childhood together.
I really enjoyed seeing the flashbacks to their childhood when they were growing up and falling in love in the eighties. They end up being separated and don't see each other for fifteen years.  It's a great love story and a very easy read.  It is surprisingly well-written and funny for a book of this genre.

1984 - George Orwell

Book - 1984 - George Orwell
Where I got it - I believe I got this out of the laundry room in my old apartment.
Why I never read it before - Just never quite got around too it.
My Rating - 4/5

Review -

I actually really enjoyed this book.  It is absolutely horrifying.  The way that the government controls the world in this book is so scary, because I know that it could actually happen.  The fact that history is changed every day and that there is no real record of what has happened in the past...I can't even imagine.
I won't say too much about this book because I know my mom wants to read it now that I'm finished.  I will say that I didn't much like Julia (the love interest in the book) and that I didn't quite find the ending satisfactory.  It's not that the ending wasn't well done and well written, I just don't like it.

In the Doctor's Bed

Book - In the Doctor's Bed - Brenda Jackson
Where I got it - I belong to a website - tellharlequin.com - and they send you free books about once every two or three months. All you have to do is fill out the occasional survey and they will keep sending them to you, this was one of them
Why I never read it before - I am truly not into Harlequin romance novels, I just can't say no to free books.
My Rating - 2/5

Review -

This book was mostly plotless, what plot there was in it was ok, but not great. Basically it is a love story between an intern in a hospital and her boss. The hospital has a nonfraternization policy, so the two of them are not allowed to be together.
I had looked forward to the medical part of the story, unfortunately there wasn't much. You see them in the hospital a couple of times, but not much happens there. Most of the story is the two characters, Lucian and Jaclyn, sneaking off to have sex and meet in places that no one from the hospital will see them.
The most interesting part of the plot is the fact that the hospital has a lawsuit up against it because Lucien fired an intern because Jaclyn caught him stealing drugs. The two main characters spend a lot of the book worrying about said lawsuit and then...none of that is resolved at the end of the novel.
The romance is alright...some of the lines that Lucien says are painful. Whenever he opened his mouth to say something 'sexy' I couldn't help but think how ridiculous it would sound if someone said that in real life.
The story has a happy ending, Lucien switches to the ER so that the two can be together since he won't be her boss again. I wouldn't say that I hated this book. I enjoyed it enough as a quick, fluffy and pointless read :)

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Book - Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Where I got it - My dad once brought me a home a box-set of classic novels, this was one of the ones in the set.
Why I never read it before - Like Pride and Prejudice, it was hard for me to get into. The old language made it seem boring and it is also a pretty big book.
My Rating - 1/5

Review -

Honestly, I found this book to be pretty boring. I felt that it just went on and on forever and that the story went all over the place into places that it didn't really need to go. The beginning had certain parts that I almost wanted to skip through because I didn't see the point of them. I actually did skim through the whole Christmas Night Play thing at the beginning. Can you say boring? Also, the parts in the beginning where they have their story club? It's nice for kids to have a story club but do we need to have seven pages worth of their actual stories in this novel?
Also, considering this book is part of my series called "Romantic Classics" there really isn't much romance in it, maybe that's why I was disappointed. Jo spends a good chunk of the book hanging out with her neighbour and best friend, Laurie. Was I the only one who expected these two to actually get together by the end of the book? Laurie was soooo in love with Jo and then we he found out that she wouldn't have him he turned around and married her youngest sister. Hello? What? That came pretty much out of nowhere for me. There were a couple of chapters to show them getting close, but the first 3/4s of the book show Laurie seeing Amy as nothing but a (kind of annoying) little sister.
I mean sure, Jo did find love at the end of the novel, she married the old Professor guy. Same thing, they show them falling in love at the end of the book, but when the Professor is first introduced I don't think Jo had any feelings like that for him at all. She even said to her mother 'he's forty so there's nothing to worry about'. He was just this cool older guy that she really admired, like as a mentor, not as someone that she wanted to marry.
Also, Meg marries so tutor guy and they have kids and then become the most boring characters in the whole book.
Other than that...no romance! Most of this book was pretty childish stuff. There were a few parts that were interesting and a couple of sections that I enjoyed. For example, I like the part with Jo and Amy fighting and then Amy falling through the ice. I enjoyed the parts about Beth going to visit that poor family and then catching Scarlet Fever from their baby (which ultimately killed her like six years later). The times of hardship and struggle were the only parts in this book that actually seemed real to me, the rest of it I honestly think just took off and went into such far off places of reality that it ruined this book for me.

Oh, one last thing, don't even buy the 'Romantic Classics' box set. I have only read two of the books that are in it but they are riddled with so many typos and spelling mistakes that it makes it difficult to read them. Pride and Prejudice wasn't as bad, there would be sections with lots of typos and then none for a while. Little Women....it was painful, there were periods and quotation marks in the wrong spot on almost every page and the word 'he' was almost always replaced with the word 'her', it was like reading a really bad translation of the book.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Book - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Where I got it - My dad once brought me a home a box-set of classic novels, this was one of the ones in the set.
Why I never read it before - When it was given to me, I was definitely too young to appreciate it. I could never get into it, the old language threw me off.
My Rating - 5/5

Review -

Considering the fact that I must have started this book five times before and not been able to get into it, I never expected that it would get a 5/5 from me. Once you get past the slow beginning and the old-fashioned language, this book it awesome.

The characters are great. You love the ones that are good with your whole heart and the hate the ones that are bad with everything you have. There are some characters that are just so ridiculous but you can't help but love and hate them and laugh at them the whole way through.

This story is a great love story. I think that is what I like the most about it. I've read a lot of love stories that are so full of "I love you so much'"s and "you're the best thing that ever happened to me"s that you begin to wonder why the main character is so in love with the guy. I mean, this girl is so in love with this guy, yet the reader is left feeling that they don't know him at all. This book is the total opposite of that. Darcy's character is so defined that you can't help but know him and know every reason why Elizabeth comes to love him. You want their relationship to happen because you really want it too, not just because you want the two characters to be together.

I loved this book and I can't believe that it has taken me this long to read it!

The Soul Thief - Cecelia Holland

Book - The Soul Thief - Cecelia Holland
Where I got it - Have you ever gone into a store that has really cheap books? Like books that are already only $4 and then are 50% off? When this happens to me, I can't help myself from buying at least one - even if I don't want it. When stores are practically giving away books, I have to buy them and that is how I got this book.
Why I never read it before - This book starts off very slow, it took me a while to get into it. I think that when I bought it I was too young to appreciate it and just didn't have the patience to wait for it to get interesting.
My Rating - 4/5

Review -

This book is great. It takes place in the feudal age with Vikings and a young Irish man. It is about a young man who is cast away by his father and then returns home to find his whole family has been murdered and his twin sister has been taken by the vikings.

Corban starts a quest to try and find his sister. He gets caught up on the way, making friends and money and falling in love. Eventually he finds his sister but is not able to take her until completing even more difficult tasks.

The characters in the book really grow on you. At first I couldn't stand the main character, he was a bit of a wimp and didn't care much about anything besides himself. As the story progresses, he really grows into a very strong person. Another character, Grod, starts out as a bit of a greedy old man. He is at first, Corban's mentor but is soon getting more out of the young man than he could offer him.

There are characters in this book who are 'witches' and this gives it just enough of a touch of fantasy to keep it interesting for me. It has a historical feel that just appeals to me.

My biggest problem with this book is that it is the first of a series and nothing about the appearance of the book would suggest that to you. There is no series title, nothing proclaiming 'book #1', there is no excerpt from the next book, nothing to suggest that it isn't a stand-alone novel. Nothing drives me crazy more than getting into a book and expecting it to end with all of it's loose ends tied up and then to realize that it doesn't end on the last page. I had to google the author when I was finished to find out that no, this story isn't over yet.

I loved this book, I am just really frustrated now that I won't find out what happens to all of my favourite characters for a very long time!

Ever After - Wendy Loggia

Book - Ever After by Wendy Loggia
Where I got it - I'm pretty sure that this book was in a box of things that my sister was getting rid of. As a book hoarder, I have trouble seeing books go, so of course I grabbed it.
Why I never read it before - This book is based on a movie. Who writes books that are based on movies, that's just sad.
My Rating - 3/5

Review -
I love the movie Ever After, I have since I was little. It is a great Cinderella story. The book is almost exactly the same as the movie. Most of the scenes and almost all of the dialog are straight from the movie.
One thing that was interesting, you get to see a few scenes in the book that you don't see in the movie. You see more da Vinci in the book. There is a good scene with him and the king and you also get to read about him making Danielle over for the ball. Other than that, there isn't much that is original.
You might as well just watch the movie.

A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

This will be the first of many blogs to come. I am going to document and review all of the books on my list 'Books I Need to Read'.



Book - A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
Where I got it - Value Village
Why I never read it before - Shortly after I bought this book, an old lady in a book store told me that it was all fake. That James Frey had claimed it was a memoir but that it really wasn't, that he had made all of it up. After I heard this I lost my desire to read it.
My rating - 4/5

Review -

I really enjoyed this book a lot. I've done some research now that I've finished the book and I've learned that not all of it was fake. James was an addict and he was in rehab. His criminal record was almost completely fabricated to make the book more interesting. I suspect that other parts of the novel were exaggerated to make it more entertaining.

Besides that, it was great. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for books about people with messed up lives. When I was younger I loved this author who wrote books about teens who were dying. As I got older, that fascination began to develop into a love of books about people who are criminals and drug addicts.

I will say that this book is the most graphic 'drug addict' book I have ever read (and I have read quite a few). The word vomit must be in it 200 times. James throws up at least 40 times and describes it in great detail every time. There is lots of gross stuff in this book and if they ever make it into a movie, I'm not sure that I'll be able to watch it.

This book gives you the most messed up person you can imagine, a crack addict, alcoholic criminal who is wanted in three states, and walks you through his recovery (every brutal and disgusting step). I could not put this book down.

The characters seemed so real to me, their struggles were painful for me to read. I'd like to think that this is because they were real people, but even if they weren't, the book still makes you feel for them.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes this kind of novel. The only reason that I didn't give it 5/5 is because of the author's dishonesty.

Books I Need to Read

So, I own 349 and I've come to the conclusion that I haven't read a startling amount of them. 74 to be exact. I have made the decision not to buy any more books until I have read all of these books that I've never read before. (Another startling fact is that I have gained 67 more books since I moved out a year and a half ago, which seems impossible because I must have read at least 100 on my ereader since I got it.)

It is going to be quite a challenge, there is a reason that I haven't read most of these books. Most of these books, I have started and then found them to be boring. But, the challenge will be to read them and if I can't get through them then I am going to get rid of them.

This is a big step for me. I would almost consider myself a book hoarder. I am proud of my collection and don't like to get rid of books. On the other hand, if I'm never going to read them, I really shouldn't keep them. Who knows, one of these books could be a new favourite and I would never know.

So here is the list (in no particular order but how they are sitting on my shelves).

1. Double Cross - Norah McClintock
2. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares
3. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood - Ann Brashares
4. Blue Haven - CJ Box
5. The First Patient - Michael Palmer
6. The Sugar Queen - Sara Addison Addler
7. Dead Heat - Felix Francis
8. Sunday at Tiffany's - James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
9. Lady Killer - Lisa Scottoline
10. The Christmas Promise - Donna VanLiere
11. Final Theory - Mark Alpert
12. The Anniversary - Amy Gutman
13. Flirting With Pete - Barbara Delinsky
14. Avenger - Frederick Forsyth
15. Waterloo Station - Emily Grayson
16. Interview With the Vampire - Anne Rice
17. The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
18. The Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice
19. The Mummy - Anne Rice
20. The Feast of All Saints - Anne Rice
21. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty - Anne Rice
22. Lasher - Anne Rice
23. The Witching Hour - Anne Rice
24. Fire, Water, Earth and Air - Deborah I. Mahy
25. The Soul Thief - Cecelia Holland
26. The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner
27. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
28. A Million Little Pieces - James Frey
29. Healing Tides - Lois Richer
30. The Healer - Greg Hollingshead
31. The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
32. The Two Towers - J.R.R Tolkien
33. The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
34. Push - Sapphire
35. Sweet Blood - Pat Graverson
36. In the Doctor's Bed - Brenda Jackson
37. The Proposal - Brenda Jackson
38. Solid Soul - Brenda Jackson
39. 1st to Die - James Patterson
40. 2nd Chance - James Patterson
41. 3rd Degree - James Patterson
42. 4th of July - James Patterson
43. The 6th Target - James Patterson
44. The Big Bad Wolf - James Patterson
45. Swimsuit - James Patterson
46. Deception Point - Dan Brown
47. A Cold Creek Secret - RaeAnne Thayne
48. Heart of Valor - L.J. Smith
49. The Guest List - Fern Michaels
50. Fool Me Once - Fern Michaels
51. The Glass Lake - Maeve Binchy
52. Hamlet - Shakespeare
53. Adam Bead - George Eliot
54. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
55. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
56. Emma - Jane Austen
57. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
58. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
59. Be Mine - Jane McFann
60. The Name of the Game Was Murder - Joan Lowery Nixon
61. Dog Days - John Levitt
62. The Comeback Cowboy - Cathy McDavid
63. Ever After - Wendy Loggia
64. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
65. Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
66. Hothouse Orchid - Stuart Woods
67. The Innocent Man - John Grisham
68. Springwater Wedding - Linda Lael Miller
69. Carnal Innocence - Nora Roberts
70. The Partner - John Grisham
71. The Black Donnellys - Thomas P. Kelley
72. Impossible to Resist - Janice Maynard
73. More Than Expected - Andrea Laurence
74. The Boy Next Door - Josie Lloyd and Emilyn Rees


It's a frightening list to say the least. Also, I have no idea how I ended up with so many Anne Rice books that I haven't read. I hope to find that she is a kindred spirit since her name is spelt with an E.

This I think will be the first blog of many as I begin this journey through literature.

I will make the titles bold as I read them.

Also, a scary thing? Books #64 and on are ones that I have gotten since I originally made this list. People just like to give me books!

Memory of September 11th

Ten years since the terrorist attack on America. I can't believe it's been that long already. There have been all kinds of documentaries and specials on over the last few days and I have tried to watch as many as possible.

Sometimes it is so easy to just remember 9/11 as a terrible day when America was attacked and the world was changed forever. And it was.

Every year, around the anniversary, I watch all of these shows and remember. I remember that it was so much more than that. Nearly 3000 people died that day, many of them heroes.

I watched a show yesterday about two construction workers who rescued seventy people who were trapped. These courageous men, Frank and Pablo, ended up losing their own lives in the fall of the tower.

Another man, Orio Palmer, died heroically that day. I didn't know this before, but for some reason the firefighters' radios weren't working. Orio managed to fix his so that he speak with his crew. He also single-handedly fixed an elevator and managed to ride it to the 40th floor. He then ran up the stairs to the 78th floor: the site of the impact.

The tower collapsed just seven minutes after he got there. He didn't manage to save any of the lives up there but I can only imagine the hope that he brought to those people in their final moments, just by being there.

Not to be forgotten are the passengers of Flight 93. This plane was suspected of targeting the White House. The passengers fought back so hard that the hijackers crash-landed in a field. There were no survivors.

Usually on September 11th, people want to share their memories of the day: where they were, how they felt. Today, as I watch that horrifying news footage over and over, I don't want to think of my own memories. I instead want to honour the memories of the heroes and the innocent that died that day.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

Sometimes I really feel like there just isn't enough time to get everything done that I need to do. I know I have blogged about this before, but lately I just find myself feeling overwhelmed with all of the things that I need and want to get done, and I just don't feel like I have enough time or energy to get it all done.

Going to work is one thing, that's my job and I need to do it in order to have money to live. I've even taken on a second job now at the bowling alley where my sister works and I'm glad for it. I think it will be nice to have a change of scenery and have some new faces in my life. It's when I get home that the trouble starts.

Don't get me wrong, Tyler is a big help around the apartment, he helps out whenever I ask him too, but he works long hours too. He almost always starts work at 7 in the morning and I can't blame him if he wants to take a nap when he gets home from work. I like to relax too. But it seems like, by the time we're done eating and doing the dishes there just isn't any time. It is constant work to keep this apartment tidy and I just don't really understand why.

I feel like I pick up after myself as I go, but there always seems to be more work to do. I'm wiping crumbs off the counter, or picking up dirty laundry, cleaning out the litter box or emptying the ashtrays. How do people keep their homes clean and still have time to do the things they want to do?

On top of that, I really wanted to finish my last credit and graduate by my birthday. I've been puttering away at it, I sat down for a couple of hours with it today. I just want to get it over and done with. Once I finish the work though, I'm going to have to find a way to get to Red Hill during the day to write my exam and then go to Hill Park and see if I can get my volunteer hours filled out. Is this something that needs to be done before I'm twenty-one? I don't know. I'm not sure if I will still be classified as a student when I'm twenty-one or if I will still be able to get my diploma from Hill Park. For now I guess I just need to finish my schoolwork and worry about the rest of it when that is all done.

Once all of those things are said and done, there is time left for the things that I want to do. I want to start working on my novel again. The problem is, I want to be able to have a good couple of hours to pound away at it. I don't want to try and pick up where I left off in November with only a few minutes in a day. I want to be able to put real effort into that. I especially need to be able to do that if I'm going to be able to get it finished and edited by the beginning of July so that I can order my free copy of it from CreateSpace.

The thing that sucks the most about all of this, is that I feel like I don't even have time to do all of those things. I find myself thinking "I'll do it later" "I'll just go on facebook for a minute" "I'll just watch one more video on youtube" "I'll just log on quick to check my email". I'm beginning to think that this would all be easier if I didn't have a computer to distract me from the stuff that I really need to be doing. But truthfully, sitting on my butt in front of the computer for a couple of hours, or curling up on the couch with Tyler to watch TV or sitting on the balcony smoking and reading a good book is what I would always rather be doing.

I think maybe what I need to start doing is rewarding myself with the stuff that I really want to do. I've always been the kind of person who would rather get everything done at once so that I can relax afterward, but this doesn't really work. I find myself getting worn out too quickly and just plopping down without finishing everything. Maybe I need to start telling myself "do the dishes before you go for a smoke" "do one hour of schoolwork before going back on facebook" "put the laundry away before you watch TV"

I'm not really sure, maybe I'm just moping and whining here. I just know that something needs to change if I'm going to make time do the things that I want to do as well as all of the unpleasant things that I need to do.

Thank God I don't have any kids! How the hell do people find the time to do all of these things and raise children?!