soulscape

Can I just say that I’m quite impressed with myself? As I talked about in my last posting, it seemed for a while there that I had lost my ability to finish a book. And yet, here I am, having just finished another book in the month of July. By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Cried went down first in June, but that was just a teensy book.

Then on July 1st, I started Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in the seven-volume series. It was finished by the July 5th and then the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was finished by the 7th. I ordered the last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but would have to wait for it to be delivered on the 21st, which was the release date. (And yes, I admit it! I considered going to one of the midnight bookstore parties to get a copy faster, but it was a good deal cheaper online).

On the 21st, which was this past Saturday, I had a wedding and another party to attend all day, so I didn’t get home until around midnight. I had to get up at 5:45am the next morning, but still, I stayed up just a bit longer and read the first two chapters of the book.

On Sunday, I danced at Mosaic’s morning gathering on the Westside, and snuck about three more chapters in during the actual gathering, after we danced (heehee). Then I was sidetracked again, as I went to the reunion party for the South Africa trip I went to in late May/early June. It just so happened that some friends wanted to go see the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix MOVIE that evening, so I went. More on that in a bit.

By the time I got home, it was once again around midnight. I started reading again, but only got a few chapters along. I was just too tired, having averaged around 4-5 hours of sleep the previous two nights. Of course, Monday meant I had work. After work, I started on the book again and plowed through a good section. I tended to some other things I needed to get through that night, and so it was around 11pm by the time I settled down once again with the book. I had probably read about 300 pages of the approximately 780 page book. The next few hours flew by, as the pacing of the book picked up, and then it was suddenly almost 2 in the morning! I made a decision — I was going to finish the book.

I did indeed finish it, at around 5:40am this morning.

Don’t worry, no spoilers here, I wouldn’t want to ruin anything for anyone. I will just say that I enjoyed the last three books of the series immensely, and especially books six and seven. Book seven was packed with action, it almost seemed like it had as much action (and violence) as the first six books combined. It was also different from all the other books in that most of it took place outside of Hogwarts, the “wizarding school” that is the main setting for the other six books. So lots of action, and also lots of backstory on a couple of the characters.

And once again, perhaps even more so than in the other books, everything got tied up neatly at the end, but this time, there is no next book.

As for the movie that also came out this month — I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps the most well-rounded movie out of the five that have come out. I knew the director, David Yates, had already been asked to come back to do the sixth movie, so I figured he had done a decent job. I hope he continues his great work because the sixth and seventh movies SHOULD be the best movies in the series.

I have finished three books since the first half of June. I know for many people that’s not very impressive (although one of those books WAS an 870-pager). But for me, it’s astonishing. That’s because I haven’t been able to finish a book in YEARS!

Yes, I’ve picked up a few along the way, and have bought even more than a few in the intervening years. One Hundred Years of Solitude, a great book by Gabriel García Márquez, is one that I’ve actually picked up a couple of times, read more than half of, but eventually put down without finishing. A Wrinkle in Time, the classic that many of you may have read in junior high, was also eventually abandoned after I had started it.

For whatever reason, I had lost the “endurance” it took to finish a book. (The last book I finished may have been The DaVinci Code, about three years ago.) There are always so many distractions nowadays, first and foremost, the internet.

Yet on the trip back from South Africa back in June, I had with me a short book called By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, by Paulo Coelho. I had read Coelho’s famous book, The Alchemist, years ago, and found By the River Piedra in a bookstore at Johannesburg’s airport, while waiting to fly out. Considering I had 10 hours to London, then another 10 to Los Angeles, I had plenty of time to finish it off. And finish it I did.

Then, this past Sunday, I started reading another book, one I’ve had in my possession probably since about 2004 or so. It was a paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I had read the first four books, enjoying them thoroughly and purchased the 5th book with all the intention of reading it, but then my reading drought of the last few years hit.

I recently realized, though, that the movie based on Order of the Phoenix was coming out soon (July 11th). I also found out, looking online, that the last and 7th book was coming out soon also (July 21st). With the 5th book in my possession, I realized it was finally time to start it. By Thursday, I had finished the 870ish pages. It was long, it was darker than the other books in the series, but it was just as difficult to put down as I remember the previous books to be.

Later that day, I went to a book store to get a copy of the 6th book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. After searching for 20 minutes, I couldn’t find it in the fiction or fantasy sections, although I did see a cardboard advertisement for the 7th book coming out on the 21st. Sheepishly asking an employee if they had a copy, she answered simply, “It’s upstairs in the Children’s Department.” The Children’s Department??

So upstairs I went, and I found myself surrounded by stuffed animals, bright colors, and low shelving. I searched around and found a “Young Adult” section. I found a selection of books that looked like they were rip-offs of the Harry Potter series, using similar artwork with similar premises. I also saw book titles such as, “The Gossip Girl” and “Au Pairs: Crazy Hot.” Embarrassed, I searched further and finally found what I was looking for — Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was sitting on a separate table with other books from the series, I had passed right by it earlier.

Now, it is two days later, Saturday night, and I have finished it already. It’s easy to see why the series has been so popular. Sure, the writing itself is not going to wow you with its poetry. But J.K. Rowling has come up with an incredible story that keeps people guessing. Every book, as is natural, I try to guess what is going to happen, and what ends up happening always seems to outmatch my best guesses. At the end of this sixth book, everything is coming to a boil, and now I have joined those legion of other fans anxiously waiting for the 21st.

I didn’t mean for this post to become an advertisement for Harry Potter, but that’s what a good book does, it gets your mind racing and leaves an impression on you.

I know that it’s very likely I’ll have finished reading the 7th book by the time July ends. I can only hope that I’ll keep reading after that. I’d like to keep reading, and there are definitely a stack of books I’ve bought over the years that I never started.

- To answer Monicow’s question in the chatterbox on the right, I have only so far gone to this salsa class a friend teaches at the Gold’s Gym in downtown LA. It’s in the shopping center thing on the corner of Figueroa and 8th. The beginner’s class is at 1pm on Saturdays, with an intermediate class coming after. I’ll probably be there again this Saturday. I hear there’s another salsa class taught Sundays near Chinatown on the corner of Alpine and Yale (?). I think it was called the Alpine recreation center, with the beginner class at 2pm and intermediate at 3pm.

- Sometimes this blog feels like it’s my online journal, but it’s not. Not everyone I know knows about it so I feel free to express myself pretty openly, but I definitely do not let my deepest darkest thoughts out on here. No way. Not with all you heartless wolves out there lurking in the shadows. Yes, I see you — all two of you. Everyone has to maintain somewhat of a facade after all, right?

- My hair is growing longer and longer…I forget when the last time I had it cut was, though I KNOW I haven’t cut it in the three-plus months I’ve been back in Los Angeles. And I also know that this is the longest my hair has ever been. Some of my friends who can’t accept me with long hair have said I’m growing a mullet, but in general, I’m digging it.

- I am in the middle of reading “My Life” by Bill Clinton. I am on page 228 and I still haven’t gotten to his Presidency yet. In fact, he’s not even governor of Arkansas yet on page 228. On page 228, he has recently graduated from Yale Law School, found work as an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, and had just narrowly lossed in his first attempt at elected office (for Congressman). Two things about Clinton: he has the most amazingly detailed memory, and he’s gotta be the most peoplest people person who ever lived. Yes, that’s right, I just made up a word. The whole book is 957 pages. It should last me through the rest of January or much further beyond because:

- Man, I knew I was going to have a lot of reading this quarter but this is ridiculous. In my Sociology of Family class, we’re assigned SIX required texts. These includes a textbook, a novel and a course reader. And I haven’t seen the syllabus for my Self and Society class but I hear there’s a lot of reading there too. And I haven’t even gone to my Politics and Society class yet. My Self and Society professor is a character. In her own words, she puts on a show for us, and I think she expects us to be dazzled. I had a straight face for the most part, so I think she had it in for me. At one point I looked down towards my notes and she snaps, “Sir with the hat — eyes open!” Sure, I had less than four hours of sleep last night, but I certainly never closed my eyes. In my book, she’s gonna have to make up for that blunder.

- I enrolled in netflix.com, and the next seven or so movies I have lined up in my queue are all Akira Kurosawa flicks. I had seen his “Seven Samurai” last year and loved it. Then I recently got a documentary on him from netflix and enjoyed that, so now I’m going to go on a Kurosawa binge. I’ve just seen “Ran” after the documentary, which was somewhat depressing but very enjoyable. I think “Rashomon”, his first global real hit, is next in line, then “Yojimbo” after that. I also have “The Magnificent Seven” and “A Fistful of Dollars” mixed in there because those are western remakes of “Seven Samurai” and “Yojimbo” respectively.