Day 3

Aaaand, regular as rain, I'm done with my reading for the day. Actually, that phrase is ill-fitting seeing as how I live in a desert. Regular as... not rain? I have no idea. I don't have a lot to talk about today outside of the books, so onwards!

1) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Progress: 86/265 pages.

I've now met the creature Gollum and left him behind. Actually, I will never leave Gollum behind because I still consider him one of the creepiest parts of my childhood.

My mom read The Hobbit to my sister and me when we were very young (I was, in fact way too young to remember anything about it, but I wanted to be included anyhow). Somewhere along the line, also when I was almost too young to remember, we watched the Rankin/Bass animated version of the book. Gollum scared me to death. Every once in a while, in my box of Little Long-Playing Records, I would stumble upon the record-book we had of it. The record was red, and I'm not sure we had any other records that color, so I remember it rather distinctly. Every time I plucked up the courage to listen to it (and that was not a frequent occurence), Gollum made me shiver. Take a look and see if this wouldn't have freaked you out when you were three.

Also, that movie was animated by Topcraft-- probably my first experience with a Japanese animation studio. I did like the look of it, and of The Last Unicorn's Rankin/Bass adaptation, which was also animated by Topcraft. Little did I know that Topcraft had, by the time I was watching, mutated and reformed into the animation end of Studio Ghibli. You know, the ones who produce Hayao Miyazaki's films. Interesting little fact there, that may partially explain my soft spot for anime.

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Progress: 70/143 pages.

I am almost precisely halfway through, and thankfully I am beginning to enjoy myself again. It helps to finally have all the main characters in one spot, although technically they haven't met yet. Tomorrow! Tomorrow I get to read that part, and perhaps laugh a bit in the process.

3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Progress: 85/324 pages.

I keep on expecting to get beyond where I've already read in Ender's Game, but it keeps not happening. And today, when I read my hour dutifully, I realized how much further I have to go in order to reach stuff I haven't read before. How did I get that far into this book only to drop it?

4) Dune by Frank Herbert. Progress: 98/762 pages.

Dune is starting to progress. Stuff actually happened in what I read today. Imagine that!

One thing is really starting to grate on my nerves, though. We keep jumping perspectives in the narrative with absolutely no warning. Is it necessary? I'm not sure, honestly. It may be that Herbert really couldn't find any other way to give the reader all the information they need. Or it could be that Herbert was kind of a lazy writer and didn't think it would make the story disjointed. If the latter is the case, then let me tell you: He was wrong.

Oh, yeah, and you remember how I mentioned earlier that I live in a desert? In the book, there's a list of plants and animals that were brought to Arrakis, and I find it funny. It's kind of like a checklist of things I can see if I look outside right now. Saguaro? Check. Barrel cactus? Check. Evening Primrose? My favorite flowers!

Also, I totally thought Frank Herbert was talking about kangaroo rats when he mentioned kangaroo mice. Turns out that he wasn't; they are, in fact, closely related genera of rodent. I learned something today.

From Dune.

Life is weird.