(no subject)

"1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;

2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;

3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really." --Douglas Adams

How to Stop Worrying and Love the Internet (1999)

50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #33 -- Kate DiCamillo, The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo, 121 pages.

Life hasn't been the same for Rob since his mother died. His father barely speaks to him, he's bullied at school, and he lives in a motel. But one day he meets a new girl named Sistine who is just as lost as he is. Oh, and did we mention there's a tiger? Pretty deep, actually, for a middle school book. I liked the oblique association of the caged tiger with the children's repressed feelings.

Book #34 -- Marie Desplechin, Poor Little Witch Girl, 124 pages.

Lots of kids want to stand out - Verbena just wants to be normal. But coming as she does from a long line of witches, normal isn't an option. Now she has to deal with her ambitious and demanding mother and her newly awakened powers, not to mention school and friends and boys. Especially boys. After all, who wants to be with a girl who can turn him into a toad? Cute story, although I thought the ending was a bit rushed. Also there was some awkward phrasing and some choppy paragraphs, but that might be because it's a translation.

Progress toward goals: 131/365 = 35.9%

Books: 34/100 = 34.0%

Pages: 11432/30000 = 38.1%

2011 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven