Kathy and Charlotte

First of all, I just have to give a huge THANK YOU to my wonderful Kathy for helping me "coolify" my blog. The banner up there, the background color... all these improvements are due to her expertise in html. So... Kathy... thank you so much for teaching me and creating the wonderful banner.

Now...

BOOKS: I Am Charlotte Simmons (Part 1)

"I Am Charlotte Simmons" is the latest book to come out of the contemporary hipster mind that is Tom Wolfe. Wolfe, the mastermind behind such classics as "Bonfire of the Vanities" and "The Right Stuff", has stated in some interviews that he had always wanted to write a novel that dealt with the truth of university life. With "I Am Charlotte Simmons", he set out to do just that.

To research for the book, Wolfe,a septuagenarian, spent thousands of hours hobnobbing with as many college kids as he could find. Frat parties, dorm common rooms, classrooms... he went to them all. From there, he distilled an image of what the typical ivy league university MUST SURELY be like today and created the fictional Dupont University, the setting of IACS. And from the hundreds of kids he interviewed, he tapped into and played with today's archetypes, mercilessly injecting them into his story of a young woman trying to find her way through life. Jocks, frat boys, blonde himbos and bimbos, sluts, brains, nerds, rockers, preppies... IACS is chock full of them.

And in the middle of it all is Charlotte Simmons herself, the character Wolfe created to best search out the true meaning of university life... and just how much it takes to simply survive.

So, his manifesto set, did Wolfe succeed? Is IACS the tome that would make everyone instantly say: "Oh... yeah... that's RIGHT!" or "Oh sh%t! That's me!"?

Is it?

I dunno. I'm only in page 126 (of 738).

But it's looking good.

Introduction

I have done this blogging thing before. My two previous ones were very general and I lost interest pretty quickly. Perhaps it was a lack of structure... or maybe a lack of a single driving theme...

Well, maybe this blog will keep me posting. This is a blog where I post thoughts about the books and cd's and movies and plays that flit in and out of my life, each leaving an indelible handprint in my consciousness. I read a lot, and I like to think about what I read a lot. Thus, this blog makes sense, eh?

But don't let that fool you. The literary theme gives me a main focal point to organize my posting, but this blog will still serve the usual blog purposes: reporting on daily events, philosophizing, commentary, etc.

But I will always come back to books. After all, there's something magical about the dichotomy of absorption and creation that occurs when one reads; each book leaves a lasting impression on us, the readers... just as each reader inevitably leaves his own mark on the world that lies beyond the page... that shared creation that is the wonderful world of literature.

What could be better?

*ps if this post doesn't make as much sense as I usually do, blame my dad. He just gave me dessert wine. Hehe.