Okay. I don't know about you guys, but I don't read.
That is to say, I do read.
Or at least, I used to.
I'm not that big of a reader, anymore.
And I think the reason for that is my constantly evolving taste (however it could be that I'm just not a reader).
When I was younger (before teenage years), I used to read a fair amount-- and quickly, too. I would finish a book in a few hours or so, depending on the length and density.
My favorite childhood authors were Diana Wynne Jones and Lloyd Alexander (who are both, by the by, dead).
My current favorite authors are Alexandre Dumas and Italo Calvino (who are both, by the by, dead).
However, I am gaining interest in Haruki Murakami: I found a stack of his books (including The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Dance Dance Dance, Norwegian Wood, South of the Border, West of the Sun, A Wild Sheep Chase, and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World), which I am eager to exploit.
And I debated making this a completely separate post, but then this post'll be much too brief, so...
on the subject of popular literature. Or, at least, popular teenage/children's literature.
I speak of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games, Divergent, I Am Number Four,The Maze Runner, various other popular Dystopians (I know there's one big one I'm missing), A Series of Unfortunate Events, et cetera.
Honestly, and I don't want to sound like a hater, here, I think they all SUCK.
I mean, perhaps I am exaggerating when I say that, but I really do think they are sickeningly overrated.
I did try to read Harry Potter: I forced myself to read the 5th and 6th books and couldn't even bring myself to read the 7th.
I did try to read Percy Jackson: I could not bring myself to read the last one.
I did try to read the Dystopians: they're all the same, they're all cliché.
I did try to read A Series of Unfortunate Events: I could not bring myself to read the last three or so.
But I did read The Fault In Our Stars. And I think it was excellent. Peter Van Houten (or John Green, I suppose) has a beautiful way with words. That one was genuinely good (in my opinion). It has made its way into my top five novels.
My favorite books, speaking of which, are (in this order):
1. The Count of Monte Cristo, by: Alexandre Dumas
2. Invisible Cities, by: Italo Calvino
3. The Fault In Our Stars, by: John Green
4. Boy Proof, by: Cecil Castellucci
5. To Kill a Mockingbird, by: Harper Lee
And I'll be honest, Boy Proof is a highly girly book, but it is the cleverness and wit in an author's script that I go after, not the storyline so much (although storyline is obviously important). Ms. Castellucci has a pleasant way of wording/thinking things.
And that pursuit of creativity in intellect is what draws me to Haruki Murakami (although I have heard that Yukio Mishima (Kimitake Hiraoka) is better) (if any of you happen to have an opinion between which of the two is indeed better, I'd be interested).
I do have a miniature 'library' in my house, a former bedroom which is now filled to the brim with bookshelves (as well as suitable seating, a desk, and a computer) and, respectively, books. However, despite that these shelves are overflowing with everything from I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson to The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien to Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld to biographies of Tadao Ando and then Abraham Lincoln.
The only books I currently focus on, though, amongst those shelves, are art books: Valkyria Chronicles Art Books (I, II, and III), the art of Capcom (Remember Me, Ace Attorney, Street Fighter, et cetera), the art of Studio Ghibli films (Ponyo, Porco Rosso, Nausicaa, et cetera (I own all of them)), the art of Fullmetal Alchemist, the Pixiv Almanac, the art of various DreamWorks films (Kung Fu Panda, the Croods, How To Train Your Dragon, et cetera), the art of Avatar (the Last Airbender (cartoon)), and tons of others. Design and art, after all, is my focus as of now.
But the strange thing is that I am highly opinionated of how books should be in that sense. I feel that art books should be dedicated to art and the becoming of art, and that literature should be dedicated to literature. I don't care much for detailed imagery in literature, that's what art books are for. I don't care for intense stories in art books, that's what literature is for.
After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
But a few words could possibly not be outdone by a picture.
