Mary - WWLR?

I'm sure you're all quite aware of the popular saying "What would Jesus do?" Well, in lieu of the blog, I have to ask "What would Lorelai read?" I know this blog is dedicated to RORY'S booklist, but I'm dying to know what Lorelai reads. I remember her attempting Proust when she was around Max Medina, but she didn't get through it. What kind of books do you think she'd read?

XOXO, MARBEAR

Mary- Updates! (Game Plan, Mencken and Nerdom)

Attractive author? YES MA'AM. Okay, so maybe just this picture... :)
(WHAT? Lorelai is a bad role model, what can I say?) 

So, after breezing through the first two books, I haven’t read anything in quite a bit. What’s the game plan, you might ask? I’m reading Mencken’s Chrestomathy next, but I have to wait for Rosie to get done with it first. I’m quite excited b/c Mencken is quite the man.

Fate. :)

(Random Fact – Lorelai’s middle name is “Victoria.” This makes sense, given that her parents were very uptight. However, Rory’s middle name is “Leigh.” Why “Leigh?”)

I want that t-shirt. 

          Anyway, Mencken’s Chrestomathy is written by Henry Louis Menken. He was born in 1880 and died in the mid-50s. He was an intellectual elite and an EXTREMELY good writer. I haven’t read the Chrestomathy yet,  but I printed out a book of his (BAD IDEA, IT WAS EXTREMELY LONG AND USED UP LIKE, TEN BILLION PIECES OF PAPER) and I’m absolutely in love with it. Granted, it’s right down my alley (it’s entitled “In Defense of Women,”) but it’s truly exceptional. I got through the first dozen pages or so and my reaction was: “OHMYGOSH, IF THIS GUY WAS LIKE, ALIVE AND NOT 150 YEARS OLDER THAN ME, I’D TOTALLY MARRY HIM.” Because his logic is positively impeccable and his verbs ALWAYS agree with his nouns, which, incidentally usually contain more than two syllables. (Sorry, I’m a nerd, I fall for other nerds. It’s like, the rule.)

           ^(READ: I AM BEING COMPLETLEY SARCASTIC HERE. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT NERDS FALL FOR FICTIONAL CHARACTERS FROM MOVIES WITH THE WORD “STAR” IN THE TITLE, NOT OTHER NERDS. DUH.)

THIS IS MYTHICAL. IT RARELY HAPPENS, BELIEVE ME. 

          So after his sheer skill had me swooning pathetically, I came to the odd realization that this man has very strange beliefs indeed. For instance, he’s extremely narrow-minded and is very snobbish in what he considers “music” and “art.” He’s highly opinionated and very catty at times. He’s also very skeptical/critical of the existence of God. He’s also a bit of a Nazi, unfortunately. (At this point, I concluded that marriage was no longer a viable option. I abhor Nazis. Sorry, but I was raised on Indiana Jones, what can I say?) [Ten billion nerd points if you understand the Indiana Jones reference. Did you know that it was the first time in a movie that they used that specific camera angle? Well, actually the second time, but it was the first time that it was a major motion picture. In fact, the reviews harshly critized the use of such blatant propaganda….(blahblahblah. I had more here, but I deleted it so your eyeballs won’t bleed. I could write a paper on that particular reference. But not now. I’ll spare you my geekiness and move one)]

<3 GEEK LOVE <3

          See how I get off topic? I’m truly pitiful. Anyway, the point was to give you a little author bio of Mencken. I’ve got quite the love/hate relationship with him at the moment. I wonder how Rory would feel about him? Thoughts? 

XOXO, 

Marbear

P.S. While I head off to write a thesis on Indiana Jones and Nazism, enjoy these pictures of H.L. Mencken looking irritated. . :)

GRUMPY-LOOKIN' FELLOW

He looks like he's depressed. Or constipated, you be the judge. 

Mary - Rosemary's Baby Part 2

Here's the poster for the movie version of the book

A review I have promised, and a review I shall deliver. :) (Classy ladies always keep their promises!)

So I guess it's time to face my fears...Er, or not.
Because honestly, Rosemary's Baby wasn't that scary. Yes, I had nightmares and there are some pretty disturbing images forever burned into my brain. But it really wasn't as bad as I expected.

This is what Rosemary looks like! (At least according to the movie version)

SPOILER ALERT FOR PRETTY MUCH THE REST OF THE POST! 

The story itself is exceptionally well-written. This guy is a FANTASTIC writer. I REALLY enjoyed his style. He had sort of a Hemingway approach, writing in quick sentences that made the action flow really well. You'd never be able to tell from the cover that it was "literature." (It's got the cheap paperback look of a trashy Wal-Mart romance.) However, as far as horror stories go, this one is a classic. :) (Written in the 60s, btw)

Rosemary in the Bramford

Religiously? This book was sortofkindof heretical. And blasphemous. HOWEVER, you have to remember that it's fiction. It was really interesting to see how they incorporated the Catholic faith. Our main character, Rosemary is a weak, fallen away Catholic who married a Protestant and doesn't practice her faith. So, she's perfect bait for the Satanists. (I loooooove how they showed that Catholicity is the exact opposite of Satanism. PERFECT parallel!)

Her neighbor (who is a witch!)

Rosemary is warned by her good friend NOT to move into the Bramford, which is an old Victorian apartment   building with a history of odd characters who have lived there. (Cannibalistic grandmothers, witches, occultists, etc) Rosemary ignores the advice of her friend and moves in with her egotistical husband, an actor.

She has pain from the baby

Rosemary meets a girl who lives next door and they strike up a friendship. The next day, Rosemary finds the girl's body smashed into the sidewalk and the police discover a suicide note. Rosemary meets the elderly couple who had adopted the girl and in sympathizing Rosemary gets to know the old couple. Both are extremely friendly. To make a long story short, they weren't really all that innocent and they were actually part of a coven of witches. They suck Rosemary's husband into their cult and they all conspire to get Rosemary pregnant with the child of Satan. Which, they eventually do and Rosemary has a bizarre pregnancy and eventually figures out that everyone's been plotting against her this WHOLE time and she goes crazy. And then in the end she ends up having the baby and loving it even though it was half-devil.

Husband is stopping her from calling for help

Here's what I have to say about the book:
1) The ending was stupid. I wish the baby died. (Yes, I'm seriously PMSing right now, don't judge me!)
2) Rosemary is like, the most annoying name ever.
3) Don't take it seriously. The coven of witches is always "downing" Catholics and people should understand that a) they are the bad guys! so b) DON'T LISTEN TO THEM!

My favorite picture of her. :)

Overall, it was a pretty excellent book. Disturbing, yes, but exceedingly well written. I'd say it was better than the little match girl by far. :)
3/5 slices of cheese!

XOXO,
Marbear

Mary - Rosemary's Baby Part 1

Old movies ftw. :)

I am not on good terms with the genre “horror.” 

I’m the girl who is still scared of the dark at fifteen years of age. 

I’m also the girl who isn’t able to physically cross her bedroom in the dark. 

The girl who cried for two hours one day when she came to the conclusion that it was too late to wake up her parents to bring her a nightlight when her regular one went out? Yeah, that’s me.

Even though it frightens me, I'm brave! *nervous giggle*

Ugh. Who am I kidding? No matter how much I LIE to you people, the truth will come out. I AM A BABY WHEN IT COMES TO SCARY STUFF. Seriously. I can't handle fright fest or haunted houses or even PG-13 movies. (Well, that might be a slight exaggeration. But just a slight one. =P)

So yeah. All that stuff I crossed out, attempting to sound awesome? Well, it's true. (That I'm scared of the dark, not that I'm awesome. Well, I'm awesome too. Now I'm rambling. Somebody, please, for the love of Jupiter, shut me up.)

I was not excited about reading this book. In fact, I was QUITE apprehensive. However, I knew Rosie was going to read it with me and I figured that if I endured several years of group therapy, I might eventually recover. So, I decided to suck it up and read it. Besides, if Rosie was gonna read it, it wouldn’t be SO bad, would it? (At least I’d have someone to cry with and if I started shaking violently with convulsions of fear, I could always trust her to get up and call 911, cuz she’s older and therefore stronger-minded than I, the weak little sophomore.)

You can imagine the kind of effect I was certain this book would have on me. (READ: Pee running down my legs) However, I was courageous and boldly jumped into it. When I had gotten about halfway through, I decided to take a break. As chance would have it there was an email update from Blogspot, informing me that my compadre had made a post.

                Jkkljhunym787uu6ytrgfgftvbnm,jujhukjuyjhghg bhiop[oiuyterf.

^ Sorry, that was me, banging my head on the keyboard.

Rosie wasn’t allowed to read the book! (This is because her mother is quite sane and level-headed and smart, unlike me, who, with my suckish judgment, dived right in.)

So I figured, “Okay. I’m totally freaked out by this book, which I’m only halfway through. If Rosie’s not reading it, I won’t either.”

There were several problems with that statement.

1)      Rosemary’s Baby is laced with suspense.

2)      Suspense is a phrase which herein stands to mean “The fact that you will go insane if you don’t figure out what happens.”

3)      I was halfway through the book. 

4)      There was so much freaking suspense. 

5)      Even though I was already having nightmares about burning effigies of infants and cannibalistic old ladies, I absolutely had to find out what happened next. 

Note to self: Don’t evereverever start a horror book. Because then you will be inclined to finish it, no matter how horrific said horror book may be.

So, I was forced to finish it.

(Review still pending. I just wanted to share with you the story of WHY I read it. That’s not the actual review. The actual review is STILL coming, so hold your horses.)

XOXO, 

Marbear

I promise I'm not nearly  this hideous in real life. 

P.S. 

Anyway - a few preliminary facts about the book before the big reveal? 

1) It's not as bad as I thought it was

2) It's just as bad as I thought it was

3) If you value your sanity, don't stop halfway through it. Either read it or don't read it. 

4) Don't read it. 

5) Unless of course, you like peeing in your pants. Then, by ALL means, read on. ;]

Cheers to the freakin' weekend. I'll be back, my friends to let you in on the deep dark dirty of Rosemary's Baby. 

Rosie- Little match girl!

                                         I did it!

The bandanna is to protect my identity

Alrighty folks, I’m proud to announce that I have officially finished my first Rory Gilmore book list book. Hoot! Hoot! Thank you! Thank you! I’d like to thank my mom for teaching me how to read, my dad for driving me to the library, and my dog for reading along with me. *Starts to cry as she excepts an award*

                ANYWay… What did I think of the book? Well… The little match girl was interesting, as interesting as a child’s storybook can be at least. As opposed to Mary’s lively view of the story, I thought it was a decent read, though I must admit I did find it a bit challenging, I tend to like to stick with picture books. After I was able to get over these facts I was able to enjoy the book. Well and this little minor detail…

                Some annoying, inconsiderate, delusional, and cheap little boy stole her shoe, to use as a cradle of all things! I pity the woman that marries him. First what was the boy thinking? Babies are small, but small enough to fit in a shoe? I don’t think so. Second, that poor baby, if they ever manage to fit it into that shoe, it will forever smell like foot stank. Lesson, shoes are to be worn, if a boy ever tries to steal your shoe, hit him upside the head and tell him to buy a cradle.

                Now back to the book, I can totally see why Rory would have referred to it. Her and her mother where standing outside their grandmothers house freezing as they stared at the front door. Then she very sassily asked her mother if they were just going to stand there reenacting the little match girl. In other words where they just going to stand there freezing until they started having hallucinations. Sounds like fun right? It should be made a sport!

          

                Under all my sarcasm, I really did like the book; I thought the ending was happy. No, that was not a typo; I really thought it was happy. The girl only knew pain and sorrow, but as she froze to death she had hallucinations of wonderful things that she never got to experience, she died happy. Now of course, the ending could have been made quite a bit happier, let’s say… without someone dying, but hey, yeah know, we all can’t be perfect. So to conclude this glorious first post, I give the little match girl a three out of five matches. You may light them now…

SLOW DOWN! *Gosh* :D

               Seeing as my life is as crazy as a squirrel on drugs, which is about as high as you can go on the crazy scale without going certifiably insane, my posts will have to be limited to the weekends, unless something wonderful happens and I miraculously have time to write a witty and entertaining post for those of you who actually have time to spare.

                Secondly, my mother (God bless her) refuses to let me read Rosemary’s baby.  *Gasp* though I really had no desire to read it in the first place and I know Mary was none too excited about it either. So, here’s what we do. Your options

a)      Only Mary reads it

b)      No one reads it and we start a list of banned books

c)       Someone volunteers to read it with Mary (FYI it’s a horror story)

So comment and tell me what you want to do.

Oh, and lastly, Mary I’m limiting you to one post a day! You are making me look terrible. I suggest if we read a book together we post on the same day. Though I think we are reading them separately now. Oh and about that, so our reader don’t get confused this is how we are going to set our titles up.

                Mary- Moby Dick 1

                Mary- Moby Dick 2

You get the idea and Moby Dick is just an example.

So, after I write my review for the little match girl, which I plan to do, Thursday night, I will start reading “A Mencken chrestomathy” which is 627 pages long, and I just reserved it at the library. So it should be in soon. Alright I got to go study Español. Adios!

It has come to my attention...

What is the water bottle doing there? Why don't I make my bed? I really should move that rose...

I have recently been informed of two things.

Firstly, that I should consider shaving my head and becoming a Buddhist monk, and secondly that I have been too hard on poor Hans Christian Anderson.

Since I am comfortable with my current line of religion, I’ll disregard the first, but being an open-minded lover of literature, I decided to examine the second thing that I have been reproached on.

So, on a whim (while I was picking up “Rosemary’s Baby,” a book that is ominously staring at me from across my bedroom), I picked up the illustrated/annotated guide to Mr. Anderson.

My first reaction? OHMYGAWSH PICTURES!!!!!!! I started flipping through it and I legitimately fell in love with the dude. Did you know he was Danish? This automatically MAKES him cool!

So, I’m writing him an apology letter. Yes, he is dead and no, you may not eat the last cookie. (It’s mine, get over it.)

Dear Hans (Can I call you Hans? It sounds better, *winkwink*),

Soooo, wassup bro? You’re still not mad about the whole “little match girl” thing, right? Cuz if you are, I think you’re totally over thinking the situation. For realizies. :] Give me another chance, kay? I’m actually a pretty chill chick. Let me know when you’re done being mad and we can swap roast goose recipes.

XOXOXO,

Marbear

P.S. Blogging Rosemary’s Baby starts soon! Keep your eyes out! In the meantime, enjoy this picture of me, as I struggle through the horror story I'm about to embark on. (Just kidding! It's Rory...I only WISH I looked like that, =P) How does she make reading look so adorable?

SUPERCUTE! :)

Thoughts on Lorelai/Lauren Grahamn

A few years ago, I came to the bitter conclusion that Captain Jack Sparrow didn't actually exist. This, as you can imagine was heart-wrenching. Don't you hate it when an amazing fictional character is just so awesome and mind blowing that you DESPERATELY would marry said character if you could but you can't so the whole world is drowned a sea of gray rain and dead puppy snot? Er, um...moving on.
Anyway, I was reflecting the other day on how much it SUCKS that Lorelai Gilmore doesn't exist. 'Cuz if she did, we'd totally be bffs and we could like, swap purses and stuff. (But she can't have my pink fuzzy one! MINE! MINE! MINE! Unless of course she traded it for the one that barks when you open it...I like that one. ;)) But I digress. Anyway, so I was thinking (dangerous stuff, thinking is) that possibly Lorelai DOES exist! (At this point, my brain was totally taken over by delusional thoughts. Stop reading now if you value your sanity.) Maaaaaybe Lorelai is just trapped in Lauren Graham's body? Didn't anyone think of THAT possibility?
So, I wrote Lorelai a letter:
Dear Lorelai,
Are you trapped in Lauren's body? Were you always like that? Are you really only Lauren in the metaphysical sense? The metaphorical sense? Metafictional sense? Are you stuck in some kind of time bubble? Because seriously, I could pop you out. I have a crochet hook and the fire departement on speed dial (unless they changed their number again. Honestly, you'd think I'm the only girl stalking entire fire brigades the way they carry on...). Anyway, I ramble. But let me know about the bubble. Because once I get you out, I'll paint your nails! (Bright pink, okay?)
Love,
Mary

While the SWAT team attempts to shove me into a padded room, enjoy this picture of Rory when she's all grown up. Any thoughts on why she's so infuriatingly beautiful? (Yes, I'm jealous as heck. I want her eyes!)

PRETTY :)

Hey People! :)

So, considering "Rosemary's Baby" is considerably longer than "The Little Match Girl," expect more than one post on it. I have yet to get it from the fortress of books known as the library, so don't expect any posts till possibly Friday. (Or later, depending on how soon I get my hands on it.) In the meantime, however, I am going to share a lovely little quote that I thought all ya'll would enjoy:


"It's my mother's name, too. She named me after herself. She was lying in the hospital thinking about how men name boys after themselves all the time, you know, so why couldn't women? She says her feminism just kind of took over. Though personally I think a lot of Demerol also went into that decision. I never talk this much."
        - Rory exchanges names with Dean, "The Pilot"

"It should be magical. There should be music playing and romantic lighting and a subtle buildup to the popping of the big question. There should be a thousand yellow daisies and candles and a horse and I don't know what the horse is doing there unless you're riding it, which seems a little over the top, but it should be more than this."
        - Lorelai describes to Max how a marriage proposal should be made

Okay, so I cheated, that's two quotes. (I can't help it! Gilmore Girls have taken over my brain!) 

While I attempt to recover from said brain-invasion, enjoy these pictures of Sookie. :] (Any thoughts on why she is so delightfully perky?)

This woman is very possibly my favorite character with the exception of Lorelai, who is my role model. Yes, I have sucky taste in role models. =P

The Little Match Girl

So - I was really bummed when I discovered that we didn't own this because it meant that I'd have to go to the library which enlisted actual effort. And then my mom was all "Dude! I bet we could totally find it on iBooks!" And then I was all "Whoa! Like, yay for technology! I'll get my hands on it before Rosie! (Tee-Hee!)" I just finished it and LET ME TELL YA - Rory is a very strange girl indeed.
I honestly was not that thrilled to be reading it first of all. When I first heard the words "The Little Match Girl," here's what popped in my head:
1) Odd story involving burning little girls alive? and
2) Aren't we supposed to keep children AWAY from matches? (The title brings back vivid memories of my first grade classroom and the oh-so-cool firewoman reminding us that if we even so much as THOUGHT about touching matches, our heads would combust in flames and it would not be pleasant. But, I digress.)

But reading this short story by Hans Christian Anderson (see how I snuck in the author's name w/o having to repeat the title? I am SO clever!! *fistpump*) was not in vain because I learned some valuable lessons. which I will explain to you as soon as I type out a few burning questions I have about the story.

1) What kind of jerk steals a slipper from a little girl with the intention of using it as a baby cradle and how the hell does the little match girl's mother have feet THAT big?
2) Why does she insist on selling matches of all things? And if she's so poor, how does she even OWN all those matches? Doesn't sound like the brightest businesswoman to me...
3) Why is she working on New Years Eve, anyway? Doesn't she know that it's a holiday and the government shuts everything down on that day? DUH!
4) Why does the dad make the daughter sell matches under the threat of beatings? Why doesn't he get off of his lazy butt and sell them himself? Or better yet, make tons of money suing the urchin who stole his wife's oversized footwear?
5) What is so delicious about roast goose? Have these people not heard of chicken?

Okay, so "The Little Match Girl" was pleasantly short. (Insanely short, actually. So short that I was immediately delighted by it's length and proceeded to clap my hands and jump up and down. Moving on...)
Despite the lack of pages it DID indeed hold some valuable life lessons and now that I've got my burning questions out of the way, I can list them.

1) If you spend all night outside on New Years Eve, you will in fact freeze to death. (Good to know, Hans, I'll add that on my list of things NOT to do right in between wearing white after labor day and *GASP* skipping and episode of the Gilmore Girls)
2) If you see a star falling it means someone is dead. (Okaaaay, that's not creepy at all, Anderson)
3) Hunger-addled little girls are sometimes delusional and have weird visions  when they play with fire. (I have nothing to say here. Truly, that lesson speaks for itself.)

So, I think I'd rate this book 1/5 slices of cheese. (The point is only because it was fast. Yes, I am cheap. ;])

Moral of the story? Hans Christian Anderson is morbid.

Reasons Why I love the Gilmore Girls

I've always been the "skip-the-movie-read-the-book" kindof gal. I'm not big on the whole film thing. (Hold your horses and please put down that gun. I like movies, just not mainstream. I prefer older films and films with cheesy and cute plots such as every Disney movie that has ever existed. Don't judge me.) But when it comes to up-and-coming movies such as "The Hunger Games" (which by the way, I don't feel a flicker of excitement for although I'll probably end up going to the midnight premiere, simply because the books were amazing), I'm almost certain they'll screw up the movie and not do the book justice. But I digress.
The main reasons why I like the Gilmore Girls have NOTHING to do with the fact that it's a TV show. I hate TV shows. They are cheesy, over-commercialized and give their actors/actresses disgusting salaries.
Rather, I love the QUOTES from this show. It has the most AMAZING team of screenwriters who deserve major props for their work. Because the show is nothing short of brilliant. :)
A teacher of mine once remarked that today's literature can be found in our TV show scripts and song lyrics. (He was, in fact, nothing short of correct.)
So, reason # uno of why I like the Gilmore Girls?
1) Amazing tidbits of wisdom, such as those listed at the beginning of the post. Here are some more:






Okay, enough amazing bits of wisdom from Lorelai and Rory. :)
Now for reason number TWO why I love the Gilmore Girls

2) Rory has the exact same uniform as me.

Well, nearly the exact same. Whatever. I've got to go finish working on requesting all the books from the first couple of episodes. (A phrase which here means "sitting in a puddle of my own drool while I lethargically pluck at the keyboard in complete dread of reading Moby Dick.)

I just wanted to share this scene with all of you because it is by far my favorite scene in the whole of season one.

*~ Rosie ~*

Introduction

Hola, I’m Irish Rosie otherwise known as Rosie! I’m a highschooler (My spell check says that’s not a word, but I tend to use it quite frequently in describing myself and do not care what my spell check says at this point in time) and for the record it was my idea to start this blog. I love to read but have acquired a horrible habit of reading the first few chapters, getting all excited about what’s going to happen and skipping to the end. I know I’m a horrible person, just put me in the guillotine. Anyway, more about me… My favorite color is blue and yeah I’ll spare you a first grade introduction of myself and end there.

As Partner in Crime...

Hey friendly readers of the planet Internet - thought I'd pop in and introduce myself. The name's Mary and I'm a HUGE fan (though relatively new) of the Gilmore Girls. As Rosie's compadre, I'll be reading along and posting with her as we go through an adventure of a lifetime. (Or at least highschool, after all....who are we kidding?!?)
Can't wait to to check out Rory's lovely list of books - although I'm not sure we'll like them as much as she does.   On the bright side, reading them should make us attractive to the potential Deans of the world, right? (Er, well, we can always dream, haha!)
Well, that's all for now, gotta go hit the books!
-Marbear-

The beginnings of a list...

        After watching four episodes of the Gilmore girls I have come up with a list of five books! Incredible right? Though we are all well aware of the fact that Rory continuously carry’s a book around with her; I find a lack in references to them. Episode one is just jack full of them, but episode two has none what so ever! The third episode contains a mangy number of uno book references and four has none at all! Truthfully I really should not be complaining, the minutes I have to read a good book are few and far between, so maybe a list of five is a good starting number. Now, I assume you are going to want to get my official list of books Rory has read. Once I am finished reviewing each season I will put up a detailed list of books but until then here’s what I have.

1.       Huckleberry Finn

2.       Moby Dick

3.       Rosemary's baby

4.       The little match girl

5.       A Mencken Chrestomathy

What to do...

Al-righty, here we go. As a huge fan of the Gilmore girls and an equally huge fan of books, I feel it is my duty to combine both in an epic cyclone of sarcasm, persistent reading, and the meticulous scouring of all Gilmore Girl episodes for any and all book references made in the presence of Lorelei Gilmore the third. In other words, I will be going through all the Gilmore girl episodes of season 1 (if all goes well, season 2) and jotting down a list of all and only books Rory mentions or mentioned to her. This will not include the many books she carries around like a pack mule because I have found it humanly impossible to see the titles of said books. Gradually I will begin the daunting task of reading each and every one of them. To make this endeavor even more challenging I have decided to blog about each step of the way.

At the moment this self-imposed challenge seems incredibly daunting and I am considering asking a friend to join me in my endeavor. Though the friend I have in mind is an incredible writer, watches a bit of the Gilmore girls, and reads with great speed, I am hesitant to offer her a partnership. Why? You may ask. For selfish reasons such as the fact that she reads quite a bit more and therefore will read more of the list that I possible could in the same period of time. *Sigh* but with my busy life I fear without her, posts will be few and far between. Well, we shall see.