(I used to subscribe to Newsweek, but the news in the last eight years has been so damn depressing that I just stopped reading it. And picked up a subscription to Entertainment Weekly.)

I’ll be even more honest: I liked Hillary Clinton for the win. Say what you will about Bill Clinton’s morals, but he was a solid president whose experience in office bolstered my already-strong confidence in Hillary’s ability to lead the country. So way back in I-can’t-remember-when, I voted for Hillary in the Democratic primaries, and then I checked in every so often for the next few months to see how the Obama-Clinton tug-of-war was going.

Well, Hillary lost. Sadness. I really should have stayed away from the voting thing all together, because the people I truly support never win. I’m terrible luck. See: Al Gore, John Kerry, Uli on Project Runway, the last three seasons’ runners-up on America’s Next Top Model.

Anyway, I was sorry about Hillary, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to vote. (Guys, voting is really a privilege that not everyone in this world enjoys, and yeah, I’m just one person, but the simple act of voting is meaningful in a thousand different ways – even if I’m bad luck to whomever I’m voting for. See above.)

But I realized that I don’t know much about Obama or McCain beyond the whole political party thing. I’m still staying away from the newspapers and magazines (because they’re still depressing), and I find campaign ads a little too earnest and a lot too pretentious (and, as my brother’s girlfriend D noted while we were hanging out and watching TV the other night, “McCain’s ad is too freaking long!”).

So this morning on my way to work, I was listening to Elliot in the Morning, and he was talking to Patricia Murphy, the editor of Citizen Jane Politics, which calls itself “the modern girl’s guide to picking the leaders of the free world.” I enjoy Elliot’s interviews, but I’m not one to follow up and check out the website/book/product that is often being pimped. I usually forget about the whole thing between the time I leave my car and get into the office.

This interview was absorbing, though, as Murphy obviously knows her stuff and is articulate to boot. As soon as I got to work, I checked out the website and have just spent the last hour (sorry, work) on the site, and it is fabulous. It’s geared toward the political layperson in general and to women specifically, and it is non-partisan, which means I’m not wading through fierce support and/or denunciations of one candidate or another. There is a whole section called “Are You Ready to Vote?”, which helps you check to see if you’re registered (and where) and also gives you info about when the next election will take place.

I especially like “Compare Your Candidates,” which compares (in a handy and easy-to-follow chart) Obama’s and McCain’s policies/promises/etc. on various issues. I read the whole thing and already feel better informed. And more conflicted. Still—

I’m tired of avoiding the political arena, and checking out Citizen Jane has jump-started my interest in the election. Tomorrow I think I’ll hit The Washington Post website for the first time in ages. Who knows? Maybe in another month or two, I could crawl back on the Newsweek wagon.

For years, my favorite used bookstore was C & W Used Books in Chantilly, VA. My mum and I would go there every couple of weeks, she to buy armfuls of romance novels, me to wander down every aisle and pick out whatever caught my fancy. It was thanks to C & W that I got hooked on Victoria Holt’s gothic romances, that I built a pretty impressive collection of Sherlock Holmes (original Doyle, pastiche, and otherwise), and that I managed to buy and read every single book in the Wagons West! series as well as its multiple spin-offs.

The best part about C & W is that they take books for trade credit. Which was superfab for me growing up, as I didn’t necessarily like everything that I bought and could thus return those books that didn’t meet my approval for more books.

The sad thing about C & W is that it doesn’t really have that classic used book atmosphere. It’s very well-organized, neat, with wide aisles and helpful signs. Kind of boring, right? These days, I like a used bookstore with rickety shelves, books piled everywhere in kind of alphabetical order, and eccentric owners who roll their eyes at you when you ask if they carry a certain author.

This past weekend, Jess and I walked from her new apartment to Eastern Market to wander a bit and to visit Capitol Hill Books, mostly so I could peruse its selection and see if it had any of my summer required reading (‘cause hell if I’m paying full price for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Just saying).

And, oh, what an absolutely brilliant bookstore it is! The place is wall-to-wall books. Much like I imagine heaven must be. I found both Huck Finn and Cold Mountain, and I really could have the spent the day there had I not been eager to visit the market as well (and get back to Jess’s place before it started to rain).

I was going to get into my used bookstore hijinks as well, but I just realized that my dress is so low-cut that my bra is showing. I think I’ve accidentally flashed an assistant superintendent, among others. Brilliant way to start the week. Now to find a safety pin…

Anyway, Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, is brilliant for myriad reasons, not the least of which is that it satisfies the part of me that craves a solid disaster-epic.

[Side note: I love, with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, disaster-epics. Not just books, either; I will go see any movie whose preview promises the end of the world, an unexpected sinking/burning/collapsing, or a tidal wave. Or a combination of the three. See The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon, The Poseidon Adventure (the original and the remake), The Towering Inferno, Independence Day – I could go on, but I’ll get to the book instead.]

Lucifer’s Hammer is, in my disaster-epic reading experience, the best end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it book ever. It has action! Drama! Cannibalism! A large cast of expendable characters! In a word: AWESOME. It was also written in the 70s, so it contains many out-of-date references which are giggle-able (like the “stacks of IBM cards” for the computers. Those mid-to-late twentieth centurians were so behind the times!).

So the book is split into three parts: pre-comet, during-comet, and post-comet. The pre-comet part, is, as you might expect, where Niven and Pournelle introduce all the important characters: Tim Hamner, the rich amateur astronomer who first discovers the comet; Harvey Randall, a television documentary producer; Senator Jellison, a… senator, and his daughter, Maureen; Johnny Baker and Rick Delanty, two American astronauts; and many, many, many others.

When Tim first discovers the comet, no one really thinks anything of it beyond, “Hey, cool. You got a comet named after you.” But as its path brings closer to Earth, scientists start narrowing down the margin of miles by which it will miss – and even they can’t tell if it will hit or just come super-close.

The during-comet section is by far my favorite, as it fulfills my (very odd) need for tidal waves and other humanity-destroying natural disasters. When the comet does hit, very few people in the world are actually prepared for it, and Niven and Pournelle spend a good part of the book writing about the various comet-head impacts from different characters’ perspectives.

(I hope I’m not giving too much away by saying that most of the characters die horribly. One character dies by surfing the California coast tidal wave into an apartment building. Seriously. AWESOME!)

The post-comet section follows the survivors as they either (1) make their way to the Stronghold, Senator Jellison’s ranch, where a group of survivors is attempting to hold on to the last vestiges of civilization, or (2) join the New Brotherhood, an army of survivors who are determined to crush the last vestiges of civilization and begin anew, this time with more cannibalism. The conflict between the two comes to a head when both groups realize that the San Joaquin nuclear power plant survived the impact and that it is the key to saving (or destroying) civilization.

I really liked this book when I first read it years ago, and I’ve re-read it a few times since, but this time around, it really struck me as very realistic in its depiction of how people might react in a crisis of this magnitude. This is especially true in the post-comet section, in which the leaders of the Stronghold have to make some tough decisions about the needs of a few versus the needs of the many – and they don’t take the sappy-happy “we can save everyone, can’t we?” path.

Also? Now I’m super-freaked about a comet or asteroid hitting the Earth. Read Lucifer’s Hammer, and follow that up by reading this article in the Atlantic Monthly. Then kick yourself for living on the East coast, which will be under water after that first tidal wave. Oh, well.

I Love You, Beth Cooper, by Larry Doyle (a former Simpsons writer, natch), starts at a high school graduation at which we meet Denis Cooverman, the captain of the chess club and our lovable, often laughable protagonist. He gives a very memorable valedictorian speech that can be summed up as follows: “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and tell the world the truth about yourself, because you don’t want to look back on your life and regret the things you didn’t do.”

And then he takes his own advice and admits his love for Beth Cooper, the captain of the cheerleading squad and the girl he has “loved from behind” (yes, he actually says that – he’s sat behind her in all his classes since 7^th grade, but his phrasing is obviously a little… off) unrequitedly for years.

This confession is the catalyst for a crazy night in which Denis and his best friend Rich (whom Denis outed in his speech as well, though Rich insists throughout the book, “I’m not gay!”) journey around town with Beth and her best friends Cammy (sarcastic) and Treece (slutty), facing run-ins with Beth’s coked-up Army boyfriend Kevin as well as car chases, break-ins, sex, near-death, and underage beer-buying.

I Love You, Beth Cooper is really a satire on teenagers and their behavior, but it does have a heart, and that heart is Denis; he has a number of cringe-worthy moments, but he also grows up along the way, as he takes risks he would never have dreamed of before and ultimately realizes that though Beth isn’t the perfect goddess he always imagined her to be, he might love the reality of her even more.

I felt like the resolution was a little neat and ultimately left me hanging (not in an I Am Charlotte Simmons “wtf? Seriously, this is the end?” way, though – more like an “ooo, this feels like a possible sequel is coming” way), but overall, I Love You, Beth Cooper is a really fun book, and I highly recommend it, especially as a summer read.

Wait, I am at work. As you can see, I have a very hard time staying on task.

Anyway, The Dairi Burger (Thing I Love #3), besides being hysterically funny, also links to some really fun blogs about young adult lit, among other things. I trust Ihatewheat’s taste, so when I noticed the other day that she had linked to a new blog, I (was bored with alphabetizing evaluations and) decided to explore. Which leads me to

Thing I Love #4: 30 is the new 13

This is a relatively new blog, but it is brilliant. Essentially, Sada (the author) is systematically going through the stories she wrote as a child and posting them, with frequent breaks for affectionate snark and some “wtf was I thinking?”. Check this out if you, too, were destined for literary greatness as a child and wisely kept your works of genius.

Thing I Love #5: My childhood literary pursuits

I was an incredibly prolific writer from elementary school until – well, really until I graduated from college and joined the workforce, at which point I was no longer able or willing to stay up until all hours composing because I had to, you know, wake up at 5:30 AM every morning.

I was lucky, too, because my father works in technology, and thus there has always been a computer in my house since I was little. So all of my works are backed up to infinity and available for me to read at any time. And I totally do return to these early pieces and read – and cringe. A lot.

I’m seriously considering posting a taste of the Writer I Was at some point. But, oh, they’re so derivative. And so bad. Just – so laughably bad.

I really want to gush about my new computer, but I’m not technologically inclined, and I don’t really know how to describe it beyond “really cool” and “kickass.” It’s a Dell Inspiron – see? Kickass, right? – and it’s quite honestly the nicest computer I’ve ever owned, so sleek and light and… Sorry, I’m drooling a little.

Anyway, now that I finally have such an awesome computer, I can curl up in my reading chair (yes, I have a reading chair, and yes, I have to fight my dog, Q, for it) and read my favorite websites at home instead of at work, which is where I typically do my for-fun online reading (oh, Television Without Pity, what would I do without you?).

So here are some Things I Love (to Read) (on the Internet):

Thing I Love #1: Sunshine Days

This is my best friend Jess’s blog, and I love reading it because, well, she’s my best friend and I like reading about what she’s up to, but also because she is a really brilliant and relatable writer. And she’s in the process of revising her first novel! I’m hoping that in the next year or two, she’ll be able to start blogging about the publishing process, because her book? Is good. Not like oo-you-wrote-a-book-how-cool good, but like seriously good.

Thing I Love #2: The Phantom Project: Reviews and Research

There are two fandoms out there that I keep up with fairly religiously, and The Phantom of the Opera is one of them. I’m a big fan of the novel by Gaston Leroux because I’ve always been fascinated with the symbolism and mythology associated with the story. I’m not one to get all hot and bothered over the many (vastly inferior) movies/musicals/novels/fanfictions inspired by the original – I leave that to Phanwank – but I do like to know what’s out there, fandom-wise, and whether it’s worth the time to view/read.

The Phantom Project is an exploration of The Phantom of the Opera and its various incarnations in literature, film, television, and popular culture. Anne Myers (the author) writes amazing reviews of various works, and while her reviews are both witty and entertaining, they’re also thoroughly researched, and they show a true understanding of the layers of Leroux’s original novel.

(The fact that Anne is obviously just as much of a grammar freak as I am doesn’t hurt, either. J)

Thing I Love #3: The Dairi Burger

Okay, sad confession: I read all the Sweet Valley books (Twins, High, University) when I was younger, and I loved them. The first time through (elementary school), I thought both Jessica and Elizabeth, they of the long blonde hair, Pacific blue eyes, and size six figures, were beautiful and perfect, and I totally wanted to be them.

The second time through (middle and high school), I realized how scarily self-absorbed and bitchy Jessica is.

The third time through (college to present), I realized how boring and self-righteous Elizabeth is.

Now I read the Sweet Valley books when I need a good laugh. Ihatewheat is doing a superfine job of mocking these (and other scandalously bad) young adult books on her blog, The Dairi Burger. I’m tempted to review a few myself, but honestly? I don’t think I can top her “Sweet Valley [insert title here] In 2-3 Acts” or her “Caitlin: A Dramatic Reading.”

Hee! So funny! I have numerous evaluations to enter, though I’m tempted to go reread some of The Dairi Burger posts right now. Thank you, Internet, for enabling me to slack a little at work!

(1)   Jaws, which was an okay read, though the characters were far less likable and the action and suspense really play out better on the big screen;
 
(2)   ?
 
I can’t think of any others. How sad.
 
Anyway, while I was meandering around the bookstore last week (what bliss!), I picked up a copy of Tom Perotta’s Election, which, in a rare twist, I had never read, though I have seen the movie several times.
 
So, there are four important characters:

• Mr. McAllister, a history teacher and the  student government sponsor. He loves his job and his students, except for
• Tracy Flick, who had an affair with Mr. M’s best teacher friend and got the friend fired. Tracy, a chronic overachiever, is running unopposed for student body president, but Mr. M manipulates
• Paul Warren, a very popular and very sweet athlete, into running, too, thinking that Paul has a better chance than anyone else in the school of beating Tracy. But then Paul (unknowingly) starts dating Lisa, the girl that his sister, 
• Tammy likes, so Tammy joins the race, too, to spite Paul and, ultimately, to wreck havoc.

Complications ensue!
 
Viewable: I actually saw the movie for the first time when it premiered in 1999 (ha, I had to look that up on IMDB), and ten, more critical, years later, I still think it’s fantastic. Matthew Broderick is perfectly cast as Mr. McAllister – kind of dopey, kind of a jerk, overall pretty nice, and in way over his head. Reese Witherspoon is simply brilliant as Tracy Flick, an overachiever who puts building her resume ahead of building friendships.
 
The movie is also told from shifting perspectives; Mr. McAllister, Tracy, Paul, and Tammy all give their sides of the story, and I love this conceit when used well (which is totally is here). Nothing beats Paul’s vision of the story, especially, because he’s so clueless when it comes to people’s motivations, and we recognize that, but he doesn’t, which makes him that much more endearing.
 
Readable: Election the book is actually structured in exactly the same way as the movie – the story constantly shifts the point of view, and the main characters’ (with the addition of Lisa) 1st person narratives alternate every few pages. It works here, too, for the same reason it works in the movie – we get a better sense of the characters in how each tells his/her story and what he/she reveals in comparison with what we know from the other characters involved.

What’s interesting (and different) in the book is that Tracy comes off much more sympathetically than she does in the movie. Her narrative has a hard edge, but it’s tinged with regret for all the things (liking making friends) she didn’t do. Mr. McAllister does, too, and I have to say that I was really surprised by this — most movies adaptations revise the books’ unhappy endings, but Election does the opposite.

Instead, Election the movie takes what is basically a redemptive ending for its two primary characters and allows neither of them to learn from the mistakes they’ve made or to come to closure about the events of the novel. Which, honestly? Is not necessarily a bad thing.

So — in the end? I recommend both Election the novel and Election the movie. If you’re going to the bookstore to buy either or both, I’d also pick up a copy of Perotta’s Little Children, which is pretty fabulous, too.

I’ll go with… meh.

I’ve actually been wanting to read this for a while, but honestly? I wasn’t willing to pay $30 for a ginormous hardcover that I didn’t know if I’d like and that wouldn’t fit in my purse. A couple weeks ago, though, I was in Barnes and Noble and saw it in the remainders pile – still hardcover, still ginormous, but now only $6.99. Buyable!

So. I Am Charlotte Simmons is about – you guessed it – a girl named Charlotte Simmons who leaves her tiny little backwater North Carolina town to attend college at the very prestigious Dupont University in Pennsylvania. But it’s not just about Charlotte – which is a very good thing, because I hated Charlotte Simmons. At the beginning of the novel, she’s a little easier to take; intellectually, she’s a genius, but she’s socially awkward, and growing up amongst family and townspeople who live in the foundations of the shacks they will eventually build doesn’t make it better. You have to feel a little sorry for a girl who wins countless awards and accolades but whose brilliant and articulate valedictorian speech goes unappreciated by everyone because they just don’t get it.

But when Charlotte finally gets to Dupont, she becomes incredibly unlikable: holier-than-thou, prudish, judgmental. I mean, okay, she’s surrounded by sex and profanity and alcohol (and all those other college vices) for the first time and in abundance, but seriously? Get the stick out of your butt, Charlotte, stat, and live a little. No — no, Charlotte, don’t go to the Saint Ray formal with the fraternity bigwig – okay, fine. Never mind. Youmay be smart, but you have no common sense.

My problem with the book as a whole is that I really liked the first half, but then I realized that I didn’t like any of the characters, and the story started to feel flat. The girls are flat-out caricatures – I can’t think of one female character (except saintly Charlotte) who isn’t (1) a bitch (2) a slut, or (3) a bitchy slut. And the boys, when they’re not wildly attracted by Charlotte’s innocence, are trying to get into her pants. And… that’s the extent of their existence.

Actually, that’s not true – there is one character that I really did like throughout: Jojo Johanssen, the only white starter on Dupont’s amazing basketball team. He’s a likable character because, though he, too, is interested in Charlotte, she becomes his catalyst for change, and then they hardly interact at all until the end of the book. Jojo is the stereotypical athlete to whom everyone kowtows and from whom no one expects anything but good basketball. But he realizes, after Charlotte attacks him for “playing dumb,” that he wants to be a true student athlete, not one in name-only. I found his journey to be the most interesting part of the book.

I feel like I’m lambasting Wolfe, but I Am Charlotte Simmons is really not bad. I enjoyed most of it, but I put it down with more of a “huh, okay” than an “oh, I’m sorry that’s over.” I haven’t really taken anything from the reading away with me, other than Wolfe’s discourses on both the “Fuck Patois” and the levels of sarcasm  (Sarc 1, Sarc 2, Sarc 3), which were brilliant, funny, and almost worth the price of admission.

I have innumerable books to read this summer — most which I have to read, because I’ll be teaching them at some point during the next school year. But I plan on enjoying at least some less-than-required fare, as evidenced by my trip to Border’s this morning (hey, I had $50 of gift certificates burning a hole in my wallet).

I bought:

The Broken Window

The World Without Us

I Love You, Beth Cooper

Election

I have already finished Election. I’ll post about that one later; I just adore Tom Perotta. But I’m actually going to start with the book I finished last night — I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. Wow. So much to say about that one, and not enough time right now, as I am off to research new laptops and to walk my dog, Q.