Outside Reading Quarter 3

I want to read One Hundred Years of Solitude

1. I want to read this because its a classic, and I think its important to read the classics. Also I have heard many good things about it, including in a book I read for outside reading earlier this year.
2. I got it today from Half Priced Books.

Under The Radar

Under The Radar is a music magazine, and their most recent issue includes their Top 50 Albums of 2008 according to it's writers. They also rank and review the Top 20 Debut Albums, Top 20 Songs, and Top 20 Overrated / Disappointing. This brings me to my dilemma. They write that many albums I thought enjoyable, well composed, and worht while were overrated and disappointing, while things, one album in particular, that I did not enjoy at all, were ranked highly and got good reviews. This is not to say I think my musical opinion superior to professional music critics. I simply believe they shouldn't only have the writers opinions published, and maybe ought to have had readers submit their top 50 or top 20 lists and reviews. The reasons I can think of that some of these so called 'disappointing' albums were named as such extend to the said unliked (by me) album (liked by them) in my opinion just as greatly. I was just listening to this album in question today, giving it a chance, and now when I reread their review, nothing is fitting. They say it "broke the mold on the actress-turned-singer stereotype" which is a fair claim, but not enough, in my mind, to give it a #6 ranking out of all the albums released in 2008. Is this to say that if one of the singers in the 'disappointing' albums had been an actor or actress previous to their singing career, they would too have been ranked at #6? This is unfair. Music critics should not be judging on the breaking of social stereotypes, but the quality of the music. They go on to say the album was a "boy-meets-girl musical duet" which I find little to no evidence of while listening. When looking at the back story, yes, this claim makes sense. But while listening to the music, as I said before, the only thing that should matter when critiquing MUSIC, I don't hear that. I hear a girl. Singing. About girl issues. None of this 'boy-meets-girl' duetness. They finish off the review saying that Volume Two wil soon be on the way. But after listening to Volume One, do we really want to hear more?
Yes, I am being rather critical here, and its not an awful album. I just think its silly that such an opinionated matter is controlled completely from the inside, and that the reasons they give for their choices are unjustified in the terms of musical quality.

the ghosts appear

Now that I am more than halfway through the tale of The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James, it has certainly become apparent that it is indeed a ghost story. The ghosts in question are the previous deceased governess, and a friend of the master's, Quint, a suspicious creepy man who stayed at the house during the previous governess's term, and died mysteriously on a roadside. Not only do they share the curious death affairs, but they may have been something close to lovers during their time in the physical world. The new governess is frightened, not of them themselves anymore, but of the affect they seem to be having on previously conceived innocent Flora and Miles. She repeatedly catches Flora peering out of her window late at night, and on one occasion discovers it is Miles, out in the yard, with whom she is communicating. Convinced that the children are being corrupted by these evil spirits, the governess tries to figure out a way to protect them.
Another conflict that may have something to do with her suspcions is that Miles was expelled from his school, even though she has only ever thought of him as an angel (now an angel being corrupted). Could it really be the sinister ghosts slinking around the mannor, or is it possible that Flora and Miles are corrupt of their own accord? Perhaps it is simply another one of their fantasies, merely a game to them, while in reality these 'playmates' are going to lead to their ultimate demise. Only time will tell who is innocent, and who will live to tell of these other worldly encounters.

The Turn Of The Screw

I just started reading The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James. I already read The Aspern Papers by James, so I am somewhat accustomed to his style at this point. The Turn Of The Screw is supposed to be a ghost story of sorts, which I think will be interesting, as I've never read a quality literature ghost story. So far the characters that have been introduced are the original narrator, Douglas, the owner of the story, and their various friends who gather to hear the spooky tale. In the tale itself are the new governess, the children Flora, who is a very beatiful child, and her brother, said to be at least equally beautiful but whom we have yet to meet, Miles, as well as the maid, and the briefly mentioned master of the household. Some of the foreshadowing seems to hint at trouble with Miles' disposition, the curious death of the previous governess and what that means for the new one, the mistaking the maid's mention of a "he" for someone other than the master, and the children being eerily beautiful. These all may or may not have some affect in the overall plot line.
I wonder why James chose to start the story outside of the tale itself. Perhaps this was to build the background and the suspense, to introduce the idea to the reader that what they are about to read is indeed a ghost story. I wonder if the narrating will periodically shift from the governess back to the original so we can see how the group is enjoying it's telling. Maybe this would give the reader more insight when necessary, and allow for suspenseful breaks in the progression of the story. I do hope, however, that the end is not as aggravating as that of The Aspern Papers.