Reading Rambo

It's apparently Banned Books Week. 
I've never gotten my knickers in a twist about banned books. I dunno, I just don't really mind. There're a ton of books out there to read, and you can TRY to ban something, but people'll get it anyway, and probably be more likely to look at it because it was banned. Soooo I don't really see the harm. Other than letting the idiots win. But those idiots aren't going to learn anyway; they'll just see themselves as martyrs up against a morally profligate age if the books remain unbanned, so let them feel that way, don't ban books, and everyone's happy.
That all being said, I have indeed suffered for the cause of banned books. *looks heroic* I went to a Christian high school whose (unofficial) policy was that if anything was controversial, it was banned. I tend to be somewhat contrarian (not you, Alice!), so I was moved to extreme teenage anger anytime something new got banned.
Being a Christian/Pentecostal school, an…

So, despite railing against YA book blogs, I do indeed read YA fiction. But I like to think of the YA I read as "not shitty," and therefore, it is different than what those blogs talk about.
Last year I became a big fan of Rick Riordan. No, his prose isn't the most carefully crafted, but eh. He blends mythology into modern life really well, and he's actually much funnier than his dorky author pic would have you think (this picture makes him look like he still plays with Howdy Doody dolls).
So I bought The Throne of Fire in May (the second in The Kane Chronicles trilogy) and, as I am horrible about reading books I own, have only recently picked it up. It's Riordan's Egyptian mythology series (the other is Greek/Roman), and it's really good and I very much like it, but it's made me face some things about myself, people. Some unpleasant things. Yeah. Short sentences make better points.
The book blogger's default position on censorship is "GAHHHHHH …

A friend inquired as to whether I had "bragged" (the idea!) about going to a Stevie Nicks concert on every social media platform. I thought about it, and the answer was that while I had indeed spoken of it on facebook, twitter, google+, gchat and spotify, I had not mentioned it on my book blog. So let's just remedy that up right now.
I SAW STEVIE NICKS IN CONCERT LAST NIGHT AND IT WAS AMAAAAAZING.


How does this relate to books? Excellent question. Yes. Well...yes.
Ah-ha! Interviews count as reading too, right? Totally. Let's not be all snobbish and only stick with "book" books.
Here, I've gone through a very thorough website (I didn't go through it thoroughly, but the site itself is impressively thorough) and found what I'm going to assume is the best interview, based on the fact it's the only one I clicked on.
Playboy's 20 Questions With Stevie Nicks
This is from 1982, which probably means she was high as a kite the whole time. What fun …

You know how other book blogs actually, like, review books? Yeah...

Gather round me, all ye, as I weave you a tale of academic misfortunes, misgivings and fantastical happiness. It is the tale of Alice's Journey Through the Land of Complit.



Complit, or, written out by unlazy people, Comparative Literature, is not only the best major possible, but it produces the best people possible (*coughs loudly*). The abbreviation used to be C Lit (thanks, University of Illinois), but someone finally decided that despite the stellar maturity and gravitas those at the U of I came to expect of the undergrads, maybe it would be better all around if they changed it to CWL (Comparative & World Literature). The 'World Lit' part was a giant cop-out, which I will explain in a moment. First, let me take you back! Back to the year 2003! A carefree time when I purchased my first iPod, listened to Christina Aguilera and still wore shirts primarily from Hot Topic.
I needed to pick a major, and it …