Books 8, 9

So! Book 8 was Anne Frank's diary. I liked it a lot! I guess I should note that we have the "definitive" edition, consisting of a mash-up of her original diary, the one she edited herself after considering it might be published, and the one released by her father. In case anyone was curious.

It surprised me that Anne was such good writer, making me want to smack Mrs. van D. up the side of her head and everything! And about Peter: when she first got to know him better she was like, "Oh, he's nice as a friend. I feel nothing else for him", and I was all, YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYONE, ANNE!! And sure enough, a few weeks later they're making out in the attic! (Or the Netherlands equivalent, which involves hugging and pecking each others' cheeks).

My classmates have gotten used to my carrying a book around 90% of the time*, so they just pick it up, remark about its being in English, and then tell me about the one or two books they've read in the past five years. I smile and nod. One of my classmates in Algae lab picked up the diary and said,

"Oooh, Anne Frank's diary! I read this book, I liked it soooo much!"

I thought, "Awesome!" and, wanting to discuss it further, said the first thing that popped into my head:

"Yeah, it's really great! It surprised me, though– she sure writes a lot about sex, huh?"

My classmate look at me for a few moments, bug-eyed, and then answered,

"Uh, I think I, uh, read the abridged version."

Oh. Well, how was I supposed to know?

- - - -

Book 9 was Madeleine Wickham's The Gatecrasher. I enjoyed it while reading it, but the end was a bit unsatisfactory and afterwards I got a feeling like I didn't really get to know the main character very well. I mean, you get told about her past, and her motives and all that, but not so much about her personality beyond "frivolous" and "charming". But altogether, it was a fun read.

Madeleine Wickham is Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series (much beloved by myself). I knew "Sophie Kinsella" was a pen name, and I thought "Madeleine Wickham" was, too. Turns out that's her actual name, which is weird because it sounds totally fictitious, whereas S. Kinsella sounds like a real person. Oh, well, such is life.

*Sometimes I forget my book at home, but I came up with the solution of keeping a back-up book in my locker. Brilliant. Except I don't want to keep anything too valuable there (a book we only have one copy of or something) because what if something spills in the locker above mine? I might open the door one day to discover all my stuff is drenched in cat pee. Or something.