playing house

I've been housesitting for the Partin's for the last couple days. It's been going pretty well, minus the fact that their puppy is going nuts...whining a lot and just being a pain in the ass. I guess she's pretty new to the family and is probably wondering what the hell is going on, but she's really rather annoying. I love Sika, she's the cutest dog ever. She looks like a friendly wolf and is so warm and cuddly. I like being here at the house, I've been eating good food, lots of tasty salads mmmm and the extra space is nice. I'm really excited to live in a house next year. I need to learn how to cook.

It's been a good day. Classes were good, although Shakespeare is over and I'm sad to leave it. I really liked the plays we read and I'm going to try to make myself read the rest of the Henry tetralogy, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Comedy of Errors, and maybe some of the romances. I think I like his tragedies the best, I really like Hamlet but the Tempest is up there. Work was good too, they were crazy but it's a pretty nice job. I had a pretty good dinner of gyoza and edamame, although I usually don't like the dumplings nearly as much as I think I will. I don't think soy sauce makes the best companion. I've already done my Latin, I'm working on the little bit of homework I have for tommorow, and I'm in a pretty good mood. I made chocolate covered strawberries and Mattison is coming over to watch Memoirs of a Geisha soon.

This article http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1747821,00.html, well not the article, the the data made me a little upset. How does Pride and Prejudice make you feel glad to be a woman? How in the hell does Handmaid's Tale, while it is one of my favorite books, probably one of my top three, make you feel *glad* to be a woman? Handmaid's Tale made me upset about being a woman. Maybe it just changed the way the women in the poll saw themselves. The books on the men's list I liked a lot, although I wholeheartedly do not agree that they are simply coming of age tales or angsty. Catch-22 is one of the best books and I think speaks to all generations. I guess I've only read 11 out of 20 of them, maybe I can't say for sure. I don't know. ugh. The women's list kinda makes me want to gag. Mostly because I hate Jane Austen. Or at least I abhorred Pride and Prejudice. Or at least I remember detesting Pride and Prejudice and watching the BBC series, of which the only redeeming part was getting to watch Colin Firth. Either way, I have no interest in reading any of her books ever again.

Top three books (Alphabetical, not by preference)
All the Names, Catch-22, The Handmaid's Tale

The rest of the top ten (not by preference)
Sophie's World, The Solitaire Mystery, Invisible Cities, The Blind Assassin, Franny and Zooey (I think I actually like this better than Catcher...), If on a winter's night a traveler, and Blindness.

I would like to put up A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, but I don't remember it all that well. I guess you can say I like Saramago, Atwood, Calvino, and Gaarder. I like that none of them are American or British (Portugese, Canadian, Italian, and Swedish). I should expand my horizons better.