Some Formalities + My First Book

We have a few things to get out of the way before the real fun can begin. My first order of business is to address the extremely lame title of my blog. Although "IB World Lit 1 20-Time Project" is extremely informative, it lacks in the creativity department. Expect a title that actually pertains to my topic by next week (hopefully). Another thing you might have noticed about my blog is the large hamburger in the background. I like hamburgers, even if they don't have anything to do with my topic. At least, that's what I initially though, but the more I pondered it, the more I realized how connected hamburgers and reading truly are. You cannot judge a book by it's cover, just like you can't judge a hamburger by its buns. What's really important is what's in-between, like the plot (the beef), the characters (the lettuce and tomato), the writing style (the onions), and the themes (the pickles). Now that that's out of the way, let's move on to the books!

I thought I would divide my reading list in to two different types of books: the ones that I feel comfortable reading and the ones that I do not. In other words, a "comfortable book" is something that I might pick up at the local library, while an "uncomfortable book" is something that I would generally avoid. A lot of this depends on the genre, and since I'm trying to read from a large variety of genres I will naturally have to extend past my comfort zone.

With that being said, I started my first book! I decided to ease my way into the project, and so my first book falls under the category of "comfortable". It's called Dark Places, and it's written by Gillian Flynn. The book covers pretty normal stuff like murder and satanic cults, but the thing that has really interested me is her use of alternating time lines. The chapters alternate between the past and the present as Libby Day, the sole-survivor of a massacre that killed her family, begins to question her decision to testify against her brother, whom she initially believed to be the murderer. I'm about 50 pages in and intrigued, but I have yet to be fully drawn into the story. One thing that I really appreciate about Gillian Flynn is her ability to create three-dimensional characters. She blurs the line between the good guys and the bad guys, and adds realistic flaws to each character. So far this technique has made the book seem grittier and darker. Hopefully the plot will be able to catch up to the characters.

Here's a quick list of the books I plan on reading:

1. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (mystery)
2. On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss (Non-fiction)
3. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (thriller/romance)

It's a short list so far, but I figured that I would wait until I discussed more titles with my mentor before I finalized the list. 

Alright folks, that's all there is from me! Hope everyone has a fun and exciting day, I'm off to read more about cult murders, yay!