(no subject)

I've been assigned spring break reading.  Maus I and Maus II, a two-part comic book series on the Holocaust with the Jews drawn as anthro-mice and the Germans/Polish/Non-Jewish as anthro-pigs.  It's... very good.  Poignant, it gets the point across without detailing the gore.  It's won a Pulitzer Prize, and I'd say it deserves one.

I'm going to have to read Christine by Stephen King during spring break for English as well.  I'm not a King fan.  I've tried to be a King fan.  I lasted about 15 pages.  That being said, while a part of me thinks I should've picked Handmaid's Tale or whatever it's called (which is 1. much shorter, and 2. a dollar cheaper), I really ought to give King a second chance.

Also reading The Secret Books of Paradys, which is an anthology collection of all of Tanith Lee's Paradys cycle.  It's basically a vampire series, from what I've heard.  I haven't gotten far.  On one hand, I love Tanith Lee's writing and hate that all her books are out of print on this side of the pond.  On the other hand, good lord this is slow pacing.  The mood is beautiful.  Historic, gothic London, pretty much the same setting as the Sweeney Todd movie except put in words rather than moving pictures.  Plotting's slow.  Characters are also gay, but this is a vampire novel, so that's not surprising.  My favorite character already died.  Within the first 20 pages or so, in fact.  I should've seen it coming.

I should theoretically be reading Prelude to Foundation, a book I began at the beginning of the school year.  Isaac Asimov.  Supposedly a good work.  I bought The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie due to the forum raves, but I haven't even cracked the spine yet.  I've got a bit of a book queue.  There's also Gardens of the Moon, the first book to Steven Erikson's Malazan series, and the series is supposed to be phenomenal with the second book as the best, and the first book as pretty much shit.  The Darkness That Comes Before by Scott Bakker is also sitting on my shelf.  Haven't cracked the spine of that one either, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it provided I ever get around to reading it.  Gut vibe, you know.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes Volume I is also on my bookshelf.

It's that time of year again

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Clearly, I am an asshole.

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid Disorder:	Low
Schizoid Disorder:	High
Schizotypal Disorder:	Moderate
Antisocial Disorder:	Moderate
Borderline Disorder:	Low
Histrionic Disorder:	High
Narcissistic Disorder:	Moderate
Avoidant Disorder:	Low
Dependent Disorder:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! -- -- Personality Disorders --

...So I'm an attention-seeking loner who does not desire popularity? I was going to say that's an impossible mix, but that's not true. I'm pretty sure a fair number of felons can score for both.