My word for this quarter on most of the books that I have been reading: haunting.

I apologize for the lack of blogging, I have been swamped with schoolwork. It's the last two weeks of the quarter and boy am I feeling it. Just yesterday, two of my room mates broke down from the pressures of three hundred level psychology classes at the end of spring quarter. I am definitely feeling the pressure of my 300 and 400 level English classes. Yeesh. The beginning of the week, I have realized that I need to read close to 2000 pages in all of my classes combined...and it's been overwhelming me. I have been reading an average of a hundred pages a day and I don't know how my brain is even taking all this information in. I am just glad that they are novels and nothing super dense.

Currently I am reading three books at once, two for my young adult literature class and the third for my Chinese American Literature class. For my YA lit class, we have to read a book that is a Printz honor or finalist. The Printz honor award is just like the Newberry (children's) or the Caldecott (picture books) award (an annual award given to excellent literature of it's intended field) except that it is awarded for young adult novels. I was originally going to read John Green's 'Looking for Alaska' but my professor was talking about a book that she could not put down. That is when I purchased 'Monstrumologist' by Rick Yancey, which is the book she was talking about.

I am about 80 pages into the book and let me tell you what...it is SO creepy! I usually read it late at night too, which isn't the best idea, simply because I do my Chinese lit and other YA lit reading during the day. I probably need to stop reading it late into the night. I am about three chapters in and already the poor twelve year old protagonist, by the name of Will Henry, has seen a corpse mutilated, been chased by man eating monsters, and seen someone shot in the head. It's bloody and morbid...exactly my kind of book! It's action packed and haunting. You know, I think that's my word for this quarter on most of the books that I have been reading: haunting.

First it was 'Hitler Youth' by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, 'The Book Thief' by Markus Suzak, and now this book.

I need to finish it for next Thursday and it's almost five hundred pages, so my hopes are to read about a hundred pages a night (on top of my already hundred pages of other reading...sigh) since I have now committed to sharing this book to my class at the end of the quarter.

As I read this book, it has occurred to me that it has a very 'Pan's Labyrinth' feel to it. From what I have read so far, the plot line goes like this: Will Henry has been orphaned, his parents dying in a fire. It is 19h century America, New Jerusalem according to the book (of which I need to look this up to see the history) and it cites New England. Regardless, it is the New World and the voice is very early American writing...almost H.D Thoreau or Emerson like. It certainly does not read as a young adult novel, it is written for almost an adult audience...yet the protagonist is a twelve year old boy that is the assistant to the monstrumologist. This is Dr. Wanthrop, of which studies and hunts monsters or as he says, 'evil and benevolent creatures that exist in folklore.' The monsters that they are hunting...is the picture that I have so kindly left for you. This monster is called an Anthropophagi. It has no head, has a mouth where the abdomen is (that resembles a shark), wicked claws, and the brain is in the crotch. It sounds like something straight out of nightmares. I stumbled upon a drawing someone made...so I hope it doesn't freak you out too much! So far, it's been a hard book put down and set aside for my other reading.

I realize that I don't have much to say, and I apologize for that again...I just feel so worn out. I have more to read tonight from all my classes and I will let you know how that goes!

Until next time,

Ethelyn