Go-To Books

There are a few books/authors whose work I tend to find myself drawn back to, time and again. Books that I'll re-read (although rarely from cover to cover again, mind you), flipping open to any page or to a particularly memorable scene. Sometimes just for fun, sometimes when I'm bored, sometimes when I need a bit of comfort. Does anyone else do that, re-read segments of books?

Off the top of my head, some that are among the more frequently revisited: the Harry Potter series, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Crimson Hero, Little Women, The Hunger Games series... 

The photo above was taken earlier this summer at a hostel in London, England. There was a book exchange bookshelf in the lobby, and it was kind of cool to see all the well-traveled books there, left behind by unknown travelers. Browsed through Catching Fire as I charged my phone for a bit - it was a bit surreal, to be engrossed in a familiar book with a very different packaging. 

How about you, what're your go-to reads whose worlds you visit again and again?

In My Mailbox [37]

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Sirenshowcasing what great stuff one got that week (usually goods pertaining to books). And this week I got:

~Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (for review). This one doesn't come out until October, but it's already been generating a fair bit of great buzz. Featured it for last week's Waiting on Wednesday post, actually. Sounds awesome, looking forward to it.

~What If? magazine (2 contributor's copies). I sent in some photography awhile ago, but I wasn't aware that one of my photos actually got chosen to be published in the Summer 2010 issue, so it was definitely pretty exciting to find out by seeing the copies in my mailbox, all rolled and snug.

~Harry Potter trading card. This was actually a prize from Swagbucks, and if you haven't signed up already, you should definitely go do it now. :) (Preferably from this link.)

~And I stopped by the library today, and borrowed an actual YA book, which I haven't done in ages. I actually wasn't really planning on getting anything initially, but then I spotted Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson at the last minute and got that.

Kind of a funny story actually - I've been meaning to read this for a long time now, pretty much since before its release. Which was back in March of 2009. When I first started Lucid Conspiracy, that was about when Wintergirls was getting a ton of great buzz around the blogosphere. And it took me until now to finally get on it. Wooow. Definitely doesn't feel like it's been over a year already. A very severe case of tempus fugit.

So there you have it - the contents of my mailbox (& otherwise). How about you, what was in your mailbox this week?

Stephenie Meyer Sued for Plagiarism?!

Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys have seen this news article regarding Stephenie Meyer allegedly having plagiarized Breaking Dawn off of another young author, Jordan Scott? (If anyone else feels like running a quick search, there are numerous other articles about it out there by now.)

Basically, the general gist is that there are "striking" similarities between Breaking Dawn and 21-year-old Jordan Scott's The Nocturne.

Similarities such as "a wedding, a sex-on-the-beach episode and a passage where a human-turned-vampire describes the wrenching change...characters in both books call their wives 'love'"(Today @ MSNBC). And then it goes on about how Scott & lawyer plan to file a copyright infringement lawsuit, but aren't seeking any monetary compensation. Um... okay?

Apparently, the lawyer also says "I think the fans have to read both books and make up their own mind, like a judge is going to have to." Furthermore, this dude has no idea how many copies his client's book (written in her teenage years, published "in book form" in 2006) has sold. Doesn't exactly sound like a good sign...

There was that major episode awhile back where JK Rowling got sued or something for her brilliant Harry Potter series (which kind of ended up being a bust, as I remember). So what do you guys think of this, is it simply more of the same? Trying to capitalize on a bestseller's success, or a legit claim? Weigh in with your opinions!

*Originally noticed by the fabulous Katie Alender here

New Wave Teenybopper Pop?

Music is a pretty big part of my life; I usually have some sort of music playing in the background, whether it's doing homework, writing, reading, working out, etc. Instrumental music is pretty major too, I played piano intensively for a long time, and dabbled in violin and clarinet.

So, I happened to be cleaning my room today and popped downstairs to check out MuchMusic. MOD was playing, and I happened upon this song:

Justin Bieber's One Time.

It's actually kind of catchy. And then I realized how young he looks. Apparently this kid's only 15 years old. Wow. I feel ... almost grown up in comparison now. I mean, I had a scare a few years ago with those Disney pop "stars", what with Miley Cyrus and Zac & Cody and what not (as it turns out, we were all born in the same year - I was shocked). But now I feel kind of ... old, I guess. But - I will admit that he is kind of cute. :) And he's Canadian (Ontario too!) so bonus points. ;)

Edit: Wow, I kept marvelling over why it seemed like I'd seen him before - and then I realized that I've actually stumbled onto his Youtube page way back before he got signed as well, and had previously listened to his music. Suh-weet.

But see - this got me thinking; when stars came out young, like Jesse McCartney, or Aaron Carter (gosh; feels like so long ago!) did others on the brink of young adulthood feel like this too?

In other news, I stumbled onto this yesterday. I hadn't realized that Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films) could sing! Let alone this well! I will admit, I'm quite impressed.

So, whatcha guys think? What kind of music do you listen to?