Throwback Thursday: Two Weeks in Ireland

"If you're not drunk and half naked by this point, 

you aren't paying attention." 

- Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

 Over the summer, my family went to Ireland. My father is 100% and my mom is mostly Irish with a little bit of Italian. I like to pretend I'm 100% like my dad.

 

The photo above is a view of Dublin from the Guinness factory tasting room.

 Ireland was beautiful. The weather was what I expected. There was mostly rain but also a lot of sunshine. We drove for hours at a time so when I got sick of seeing sheep and rolling green hills, (and over a period of two weeks, the sheep were boring) I read a lot. I read Let it Snow which is three connected short stories by different authors, and I read Chuck Palahniuk's novel Diary.

So much drinking. Guinness was amazing at the factory.

Story #1: The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson, a review as quoted from my journal: 

"It was cute but no John Green story (who is next). My feminist side of my brain hated it. It was a girl with a crappy perfect boyfriend who feels confident when his around just because they are dating. She meets a boy, who helps her realize how awful his perfect ass is so she dumps him and makes out with the boy. I would have liked it better if she left his house, moved on from the shitty BF but did't fall for the new boy but that's just me."

    

Story #2: John Green's A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle, a review as quoted from my journal: 

"Before I say anything else, I want to say how I loved that these three stories connect in little ways. It is cute. So far the two were different stories but they intertwined in a slight way. Over a location- a waffle house with cheerleaders. 

John Green was better about feminism than the other story though mostly due to it being a male narrator. We didn't get the girl fawning over a boy inner monologue. I think when I write my young adult novels/stories I'm going to not be in 1st person to avoid this issue.

But I predicted the underlying conflict of the romance too quickly and easily. It was disappointing in that respect."    

 

 Story #3: The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle, as reviewed in my journal:

" It was the same as the others. Cute but not feminist at all.. A girl upset over a boy. It would have been less predictable if it wasn't connected to the other stories but I basically knew the ending from the first two short stories. Oh, well." 

So I think in July 2012, I would have given Let it Snow a 2. 

 

 

Harry Potter was filmed here!

Review of Diary by Chuck Palahniuk as quoted from my journal: 

"Just finished Diary and it was weird. Creepy even, and confusing. Those are its 3 words: weird, creepy, and confusing. I think I enjoyed it. It didn't blow my mind like Rant, Haunted, or Fight Club did. But it has a similar feeling. A feeling that creeps over and makes everything you used to find normal seem wrong. I guess that is what makes a good book. It changes how you look at life even when the book's story wasn't about that." 

I think I would have given Diary a 3. 

I loved Ireland, and I wish I could go back. But maybe with less family.