I am currently reading Anagrams by Lorrie Moore, still halfway through The Gourmet and Prisoner of Azkaban. This is not a book review (Iris, I hope you don't mind, thank you for the wonderful layout by the way), but just a little start-up note.
I told Iris, we should have a personal book review blog - I always feel compelled to share my thoughts after finishing a good read, and what better way than to share it with someone equivalent and dear to me on a platform that we can always revisit.

A colleague who sits directly beside me asked me about my plans for the weekend yesterday. My standard answer for anyone, everyone in fact, would be "staying at home" - I added "reading", hoping with small measure that he'd think I'm a little learned and not just some stupid dumb airhead intern who messes up every morning.
He also asked me what kind of genre I liked - I told him, self-deprecatingly, "romance". It is my favourite genre.

What I don't really like about romance, however, is that it gives people an unrealistic, delusional view about love. I love sappy love stories and happy endings (even though most people think it's very "shallow" and "narrow-minded") because it makes me feel happy to know that the protagonist is happy - I am also going to put shred my already non-existent dignity into smaller pieces by admitting that I hope I'll have some sort of happy ending myself. This is why Hollywood makes so much money, it capitalises on our little fantasies. Many sit in anticipation for the arrival of their happily-ever-after, thinking that life warrants them some sort of happiness; searching for love has become a focal point in people's lives.

That, however, is a small part. I am no longer satisfied with just reading mindless happy endings - I want to have some sort of enlightenment or revelation after finishing a read. I want to highlight lines that touch me (this is Iris-inspired), but I have a sister who rummages through my books randomly (so annoying) and her seeing my highlighted paragraphs feels like an invasion of privacy.

I am sorry for sounding like a pretentious know-it-all; I am not a very likeable person by nature.
I just want to end of this post with a cheesy note to Iris: thank you for being my friend and a part of my life.

JZ