Getting Giddy Over Books And Movies

Getty Giddy Over Books And Movies

I read a lot because I enjoy it. I also read because I'm a writer and writers need to read. So, it was with extra excitement that I picked up Prodigy, Marie Lu's follow up to her highly successful and acclaimed debut novel, Legend; a book I read last year and absolutely loved. Prodigy came out yesterday and, at my first opportunity, I ran out to my local bookstore (less than a quarter mile from where I teach) and got it. The store had one copy and now it's mine. Legend came out in the fall of 2011. I read it in January 2012 and waited a year, with other Legend/Marie Lu fans, for Prodigy to come out.

Lu's Legend, which is the subject of the very first book review I've ever written (click here for the review),  is so engaging, interestingly written with two superb protagonists, that it was with great anticipation that I counted down the days until Prodigy was released. And, forty-some pages in, it's living up to its predecessor. If I wasn't before, I'm definitely a Marie Lu fan now; although anyone who knows me and/or has read my posts, knows I already was.

The last time I was this excited for something like this, counting the days like a child waiting for Christmas morning, was when I found out that The Life Of Pi, another of my favourite books, was being made into a movie. Before that, off the top of my head, it was with the release of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the first movie in the prequel trilogy of George Lucas' Star Wars movies. Since Prodigy has come out, and I have it, my next countdown is for the first movie of the upcoming Star Wars sequel trilogy to come out. And, with J. J. Abrams who, in my opinion, hasn't produced anything bad, signed on to direct, I'm doubly giddy.

On some level, as a forty-three year old husband and father, who worries about keeping his family housed, clothed and fed, I feel a little silly being childishly excited about the release of movies and books. You'd think as a writer, I wouldn't feel silly about getting excited about books but, sometimes, I do. I know they aren't mutually exclusive - being excited about such things and worrying about the banal things in our lives - but sometimes I feel guilty if I'm not worrying about world peace, my son's future, the state of our economy, war in the middle east, etc. On another level, however, I'm glad I get this chuffed or, as we say in Tagalog, gigil, about these, for lack of a better word, trivial things. I think it keeps me young, shows my son that life is to be enjoyed, and it reminds me to see the lighter side of things. And, for me, that is exceptionally important because I tend to be very serious, sometimes to the point of being glum.

So, do share. What was the last thing you got this excited about? And, if like me with Prodigy, since it's already come out, what are you counting down to now?