I did not know books were this powerful

    Whoa.  Whoa.  I 'v accomplished a lot this summer.  Well I guess not a lot, but it seemed like a lot because it was so big.  It wasn't me going to girls camp.  Sorry but no that was not the high light of my summer.  How long I am going to keep you in suspense I don't know.  In the mean time lets talk about nothing.

      I'm already bored.

      Okay, it all started when I was at my dad's.  I was pretty bored and must have been pretty desperate because I was looking at the many bookshelves.  There was no guarantee I was going to really pick up a book and start reading it.  I was just looking.  Then something caught my eye.  Les Miserables.  I 'v seen the movie but that's not why it caught my eye.  Dad has the twenty fifth anniversary concert of Les Miserables, It's just a concert, no acting, just singing on a stage, nothing extreme.  Oh, my, me and Aliese fell in love the day we saw that.  Oh . . . it was so . . . . and then . . . . I mean . . . . (sigh.)  Let's put it this way, the family watched it three times that day.  No lie.  So naturally me and Aliese and even Gracie know every word to the songs and every detail in the story.
      So anyway the book caught my eye.  I pick it up, still not expecting anything meraculous to happen.  I turn to the last page and look at the page number.  520.  It was ubrigded.  I flip tot he first page and read half of the parograph.
      "What?"  I said.
       Nothing made sense.  I could have said oh well, put it back on the shelf and forget about it, but I didn't.  Maybe it was the holy ghost, or maybe the holy ghost had nothing to do with it an I was just smart.  I turned to my favorite spot in the story.  If you know me at all you will know what this part was.  The romance of Marius and Cosette (sigh.)  Finding it certainly took a while, it took a couple days.  But once I found it . . . . ho ho it was worth every second.
       IT WAS SO STINKING GOOD!!!!  The first full chapter I read was called the conjuction of two stars.  How poetic and romantic is that?  I love it!  I love it I love it.  Sometimes I would just stop, wipe a tear, and say "It's just so good."
        Not only is it such a good story but Victor Hugo is such a good writer.  I love his style.  I love the rich language.  I love the characters.  I love everything.
        Aliese came to dad's two weeks after me and Gracie so her room was empty.  That's where I read it.  I didn't want anyone to know I had started from the middle of it.  I could not imagain the horror on Aliese's, Dad's, or Diane's face.  Gracie caught me, she can't keep a seceret so I didn't tell her.  She didn't care a hoot about it, she ignored.  I kept reading.  I fell deeper, and deeper into the book.  It only got better.
       It was like three days or something when dad walked in the room when I was reading.  I thought it was Gracie so I wasn't prepared.  I hid it under my pillow in a hurry.  He seemed to have seen it and didn't believe that I was just a little jumpy that day.

Dad:  Anna . . . what have you got there?

I couldn't lie.

Me:  A book.

He looked as nevouse as I was.

Dad:  What book?

I slowly pulled it out.  He took it.

Dad:  Les Miserables?

I nod.

Dad:  Why didn't you tell me?

Me:  I thought that you would be mad because I started from the middle.

Dad:  I'm not mad.

I feel as though the heat was rising from me and relief swept over me.

Me:  Oh.

Dad laughs.

Dad:  How is it?

He knew what the answer was.

Me:  Amazing.

Dad:  How long have you been reading it?

Me:  A few days.

Dad:  Where did you start?

Me:  When Marius and Cosette fall in love.

Dad chuckles.

Dad:  Uh hu.  That's what I thought.

Me:  What do you mean.

Dad:   Your a romance girl.

I smiled and he left.  Oh, without the book.

        I didn't read the book like anyone would normally read it I skipped some boring parts that I didn't understand, but not that many at all.  Then I would go back several chapters and read my favorite parts again.  Again and again and again.  I basically memorized it.  I read when Marius and Cosette first met.  When Marius met Eponine.  It was all just too good to read once.  I skipped some of the war because war just isn't my thing and then once when I was reading I noticed how much I had left.  It was less then half a millimeter.  PANIC ATTACK!!!  To think of life without my precious book is to think of deaths bitter clutches.  How could I survive without it?  There was only one thing to do.  Finish it, and then start from the beginning.  And that's what I did.  
      I finished it the first time thru.  Then, I started over.  It was as good as the middle!  I should have just started from the beginning.  Reading the whole thing makes me feel so much more for all the characters.  Before I read about Fantine I didn't cry when she sings the song when she's dying (either when we listen to it in the car our in the concert) but now I haave to blink back tears.  It's so sad.  But so good.
       If you really know me then you will know before Les Miserables I hated reading.  HATED it.  Mom and Aliese tried so many books, but after Harry Potter I thought that all books were second best, and becuase of that I didn't want to read them.  Now even though I have finished Les Miserables (tear) I love to read, because I'v found out I love rich and complicated language.  So I'm going to read that sort of stuff.  I'v started a new book also ubrigded.  The Count of Monte Cristo.  So good.  Love it.  It's 509 pages, but since I don't know the story I'm gonna read every word.  Now my list of favorite books SO FAR is like so:

1. Les Miserables (nothing like it)
2. The Count of Monte Cristo ( love it)
3. Harry Potter (the best start to wonderful books)

       And there you have it.
       By the way, reading Les Miserables didn't take all summer.  It was so good I read it one and a half times in two weeks.  I'm also having a meutual activity on Wensday where we are suppose to bring our favorite book, talk about why you love it so much, and dress as your favorite character.  I can't dress up like a guy so I'm going as Eponine, who is not my favorite character but like I said I can't go as Jean Valjean.
        Love you all!