Music and Books

As you might know, music and books are the two things that I am completely obsessed with. I have two five-shelf bookcases in my room that are overflowing and hundreds of songs on my iPod. If an entire day goes by without me reading or listening to some kind of music, then you know something's seriously wrong with me.

This is why bad music and terrible books are so devastating to me. I was convinced that the music and book industries would never be able to recover from the horror of Justin Beiber and Twilight. I had accepted the fact that I was going to have to hunt out obscure bands and read books that were published before the rise of the teen-fantasy genre.

But let me tell you, my viewpoint on that is rapidly changing, because 2011 is shaping up to be one heck of a year for music and books.

First of all, OneRepublic seems to be becoming even more popular; I've heard their songs on TV and the radio a lot more than usual, and they performed on Dancing With The Stars. If they continue in this direction, it means I can actually expect them to play 'Good Life' at our school's homecoming dance in a year or two. (2010's homecoming was like a sample of all the popular songs in 2008 and 2009. I was seriously considering chasing the DJ out and taking over the music myself.)

Then there's the fact that Christina Perri (of "Jar of Hearts") released her first full album, "Lovestrong"; I've already listened to some of the songs, and it's amazing. Owl City, which has been the one good artist among all the popular mush, is releasing "All Things Bright and Beautiful" on June 14th. Even better? Vanessa Carlton's finally coming out with a new album, "Rabbits on the Run", on June 21. Judging from the singles, both these albums are going to be beyond amazing.

And what about books? Chris D'Lacey's sixth book in the "Last Dragon" series, "Fire World" came out on April 26. Sarah Dessen released her tenth book, "What Happened to Goodbye" on May 10. I've already ordered it, and it's on it's way. "The Warlock" (Book five in "Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" by Michael Scott) comes out on May 24. Not sure what's going on over the summer, but on September 20, Pseudonymous Bosch releases the fifth (and final) book in "The Secret Series" appropriately titled, "You Have To Stop This." (And he really does, it's driving me CRAZY not knowing the Secret.) Then, on November 8, the last book in The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini comes out. My dad and I have been waiting ages for that.

All of this is really exciting. But you know what the really weird thing is? All of the things I've mentioned were released or will be released on a Tuesday. That's right. All of them.

Well, for some unknown reason, I've always liked Tuesdays...

~blackandwhitedreamer