If you knew me growing up, you can remember that I was an avid reader all throughout my childhood. It started off when I moved to Pennsylvania at 7 and started reading Harry Potter. I was totally big on Narnia and other series of that sort, and now that I think about it, I had a big Magic Treehouse phase when I was in first grade. I have always loved book series because you already know the characters, so there’s less background and more action.

Even if you didn’t know me back then, if you follow this blog you’ll remember that post I made about Chaos Walking and how I binge-read all three books. So here we are, some months later, and I’m still reading. I started off finishing junior year by rereading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone—Philosopher’s Stone for any of my British following, although I don’t know anyone who lives in Britain, so now I have questions if anyone from the UK is reading this. ANYWAY, reading that book again made me remember how much I loved being so enticed by books. I hate to say it, but when I was reading And the Band Played On, it got so tedious at points that I questioned why I even wanted to read. So now that I remembered my love for reading, I have fully invested myself in my favorite public resourse of all time- the Naperville Public Library.

Libraries are always so quiet, so I feel little pressure to actually make any social conversation when I’m in there, and the small part of me that is introverted loves that. I have felt pretty uncomfortable the past few times because I’ve been running to the library at, like, 1:30 pm in the summer heat and I’m sweating and breathing loudly and it’s just a horrendous condition to be in when you’re in a place where any little noise can attract attention. However, 3 weeks for book rentals? Awesome.

The thing about the library, as the microeconomics tutor in me will say, is it’s sometimes a hit or miss. If you’ve taken an economics course, you may remember something about common resources and public goods. A common resource is something available to the public but exploited, like bumper-to-bumper traffic on a toll-free highway (do we have those in Illinois?), whereas a public good is an unexploited resource for the public, such as a toll-free highway with no traffic (we definitely don’t have those here). I found myself finally learning a new example to use for this upcoming semester, which is obviously the library because it’s all I’ve talked about so far.

So here’s the thing: the books and other assortments of goods at the library are public goods available for me to use. That is, until everyone else wants that book too. I learned this the hard way, when I decided upon coming home that I was going to read Game of Thrones. Now, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it to my blog followers, but I binged all of the show and watched season 8 live, and the ending just left far too many questions and plot holes for satisfaction. So, I went to go get the books from the library. Well, apparently everyone else had that idea because there were 9 copies of the first book across the 3 libraries in Naperville, and each one had a minimum of 9 holds. That means I would have gotten the book in January. I don’t have the patience for that. A TRUE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS.

Now that we are done with the economics lesson, I will move on to say that I am waiting till George R. R. Martin announces when he is going to release the last book because I don’t want to start something that isn’t going to be finished. ANYWAY, I have read other books this summer, including Percy Jackson. For how much I loved greek mythology and reading, you think I would have read these. I have no reason why I didn’t. But, nonetheless, at 21, I really liked them and I was able to crank out all five books in five days. The most alarming thing, however, was how horrendously off the movies were.

6 paragraphs laters, we finally reach the subject of book adaptations. When I explained to my friends that the movie and book were so, so different, I explained it in these words: “It’s like someone watched the movie while intensely drinking and blacking out, watched Disney’s Hercules through their hangover, and then wrote the screenplay for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.” Now I’ve seen both Percy Jackson movies and I liked them, but I hadn’t read the books then so I don’t even know what to think now. The movies have minimal good things though, including some of the casting, but I think I’m really blinded by the fact that I’m in love with Logan Lerman and feel as though he can do no wrong.

Speaking of Logan Lerman, I read and watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and oh my goodness, talk about an adaption that is just phenomenal. First of all, the book is beautiful and heartbreaking and I think it might just be my favorite stand-alone book ever made. The movie though? Wow. What. A. Movie.

Let’s talk cast.

LOGAN LERMAN. Wow I love him. And he was a wonderful Charlie and totally nailed the role and wow. Alright I’m done.

Emma Watson, AKA the person I aspired to be for so much of my childhood: a gem and a rockstar.

Ezra Miller – I genuinely don’t think anyone else could have been Patrick and owned it as much as he did. He was made for that role.

Mae Whitman as Mary Elizabeth was a nice surprise, and I loved all the DUFF vibes that I got from her performance (depsite DUFF coming out 3 years later).

And, of course, Paul motherloving Rudd. I’m choosing not to swear because as I’ve stated before, I have no idea who is reading this. But that was the most amazing surprise from the movie, and the fact that he was Bill and he delivers the icon line “we accept the love we think we deserve” like wow.

Also, I totally get I’m really behind on this Perks train. I know, it’s 7 years old. I also just told you I read Percy Jackson at age 21. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be.

Anyhow, the next thing on the reading agenda is The Nanny Diaries. Now, I’ve seen the movie, and I’m interested to compare, but as you might already know, Chris Evans is in the movie as “Harvard Hottie” and I just don’t know if a book can do a role justice like Chris Evans can. Not to be a fan girl on main, but still.

If you have any other book recommendations, let me know! And if you have any other horrendous OR amazing book-to-movie adaptations, definitely let me know.