Tuesday, April 6, 2010

"Avalon High"

I've been bouncing from one book to another recently. It's a little crazy, but whatever. Anyways...

I started listening to Avalon High by Meg Cabot. I've read it before, and it's the new book I'm listening to as I go to sleep at night.

Elaine's parents are professors who are on their sabbatical. That means that Elaine has to uproot from her own home and move to the East coast, just so that her dad can get closer to his research subject (a sword in a museum), and that Elaine has to start over at a brand new high school. Oh yes, and once her year at the school is done, about the time that she'll be settling in? That's when her parents will drag her back home, so that she'll be returning to the school she was at to begin with.

To say that Elaine is somewhat irritable with the situation would be an understatement.

The only saving grace is that there is a swimming pool in the backyard of the house her parents are renting on the East Coast. Elaine is in love with the pool, and spends the first several minutes of the book talking about it. And no, it's not boring: her stories, such as what she did with the snake in the filter, keep it interesting and fun.

So after a summer of floating in the pool (she spends the vast majority of her time in and around the pool) she finally starts back to school. And, by the way, three of her classmates are named Lance, Jenny, and Marco.

Well, let's see...Lance's name is a lot like Lancelot, the name Jenny comes from Guinevere, and Marco sounds a bit like Mordred. Oh yeah, and Elaine is named after none other than the Lady of Shalott.

Yep, that's right, Avalon High is a modern day retelling of the King Arthur legend.

Each chapter starts with lines from a poem about the Lady of Shalott, and I just thought that I would share a song containing those same words. It's a little long, but very good.


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