Read the Book

Shakespeare Reading Month: A Midsummer Night's Dream

2012-02-05T08:21:00.003-06:00

A Midsummer Night's Dream was the first Shakespeare play I ever taught, and even though I don't teach it anymore, I still have quite the soft spot for it. I loved being able to teach a comedy, especially one that my students could relate to so well (liking someone your parents don't approve of, liking someone who doesn't like you back, liking someone who has a donkey's head...wait a minute...). For a while I practically had the play memorized (that's what happens when you listen to it five times a day for a period of several weeks), and upon revisiting it in the form of the excellent Arkangel audio production, I found it to be just as delightful as I remembered.

If I could choose one single line to sum about this play, it would be Lysander's line from early in Act 1: "The course of true love never did run smooth." Ever. Especially not in this play. There are five main couples that the play focuses on: Theseus and Hippolyta are about to get married, and they sort of present the frame for the rest of the story; Theseus is the one who has to decide Hermia's fate. Hermia and Lysander are in love, but Egeus, Hermia's father, for some reason that is never explained to the audience, wants Hermia to marry Demetrius (even though it is EXTREMELY obvious that Lysander is the better guy). Demetrius is sort of a jerk because he was promised to Helena, Hermia's best friend, but one look at Hermia made him dump Helena and pursue Hermia instead. Meanwhile, Helena is still desperately (and embarrassingly) in love with Demetrius.

Off in fairyland (really!), Oberon and Titania are fighting. The premise of the fight is very childish: Oberon wants something he can't have, and the ensuing chaos only makes Titania more and more (rightly so) angry. All of the couples eventually converge upon the forest, get confused (with some help from a handy love potion that Oberon happens to have), get angry, but, in the end, make up and live happily ever after.

The genius in this play (aside from the chaos and the zingers and the Rude Mechanicals, country bumpkins who try to perform a tragedy that ends up being the funniest play in the history of Athens) is how Shakespeare manages to take a serious look at what love is by using humor and comedy. Is love always difficult? Can you ever know if love is true? Can even the truest love be overcome? Shakespeare examines all of these things and comes up with very satisfying conclusions. This is one of Shakespeare's more poetic plays (as in there is a lot of closed form poetry happening, especially rhymed poetry when Oberon, Titania, or one of the other magical creatures is speaking), and that poetic quality lends itself nicely to Shakespeare's musings about love.

Goodbye, 2011; Hello, 2012!

2012-01-07T15:38:00.010-06:00

Hello, all! I trust that the crickets have been doing a good job during my...er...hiatus. Yes, that two-month absence was completely unplanned, but life got crazy, my brain got fried, and I just couldn't do it. But I'm back! And it's a new year! Let the resolutions begin!

Last year, my main bloggy resolutions had to do with posting more often, reviewing more of the books I was reading, fully committing to challenges, and participating in a Classic Circuit tour. Here's how I did:
*I did post more often, but I didn't quite manage the post-once-a-week goal.
*Ironically, even though I posted more often, I managed to review FEWER books than I did last year. Like by a lot. Go figure.
*I sort of failed at the challenges. Okay, not sort of, I DID fail at the
challenges.
*But I saved the best for last! I met this goal: I participated in not just one
Classic Tour but three! I was part of the Ancient Greek Tour, the Jane Austen Tour (sort of...I read my book for it, but I was too traumatized by our tornado to actually post my review), and the Steinbeck Tour. This makes up for all my other failed/semi-failed goals, right? Right.
But here's the thing: despite not meeting all of these goals, I don't feel bad. Why? Well, as I was tallying up my stats (oh, the delights of the nerdy life), I realized that it is still about the reading for me. It will ALWAYS be about the reading for me. And I'm glad that reading is so important to me.

Given that 2011 was all about the reading, I guess I should share exactly what I read! I think these stats are pretty impressive given how stressful my teaching year was, but I guess there are some perks to not really having friends in the same city where you are living (please don't tell my mother I said this...). Overall, I read 104 books (!!!!), but I only blogged about 18 (oops...). 69 were (adult) fiction, 8 (*hangs head in shame*) were nonfiction, and 27 were young adult fiction. 20 were rereads, and 65 were from the library (I'm particularly proud of this number).

Here are my reading highlights (in the order that I read them) from 2011:
1. The Sevenwaters Series, by Juliet Marillier (but especially Son of the Shadows)
2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Bettie Smith
3. The Middle of Everywhere, by Mary Pipher
4. Rose Daughter, by Robin McKinley
5. Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell
6. South Riding, by Winifred Holtby
7. Forever, by Maggie Stiefvater
8. Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain
9. Let Not the Waves of the Sea, by Simon Stephanson
10. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
11. A Song of Fire and Ice Series, by George R.R. Martin
12. The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater

Favorite Rereads of 2011 (in the order that I read them):
1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2. Attachments (I read this multiple times this year. Don't judge me.)
3. The Hunger Games Trilogy
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
5. Anne of Green Gables
6. Anne of Avonlea
7. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
8. The Great Gatsby

Things I'm Glad I Discovered in 2011:
Testament of Youth: This book changed my life, and helped set me off on my current obsessive pursuit of reading about World War I.
Downton Abbey (aka the best thing on television): This miniseries is AMAZING; it is also responsible for starting my obsession with World War I. And the good news for you is that the first season is streaming on the Masterpiece website, and season 2 starts TOMORROW!
Tumblr: I might be a little addicted...
Doctor Who (aka the other best thing on television): Guys, this show is ME; it includes everything I love, and I don't know how I didn't know about it before this summer. I watched all six seasons over the course of two months, which was awesome, but also probably indicates that I need a life...
Mumford and Sons: These guys are amazing. They also wrote my "I-am-stressed out/worried/upset/angry/stressed out-and-must-find-my-happy-place" song. It's called "Timshel", and it will change your life.

Okay, this is now a ridiculously long post, so I'll keep my goals for 2012 short: keep reading, keep blogging, keep interacting. Short, sweet, and to the point! May you all have a wonderful 2012!

P.S. I'm participating in three challenges so far (but A Century of Books will last past 2012!), and here they are:

Some Books for You

2011-10-29T10:04:00.005-05:00

Simon did this meme again, and given the fact that I am extremely busy, haven't reviewed much in the last two months, and am now sick, I figured I would give it another go too!

1. Book I am currently reading: With me, there's never just one! I'm reading A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, (for school--I teach this to my freshmen), Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (also for school--I teach it to my juniors), and Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, (for Wallace's readalong; I'm dreadfully behind). I'm currently listening to Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, by Rick Riordan, because I'm trying to find some more boy-friendly books that I can have on my classroom shelves.

2. Last book I finished: A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin. It's been my favorite of the series so far, but A Storm of Swords is really good so far!

3. Next book I want to read: I really want to read The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater, but I will probably read A Feast for Crows, by George R.R. Martin, if my hold goes through at the library in time.

4. Last book I bought: The Scorpio Races. I've actually been REALLY good about not buying books lately ;).

5. Last book I was given: I don't get books very often. But I do have high hopes of getting this gem for Christmas:

Readathon: Update the Last

2011-10-23T08:08:00.002-05:00

I got a little distracted by the internet last night, so I didn't manage much more reading. Overall, however, this was one of my more successful readathons! Can't wait for April's!

1.Which hour was most daunting for you? Probably from about 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. That's when I finally gave up and went to bed.
2.Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I was completely enthralled by the end of A Clash of Kings, but I think only the last 200 pages could be considered "high-interest" in terms of makes you want to keep reading even at 3 a.m. I did have The Scorpio Races but didn't get to it because I was so engrossed in Clash.
3.Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
4.What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Everything! I visited the site and others' blogs less this year just because I was driving for a good chunk of the time, but I LOVE the readathon!
5.How many books did you read? I read three and finished two.
6.What were the names of the books you read? Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly, A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin, and A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin.
7.Which book did you enjoy most? A Clash of Kings
8.Which did you enjoy least? There were parts of Revolution that dragged for me, but that's probably because I was in the car and listening for a LONG time.
9.If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
10.How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Very likely! And I'll probably sign up to cheerlead!

Here are my final stats:
Books finished: 0 (2 total)
Pages read: 37 (231 total)
Minutes listened: 45 (255 total)
Hours read: 1 1/2 (9 total)

Readathon: Update the Second

2011-10-22T20:18:00.001-05:00

I just finished A Clash of Kings, and HOLY SMOKES. It was so good that I'm going to dive right into A Storm of Swords instead of starting The Scorpio Races. Given how much I've been looking forward to The Scropio Races, that is saying a lot!

Here's my progress:
Books finished: 1 (2 total)
Pages read: 169 (194 total)
Minutes listened: 0 (210 total)
Hours read: 3 1/2 (7 1/2 total)

Readathon: Update the First

2011-10-22T16:43:00.003-05:00

I just got home from my parents', and I am DYING to dive back into A Clash of Kings! I read a bit when I stopped for lunch, and it got INTENSE!

Here are my bookish facts/stats:

Books finished: 1 (1 total)--Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly
Pages read: 25 (25 total)
Minutes listened: 210 (210 total)
Hours read: 4 (4 total)

The Readathon Begins!

2011-10-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

As you are reading this, I am driving home from my parents'. Luckily for me, I can still participate in the readathon because I'm listening to Revolution, by Jennifer Donnely, and will also probably have a chance to start the first Percy Jackson book, The Lightening Thief.

I don't have a strict schedule for today, but I do hope to come close to finishing A Clash of Kings, I'd like to read a good chunk of Anna Karenina,and, if UPS cooperates, The Scorpio Races will also make an appearance (I hope!).

Happy reading to all!

Further Evidence That I Am Crazy

2011-10-09T13:55:00.003-05:00

But that's pretty much a prerequisite for an English teacher, right?

The evidence alluded to in my post title is the fact that I am joining Wallace's read-a-long of Anna Karenina. I actually tried to read this back in college, but a serious bout of mono derailed my reading, and I never went back to it. Each week's reading is extremely manageable, so I'm hoping this proves doable.

But why is that so crazy? Book bloggers join read-a-longs every day. Well, it's crazy because I'm starting a new reading project; it's even more crazy because I am currently 160 pages in to Clash of Kings (its over 1,000 pages long), and I have Storm of Swords staring me down from the shelf thanks to some fluke in the library system that resulted in my hold requests for both (1,000+ page books) being processed at the same time. This means that I have until October 21st to finish those two books, or else I have to return Storm of Swords without finishing it (highly unlikely) or keep it and rack up library fines (highly likely). We do have a school break in about two weeks which could help my chances on the bookish front, but still. What am I thinking?

There are too many books....I cannot resist them....

You know you have a book problem (is there such a thing?) when you start telling yourself things like, "well, it will be okay because I can read the Martin during D.I.R.T. (Daily Independent Reading Time--I do it three times a week with my freshmen), and I can read the Tolstoy on the weekends; everything will get read!" Only in a perfect world, self, only in a perfect world.

Now it's time to fess up: who else has this problem? Please tell me I am not alone...

Various and Sundry Things

2011-10-02T12:05:00.003-05:00

Happy Sunday to all!

This has been a puttering type of weekend for me. I started to feel rather icky Friday morning at school and have been trying to ward off fully succumbing to illness (and missing school), so I haven't done much this weekend that required a lot of energy. I did enjoy going through my books to find some candidates for my new project (send me some suggestions! 1900-1920 are looking a little bare!), and I've managed to almost finish Game of Thrones. Sadly, I won't get the next book for almost three weeks, but I hope to get a good start on some of my project reading as I wait for A Clash of Kings.

Another excellent bit of bookish news is the fact that the date for the fall read-a-thon has been set: October 22 it is! Mark your calendars, sign up, and start stockpiling your books! I know I will.

I hope all of you are experiencing more typically fallish weather than we are here. The high for today is 81 (grrr), and I'm tired of it. Last year we had our first snow of the year the first week in October, so I just hope we get a little fall before winter comes to stay.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A New Project

2011-09-30T19:29:00.004-05:00

A few days ago, Simon announced that in 2012 he was going to try to read a book published in ever year of the twentieth century. As soon as I read that, I knew I wanted to read through the twentieth century too!

I also knew, however, that I would need more than a year to try to finish the project. A hundred books is a lot of reading, and it is also about how many books I've read each year for the last few years; I can't see myself reading ONLY books for the project, so I'm going to go ahead and plan for some contingencies that will give me some freedom within the confines of the project.

I am going to start working on the project now; I hope that the extra three months will mean that I will be finished with the project by the end of 2012. I'm going to try to keep my reading for the project more on the classical side of things, and I'm going to try to include as many books that I already own as I can. I'm looking forward to reading Virginia Woolf, Iris Murdoch, and E.M. Forster for the first time!

I'll be making a project page to keep track of what I read, and I hope to review each book that I read for the project. If you have suggestions of things I MUST read, please share!

School Started....But You Probably Already Know That

2011-09-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

Hi, bloggy friends!

Life has been a bit crazy these last few weeks with school starting; somehow I always manage to forget just how exhausting those first two weeks can be. School becomes the proverbial black hole, and it sucks everything (energy, ability to function, desire to socialize, desire to read for long periods) into its vortex. Things are settling into their routine, however, so the blog should start getting more attention from me!

Since school wasn't enough of a time-eater, I also (innocently, and without full knowledge of the implications of my decision) embarked on a journey through the Doctor Who universe shortly before school started. It is my NEW FAVORITE THING. It is amazing and geeky and everything that I like, so I will admit that when it came down to a choice between reading and watching another episode of Doctor Who (especially the first few days of school), I chose the Doctor every time.

I have a post of mini reviews planned for tomorrow, but here is some bookish goodness to hold you over until then.

1. Which book has been on your shelf the longest?
This is a tricky one. It's probably either my copy of Winnie the Pooh or one of my All-of-a-Kind Family books. The library was my main source of books as a child, and the compulsive book-collecting didn't start until I was in my teens.

2. What is your current read, your last read and your next read?
Currently I'm reading Game of Thrones and Ceremony; I'm listening to Anne of Green Gables in the car on my drive to work. The last book I finished was the audio version of A Long, Long Sleep, which was mediorcre at best. Next I will either read Sherman Alexie's War Dances or A Month in the Country since I am on the waiting list for A Clash of Kings, the sequel to Game of Thrones, at my library.

3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
One that I hated? Twilight. One that almost everyone loved but that I was fairly impartial to? The Help.

4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you'll read, but you probably won't?
Hmmm...I like to think that I will at least give a book a try even if I end up not finishing it. I guess there's a pretty good chance that I will never get around to The Fountainhead.

5. Which book are you saving for your "retirement"?
I don't really work that way. Now if you asked me about books that I would definitely need to reread in retirement, I would tell you that I would like to reread all the Dickens that I have loved (Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield)

6. Last page: read it first or save it for the end?
Always save it for the end. I don't understand people who read it first...

7. Author acknowledgements: waste of ink and space or an interesting aside?
I always read them if they are there. I find it especially enjoyable if I have read other books by the author or have some knowledge of the author's background and biography. Plus, sometimes the author acknowledges the reader (like J.K. Rowling did in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), which is pretty cool.

8. Which book character would you switch places with?
Probably either Hermione from Harry Potter or Beth from Attachments.

9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life? (a person, a place, a time?)
Here's a few: I will always associate Nicholas Nickleby and The Hobbit with Segovia, Spain, because I read them while I was studying there. Another that comes to mind is Lord of the Rings. I was a freshman in college when the first movie came out, and that was also the first time that I read the books. Several of my friends were also Tolkein fans, which was fun. Return of the King stands out especially because I whenever I had a bad day or just needed to experience a little piece of beauty, I would reread the scene where Eowyn and Faramir are standing together on the battlements of Gondor. My copy of the book automatically falls open to that page ;).

10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
When my friend DeAnna got married, she gave a personalized, meaningful gift to each or her bridesmaids. During our senior year of college, I basically forced her to read Jane Eyre; I pestered her and pestered her until she finally read, and I was very happy that she liked it after all that! Her gift to me was a beautiful, antique edition of Jane Eyre.

11. Have you ever given away a book to a special person for a special reason?
I gave a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird to a guy that I was dating. He hadn't read it, and things (I thought) were getting pretty serious, so I knew he had to read what I would name, if forced, as my favorite book. Things didn't work out between us, but at least he read that amazing novel!

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Probably Lord of the Rings. The trilogy has been to England, Colorado, Tennessee, Minnesota, and North Dakota.

13. Any "required reading" you hated in high school that wasn't so bad ten years later?
I didn't hate very many things in high school, but what I did hate I haven't revisited. Oliver Twist is the one novel that I was required to read that I despised; I know that I will go back to it eventually and that I will probably appreciate it much more than I did as a sophomore in high school, but it just hasn't happened yet.

14. What's the strangest item you've ever found in a book?
I have no interesting stories for this one. I've found bookmarks and some interesting inscriptions, but nothing crazy.

15. Used or brand new?
Either. But if I buy it used, it can't have highlighting or writing in it. I don't mind if I highlight or write in it later, but it drives me crazy to try to read around someone else's thoughts.

16. Stephen King: literary genius or opiate to the masses?
I've never read any of his work because I am a wimp. I can't handle scary things AT ALL. One of my students last year told me I should read his fantasy series, which I might try eventually.

17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
I liked the movie The Jane Austen Book Club so much better than the book. And of course, Last of the Mohicans the movie is briliant (and not just because it has Daniel Day-Lewis) while Last of the Mohicans the book is BO-RING.

18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
Hmmm....again, kind of coming up blank.

19. Have you ever read a book that made you hungry, excluding cookbooks?
Julie and Julia. Also, lots of British books with all their talk of tea and scones.

20. Who is the person whose book advice you always take?
My friend Sara. We have a very good bookish relationship. She's the reason I'm reading Game of Thrones. In the blogging world, Angie has never failed me. I've also found some real gems through Sasha (even though we have pretty different tastes), Dolce Bellezza, Wallace, Amy, Eva, and Allie.

Ooooooo, Pretty!

2011-08-25T10:14:00.004-05:00

I have to warn you that this blog might become YA Central for a while. Let's just attribute it to the fact that I'm trying to get ready to head back to school, shall we (I go back Tuesaday...GAH...so unprepared...)?

Anyhoo, I came across this lovely book through goodreads, and after reading the premise, finding out about the series as a whole, and poking around on the author's website, I must say I am quite intrigued and excited by A Breath of Eyre, by Eve Marie Mont. This book is strongly connected to Jane Eyre (hooray!), the second is connected to The Scarlet Letter, and the third is connected to The Phantom of the Opera (huzzah!)! They sound very clever, and the author seems lovely. You should definitely check her out!

In other, non-book related news, I think I'm about to succumb to Dr. Who. I've been hearing so many good things about for a long, long time, and I think the time to give in has come (plus I just finished Friday Night Lights *sob*). Anyone have any suggestions as to where to start in the Who oeuvre?

Tris and Izzie: Oh, I'll Be Honest...

2011-08-24T18:32:00.004-05:00

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley

I'll admit two things: I was pretty excited when I saw Tris & Izzie, by Mette Ivie Harrison listed on NetGalley; I had seen it mentioned on both Angie's and Steph's blogs and found the cover just breathtaking. Secondly, I am not familiar with the fairy tale Tristan and Isolde, but I do know of the opera story, and I saw the surprisingly un-terrible movie from a few years agao.

All that being said, I was pretty disappointed. Some of that may be because I don't know the fairy tale, but the weaknesses in the plot and writing and characters went far beyond any lack of knowledge of the original on my part. I was expecting a story of star-crossed lovers who loved and lost, but I got a poorly structured, ridiculously magical, over-the-top (and not in a good way) adventure story instead.

Izzie has everything she wants: a great best friend, a super popular boyfriend, and a mom who does her best to provide for her and love her in the wake of her father's death when she was five. Things start to change (quite quickly) when Tris starts to hang out with Izzie's boyfriend. Turns out Izzie and Tris are destined to love each other, fight evil, and use their magical powers together to slay Gurmun, the demonic, seemingly (but not really) immortal serpent terrorizing the magical kingdom of Curvenal.

As I read, I kept thinking about Harry Potter. I don't know if this was intentional on Harrison's part or not, but everything from Izzie not knowing of her magic right away to the way she decides to sacrifice herself and the whole process she goes through to come to that decision came across as watered down Potter magic. Add to this the fact that none of the major plot developments have a sense of inevitability or reason for happening, and the story really falls flat.

What probably drove me the most crazy about this book, however, was the characterization of Izzie, Tris, Mark (Izzie's boyfriend at the beginning), and Branna (Izzie's best friend). None of these characters are terribly compelling and much as they try, none of them are dynamic either in the literary sense (they change and grow) or the personaltiy sense (you care and want to know what happens to them). Reading the book was like watching cardboard cut-outs being moved around a stage. They lacked depth and any sort of logic or reasoning behind their interactions with each other: Izzie and Tris fall in love and it's not because of the love potion? why? Mark feels very little about Izzie breaking up with him despite supposedly loving her deeply? why? Izzie has no problem with Mark and Branna getting together about 30 seconds after she breaks up with Mark? why? Mark easily and completely falls in love with Branna 30 seconds after Izzie breaks up with him? why?

There was one thing that I liked about this book: the cover. It is beautiful and haunting but doesn't really give an accurate impression of what the book will really be about (and it helped contribute to my confusion about why there was a giant evil serpent in a story that I thought was about a pre-Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet). Sadly, the story didn't live up to its gorgeous cover.

*Tris & Izzie will be released October 11, 2011*

Rabbits, Rabbits, Everywhere: Of Mice and Men

2011-08-21T15:19:00.005-05:00

So far in my reading life, Steinbeck has been something of a mixed bag for me. I HATED "The Pearl," which was my first encounter with him, but that could very well be because my eighth grade English teacher made us read it three or four times over the course of studying it, which I did because I was a good little rule-follower. Again, this loathing could be misplaced and not Steinbeck's fault, but I do so detest "The Pearl." But I digress. My second encounter with Steinbeck was much better. The Grapes of Wrath was assigned as summer reading before my senior year of high school. At that point, I had a terrible track record with summer reading (despite being a rule-follower), probably because I was too busy reading what I WANTED to read during the summer rather than all the assigned reading which I diligently, and almost religiously, read during the school year. Imagine my surprise, then, when The Grapes of Wrath became not only the first summer reading book I ever actually finished but also was a book I rather enjoyed despite it coming from the same author who produced the oh-so-reprehensible "The Pearl." A while back (possibly years? my, time does fly), my book club read East of Eden. I didn't know quite how I felt about the novel and decided to reserve judgment until I could read it again over a shorter period of time.

When the Classics Circuit announced a Steinbeck tour, I knew I had to participate. While contemplating what book to choose, I will admit to being heavily influenced in my selection by Lost; ultimately I chose Of Mice and Men because of Lost (if you want to know how Lost is connected to the novel, you can go here. But be warned: there are spoilers for the novel and, depending on how you see it, the show itself.).

If Of Mice and Men is about anything, it is about dreams. Specifically, it is about the dream that George and Lennie have to own their own piece of land that they can work, control, and belong to. This dream of owning their own farm is really a thinly veiled desire for home and belonging, and it is their dream as a representation of home and belonging that becomes so appealing to other characters in the novel (especially Candy, an old, soon-to-lose-his-usefullness farmhand and Crooks, the ostracized Black stable hand). In typical Steinbeck fashion, however, this dream is not easily achieved, and many, many obstacles stand in the way of George and Lennie getting their farm.

Ironically, Lennie, who thinks about and clings to this dream more than anyone else in the novel, himself is probably the biggest and most consistent obstacle to achieving the dream. He longs to have rabbits he can care for, he is constantly telling George how he can't wait to live off the "fatta the land," and he is very, very strong, but Lennie has the mind and understanding of a child and often finds himself in trouble without knowing why. George, for reasons left unrevealed to the reader. takes care of Lennie, tries to protect him, and, ultimately, shows him kindness and love, but even he can't keep Lennie from destroying the possibility of achieving their dream.

I was reminded of two other works of fiction while reading Of Mice and Men: The Heart is a Lonely Hunger, by Carson McCullers, and East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. George and Lennie's relationship made me think about John Singer's friendship with Spiros Antanopolos; there's not really much of a comparison there, but this friendship from McCullers' novel popped into my mind several times as I read Of Mice and Men. It was the character of Crooks that reminded me of East of Eden. Like he does with Lee in East of Eden, Steinbeck writes Crooks to directly contradict many of the racial stereotypes and prejudices that would have been prevalent in the 1930s. Both Lee (a Chinese man) and Crooks (a Black man) are atypical according to stereotype, and I wondered while reading about Crooks, as I did while reading about Lee, what Steinbeck was trying to do with these two characters. I'd love to read more about it, so if you know of some resources, please let me know!

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel, which makes my Steinbeck experience more positive than negative or ambiguous. I think this would be a great introduction to Steinbeck (unlike "The Pearl"...okay, I'll stop complaining about "The Pearl" now): it showcases his writing style (there are some truly beautiful descriptions), it is set in California, a place he comes back to again and again, it deals with the struggling working American man, and many of the themes and ideas touched upon in the novel are expressed and fleshed out in Steinbeck's longer works.

Yes, Please!

2011-08-21T11:03:00.003-05:00

My review of Of Mice And Men will be up a bit later today, but I simply had to share this bit of loveliness with you:

Book Snob is hosting a readalong of Persuasion in September. Given the fact that Persuasion might be my favorite Austen, I will definitely be joining in the festivities! Plus, the button is just to die for!

If you want more details, go here. Hope to see you there!

Testament of Youth, Testament of Pain

2011-08-19T14:23:00.000-05:00

Out there, we've walked quite friendly up to Death, —
Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland, —
Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand.
We've sniffed the green thick odour of his breath, —
Our eyes wept, but our courage didn't writhe.
He's spat at us with bullets and he's coughed
Shrapnel. We chorused when he sang aloft,
We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe.

Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!
We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.
No soldier's paid to kick against His powers.
We laughed, — knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags
He wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags.

--"The Next War," by Wilfred Owen

I have been listening to Benjamin Briton's War Requiem and had to pretty much stop everything to just listen when I heard these lyrics. Briton wrote War Requiem in memory of three friends who died in World War II, and he used many of Wilfred Owen's poems as the text for the requiem. Owen was a poet who wrote about his experiences in World War I, which, of course, is why I'm listening to Briton's Requiem.

I have been quite haunted by Testament of Youth. I've already mentioned how the memoir has set me off on a bit of a WWI fixation, but in all honesty it is more than just a desire to learn more about the War (although there is that as well); I want to understand what happened and see how in the world what Vera Brittain experienced could ever have occurred. In Hew Strachan's introduction to The First World War, he explains that in the purely statistical, economic, historical sense, there was no Lost Generation: populations were rebounding and those lost in the War and the Influenza Epidemic had, numerically, been replaced. But in the emotional, pyschological, and spiritual reality of post-War life, Strachan points out, there very much was a Lost Generation that left behind wounded, devasted lives who would have to reconcile themselves to living while bearing all they had lost.

Vera Brittain was one such life.

If ever there was someone unprepared to live the realities of war (not to mention modern war), it was Vera Brittain at the beginning of the War. Brittain grew up at the very end of the Victorian era, and Vicatorian ideas about propriety, manners, relationships, and a woman's place in the world were still very much in place in the provincial town where Brittain grew up. Her desire to study and go to Oxford baffled, confused, and even angered her parents, and she was left largely on her own to prepare for her exams, apply to Oxford, and navigate actually getting to Oxford. A bright, motivated spirit was not exactly in high demand in the future wives of Great Britain! Brittain was so sheltered as she was growing up that going to Oxford to live in a dorm was shocking and eye-opening, so the reader knows from the beginning that training as a VAD, nursing, and serving on the front will be a seemingly unbearable, horrible, and shocking experience for Brittain.

Given how hard Brittain worked and how important going to Oxford was to her, it is truly impressive that she gave up Oxford after her first year. Her brother, Edward, and soon-to-be fiancé, Roland, enlisted as soon as war was declared, and Brittain felt she must do something to help the war effort.

Brittain makes it very clear that she had no real desire to nurse; she volunteered because she needed to do something on the same scale as Edward and Roland. She also makes it very clear that these three, like thousands of others, felt a patriotic duty to their country and so gallantly, yet foolishly, joined the war effort with very little understanding of why the war was being fought and how their participation would affect the outcome of the war. This blind allegiance and youthful optimism are portrayed in a painful, poignant manner as Brittain details the story of her war experience. We know things will end badly, she knows things will end badly, yet her writing is so skillful that each battle, each letter, each waiting, each turn is painful and heartwrenching; we experience everything along with Brittain. There were moments I couldn't breathe because Brittain had so keenly portrayed her hope, her fear, her anger, and her mourning.

Brittain wrote her Testament almost seventeen years after the war ended, and I think her older, more mature understanding of the world (and perhaps even her ability to see the rumblings of another war on the horizon) serves her memoir well. Brittain very much condemns the War to End All Wars, and like Owen finds it despicable that men, including her men, fought "Death" for "men" and "flags" rather than "lives." Brittain became a pacifist as a result of her experiences in World War I, which is not terribly surprising. But she was a pacifist not just because she had seen the individual and personal destruction that war had brought; she also saw the historical and economical uselessness of war. Several years after the War ended, Brittain and her good friend Winifred Holtby actually toured the parts of Germany and France that were most affected by the War, and Brittain came to understand that this war had cost everyone, and though the Allies may have been named the victors, no one really won.

Brittain struggled for many years (which she documents in her memoir) to find purpose and to understand how her life could have any meaning without Edward, Roland, and other beloved friends she had lost. She details her darkest times and explains how alone she truly felt. Slowly, she starts to move on, and, eventually, contemplates a completely different kind of life with a man with whom she does not share the War (at least not in the same way that she shared the war with Edward, Roland, and others). Towards the end of her book, however, she finds some reconciliation with what had happened, at least in terms of herself:

"If the dead could come back, I wondered, what would they say to me? Roland [her fiancee]--you who wrote in wartime France of 'another stranger'--would you think me, because I marry him, forgetful and unfaithful? Edward [her brother], Victor, Geoffrey, would you have me only remember you, only dwell in those days that we shared so long ago--or would you wish my life to go on? In spite of the War, which destroyed so much hope, so much beauty, so much promise, life is still here to be lived; so long as I am in the world, how can I ignore the obligation to be part of it, cope with its problems, suffer claims and interruptions? The surge and swell of its movements, its changes, its tendencies, still mould me and the surviving remnant of my generation whether we wish it or not, and no one now living will ever understand so clearly as ourselves, whose lives have been darkened by the universal breakdown of reason in 1914, how completely the future of civilised humanity depends upon the success of our present halting endeavours to control our political and social passions, and to substitute for our destructive impulses the vitalising authority of constructive thought. To rescue mankind from that domination by the irrational which leads to war could surely be a more exultant fight than war itself, a fight capable of enlarging the souls of men and women with the same heightened consciousness of living, and uniting them in one dedicated community whose common purpose transcends the individual. Only the purpose itself would be different, for its achievement would mean, not death, but life.

To look forward, I concluded, and to have courage--the courage of adventure, of challenge, of initiation, as well as the courage of endurance--that was surely part of fidelity. The lover, the brother, the friends whom I had lost, had all in their different ways possessed this courage, and it would not be utterly wasted if only, through those who were left, it could influence the generation, still to be, and convince them that, so long as the spirit of man remained undefeatable, life was worth living and worth giving. If somehow I could make my contemporaries, and especially those who, like myself, had once lost heart, share this belief; if perhaps, too, I could have children, and pass on to them the desire for this courage and the impulse to redeem the tragic mistakes of the generation which gave them birth, then Roland and Edward and Victor and Geoffrey would not have died vainly after all. It was only the past that they had taken to their graves, and with them, although I should always remember, I must let it go. '...Under the sway / Of death the past's enormous disarray / Lies hushed and dark.' So Henley had written: and so, with my eyes on the future, I must now resolve."

Testament of Youth is so many things: it is a condemnation of the choices leading up to and continuing World War I, it is a plea for pacifism and alternative conflict resolution, it is an expression of grief and mourning, it is an example of healing, but most of all it is a labor of and testament to love: yes, Brittain mourns the men she lost in the War, but she also brings them to life, pays tribute to them, and records them so their memories may live on.

I owe a huge debt to Laura for bringing my attention to this book (you can check out her review of the book here). This is one of those books that changed my life, and I know it is a book that I will come back to again and again. As an American, my working knowledge of World War I was fairly vague (as I think is fairly typical for most Americans with only a high school understanding of World War I). The emphasis had always seemed to be on World War II, and the US doesn't have any sort of observed day of remembrance and acknowledgment for World War I, probably because the country became involved in the conflict rather late in the game. This book gave me new respect, appreciation, and feeling for all those who fought and sacrificed in World War I. Thanks to this book, you will not be forgotten.

The Scorpio Races

2011-08-14T17:26:00.003-05:00

Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite young adult novelists; I've read all her books, and I would say she is probably the writer that brought me into the young adult reading fold. I adored Shiver, really loved Linger, and almost couldn't talk after finishing Forever.

So when I had the chance to meet Stiefvater a few weeks ago and get my copies of the Wolves of Mercy Falls signed, I jumped at the chance. She was funny, warm, and so kind; Stiefvater is an artist in so many ways, so hearing her speak about her experiences as a writer, artist, and musician was very enjoyable. Stiefvater mentioned that her next book, The Scorpio Races, was her favorite of all her books. I was familiar with the premise and was already excited for the book, but that pretty much sealed the deal, and The Scorpio Races became a must-read.

I mentioned that Stiefvater is an artist and musician; what I didn't mention is that she makes her own book trailers for her books. Here is the trailer for The Scorpio Races; Stiefvater did all the artwork and composed and played the music in the trailer. Cool, huh?

Derailing the Reading Plan

2011-07-30T15:50:00.002-05:00

Even though I am very much a planner in real life, the most planning I do when it comes to my reading is reserving books at the library and participating (rather badly given my track record) in read-a-longs and book tours. I also will mentally calculate my next few books, but these plans are seldom set in stone and very rarely accomplished as planned.

My current loosely constructed plan was to try to finish The First World War before next Friday night because that is when my book club will be discussing Testament of Youth. I also was rereading the Lady Julia Grey books to prepare to read Raybourn's newest installment. After that, I was ready to give in to the winds of Maisie Dobbs, the sirens of WWI, and those wily reading fates.

Turns out the wily reading fates have stepped in a bit earlier than expected (as they are wont to do...they are fates after all). One of the blogs I love best (and one of the blogs that inspired me to start my own book blog) is Stuck in a Book. Simon has such a wonderful knowledge of books and stories, and I always find unexpected gems on his blog. Today I found mention of an article in The Guardian that moved Simon to tears and the book that the article was excerpted from, Let Not the Waves of the Sea. After reading the article (and being moved to tears myself), I jumped on my library's website to reserve it. It is not there. I went to Barnes & Noble. com; they don't have it either. I then proceeded to my old standby, Amazon. Turns out it has not yet been released in the U.S., but it is available in Kindle format.

As soon as I saw that, I felt that old familiar feeling, and knew my plans were of no use. For the foreseeable future, I will be reading Let Not the Waves of the Sea. Oh, reading fates, you are cunning!

A Well of Despair and Joy

2011-07-26T15:39:00.006-05:00

Never fear, my friends! The despair and joy have all been of the vicarious, literary variety. Since my last posting, I have found myself immersed in the world of Harry Potter (both on the page and on the screen, and crying through both), marvelling at the wonders of Oxford (courtesy of A Discovery of Witches--not sure how I feel about it yet), and feeling deeply for the pain and loss that made up the War to End All Wars as experienced and depicted by Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth.

I will be reviewing Testament of Youth very soon, but I think the review will not be the end of it; this memoir has taken a distinct and strong hold on me (it even achieved the impossible: I found myself wondering during Deathly Hallows, Part 2 at what a difference it makes to fight a war (against Voldemort) that has meaning, purpose, and necessity; I think Brittain would have envied Harry & Co. their conviction and knowledge that fighting Voldemort was absolutely necessary and must be done, but more on that later!).

I have also picked up The First World War, by Hew Strachan, in an effort to understand this war more. I knew little about it beyond major dates, vague memories of battles, and Wilfred Owen's "Dule et decorum est." Now I find that I must know as much about the war as possible, and I sense that I could well be reading about the war (in both fiction and nonfiction) for quite a while.

So there you have it. What has captured your reading imagination of late?

Maggie Stiefvater Is Still Brilliant

2011-07-13T17:41:00.005-05:00

After finishing Linger, I had no idea how I was going to make it a year before finding out what happened to Sam and Grace; ironically, I almost missed the release date for Forever because my brain was completely convinced that it came out at the end of July. Happily for me, my brain was wrong, and I was able to devour Forever a full two weeks earlier than I thought I would!

Like Shiver and Linger, Forever delivers another tale of love, sacrifice, and how to truly live life. The writing is just as achingly beautiful, and the use of poetry and song lyrics were pitch-perfect. Indeed, these stories would not be these stories without the songs and poems and flashes of art that imbue the writing so effortlessly. Good story is important, but I think the thing that will keep me coming back to these novels for a long time is the quality of the writing. They are so well-written and achingly reflective of the truth; this book was no exception in its ability to make me catch my breath and pause at a phrase, sentence, or passage so exquisite that it required time regardless of my urgent need to read, read, read to find out the rest of the story.

Just as Linger expanded the reader's focus from Sam and Grace to Sam, Grace, Isabel, and Cole, Forever expands its focus to center on the pack as a whole; and it is not just the pack as an abstract or a fact of Sam's past or a future responsibility for Cole: the pack is a very real factor in the present for both Sam and Grace once more. When the pack is threatened, it is not just the most important pieces of Sam's past that are threatened. Instead, it is Grace's (and by extension Sam's) future that is threatened as well. As Sam and Grace continue to struggle through these obstacles, their story widens to include Cole and Isabel. As I stated in my review of Linger, I didn't really care much about what happened between Cole and Isabel because I was so wrapped up in Sam and Grace's storyline. In Forever, however, I became very invested in Cole and Isabel and was so happy with they way they ended up by the end of the novel.

The end of the novel may be unsatisfying to some, but I really thought it was perfect. I know what I think happens beyond the end of the story (which Stiefvater left ambiguous), but the ending being happy or sad wasn't really, I think, the point. I think the point was what the characters in the novel learn by the end. They all, at some point early in the series, learned to survive in the strictest sense of the word; what they do in Forever is learn to live. Grace is the least conflicted of the four in the novel, probably because her battle to merely survive was lost (or possibly the definition of survival was changed) at the end of Linger; for her, the biggest battle is to make it back to Sam and recognize herself and their relationship in a very different light. Sam, however, has some major demons to slay: for him, truly living is all about facing down his fears. Whether it be bathtubs, Beck's true motives, shifting again, or losing Grace, Sam must come to grips with the things that have held him captive. These things were all built up very poignantly in the first two books, and seeing Sam deal with them (realistically and honestly) create some of the most moving scenes in the novel. The fact that Sam moves past being controlled by these fears is part of why the ambiguity of the ending didn't bother me; the point is not so much happens over the winter but that Sam's life can really now be a life.

Cole and Isabel are fighting to move past what they label the "toxicity" of their separate pasts that leads them to push each other away for fear of being toxic to each other. Cole starts to win his battle first and is able to show Isabel that they are only as toxic as they choose to be. Cole St. Clair grew over the course of this novel, and we see glimpses of the leader Beck knew he could be from the very beginning of the story. Isabel, on the other hand, must give up her hardness and desire to push people away in order to truly live. Her choice at the end of the novel is huge precisely because it is completely selfless; she believes she has no hope for her own happy ending, but she takes action at great cost to herself for friends who have really become her family.

In the end, this series is about love in all its forms. It is the story of friends, family, and lovers living life and taking care of each other. I so wish that I could speak more eloquently about this book and this series, but perhaps I'm still a bit too close to the experience of reading it to do so. Just trust me: read these books!

Check out Angie's wonderful review: it says everything I couldn't!

"How Harry Saved Reading"

2011-07-11T09:49:00.002-05:00

I found this extremely interesting article over at Dickensblog. I didn't intend for the blog to have a Harry Potter theme this month, but it's sort of happening, so I'll just go with it!

The article details the Harry Potter phenomenon and then shows how Rowling was influenced by Charles Dickens. It also touches on the fact that Harry Potter made kids want to read again; the best part is, it was a well-written series of books that brought many kids back to the reading fold (*ahem-ahem* Twilight, I'm looking at you...)

Here's the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304584004576419742308635716.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Is This Even Possible?

2011-07-01T16:25:00.000-05:00

Since May 30

2011-06-08T10:20:00.003-05:00

I have been quite the busy bee! Here's what I've been doing for the last week and a half:

1. Grading, grading, grading: In the course of four short days I graded 55 research papers, 75 semester exams, and lots and lots of smaller homework assignments and quizzes. I am exhausted!

2. Moving my classroom: In the midst of all the grading craziness, I also had to pack up and move my classroom. It involved a lot of stairs and boxes of books.

3. Driving 1600 miles: For the next three weeks, I will be visiting friends in North Carolina and Tennessee. Because I am insane, I drove from North Dakota.

4. Sleeping: I hope this is self-explanatory.

5. Finishing four books: I FINALLY finished Frankenstein with my seniors, and I still loathe it as much as ever. I also finished listening to Dragonfly in Amber (audiobooks are a MUST on long roadtrips!), and I gave in and read Attachments again (I think it might become my go-to comfort read). I also listened to the very enthralling Delirium, which I think gave me a cramp in my neck because I got so tense while listening! On the plus side, Delirium helped me ignore the fact that I had to drive in West Virginia for three hours.

I don't know how much I'll be around in the next few weeks, but I will be reading! Happy summer!

I Was Going to Review Sense & Sensibility, But Then...

2011-05-30T18:36:00.003-05:00

My big, exciting plan for Memorial Day night was to FINALLY (sorry friends) post my Classics Circuit review of Sense & Sensibility and Little Dorrit (which was derailed by an awful flu-like illness...I know...as if I haven't been sick enough this year...), but then a tornado watch was announced for my area.

And this was not just any tornado watch; phrases like "high risk" and "perfect tornadic conditions" and "perfect storm situation" were tossed around, and I proceeded to freak out. Having grown up in southwestern Minnesota, I know a wee bit about tornadoes, and I am, to this day, irrationally afraid of any sort of severe weather. Even intense thunderstorms freak me out (just ask my old roommate about the story of when I called her and her then-roommate to see if I could spend the night on their couch because I couldn't handle being alone during the bad weather...sad but true...).

Given the impending doom and destruction barrelling down on my city, I will not be writing my review. Instead, I will be trying to distract myself with some knitting and chocolate overload, eyes glued to the tv, trying not to use the paper bag that I have already located for hyperventilation purposes. See you on the flip side.

Update: we did have a tornado/tornado warning. There is some damage here, but all is well. I met some of my neighbors, and I was able to help one woman with her two young children, which helped distract me from my terror quite nicely. I hope that this is not an indication of the summer to come!

Iliad Readalong: Post 1 (Books 1-12)*

2011-05-16T06:57:00.000-05:00

Here's a few housekeeping items to get out of the way before I start my review:
1. I am unabashedly Team Hector.
2. I will try to be fair to Achilles.
3. I am reading the Robert Fagles translation of The Iliad (it's so pretty!)
4. Consequently, I love Robert Fagles.

I have been wanting to read The Iliad ever since I read (and enjoyed immensely) And Only Deceive, by Tasha Alexander. And Only to Deceive is a Victorian mystery that plays off The Iliad and Ancient Greek art quite a bit; in fact, large portions of The Iliad are quoted in the novel. I read parts of The Iliad for a World Literature course in college, and I taught part of Book 6, all of Book 22, and part of Book 24 the last five years at my previous school, but I had never read all of The Iliad. Reading the quoted parts of The Iliad in And Only to Deceive proved to be the final prod needed to get me to read The Iliad in its entirety.

While The Iliad is many things, at its core, it is a story about war. We see the many effects of war, and Homer is not shy about giving us the nitty-gritty of hand-to-hand combat and battles that hinged off the strength, drive, and determination of a few key individuals. As Sarpedon says to Hector, it is "the toils of war . . . the mesh of the huge dragnet sweeping up the world" (5.559-560) that have captured the attention, men, and means of two great countries, Greece (Achaea) and Troy, for ten years. The war may have started when Paris stole Helen from Menelaus, but now, ten years later, fighting to the end and to victory (which both sides concurrently believe will be theirs) has become a matter of honor and glory; the war cannot be abandoned easily (even when all seems lost, even when the war appears futile) because honor and glory cannot be discarded easily. Honor and glory are breath, bread, water, life for the men of Greece and Troy, and this determination, this unerring pursuit of victory, is what makes reading The Iliad exhilerating, haunting, and disconcerting all at the same time.

It is particularly chilling to read of the great fighters for each side because they all acknowledge that ultimately they have NO control over the outcome of the war; time after time, Agamemnon, Diomedes, Great and Little Ajax, and Odysseus for the Greeks and Hector, Aeneas, and Sarpedon for the Trojans vow to fight their best, win glory, accomplish superhuman feats of strength and courage all the while knowing that it is the favor of the gods and the decree of fate that will determine who wins this war. It is clear that men on both sides of the battle grow weary, but it is only Achilles, who is angry beyond reason, honor, and his own character at how he has been betrayed by Agamemnon, who contemplates sailing for home before the war is over. Every other Greek and Trojan, to the man (with the possibly exception of the clueless, preening, despicable Paris) will stay and fight and die for the cause they pledged themselves to ten years before.

In addition to the human players in this story, we also read and learn about the immortals who are fighting in the Trojan War. To be fair, it's really the immortals who started this war, and much as it kills me to be fair to a numskull like Paris, it has to be said that if Zeus had manned up and named who was fairest when the golden apple showed up, then Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena wouldn't have needed to try to bribe Paris to name them fairest, Paris wouldn't have chosen Aphrodite (who conveniently failed to mention that Paris' prize, the most beautiful woman in the world, happened to already be married), then Helen would never have been stolen, Menelaus wouldn't have needed to seek revenge, Agamemnon wouldn't have sacrificed his daughter for smooth sailing, and lots of pain and heartache could have been avoided. Needless to say, however, this would not have made as good a story as The Iliad! Homer is not shy about showing the Greek gods (particularly Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Ares, and Aphrodite in Books 1-12) in all their glory, pettiness, and capriciousness, and the gods' inability to make up their minds adds to the reader's sense of futility. Even when a god proclaims a favorite, his or her favoritism has very little affect on that god's actions. Case in point: Zeus claims to favor Troy (and especially Hector), but there are several points in the first twelve books where we find him actually fighting for and supporting the Greeks. He made a promise to Achilles' mother to repay the Greeks for shaming Achille (Agamemnon claimed Achilles' prized woman, Briseis), so he must act for and support the Greeks. There are many other instances of gods flip-flopping back and forth between sides, and, again, capricious is a word seemingly invented for the Greek gods!

The Iliad opens in the tenth year of the war, so we are immediately thrown into a conflict that has twisted and knotted and become complex beyond its original cause. Families, cities, and countries are caught in the web of constant fighting, constant loss, and constant uncertainty. Characters are made or broken in these situations: while Andromache weeps and begs Hector to command his troops from the wall of Troy, Helen spurns and despises Paris, wishing he was a better, braver man than his cowardly self; Diomedes and Odysseus volunteer to brave almost certain death to scout out the Trojan troops threatening the very lives of the Achaean force while Dolon, a foolish Trojan scout, plunges ignorantly into the darkness to scout out the Achaen camp and even more foolishly begs Diomedes and Odysseus to spare his life and demand a ransom. True characters and personalities, of mortals and immortals, are shown in The Iliad because the ten long years of war (and the future years of war stretching out before everyone involved) have chipped away at pretense, deceit, and falsehood, leaving the characters exposed and raw, shown for who and what they really are.

The Iliad is utterly compelling. The story is rich and vivid, and Fagles' translation is breathtaking and brilliant. Fagles' art alone makes The Iliad well worth your time.

*this is a reposting of the post I wrote for the Ancient Greeks Tour over at the Classic Circuit.

Celebrate!!!

2011-05-11T20:15:00.000-05:00

I just have to share: I passed my big, scary, future-determining licensure tests! I'm so happy, and a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

In honor of this happy event, I am going to do the meme that Simon at Stuck in a Book started. Apologies in advance for helping perpetuate the ever-growing TBR piles.

1. Book I am currently reading: Sense and Sensibility (for the Classics Circuit Author duel), The Iliad (for Allie's readalong), and I am listening to Dragonfly in Amber

2. Last book I finished: South Riding. It was amazing; I am in literary love with Winifred Holtby; drop everything and read it now!

3. Next book I want to read: Um...The next one I will probably start is The Idiot (which I am reading for another of Allie's readalongs); I really want to read The Name of the Wind and Violets in March. I'm also itching to reread The Hunger Games series. Clearly I can't decide.

4. Last book I bought: Does a free book count? I downloaded Passage to India for my Kindle; the last book I paid money for was The Idiot.

5. Last book I was given: I won Children of Scarabaeus in Angie's giveaway and The Lost Summer of Louisa Alcott over at Devourer of Books.

South Riding: An Unexpected Book with an Unexpected Message

2011-05-07T14:59:00.006-05:00

There are many things that I love about PBS' Masterpiece; one is that the program often inspires me to read things that I wouldn't otherwise read. I discovered Little Dorrit this way (but I would have found it eventually, given the fact that it was written by Charles Dickens), and I just finished South Riding, by Winifred Holtby, which I REALLY wouldn't have found if not for the BBC/Masterpiece series.

Friends, I have discovered a new literary love. It is so pleasurable to read something so completely embued with a love of place (in this case Yorkshire) and so reflective of a community of people. I can't really talk about this book and my thoughts on it without giving away major plot points, so consider yourself warned.

Sarah Burton is the new headmistress of the Kiplington High School (confession: there are three towns in the South Riding, and I never quite figured out which was which. Throw in another village, and I was geographically-confused most of the time. I still really enjoyed it!), and she is as modern as they come. She is strong-willed, outspoken, passionate, dedicated, and completely convinced of the importance of her mission to show her students (all girls) that there can be more to their future than marriage and babies. It doesn't take long before she clashes with the more traditional, staid members of South Riding, especially Robert Carne, a gentleman farmer and father of one of Sarah's more interesting students.

Sarah's fight against the traditionalists is a small piece of the larger conflict between tradition and progress that the novel focuses on. We are introduced to idealistic preachers, cheery self-made men, poverty-stricken families struggling to survive, the aristocracy, the working class, and everything in between. All these characters are deeply flawed, but most of them are also deeply likable. While it at first seems that most of the inhabitants of South Riding have very little in common, it becomes clear by the end of the novel that they are bound by community, and, as Sarah so eloquently realizes, "'we all pay,' she thought; 'we all take; we are members one of another. We cannot escape this partnership. This is what it means--to belong to a community; this is what it means to be a people.'"

South Riding takes place as England teeters on the edge of war with Germany. Reminescences and horrors of WWI loom large in the minds of many characters, and the cost of the War to End All Wars is still being paid. Even as the inhabitants of the South Riding strive to recover from that horrific conflict, they are forced to prepare for and reconcile themselves to what will become another bloody, draining conflict. I was deeply moved, especially, by Sarah's memories of the wars and her reactions to things as simple as patriotic songs that were sung during WWI. These remembrances serve to highlight all the more starkly the foreboding nature of the war about to break.

Even though there is a huge cast of characters in the book, in the end, really, it is Sarah's story. I had a few jarring moments as I was reading this book: the first came when Sarah realizes her love for Robert Carne. She is a strong, independent woman, so far ahead of her time, so to hear her acknowledging that she would give anything to have one night with Robert, even if he was so drunk that he thought she was his mentally unstable wife, was a bit shocking and disappointing. Her declarations of love (never to him, of course, but just to the reader) were beautiful and moving, and Holtby intentionally alludes to Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester as she introduces Carne, shows us how Sarah falls for him, and even in the way that Sarah and Carne interact.

The thing that almost took away my love for this book was the death of Robert Carne. Holtby makes it fairly clear that Carne will die because of heart problems, but the manner of his death still shocked me. I will admit to being quite the romantic; I wanted Sarah and Carne to be together, and finally, after 400 pages, it seemed that Carne was starting to acknowledge the possibility of feelings for Sarah. He is a wounded, damaged man, distraught over the loss of his wife to mental illness, wracked with guilt over his perceived fault in driving her to insanity, and determined to sacrifice everything (even his ancestral home, himself, and his pride) to see that Muriel (his wife) is cared for. I freely admit that there are few things more appealing to me than the wounded suffering hero, and to see him, after so much pain, and strife, and hardship, catch a glimmer of hope and change in Sarah was beautiful and exactly what my mushy little heart wanted to see.

And then he has a terrible accident, dies, and leaves behind speculation of fraud, suicide, and cowardice.

He dies.

And I found myself thinking, "WHAT THE.........!!!!!!!!!"

It was not a pretty moment in my reading life. This character, who I had become so deeply invested in, is cast off without seeming thought or care from his creator.

Sarah, naturally, is destroyed by her guilt, grief, and regret (in true repressed, angsty fashion, they never discussed their feelings), and she is at a loss, almost paralyzed by what she sees as the game-changer of her life.

I will admit: I was angry at Winifred Holtby. True, Sarah eventually finds out that Carne did feel the same for her, and she has several almost transcendant revelations about herself, her purpose, and life in general, but it wasn't until I read the epitaph that Holtby's good friend Verra Brittain wrote that I understood.

Winifred Holtby wrote South Riding as she was fighting her final battle with terminal kidney disease; she finished the novel a month before she died. And I understood that Robert Carne had to die because Holtby, like Sarah, was reconciling herself to the reality of death; she was coming to grips with her own death, and to have Robert Carne die in the way that he did was a fitting testament to Holtby's resolution about her own death. South Riding shows Holtby's belief that "the world, with all its beauty and adventure, its richness and variety, is darkened by cruelty. Death, if it ends the loveliness, the adventure, ends also that. Death balances the picture. It completes the pattern. It makes even cruelty fall into place. It is completion."

Brittain wrote:

"This tale of universal values mirrored in local experience is not only an achievement of the mind; it is a triumph of personality, a testament of its author's undaunted philosophy. Suffering and resolution, endurance beyond calculation, the brave gaiety of the unconquered spirit, held Winifred Holtby back from the grave and went to its making. Seed-time and harvest, love and birth, decay and resurrection, are the immemorial stuff of which it has been created. In it lies the intuitive rather than the conscious awareness of imminent death. Its lovely country scenes go back to the earliest memories of the Yorkshire child who, thirteen years ago, came as a brilliant Oxford graduate to London, as though she returned to her beginning because some instinct told her that beyond the brave struggle for life and for time, the inevitable end was near.

This knowledge has given to South Riding a wisdom and maturity beyond its author's years. With the clear enlightenment born of her own peril, she understands the men and women who already belong to those dim regions where the living walk as strangers, yet who hide from their friends their consciousness of encroaching doom. She realises that the death which swoops down from the sky or roars upward from the sea may sometimes appear a mercy and a release; she knows the reassurance brought to the soul tormented with griefs and problems by the certainty that life is not endless nor sorrow everlasting."

To have written a book that is about death that is so vibrant, full, refreshing, and beautiful is a true accomplishment. I will definitely be seeking out more of Winifred Holtby's work.

"Perfect Girl"

2011-05-01T16:52:00.005-05:00

Attachments*, by Rainbow Rowell, tells an odd love story with perfect comic timing, beautiful writing, and an innate understanding of what real love and relationships are all about. Here's the summary from Goodreads: "Beth and Jennifer know their company monitors their office e-mail. But the women still spend all day sending each other messages, gossiping about their coworkers at the newspaper and baring their personal lives like an open book. Jennifer tells Beth everything she can't seem to tell her husband about her anxieties over starting a family. And Beth tells Jennifer everything, period.

When Lincoln applied to be an Internet security officer, he hardly imagined he'd be sifting through other people's inboxes like some sort of electronic Peeping Tom. Lincoln is supposed to turn people in for misusing company e-mail, but he can't quite bring himself to crack down on Beth and Jennifer. He can't help but be entertained-and captivated- by their stories.

But by the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late for him to ever introduce himself. What would he say to her? "Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you." After a series of close encounters and missed connections, Lincoln decides it's time to muster the courage to follow his heart . . . even if he can't see exactly where it's leading him.

Written with whip-smart precision and charm, Attachments is a strikingly clever and deeply romantic debut about falling in love with the person who makes you feel like the best version of yourself. Even if it's someone you've never met."

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Attachments achieves that rare thing of having characters that are completely relatable, real, and likeable. Lincoln is a quiet man who feels things deeply and lives a very insular life. It takes him a long time to realize that he needs and wants to change his life, which includes everything from moving out of his mother's house and having a job that doesn't break down his spirit and sense of right and wrong to admitting his feelings for the one woman who he thinks he can never have.

Lincoln is a sensitive, kind soul, but he still comes off the page as completely real and believable. I even found myself falling for Lincoln just a little bit, even though I knew he was a character in a book. In many ways, Lincoln is an idealized yet completely realistic man: he loves long and hard (seemingly challenging Anne Elliot's claim that women love longest when all hope is gone), he falls in love for all the right reasons, he is honest, compassionate, and tender, and he has a refreshingly frank and simple approach to himself and his life; on the other hand, he does some incredibly stupid things, he is a bit slow on the uptake, his confidence in himself is almost nil for most of the book, and he can be complacent, hesitant, and altogether too passive. All these things, however, combine to paint a romantic hero more boy-next-door than idealized prince.

As I was reading the email exchanges, with Lincoln, between Jennifer and Beth, I felt like I was reading the emails of real people. These two women are self-confident, brash, rude, kind, silly, and supportive, and I kept thinking to myself, "I want to be friends with them!" I also kept thinking about my former roommate and I. We didn't email at work nearly as much as Jennifer and Beth, but when we did email, they were epic, and I knew that, more often than not, I should NOT read them while students were in the room because I would probably end up laughing uproariously. She has similar stories. We would, however, email while we were at home; there was one particularly memorable time when we facebook messaged each other back and forth for thirty minutes while sitting in the same ROOM! Some might find this disturbing or pathetic; I prefer to think of it as charming and adorable. And while we may not have talked about the same things that Jennifer and Beth did, our emails and messages always had the same comradery, deep affection, and caring as Jennifer and Beth's even when they, like Jennifer and Beth's, were at their snarkiest. Rowell captures the tones and nuances of friendship between two smart women perfectly, and you can't help but root for both of them.

Jennifer, Beth, and Lincoln were all wonderful, and I could totally understand all three of them at various points throughout the novel. Even the quirky characters (Lincoln's mom and sister, Lincoln's Dungeons & Dragons buddies, Lincoln's co-workers, and the oh-so-appealing but oh-so-despicable Chris) are real and just jump off the page.

I know that many have classified this book as light reading or weekend reading, but I found it profound, insightful, and meaningful. The writing was wonderful, and I found myself doing two things that I almost never do while reading: laughing out loud and crying. Reading is a highly internalized experience for me, which is why I think I so rarely have external reactions to what I am reading. I may smile internally or think, "that's funny!"; I may feel my stomach twist because something I just read is almost unbearably sad, poignant or touching; for these experiences to leap accross that divide between my most internal experience of a book and my external interactions with the world, they must be extreme: extremely funny, extremely moving, extremely horrifying. Attachments did this: it was so visceral and real that I couldn't help but experience it beyond the internal.

This is one of those books that I want EVERYONE to read; I want to buy lots of copies and indiscriminately give it away; I want to email everyone I know and tell them to read this book. This is the first book of the year that I KNEW, as soon as I finished it, would make my top reads of the year. Considering it's only May, that is high praise indeed.

So please. Do yourself a favor. Check out this quirky read, be pulled into the world of The Courier, and enjoy the ride. But set aside some time: once you start it, you won't want to put it down.

Thanks to Wallace for reviewing this! I never would have found it otherwise!

Another Poem

2011-04-22T10:20:00.003-05:00

I will be spending Easter weekend with my family (for the first time in almost ten years!), so I won't be around much on here. I wanted to leave you with another poem to ponder in my absence.

I read this poem last night and just knew I had to share it. I plan to make it a permanent part of the blog somehow because it is just so true. Here is "Reader,"* by Lisel Mueller from her collection Alive Together:

A husband. A wife. Three children. Last year they did not exist;
today the parents are middle-aged, one of the daughters grown. I
live with them in their summer house by the sea. I live with them,
but they can't see me sharing their walks on the beach, their dinner
preparations in the kitchen. I am in pain because I know what they
don't, that one of them has snipped the interlocking threads of their
lives and now there is no end to the slow unraveling. If I am a ghost
they look through, I am also a Greek chorus, hand clapped to
mouth in fear, knowing their best intentions will go wrong.
"Don't," I want to shout, but I am inaudible to them; beach towels
over their shoulders, wooden spoon in hand, they keep pulling at
the threads. When nothing is left they disappear. Closing the book I
feel abandoned. I have lost them, my dear friends. I want to write
them, wish them well, assure each one of my affection. If only they
would have let me say good-bye.

*Mueller wrote this poem specifically about Family Life, by Mary Elsie Robertson, which I have not read. I could certainly, however, relate to the sentiment of this poem!

"kisses are a better fate"

2011-04-21T17:12:00.005-05:00

Photo Credit

Here is another post in honor of National Poetry Month, and the poem is another from the tenth grade textbook. It might be a bit ambitious to teach e.e. cummings to sophomores, but I liked the poem so much that I couldn't help myself. I don't necessarily agree with everything in the poem, but it is so beautifully expressed that I feel compelled to love it.

since feeling is first
e.e. cummings

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

Caution: Indiscriminate Gushing Ahead

2011-04-20T13:46:00.002-05:00

If you have not read Jane Eyre, proceed at your own caution. Important plot points will be given away. If you do not like the equivalent of a fangirl squealing over a cute boy, do not read what follows. I do the blog-equivalent of squealing. A lot. My apologies in advance.

Friends, Jane Eyre is killing me in all the best ways. The passion and tension of the scenes between Jane and Rochester as she acts on, acknowledges, and struggles with her love for him are BREATHTAKING. As in, I literally had to put the book down at the end of the chapter so I could breathe.

Yes, I have been reading this book for almost two months, but that is the joy of returning to a novel that I know so well and already love. I can take my time and really relish the story, the language, and my new observations because I do not have that persistent, ravenous sense of "hurry, hurry, hurry....what will happen? I MUST find out!" I already know how the story ends, so now the pleasure comes in the getting there, not in being there.

I think Chapter XVII is a new favorite. This is the chapter when Jane finally admits to herself (and by extension to the reader) that she loves Edward Fairfax Rochester:

'He is not to them what he is to me,' I thought: 'he is not of their kind. I believe he is of mine--I am sure he is--I feel akin to him--I understand the language of his countenance and movements: though rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him. Did I say, a few days since, that I had nothing to do with him but to receive my salary at his hands? Did I forbid myself to think of him in any other light than as a paymaster? Blasphemy against nature! Every good, true vigorous feeling I have gathers impulsively round him. I know I must conceal my sentiments: I must smother hope; I must remember that he cannot care much for me. For when I say that I am of his kind, I do not mean that I have his force to influence, and his spell to attract; I mean only that I hae certain tastes and feelings in common with him. I must, then, repeat, continually that we are for ever sundered--and yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him.'

I love that she says she can't help but love him while she breathes and thinks, for if Jane Eyre is anything, she is a thinking woman. This internal dialogue happens at the beginning of the first evening that Jane has to endure with the rest of the party (Blanche Ingram and company), and as the night progresses, Jane becomes more and more miserable and tries to escape. Mr. Rochester, of course, is reluctant to let her go because he, too, is in love with her. Jane says that Rochester "made me love him without looking at me," but, of course, he does look at her because he loves her. Until this reading, I didn't realize that Bronte very subtly lets the reader know along the way that Rochester is feeling exactly what Jane is feeling; I didn't notice on previous reads, I think, because I was just so caught up in the exquisite feeling of not knowing what would happen.

The fact that the feelings are mutual is very clear at the end of this same chapter. Please indulge me by allowing me one last quote which is a new favorite:

'Return to the drawing-room: you are deserting too early.'
'I am tired, sir.'
He looked at me for a minute.
'And a little depressed,' he said. 'What about? Tell me.'
'Nothing--nothing, sir. I am not depressed.'
'But I affirm that you are: so much depressed that a few more words would bring tears to your eyes--indeed, they are there now, shining and swimming; and a bead has slipped from the lash and fallen on to the flag. If I had time, and was not in mortal dread of some prating prig of a servant passing, I would know what all this means. Well, tonight I excuse you; but understand that so long as my visitors stay, I expect you to appear in the drawing-room every evening; it is my with; don't neglect it. Now go, and send Sophie for Adele. Good night, my---' He stopped, bit his lip, and abruptly left me.

I seriously could live off of the end of this chapter. So much pain! So much angst! So much tension! I love it!

I Might Be Crazy

2011-04-16T09:55:00.009-05:00

Amy recently posted about her literary eyes being bigger than her literary stomach, and I think I have a severe case of book consumption optimism. Why you ask?

Well, because I just signed up for two readalongs of two very long literary classics. Allie over at A Literary Odyssey is hosting a readalong of The Iliad in May and The Idiot in May and June. Did I also mention that I signed up to read Sense & Sensibility and Little Dorrit for the Classic Circuit's battle royale between Austen and Dickens?

Then there is the small fact that the last month of school (i.e. May) is notoriously time-consuming and insanity-inducing.

But I couldn't help it! And in my defense, I've already read the first half of The Iliad, and I've already read Little Dorrit (so I could skim or read only select passages again. But did you really expect me to root for either Austen or Dickens over the other? I can't swear that kind of allegiance!). That means I would only really be reading Sense & Sensibility (which compared to the other three is quite puny in length), the second half of The Iliad, and all of The Idiot, which runs into June anyway.

Maybe I'm just in denial, but how, HOW, was I supposed to resist all these lovely books?

"The Boat Longing For the Sea"

2011-04-15T21:44:00.004-05:00

It is National Poetry Month, and I hope to share some of my favorite poems as the month continues.

"George Gray", by Edgar Lee Masters, is a poem I discovered last semester because it is in the sophomore textbook. I immediately loved it and decided to read and discuss it with my sophomores. I particularly love the metaphor and symbolism of the boat.

George Gray
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me—
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire—
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

Torn Between Two Great Loves

2011-04-11T17:07:00.002-05:00

Do I even need to say how ridiculously excited I am about this??!! Now I just have to decide who I want to read...I was thinking about it on the way to work this morning, and I think I will try to sign up for Sense and Sensibility (as long as no one else grabs it) because it is the only Austen I haven't read. While I feel I owe my literary allegiance and endless love to Mr. Dickens, reading an Austen novel during the last month of school is just a bit more realistic. Plus I've read most of Dickens already...more on that later.

Won't you join me in biting my nails in extreme anticipation over this literary pleasure?

Readathon 2011: The End

2011-04-10T11:19:00.003-05:00

It turns out that I was more brain fried than I thought last night, so I didn't post any more about my readathon reading. I did end up getting some good reading in, though, so my readathon stats didn't turn out quite as pitiful as I thought they would!

The facts:
Books finished: 1 (1 total)
Pages read: 234 (367 total)
Hours read: 4 (7 total)

I finished When We Were Strangers shortly after posting last night. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't the greatest thing ever. I finished One Day, by David Nicholls, a few days ago, which pretty much rocked my world. I will be posting on it eventually (probably after I read Tess of the D'Urbervilles), but when I picked up When We Were Strangers, I was looking for another really, really awesome read. When We Were Strangers didn't end up being that for me, but it was a fast, nice read.

After I finished When We Were Strangers, I started Nightshade, which proved to be a good late-in-the-game read. Despite tired eyes and exhausted brain, it kept my attention and made me want to keep reading. I picked this one up at the library based on Amy's review.

So all said, not my best readathon ever, but I still enjoyed it!

Readathon 2011: In Which I Multitask...Sort of...

2011-04-09T18:12:00.004-05:00

First things first: here are my mid-event survey answers!

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? When We Were Strangers
2. How many books have you read so far? Two (one audio, one print). Do four MTLE tests count?
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Um...I'm really just looking forward to reading instead of test-taking. I might listen to an audiobook later and knit, since I'm sure my eyes will go early thanks to the four hours I spent staring at a computer screen during testing.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? I wanted to, but the small fact of keeping my teaching license got in the way ;)
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? See the answer to number 4 ;)
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Uh....these surveys go a lot better when you've actually read more than a few hours!
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? None! love it!
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Set aside the day for real!
9. Are you getting tired yet? Yes, but that's because of those tests...
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Nope!

I've only read for about three hours today (and I've listened to my audiobook, Bonobo Handshake while driving to and from the tests) because most of my day was consumed with taking the licensure exams. And let me tell you, friends, I think I'll be taking them again. Big sad face. Maybe after I've gotten some sleep and my brain has rebooted I will feel more confident, but confidence is not overabundant here at Read the Book right now.

Now that I can be fully committed to the readathon, I hope to post a few more times tonight. See you then!

The facts:
Books finished: 0 (0 total)
Pages read: 133 (133 total)
Hours read: 3 (3 total)

A Bit of Catch-Up (But Not the Kind for Fries)

2011-04-02T15:05:00.004-05:00

I have been a bit absent from the blog lately and will probably continue to be for the next few weeks. Life is extremely busy right now with teaching, coaching speech, finishing my online class, preparing for the Minnesota licensure exams that I have to take, and trying to sleep, eat, and stay healthy in between! I hope to do two or three more Jane Eyre posts (the movie STILL isn't here!) as soon as possible, but I wanted to take care of some housekeeping in the meantime.

I was extremely excited about participating in the 24-Hour Readathon, and I fully intended to read as much as I possibly could that day. Sadly, April 9th was one of the only days that I could take one of the aforementioned licensure exams, so I will actually be spending most of that day answering questions about literature, pedagogy, and adolescents age 11-18. I know your jealous; try not to let it eat up your soul. I do have a four hour window between tests and I will have the evening free, so I still plan to read, read, read. In fact, I am headed to the library to pick up the Readathon books that are waiting for me there.

Speaking of library books on hold, it is time for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge! I discovered this challenge last year, and while I didn't complete it, I did enjoy the books I read for it. This year, I am signing up for Quest the First, which means I have to read four books that fit any of the challenge categories (fantasy, myth, folklore, or fairy tales).

I had the hardest time with the folklore category last year, but I already have a good list of books that I am contemplating reading for the challenge. Here's what I'm thinking I will choose from (at least at the moment!):
1. Tender Morsels (folklore)
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (fantasy)
3. My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me (fairy tale)
4. The Iliad (myth)--I never did finish this...
5. The Name of the Wind (fantasy)
6. Till We Have Faces (myth)--I had this on my list last year, but I didn't actually read it.
7. As many of the books from the Samaria (fantasy) series by Sharon Shinn--One of my goals for this year was to reread these books, which I loved the first time through.
8. Something by Angela Carter (fairy tale/folklore)

My list is quite fantasy heavy, but I hope to find some good ideas from the other challenge participants.

Here's to Spring and some wonderful reading!

"Such a Little Toad as That"

2011-03-18T14:43:00.002-05:00

Photo Credit
Here, finally, is my first post about Jane Eyre. Between teaching, grading, coaching speech team, working on my online class, and trying to prepare for the licensure exams that I am required to take, life has been quite busy the last few weeks! I have been reading Jane Eyre steadily, and I am relishing each chapter. I was thinking a few days ago that this is one of those books that I would love to read again for the first time, especially now that I am older. Rereading this novel has actually been quite emotional for me (even more so than in the past), and the maturity and life experiences that I have gained since I last read it (EIGHT years ago...why did I wait this long to reread it?) have made for a rich reading experience.

Warning: there ARE spoilers in this post. If you haven't read this novel, know that key plot points will be revealed. Read at your own risk!

Part of the reason that reading Jane Eyre again has been so emotional is because of what I realized about Jane's time at Gateshead. I realized, for the first time, that Jane is who and what she is because of her treatment at Gateshead. I knew her family hated and mistreated her, but it is only on this rereading that I realized that Mrs. Reed, and others, had in large part turned Jane into the miserable, unlovable (in their eyes), defiant, and frightened child that Mrs. Reed so hated and punished.

Ironically, if Mrs. Reed had kept her promise to her husband to raise Jane as her own child, she never would have hated or abused Jane. Photo Credit
All Jane wants from her aunt and cousins are love, attention, and affection, and those are the things that she can never get from them. Part of the reason going to Lowood is such a relief for Jane is that, despite the abuse, harshness, and mistreatment she experiences, she has excaped from the singularly cruel, soul-shrivelling hate and spite of her aunt.

I shuddered at the descriptions of Lowood School before and during the typhus outbreak, but it was the scenes at Gatehead that truly broke my heart. I wanted to reach into the novel and wrap my arms around small, bitter Jane Eyre and assure her that she was valued and loved. I wanted to give Mrs. Reed a piece of my mind and encourage Bessie in her small kindnesses toward Jane.

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It surprised me how few chapters Gateshead and Lowood School encompassed. It demonstrates Bronte's brilliance that she could make such a small portion of her book so vivid and horrific in my mind on my first readings of the novel that I believed that these were long, drawn-out chapters. Similarly, Bronte shows that Jane believed that most of her life and important moments occured in or because of Thornfield. She did not dwell on her early childhood because the meat of her story was about what she did after (and often because she had learned the lessons of) those early experiences. These experiences serve to show the contrast between Jane's dehumanizing, demeaning childhood, and the precious, value-affirming months that she spent at Thornfield. Is it any wonder, then, that she considers Thornfield (but really Mr. Rochester) her true home or that it nearly kills her (and definitely breaks her heart) to do what she knows is right and leave when she discovers the truth about Mr. Rochester?

The Read-a-Thon is Coming! The Read-a-Thon is Coming!

2011-03-09T20:42:00.003-06:00

It's that time again: Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-Thon fast approacheth! I am super excited about parcticipating for the third time, and I plan to be caught up on my grading and planning so I can enjoy as much reading time as possible. April 9th, here I come! Woo hoo!

In other news, I was quite sad to learn that none of the movie theaters here in town will have Jane Eyre when it opens on Friday. I think it's because so many of the Oscar movies are so new to town (we definitely don't open everything on the opening date here because we're on the smaller side of things), but I did have my heart set on seeing Jane Eyre this weekend. Maybe I will have to console myself by seeing The King's Speech again...

I had planned for this week to be Jane Eyre week on the blog, but I've been trying to get caught up on my grading so I don't have to do it over Spring Break (NEXT WEEK!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! I will not say woo hoo again in this post...). This means there have been few brain cells left at the end of the day, and what brain cells are left can only handle 30 Rock and Lady Emily Ashton Hargreaves' adventures.

Finally, it has been snowing the last few days. We haven't accumulated much, but the mere fact of snow in mid-March is insulting. Especially when it is very wet snow that will only increase our chances of The Biggest Flood Ever in this area. So if you haven't seen snow for a while, be thankful!

Well, Hello, (Blogging) World

2011-03-06T09:33:00.004-06:00

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I was doing so well with my bloggy New Year's Resolution to post at least once a week, but then I got OWNED by a nasty flu virus (I like to think it was a mild form of the bubonic plague) that made me miss work for an entire week. All of my fellow teachers out there know how ridiculous it is to try to come up with meaningful sub plans, so you know I was really sick if I stayed home for a whole week. Further proof I was really sick (aside from the fact that I couldn't really stand up or eat all week)? I didn't even want to THINK about a book for almost the entire time I was sick. And that, my friends, is serious. I am NEVER not reading, so to not read for almost five days was a pretty good indication of how icky I felt. Long story short, I finally recovered, but between playing catch-up, trying to grade all the meaningful things the students did while I was gone, and coaching and travelling with the speech team, there just hasn't been time to blog. There's barely been time to read!

Okay, on to the bookish bits! Thanks to said plague, I didn't get much reading done in February (I read three books instead of the eight that I read in January), so I'm going to do some mini reviews of the books that I've been reading in the last month.

I signed up for Laura's readalong of Jane Eyre and then promptly failed to post on any of the posting dates. This is okay, however, because Laura intended the readalong to be pretty loose and informal. I have read Jane Eyre before (see here if you would like the story), but it has been at least eight years since I have read it (that's a long time!). I picked up Jane Eyre when I was starting to feel alive again after being sick but wasn't quite back to normal. It seemed like the perfect comfort read at the time. Being eight years out from my last reading has lent great richness and joy to my current reading of Jane Eyre, and as it is one of those Books That Define My Life, I quickly realized that it would need more than one post. I'm thinking of making this week my unofficial Jane Eyre week: the new adaptation comes out on Friday, and I would like to finish reading it before then. So look for lots of Jane Eyre love this week!

The three books that I actually finished in February were part of Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily Ashton series. I found these thanks to how much I loved Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey mysteries, and I am beginning to think that historical mysteries, especially those set in 1800s England, could be a new genre love for me. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, And Only to Deceive, and I liked the next two that I read, A Poisoned Season and A Fatal Waltz. Reading A Fatal Waltz was especially fun because it is set in Vienna, and Lady Emily visited a lot of the places that I visited when I went to Vienna to visit my awesome friend Anne. While I enjoyed these and found them to be nice, fluffy distractions from the craziness of my everyday life, I couldn't help comparing them to the Lady Julia Grey mysteries, which are infinitely more inventive and entertaining. The third Lady Emily mystery, Tears of Pearl, confirmed my opinion that Lady Emily is a poor man's Lady Julia. I almost never give up on series, but I'm not sure if I'm going to read the last Lady Emily mystery. We shall see...

My most enjoyable read of February was A Tree Grow in Brooklyn. I actually listened to the audio of this book. I didn't particularly like the reader, but the story was SO GOOD that I couldn't stand to give it up. Eventually I got used to the reader, and everything was hunky-dory. The reason I enjoyed this book so much was because of the character of Francie. You know when you read a book and you find yourself? This happened for me with Francie, especially in the way that Francie loved to read. One scene in particular struck me as finding myself: early in the book, Francie takes her library book (she reads a book a day) and some favority candy out onto the fire escape of her apartment. She puts her pillow down, arranges her bowl of candy, and settles under the shade of the tree to read the afternoon away. I used to LOVE to do this when I was little. I particularly remember one Saturday (I'm not sure how I got away with this as Saturday was chore day...maybe I actually cleaned the bathroom in the morning like I was supposed to...) that I spent reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. I read all day, curled up with my pillow on the floor of my bedroom, and I vividly remember having a bowl of pretzels that I ate while reading; I don't think I ate anything else all day. I loved the book, and I know I will revisit it. If you haven't read it, you MUST! I can't believe I went this long without reading it.

Finally, when I was thinking about what I wanted from this year in reading, I knew that I wanted to reread some favorites. So far, I have only reread one book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I read this again because of Angie's lovely review of the book, and it was just as delightful the second time as it was the first. I am currently rereading The Poisonwood Bible, another favorite, for my book club. My next reread will by Possession, which is a rich, wonderful, meaty novel by A.S. Byatt.

That's what February looked like for me. Let's hope for a better, flood-free March!

You're a Good Man, Charles Dickens!

2011-02-07T19:56:00.002-06:00

Today is the anniversary of Charles Dickens, one of my dearest literary loves. There's not much that I could say that would appropriately commemorate this momentous day, so I will leave you with a passage about one of my favorite characters (Arthur Clennam) from one of my favorite Dickens novels (Little Dorrit).

He was a dreamer in such wise, because he was a man who had deep-rooted in his nature, a belief in all the gentle and good things his life had been without. Bred in meanness and hard dealing, this had rescued him to be a man of honorable mind and open hand. Bred in coldness and severity, this had rescued him to have a warm and sympathetic heart. Bred in a creed too darkly audacious to pursue, through its process of reversing the making of man in the image of his Creator to the making of his Creator in the image of an erring man, this had rescued him to judge not, and in humility to be merciful, and have hope and charity.

And this saved him still from the shimpering weakness and cruel selfishness of holding that because such a happiness or such a virtue had not come into his little path, or worked well for him, therefore it was not in the great scheme, but was reducible, when found in appearance, to the basest elements. A disappointed mind he had, but a mind too firm and healthy for such unwholesome air. Leaving himself in the dark, it could rise into the light, seeing it shine on others and hailing it.

Happy Birthday!

2011-02-04T20:49:00.004-06:00

Just a quick post acknowledging that exactly one year ago today I started this blog.

At the time, I was reading East of Eden but had to put it aside when I got sick.

An interesting tidbit: while I am not reading East of Eden, I am sick again, just in time for the Super Bowl (which I care about as much as I did last year).

So, thanks to said illness, tonight I have been watching Downton Abbey and moseying around the internet. Jane Eyre might make an appearance, too.

I am so thankful that I started this blog and became a part of this wondeful community!

"Rage--Goddess"? "Rage--Achilles" Might Be More Appropriate

2011-02-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

When I signed up for the Ancient Greeks Tour at the Classics Circuit, I signed up to read and review The Iliad. In reality, however, reviewing all twenty-four books of The Iliad is a bit daunting, especially since I'm supposed to write a blog post and not a book. That being said, I will be discussing Books 1-12 of The Iliad today and will review the rest of The Iliad at a later time (be warned: this could very well turn out to be a series of posts rather than just two).

Here's a few other housekeeping items to get out of the way:
1. I am unabashedly Team Hector.
2. I will try to be fair to Achilles.
3. I am reading the Robert Fagles translation of The Iliad (it's so pretty!)
4. Consequently, I love Robert Fagles.

One of the reasons I chose The Iliad when I found out that the Classics Circuit was doing an Ancient Greeks tour was because I had recently read (and enjoyed immensely) And Only Deceive, by Tasha Alexander. And Only to Deceive is a Victorian mystery that plays off The Iliad and Ancient Greek art quite a bit; in fact, large portions of The Iliad are quoted in the novel. I read parts of The Iliad for a World Literature course in college, and I taught part of Book 6, all of Book 22, and part of Book 24 the last five years at my previous school, but I had never read all of The Iliad. Reading the quoted parts of The Iliad in And Only to Deceive proved to be the final prod needed to get me to read The Iliad in its entirety.

While The Iliad is many things, at its core, it is a story about war. We see the many effects of war, and Homer is not shy about giving us the nitty-gritty of hand-to-hand combat and battles that hinged off the strength, drive, and determination of a few key individuals. As Sarpedon says to Hector, it is "the toils of war . . . the mesh of the huge dragnet sweeping up the world" (5.559-560) that have captured the attention, men, and means of two great countries, Greece (Achaea) and Troy, for ten years. The war may have started when Paris stole Helen from Menelaus, but now, ten years later, fighting to the end and to victory (which both sides concurrently believe will be theirs) has become a matter of honor and glory; the war cannot be abandoned easily (even when all seems lost, even when the war appears futile) because honor and glory cannot be discarded easily. Honor and glory are breath, bread, water, life for the men of Greece and Troy, and this determination, this unerring pursuit of victory, is what makes reading The Iliad exhilerating, haunting, and disconcerting all at the same time.

It is particularly chilling to read of the great fighters for each side because they all acknowledge that ultimately they have NO control over the outcome of the war; time after time, Agamemnon, Diomedes, Great and Little Ajax, and Odysseus for the Greeks and Hector, Aeneas, and Sarpedon for the Trojans vow to fight their best, win glory, accomplish superhuman feats of strength and courage all the while knowing that it is the favor of the gods and the decree of fate that will determine who wins this war. It is clear that men on both sides of the battle grow weary, but it is only Achilles, who is angry beyond reason, honor, and his own character at how he has been betrayed by Agamemnon, who contemplates sailing for home before the war is over. Every other Greek and Trojan, to the man (with the possibly exception of the clueless, preening, despicable Paris) will stay and fight and die for the cause they pledged themselves to ten years before.

In addition to the human players in this story, we also read and learn about the immortals who are fighting in the Trojan War. To be fair, it's really the immortals who started this war, and much as it kills me to be fair to a numskull like Paris, it has to be said that if Zeus had manned up and named who was fairest when the golden apple showed up, then Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena wouldn't have needed to try to bribe Paris to name them fairest, Paris wouldn't have chosen Aphrodite (who conveniently failed to mention that Paris' prize, the most beautiful woman in the world, happened to already be married), then Helen would never have been stolen, Menelaus wouldn't have needed to seek revenge, Agamemnon wouldn't have sacrificed his daughter for smooth sailing, and lots of pain and heartache could have been avoided. Needless to say, however, this would not have made as good a story as The Iliad! Homer is not shy about showing the Greek gods (particularly Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Ares, and Aphrodite in Books 1-12) in all their glory, pettiness, and capriciousness, and the gods' inability to make up their minds adds to the reader's sense of futility. Even when a god proclaims a favorite, his or her favoritism has very little affect on that god's actions. Case in point: Zeus claims to favor Troy (and especially Hector), but there are several points in the first twelve books where we find him actually fighting for and supporting the Greeks. He made a promise to Achilles' mother to repay the Greeks for shaming Achille (Agamemnon claimed Achilles' prized woman, Briseis), so he must act for and support the Greeks. There are many other instances of gods flip-flopping back and forth between sides, and, again, capricious is a word seemingly invented for the Greek gods!

The Iliad opens in the tenth year of the war, so we are immediately thrown into a conflict that has twisted and knotted and become complex beyond its original cause. Families, cities, and countries are caught in the web of constant fighting, constant loss, and constant uncertainty. Characters are made or broken in these situations: while Andromache weeps and begs Hector to command his troops from the wall of Troy, Helen spurns and despises Paris, wishing he was a better, braver man than his cowardly self; Diomedes and Odysseus volunteer to brave almost certain death to scout out the Trojan troops threatening the very lives of the Achaean force while Dolon, a foolish Trojan scout, plunges ignorantly into the darkness to scout out the Achaen camp and even more foolishly begs Diomedes and Odysseus to spare his life and demand a ransom. True characters and personalities, of mortals and immortals, are shown in The Iliad because the ten long years of war (and the future years of war stretching out before everyone involved) have chipped away at pretense, deceit, and falsehood, leaving the characters exposed and raw, shown for who and what they really are.

The Iliad is utterly compelling. The story is rich and vivid, and Fagles' translation is breathtaking and brilliant. Fagles' art alone makes The Iliad well worth your time.

As I predicted, this has turned into a very long post, and I've only covered a tiny part of the first half of The Iliad! Check back in a few days for my thoughts on how Hector and Achilles are portrayed in Books 1-12.

"I Will Fix You"

2011-01-30T12:11:00.004-06:00

One of my good friends has a theory about why women love the story of Beauty and the Beast so much (whether in its movie, fairy tale, or retelling form): she believes that women love the idea of being able to fix and heal the men they love. This aspect of love's healing and redemptive powers has a huge role to play in Son of the Shadows, by Juliet Marillier, the second book in the Sevenwaters Trilogy (which isn't a trilogy any longer). I gushed about the first book here.

I'll go ahead and tell you right now that this book is my favorite of the Sevenwaters books, and I fear that my review won't really do it justice. And I really want to do it justice because it is so amazing and perfect in every way. Son of the Shadows builds upon the good work that Juliet Marillier started in Daughter of the Forest and adds elements of a very Beauty and the Beast-esque love story and the importance of choices and making your own path. All this results in a breathtaking book that I was enthralled with from start to finish.

The book opens with Liandan telling the story of her mother and father, Sorcha and Red. Liadan is very much like Sorcha: she loves her garden and is a healear; Liadan, unlike Sorcha, also has the gift (or curse) of the Sight: she can see the past, present, and future in flashes and is very valued by the Fair Folk who aided her mother in Daughter of the Forest. According to Sorcha, Liadan is a woman who potentially has great power to change the course of things because she was not a part of the vision that Sorcha had of her children; Sorcha saw Niamh, Sorcha's older sister, ans Sean, Liadan's twin brother, quite clearly, but only had a glimpse of a shadowy, saddened presence on the outskirts of her vision. This shadowy presence, I think, points to Bran, a man more connected to Sevenwaters and Sorcha's and Red's story than he would ever wish to be.

Just like Daughter of the Forest, Son of Shadows is about the love of family if it is about anything. Marillier sets up the story that she explores in her next book with the story of Niamh and Ciaran. I won't spoil the story of these two characters, but they must fight great pain, danger, and opposition to be together. Ciaran, especially, is a key figure in Liadan and Bran's story, and Liadan is one of the few people who seeks to understand her sister's pain and the great change that overcomes her in the middle of this book.

The reason that I loved this book, however, is because of the story of Liadan and Bran. After Niamh's wedding, Liadan accompanies Niamh and her new husband on part of their trip home. On her return to Sevenwaters, Liadan is kidnapped by members of the infamous Painted Men. These men kidnapped Liadan because they knew of her reputation as a healear and were desparate to help their friend Evan, a blacksmith for the group of fighting men.

As Liadan fights to save Evan, she often goes head to head against the leader of the Painted Men. Simply known as Chief by his men, Liadan christens him Bran because of an intricate raven tattoo that covers the entire right side of his body. Bran is a hard, bitter man who seems to have lived many years beyond his own twenty-one, and he bears a deep dislike and distrust for all women, which naturally extends to Liadan. Liadan stubbornly insists on treating Evan and demands that Bran make that possible. They clash often, and Liadan finds Bran puzzling. He is a hard man who seems to feel nothing, but she also catches glimpses, both because of the Sight and because of her interactions with Bran, of a scared, abandoned child who is terrified of the dark. Liadan is not sure how to resolve these contradictory identities, and it is not until the other men ride off on a mission, leaving behind Liadan to tend a dying Evan and Bran to guard and protect Liadan, that things start to change between Liadan and Bran.

Despite her best efforts, Evan dies, and it is at their makeshift funeral for him that Liadan and Bran, Bran especially, show their vulnerability. This oppenness finally bridges the gap between the tentative starts at understanding each other and the acknowledgment of love and desire that Liadan and Bran make. The rest of the novel focuses on the fight that Liadan must survive to not only be with Bran but to bring Bran back to himself.

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Again Marillier presents two very real characters trying to figure out who they are and how they can be together. Bran has many obstacles to overcome before he can allow himself to consider a life with Liadan and his son, Johnny, and it is Liadan that must bring him past many of these obstacles. She becomes, quite literally, the light that guides him. It is not until he can acknowledge this and be honest about his past that he can come out of the shadows and accept his true place in life and at Liadan's side.

There is so much more to this story, but I simply can't do justice to it here. The heart of the story, however, and the thing that moved me the most about Son of the Shadows, was Liadan's steadfastness is loving and helping Bran. She tells her mother, "we share a bond. Not love, exactly. It goes beyond that. He is mine as surely as sun follows moon across the sky. Mine before ever I knew he existed. Mine until death and beyond." Liadan shines for Bran through the darkest nights, she pulls him from the darkness (both literally and figuratively), and she sets a whole different story into motion with her bold choice of Bran and the life he offers. She is his hope, and she helps him find the strength to live with the hope and goodness and brightness that he finds in and with her.

This story is so much more than a romance: it tells a story of the true nature of love, and it is a powerful testament to why hope and love are necessary for our survival.

Please don't just take my rather scattered, ill-spoken word on this. Find these books, read them, and be swept up in this wonderful world created by a gifted storyteller and excellent wordsmith.

As Carol Says, "I'm Not Worthy!"

2011-01-26T19:07:00.000-06:00

Carol and Tracey of My Outlander Purgatory have been kind enough to award me the Stylish Blogger Award. Needless to day, I was shocked and amazed, especially since I feel design-wise and aesthetically I blunder more than I succeed! The ironic thing is that I seriously considered changing my template and blog design over the weekend but just didn't end up having time to do so (read: the semester ended Friday, grades are due Thursday, and I'm still trying really hard not to curl up in a ball, rock in the corner, and cry over how much I still need to do...)

In addition to thanking the fabulous lassies of MOP (their blog is dedicated the totally engrossing world of the Outlander books and is ALWAYS good for a laugh!), I'm supposed to share some things about myself. Sadly, my life is quite ordinary and boring, but I'll try to be entertaining. Not surprisingly, most of these will be book related ;)

1. As a tiny, wee thing (about 5 or 6), my brother (about 3 or 4) and I didn't have any pets but wanted one desperately. We'd had pretty bad luck with goldfish, so my parents refused to get more. Our solution? Pet earthworms! I was devastated when I came home and discovered that Brother Dearest had failed to put the worms in the shade that morning while I was at school. They were all dead (read: shriveled and crusty), and I cried.

2. When we lived in Minnesota (the first time), we lived in the parsonage across from the church my dad pastored. We loved it because there was a huge open field right next door that my brother and I played in all the time. One summer I was biking home from swimming lessons. When I pulled into the driveway, there was a baby gopher that was obviously injured. Being the kind, compassionate soul I am, I wrapped it up in my swimming towel, carted it inside, and tried to revive it. My mom screamed a lot when she discovered my new friend (she was afraid I would get rabies).

3. Some of my favorite stories as a child were the ones my dad made up. He would tell us wonderful tales of the adventures of Joshuette, Joandrew, and Elizabert. It took me a long time to figure out that these characters were actually my brother, sister, and me and were intended to teach us right from wrong. Strangely, Youngest Brother never got in on this...

4.When I was in fourth grade, I decided that I wanted to read every fiction book in my elementary school library. We moved while I was in the Ls (I have this crazy plan to thank for reading A Wrinkle in Time), and I was most sad about leaving my project uncompleted.

5. The only time my parents ever got called for a parent-teacher conference was when I was in fifth grade. The reason? I was reading in class and completely ignoring what I was supposed to be doing. I couldn't take a book to school for about a month as a result.

6. In junior high, a good friend and I were obsessed with Newsies; so obsessed, in fact, that during math class we would write letters back and forth to each other as Jack and David. She was Jack; I was David. Basically, I was a big nerd!

7. I was the understudy for Yente and cast as mama in my high school's production of Fiddler on the Roof. I'm pretty short, so I was rather surprised to be cast as a mama instead of a daughter (the entire chorus was broken up into families). Upon expressing this surprise to a male friend who was also in the chorus, he responded with: "oh, no. You're DEFINITELY a mama." Needless to say, I took offense.

8. My college roommate and I once constructed a papier mache marracca at 2 a.m. True story; true event in the lives of education majors.

9. I firmly believe going IN by the door marked in and OUT by the door marked out. Yes, this results in mockery.

10. I have so many books that when I first moved in with my roommate, she didn't go to the library for months. She just borrowed from me!

Okay, so not terribly interesting, but that's me!

Here are some blogs I would like to pass this award on to:
A Striped Armchair--Eva has been so kind and helpful, and I've found so many unexpected gems thanks to her blog!
Angieville--As I've mentioned before, Angie's recommendations are flawless. Plus, she introduced me to Juliet Marillier and the Sevenwaters books. This means I am eternally in her debt!
words, words, words--Bethany is hosting the Victorian Literature challenge, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her thoughts on all sorts of books.
Your Move, Dickens--Darlyn writes awesome reviews on books, and has an awesome blog with an awesome title (yes, I'm partial!)
Simple Little Bookworm--Amy's blog is my most recently discovered treasure, and I love it! She writes about a wide variety of books and is highly entertaining while she does it.

Inhaling Books: Dangerous but Satisfying

2011-01-16T16:55:00.006-06:00

My 2011 reading has certainly started out strong; not only did I finish Bleak House, but I also stumbled upon, fell in love with, and subsequently devoured a series of books in a way I haven't done in a LONG time. What can I say? I'm in literary love with Juliet Marillier.

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I had intended to post a review about how i live now, by Meg Rosoff, before reviewing Daughter of the Forest, but the novel literally wouldn't leave me alone: I pretty much read, slept, breathed, ate, and thought the Sevenwaters Trilogy once I picked up Daughter of the Forest. I've read the first three books in less than three weeks (and at 500-600 pages each, that is no small feat!). These books are so good that I gave up sleep, ignored potential social gatherings, and brought lunches that didn't require heating so I could spend as much of my lunch hour as possible reading! Like I said, I'm in love, and book love for me is never more strongly demonstrated than when I am willing to burn the midnight oil and stay up with a book, even if it is a school night!

I first learned about Daughter of the Forest from Angie. She included it in her favorite fairy tale retellings, and since I have loved every book I've read because of her blog, I knew this would be a good story. Little did I know HOW good!

Sorcha and her six brothers live in the forest of Sevenwaters, an estate full of lore and legend in the Ireland of the far past; they are left to essentially fend for themselves, especially Sorcha and Finbar, because their father was never quite the same after their mother died giving birth to Sorcha. Sorcha is never sure how her father feels about her (or if he even knows she exists; she feels that her father finds her at best insignificant and at worst the cause of his beloved's death), but she is deeply loved and well taken care of by her brothers. Her brothers represent the best and the brightest of the Sevenwaters estate, and they are quite blissfully happy until a young Briton, Simon, is captured by their father's spies. Life is further complicated by the coming of Lady Oonagh, their father's new wife. All the siblings, with the exception of one brother, sense a sinister danger in Lady Oonagh, but they don't quite know what to do. Conor, Finbar, and Sorcha, especially, are greatly troubled by Oonagh's presence because they are gifted with the supernatural powers of their ancestors, and they see most clearly and most specifically the threat that Oonagh poses. Indeed, Oonagh herself knows that these children know who and what she truly is, and so she conveniently disposes of them by turning the six brothers into swans, knowing full well that Sorcha will not survive long without the protection of her brothers.

Sorcha, naturally, despairs when this occurs, but she is given hope when the Lady of the Forest comes to tell her that she, Sorcha, has it within her power to free her brothers. She must weave six shirts from a plant covered with barbs and spines for her brothers, and she must remain completely silent while she attempts to accomplish her task: no speaking, no cries of pain, no moaning, yelling, or laughter are permitted her; to speak is to curse her brothers to their swan-enchantment forever.

Daughter of the Forest is compelling for two reasons: the excellent writing and the skillful discussion of love, sacrifice, trust, and truth. This novel is not just a thinly veiled morality tale (as so many fairy tales, at their cores, are); it is a treatise on the power of love and what a person will do, with little care for herself, for love. Sorcha's love for her brothers does more than just bind her to silence and an almost horific job in weaving the six shirts; she endures isolation, violation, fear, betrayal, and confusion for her brothers as well. She, a child of Sevenwaters, who is bound almost supernaturally to the forest, as if the forest was part of her soul, finds herself in a strange land, without friends, unable to communicate, and still forces herself to apply herself to her task, knowing that her life and happiness mean nothing if she cannot free her brothers.

On her website, Marillier explains that she "sought the human dilemmas at the heart of the fairytale, for such tales have at their core the most wondrous and the harshest of human experience, the best and worst of human behaviour." Marillier also explains that fairy tales tell stories that resonate deeply with us because they highlight the things that we care about most. I appreciated that Marillier dealt with many different types of love: at the heart of the novel is love for one's family, a bond for Sorcha and her brothers that almost seems too strong for such a simple word. Marillier shows the power and importance of love between friends in Sorcha's interactions with Simon, Linn, her brother's dog, Red (a Briton who saves her from drowning), and Marjorie and John (Britons of Red's household who become Sorcha's protectors and some of her closest friends).

And of course, what fairy tale would be complete without some romance? What I appreciated most about this aspect of Marillier's story was that Red, the man who loves Sorcha and who, in the end, Sorcha ends up loving, is not in any way an ideal, romanticized man. While he protects and cares for Sorcha, he is a man so tightly bound to his honor that he can scarcely be honest with himself (let alone Sorcha) about what he truly feels for her; he is a fair man, but he shows his truer, gentler self to very few people. Marillier also paces this aspect of her story very well. There are no heady, swoony glances followed by immediate, deep, undying love for Red and Sorcha. They are tentative and unsure; they blunder; they make mistakes; they cross signals and read each other incorrectly; they are both stubborn to the point of almost missing the chance to be with each other. And while in the end they are together, Marillier does not minimize Red's sacrifice of everything he has ever known nor make it easy for him to give up Harrowfield and his entire life; in fact, this decision comes back to haunt Red in the next book, Son of the Shadow, as he learns that his decision did not necessarily cost himself alone.

Above all, however, I appreciate that Marillier tells a story that is honest and true to life: there are no easily tied up endings in this story; characters feel the effects of their decisions, and the hurts and injuries that result from Oonagh's curse do not disappear as soon as the curse is broken. The siblings are, quite literally, constantly reminded of the years, the innocence, the love that were stolen from them. The siblings are reunited, but they must work to restore their relationships and face many challenges to reclaim the happiness that they lost at the hand of a cruel sorceress. As Sorcha herself says, "Real life is not quite as it is in stories. In the old tales, bad things happen, and when the tale has unfolded and come to its triumphant conclusion, it is as if the bad things had never been. Life is not as simple as that, not quite."

What I Loved About Bleak House

2011-01-12T19:19:00.003-06:00

Even though I didn't love Bleak House as a whole, there were certain aspects that I did love. I promise to keep the gushing to a minimum!

One thing that I love about Dickens in general (and Bleak House did not fail me here) is his ability to comment upon what he sees as society's woes. In Bleak House, Dickens takes on the British courts (Chancery), the dangers of pursuing money at the cost of everything else, supposed do-gooders who do more harm than good (Mrs. Jellyby, he's talking to you!), and, of course, his old favorite, the treatment and abuse of the poor and disadvantaged. Photo Credit
Not surprisingly, Dickens' battle with money, the pursuit of wealth, and the cost of irresponsibility with one's means is a topic he returns to over and over again in his novels. He focuses particularly on the corrupting power of wealth in Bleak House. What is interesting about this is that it is as much the expectation of wealth as it is wealth itself that Dickens shows degrading and destroying lives in this story. The wards of court in Jarndyce and Jarndyce become a stark example of how dangerous it can be to live for the fleeting hope of wealth rather than determining to do good honest work for good honest money.

I've mentioned several times how much Richard's story saddened me (okay, let's be honest: this storyline made it nearly impossible for me to read this book the first three times I attempted it), and Dickens is at his best in showing how a bright, fresh, energetic, lovely young man (the representation of "Youth" to Miss Flight) is slowly but surely ground down in the milling wheel that is Chancery and Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Richard's naive belief and hope that Jarndyce and Jarndyce will end in favor of himself and Ada produces some of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the novel and provide Dickens with some of his strongest warnings against the danger of believing that wished-for wealth is better than actual happiness and security, however simple that happiness and security may be.

Along with Dickens' general delight in language, I have always loved his invention and use of very character-appropriate names. My favorite names that reflected character in Bleak House belonged to the main characters: Richard brings to mind nobility, honor, and goodness, and his name only serves to highlight how low he falls before he sees the truth that Mr. Jarndyce was trying to guide him towards the whole time. Ada's name means noble, and noble she truly is. She is sweet, kind, trusting, and wholly supportive, for better or worse, of Richard.

Really, however, it is Esther and Allan whose names fit them best and hint to the reader that they will indeed be together in the end. Even though it is not her true name, Esther is known as Esther Summerson her entire life, and she truly embodies many of the qualities of summer:
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she is warm and kind and seems to exude light and goodness. It is only fitting, then, that she should be pursued, loved, and won by a man named Allan Woodcourt, whose name also brings to mind peace, simplicity, and true beauty.
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The Deadlocks are also very aptly named: Sir Leicester Deadlock is trapped in the expectation of his family tradition and legacy, but, it turns out, he is not completely defined by them: he is not so "dead" that he will not marry a vaguely unsuitable woman (the mysterious Honoria Barbary), and marry for love, no less; even more shocking is the fact that he comes to love her so much that he forgives her affair and illegitimate child and wishes only that she would have come back to him so he could forgive her in person.

JoAnn of Lakeside Musings made an interesting comment on Book Psmith's post on Little Dorrit: she said that Dickens is an author that she had to trust while reading Bleak House; she had to let herself follow him where he would go, knowing that he would deliver eventually. I find that this very accurately sums up my experience with Bleak House. It may not have been my favorite, but I'm glad that I trusted Dickens enough to eventually follow this story through to its end.

Feeling Rather Bleak, Or a Post of Dickensian Length

2011-01-09T11:09:00.006-06:00

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Upon finishing Bleak House, I felt one thing: disappointment. And, frankly, I was disappointed that I felt disappointed. Why, you might ask? Well, the answer is a long one. My relationship with Dickens has been a complicated one: my first exposures to him were enjoyable (Micky's Christmas Carol, a cartoon version of David Copperfield involving cats), but then when it came time to read him, I was not impressed. I read A Christmas Carol in my 7th grade English class (when I was probably too young) and was more confused than anything; then Oliver Twist was on the 10th grade summer reading list, and we all know what being required can do to a book, especially when it is required during the summer (and I LIKED to read!). I read it, but I didn't like it; then we read it again in class, and I hated it. It wasn't until I read A Tale of Two Cities in my senior English class that I realized I might have been mistaken when it came to Mr. Dickens. I loved Tale; I adored it, and my fondness for it has only grown as I have gone on to read and love most of Dickens' novels.

In fact, every Dickens novel I have read since A Tale of Two Cities has been a joyful discovery of an author and style and storytelling that I have come to love more and more with each read. I have read Great Expectations, Dombey and Son, Hard Times, Nicholas Nickleby, Our Mutual Friend, David Copperfield, and Little Dorritt and loved them all; many of these novels are stories that I know I will return to again and again. I plan to read all of Dickens' work (with the possible exception of Edwin Drood because I don't quite understand the appeal of an unfinished Dickens) because I love him That Much.

All this is to say that I fully expected to love Bleak House just as much as all the rest, especially since so many people consider it his masterpiece.

The truth is, however, I did not love it wholeheartedly, and this is why I felt disappointed. I loved pieces of it, but this is the first time (since those troublesome, youthful readings of A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist) that I have felt annoyed by Charles Dickens. I felt like the Chancery case was overblown, and there were times that I wanted to smack the men in Esther's life for being so condescending and smack Esther for letting herself be treated that way.

Then I took some time away from the novel (thank you, Juliet Marillier!), forgot about it a bit, and was able to come back to it with a slightly more balanced perspective. Surprisingly, this new perspective came about when I revisited the BBC/Masterpiece adaption of Bleak House.

I was having a lazy Saturday morning yesterday before jumping into the grading and planning that needed to be done, and I decided to pop in Bleak House. As I've mentioned before, I watched this miniseries before reading the book, and, in fact, the miniseries was part of the reason that I wanted to make Bleak House my next Dickens. I loved the adaptation when I watched it, and, for better or worse, it affected my reading of the novel (mainly because I knew what would happen to Richard, which troubled and saddened me greatly, which in turn translated itself into a reluctance to continue reading the book past the first hundred pages).

As I watched, I (of course) noticed things that I couldn't have seen before reading the novel, which in turn started me thinking about the novel again. I started to realize that Dickens' mastery at presenting characters, exposing the horrific realities of his time, his genuine love for people (all sorts, really), his longing for a good (i.e. ideal and perfect) woman, and his delight in language, all things that I appreciate about his style, were present and effective in Bleak House. And while I may not have adored Bleak House, and it is not my new favorite Dickens, it is still a good book.

Reading this novel was really a study in how much my choices and reading habits can affect my perception of the book itself (obvious, I know, but I don't often consider this because my choices and habits are generally so helpful in making a book the best it can be for me). Probably the first lesson I learned when it comes to Mr. Charles Dickens? Don't see the movie before reading the book! For me, so much of the joy that Dickens brings to me comes from the way he brings the many intricate webs of storylines and characters together at the end; he makes everything matter, and I love that about his novels. I keep reading to discover how he is going to resolve everything, so knowing the resolution going into the novel is not a good idea for me.

Secondly, I was reminded that I don't react well to books that I take a ridiculously long time to read. I discovered this while reading East of Eden, and I took even longer to read Bleak House (almost 5 months from beginning to end!). When I am reading a challenging book, I do best to focus only on that book until I am done; during these types of reads, my habit of reading multiple books at the same time does NOT help me.

Finally, I had to let myself be okay with not loving this book even though I really wanted to love it. I think these kinds of reads are most upsetting; when we expect to love a book, want to love a book, and then don't, it is almost as if we have been betrayed by the book. And if I'm honest, part of my disappointment comes from the fact that I wanted someday to be able to say that I love EVERYTHING Charles Dickens wrote.

Since this post is now ridiculously long, I will wait to post about the things I DID love about Bleak House. And I have to thank Amanda at the Zen Leaf for hosting the readalong that FINALLY compelled me to actually finish Bleak House!

Top 12 Books of the Year

2011-01-06T10:00:00.004-06:00

Two posts in two days! Pick yourself up off the floor and read on for my list of favorite reads of the year. These are the books that I consider the higlights of my reading year, but they are not in any sort of order according to merit. Books I reviewed have links.

1. The Uncommon Reader
2. A Homemade Life
3. The Girl with the Glass Feet
4. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott: a really beautiful book about a
much beloved author
5. Romancing Miss Bronte: I loved this book; it made me want to live in
Jane Eyre and Northern England
6. Shiver
7. Linger
8. The Cookbook Collector: again, another exquistely beautiful book with
poignant lessons to be learned by some very real people
9. The Hunger Games Trilogy: I will be posting on these after I reread
them, but they are wonderful. In fact, this is the first book/series that I have
ever started reading again immediately upon finishing the first time.
10. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
11. Lady Julia Grey Novels: these novels helped me discover that maybe I DO like mysteries (or at least Victorian mysteries with female detectives)
12. how i live now: I will be posting about this in the near future as
well; how i live now was my last novel of the year and proved to be
very good company during the blizzards.

Yes, I cheated. But I don't care!

Here are my list of best re-reads this year (these are in order of merit):
1. Harry Potter Series: I plan to post about Harry soon
1. To Kill a Mockingbird: I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!
1. The Hunger Games Trilogy
2. The Outlander Series
3. The Maltese Falcon
4. A Midsummer Night's Dream

Do you like how I was sneaky and put in a three-way tie?!

Out with the Old; In with the New

2011-01-05T20:48:00.002-06:00

I'm finally getting around to my 2010 end of year post; it would have happened earlier, but I was so stir-crazy after the blizzards that I really couldn't sit still. Then I was busy inhaling Daughter of the Forest (look for a post soon) and staying up way too late reading. Needless to say, this was a Bad Life Choice (the staying up late, not necessarily the reading).

Anyhoo, on to the year in retrospect.

2010 was definitely a year of firsts for me in pretty much every aspect of my life. I started this blog and read more than fifty books for the first time since I started recording book totals; I read mostly library or already-owned books; I left East Tennessee, where I had been living and teaching for five years, and moved to North Dakota; I am teaching American Lit for the first time EVER; I have to shovel my own garage out when it snows( obviously a very significant milestone). In other words, the year has been one of exciting changes, worrisome unknowns, and thrilling twists and turns, and it is a year that I will not soon forget.

Book-wise, I read a whole lot this year. I attribute this to the fact that I had started the blog and, let's be honest, the one tv show I was still watching ended (RIP Lost). It also helped that I stopped having a commitment four nights a week! In general, most of my reads were fiction; all seven nonfiction reads were memoir/autobiography. A lot of the fiction, especially from summer on, was Young Adult. This is largely due to the fact that block scheduling gives me more freedom in assigning/providing free reading to my students, and I want to be familiar with what they're reading so I can make suggestions and connect things in class to things that are current and appealing to them.

And for next year? I've thought about this quite a bit. My first priority actually has to do with the blog itself. Last year, I read 100 books; I reviewed (in some way, shape, or form) twenty-seven books. This, my friends, is pitiful. Pitiful! I am really going to try to be more consistent in reviewing the books that I read, and I am going to make it a point to post at LEAST once a week (no more six-week absences for me!). I am also going to make it a point to fully participate in any challenges that I sign up for. So far I'm signed up for the Victorian Literature Challenge; I also plan to sign up for the Historical Fiction Challenge (Severe Bookahalism leve) and the Support Your Local Library Challenge (Jumbo level). Both the Victorian and Historical Fiction Challenges will have a Mr. Linky each month, and I plan to be there!

I still pretty much plan to read what I want to read (which means a lot of rereads this year: Possession, Time Traveler's Wife, the Hunger Games Trilogy, and as much Sharon Shinn as I can fit in) since I do so much prescribed reading for my job, but I would like to participate in the Classics Circuit at least once this year. Also, I have been thinking quite a bit about doing some sort of "My Life in Books" feature. I would like to tell the story of why certain books are so important to me by explaining when I first encountered them and why they were so right for me at the time. I'm thinking it will be something very much like what I did when I talked about Jane and Jane Eyre.

So there you have it! Up next: my Top 12 Books of the Year and reviews of Bleak House (IT IS FINISHED!!!!!) and Daughter of the Forest.

Happy New Year, everyone!

It's a Mess

2010-12-30T15:59:00.002-06:00

North Dakota is currently experiencing it's first official blizzard (they're officially calling the weather life-threatening), and I am UBER thankful that I didn't have to go to work today. I'm sure that we would have gotten out of school early, but then I would have actually had to get home! I went out for some groceries this morning (before the actual blizzard warning was in effect), and visibility was bad even then.

Aside from feeling like I should read The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, again, I have also been putting off my grading and pondering which books I want to read for the Victorian Reading Challenge over at Words, Words, Words.

I LOVE the Victorian era in literature (I won't gush on about Dickens, I promise!), and so this challenge was perfect for me! I'm hoping to reach the Great Expectations level, but I'm flexible. I definitely want to read some Dickens (a friend recommended Barnaby Rudge since I've read most everything else), but I also plan to read Tess of the Durbervilles and an Eliot novel (possibly Middlemarch, but I'm not quite sure yet). There is also a really good chance that I will read Jane Eyre and North and South again.

Happily, being snowed in while mean lots of time to read and watch movies (I hear Bright Star and North and South calling my names). I suppose I'll manage to squeeze in some grading, too.

Let's Talk About Books

2010-12-12T20:50:00.004-06:00

After spending all day inside cleaning, cooking, and watching movies, I'm going to end the day in the perfect way: talking about books! This will be quite the conglomeration, so feel free to skim as necessary.

First of all, I've made good headway in the Fall Into Reading Challenge. I finished all of the Harry Potter books, and I cried almost an embarassing number of times. I've read all the books numerous times, but this was my first time listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I blame Jim Dale's amazing narrative skills for having me in tears so many times, and I cried so hard through most of the second half of Deathly Hallows that I actually had to pull off the highway! So let this serve as a warning: don't drive and listen to Deathly Hallows unless you have a Grinch-sized heart!

I don't know that I will finish Bleak House before the end of the year, but I am very encouraged by how pulled in I am by the audio. The reader took a very different approach to Krook (he is much more harmless and a bit kooky in the audio; I've always pictured him as rather sinister and nasty, largely due, probably, to my viewing of the BBC/Masterpiece Theater adaptation). I still get sad thinking about Richard, but I don't think I'll end up sobbing on the side of the highway anytime soon! :)

I've read quite a bit since my last posts, so I thought I would highlight my favorite and not so favorite reads of the last six weeks.

Favorites
Of the seventeen (seventeen!) books that I have read since last posting, here are my top picks (not including the three Harry Potters that I reread):

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an incredibly vivid portrayal of slavery, the effects of slavery on enslaved and enslaver, and the importance of knowledge and learning, this autobiography was a complete hit with my juniors and inspired some great conversation about history, injustice, and the power of the written word.

ilyria: this book almost defies description, but it had a beautiful, magical quality about it, and the writing was just exquisite. I'm not sure that I agree with its marketing as a Young Adult novel, but I enjoyed it immensely despite some of its more bizarre plotting aspects.

Orpheus Lost: I love any book that writes powerfully and provocatively about music. This novel is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Euridyce, and I could hardly put it down. The myth is very creatively and surprisingly retold, and, again, the writing was beautiful and very much like the music it described.

Though not necessarily the best of the seventeen books I read, the Lady Julia Grey novels (Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary, Silent on the Moor, and Dark Road to Darjeeling) win for being the most compulsively readable books that I just couldn't put down. I don't normally enjoy mysteries, but I loved the Victorian setting, the palpable, believable tension between the two main characters, and the delicious and unexpected twists that Deanna Raybourn works into her plots. I pretty much LOVE the Victorian era of literature (see here for my love gushing about Charles Dickens), and I will be a little sad to finish Dark Road to Darjeeling because the next novel won't come out again until next year.

Not so Favorites
Happily, I didn't read anything in the last six weeks that was just downright awful. I did, however, read some things that didn't quite measure up to the wonderful favorites I just finished praising!

The Scent of Lightening and Rain caught my eye because the jacket quotes Macbeth. While it had its moments, it never quite delivered. What could have been an interesting and poignant exploration of loss, guilt, and forgiveness ended up coming off as very pat and cliche much of the time.

I loved both Shiver and Linger when I first read them, and I loved Shiver even more when I reread it back in October. I had to drive a bit last weekend, so I jumped at the chance to listen to the audio version of Linger. There were things that I appreciated more on this second listening/read-through, but overall I am glad that my first encounter with the book was in print and not the audio. Some things worked well, but in general I found the audio version a bit too melodramatic and over the top (yes, I KNOW the book is about werewolves, but the book in print is extremely well done withOUT being over the top and Twilighty). Still really like the story, but I will definitely be reading the next installment, Forever, instead of listening to it.

As for the rest of my week, I will be focusing mainly on grading and planning since I will be gone from school on Friday for a friend's wedding. I'm sure Friday will be here before I know it!

I am definitely looking forward to the Christmas break for all the reading I will be able to do, so please share your book suggestions!

So It's Been Six Weeks

2010-12-11T17:32:00.002-06:00

Since my last post! It's amazing how fast time flies.

I won't bore you with in-depth stories about my computer's demon possession, the insanity that was playing in the pit for the high school's musical, or the pile of grading that I am still trying to claw my way out of. Needless to say, I am still trying to figure out how best to do things, and I am (surprisingly!) still feeling the effects of being hired so close to the beginning of the school year.

Now, you would think that after a six week absence (!!!) I would write a profoundly deep post about all the wonderful things I read while I was MIA from the blogosphere. I am, however, saving that post for tomorrow because I am planning on staying inside all day and doing my best to NOT become a human popsicle during the day with a -6 degree high (doesn't it seem counterintuitive for high and negative to be in the same sentence regarding temperature?). Blogging seems like a perfect inside activity!

I will say that I am having much more success with the audio version of Bleak House than I did in trying to read the print version. I never did get around to reading North and South again for the readalong, but I very well might pop it in tomorrow when I'm under a blanket on the couch!

All in all, I'm glad to be back, and I hope (barring any other computer exorcisms) to avoid more unplanned absences!

I Really Shouldn't...

2010-10-31T09:12:00.004-05:00

But I don't think I can resist!

Ticket to Anywhere is hosting a North and South readalong, and while I tried to convince myself that I REALLY should be reading Bleak House (side note: considering pursuing the audio, as all I ever do with the book itself is stare at it, tell myself I should read it, and read something else), I could not resist the beauty that is the button. I will AT LEAST be watching the BBC miniseries again.

If you haven't read or watched North and South, I strongly encourage you to do so now!

Sophie and Robin, Sitting in a Tree

2010-10-23T16:22:00.003-05:00

I learned about what my mother doesn't know, by Sonya Sones, over at the fabulous Angieville. Both what my mother doesn't know and its sequel, what my girlfriend doesn't know, are novels written in verse. I haven't read many novels written in verse form, but the style was the perfect way for Sophie (narrator of what my mother doesn't know) and Robin (narrator of what my girlfriend doesn't know) to tell their story.

In what my mother doesn't know, Sophie tells her story of being almost fifteen, liking boys, and trying to figure out how to live when "my mind / and my body / and my heart / just don't seem to be able to agree / on anything" (which is a pretty insightful, succinct description of what it's like to be a teenager). Sophie is neither popular nor unpopular, and the story opens with her dating her first boyfriend and trying to figure out how much she really likes him. Despite really liking Dylan, her first boyfriend, she finds herself thinking about other boys, too.

She eventually breaks up with Dylan, and as she gets ready for the Halloween dance at school, she just knows something good will happen to her that night. As she watches a mockingbird outside her window, she thinks about who she might meet at the dance:

And as I watch him,
I'm feeling a lot like him,
like a feathery creature
balancing on a wire,
trying on lots of different voices
to see which one works best

and every now and then,
doing a little twirl
out on the dance floor,
hoping the boy bird of my dreams
will fly by and notice me,
flutter down beside me
and ask me to dance.

Something good does happen at the dance, but she is most disturbed by the fact that she keeps thinking about Murphy (Robin), an unattractive, utterly unpopular boy who is the butt of all the jokes, collective and otherwise, at her school. Still, Sophie can't escape her attraction to Murphy, and they eventually find themselves pursuing a relationship. what my mother doesn't know ends with Sophie having to decide if she will tell her friends about her relationship with Robin (and accept certain outcastdom) or pretend nothing happened and break up with Robin to save face.

what my girlfriend doesn't know picks up where what my mother doesn't know ends and details Robin's worries about how Sophie is suffering on account of him, trying to figure out who he is and protect Sophie at the same time, and dealing with the constant onslaught of his hormones. I should probably confess right now that Robin is just the kind of boy that I wanted to date in high school: he is sweet, sensitive, smart, and truly loves Sophie in the best sense of the word.

There was never a doubt in my mind that Sophie and Robin did truly love each other, and these books would give someone who doesn't think teenage love was real love a run for their money. In fact, I would go so far as to say that these books present very real depictions of what true love is: there is romance, but Sophie and Robin also sacrifice for each other, put each other first, and truly see the good and the bad and everything in between. Sophie and Robin are not perfect by any means, and they make some mistakes that are fairly common when hormones are in abundance and common sense isn't, but these mistakes only make Sones's characters more real and her portrayal of their relationship more believable.

Robin explains that he loves many things about Sophie, but one of my favorite sections from both of the books comes near the beginning of what my girlfriend doesn't know:

Sophie's eyes
are smiling into mine.

And it's amazing, really,
because all she has to do is look at me

and my lump of a nose
straightens out,

the muscles on my arms
start to sprout,

the circles fade
under my eyes,

my ears shrink down
to a normal person's size...

If only everyone else
could see

what Sophie sees
when she looks at me.

Both Robin and Sophie are fifteen in the novels, but they seemed much older, much more mature than that, especially Robin. These books deal very honestly with the things that would be at the forefront of a fifteen-year-old's mind: who you like, who likes you, school, homework, parents, how to get someone to like you, sex, and how to just make it through your day with as little trauma as possible. I appreciated Sones' approach to all these issues; they felt very real, and both Sophie and Robin practically jumped off the page.

I really, really loved these books, but I can understand why parents might not want their fifteen-year-olds reading these books. I don't know that I would want my hypothetical fifteen-year-old reading these books, at least not at fifteen, and definitely not without us talking about them as they read. The reason? There is quite a bit of discussion about sexuality and when the time is right to have sex. Both topics need to be discussed openly, honestly, and without embarassment between teenagers, parents, and other trusted advocates in their lives, and when I eventually have teenagers, I will make sure that we have those discussions. There is very little in terms of whether it is right or wrong for a fifteen-year-old to be contemplating sex, which is very fitting since it is two fifteen-year-olds telling their own stories; Sophie does tell Robin no when she's not ready, and Robin respects her and doesn't make her feel bad about not wanting to have sex, but to be completely honest, the unspoken assumption that fifteen-year-olds would be having sex niggled at me a bit.

I am not naive enough to think that fifteen-year-olds aren't having sex, and I don't think that Young Adult literature should simply be a soap box that older, "wiser" people use to preach at teenagers. Literature (in any form) needs, on some level, to meet readers where they are at, and sometimes that place isn't always ideal. What I do know is how I feel about whether teenagers should be having sex, and that really was the only thing that made me hesitate before expressing unabashed love for these books. While there are so many things about these books that I would love for my students to experience and enjoy, I know that I, as their teacher, couldn't encourage them to seek these books out. If students are mature enough to choose the books on their own, I would gladly dialogue with them about the books, and I am most definitely NOT advocating removing these books from libraries or bookstores. What I am advocating is weighing exactly what I am recommending to my students and staying true to my integrity as a person and a teacher.

Bottom line: as a reader, I loved these books; as a teacher, I wouldn't necessarily recommend these books to my students, but I would gladly talk about them with my students. Wow. The last part of this review was a lot harder to write than I thought it would be, and I still don't know if I expressed myself very well. Let me know what you think.

Listening to Music in the Car Wash*

2010-10-21T17:18:00.004-05:00

I bought my battered copy of Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen, over two years ago at the wonderful McKay's, a used bookstore in my old home city. I had heard about it somewhere and figured it was worth the dollar listed as its price. I was trying to broaden my Young Adult library and figured Just Listen was as good a place to start as any.

This book could so easily have been one big cliche, but because of Dessen's skill as a writer and her sensitivity to her subject, her characters, and her audience, she pulls off, very successfully, what could have ended up as one big melodramatic mess. The book starts with Annabel trying to brace herself for her first day of eleventh grade. Dessen quickly flashes back to the fateful day that Annabel met Sophie. Sophie was new to town and was desperate to get Kristen, Annabel's older, cooler sister, to notice her at the pool. And the rest, as they say, is history, and Sophie and Annabel become best friends.

The book quickly fast forwards back to Annabel in the present, and it becomes clear just as quickly that something dreadful has happened to Annabel; whatever it is (and you don't find out until near the end of the novel) has fractured Annabel's friendship with Sophie and made her a social outcast. It was fairly obvious to me what kind of thing had happened to Annabel, but having my suspicions didn't ruin the book for me; if anything, it made me sympathize with and root for Annabel even more.

Due to her status as a social stigma, Annabel develops an unexpected friendship with Owen, a boy who recently returned to her high school after punching out a fellow student and being arrested the previous year. Surprisingly, Dessen gives Owen a refreshing (and amusing) wisdom, hard won from Anger Management, and the book becomes an examination of honesty, truth, friendship, and genuine love.

The title phrase, "just listen," takes on several significant meanings over the course of the novel: Annabel needs her mom to listen to her; Kristen needs her parents to listen to her so they can help Whitney (Annabel's and Kristen's other sister); Owen wants Annabel to listen to the music he gives her (there is even a burned CD titled "Just Listen"); most importantly, however, Annabel must learn how to listen to herself, and what she learns when she is finally able to do this is pretty powerful stuff.

I don't want to give away the ending, but I appreciated how Dessen dealt with some very pertinent issues facing teenagers today. I loved the characters that she created in Annabel and Owen, and I know many of my students who would benefit from reading this tribute to self-confidence, honesty, and what it really means to let other people help you.

*You have to read the book to find out what this means!

And Ode to Jane Eyre, or I discuss Jane

2010-10-20T16:44:00.007-05:00

Before I dive into my discussion of Jane, by April Lindner, I need to explain my almost life-long (and going strong) relationship with Jane Eyre. I first encountered Jane Eyre as a comic book (this was before, I'm sure, the term graphic novel was coined!), and I remembered being fascinated by the orphaned Jane and how she wanted (I thought) to be a teacher. My brother and I were obsessed with orphans (our favorite make-believe game to play was entitled "Orphanage", heavily influenced by my reading of historical fiction and complete with evil orphanage owner and an escape across the sea), and even then I dreamed of being a teacher (for some reason my brother was less than thrilled when I wanted to play school, probably because I assigned homework that I expected him to complete...). Not much else (surprisingly) stuck, however, so when the novel was assigned in my sophomore English class, I came to it knowing very little about the story.

To put it bluntly, I fell in love. Aside from Romeo and Juliet, Jane Eyre was the first assigned book that I loved in high school. I loved the novel for so many reasons, and it was one of those reads that was just perfectly timed and pitched for where I was as a fifteen-year-old high school student. The thing that I loved most about the novel was that Jane was loved, truly loved, for WHO SHE WAS, not for WHAT SHE LOOKED LIKE. As a teenager who put herself firmly in the brains camp (not the beauty camp), I daydreamed about a boy falling deeply, madly in love with me once he got to know me(do you see why Jane Eyre resonated so strongly with me?). I loved that Rochester loved Jane and chose her for who she was. I also loved that Jane did the right thing (left Rochester after finding out about Bertha), even though it was hard, even though she didn't want to, but she still won in the end: she and Rochester ended up together in forever, eternal bliss. Again, there is an obvious connection to my life: I had (and still have) a strong sense of right and wrong, and I have always been a rule follower. High school, however, at least on the social front, is not always kind to the rule follower who stands up for what is right and isn't afraid to call out those whose wrongdoing is affecting others.

In a nutshell, Jane was my hero.

All that being said, I have high expectations when it comes to any sort of adaptation of Bronte's (like Simon, I have NO idea how to add the two little dot thingies, and I don't even know what the dot thingies are called...blog fail...) wonderful novel. The first film adaptation I saw, the one with William Hurt as Mr. Rochester, did NOT impress me because Jane was altogether too pretty. I liked the adaptation with Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds, and I found the version with Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester ridiculous (newsflash: Jane and Rochester were NOT fashion models, so why did this adaptation cast ridiculously attractive people in the roles?). Then I discovered the most recent adaptation by the BBC and Masterpiece Theater. It is brilliant and passionate and everything that the book was.

Again, I'm pretty harsh on adaptations of Jane Eyre, but when I found out about Jane, I was really excited. Jane is translated into a college freshman who, due to circumstances outside her control, must find immediate employment, and Mr. Rochester becomes Nico Rathburn, hot rock 'n roll star who is making a comeback after a meteoric (and not entirely innocent) rise to fame followed by a spectacular, drug-induced downfall. The premise is very believable, and there were moments that really pulled me in.

Overall, however, the book didn't really deliver for me. It wasn't Jane Eyre for me, and it left me wanting more. It definitely had its moments, and I think it would definitely point readers to the original (I know it made me want to read Jane Eyre again!), but it really paled in comparions to the original. While the novel was (for the most part) well written, I was disappointed that Lindner didn't create a successful voice and vocabulary for Nico when she had been so successful in creating such a vivid, engaging Jane. There were moments when I was reading Nico's dialogue that literally jolted me because it was so close to the original dialogue in Jane Eyre. I appreciated that Lindner turned to the novel when she needed inspiration, but there were several times when what Nico said just didn't fit into the context that she had given him.

I'm glad that I read this novel. It was fun to see a modern twist on one of my favorite stories, and I look forward to reading Jane Eyre again and pointing some of my students to Jane and (hopefully!) to Jane Eyre.

P.S. I sort of collect editions of Jane Eyre. This is the next one I hope to acquire:

Reading With Teenagers

2010-10-19T17:20:00.002-05:00

I have to warn you: I will be doing a LOT of gushing in this post. If you are anti-gush, consider yourself warned, and flee now for your own good!

I finished what my girlfriend doesn't know, and while I found it sweet and hilarious, I think that I liked what my mother doesn't know better. They are both excellent, and it may just boil down to the fact that I liked the one narrated by Sophie better because I'm a girl ;).

I forgot to mention in my first Teen Read post that I loved my first Sarah Dessen novel: I picked up Just Listen last week because I was kind of at a loss as to what to read, and I pretty much devoured it. I hope to review it tomorrw, but I will keep the gushing (I hope) to a minimum when I do.

I gave my sophomores time to read in class today. One of the students has already finished two books, so I sent him off to the library to choose another one. I had to SERIOUSLY restrain myself from jumping out of my chair and GUSHING when he came back from the library with The Hunger Games. I'm so excited for him that I can hardly stand it!

Finally, my sophomores are required to give a book talk about their independent read, and I have been sort of agonizing over which book I should use to give a sample book talk. Right now I'm trying to decide between The Hunger Games, Jane, and Shiver. If you would like to weigh in, please do!

It's Teen Read Week!

2010-10-18T21:03:00.002-05:00

One of the things that I am loving about the block scheduling at my new job is that there is actually time to assign and encourage independent reading. My sophomores are working on their first independent read, and you can imagine the joy I've experienced every time they've asked, "can we read today?" Music to an English teacher's ears!

In formulating the structure and assignment for another class's independent reading assignment, I was chatting with one of the school's librarians, and she mentioned that the ALA puts out a list of top ten picks for reluctant readers. I visited the website and, in addition to discovering a bunch of AWESOME Young Adult novels, learned that this week is Teen Read Week.

In honor of this fact, I have decided to read only Young Adult books for the next week. I kind of started this celebration early (and without meaning to) because I finished Jane, by April Lindner, and what my mother doesn't know, by Sonya Sones (reviews of both coming this week). I'm looking forward to finishing what my girlfriend doesn't know, by Sonya Sones, reading Perfect Chemistry, by Simone Elkeles, and rereading the fabulous Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater.

Won't you join me in encouraging the teens in your life to enjoy some books this week? And if you plan on reading Young Adult books this week, please let me know!

Bleak House Week 2, or I am Very Far Behind

2010-10-13T17:40:00.003-05:00

As you may know, I have decided to cut myself some slack when it comes to Bleak House, and I no longer feel like a delinquent because JoAnn has assured me that she too will be taking her time with Bleak House. So, without further ado, my thoughts on chapters 8-13:

I should probably warn you that some of this is fuzzy in my mind because I read chapter 8 before I moved. I then proceeded to not read Bleak House for another month, which is distressingly familiar territory for me as I have attempted and failed to read Bleak House twice before. Anyways...

We get more story with the Deadlocks, Mr. Jarndyce, and Mr. Guppy, and we are introduced to the rather odd but altogether delightful Mr. Boythorn. I found the Badgers hilarious, and Mr. Snagsby is quite the character as well. We also find out about Nemo, the mysterious law writer.

I have been discovering that it really is a TERRIBLE idea to see the movie adaptation of a Dickens novel before reading the novel (I blame my lack of motivation on this fact), but in some ways it has been fun to see how characters who become hugely important later are introduced. Case in point: the "dark young man", the surgeon present when the doctor, examines Nemo's body was a very pleasant surprise, and I am looking forward to seeing more of him.

On the downside, however, we have Richard. I like how Dickens connects everything together, but in this case, I am already so sad about Richard (and was before I even started reading the novel) that seeing Dickens put the pieces together for his inevitable end is sort of like helplessly watching a train with no breaks hurtling towards a bridge (aka: it's no fun!). I found these quotes about Richard particularly insightful and affecting:

"With a bouyancy and hopefulness and a gaiety that hardly ever flagged, Richard had a carelessness in his character that quite perplexed me -- principally because he mistook it, in such a very odd way, for prudence." (138)

"I believe Richard's was as frank and generous a nature as there possibly can be. He was ardent and brave, and, in the midst of all his wild restlessness, was so gentle, that I knew him like a brother in a few weeks." (139)

Like I've said before, I know what happens to Richard, and I nearly cried when he proclaimed that he would never make Ada unhappy. Oh Richard, if you only knew!

I will keep plugging away at Bleak House, and I know that it will really grab me eventually. I will admit, however, that reading Bleak House is REALLY making me want to revisit Little Dorrit. Perhaps that will be my treat for finishing the big BH.

Back in the Saddle Again

2010-10-10T12:09:00.003-05:00

I know I just posted my answers to the End of Event Meme, but I just had to gush a little bit about all the wonderful blogs that I found as a result of this readathon. Many of these wonderful people were my cheerleaders (thanks, guys!), and I wanted to return a little bit of the love. Because of the readathon, I found:

Col Reads
Bonjour, Cass!
Book Clutter
In Laurie's Mind
The Introverted Reader
A Good Stopping Point

I am really looking forward to reading more of these blogs!

I also found a great challenge because of the readathon. I'm really excited about it because I would be meeting the criteria even if I didn't sign up for the challenge because the only requirement of the challenge is to read! So, drumroll please, I give you the books that I want to read for the Fall Into Reading Challenge:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Bleak House

I want to read the Harry Potter books again before the next movie comes out, and I want to finish Bleak House before the year is out. There you have it! If you would like to join in, be sure to follow the link!

Readathon Update #6 and End of Event Meme

2010-10-10T11:38:00.006-05:00

It seems that the theme of my blog the last few weeks has been "the best laid plans of mice of men," and like a good rule-follower, I continued the theme during my second readathon experience.

I went home to spend some quality time with Harry Potter and some tacos (tacos...yum...), and as soon as I ate my tacos, I fell asleep on the couch. I am not a random napper (in fact, unless I'm really sick, I rarely nap at all), so I'm not sure what happened. I slept for almost an hour and had some really bizarre dreams, but it refreshed me to read a little longer (and ensure that the bizarre dreams didn't make a reappearance).

Here are the facts:
Books finished: 0 (2 total)
Pages read: 143 (412 total)**I am very proud of myself that 77 of these pages
were from Bleak House**
Time read: 2 hours (8.5 total)

Apparently I didn't keep track of my actual time during my last readathon, but I am fairly positive that I at least doubled the amount of time that I spent reading during this readathon. I am eagerly looking forward to the April readathon, and perhaps the third time will be a charm and I will manage at least 12 hours reading!

Here are my answers to the meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
The 10 p.m.-11 p.m. because that's when I took an impromptu snooze.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
The Maltese Falcon is definitely a nail biter and makes you want to keep reading. And you don't even have to be a mystery reader to like it!
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I loved that the cheerleading teams were named after literary elements!
5. How many books did you read?
I read four; I finished two.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuko Ishiguro, The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett, Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J. K. Rowling
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
8. Which did you enjoy least?
Bleak House (let me clarify: it's not a bad book, but it IS a challenging read)
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I wasn't a cheerleader, but I LOVED the literary cheers!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will be there, and I might even sign up to be a cheerleader or host a mini-challenge!

Readathon Update #5

2010-10-09T19:28:00.002-05:00

I have been dawdling around on the internet for the last hour or so, and I think the time has come to pack up and head home. Since there is no internet at la casa, I will be doing one massive update post in the morning.

Happy reading to all!

The facts:
Nothing has really changed since my last post (I know, shame on me!).

Harry Potter, here I come!

Readathon Mid-Event Survey

2010-10-09T18:34:00.003-05:00

1. What are you reading right now?
Bleak House and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
2. How many books have you read so far?
I've been reading out of four, and I finished two that I started before the
readathon.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I think I'm done with
Bleak House for the night.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
I usually plan for the week and grade on Saturday, so I had to switch days. I'll
plan and grade tomorrow. I also went to bed pathetically early last night.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Not so much interruptions, but not having internet at home yet has been something
of a hastle.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
How slowly time moved while I was reading Bleak House and how quickly
time moved during reading breaks!
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope. Love it!
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do
this again next year?
I will definitely get to the library in advance. I didn't really have a lot of
books on hand, which is why I'm focusing on two massive books and have fewer
options.
9. Are you getting tired yet?
Not really
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is
working well for you that others may not have discovered?
Not really. I love the poetic, book-related cheers that Team Simile has been
doing!

Readathon Update #4

2010-10-09T18:00:00.003-05:00

I'm back!

I just finished The Maltese Falcon, and HOLY COW!!!!! I had to take some long, deep cleansing breaths as I read the end. I'm still sorting out my thoughts, and I grin every time I think about how my students will react to reading the last four chapters of the book. I'm predicting some great class discussion, which is always a good thing.

I'm going to browse at the bookstore before I head back to reading. I think I hit my Bleak House brick wall, so I will be reading Harry Potter and various other things for the rest of the night. Hope everyone is doing well!

The facts:
Books finished: 1 (2 total)
Pages read: 41 (269 total)
Hours read: 1 (6.5 total)

Readathon Update #3

2010-10-09T16:40:00.000-05:00

It hasn't quite been two hours, but Bleak House is making me feel a bit antsy, especially since the next chapter is forty pages long. I'm one of those weirdos that likes to read in chapter increments, and I can tell you definitively that forty consecutive pages of Dickens is not going to happen right now!

I did find this lovely quote in my last chunk of Bleak House. I would expect the weather to be like this in October in the Midwest, but it is definite 82 degrees right now! Here's the quote:

"The clear cold sunshine glances into the brittle woods, and approvingly
beholds the sharp wind scattering the leaves and drying the moss. It glides
over the park after the moving shadows of the clouds, and chases them, and
never catches them, all day. It looks in at the windows, and touches the
ancestral portraits with bars and patches of brightness, never contemplated by
the painters" (181-182)

I accidentally left Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the car, so I think I am going to finisth The Maltese Falcon while I take a break from Bleak House.

Here are the facts:
Books finished: 0 (1 total)
Pages read: 33 (228 total)
Hours read: 1.5 hours (5.5 hours total)

Readathon Update #2

2010-10-09T15:08:00.002-05:00

I took a break from Bleak House so I could eat lunch. And yes, my decision to switch to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was partly influenced by the fact that Harry Potter was easier to read with one hand. So over a Schlotsky's turkey sandwich and some of the best baked chips around, I immersed myself in Dudley's diet, Weasley's Wizarding Weazes, and the Quidditch World Cup.

One of the reason that I loved the Harry Potter series the first time I read it (and one of the reasons that I keep returning to it) is because of all the little details that Rowling presents almost in passing that become REALLY IMPORTANT in later books. During lunch, for instance, I was reading about when Weasleys & Co arrive at the Quidditch World Cup; Mr. Weasley is telling Harry and Hermione who all the Ministry workers are as they walk past the campsite, and he mentions two men who are Unspeakables. We, along with Harry and Hermione, aske, "what does that mean?" Well, it means the work in the Department of Mysteries. And then the scene moves along its merry way.

BUT WE NOW KNOW THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.

Okay, on to the stats:
Books finished: 0, but I'm working with massive tomes
Number of pages read: 94 (195 total)
Time spent reading: 1 hour (4 hours total)

Readathon Update #1

2010-10-09T12:47:00.003-05:00

I just spent the last two hours reading Bleak House, and I made it through fifty pages. I also checked how far behind I am on Amanda's blog: everyone will be on page 816 and posting about that section on Wednesday; I am on page 181 *hangs head in shame* So it looks like regardless of how much I read in Bleak House today, I will still be ridiculously behind.

On a brighter note, I got to the part where we meet the "dark young man" who turns out to be a compassionate surgeon (which, in Dickens' time, was basically a doctor). I already know what happens to this particular character, and I was quite happy to see him enter the story.

Here are my stats so far:
Books finished: 1
Total pages read: 101
Total time spent reading: 3 hours

Cheers to all!

The Read From My Shelves Read Away From Home Readathon

2010-10-09T10:41:00.004-05:00

Hello, all you fellow readathoners. I have decided I am mended enough to participate in the readathon, and I just keep telling myself that I really should take it easy today to be sure that my recovery sticks. In other words, I am making as many excuses as I need to in order to read all day today.

I started out my morning by finishing Never Let Me Go. The book was as compulsive as I thought it would be, but I can't quite put finger on WHY I couldn't put it down. I then moved on to a little bit of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I am now sitting in Starbucks getting ready to dive into Bleak House, which I haven't picked up since the end of August (bad read along participant!).

Before I get back to my reading, here are my goals for today:
1. Read as much as possible.
2. Read a good chunk of Bleak House so that I am only embarassingly behind
instead of distressingly behind.
3. Read enough of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire today so that I can
finish it tomorrow and start the audio version of Harry Potter and the Order
of the Phoenix on Monday (side note: the audio versions of the Harry Potter
books are AMAZING. If you have never listened to Jim Dale read one of these
books, you are missing out).

The only goal I am committed to sticking to strictly is goal number one. Getting more caught up on Bleak House would be nice, but I know I probably can't read that and only that for the next twelve hours. And I have to ration Harry Potter or else I will read that and nothing else.

I would show you a spiffy picture of the rest of my books that I will be dipping in and out of today, but my camera is somewhere in the confused and unorganized things that still haven't been sorted out after my move. I still don't have internet at home, so I will be drinking a lot of coffee today so I can use various establishment's free wi-fi.

But really, what goes better with a book than coffee? In my opinion, not much!

"My Head Feels Fuzzy"

2010-10-04T16:25:00.004-05:00

I have been thinking about this line from You've Got Mail (possibly one of the BEST movies ever!) a lot over the last week because I can completely empathize with Kathleen Kelly (but I didn't get daisies from a dashing stranger). There have been multiple students hacking up their lungs all over my classroom over the last few weeks, so I'm not terribly surprised that I got sick. I would, however, have liked to avoid missing three full days of work my first month at the school.

Oh, well. "The best laid plans" part two, I suppose.

Anyways, on to the point. I am supposedly participating in the 24-Hour-Readathon on Saturday (and greatly looking forward to it), but my recent stint with illness may demand a less-involved readathon than I would like. I would like to catch up (some, at least!) on Bleak House, which I will probably finish NEXT October at the rate I'm going, but it may turn into grading catch-up, license acquiring, and other miscellaneous things day. And I don't have internet at home (STILL!).

Needless to say, the life lesson is that it does no one any good to be essentially knocked out for three days straight, but on the book front, I'm still loving The Hunger Games trilogy (I'm in Mockingjay), and I discovered that Never Let Me Go will probably be a completely compulsive read as well once I fully give myself over to it. Sadly, my poor, fuzzy head couldn't handle it last week.

Hunger Games, Bleak House, Maltese Falcon, Oh My!

2010-09-23T17:18:00.002-05:00

What are you reading right now? What made you choose it? Are you enjoying it? Would you recommend it? (And, by all means, discuss everything, if you’re reading more than one thing!)

I am very glad that the caveat was included for multiple books. As I've mentioned before, I am a chronic multiple book reader, and the habit has only been reinforced by my choice of profession. I haven't participated in Booking Through Thursday in a while, but I knew I needed to answer this one!

My highest priority read right now is Maltese Falcon. I am teaching it in one of my classes and had never read it before. I wasn't necessarily thrilled that it was included in the curriculum for the class as I am NOT a mystery fan (at all...I kind of detest them), but I have been very pleasantly surprised by how much I am enjoying Maltese Falcon. Perhaps I like hard boiled detective fiction? It has been fun to teach, too, because I am reading everything out loud to the class. It is a group of struggling English students, but it has been entirely gratifying to experience this novel along with them. They even asked to keep reading today, so we did!

I am also nominally rereading To Kill a Mockingbird for my sophomore class, but since I have read it so many times before, I am just kind of dipping in and out as time allows (I am still trying to unpack, and there is still some scrambling taking place at school because of my last-minute hire). I WILL read the last few chapters because they are my favorite...and they make me cry...and I don't cry when I read...

My highest priority personal read is the Hunger Games Trilogy. I finished the series about two weeks ago, and I immediately started it again. I NEVER do this, but I just couldn't let Panem, Peeta (oh, Peeta! You're so my favorite!), and Katniss go quite yet. I'm currently halfway through Catching Fire, and I have had a stern talk with myself about how I have to put them down when I finish Mockingjay because I suspect that I will want to read them again right away.

The other books I am "reading" (i.e. I was actively reading when I was ambushed by the Hunger Games and followed it down the rabbit hole) are Bleak House and Echo in the Bone. I haven't done more than pack them and look at them in several weeks, but I will go back to them as soon as I'm done with Mockingjay.

In other exciting news, I am anxiously awaiting my library card. I was thrilled to discover that I didn't need to have a state driver's license to apply for a card, so it is really only a matter of time before cumpulsive library material checking out commences once more! Yay!

"The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men", or I am Dreadfully Behind in Bleak House

2010-09-16T19:48:00.003-05:00

Remember my last post? The one where I promised to post within the next few days about the next section of Bleak House? Well, a funny thing happened (but not on the way to the forum): literally thirty minutes after I posted, I received a call from a principal wanting to interview me for an English position. I had submitted my application the night before (the night before!), so, needless to say, I was a bit caught off guard. We set up an interview for the next afternoon (the town is five hours from my parents'), and I called my mom to share the exciting news.

And then they offered me the job. On the spot. I didn't even know that schools could do that, much less that they would! I was quite surprised (possibly the understatement of the century), and the drive home was pretty much a blur. The next day I found myself driving back to the school, fighting a cold, signing my contract, looking for an apartment, and trying to get ready to start school on Tuesday. That's right: I got hired 5 days before school started!

Despite the stress and insanity that has been my life the last few weeks, I am unspeakably grateful that I am teaching full time. I am teaching four different classes (three of them new), but my five years of experience have come in handy! And I get to teach To Kill a Mockingbird, which you might remember was one of my teacherly wishes.

I finally found an apartment a week ago, but I am still getting internet at the apartment figured out. There is also the small detail of preparing for all these classes, and the planning is something of a beast since two of those classes are block, which essentially means two classes for the price of one! It has been an intense experience, but my new co-workers have been incredibly supportive and kind, and I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

So if you have stuck with me through this rather long, personal post, then you deserve to know what bookish things I will be talking about in the near future. Bleak House will definitely be making a return, but first I will have to get the Hunger Games series out of my reading and blogging system.

Temptation, Thy Name is Hunger Games

2010-09-01T15:52:00.002-05:00

Here I am, a week later, and I am finally posting about chapters 1-7 of Bleak House*. I hope to post about this week's installment, chapters 8-13, tomorrow or Friday. And then I hope to be caught up and able to post on Wednesdays like I am supposed to!

Willpower has proven itself to be in short supply the last few days due to another job interview, a compulsive need to finish watching Heroes (it is embarassing how little time it has taken me to blaze through the first three seasons), other interesting reads, and the siren call of The Hunger Games. I may have to use my old trick of having someone hide the book so I can get caught up on Bleak House (In college, I routinely asked my roommate to hide any book that was tempting me until a given time so that I could get my work done. Sad but true, my friends!).

One last thing before I actually start talking about Bleak House: I think I am going to try this format for my discussion of the novel; I'm hoping it will keep me more organized. We'll see how long it lasts...

General Tidbits:
I have started this novel at least two other times but have always put it down when I am between 100 and 200 pages in. Why? Well, I have a confession: I saw the movie before I read the book (gasp, horror, the shock!), and in this case, knowing what happens, especially to one character in particular, makes me really reluctant to read the novel. Perhaps this is some twisted way for me to deny the truth of what happens to this character, but this reluctance translated into some real difficulties for me as I started the book. I had trouble frinding the cadence, was a bit bored by the description of the fog and Chancery (but I liked it before), and had doubts as to whether I would really be able to finish this book after all.

Don't get me wrong; I am a Dickens LOVER. We're talking Team Dickens, my friends; I absolutely adore him and eventually want to read everything he wrote (so, obviously, I would have to read Bleak House eventaully), but I still struggled. It wasn't really until I got to Chapter 4 and the Jellybys that things started to look up for me.

Important Things:
Since this is the beginning of the novel, there are (obviously) lots of important things in these chapters. We're introduced to a whole host of characters, the first being the Chancery Court. I know this isn't techincally a character, but its presence in the novel is inescapable. Chancery is immediately identified as corrupt by the presence of fog, which continues to be a sign of corruption throughout the novel. The case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce is introduced, and it becomes clear fairly quickly that it will do nobody any good. Dickens explains that it has corrupted everyone who has ever been involved in it (foreshadowing, anyone??!!) and its being in Chancery is described by Tom Jarndyce (of him-who-blew-out-his-brains fame) as "being ground to bits in a slow mill; it's being roasted at a slow fire; it's being stung to death by single bees; it's being drowned by drops; it's going mad by grains" (71). In other words, it's not a fun time.

I really want to focus on Esther, Ada, Richard, Mr. Jarndyce, and Mr. Skimpole. Esther is a true gem; she is humble, hardworking, generous, gracious, and kind, and I can't really blame everyone in the novel for loving her almost instantly. That everyone, of course, doesn't include her guardian/aunt, who has a serious Esther-related chip on her shoulder. I did find it extremely fitting that Esther's aunt is struck with her illness (possibly a stroke?) while Esther is reading the passage from the Gospels when Jesus saves the adultress by telling the murdering crowd that those who are without sin should cast the first stone.

In Ada, Dickens returns to his much-loved image of a woman as angel. She is beautiful, blond, "bright", and "innocent" (44). She very much relies on Esther and Richard and is almost child-like in her understanding of the things going on around her. Of course, it is natural for Mr. Jarndyce and Esther to hope that she falls in love with Richard, "a handsome youth, with an ingenuous face, and a most engaging laugh" (44) who proves to be protective, kind, entertaining, and unsure at various turns in these first chapters.

What I found interesting about Mr. Jarndyce was his blind spots. He is obviously generous: he provides for Esther from a young age, invites Ada and Richard, distant cousins, to live with him, and knows people like Mrs. Jellyby and others who try to do "good." While he can recognize the inconsistencies in Mrs. Jellyby's charitable work (he readily agrees with Esther and Ada that she is wrong in neglecting her family in order to pursue her work for Africa), he does not extend the same clarity of sight and understanding to Mr. Skimpole.

Simply put, Mr. Skimpole is despicable. He is, "in simplicity, and freshness, and enthusiasm, and a fine guilelss inaptitude for all worldly affairs, he is a perfect child" (87), and "he has been unfortunate in his affairs, and unfortunate in his pursuits, and unfortunate in his family; but he don't care - he's a child!" (88). He has essentially abandoned his family, and he takes no responsibility for any of his actions. The interesting thing is how indulgent Mr. Jarndyce is towards Mr. Skimpole; he seems to have no problem about the fact that Mr. Skimpole is essentially mooching off of him. Needless to say, I don't like him, especially since it seems that Mr. Skimpole is essentially manipulating everything and everyone to his advantage.

Questions:
Is more light going to be shed on why Mr. Jarndyce is so indulgent towards Mr. Skimpole?

Who (if anyone) is Dickens trying to satirize with Mr. Skimpole? Does it have anything to do with Dickens' father?

Favorite Quotes:
"Solitude, with dusky wings, sits brooding upon Chesney Wold" (103).

"[Mrs. Rouncewell] considers that a family [the Deadlocks] of such antiquity and importance has a right to a ghost. She regards a ghost as one of the privileges of the upper class; a genteel distinction to which the common people have no claim" (112).

*I am reading the Peguin Classics edition of Bleak House.

Oh No

2010-08-25T16:15:00.003-05:00

My apologies to all of you visiting from the Zen Leaf to read my thoughts on the first installment of the Bleak House readalong: not only did I misread how many chapters we were to read for today (through chapter 7, not chapter six), but I also just finished chapter 3.

Epic fail, I know.

I will do my best to be caught up as soon as possible, and then I will post my thoughts.

Please pardon my temporary insantiy and come back in a few days!

Procrastination

2010-08-19T14:08:00.004-05:00

I should really be working on job applications, but I couldn't resist this delightful installment of Booking Through Thursday.

1. Favorite childhood book?
GAH! This is so hard... I think probably the Betsy, Tacy, and Tib books (yes, I know this is more than one, but cut me some slack!)

2. What are you reading right now?
I just finished Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I am listening to Insatiable, by Meg Cabot, and am about to start Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, and An Echo in the Bone, by Diana Gabaldon.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
A book about Pearl S. Buck

4. Bad book habit?
I compulsively check books out from the library and then don't keep very good track of the due dates.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life, 77 Love Sonnets, The Cookbook Collector, Far North, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, Insatiable, Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, Jayber Crow, Letters of a Woman Homesteader, and Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.

6. Do you have an e-reader?
NO! And I don't plan on getting one.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
Yes!

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I've been reading more; at this point, I have read the same number of books that I read in an entire year, and it is only mid-August! This isn't strictly a result of blogging, but I have been buying fewer books and using the library more.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Hmmm...possibly the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Another hard one!!! I'm going to say Linger, by Maggie Stiefvater, but I might change this one after I look at this year's list of books.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
I have pretty broad reading habits, so I'll have to say not much.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
I like books that are smart and intriguing and well-written. A Twilight fan I am not.

13. Can you read on the bus?
Yes, but not in a car unless I have my handy dandy pressure point wrist bands.

14. Favorite place to read?
A comfy couch or chair

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I'm pretty indiscriminate. But if you don't give it back, or it comes back damaged, watch out!

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
No, but I do sometimes do lay them down open.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
In books for school, yes; in books I am reading for fun, no.

18. Not even with text books?
I'm more of a yellow highligher girl.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English

20. What makes you love a book?
Beautiful writing, realistic portrayals of characters (note, this does not mean the characters need to be real!), interesting subject.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If I absolutely loved it (depending on who I am recommending it to) or if I think it will make the person want to read more (I sneakily did this to my youngest brother, and he is now a reading fiend!)

22. Favorite genre?
Uh...fiction, I suppose.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
History

Favorite biography?
Nathan Hale. I read it as a kid and was just in love with him.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yes.

26. Favorite cookbook?
How to Boil Water

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Bread of Angels.

28. Favorite reading snack?
Coffee

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
I don't really know.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Sometimes. I tend to look for any comments/critiques from authors I like on the backs of the books.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
I have no problem with it. I am honest on my blog.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
I can already read in Spanish, but I have always thought it would be cool to be able to read Hebrew.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Probably Don Quixote.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
I don't know that I really have one. Maybe Bleak House because I've started and put it down so many times.

35. Favorite Poet?
Too many to choose from! I do really like Liesl Muller.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
10-15

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Lots of times. Remember, I'm a compulsive book checker-outer.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Arthur Clennam is one of them (one of many)

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Hmmm... Bradley Headstone is pretty much a total creeper.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Lots of them! I usually bring a variety so that I will be sure to have something to read.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
a few days
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Lakeshore Limited

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
not much unless the book is only so-so

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
This is hard! I did really love the movie of Little Dorrit. And I loved the Lord of the Rings movies. Oh, and I thought Atonement was great. I'll stop breaking the rules now.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Maybe Time Traveler's Wife

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
$40 in one stop, but I could spend that three or four times a week before I cut back on buying books.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Rarely

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
If it was poorly written, absolutely cliched, or extremely offensive (and I'm not easily offended)

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
by group (classics, sentimental favorites, books I might like to read a bit of before going to sleep, etc.) and then alphabetically.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I am a book packrat.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
The rest of the Twilight books.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
March, by Geraldine Brooks

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
The Sunne and Splendour, by Sharon Kay Penman.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
The Help. It's not like I hated it, but I didn't think it lived up to all the hype.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

When the Fates Conspire...

2010-08-17T17:15:00.004-05:00

Hello, blogging friends. I was doing so well; my last two posts were up within a week of each other, and I had grand intentions of reviewing the The Cookbook Collector and Eat Pray Love (I won't bore you with how much the lack of commas in this title bugs me!)and sharing some of my favorite Atticus (of To Kill a Mockingbird fame) anecdotes.

And then the Fates (also known as the Realities of Real Life) intervened with: a massive two-day headache (possibly a migraine?) complete with nausea and general ickiness, family friends visiting from the Dominican Republic who needed an additional translator, and my parents' internet, which decided that it hated not only my computer (old news) but also all computers currently residing in my parents' home.

However, I am back, and I have exciting news! I received a call last Thursday to interview for a job at a high school! It is the first application that has actually turned into an interview (yay for potential employment and the hope of moving out of my parents' place. Don't get me wrong: I am so thankful that they have let me stay with them, but this CANNOT be a permanent situation...). I spent this weekend shopping for an interview outfit, telling the story of my interview over and over again, and generally being nervous about said interview.

The interview went really well, and now I am waiting to hear back from the school. This waiting is definitely more nervewracking and stomach-twisting than the waiting for the interview day. So to distract myself yesterday, I went to see Eat Pray Love.

And this, my friends, is where we have the opportunity to discuss a rarity in my book world: I liked the movie better than the book. I loved Elizabeth Gilbert's voice and writing style, but there was just a bit too much Eastern mysticism, God is who you want him to be, let's all chant in Sanskrit for my taste. Despite all this, however, I will readily admit that this book (and the movie) really reasonated with me; I mean, how could it not? It's all about a woman who makes a seemingly crazy, huge change in her life, and her life is literally never the same. For the better. How could I not relate? The movie had this same effect on me (the spiritualism was played down quite a bit while still retaining Gilbert's distinct voice and humor, which I thought was a much better tone than the book) and proved to be a good distraction from my interview worries because it was like taking a mini vacation to three exotic locations (in only 3 hours!). I especially loved the scene at the end where Liz explains the physics of the quest: she essentially said that making a change can't be anything but good. And in my case, I think she's right.

On the bookish front, I am very excited to participate in the Bleak House Readalong that is being hosted by the Zen Leaf. I have been meaning to actually finish this book for quite some time, and I had vowed back in June to read it during my less hectic, temporarily (hopefully) unemployed time. And here is the perfect incentive! Many consider this Dickens' greatest work, so head over to sign up if you want to read with us!

Linger, or Why Did I Start Reading This Series Now?

2010-08-04T15:28:00.002-05:00

Photo credit

Well, friends, the temptation to compulsively consume Linger, the sequel to Shiver, proved too much this past weekend, so I did something that I rarely do: I went to Barnes and Noble and read the entire thing there.

Now, before you get upset, let me assure you that I do understand the difference between a bookstore and a library (I can even tell you about the difference in two languages!), and I do know that bookstores need to make a profit (does it make you feel better to know that I bought ridiculously large coffees while there?), and I do plan on buying the entire series when it is out in paperback and (more importantly) when I have a teaching job.

Let's just say that this inability to overcome my scruples about reading an entire book in a bookstore is evidence that Maggie Stiefvater did an excellent job continuing her good work from Shiver. There were many unexpected twists (least of all the ending: how, I ask you, how am I supposed to wait another year to find out what happens to Grace and Sam?) and lots of poetry and music. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Shiver, but I think that's mainly because there was a side story that I didn't care about too much because I just wanted to KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH GRACE AND SAM FOR PETE'S SAKE!!!!

Did I already mention that reading this book was a bit compulsive?

Anyway, I liked the book a lot. I know this wasn't a great, coherent review, but I don't want to give anything away to people who want to read the series. If you like Young Adult Literature, or you just want to assure yourself that Twilight does not signal the downfall of mankind, then you should really read this series.

Shivers Down My Spine

2010-07-30T15:14:00.009-05:00

Photo credit

I don't always know what to do about book hype, particularly when the book being hyped is a Young Adult novel. I have nothing against Young Adult Literature, but ever since the Twilight fiasco, I have been a bit wary. Imagine my surprise, then, when I devoured Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater, in a mere day and a half. I didn't know much about the book, but when I saw it on the library's new books shelf, I thought to myself, "what the heck. I'll give it a try."

Boy, am I glad I did.

First let me just say how much I appreciate that Stiefvater's publisher a) did not give away the entire book in the blurb and b) did an amazing job on the cover art. Okay, on to the review!

I'm not going to give a plot synopsis here since I am probably the last person in the blogosphere to have read this book. The main characters are Grace and Sam, and I liked both of them almost immediately. Grace is a junior in high school, but she pretty much keeps her family together: both her parents are rather scatterbrained, so most of the care giving responsibilities fall on her. Sam had a pretty rough childhood, and his teen years are proving to be quite trying, too. I don't want to give away the twist here, but I do want to commend Stiefvater for writing two great characters who feel like real teenagers. She understands teens without condescension or cliche. It's a book that deals with lots of emotions, but these emotions never feel fake or melodramatic; they are real and genuine and, as a result, evoked some pretty real emotional responses from me.

This is a sweetly told story, and it maintains its sweetness and sass despite some not-so-nice details. I especially appreciated that Stiefvater explored and present Grace and Sam's relationship in a realistic but tasteful way. She conveyed the strong feelings that so often come when great amounts of emotions and hormones are involved, but it never got weird or icky. The ins and outs of their relationship were very well done.

Needless to say, the book delivers. It is all about longing, loss, pain, and love, and it is supernatural/fantasy writing at its best: it takes a complex human dilemma, clothes it in some rather fantastical clothing, and then lets the situation unfold in a realistic, moving way despite its fantastical elements. If anything, because it is fantasy it allows for a more honest, up-close look at and answer to how we deal with the complexities of wanting someone, loving someone, and helping another person conquer his personal demons.

I am eagerly waiting for my turn to come up on the library's hold list so I can get my hands on the next book in the series, Linger. The last book in the series will be published next summer, and I'm sure it will be hard to wait if Linger is anything like Shiver.

Excuse Me? or a Defense of Reading Fiction

2010-07-26T14:03:00.001-05:00

My parents and I had lunch with some old friends and other people the old friends knew. We had eaten lunch, and the women had settled in for a delightful post-lunch conversational meander. The talk turned to books (four of us were teachers, so this was no surprise), and in the midst of discussions about Harry Potter (yay!), the Twilight series (blech!), and whether the standards for the Newberry had changed, one lady casually mentioned that she only allows herself one novel per year.

*Insert crickets, blank stares, and a rather uncomfortable silence where the rest of us looked at each other awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond*

This lady then went on to explain that she had so much to read with her cookbooks and children's school books (she homeschools them) that she just couldn't justify allowing herself to read more than one novel a year.

I have to admit that I was more than a little put off by her rather nonchalant statement. I can understand people who don't like or want to read (crazy people that they are) not wanting to read much in a year, but how is it possible that someone who suppposedly enjoys reading, who is trying to instill in her children the importance of words and reading, deprives herself of so much great material? This lady is clearly reading other things, but it irked me that she made this statement as an obvious testament to how pious and worthy she was because she wasn't reading the drivel and slop that the rest of us were because she didn't read multiple novels each year.

And this, really, is the heart of the issue: people still see reading fiction as largely a waste of time. I know there are people who prefer non-fiction, which is fine. There is a lot to be said for personal taste. I also know that people who are not readers cannot quite grasp the sometimes obsessive nature of a booklover's desire to read. But what I want to know is how a responsible, educated person can assert that all fiction, across the board, is frivolous and meant to be doled out in tiny bits like too-rich candy to children who might get sick if they eat too much of it. Is there frivolous, fluffy fiction? Certainly; the same, however, can be said for non-fiction.

What I really wanted to say in response to this woman's statement (but didn't because I was too dumbstruck) is that fiction has value. It's an argument that's been debated since the beginning of literature: what makes literature valid and valued? Is it only worthwhile if it instructs (which many associate with non-fiction)? Is it valuable if it only entertains? I would assert that the best literature (fiction, poetry, non-fiction, you name it) does both, but it is not necessary to feel actively instructed to take something valuable from a work of fiction. Sometimes it is enought to recognize yourself, your situation, or your feelings in a work. Even better if you learn something because of it.

I have gained so much from the fiction that I have read throughout my life. My appreciation of and love for music and beautiful things have been heightened by works like Bel Canto and the poetry of Liesl Muller. I have understood sacrifice and true love (romantic and non) more deeply and more truly because of Our Mutual Friend, Lord of the Rings, Little Dorrit, and even something as silly as Belong to Me. I have seen great moral lessons played out in To Kill a Mockingbird, Tale of Two Cities, and Things Fall Apart. I can hardly make a respectable dent in all the historical fiction I have read that not only taught me about the time and place but also brought significant history to life (Outlander, the Sunne and the Splendor, Macbeth, Gaskell's North and South, all of Dickens' works, The Bronze Arrow, the Little House on the Prairie books, Maude Hart Lovelace's Betsy, Tacy, and Tib books, and so many more).

I can honestly assert that my life would not have been the same if I had not read the books that I read, and most of those books have been fiction. Regarding all fiction as suspect is as problematic as assuming that every work in a certaing genre is valuable because it is that genre. It smacks of smugness and ignorance, and I don't like it.

How Do We Go On? Living in the Face of Suffering

2010-07-22T14:47:00.001-05:00

I recently finished two extremely different books that both dealt with the issue of how we as individuals and as a nation can continue living a supposedly normal and disinterested existence when we know what other people are experiencing around the world.

The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake, is a novel that is set in 1940 and 1941; the novel depicts the stories of the people living in a tiny coastal town in Massachustes (literally the last town in America before hitting the Atlantic Ocean), specifically the postmaster, Iris, the town mechanic, Harry, and the new doctor, Will, and his new wife, Emma. The novel also follows Frankie Bard, a woman reporter covering the Blitz in London and then trying to discover what the Nazis are really doing to all the Jews the are relocating.

The other book is The Bread of Angels, by Stephanie Saldana. In this memoir, Saldana recounts the year she spent in Syria (2004-2005); Saldana discusses the people she met, the struggles (emotional, spiritual, and physical) she encountered, and the most definitely unorthodox decisions that she made as a result of her time spent in Syria.

Both of these books were very fast reads for me, but I found The Bread of Angels to be a much more authentic answer to the question of how to continue living in the face of suffering. Saldana confronted the repercussions of war, poverty, and religious differences with honesty and authenticity; I never felt like she was hiding her pain or her indecision regarding suffering from the reader. In fact, I think it was Saldana's raw pain, doubt, fear, and insecurity that made this such a compulsive read for me. I didn't necessarily agree with all of Saldana's thoughts, resolutions, and answers, but I still found the book to be an honest portrait of a woman striving to define and live by what was important and mattered most to her.

Sarah Blake, on the other hand, ruined the good work that she did in her novel by feeling the need to explain that she was dealing with how people continued living, unchanged, in the face of suffering. I was interested to learn what inspired Blake to write her novel, but I felt a bit patronized by her explanation of why she discussed the Blitz and Frankie Bard's journey through Nazi-occupied Europe. Coincidentally, it was Frankie Bard's train journey, spent recording the stories of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi regime, that resonated most deeply for me; it was the least forced and most authentic part of Blake's story, and it was the part of the novel that evoked the deepest, truest emotions in me. It clearly presented the juxtaposition that Blake sought and was powerful enough to make Blake's explanation unnecessary. By contrast, the rest of the novel seemed to be working too hard to prove a point (a point that didn't necessarily match her content) without just letting the story be told.

Interestingly, The Postmistress has stayed with me, largely because of how it ended. I realize that part of the reason that I like Victorian literature so much is that there is always a neatly wrapped-up ending, and oftentimes those endings are happy. This was not the case with The Postmistress. I didn't feel as though the ending fit the book; it seemed as though Blake wanted to infuse as much suffering as possible into her novel, but, ironically, she never attempted to make sense of that suffering. Saldana, however, presented just as much pain and suffering, but all that pain and suffering (even though much of it was senseless and unnecessary) became a necessary piece of how her story was told.

Happy Birthday, TKAM!

2010-07-08T17:25:00.009-05:00

I LOVE To Kill a Mockingbird. It is possibly my favorite book, and all my fellow bookies out there KNOW how hard it is to land on an unconditional favorite!

To honor the fact that this wonderful, life-changing book has been delighting us for fifty years (and may it have many, many more), I am thinking about dedicating some yet to be determined amount of time on my blog to To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm thinking favorite scenes, favorite quotes, best themes, funniest teaching stories, and much, much more. Would anyone like to do this with me? Read it? Discuss it? Contribute quotes, etc.? If so, please let me know!

P.S. I just found out that my dad (my own father!) has not read To Kill a Mockingbird. This might be grounds for disowning him, especially since he didn't seem all that interested in rectifying the situation.

P.P.S. I hope that this continues to be true:

I'm teaching To Kill a Mockingbird

UPDATE: I have found a lovely blogger who has already set-up a little schedule to honor To Kill a Mockingbird on her blog, so I will be working within the framework on Capricious Reader's blog. Do check it out!

Confessions of a Delinquent Blogger

2010-07-06T19:45:00.004-05:00

A recent conversation I had with my mother:

What are you doing?

I'm working on my little blog, Mom

I didn't know you had a blog...do you have a following?

Probably not, since I started the blog in February and then didn't post for two of the four months of the blog's existence.

Oh...

Apologies to you, dear reader, if you have felt any of the confusion my mother experienced. I could quote all kinds of excuses (and oh, they are many and reasonable), but really I just didn't make time to blog. Yes, there were papers to grade and musicals to accompany for and exams to write and apartments to pack, but I also found time to read the entire backlog of the love story between Ree and her Marlboro Man (at the fabulous Pioneer Woman, but be warned: it is VERY addicting!) and watch almost the entire first season of Lost. Again, my brain was tired, my sanity was shot, and my body was beyond over getting up at 6 a.m., but I could have prioritized.

Let's all just agree that this was an unofficial blogging break, and I promise to try to do better. I have had some major life changes that will probably mean more time (at least for right now) to read and blog: I have left the South and returned to the Midwest. I am currently living with the parents (and the brother and the sister and the two crazy dogs) while I try to find a teaching job in a more severe allergy-friendly environment!

I will wrap this up by giving a shout-out to two books I enjoyed recently: I loved The Last Summer (of You and Me)*, by Ann Brashares, when I read it two years ago, so I was very excited to learn that she had a new book coming out in June. I really enjoyed My Name is Memory *(and what a great title!) until the end. Then even the end was redeemed when I learned that My Name is Memory *is the first installment of a trilogy! Rock on, Ann Brashares!

*Disclaimer: While these books all deal with teen/young adult angst, they are by no means typical. If you don't like uncomfortable, unconventional, or sad situations, these books are probably not for you.

The Fairy Tale Post, or I Assure You I am Alive

2010-05-20T14:48:00.001-05:00

According to T.S. Eliot, "April is the cruelest month," and in many ways April was a very cruel month to me! April was busy, busy, busy, mostly because I was accompanying for the school's production of State Fair. It was loads of fun to get back to my musical theater roots, but the sleep deprivation definitely took its toll. April started strong for me, but then I floundered: I have put down at least four books that just haven't managed to keep my interest (ironically, all the audio books I listened to in April were wonderful, so maybe I was just too tired to physically read?).

I did, however, manage to read three fairy tale-esque books, so I figured I would talk about all three in one post since I still need to fulfill my fairy tale requirement for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. Without further ado, I give you three petite reviews!

The Girl with Glass Feet, by Ali Shaw
I was probably the last person with a book blog to read this book, but it was well worth the wait! This novel is a darker sort of fairy tale (think Brothers Grimm) but is no less enchanting for its dark, unflinching look at the reality of life. I won't summarize the plot here because I want to focus on the characters. I found Midas to be one of the most complete, cohesive characters I have read in a long time. From the opening passage that tells us that Midas is only comfortable looking at things through the lense of his camera, we know that Midas will face his fair share of obstacles and struggles. Midas is awkward, isolated, introverted, and "rigid in every way;" he knows very little about interacting with people in general. All this changes when he meets Ida (the fact that her name is part of his is probably not coincidence). Ida is struggling with her own bizarre problems, and over the course of the novel, these two characters must confront painful things about themselves, their pasts, and each other. In many ways, both are looking for completion and redemption, and they both look to each other in order to find them. This novel does not give easy answers, and does have its flaws (the winged bulls seemed completely random and unnecessary), but the novel ends as it should and presents itself as a very modern fairy tale. Here are some favorite quotes:

The snow was as stiff as the rest of St. Hauda's Land. The awkward bending of branches in the wind, the brittle leaves that broke like ancient parchments. Even a falcon she had watched fly without grace, with mechanical beats of its wings. As if that was the way of these islands, to seize things up, to weather away their vitality.

She found time for inhibited men, and in doing so found excuses for them. There must be some excuse for the way his father left an inheritance of inhibitions for his son.

This was my favorite of the fairy tale books that I read, and I am anxiously waiting for this to come out in paperback so I can buy it!

Sing Me To Sleep, by Angela Morrison
This Young Adult novel was another attempt to add to my summer reading list. It didn't make the cut for the list, but it had some very unique things going for it. It's not the best thing I ever read, but I appreciated how well the author captured a teenage girl's mindset, worries, and thought process. The story is a twist on Beauty and the Beast. Beth, the main character, is a tall, unattractive girl who is teased mercilessly; her classmates find her so unattractive that they call her the Beast. She has one friend, Scott, who she is becoming increasingly aware of as a boy and potential love interest. The only thing that Beth feels she has going for her in life is her singing. Beth has a beautiful voice and is a member of a competitive youth choir. When her choir travels to Switzerland for a competition, she meets Derek. As Beth and Derek attempt to build a relationship, odd things have Beth confused, and the answers to her questions are most definitely not happy. This book does not have a fairy tale ending, but was a pleasing distration from the realities of school and grading.

Curse Dark as Gold
This is a Young Adult retelling of Rumplestilskin (spelling is probably incorrect...sorry, it's a very long German name to spell from memory!). I've always loved retellings of fairy tales; I think I read every Donna Jo Napoli book I could get my hands on in high school! This book was a bit on the creepy side for me (I'm a major wimp when it comes to anything scary), but I really enjoyed the explanations that the author gave for why Rumplestilskin, known as Jack Spinner in the novel, wanted the main character's baby. The writing was much stronger in this novel than in Sing Me to Sleep, which was perhaps due to the fact that Sing Me to Sleep was Angela Morrison's first novel while Curse Dark As Gold was not Elizabeth Bunce's first.

All in all, Girl with Glass Feet was my favorite. Here's to being back in the world of blogging!

Apologies

2010-05-05T18:40:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to post a quick assurance that I AM still alive. I have been running non-stop since my last post, but things have finally slowed down! A post is coming soon about the fairy tale reading I have been doing, so be on the look-out for that!

11 regular days of school left before exams...I will make it...somehow...I think...

March Madness

2010-04-14T08:29:00.002-05:00

Much as I love to read, I often struggle to find the kind of time (i.e. hours and hours upon end) that I would like to have to spend reading. As an English teacher, reading is a large part of my job, and I spend lots of time reading student essays, test questions, and journals. Most of the time, this reading cannot compare to the reading that I would rather be doing. I do read every night before I go to sleep, and I find myself reading during at least one meal each day; I get snippets and tastes, but extended periods of reading times are generally confined to weekends and breaks from school. I become a reading monster during these precious hours of extra reading time, and so it is pretty easy to tell what time of the year it was on my list of books read!

As I've already mentioned, January and February were pretty dismal reading months for me. I got sick several times, I was slogging my way through East of Eden, and I was behind on my grading before the quarter even began (those of you who teach English know how this is possible; those of you who don't teach English should be thankful for your blissful ignorance). I usually have no trouble reading multiple books at once (a phenomenon that continues to stun and amaze my roommate, a strictly one-book-at-a-time reader), but I knew if I gave in and read something other than East of Eden, I would never go back and finish East of Eden. And I WANTED to finish East of Eden (that, Kari, is dedication!).

Thus it was that I was pleasantly surprised to find myself at the end of March with a quite respectable number of books under my belt. This is the first time I have been specific about the month in which I completed a book, and I am proud to say that I finished more than triple the number of books in March than I did in either January or February.

I may not know the first thing about college basketball (ask my friends; they will confirm this fact), but I got lots of reading done! Who needs basketball when you can read a book about a mysterious glass disease, a cursed girl who must complete three crazy tasks, and the backstory of the mysterious Weird Sisters. Here is the list of books I read in March:

Small Island
Lady Macbeth's Daughter
The Eyre Affair (audio)
A Homemade Life
Becoming Jane Eyre
Impossible
Firefly Lane (audio)
The Girl With the Glass Feet

My top three of the month were A Homemade Life, The Girl With the Glass Feet, and Impossible.

24 Hour Read-a-Thon: "Don't Stop Believin'"

2010-04-10T21:06:00.003-05:00

It's Hour 15 of the Read-a-Thon, and my reading has finally kicked into high gear! I tossed The Everafter aside after only about 20 pages because it wasn't holding my interest. I have moved on to Lunch in Paris; I am enjoying it, but I keep comparing it to A Homemade Life (you can read my review if you need a break from the books), and it doesn't hold up too well in the comparison...I'm trying to stay strong, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to succumb to the siren call of Gardens of Water on my i-pod and then drift into blissful sleep.

24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Switching Gears

2010-04-10T19:25:00.004-05:00

Well, I finally get to hunker down and read, read, read! Shades of Grey wasn't really doing it for me, so I'm going to switch gears a bit. I'm planning on reading as late as I possibly can tonight (I'm hoping until midnight, but we'll see if it happens as my body firmly believes that 10 p.m. is bedtime!). I'm going to answer the survey and then hit the books!

1. What are you reading right now? I just started The Everafter, which I'm going to alternate with Lunch in Paris (if The Everafter is too scary, I'll change accordingly!). I will also continue listening to Gardens of Water (it is amazing!).
2. How many books have you read so far? 1 (Major Pettigrew's Last Stand)
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Probably Lunch in Paris, Love and Summer, or My Life in France.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Well, I didn't free up my whole day (or even most of it), so no. :)
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Again, see the above answer.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How much I want to be reading instead of doing what I have to do! Oh, and it's been really nice visiting new blogs.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope!
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? I would definitely plan a little better so I could actually read for most of the time.
9. Are you getting tired yet? Yes, but that's probably because I'm an English teacher and the kiddos are wearing me out! ;)
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Keep it up! It's been awesome!

24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Hour 8

2010-04-10T14:19:00.004-05:00

Books currently reading: Gardens of Water, Shades of Grey
Books finished: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Times spent reading: 2 1/2 hours (*hangs head in shame*)

Book club was FANTASTIC (we call ourselves the Jane Austen Book Club because the first book we read together was Northanger Abby), and I am excited to plow through the school things I need to get done (planning, grading outlines, brushing up on Midsummer Night's Dream) so I can spend the majority of my evening reading. I might not get many books finished, but I am thankful that this read-a-thon is inspiring me to read more than I usually would on a Saturday.

24 Hour Read-a-Thon: And So It Begins

2010-04-10T09:46:00.007-05:00

I am very excited to be participating in the read-a-thon for the very first time! I will not, sadly, be able to read all or even most of the day, but I am going to try to do as many bookish things as possible if I can't actually be reading. I also have to do my taxes (ugh), but I am choosing instead to focus on my international bookclub (we meet via Skype) and a trip to McKay's (a fabulous used bookstore) with my roommate to try to help her get over her fear of their organizational (or lack thereof) system.

This is how I started my morning:

Here is my list of potential books for today:
>

And now I'm off to chat about East of Eden and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (you should go out and read it RIGHT NOW!!!)

"Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme"

2010-04-01T13:03:00.002-05:00

I read Impossible, by Nancy Werlin*, as my folk tale selection for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge. I had originally picked it up to see if it was a book I could include on my students' summer reading list, but due to Lucy's unfortunate prom night, I can't put it on the official list. I can, however, review it here.

This novel was inspired by and based upon the "Elfin Knight" version of the ballad "Scarborough Fair" (note: this is not the same version that Simon & Garfunkel sing, but their version will work as a reference point). We are introduced to Lucy Scarborough, a girl who is loved by her foster parents and perfectly willing to let the story of her mother's madness go uninvestigated. In fact, the only interactions Lucy has with her biological mother are rather disturbing: Miranda, Lucy's mother, finds her sporadically, sings her personal version of "Scarborough Fair," and tries to persuade her (sometimes rather violently) of the importance of the ballad's message. These encounters affect Lucy mostly through the potential for embarassment for herself and the pain they cause her foster mother, Soledad.

All this changes after Lucy's prom night because Lucy was raped. Despite precautions, Lucy is pregnant and faced with a completely different life than the one she had planned. Little does she know that her life will change in more than one way because of this pregnancy: Lucy's attacker was not, as everyone assumes, her prom date, Grey, but the sinister, more-than-slightly icky Padraig Seeley, and with Lucy's pregnancy, a family curse is set into motion:

From the sting of my curse she can never be free
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Unless she unravels my riddlings three
She will be a true love of mine

The rest of the novel centers on Lucy, her parents, and Zach, a good friend, trying to find a way to perform these tasks and stave off the madness that threatens Lucy.

I won't say much more about the plot because I don't want to ruin the suspense or surprise that builds throughout the rest of the novel. Werlin does an excellent job of conveying a sense of forboding as Lucy's pregnancy progresses; we feel the urgency of Lucy completing the tasks just as Lucy and her family do. Werlin builds this sense of forboding and tension especially well as Lucy approaches and performs the third task. In terms of writing and storytelling ability, this part of the book is the best. It is also in this part of the book that the folk tale/fairytale aspects of the story become most prominent. I was reminded of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight many times during my reading, and the similarities become most apparent and meaningful during the performing of the third task.

Perhaps the greatest strenght of this book is that it will appeal to a wide range of YA readers: it has a smattering of everything (suspense, horror, romance, fantasy), and Werlin moves the action of the story in such a way that the reader is hooked early and wants to keep reading. The characters are not the deepest or most fully developed, but the strength and beauty of many passages more than make up for this. This is not a pat, formula novel, and the many unexpected developments kept the story fresh.

*I really love this cover; it is so evocative of the sense of the novel.

Straight From the Heart = Straight From the Kitchen

2010-03-30T19:12:00.000-05:00

I do not love to cook. And really, I don't cook that often. I find it to be too much of a hassle just cooking for myself; there is very little incentive for me to spend more time preparing and cleaning up than enjoying the product, so I tend to eat a lot of cereal, toast, quesadillas, and turkey sandwiches.

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen, by Molly Wizenberg, made me want to love to cook. Heck, it made me want to cook period! As already mentioned, I stumbled across this book on Roses Over a Cottage Door, and I am so glad that I did!

A Homemade Life is the story of Molly Wizenberg's cooking and eating life. The two are very intertwined since her parents were great cooks; Wizenberg grew up in the kitchen, and the kitchen is where she firmly remains today. This is a very poignant, fresh book, and it will pull you in as soon as you start. I loved Wizenberg's honesty about everything from foods she hated as a child to how she coped with her father's death to the things her husband does that drive her crazy. I felt like I was listening to an old friend as I read this book, and I even found some recipes to try. This book was so wonderful that it might actually get me in the kitchen!

On a final note, be sure that you know exactly where you are in your reading of this book. A Homemade Life is a book that you can easily dip in and out of, but as my roommate found out, you might skip crucial parts of the story if you only have a general idea of where you are in the book!

I Want to be Jane Eyre When I Grow Up

2010-03-28T15:18:00.000-05:00

He wakes to the scratching of a pencil against a page: a noise out of the darkness. He lies quite still on his back, reaching out for sound. His ears have become wings, straining, stretching, carrying him away. The world comes to him only through sound, and there is precious little of that.

So begins Becoming Jane Eyre, by Sheila Kohler. The novel opens soon after Charlotte Bronte's father's eye surgery; they are far away from home and all that is familiar. Charlotte is nursing her father, and her father is acknowledging her in a way he never had before. According to Sheila Kohler, it was during this convalescence that Charlotte Bronte started writing Jane Eyre.

I knew I wanted to read this book from the first time that I saw it in Borders. I have loved Jane Eyre since I first read it at sixteen, and I was intrigued by the premise of the novel. Essentially, Kohler intertwines Charlotte's struggles and desires with those of Jane; the result is an interesting and moving acknowledgment of Jane Eyre's power. Kohler also discusses Charlotte's relationship with her sisters, and it was easy to feel along with her as whe watched Branwell's demise, attempted to cajole Emily and Anne into publication, wrestled with her jealousy over the publication of her sisters' novels before her own was published, and mourned her two dear sisters' deaths.

I did not love this book, but I did appreciate it. Becoming Jane Eyre made me want to delve into Jane Eyre; it also made me want to pull out my copy of Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte. I was pleasantly surprised by how normal Emily Bronte was (my view of her is admittedly skewed by my negative reactions to Wuthering Heights), and I was greatly intriuged By Anne Bronte.

Sheila Kohler's writing was beautiful and visceral. She presented Charlotte Bronte as a real woman with real (pressing problems). She did not deify Bronte, but neither did she try to explain Bronte. She presented Charlotte; she did not pyschoanalyze her (again, this is another reaction to two novels involving Chrales Dickens that I ultimately could not bring myself to finish because I didn't want my view of Dickens ruined).

Bottom line: I am glad I read this book because it brought back many of the feelings I had while reading Jane Eyre for the first time. It also made me want to read the other Bronte novels (Villette, Agnes Grey, and Tenant of Wildfell Hall in particular).

Once Upon a Time Challenge: Post the First

2010-03-22T20:00:00.003-05:00

Being the slightly obsessive-compulsive person that I am, I set out to find a good literary definition of folklore. After accomplishing this first task, I then set out to find a definitive list of suggestions of books that would be considered folklore/folktales. Sadly, such a list does not exist (at least not that I could find).

Based on my understanding that folklore has to do with the lives of people, tends to present some sort of explanation or truth, and, unlike myths, explains something without having a religous message, I've decided that Impossible, by Nancy Werlin, fits the bill. Inspired by the ballad "Scarborough Fair", it is the story of a girl who has to figure out a way to escape the family curse: she must perform three impossible tasks (hence the title) or be cursed with madness when her first child is born. Probably not strictly folklore, but it's close enough for me and my loose grasp of what could be considered folklore.

I tend to be much more familiar with the other three categories (fantasy, fairy tale, and myth) in this challenge. Out of the three, I've read the most in the fantasy genre, and most fantasy reading that I do tends to lead to more and more (I sort of go on fantasy kicks and then will leave the genre for quite a while), so do suggest any other good novels that you would consider folklore (note: I'm not particularly interested in reading a collection of folktales from any given culture; I would prefer to read a novel or interpretation of traditional folklore).

She's Ba-ack, or Reading Lately, or How I Joined Two Challenges

2010-03-20T15:31:00.009-05:00

Hello, folks! First let me apologize for my absence. The end of the quarter really snuck up on me, and using every spare moment for grading and recording grades is NOT conducive to book blogging! This past week has also been crazy, but I have firmly resolved to do better, and I know that the nearness of Spring Break (please hurry. PLEASE!) bodes well for putting me back on the right blogging track.

I helped chaperone some of our students at a writing conference today, and there were some excellent sessions just for teachers. We actually got to do some writing ourselves, so I was inspired to continue writing and decided that updating my blog needed to be my first writing priority! This will probably end up being one of those random posts, so feel free to skim for the interesting bits and skip the ones that don't grab your attention!

First of all, I have decided that I cannot do justice to a review of East of Eden. I am not just trying to get out of a writing a review; I truly think that I will need to read the novel again before I can formulate a coherent, truthful response to the novel. I will reread it eventually, but I just can't handle reading it again so soon. I think I read it over too long a period of time, so I will be sure to make my second reading of East of Eden much more condensed!

Since last blogging, I have finished Andrea Levy's Small Island and have discussed it with my book club. Um...I had very mixed feeling about this book. I picked it up because Masterpiece is showing an adaptation at the end of April; I didn't know anything about it beyond the fact that it was about a Jamaican couple that immigrates to London right after World War II. I was expecting to sympathize with Hortense, I was expecting Gilbert to be a traditional sort of hero, and I was expecting a depiction of racism and bigotry similar to the depiction of those same things in the United States during the same time.

Very few of these expectations were met. Small Island was not the book I expected, but in many ways it was better. My favorite character was Gilbert, a sensitive, kind man whose experiences fighting for the British during World War II unexpectedly, and tragically, broaden his horizons to the point where Jamaica feels more like a prison than a home when he returns after the war. All of the characters are very real, and Levy managed to evoke many complex emotions in me and in my friends who read the book.

Despite all this, however, Small Island was not a great book. It had its brilliant moments, but there were too many things left unresolved. I don't know that I will read anything else by Levy, but I am glad that I experienced a part of history that I wouldn't have if I hadn't read the book.

Let me move on before this post turns into a full-fledged review of Small Island! In other bookish news, I am being forced to endure Firefly Lane, by Kristen Hannah, because it is the next bookclub pick. I picked up The Bronze Horseman, by Paullina Simons, because I hadn't read much fiction that was set in Russia at the beginning of World War II (if you're wondering, World War II is, and always has been, one of my favorite historical periods). It's not the greatest thing that I've ever read, but I was really enjoying it until the two main characters FINALLY achieved the one thing they had been working for. And then things went downhill. Fast. Since the book was overdue at the library and I didn't have a strong desire to find out what happens to the two main characters, I returned it this morning and moved on to A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg.

I found out about A Homemade Life over at Roses over a Cottage Door and knew I needed to read it. I'm sort of a softy when it comes to memoirs, and this one has not disappointed! It is the story of the author's cooking and eating life, and I have really enjoyed it. I've also found some recipes that I absolutely must try!

Last, but not least, I have decided to join two more challenges (these will probably be my last!): I am going to join Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge and Trish's Non-Fiction Five Challenge. I'm going for Quest the Third because I too love Midsummer Night's Dream. The only book I've decided on so far for either challenge is re-reading (if it's allowed!) Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis.

Anyone have any suggestions for either challenge? Please share them!

Defenseless

2010-03-06T13:36:00.005-06:00

No one should be surprised that I absolutely couldn't resist doing this meme as soon as I found it. Gina over at Dickensblog tweaked it from another blog (and her site is great, so you should go visit!). Yet more evidence that my love for Charles Dickens borders on the obsessive...

Warning: my answers do contain some spoilers. Read at your own risk!

1.Which Dickens character are you secretly in love with? Arthur Clennam, hands down.
2.Which Dickens character would you most like to be? Oooo, this one is hard. I'll go with Amy Dorritt (yes, it is because she gets to marry Arthur Clennam, and she is just delightful!).
3.Which Dickens character do you think most resembles you? Um...I relate a lot to David Copperfield's love of books, and I love his description of how reading sort of saved him from his stepfather.
4.Which Dickens book have you read the most times? I'm still working my way through reading all of them, but I have read Our Mutual Friend and A Tale of Two Cities twice.
5.How old were you when you read your first Dickens book? Does a Mickey Christmas Carol count? I was in seventh grade when I read A Christmas Carol.
6.What is the worst Dickens book you've read? I don't really think there can BE a bad Dickens book, but I reacted badly to both A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist (fear not! I will reread them eventually!) before A Tale of Two Cities opened my eyes to the perfection that is Dickens.
7.What is the best Dickens book you've read? Currently, Our Mutual Friend and Little Dorrit are duking it out for this honor (Little Dorrit is winning).
8.What Dickens book would you most like to see made into a new movie and/or miniseries? Hmmm....I like the old version of Our Mutual Friend, but I would love to see it updated. A Tale of Two Cities could stand to overcome the bad hair of the most recent version.
9.What Dickens book would you least like to see made into a new movie and/or miniseries? Uh...again, probably all of Dickens' work should be made into movies, but I would probably have to say the Mystery of Edwin Drood.
10.What is the most difficult Dickens book you've read? Bleak House. I've started it at least three times, but I always get distracted (it could also have something to do with the fact that I know that Richard is going to die and it is going to be awful...)
11.What is your desert island Dickens book? Ooooo....this is so hard! I know, I'll cheat! I would like an omnibus edition that had Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, and some of Dickens' essays (which are HILARIOUS!).

TGIT (Thank Goodness It's Thursday)!

2010-03-04T16:08:00.005-06:00

I have been confused about what day it is all week. I think being under the weather and fairly fuzzy-headed is to blame, but I got pretty excited when I realized that it was Thursday because that meant I could do my second Booking Through Thursday! (It's okay...you can laugh...but it's the small things that count, right?)

In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?

More importantly, have you read them?

How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?

Ah, grammar. Everyone's favorite, right? Okay, so maybe not so much! To answer the first question, yes, I do have grammar books. Many of them, in fact (and yes, I know that this is a fragment, so don't freak out! As I tell my students, if you know how NOT to write run-ons and fragments, then--and only then--can you use them for effect!). I AM an English teacher, after all, and it wouldn't look too good if I didn't have some writing handbooks, style guides, and grammar books. The students even get their very own grammar handbook to use and love throughout the school year (*snort*).

I have not read all of the grammar-related books that I own, but I find them to be more intended as reference books rather than books to be read from cover to cover. I do own Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, by Lynne Truss, but I haven't read all of it; I also appreciate Strunk and White's handbook, but, again, I haven't read it in its entirety. I also have numerous books from my college days that were helpful but referenced more than read. And who can forget that Holy Grail of Works Cited, the MLA Handbook?

Disclaimer: Remember that I'm an English teacher as you read this last bit!

What is my take on grammar? GRAMMAR IS IMPORTANT!!!!!! I firmly believe that proper grammar and good writing are extremely necessary in order to communicate effectively, and that is ALWAYS how I present grammar to my students: if you want people to understand you clearly, you need to know how to write/speak using proper grammar. Proper grammar = effective communication. Now, with that being said, I would also like to state that I do not think that standard grammar is some sacred untouchable that is above the daily usage of English speakers. Grammar should be largely defined by how it helps us communicate, and, clearly, the means we use to communicate are changing, so the grammar will (and probably should) change to accomadate. What does this mean for us as writers?

Spelling always counts. Spelling was standardized back in the day for a reason, so use correct spelling.

Commas are your friend; they are not the enemy. However, if you are unsure of how to use commas, do not, I repeat DO NOT, read Charles Dickens. The man knew how to use the British, Victorian species of comma, but the rules have changed!

Whether people admit it or not, bad grammar and bad editing DO affect opinions. Proofread your resume, or those errant commas COULD keep you from getting that job (it you don't know how to use a comma, why would anyone trust you with inspecting a nuclear power plant?).

This is my current pet peeve that makes me hit the ceiling when I read it in a student's paper: although IS NOT INTERCHANGEABLE with however!!

My perspective may be a bit skewed because I teach high school English, but I tend to fixate on proper punctuation. Proper punctuation seems fairly obvious to me, but that could be because I read so much as a child (and I read so many good writers) that I just sort of soaked in the good grammar along with the great stories and wonderful characters. I never really understood the rules until I started teaching (I would slide by with my ability to identify something as correct even though I didn't know WHY it was correct). Proper punctuation is deeply rooted in understanding how English functions, and this proves difficult (sometimes more for native speakers than non-native speakers) more often than not.

I will leave you with this: I think that grammar should be taught in the context of literature and writing. Too often teaching grammar has meant separating understanding of how language works from understanding what language says. I never (and will never) teach sentence diagramming, for instance, because sentence diagramming breaks down the sentence so much that it is no longer a sentence (but that's another soap box for another day!). Grammar is not essential unto itself; it is essential in the context of understanding and communicating.

A Shout-Out!

2010-03-03T18:12:00.002-06:00

A BIG thanks to Eva at astripedarmchair.wordpress.com for the assistance with adding buttons to my blog. You're the best, Eva! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Do visit her blog!

Love It / Hate It

2010-02-28T17:19:00.011-06:00

This post is going to be a rather random conglomeration of bookish things from the weekend. And then I PROMISE I will review East of Eden!

2010 has been a rather slow reading year for me so far. I don't know if I have read less because I got sick several times, was frantically trying to play catch-up with my grading (and nothing kills the reading spirit like reading horrible sophomore writing...), discovered the dangerous world of book blogs, or was trying to slog my way through the now infamous East of Eden (the albatross around my neck, the sword dangling above my head...okay, you get the point), but I have resolved to be more intentional about my reading time. Basically, this means carving out the time in the evening before I go to sleep for reading books and not, erm, book blogs, which, apparently, have become my new addiction!

Due to a variety of things (economic climate, NO storage space, random forgetfulness, aforementioned frantic grading), I have also been rather slack in the book-buying department. This is not a bad thing, but it is surprising. I am a person who is almost singularly unsuccessful when it comes to resisting the siren call of books in a bookstore. When I proudly announced to some friends that I had only bought 2 (TWO!) books since the beginning of the year, and those books were used (I got both of them for $3!), they laughed at me. LAUGHED! They obviously don't understand what an achievement this is for me. And I wasn't even trying to avoid buying books. It just...happened. Ironically, if I had been trying to curb my book-buying, I probably would have been a lot less successful. Of course, now I feel like I am justified in going on a book splurge...

I have a love/hate relationship with my public library. For the first two years that I lived here, I did not have my own computer, so I used the computers at the library. Computer use was the extent of my library experience because I was not being so successful with the resisting-books thing, and I was happy. When I finally decided to try to be more concientious about my book purchasing, I thought the library was an obvious resource that I could use. This is where the hate part of the relationship began: this library system (in general) has a limited selection, charges fees for odd things, and has a generally unhelpful, unfriendly staff. More often than not, a library visit would cause grumbling on my part because I couldn't find the most basic of things that I would like. The system has either gotten better, or I have gotten easier to please, but I am currently in a "I LOVE the library" phase. Everything I have searched for I have found, the librarians have been unusually helpful, and I have received holds more quickly than anticipated. And today, I found a new reason to love my library: the annual Friends of the Library used book sale. It was glory! It was bliss! And I even managed to stick to my self-imposed limit of only spending $10. Here's what I bought:

And my two particular favorites are actually two books that I would have passed up before I started reading book blogs!
Jenny Wren, by E.H. Young (first Virago!), and The Group, by Mary McCarthy!

Booking Through Thursday (on Friday) and Failing Miserably at Buttons

2010-02-26T16:23:00.003-06:00

I’ve seen this quotation in several places lately. It’s from Sven Birkerts’ ‘The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age’:

“To read, when one does so of one’s own free will, is to make a volitional statement, to cast a vote; it is to posit an elsewhere and set off toward it. And like any traveling, reading is at once a movement and a comment of sorts about the place one has left. To open a book voluntarily is at some level to remark the insufficiency either of one’s life or one’s orientation toward it.”

To what extent does this describe you?

It is true that in reading voluntarily we "make a volitional statement,...cast a vote." Part of the joy and beauty of reading for pleasure is the very simple truth that we are able to choose what and when we read; this is why enjoying reading may be so shocking for so many people who suffered through their English classes in high school and college. They are shocked to discover what pleasure freedom of choice brings.

To a certain extent, we should have confidence in what we choose. It is our right as readers to read as we please; we do not have to explain ourselves (even though many of us do so in spite of this) because we have cast our vote and set off for our chosen destination.

Reading is often about escape but always about experience. My reading choices are not things that comment about my dissatisfaction with my life or understanding of my life. Rather, I have always thought of reading as something that enriches my life: it does not replace my experience, but neither does it belittle it. In fact, my life experiences are made more beautiful and meaningful because of what I read.

Reading can also bring comfort, both in the reading and in the remembering of the reading. It is so comforting to recognize yourself, a person in your life, or a circumstance you are experiencing in what you are reading. And, again, so often that reading can enlighten how I think about or react to someone or something.

SOS: Inexperienced blogger seeks help with adding buttons to her blog. It is sad, but true: adding buttons to my blog is still an ellusive concept that mystifies me. The almighty Google and Bing have failed me, so perhaps some of you could enlighten me? It surely can't be that difficult!

Blue and Unsure What To Do

2010-02-22T19:35:00.003-06:00

Okay, I know that rhyming in your post title is perhaps a bit shameless, but I just couldn't help myself. I promise that reviews of East of Eden are coming soon, but I need to do some more ruminating and reflecting before sharing any of my thoughts on and reactions to the novel.

In the meantime, anyone read Girl in a Blue Dress, by Gaynor Arnold? Its subtitle proudly declares that it is "A Novel Inspired by the Life & Marriage of Charles Dickens." Now, I love Charles Dickens (as evidenced here), and I had been eagerly anticipating being at the top of the holds list at the library and receiving this book. It is incredibly readable (though I may not be far enough into it to understand why it was long-listed for both the Man Booker and Orange), but I'm beginning to wonder if this is how I really want to discover the details of Dickens' marriage. I am well aware that he was not the most, ahem, admirable of husbands (okay, he was downright unfaithful to Catherine), but as I would really like to be able to continue reading and loving his works, this novel may not get finished.

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject? Have you ever read a biography (fictional or not) that you wish you hadn't read because it jaded or ruined the author for you? Do weigh in!