tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23969728300978753542024-03-08T02:30:33.999-07:00Words, Words, Words"When I read a book, I seem to read it with my eyes only. But now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has meaning for me, and it becomes part of me." - William Shakespeare
I read a lot of books and I want to share them and my opinions about them with the world. Enjoy the ride across the pages!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-933734219818083182010-04-11T21:13:00.002-06:002010-04-11T22:15:11.901-06:00The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen ChboskyWell, honesty time. I am addicted to YouTube. And I don’t mean I just get on and watch funny videos of dogs skateboarding, I mean that I subscribe to people who make videos and get upset if I miss a video from my favorite subscription. I wouldn’t worry about it; it’s a pretty healthy addiction. I mean, it’s not crack right? <br /><br />Anyway, one of the people I subscribe to talked about how he was cleaning out his house one day and found a box of books, one of the books being <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Perks of Being a Wallflower</span> by Stephen Chbosky. He said it was his all time favorite book, the type of book he reads at least once a year. I’m a big fan of books like that so I had to check this book out. <br /><br />This book is about a boy named Charlie who is just starting high school. In the book, he is writing letters to an anonymous person about his life. He tells you up front that he won’t be using people’s real names or anything, so we won’t know who he is. But by the end of the book, even if you don’t know his real name or the people he knows, you end up knowing Charlie very well.<br /><br />First Line:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have.”</span><br /><br />Chbosky is a masterful writer. Charlie is a wonderful character. He is just a shy kid who can’t find his foothold in the world after his friend Michael committed suicide at the end of his junior high career. Charlie is one of the most innocent boys you will ever meet, a quality that is both refreshing and frustrating. He’s such the adorable little optimist. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“But I guess I did worry about it. I’ve been worrying about it ever since he told me. I look at people holding hands in the hallways, and I try to think about how it all works. At the school dances, I sit in the background, and I tap my toe, and I wonder how many couples will dance to “their song.” In the hallways, I see the girls wearing the guys’ jackets, and I think about the idea of property. And I wonder if anyone is really happy. I hope they are. I really hope they are.”<br /></span><br />On one of the other blogs I follow, Michelle Barney (who is amazing, by the way… just throwing that out there and plugging her blog… link over there ------>), she was talking about how every story that could be told has been told. Now, it is the writer’s job to reinvent the story and tell it differently themselves, to offer a new perspective on a problem we all have. Chbosky does this wonderfully in this book. We have all been through or are going to go through high school and be faced with the problems of growing up. It’s scary for everyone. We have all been through first loves, first losses, first days of school, and the dreaded puberty. Charlie offers a lot of beautiful thoughts about all of these, caked in his young sweetness.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“And when she started becoming a “young lady,” and no one was allowed to look at her because she thought she was fat. And how she really wasn’t fat. And how she was actually very pretty. And how differently her face looked when she realized boys thought she was pretty. And how different her face looked the first time she really liked a boy who was not on a poster on her wall. And how her face looked when she realized she was in love with that boy. And then I wondered how her face would look when she came out from behind those doors.”</span><br /><br /> I really liked Charlie’s character even though I was worried about him the whole time. It’s like the fact that my mom is obsessed with the Duggar family on TLC (you know, the family with 1907 kids). She says that she just loves their innocence and it’s so refreshing for her to see innocence after seeing the real world every day. Although I think the Duggar family is a bit extreme, Charlie gives me the same feeling. He’s so considerate and caring and you cannot help but fall in love and root for him.<br /><br />This book is full of moments of small brilliance, the type of little moments that make you stop, make a thoughtful noise of approval and nod your head. Maybe that’s just me but I spent a good portion of this book doing that. The book is written with good enough descriptions to make it modern but enough is left out so that it fits any year at all and that is wonderful. Without a doubt, my favorite part of this book is this small section:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“…Sam told Patrick to find a station on the radio. And he kept getting commercials. And commercials. And a really bad song about love that had the word “baby” in it. And then more commercials. And finally he found this really amazing song about this boy, and we all got quiet. <br /> <br />Sam tapped her hand on the steering wheel. Patrick held his hand outside the car and made air waves. And I just sat between them. After the song finished, I said something.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">“I feel infinite”</span><br /><br />And Sam and Patrick looked at me like I said the greatest thing they ever heard. Because the song was that great and because we all really paid attention to it. Five minutes of a lifetime were truly spent, and we felt young in a good way.”</span><br /><br />Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Everyone read this book so I don’t have to keep talking about it or keep the awesomeness of it to myself. <br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-58851921165677801342010-03-28T21:48:00.001-06:002010-03-28T22:20:45.051-06:00The Lovely Bones by Alice SeboldFirst Lines of this book:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.”</span><br /><br />Once upon a time, I was rereading <span style="font-weight:bold;">Harry Potter</span> during the lunch period of my internship. I decided that it was time to stop putting off that stupid bulletin board I was supposed to be making and I turned to the computer only to notice a pile of books stacked haphazardly on my desk. On top, <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Lovely Bones</span>. Of course I’d heard of the book and I know the movie had just come out. I opened it to the first page, and ended up reading 80 pages without stopping. (And no, I didn’t do the bulletin board…don’t judge me). This book was one word: captivating.<br /><br />This book follows the story of Susie Salmon, beginning with her murder. She has to adjust to her new home in heaven as she watches her family adjust to their new life of coping with a missing and dead daughter. Over the course of the novel, she watches her sister grow into a hardened woman, her mother lose herself in despair, and her father vowing revenge on the neighbor he knows killed his little girl. <br /><br />The first chapter of this book is horrific. Truly horrific. We have all been dulled down by the murders that are constantly swimming across our television screens on CSI and all of those other shows, but there is something special about this death, something more brutal. Maybe it’s the fact that the only body part they could find of Susie’s was her elbow… yeah, freaking ridiculous. Don’t be alarmed by that though, the graphic part doesn’t last long and it’s worth bearing through to the end. <br /><br />We all think of life after death and we have all seen different views of it. The view of the afterlife in this book is one of the most beautiful that I have ever encountered. This is the heaven I want. In this heaven, if you want something and will it there, it will appear. You live the life you wanted to live and live among people whose heavens collide with yours. It’s beautiful and simple.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />“Hours before I died, my mother hung on the refrigerator a picture that Buckley had drawn. In the drawing a thick blue line separated the air and ground. In the days that followed I watched my family walk back and forth past that drawing and I became convinced that that thick blue line was a real place- an Inbetween, where heaven’s horizon met Earth’s. I wanted to go there into the cornflower blue of Crayola, the royal, the turquoise, the sky.”</span><br /><br />I’ve read a lot of books about how people who are left alive cope with the death of a loved one. Sebold changes it up a bit and allows us to see how the dead cope with their death and the feeling of leaving their world behind. It was truly a remarkable point of view and one that I have never experienced. It made me feel even more connected and sympathetic towards the family that was left behind, even when they did things that made me mad. <br /><br />As the book progressed, the family Susie has left behind continues to disintegrate. Not to give too much away but, I hate what the mom does to her family. In my opinion, it was an easy way out for both the character and the author. This isn’t the first book I read where the wife has reacted like this and I’m sick of the woman running away. It didn’t seem to fit the character of Abigail Salmon to leave her family. <br /><br />Other than that, there was only one other thing that I disliked. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Spoilers here! Do not read ahead if you don’t want a small part of this book ruined. </span><br /><br />Ok, so the whole, Susie takes over Ruth’s body thing? What. The. Hell? I was super confused at first. As I kept reading, it bothered me a little less…. But then they had sex. Well, Ray had sex with Ruth’s body but Susie’s soul…. No bueno. It seemed a bit too far fetched. The ghost part of the book was so beautiful until the whole body takeover thing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Spoilers over</span><br /><br />And also, the rapist/murderer in this book is probably the most terrifying human being ever invented. He’s the classic creepy gross neighbor guy from the seventies with gross comb over hair and huge glasses. And his name is George Harvey, that’s just creepy. <br /><br />But, I can promise you this, if you can stick out the first few chapters of this book, you will love the end. It ends beautifully and gives you hope for the life after death and it gives hope to people who have been left behind. For most people, they have all lost someone close enough to them to feel left behind. This book makes that loss a bit more bearable I feel, and it puts a new spin on things. <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections – sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent – that happened after I was gone. And I began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events that my death wrought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable time in the future. The price of what I came to see as this miraculous body had been my life.”</span><br /><br />This is an excellent read. Please read it, especially if you have seen the movie. From what I hear, the movie is quite different. Read the book!<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-71109106423387875332010-03-23T22:22:00.001-06:002010-03-23T22:44:13.314-06:00Milkweed by Jerry SpinelliLike I said, I’ve been in a very Holocaust mood lately. Bear with me, the stage is over. <br /><br />Jerry Spinelli has long been one of my favorite authors. He has a way of relating to and capturing his readers’ attention while very softly showing them the often hidden meaning of his books. This book is no exception.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Milkweed</span> is about a very young boy in Warsaw around the beginnings of World War II who has no identity and no past. When an older boy catches up to him after he has stolen some bread, he gives his name as Stopthief. Uri, the older boy takes him back to a sort of base camp where other young boys steal food to support each other. Naming the boy Misha, he gives him a fake past to cover his Gypsy identity. Misha is surrounded my conflicting paths, though, because he longs to be a Jew like his friends, but would die for a pair of his own shiny Jackboots, in other words, become a Nazi.<br /><br />This book is pretty short and very easy to read and even though it’s a novel for pretty young kids, it was captivating and no less brutal of a Holocaust book. Spinelli truly has a gift with words and he paints beautiful pictures, even of war-torn Warsaw. During the book, you feel as if you are growing up and learning with Misha. You see everything through his eyes and begin to see things in new ways. <br /><br />The most beautiful part of the novel takes place pretty early on in the work. It’s a discussion between the boys and Misha about the existence of angels. <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Some of us played hide-and-seek among the tombstones. I was It, and when I went seeking I came upon a tombstone such as I had never seen before. Rising up from a great block of stone was a man with wings. He was looking at the sky, as if he might fly off at any moment. I couldn’t take my eyes away.<br /><br />“Who is he?” I said.<br /><br />“It’s an angel,” said Ferdi.<br /><br />“What’s an angel?” I said.<br /><br />Grim-faced Enos said, “There are no angels.”<br /><br />“I believe,” said Olek. He scratched the stump of his missing arm. “There are angels. You just can’t see them.”<br /><br />Enos snorted. He ground out his cigarette on the foot of the stone angel. “Where were they when you got pushed to the tracks and the train ran over your arm?” He grabbed the empty sleeve of Olek’s missing arm and flapped it in his face. “Where were your angels then? Why didn’t they roll you off the tracks? Why didn’t they stop the train?” He pointed at a boy called Big Henryk. His shoes were bank coin bags. “Look at him. Why don’t the angels give him shoes? Or brains to want them? And him”-jabbing his finger at Jon, who was thin and gray and never spoke- “look at him. He’s dying and he doesn’t even know it!” Enos was shouting now. “What are your angels doing for him? He spit on the stone angel.</span><br /><br />This book makes you think and rethink. Misha is coning from a place of complete innocence to a world that has been destroyed by people daily. He has to learn the difference between bad and good people which is a painful lesson for everyone. Spinelli is able to make a book that is fully gray have a halo of hope around it. It’s the innocence shown by Misha that makes the book so enthralling and touching.<br /><br />The book didn’t have any real giant climax or epic point but instead has moments of beautiful thoughtfulness that make you stop and think about what you have just read. The discussion of the angels, the milkweed plant, all things of vital importance and beauty. Because Spinelli chooses to make the book so subtle with its meaning, it’s a Holocaust book that is easier to read, there isn’t anything really horrific. This shows the beauty in the world even during the ugliness of the Holocaust. A beautiful slice of life story and definitely a book that is worth checking out!<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-35642038747374754172010-03-19T00:06:00.003-06:002010-03-19T00:31:51.047-06:00The Book Thief by Markus ZusakFirst, I have to warn you, this is going to be a very gushy blog. This book recently (okay, about half an hour ago) just surpassed my favorite book to become my new favorite book of all time. Reasons for which will be explained. <br /><br />Second, if you haven’t read this book, stop reading this blog immediately and go get a copy of this book and READ IT NOW! I’ll wait…<br /><br />……….<br /><br />………..<br /><br />Got your copy? Read it? Good.<br /><br />It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted and I’m sorry for that. I allowed myself a little time off and I’m sorry that I milked it a little bit. It’s easy to fall into a pattern of not writing, but it’s no bueno! It’s easier to fall back into the pattern. While I took the time off from writing, I also stopped reading; bad choice. <br /><br />When the time came for me to read again, I chose an old favorite, <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Book Thief</span>. I’ve read the book twice before and loved it. Now, as weird as this sounds, I was in the mood for a Holocaust book. Maybe it was because in the class I intern with at Fairfield Junior High, the 8th graders were learning about the Holocaust. But I think (and this will sound weird) it was destiny that I chose to read this book now. <br /><br />This book is about a girl named Liesel Meminger. In 1939, her mother and brother are traveling with her to her new foster parent’s home. But her brother dies on the train ride there and in Nazi Germany, there is no time for stopping for long. They bury him and during the burial, Liesel picks up a book out of the snow, <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Grave Digger’s Handbook</span>. Thus begins a “love affair with books and words.” Through the book, Liesel clings to her books as she enters her new family, deals with her neighbor Rudy who is always looking for a kiss, and when her family chooses to hide a Jew in their basement. Oh, and did I mention that the narrator of this book is Death? Yeah, amazing. Kudos to Mr. Zusak, most brilliant idea ever. <br /><br />This book if 550 pages and on each page is a line that burns into your memory. While I was reading this book, I had a conversation with my mom about the importance of the first lines of books. Those first few words have so much power of your perception of the rest of the book. Here are the first few lines of this book:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try.”</span><br /><br />In an interview about this book, Zusak says that he struggled with letting Death narrate the book because for a while, Death was too evil. But in this final edition, Death is tired. The Second World War is bearing down on him just as it is on the rest of the world. <br /><br />In this book, Death explains how he sees the colors of the human soul. This is one of those books that cannot just be read once to fully appreciate it. Each time I read it, something new stuck out to me and this time it was the colors. Recently at my school, my theater class did a play called The Yellow Boat and color played a giant role in the show. So obviously, I was paying close attention to color in this story. It’s importance cannot be missed. <br /><br />Zusak is a masterful writer. The description he uses in this book is haunting and illuminating, captivating and enthralling. It’s pretty much every word you can think of and then some; it’s perfect. He bathes you in metaphor and color and this isn’t an overbearing bath, this is a perfect temperature bath with the right amount of bubbles and the perfect amount of water. He sees things down to the best and last detail. If something is yellow, it isn’t plain yellow or even sunny yellow, it’s the color of lemons. It’s details like that that make this book stick in your mind.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“As the crowd arrived in full, things, of course, had changed. The horizon was beginning to charcoal. What was left of the blackness above was nothing now but a scribble, and disappearing fast.<br /><br />The man, in comparison, was the color of bone. Skeleton-colored skin. A ruffled uniform. His eyes were cold and brown- like coffee stains- and the last scrawl from above formed what, to me, appeared an odd, yet familiar, shape. A signature.”</span><br /><br />…..<br /><br />Take a second. Let that seep into your skin. His description is what makes this book so real, the characters so tangible. I know each and every character. I can see them perfectly and I love them dearly as if they were my own family.<br /><br />Literally, I cannot even type about this book enough or fast enough or anything of the sort. I have too many thoughts about this book. And for now, I’m starting to cry again which is making typing unnecessarily hard. Just please trust me on this, DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK. I recommend this book above any other book I have ever read or will read. No book has ever touched me more or stayed with me longer. <br /><br />Just reread this blog. It's super sporadic but that's about all I can calmly say about this book. Just read it.<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-24646640995749163412010-02-07T22:45:00.003-07:002010-02-07T23:05:44.550-07:00Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia MarquezAs I’m sure you can tell by the title of this book, this is one blog/book that may not be for everyone. Marquez’s writing has always intrigued me and when I saw the spine of this book among his others at the Barnes and Noble, I had to pick it up. I mean, who wouldn’t pick up a book with that title? Even more, who wouldn’t pick up the first new novel by Marquez in ten years? <br /><br />This book follows a bachelor who, for his ninetieth birthday, decides to have a wild night of love with a virgin. He calls up the Madame of his local brothel and she gives him a fourteen year old girl. Because this young girl has to work so hard during her days sewing buttons onto shirts and caring for her family, she sleeps the entire night and he cannot bring himself to wake her up. This pattern continues as he watches her sleep for months on end without waking her or sleeping with her. <br /><br />One of the things I loved most about this book was the fact that you got to know the main character so well, as if you have known him for his entire ninety years on earth. There is no detail that Marquez leaves out whether it’s how much he hates his job at the newspaper or how many women he has slept with over the years (believe me, it’s a lot). <br /><br />This book seemed more like a character study than anything else. This is a lesson on the affects of age and the affect love has on the people it touches. This is a man who has never felt love. He grew up as a spoiled child and used sex as a means of instant satisfaction and instant love. One of the first quotes of the book is:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“Morality, too, is a question of time, she would say with a malevolent smile, you’ll see.”<br /></span><br />As people age it becomes easier to give up morals and just do things for the sake of doing them, because you have an impulse. What this book shows is what happens when a man who has lived his whole life among whores who are paid to love actually falls in love. The main character says:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“I always had understood that dying of love was mere poetic license…But I also realized that the contrary was true as well: I would not have traded the delights of my suffering for anything in the world… Ah me, if this is love, then how it torments.”</span><br /><br />One of the most beautiful scenes in this book is when he runs in to one of his former whores, one who he was involved with for quite a long time. She had gotten married since and he tells her the entire story of his ordeal with meeting the 14 year old girl and falling in love with her and her purity. After hearing the entire story, his old lover tells him to call the girl immediately because dying alone is the greatest tragedy of all. She says:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“Don’t let yourself die without knowing the wonder of ***having sex* with love.”</span><br /><br />This book uses very um… colorful language and imagery… which I myself have no problem with; they are just words after all. But, this could put a lot of people off so read this book knowing that. It is worth a read, though. This book makes you think about age, love, and above all, life. <br /><br />* I changed the words there....<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-86935816716472223882010-01-24T20:21:00.002-07:002010-01-24T20:23:53.517-07:00Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-SmithI’m an odd girl. Two of my favorite movies are Titanic and Fight Club. I love romance just as much as I love watching guys beating each other up. So, I was super excited when one of my favorite books of all time, <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pride and Prejudice</span>, had zombie violence added to it. It was like a marriage of a favorite sister with an undead monster; a match made in comedy heaven! <br /><br />This book is literally the exact same text as the original <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pride and Prejudice</span> except that now there is a strange plague facing England that is bringing the undead back to life. Good thing the Bennet sisters are some of the best fighters out there, having been educated in China by the best dojo’s of the day. Seriously though, what could be better than a regency romance, zombies, and ninjas? Nothing. <br /><br />This book was really so much fun to read. The one thing you have to remember is that at the end of the day, it’s the same text as the original <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pride and Prejudice</span>. A few times during my reading, I was confused about why the book was taking so long to read and I even thought to myself, “this is like reading a classic!” Oh wait, it IS reading a classic, just with some flying limbs every now and then. So when you approach this book, remember that it is classically written and take it slow, it’s worth it. <br /><br />But besides the fact of this book being a good way to introduce yourself to Jane Austen in a very entertaining way, it’s just hilarious what Seth Grahame-Smith wrote into this book. Two of my favorite scenes in <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pride and Prejudice</span> are the first ball at Netherfield and when the dreadful Mr. Collins comes to dinner. During the first scene at the ball, zombies attack! <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“Unmentionables poured in, their movements clumsy yet swift; their burial clothing in a range of untidiness. Some wore gowns so tattered as to render them scandalous; others wore suits so filthy that one would assume they were assembled from litter more than dirt and dried blood. Their flesh was in varying degrees of putrefaction; the freshly stricken were slightly green and pliant, whereas the longer dead were grey and brittle- their eyes and tongues long since turned to dust, and their lips pulled back into everlasting skeletal smiles.”</span><br /><br />Don’t worry, everything works out because the five Bennet sisters form the awesome Pentagram of Death and slay Satan’s army (Yeah, that was how it was in the book, it’s fabulous.)<br /><br />But without a doubt my favorite part of the book happens to be the about the author section on the back of the book. It reads:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Jane Austen in the author of <span style="font-weight:bold;">Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park</span>, and other masterpieces of English Literature. Seth Grahame-Smith once took a class in English Literature. He lives in Los Angeles.</span><br /><br />I laughed for a full five minutes after I read that and it was what ultimately made me want to read this book. Grahame-Smith has a great sense of humor and when you think about it, he has to know this book inside and out in order to so skillfully inject zombies into it and make it seem like they were meant to be there, which he manages to do. My one negative comment about this book is actually that there weren’t enough zombies. Sometimes it seems like they come out of nowhere and there is literally no point to their scene in the book. Or you will be reading along for pages of the original text and the only mention of a zombie or anything is one random sentence about the girls training in China. It made it hard to follow a few times because it got to be distracting when it should have been the center of attention. But all in all, this book was so much fun to read and I recommend it to any lover of Austen and zombies alike!<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-84601885127411741642010-01-17T23:49:00.002-07:002010-01-18T00:25:42.067-07:00The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee WilliamsWhat a wonderful week for reading plays! It’s been a long time since I read a play of my own accord and it was great to get back to doing that. I haven’t read "The Glass Menagerie" in quite a while and it was great to revisit it now when I am older and wiser and I know how to read plays as an actor and a director instead of just a reader. <br /><br />If you don’t know what this play is about, it follows the Wingfield family and their life in St. Louis. The play is narrated by Tom, the son of Amanda and brother to Laura. Tom is constantly seeking escape from his overbearing mother who’s one goal in life is to find a gentleman caller and then a husband for Laura, who’s leg is crippled. At the end of the play, one gentleman caller shows up, but expectations are not met as they are supposed to be.<br /><br />I loved the version of the play that I had because it contained a forward by Williams that explained how he wanted the set and the lighting and everything along with that. One of the important discoveries I made while reading the play was how central Laura truly is, even though she doesn’t speak much in the play. She is supposed to be lit in a light of “pristine clarity such as light used in early religious portraits of female saints or Madonna’s.” The play is constantly described as a memory play so the stage is said to be kept dim with shafts of light on focused areas or actors. This, I think, provides the audience and reader direction as to where to focus the attention. <br /><br />When I first read this play I didn’t notice all of this, but now see how important it actually all is. The picture of the father who abandoned his family is said to be larger than life, which shows that his small act of leaving them has altered this family and has an ever present impact on their daily life. There is always a cloud of trouble and stress hanging over this family whether it’s about money, husbands, or finding a life of your own and all if that is expressed through the father’s picture.<br /><br />This play is very delicately written; delicate is really the only word I can find for it, as if it were made of glass. Even the characters, especially Laura are delicate. Laura seems to be made of glass; beautifully crafted and taken great care of but if a person takes one misstep, the entire thing shatters. The most beautiful part of this play, in my opinion, is when Laura is dancing with Jim and her favorite glass unicorn breaks. When he asks her if it is broken she replies:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“Now it is like all the other horses… Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”</span><br /><br />Laura is changed by her one night with Jim forever; she will now be able to move through the world independently and conduct herself with confidence and not have to live in her own glass bottle anymore. <br /><br />A menagerie is defined as a place where animals are kept to be trained for exhibition which is what the mother, Amanda, is doing through this entire play. Amanda has been so hurt by her husband’s leaving her lost youth that she is living almost vicariously through her children, who will have none of it. At one point while explaining to Tom why she must plan for everything so far in advanced, she says:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"> “You are the only young man that I know who ignores the fact that the future becomes the present, the present the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don’t plan for it!”</span> <br /><br />She is a character incapable of letting her own past failures go so that she struggles with accepting her children’s differences and failures. Although you can see her throughout the play as a sort of unsympathetic and pushy character because of how she treats her children, you have to realize how much she has been hurt by her past and how scared she is for the future.<br /><br />Tom is a very interesting character to look at. He is so desperate for a life of his own that is jeopardizing his entire family to satisfy himself, like using his money for registering for the marine’s instead of paying the electricity bills. I can’t say that I don’t see where he is coming from. It hurts to have so much pressure like that thrust upon you and having no escape and when you do find that escape, you are reprimanded for it. My favorite quote from Tom is in scene four when he says:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“You know it don’t take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?”</span><br /><br />Tom is desperate for his own life so he knows that he will eventually have to make a false move in order to escape the life he despises so much, living in a home that is like a coffin and working in a warehouse that is like a prison. <br /><br />This play is full of beautiful characters and is a wonderfully crafted and moving story. Anyone involved in theater should be required to read it but even more, anyone interested in reading about human actions and life should read this. This is a wonderful look at the show we are all putting on every day when we push our past and our pain back inside of our minds and live as we are “supposed” to live, as if being viewed as glass pieces.<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-692137129568951982010-01-11T01:11:00.001-07:002010-01-11T01:33:43.946-07:00The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim EdwardsThis book was recommended to me by my dear teacher Andra Thorne. I asked her if she liked it but instead of replying in a normal way, she stopped for a moment, narrowed her eyes in concentration and simply said, <span style="font-weight:bold;">“It intrigued me. You just have to read it.” After reading it, I couldn’t agree more; there isn’t much else to say about it.</span><br /><br />This book begins on a snowy night in 1964 with a very pregnant Norah Henry and her husband David. She begins her labor and they arrive at the hospital just in time for David, who is a doctor to deliver her baby. To his surprise, Norah was pregnant with twins, the first being a healthy baby boy and the second, a girl born with Down syndrome. He makes the rash decision to hand his little girl over to his nurse, Caroline Gill, and tell Norah their daughter had died, a decision that affects them from that point on. Caroline is instructed to take her to a home for the mentally challenged but after seeing the home, Caroline takes the girl to raise as her own. <br /><br />It took me a very long time to get involved in this story. Edwards uses a very interesting writing style that, at times, was littered with too much romanticized wording. The detail she put into everything was overshadowed with the overuse of metaphors and comparisons. The bigger metaphors that flow throughout the book are truly beautiful and captivating, however. At one point in the novel, Norah buys David a camera called The Memory Keeper. This turns into an obsession of David’s, as he tries to use photography as an escape and a way to capture his son’s life and the life of his now very distant wife. I loved the use of photography through the course of this novel and how seamlessly Edwards used it to highlight defining moments in the characters lives, like the moment Norah meets a man named Howard on the beach and begins her string of affairs.<br /><br />For the longest time, I didn’t know what kind of a review I was going to give this book. Truly, it isn’t enough to say that I hated it, but I can’t say that I loved it. Through the course of the novel, I had a very hard time sympathizing with any of the characters. I think a big part of this is because I have no idea what it feels like to lose a child or to be a mother in general. If you are a mother, I will say that I think this book is a must read. If you aren’t a mother, I would say give it a try. For the most part, I hated Norah especially. She was contrived, I felt. I’m a fan of reading about affairs but I saw no point in hers. Her anger, which would have been justifiable, felt like it had no purpose. A big part of this was the way she was written. In a way, she was written a bit like Ophelia in "Hamlet"; a main character, but unfairly underdeveloped. I wish there would have been more to these characters.<br /><br />I went through a lot of periods of hating this book. It took me a long time to finish because there were times when I couldn’t even pick it up because it made me so angry. But, there were even longer periods of time when all I wanted to do was keep reading this story. At places in this story, I hated every character. But at other times, I was crying because I felt their pain as if it was hitting me. In the last few pages of the story, I finally connected to Norah and I cried as she did. <br /><br />This story has a very magical quality that mesmerizes the reader until the very last page. I still can’t explain how I feel about this book. All I know is I’ve never been affected like this by a novel. I would love for more people to read this book because I’m dying to discuss my feelings with people. I can’t even tell if I would recommend this book or not but I think that it would most definitely be worth your time to read it. It opens your eyes to a lot of new things. Give it a chance and let me know when you do, I’d love to discuss it!<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-336418044581699512009-12-27T21:33:00.001-07:002009-12-27T21:34:51.973-07:00Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren MyracleHappy holidays, everyone! As it is the lovely and magical holiday season, I figured now was the perfect time to fill my brain with holiday romances and read a book by the fire. I’ve been so excited to read this book for such a long time because I got to read a story by my favorite author, John Green. Before we talk about this book, I must insist that if you haven’t read any of Green’s books, GO READ THEM NOW! He is a masterful writer and deserves to be read over and over again. Anyway, back to the book in question. The book contains three holiday themed stories all taking place in the same town that become interconnected with one another. <br /><br />Now, even though I’m a very romantic person I’ve never been one for stupid teenage romances. I’d take <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pride and Prejudice</span> over One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl any day. My one fear with reading this book was that the romances would revolve around petty teenagers who were stupid and lame. But then I remembered, I was about to read a story by John Green, who’s characters are anything but petty and one dimensional. If he was willing to see his name on a book alongside these two other authors, they must be good!<br /><br />So I began. The first story was from Maureen Johnson. Even though I’m familiar with her name because I’ve heard it on John Green’s vlog, I’m sad to say that I haven’t read her books (sorry Nerdfighters, I’ll do that very very soon!) The first character introduced to me was named Jubilee and Maureen wrote this: <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“I realize Jubilee is a bit of a stripper name. You probably think I have heard the call of the pole. But no. If you saw me, you’d get the idea pretty quickly that I’m not a stripper (I think). I have a little black bob. I wear glasses half the time, and contacts the other half. I’m sixteen, I sing in a choir, I attend Mathletes events. I play field hockey, which lacks the undulating, baby-oiled grace that is the stripper’s stock and trade. (I have no problem with strippers, in case any strippers are reading this. I’m just not one. My major concern, stripage-wise, is the latex. I think latex is probably bad for your skin because it doesn’t allow it to breathe.)” </span><br /><br />After reading that, I knew I found a friend in Maureen Johnson. Through the rest of her story, her characters were funny, relatable and her kiss was written wonderfully, I was jealous to be reading it instead of experiencing it! I’m ashamed that I haven’t written more of Johnson’s other books because reading her writing is like talking with my best friend, it’s natural, easy, and funny. Her story left me hungry for more!<br /><br />Next came John Green’s story <span style="font-weight:bold;">A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle.</span> I was upset about a story centering on cheerleaders but I trusted John Green and I wasn’t disappointed. His characters were as original and realistic as always and once again, he nailed it with his descriptions of relationships. Reading his work just makes me happy and it makes me feel understood. He doesn’t see teenagers as the stereotypical group that most adults do, he sees them as people. He writes to intelligent teenagers, not dumb ones (Nerdfighters, hoo haa!!) <br /><br />The last story in the book was from Lauren Myracle. I have read a book of hers before but it was a very long time ago. I can say that this was my least favorite story. I didn’t like the writing of this one at all. The main character, Addie, was all together too whiney for my taste. I hated the writing of the entire story. I don’t know if it was Myracle’s style that I didn’t like or if I just hated the characters but I didn’t find myself enjoying this story like I felt I should. What I did enjoy was the fact that Addie worked in a Starbucks. Every Starbucks joke hit home with me and that part was very funny and very realistic. Starbucks workers unite! <br /><br />This is such a fun book and I definitely recommend it! The kisses are truly delightful to read about and I do feel instilled with a sense of holiday cheer! It’s a good book to pass the time with.<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-67287120691687190572009-12-09T12:46:00.002-07:002009-12-09T14:08:02.607-07:00A Note on Charles Dickens (for Mr. Thompson... more book reviews soon)Hello dear little Honors English students! My name is Emma Phelps and I was in Honors English with Mr. Thompson back when I was in the ninth grade. If you look around the old forum pages, you’ll see me under the name of Londonchick (don’t even worry, I was a weirdy in ninth grade. I’m still just as nerdy, I’ve just toned down my obsessions) <br /><br />As I understand it, Mr. Thompson is going to have you read a book by Charles Dickens in the upcoming term. He gave me the assignment to either a. make reading Dickens less agonizing for you or b. convince him to skip Dickens and make you read something else. <br /><br />When I approached this lofty assignment, I at first wasn’t sure which of these I was going to attempt to do. I went back and reread some of what I once wrote in response to Dickens, read a few Dickens passages, and got over my fear of disappointing Mr. Thompson by discouraging his assignment. After a lot of contemplation, I have decided to support the reading of Dickens. Sorry everyone, but just go with me for a second. <br /><br />So on this blog, I review the books I read. I’m an English nut and I’m very opinionated and I can’t function unless I share my opinions and feelings; typical girl, right? Just kidding. If you scroll down a bit, you can see my review of the book <strong>A Christmas Carol</strong> by Dickens. If you are too lazy, here is one of my first sentences:<br /><br />“After a terrible introduction to Charles Dickens via <strong>Great Expectations</strong> in the ninth grade, I had sworn to hate Dickens for time and all eternity.”<br /><br />Ok, probably not the best way to start this assignment of making Dickens less of a hassle. This is a very discouraging sentence, but stick with me a bit longer and it will all come together. In the rest of my blog, I continue my review. And after a long time of procrastination and tears, I started the book and loved every second of it. <br /><br />Now, I did deplore reading <strong>Great Expectations</strong> and I didn’t read <strong>A Tale of Two Cities</strong> (yet) so you can’t call me out on either of those. I know what you guys think like and I know you will try to continue hating this assignment if I can’t convince you to give it a chance. I understand that <strong>A Christmas Carol </strong>is a lot shorter than either of the aforementioned books and I know we all have heard the plot of <strong>A Christmas Carol</strong> a million and three times. But as a great English teacher once told me, “You cannot separate a great work of fiction from its author.” The same is true for Dickens. Each of the novels he wrote were, in some form, similar to his others. If you can handle one, the other will be within your grasp too.<br /><br />Here are my tips on Dickens. I’m no expert but I do know a bit more than you, no offense. <br /><br /><strong>First, you need to give him a chance!!!! </strong>Have you ever noticed that after you read a really good book, it’s really hard to get into another book because you are so attached to the other characters and the other story? Dickens is like that. It takes more than five seconds to get into his books. I raided some of the forums and gathered a few quotes. <br /><br /><em>“Every time I pick up the book and read it for 30 seconds I get bored and sleepy and skip most of the words. I'm on chapter 5 and i hope i can finish it by midterm.”</em><br /><br />We have all felt this way, I know that and so do you. But you need to know that it’s ok to feel that way for the first bit. Most books follow that sort of pattern; the beginning is mostly used as a set up for the rest of the book. We have to be told the intricate details of the storyline before we can fully appreciate the plot of the book. <br /><br />Details. This brings us to our next point. Dickens is a nut for details. Another student said:<br /><br /><em>“This book makes me fall asleep! I think Charles Dickens is a bad author who is much liked by people who love exccesive amounts of detail!”</em><br /><br />Not only did this student spell excessive wrong, but he’s being narrow minded. I hate to admit it, but I had this exact same attitude when I first read Dickens in the ninth grade. The detail Dickens uses is a bit excessive but <strong>you have to look at his writing from two different perspectives: the perspective of an author and the perspective of a performer. </strong><br /><br />Dickens wrote his books so they could be read out loud. Every year he read his <strong>Christmas Carol</strong> out loud to an audience in his town. Look at Dickens not as a reader. As an author, he cares about giving the reader the best picture he possibly could, something we should thank him for. I quote myself from an earlier blog: <br /><br /><em>“When I first read Dickens, his over description threw me for a loop. I thought it was too much, it was forced, and it made his reading drag very much. Now after hearing it come out of my own mouth, I’ve discovered that he wrote just as he spoke. When you tell a person about something you care about, you leave nothing to their imagination. Dickens cares so much for his characters and his stories that he can’t leave anything out and I thank him for that. He gives the readers an image that will not soon be erased from their minds.”</em><br /><br />He wrote for a generation that didn’t have Google for something they didn’t know or a TV they could turn to when they were bored. They didn’t know what some of the things that he talked about were so he had to describe them. People in his time period thirsted for the latest installment of a story by Dickens. They would wait for so long and as soon as a new chapter was slapped into their hands, they raced home to read it. Not only did they read it to themselves, they read it to their families. Literacy wasn’t big in this time, or at least as big as it would become. So, the educated few of the towns took the liberty to read the story to everyone else. That way, not only could the reader enjoy it more but so could the audience. <strong>Read Dickens out loud.</strong><br /><br />Think about a movie or a play you have seen recently. Would you prefer to see it performed or read the script? Think about Dickens’ novels as scripts. If you are dedicated and willing enough, your mind can become the stage. Mr. Thompson on our forum said:<br /><br /><em>“Dickens demands your complete attention, so this is a very different sort of reading than most of you are accustomed to. You can't read Dickens while you are watching TV or listening to the stereo; your full attention must be on the words. Also, you have to set aside significant amounts of time for reading -- I recommend at least half an hour at a stretch, more if possible. It is very difficult to keep all the plots and subplots together in your head if you try to read the book in 70 ten-minute sessions; it is better to shoot for ten 70-minute sessions.”</em><br /><br /><strong>You need to concentrate on his novels.</strong> His words are different than ours but if you let yourself sit back in time and be in the graveyards along with Pip or in the middle of the city in <strong>A Tale of Two Cities</strong>, it will be easier. <br /><br />“And it takes a lot of concentration to read a classic like Dickens. I don't think a lot of modern readers are willing to give the book the proper amount of time and effort that it needs.” <strong>BE WILLING!!!!</strong> <strong>You are not the average reader.</strong><br /><br /><em>“I think that reading this book is harder because they say things in a different way than we would. Kind of like Shakespeare but not quiet to that extent. Also, I think that it's because we don't seem to have very long attention spans nowadays. In the world today we seem to want to have everything fast and easy( fast food, high speed internet, cable) so when we have to read something like a classic novel, due to the time and effort needed to make sence of the story, it seems to make us think that it is impossible and can't be done.”</em><br /><br />Get over the fact that Dickens doesn’t speak like you do. You are getting older, books and school and life for that matter are getting harder; you have got to accept this. The faster you accept it, the easier life is, trust me. During your reading of this book, don’t be surprised when you come across words you don’t know. This book will require more attention from you and more work. <strong>My recommendation, sit with a dictionary when you read this book. As soon as you see a word you don’t know, mark it with a post it note, grab a piece of paper, write it down, and LOOK IT UP!</strong> This will make reading take longer but when it comes time to take a test on this book or write an essay about it, it will pay off that you know what everything you read actually meant. <br /><br /><em>“When I first started, it was horrible! Now I understand it a lot better.”</em><br /><br />This is delightful and so true. After all of your hard work reading this novel, be sure and <strong>have fun with it.</strong> People in Dickens day were entertained by it and believe me, people haven’t changed much. What Dickens writes about how people feel is still true today; that’s why Shakespeare is still popular, his characters are relatable. Give it time and take it slow.<br /><br />To sum up this ramble, here are my tips for success with Dickens:<br /><br />1. <strong>Give Dickens a chance.</strong> Don’t write him off based on prior knowledge or thoughts about him or just by reading the first page.<br />2. <strong>Accept the excessive details.</strong><br />3. <strong>Think like a writer and a performer.</strong><br />4. <strong>When in doubt, READ DICKENS OUT LOUD!</strong><br />5. <strong>Turn off the TV and concentrate.</strong><br />6. <strong>Take the time to really read the book.</strong><br />7. <strong>Sit with a dictionary right next to you. Mark up your book.</strong><br />8. <strong>Give it time. BE WILLING!</strong><br />9. <strong>Have fun!</strong><br /><br />Thanks for reading this and I hope you enjoyed it. Please give Dickens a chance and enjoy him! Happy reading and best wishes!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-28377580752473054622009-12-08T00:33:00.002-07:002009-12-08T00:50:27.308-07:00The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar WildeSo, I set out on another assignment from my AP English literature teacher, this time reading the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. My teacher said that we would love reading this play because it was so funny and written in a very understandable way. After reading this I can honestly say, I did not enjoy reading this play. I tried reading it out loud but nothing helped. When you hate characters, it becomes a chore to read about them. Now that the book is over however, I can discuss a few things that I did like about the book.<br /><br />It was very funny to see the different way women and men are looked at in this book. The men, Algernon and Jack, view women as fickle and flighty and in a way, very stupid in comparison to men. When discussing their plans for marriages, they talk of planning to introduce the girls to each other. They say that they will be calling each other sister after only having met. Algernon remarks that “Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first.” This did make me laugh because it is true. The best friends I have ever had, I started out hating. As I have heard, this is the case with most girls. Props to Wilde for picking up on that. <br /><br />Lady Bracknell bugged me a lot, but she was funny. Every time any type of subject was mention, she objected in one way or another. She cared so much about appearing fashionable that everything was wrong. All in all, the characters in this book just frustrated me! There was no reason for any of them to be pissy but they spent the majority of their time that way which, in turn, made this book a chore for me to read. If anyone can clear this up for me, please let me know that I was reading this book wrong because I was just angry every time a character spoke.<br /><br />What I did enjoy about this play was the many different meanings of the word earnest. The women in the play, for no reason, have vowed only to marry a man named Ernest. Earnest itself means having a serious and intent state of mind which, ironically, neither man has. Each man invents different lives for himself so that he may act in any way he chooses without dealing with consequences. When one of his fake lives begins to displease him, he only needs to kill off that life. At the end of the play when Jack states that he has finally realized the importance of being earnest, he has finally found what he wanted in life so he no longer needs to fake his life, he can be honest now. <br /><br />Wow, my first negative review. I feel bad for not liking this play; I feel like I missed something. The characters just got on my nerves. Any help would be appreciated! <br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-47679302434025938032009-12-06T01:12:00.001-07:002009-12-06T01:24:01.063-07:00Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. RowlingAlright I know, we’ve all read Harry Potter at least 400 times and seen the movie just as much. And I know that if I give this book a bad review, I’ll be automatically shunned by society. Believe me; I don’t plan to give this book a bad review.<br /><br />So, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade and don’t know what Harry Potter is, first of all, my condolences, and second, the plot is pretty basic. 13 year old boy wizard Harry Potter is in his third year at Hogwarts (magic school, not to be confused with Pigfarts (haha nerd jokes)) and he is trying to avoid the escaped prisoner Sirius Black while living through normal teen wizard life. Still with me? Great!<br /><br />Now, although I have read this book dozens of times, there are a few reasons why I keep reading it. <br /><br />First of all, I personally feel that as a true fan, you have to reread the series every few years. I’m long overdue for a series reread. The general plan is to reread a Harry Potter book after I finish a few other books so they will be a bit spread out on here, which isn’t bad. We all need a few doses of Harry Potter every now and then. Since it’s been so long since I read these books, I’ve started to confuse what happens in them with things that happen in the movies. I’m glad that it’s all getting cleared up. Along those same lines, I’m noticing the things they have been leaving out in the movies and getting more and more upset. The information that seemed meaningless in the third book will end up being crucial in the seventh movie! Come on Hollywood directing types, pay closer attention! <br /><br />Second, J.K. Rowling is a masterful writer. I’m glad I’m reading these books again as an older person so I can pick up an all the subtleties that she adds. Can you imagine how well she had to plan out her entire series before she even began writing her books? Throughout her books, she sprinkles little bits of foreshadowing here and there that don’t show up again until the seventh book. If you remember, in the third book, Professor Trelawney predicts the whole thing about the slave rejoining his master and helping him come back. Later in the book, Dumbledore remarks that that is the second correct prophecy that Trelawney has predicted. He is hinting at something that doesn’t become important until the 5th book! And even the littlest things that she writes about become main things or provide hints about events to come. The fact that she can keep all of those things straight is truly quite amazing.<br /><br />Third, Harry Potter just makes me happy. Rowling has created such a relatable character that has faults and grew up along with the reader. The first book came out when my generation was eleven and we grew up with Harry. Rowling kept every year realistic by making the events match up to what her readers were experiencing. I couldn’t help but smile at the end of the book when Harry returned to the Dursley’s after his year at school to begin his summer vacation. As corny as this story could be, Rowling makes it so hopeful and alive. The happy endings that fill the books just make you love the characters and the story more. <br /><br />As a Hogwarts hopeful that is still waiting for her acceptance letter, I can’t help but want to read Harry Potter. And after reading some pretty serious books recently, it was nice to fly back into my childhood with Harry. Now it’s back to real life and more serious reading!<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-44599436253220061732009-11-29T00:38:00.002-07:002009-11-29T01:00:54.834-07:00A Christmas Carol by Charles DickensIn my AP English Literature class, we were assigned to read <span style="font-weight:bold;">A Christmas Carol</span> over Thanksgiving break. Believe me, I was the complete opposite of excited. After a terrible introduction to Charles Dickens via <span style="font-weight:bold;">Great Expectations</span> in the ninth grade, I had sworn to hate Dickens for time and all eternity. The book sat like a hideous demon on the stack of books on my bedside table, a weight on my brain that needed to be done. Finally, I picked the book up and began to read it, sort of. I flipped through the pages, just getting more and angrier about having to read it. To procrastinate even more, I read the back cover. On the back cover, I discovered that Dickens read this story publically every Christmas Eve. This gave me an idea; try reading Dickens out loud and just buck up and give him a second chance.<br /><br />Here’s is what I learned; when you are in doubt about an author, <span style="font-weight:bold;">READ THEIR WRITING OUT LOUD!</span> Dickens is like Shakespeare, if you read it silently, it’s just a bunch of words with no feeling or meaning behind it. It was not written to be read silently, it was written to be shared with an audience. Now, I’m not going to lie, I read this book out loud with a British Accent. Am I embarrassed? Nope. I never would have been able to understand his writing approach without reading it out loud. I was automatically transported back to the mid eighteen hundreds and I watched the spirits visit Scrooge one by one and saw his transformation take place.<br /><br />When I first read Dickens, his over description threw me for a loop. I thought it was too much, it was forced, and it made his reading drag very much. Now after hearing it come out of my own mouth, I’ve discovered that he wrote just as he spoke. When you tell a person about something you care about, you leave nothing to their imagination. Dickens cares so much for his characters and his stories that he can’t leave anything out and I thank him for that. He gives the readers an image that will not soon be erased from their minds.<br /><br />His metaphors throughout the book are so brilliant and original. He describes Scrooge’s house as a house that “one could scarcely help fancying it must have run there when it was a young house, playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out.” How brilliant is that personification? Can you not see that image perfectly? Mmmm… imagery is yummy.<br /><br />So, I won’t lie, I was a bit creeped out when Marley’s ghost appeared. It’s a terrifying idea, having your house filled with usually lifeless bells and then suddenly chains rattling! Creeptastic, right?! But, I loved the humor that is thrown into the conversation Scrooge has with Marley. Scrooge takes the time, while terrified mind you, to speculate if a spirit can sit in a chair or not. Dickens is one funny dude. <br /><br />‘Tis the Christmas season, which means it is the season for crappy holiday movies meant to warm your heart but, in truth, just make you gag because of all the special happy feelings. During the reading of this book, I wished more holiday movies took a creative approach while pounding you with moral values. Of course I am familiar with this story but I had forgotten about the two terrifying children hiding under the ghost of Christmas present’s cloak. Reading their description, I had to stop and take a minute to think about what Dickens is telling us. “Man’s Children,” symbolizing Ignorance and Want with Ignorance being pointed out as the sin Scrooge should most look out for has so much meaning to me personally as well as to all of us, I feel. I’ve always believed in the motto that ignorance is bliss. Recently though, I’ve gotten tired of holding back my feelings about everything in my life. I’ve become more direct and if I sense a problem, I have to know about it so I can clear it up. Ignorance is not bliss because in the end, ignorance leaves you all alone.<br /><br />All in all, I’m so glad I gave dear Charles another chance. Now when I have to read <span style="font-weight:bold;">Great Expectations</span> again, I will hopefully appreciate it. Thanks for this assignment Mrs. Hansen!<br /><br />Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all! Leave any comments below! I’d love to hear them!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-24853620979237243582009-11-26T23:32:00.001-07:002009-11-26T23:34:03.259-07:00The Laramie Project by Moises KaufmanThis week I finished reading <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Laramie Project</span> by Moises Kaufman and all I can say is wow. This play left me so stunned and enthralled that the thought of starting a new book completely fell away; I just can’t leave this story yet! I’m the type of person that if I fall in love with a story or a piece of history, I have to spend the next six hours of my life googling it and getting every last drop of information I can about it. And so here I am, sitting at my computer, researching the death of Matthew Shepard. <br /><br /> If you don’t know what this play is about let me fill you in a bit. Led by Moises Kaufman, members of Tetonic Theater Company went to the town of Laramie, Wyoming after the brutal murder of a young gay man. There, they conducted interviews with people in the town. These interviews range from friends of the accused, the police officer called to the scene of the murder, to students at the local University. Through these accounts, Matthew Shepard’s murder is told from voices we wouldn’t typically hear from. By doing this, the reader sees so many different opinions on the attack and its aftermath.<br /> <br /> Now, whether or not you are pro gay rights or anti gay rights, this is definitely a book I would recommend to you. During my entire time reading this book, I never felt preached at or anything of the sort. The members of the Tectonic Theater Project really took the words of Father Roger Schmit to heart and “do your best to say it correct.” They didn’t alter what the people of this town said at all so you as a reader are exposed to literally every viewpoint possible. You hear from locals who are active in the gay community, locals who don’t support that lifestyle, various religious leaders with different thoughts, and people who just saw the whole terrible incident happen. The writers of the play are holding back no information and no opinion is too harsh from this play. Even with the spirit of togetherness that the gay community felt after the murder, there was of course backlash, and we are lucky enough to see both sides. <br /><br /> Throughout the play, a noticeable unique quality about the script is the lack of scenes. Instead of an act being filled with scenes, the acts are filled with moments and they are listed as such. In my theater classes lately, my teacher has stressed the use of moments and their importance in our daily lives. A big theme in this play is that of destiny and reasons why things happen. The character Aaron Kreifels spends the majority of the play questioning why he was meant to find Matthew on the fence while he was out riding his bike. Without these specific moments in our lives, we wouldn’t be who we are. Personally, one of my favorite moments is Act III Moment: Dennis Shepard’s Statement. The thoughts from Matt’s father literally rip at my heart because of how he goes about speaking to the murderer of his son with such grace and elegance. The entire play is filled with this sort of delicacy and beauty while still managing to get a point across about this hideous crime.<br /><br /> While reading this, I never felt as if I was being bombarded by drama or dramatic scenes. They playwright took a lot of care to not overwhelm the reader with too much intensity. Because of that, it was easier to keep my attention on the book because I never felt like what I was reading was too much to handle. Because the script is truly just real people talking, it felt as if I was sitting there talking with them, not seeing a play being put on in my head. <br /><br /> Overall, my attention and my heart were captured by this play. It was a very fast and easy read because I couldn’t manage to put it down. Anyone studying theater should read this play because of the unique approach it takes to staging and characterization. Anyone who enjoys watching the news or enjoys thinking outside of the box should read this play because of the different views you are allowed to see. I recommend this book to one and all!<br /><br /> Until next time, happy reading! Send me your book recommendations if you have them, I’d be happy to check them out and review them all!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2396972830097875354.post-21693536811027644532009-11-10T15:25:00.003-07:002009-11-10T15:27:04.694-07:00New and Improved. Welcome!Hello there! Welcome to my blog! Here I plan on reviewing the books I read and giving my opinions on all of the books in this world. If you have book recommendations let me know, I always need more to read! I'll try to update as much as I can, depending on how much I read (let's hope it's a lot!). Thanks for checking it out!Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01739231351195137054noreply@blogger.com3