Tag: meme

WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesdays—May 18, 2011

Posted on by Dana

WWW WednesdaysTo play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading [amazon_link id=”0670022527″ target=”_blank” ]One of Our Thursdays Is Missing[/amazon_link] by Jasper Fforde, The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas, and The Story of Britain: From the Romans to the Present: A Narrative History by Rebecca Fraser (I have been reading it since January, but in my defense, it is over 800 pages long).

I recently finished [amazon_link id=”0670021040″ target=”_blank” ]Caleb’s Crossing[/amazon_link] by Geraldine Brooks (my review).

What on earth am I going to read next? I’m not really sure. I need to think about it. Maybe [amazon_link id=”0743482832″ target=”_blank” ]The Tempest[/amazon_link] so I can read [amazon_link id=”B0048EL84Q” target=”_blank” ]The Dream of Perpetual Motion[/amazon_link]. It has been a really long time since I read The Tempest. I won’t try to pick it up until school lets out, however.

Related posts:

Reading Update: Goodreads
Teaser Tuesdays—May 17, 2011
Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever
Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays—May 17, 2011

Posted on by Dana

Teaser TuesdaysTeaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teasers:

[amazon_image id=”0670022527″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” class=”alignleft”]One of Our Thursdays Is Missing: A Novel[/amazon_image]“About ten degrees upslope of Fiction, I could see our nearest neighbor: Artistic Criticism. It was an exceptionally beautiful island, yet deeply troubled, confused and suffused with a blanketing layer of almost impenetrable bullshit.”

—location 241 on Kindle, [amazon_link id=”0670022527″ target=”_blank” ]One of Our Thursdays Is Missing: A Novel[/amazon_link] by Jasper Fforde

A truer description of criticism, whether you are talking art or literature, I have never seen. I love Jasper Fforde. Incidentally, here is a map of Fiction Island, but Artistic Criticism is not pictured.

Related posts:

WWW Wednesdays—June 22, 2011
Reviving a Reading Meme
Booking Through Thursday: Skeletons
Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays—May 16, 2011

Posted on by Dana

Musing MondaysThis week’s musing asks…

The local Catholic school board is closing its school libraries, and parents and teachers—and even the students—are in an uproar. Budget cuts demanded that the board choose something to get rid of… they choose libraries. As such, many librarians have lost their jobs. And, the board is moving the books to the classrooms, instead. They feel that it is a good solution.

What do you think? Should the schools be without an actual “library” room? Is this a good solution?

I’m not sure where this school is located. No link to a news story in the post prompt. I think every school needs a library. So does every elementary school classroom, every middle school reading or language arts classroom (really, other subjects should, too), and every high school English classroom. Minimum. The library is more than just a room that houses books. It is a room that celebrates reading, books, media, and learning. It is a place for students to gather to study. It is a refuge for students like I was when I was young—a place to find new books, a place to hide, a place to think. I can’t imagine taking that away from students. Why so many people have decided we can do without libraries lately is beyond my comprehension. Even though I had moved away by the time it closed, I was saddened to learn the library I used to ride my bike to when I was a kid had closed. I wanted other children to be able to experience what I had experienced.

We also need our librarians. They stay current on good books and can help students find books to read. To push that role on overloaded teachers is not a solution. I can recommend books to my students. I read a lot. But no one can replace a librarian for expertise. How many kids have been turned on to their favorite book or even to reading in general because a librarian took an interest and made a recommendation? I loved spending time in my school library. When I was in fifth grade, I loved being chosen to be the office worker because I could finish all my school work by 11:00 and read for the rest of the day. The office staff let me go to the library to pick out books. I vividly remember asking a librarian to help me find an author’s address so I could write to him, telling him how I loved his book. She was more crushed than I was to discovered he had already passed away.

It doesn’t sound like the stakeholders—the students, parents, or teachers—want this. Surely there is a better way to save money than to remove librarians and a central library from a school.

Related posts:

Teaser Tuesday and Top Ten Tuesday—June 21, 2011
Musing Mondays—June 20, 2011
Top Ten Historical Novels

WWW Wednesdays—May 11, 2011

Posted on by Dana

WWW WednesdaysTo play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading [amazon_link id=”0670021040″ target=”_blank” ]Caleb’s Crossing[/amazon_link] by Geraldine Brooks, [amazon_link id=”0199537259″ target=”_blank” ]The Man in the Iron Mask[/amazon_link] by Alexandre Dumas, and [amazon_link id=”039332902X” target=”_blank” ]The Story of Britain: From the Romans to the Present: A Narrative History[/amazon_link] by Rebecca Fraser (I have been reading it since January, but in my defense, it is over 800 pages long).

I recently finished [amazon_link id=”0143034901″ target=”_blank”]The Shadow of the Wind[/amazon_link] by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (review) and Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran (review).

I’m definitely ready to pick up the new Jasper Fforde, [amazon_link id=”0670022527″ target=”_blank” ]One of Our Thursdays Is Missing[/amazon_link] next. I absolutely love Jasper Fforde. Oh, my TBR pile is so big. I will get to most of those books. Eventually. I hope.

What about you?

Related posts:

Reading Update: September 20, 2010
WWW Wednesdays—July 27, 2011
2019 Reading Challenges
Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays—May 10, 2011

Posted on by Dana

Teaser TuesdaysTeaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teasers:

[amazon_image id=”0670021040″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” class=”alignleft”]Caleb’s Crossing: A Novel[/amazon_image]“Tequamuck says it is coward’s talk. I say it is braver, sometimes, to bend.”

—p. 144, [amazon_link id=”0670021040″ target=”_blank” ]Caleb’s Crossing[/amazon_link] by Geraldine Brooks

Excellent read so far. I should have a review some time this week.

Related posts:

May Reading Update
Review: The Annotated Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë, ed. Janet Gezari
Reading Update: July 31, 2010
Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays—May 9, 2011

Posted on by Dana

Musing MondaysThis week’s musing asks…

Do you ever find scenes from previous books you’ve read popping into your head at random times? If so, does it bother you? If it doesn’t happen to you, why do you think that is?

This is a strange question to me because I assumed this happened to everyone. Do you mean it doesn’t? Are there people who don’t have scenes from novels popping into their heads at random times? Really? Huh. In answer to this question, I share two quotes from two sage writers:

“I am a part of all that I have met.”—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses.” To me, this line means everything we experience forms who we are, and that includes what we read.

“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.”—Ernest Hemingway

So, if Tennyson and Hemingway are right (and I think they are), then how could one not have scenes popping into one’s head? It is like calling forth memories, or if it’s not, then someone needs to explain it to me because I don’t get it.

Does it bother me? Absolutely not. Book memories are by and large the most pleasant ones, so they are welcome to pop in my head whenever they like. Except Stephen King’s It. Those memories can stay away. Especially that psychotic clown.

Related posts:

Booking Through Thursday: Visual
Musing Mondays—July 4, 2011
WWW Wednesdays—June 8, 2011
Friday Finds

Friday Finds—May 6, 2011

Posted on by Dana

Friday Finds

This week, I discovered an answer to a question that has bothering me. Until recently, all of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books were available for audio download on Audible except for The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I have read all the series up until The Fiery Cross, and I had decided that perhaps listening to the books during my commute would be a better option for me in terms of catching up. I was dismayed to find out I couldn’t complete my collection, and I was even more puzzled because An Echo in the Bone, the most recent novel, was available on Audible in addition to the four books prior to The Fiery Cross.

This week I discovered via Diana Gabaldon’s blog why the books were not available in an unabridged format and that A Breath of Snow and Ashes now is available, and The Fiery Cross will be available in November.

I don’t understand the notion of abridged books. Either read it all or skim it yourself, but why buy it abridged in the first place? How can you trust you have the essence of the story intact?

Gabaldon’s series is also, of course, available in paper:

  • [amazon_link id=”0385319959″ target=”_blank” ]Outlander[/amazon_link]
  • [amazon_link id=”0385335970″ target=”_blank” ]Dragonfly in Amber[/amazon_link]
  • [amazon_link id=”0385335997″ target=”_blank” ]Voyager[/amazon_link]
  • [amazon_link id=”B002VLLJDI” target=”_blank” ]Drums of Autumn[/amazon_link]
  • [amazon_link id=”0440221668″ target=”_blank” ]The Fiery Cross[/amazon_link]
  • [amazon_link id=”0440225809″ target=”_blank” ]A Breath of Snow and Ashes[/amazon_link]
  • [amazon_link id=”0440245680″ target=”_blank” ]An Echo in the Bone[/amazon_link]

What did you discover this week?

Related posts:

Booking Through Thursday: Sharing Books
Review: Trigger Warning, Neil Gaiman
Reviving a Reading Meme

Booking Through Thursday: Not in Theaters

Posted on by Dana

Congo Refugee

This week’s Booking Through Thursday question asks “And–the reverse of last week’s question. Name one book that you hope never, ever, ever gets made into a movie (no matter how good that movie might be).”

[amazon_image id=”0061577073″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” class=”alignright”]The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)[/amazon_image]Isn’t that the cutest little boy? The photographer says he is a Congo refugee. Which brings me to the answer to this question. I do not see how Barbara Kingsolver’s novel [amazon_link id=”0061577073″ target=”_blank” ]The Poisonwood Bible[/amazon_link] could be done justice by any film, no matter how good the film might be (or how long). I’m convinced the many layers in this novel couldn’t be reproduced on film.

The multiple narrators would be a challenge, especially the trick of reproducing the voice of each of narrator. The natural disasters might be doable with modern special effects, but there is a magic to that book that would be lost if we did not take the time to pore over the words. No film could capture the life and color in the book. I can’t think of a modern novel that approaches the artistry of this book. I remember reading it and thinking I had read a classic along the lines of [amazon_link id=”0142437174″ target=”_blank” ]The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn[/amazon_link] or [amazon_link id=”0743273567″ target=”_blank” ]The Great Gatsby[/amazon_link]. The book also attempts to examine America’s own culpability in some of the tragedies in Africa in a symbolic way that would be impossible to capture on film. You can read my review.

What book do you think could never be a movie?

photo credit: babasteve

Related posts:

Booking Through Thursday: National Book Week
Booking Through Thursday: Cheating
Musing Mondays—July 11, 2011
Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays—May 3, 2011

Posted on by Dana

Teaser TuesdaysTeaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teasers:

[amazon_image id=”0143034901″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” class=”alignleft”]The Shadow of the Wind[/amazon_image]“We followed our host through a palatial corridor and arrived at a sprawling round hall, a virtual basilica of shadows spiraling up under a glass dome, its dimness pierced by shafts of light that stabbed from above. A labyrinth of passageways and crammed bookshelves rose from base to pinnacle like a beehive woven with tunnels, steps, platforms, and bridges that presaged an immense library of seemingly impossible geometry.”

—p. 5, [amazon_link id=”0143034901″ target=”_blank” ]The Shadow of the Wind[/amazon_link] by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

I am listening to this book during my commute, and it’s an enthralling tale, though I wish I could go back and re-read parts. Jonathan Davis’s narration has been flawless. I don’t know if he’s a native Spanish speaker, but he certainly sounds like one.

Related posts:

Top Ten Historical Novels
Top Ten Books I'd Give a Theme Song To
Booking Through Thursday: Dog Days
Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays—May 2, 2011

Posted on by Dana

Musing MondaysThis week’s musing asks…

Do you care if the book’s storyline is unrealistic? Will you keep reading, or will you set the book aside?

My answer to this question is it depends. No modern reader can read [amazon_link id=”0743477111″ target=”_blank” ]Romeo and Juliet[/amazon_link] without wondering how Juliet’s family bought the notion that Juliet was “dead” after she took Friar Lawrence’s sleeping potion. My students always have trouble believing that Juliet didn’t breathe or have a pulse that her family could detect. And I try to explain that medicine has advanced a great deal; perhaps Juliet’s family didn’t know to look for certain things. But my students don’t buy it, and I am with them, if I’m honest. However, as a plot device, Shakespeare needs Juliet to fake her death so she can be buried in the Capulets’ monument. The fact that I can’t buy that one event in the story does not diminish my enjoyment of the rest of the play.

Also, fantasy and science fiction often have elements that stretch credulity, including characters and events that exist nowhere except in the minds of the author. Tolkien’s hobbits and Rowling’s dragons aren’t real, but I enjoy their books very much.

However, one thing that does bother me is a Mary Sue type of character who is just too perfect. I find those types of characters more unrealistic than wizards and elves. Flights of fancy and events that can’t really happen don’t distress me much, but the characters should have enough humanity that I can recognize them.

Related posts:

Friday Finds—August 5, 2011
Musing Mondays—October 17, 2011
WWW Wednesdays—May 18, 2011