This post and all posts about Harry Potter will contain spoilers.
Posted on June 17, 2007 in Books
Posted on June 14, 2007 in Books
- Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?
- And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted? – Booking Through Thursday
No, I don’t peek. I do feel tempted sometimes, but it’s more motivation for me to finish it because I know things will be resolved at the end. This has helped me read faster which may not be the best thing because sometimes I want to know the ending so bad I rush through some details.
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Working all day today and tomorrow which means not much reading. I’ll have time on Saturday to reread HP2, Twelfth Night, and start another book.
Posted on June 13, 2007 in Food
My last attempt at ginger cookies left me dissatisfied, and I wanted them softer and more chewy.
Posted on June 12, 2007 in Books
I was never interested in reading this book until I was older, few people I know actually read this when they were younger. I read this all yesterday and stayed up a bit to finish it before midnight. It is a very well written book, and I think I’m going to miss out a lot of why it’s so good in this review. First, my view on rabbits is neutral, but even as an animal lover, I am not a fan of the domesticated rabbit. I’ve met a couple of temperamental ones. Reading the book, I was always afraid that that the rabbits were going to die or get fatally wounded. I liked every single one of the rabbits, and I found the antagonistic ones fascinating. The characterization set them apart from one another. I loved the folklore and mythology set into the book because Adams has sampled so many old world stories and the oral narrative in this story. The novel is also a story of environmental degradation, human, political and social commentary. There are cautionary tales in it, and it showcases the divide between humans and nature. The rabbits are not simply just anthropomorphic, but essentially retain their rabbit like features in their values for wit, cunning, trickery, survival and relationship with nature. The novel itself is similar to old folklore and fables of animal characters. It’s an adventure story about leadership and team work to survive and build a home. Definitely another good summer read.
Posted on June 11, 2007 in Books, Knitting & Crafting
Just some updates of what I have been up to. I started Watership Down today, am more than halfway now, and enjoying it immensely. I reread Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone this past weekend, as well as listening to Stephen Fry’s audiobook for it while I knitted the Rose Wrist Warmers.
During the narration, I finished the left glove. No photos until the complete project. It could have been longer, but it fits very well. I always worry about that sort of thing because I never make a gauge swatch. Gasp. I know. When I knit a sweater, I’ll do it then. Anyway, the only issue is that I forgot to BO the thumb loosely, and so right now it has a tube of lipstick in the thumb to stretch the BO edge. It’s actually working until I block it when I’m finished the right one. I’ve CO for that, but I won’t knit it for a couple more days methinks. Estimated time of FO: Two weeks. After that, back to socks.
Last week, I went to Michaels. They truly suck for needles selection because they didn’t have either of the circs I wanted. They only seem good for the yarn sales I’m waiting for, on Patons SWS and Classic Merino Wool.
As for the tangled pink Misti Lace Alpaca, I enlisted my mother to help me out and she helped detangle it out. It’s not perfect because we had to break it, but it’s now wound into two toilet paper roll. I just need the needles, and then I can start the Swallowtail Shawl.
Posted on June 8, 2007 in Books, Musings
Nothing like coming home to your books. I got home from work two hours ago. It was a very hot and humid day, but it rained a great storm when I was at work (which was thankfully not too busy). The evening was cool from the rain and the air was beautifully fresh. I came home, and I saw the above pile of books on my printer as if to say “Welcome, home.” instead of “You’re disorganized for putting a big pile of books on a printer.” I made this pile today after getting a lot of these books from the library.
As you can see, most of these books are for the Book Awards Challenge. I’ve decided to read Street of Riches instead of The Tin Flute because I am going to read the books in French and try to make room for some French Milan Kundera as well. I may still read TTF in the near future though. The pile on the left has the first three Harry Potter books stacked on top of my copy of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.
As a testament to my messy but manageable style, there are another two small pile of books on this desk as well, not to mention the twenty library books perpetually on the floor beside it. I need to clean my desk, but the books always remain where they are on my desk, in my life.
Posted on June 7, 2007 in Movies
Based on the book of the same name by German writer Patrick Süskind, several directors including Stanely Kubrick and Martin Scorcesse pronounced the film unadaptable. I haven’t read the book, and as I often do when I happen to watch the movie before the book, I wish I did. Not that it would make things less odd, but it would leave me feeling less disjointed afterwards. I know that if I had not read Trainspotting, the movie would have been more confusing. This story takes place in 18th century France, and it’s shot very well. I think the directing, design, and cinematography are the best things about the film along with the casting. I wanted to see the movie based on the ensemble cast including Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman, two of my favourites. Rachel Hurd-Wood who played Wendy in 2003’s Peter Pan was also in it with well done dye job on her red hair which I don’t think is her natural hair colour. The protagonist is played by British actor Ben Whishaw whose cheekbones could glass for all I know. The story is unique though, and the protagonist is an antihero rather than a clear cut out character to sympathise with. The book is apparently classified as Magical Realism which explains a lot. The ending is weird and offbeat, and the whole film is different than most stories or films. I think the film can be accused of being pedantic and absurd by others. I don’t know if I would recommend the film, but I don’t hate it. Then again, I rarely truly dislike a book or a film. I think there are positive aspects to almost everything. In this film’s case, the visuals, the casting, and the style of shooting. I may seek out the book, but not soon.
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On a related note, I have kept a list of every book to movie adaptation I have read and then seen or vice versa. I’ll post the list in the near future. Now, I need to get started on Watership Down.
Posted on June 7, 2007 in Books
Almost everyone can name at least one author that you would love just ONE more book from. Either because they’re dead, not being published any more, not writing more, not producing new work for whatever reason . . . or they’ve aged and aren’t writing to their old standards any more . . . For whatever reason, there just hasn’t been anything new (or worth reading) of theirs and isn’t likely to be.
If you could have just ONE more book from an author you love . . . a book that would be as good any of their best (while we’re dreaming) . . . something that would round out a series, or finish their last work, or just be something NEW . . . Who would the author be, and why? Jane Austen? Shakespeare? Laurie Colwin? Kurt Vonnegut? – Booking Through Thursday
I love so many authors. Of course, I would like another Jane Austen, Shakespeare or Kurt Vonnegut. I also really like Leo Tolstoy, John Steinbeck, Edith Wharton, Oscar Wilde, and E. M. Forster. I think I could enjoy works from any of the above.
Posted on June 6, 2007 in Books
Here is my list for twelve award winning books to be read between July 1 2007 to July 1 2008 for the Book Awards Challenge. I’m confident I’ll complete this challenge because I have a couple of the books in my house and couple of which are also Newbery. I have provided a long list of prospective books for additional reading in the challenge.
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Booker Prize)
- Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (Giller, Governor General’s)
- Street of Riches by Gabrielle Roy (Governor’s General’s)
- Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Newbery)
- A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nany Willard (Newbery)
- Complete Poems and Plays by T. S. Eliot (Nobel 1948)
- Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer, Nobel)
- Beowulf: New Verse Translation (Costa/Whitbread)
- Neuromancer by William Gibson (Hugo, Nebula)
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Newbery)
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer, NBCC)
- Little, Big by John Crowley (World Fantasy)
Bonus Books:
Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett (PEN/Faulkner, Orange)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Pulitzer)
Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (Miles Franklin, Commonwealth Writers’) – I remember trying to read this years ago when it was first published; I managed one chapter, so we’ll see how far I get this time.
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Hugo, Nebula)
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda (Nobel)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Nobel)l
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (Commonwealth Writers’) – I own this, and it is big.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (PEN/Faulkner)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (Pulitzer)
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck (Pulitzer, Nobel)
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (Pulitzer, NBCC, Governor General’s)
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (Giller)
The Pearl and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (Nobel 1962)
All the Names by Jose Saramago (Nobel 1998)
Posted on June 6, 2007 in Movies
I never watch horror movies. When I got this movie last month, it was on a whim because it was around the time of the release of the sequel, I had heard good things about it, and Christopher Eccleston is in it. Since I don’t generally care for horror or scary movies, I can’t say if it was a good movie of its genre, but certainly an entertaining film overall. The beginning was pretty slow, but I noticed the nice soundtrack which only got better as did the plot, characters, settings, and scariness of the film. Yes, it reminded me of Shaun of the Dead a lot, but not in the psychologically scary parts surrounding Christopher Eccleston’s character. It was the fear of what happens to people in post-apocalyptic and dystopian worlds, not of the zombies. As usual, I’m pleased with CE’s work here even if the character was sometimes both dimensional (his psychology) and flat (bit stereotypical). The equally attractive Cillian Murphy really carries the film because slowly, his and the other characters are revealed to us and shown to be resilient capable survivors. There’s actual character growth. The screenplay is quite good then. Even though I haven’t seen any horror movies, I have a feeling the writing is better than most of the genre. I like that it was an original screenplay rather than adapted from novel, short story, graphic novel or comic book which often happens in science fiction. Director Danny Boyle said the writer Alex Garland cited The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndam as an inspiration for the book which I mentioned the other day. I liked the ending which I read was the original one. The sequel does not have any of the original cast, and there is apparently to be a third. I’m not quite sure I will seek out the sequels in the near future even if I did like this one. All because I liked this movie doesn’t mean I’ll make a habit of watching more horror films.
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On a lighter note, here is a hilarious interview Time interview with George Clooney, Matt Damon, Ellen Barkin and Brad Pitt. I really want to hang out with these people.
Posted on June 5, 2007 in Books
This is my fourth of Forster’s six published novels, and this was his first published. I think I can say he is one of my favourite authors even if I do find his characters often silly and irksome, but realistically so. I think I enjoyed this book less than all the others I’ve read of his so far because it was hard to find anyone to sympathise with since everyone was typically supercilious as they often actually were in that time. Philip reminded me of a middle class Leonard Bast, but I think I warmed to him at the end. The only other character I liked was Caroline Abbott. I liked Gino, but he was more of Forster’s archetype for a handsome lower-class Italian at times. Even if Gino was not as dimensional, Forster shows his knack for differences between people in class and nationalities. While reading, I laughed once at the silliness of these people because of the irony, and their realism. I’m more amused and irked rather than irritated by Forster characters. He’s also got a thing for melodrama at least once in the novel. The ending in this book was dramatic, but it allowed for a couple of the characters to mature and shine though. All in all, not my favourite of Forster and I can see how this was his first. I do like it simply for being written by him because he often writes what I feel about society and people sometimes. I’ll give a report of the movie when I see it as well.
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An update on the 1001 Books You Should Read Before You Die, I’ve actually read 72 books from the list (73 now that I’ve finished the above). Wow, that’s a lot of books that I missed when scrolling at top speed at midnight. I’m debating about what I should I read next since I’m not quite in the mood for Watership Down yet. I’ll just rewatch Northanger Abbey now and watch a movie afterwards.
Posted on June 4, 2007 in Books
Fourth Day of the month, and I’ve already read two books, both that I named for my summer reading challenge. Need to catch up and prep for some more summer reading. I am currently reading E. M. Forster’s Where Angels Fear to Tread and will finish soon.
Through surfing, I found Arukiyomi’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Spreadsheet from Paul Boxall’s list. I doubt I’ll read all of those books, and I don’t think I would want to either, but the spreadsheet is handy as it calculates how much you have read. I’ve read about 63 which is 6.29% of the list. I’m sure I missed a couple because I did scroll through 1001 titles. Most of the list is comprised of books from the 1900s, and there are about 12 for “Pre-1700” which is sort of sad. I know the novel was invented in the the 18th century, but I would at least think there would be more influences for it than that.
One of the books on the list was The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndam. I tried to remember if I had read it, and I’m 75% sure I did because I also remember vaguely seeing the campy 1960s movie in school. I am 100% sure I read Wyndam’s The Chrysalids which I remember enjoying immensely in middle school. I remember having one of the best English teachers that year too. I recommend the latter for anyone wanting to read a dystopian novel.
Last week while knitting my monkey socks (slowest project ever), I listened to Stephen Fry’s audiobook of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’ll always prefer a real book, but I’m starting to come around to audiobooks though because I find them really nice to go along with knitting. For most projects, I can’t watch a movie or a TV. I like listening to audiobooks of books I have already read and love, especially if they are well narrated as the UK HP book versions are. Mr Fry is funny, articulate, and executes some good accents. I started out with Book 1 and 6, but today, I got 2-5, and I’m sure to get the seventh when it is released. I most likely will not preorder Book 7 because as with the last few books, I just go early in the morning to Chapters and buy it there. Not once has it looked like the book has sold out the night before. I would preorder it if I knew at exactly what time it would be delivered. For all I know, it’ll come at in the late afternoon. Unlikely since I do live in a city centre. Hmm, maybe I should preorder?
Starting Saturday, I will be rereading all my Harry Potter books each week until Book 7 for the Harry Potter Read Along, and I will be making reviews of the experience with each book. It seems now that I’m going to read and listen to them too.