The last of the Sally Lockhart quartet. Published in 1994, Pullman notes on his website how this was the most enjoyable of the books to write. This book is different from the first three books in two major ways: 1) It is not set in Victorian England, and 2) Sally Lockhart is not the protagonist and remains missing for most of the novel. The setting is a fictional kingdom in Prussia called Razkavia involving the eponymous Adelaide as one of the protagonists, Jim as the male lead, and a 16 year old named Becky as another female lead. Becky’s age reminds me of Sally in the first book, and I love that Sally has become the type of woman. I can see how much fun it must have been to write because it’s certainly less intense and in a better setting than the first three novels. It was really good to read about Jim again because I missed him when he was absent from the last book. While I liked this book as I did the others, I found that I really missed Sally. Not that the two strong female leads weren’t well written. Indeed, I was reminded in this novel about how Pullman is very good at writing female characters. I’ve grown quite attached and fond of Sally Lockhart, and it was almost jarring not to have her in this novel knowing she could be involved. This book also followed what I consider to be the most extreme of the thrillers so this did not affect me as much as a reader. Still another quick page turne, and I’ve liked every ending for the characters in the series. Pullman notes on his website that he still has ideas for adventures for these characters. Who knows if he’ll ever publish another Sally Lockhart & Co book, but the year after this one, Northern Lights / The Golden Compass was published, beginning one of the most interesting trilogies of recent years.
Posted on June 4, 2007 in Books
Posted on June 3, 2007 in Books
When I read the summary for this, it seemed very psychological and intense. I’ve grown quite attached to Sally Lockhart and the other characters. Sometimes I think Pullman is as good as Dickens when making up Victorian characters. The actions in this novel were very horrible to read about because the idea of having one’s child taken away from you especially in a patriarchal, puritanical society such as Victorian England is extremely cruel. I can’t imagine being in Sally’s situation, and while it is sensationalist and fictional, the historical accuracy in these books is more or less correct. I really wanted to get to the end so it could be all resolved and see how it all was connected. The only one grievance I have was that I knew who the enemy was when reading the summary, but it took Sally 3/4 of the book to figure it out which I don’t blame her since I’ve read many more books, movies and television shows. Once again, another good thriller from Pullman, and probably the most tense so far. Though, I’ve noticed he tends to like to use the chilling and malicious monkeys.
Posted on June 3, 2007 in Movies
The screenwriter Peter Morgan said he wrote about a “cold, emotionally detached, haughty…prickly… out-of-touch bigot,” but due to people’s adoration of the Queen, they feel he wrote her with compassion. It’s a good screenplay, and an interesting movie to make since it does portray real people still alive. What really makes the movie is the acting; though, I wouldn’t expect anything less when I watch British films or television. I think Helen Mirren is not only talented, but very beautiful. Maybe it is because I do like the Queen, but I think what makes this movie good, and the Queen sympathetic is the portrayal by the magnificent Mirren, supported by Michael Sheen (Tony Blair), James Cromwell (Prince Philip), and others. Watching the film now coincides with Blair’s end as PM, so it was odd remembering that time. I can’t believe it’s been ten years of anything; I remember 1997 so well. I really never understood the backlash. I liked Diana as much as the next person, but the sentiments against the Queen and family seemed unnecessarily cruel. Maybe I was too young then to really appreciate the situation and Diana’s impact because my Dad always adored her and didn’t care for the family. He still thinks Charles is an idiot; I think the film was slightly more toward that view too actually. I don’t consider myself a Monarchist, but I have always liked the Queen. I’ve always found her an enigmatic but strong character. I think only the steeliness and elegance of Mirren could pull it off. Mirren said in her Oscar speech the movie was for the Queen for her “courage and consistency” over the years who while cold, difficult, prickly or not, Mirren flew and carried this film. Goodness, I hope I look half as good and as graceful as Helen Mirren when I am older. On a final note, I dislike hunting for sport, but I really hope the Stag was real in the first scene and not CGI, but definitely fake in the last one. Seriously, I really want to go to Scotland now.
Posted on June 2, 2007 in Books
Yes, I joined yet another reading challenge. It’s become one of my new blogging habits. I really would like to meet more bloggers, and all of us seem to get to know each other better through books since the circle of book bloggers is not too large. So I need to make a list of 12 award winning books to read between July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008. Before that, I made a list of award winning books I had already read over the years. I’ve been partial to the Pulitzer over they years for some reason. I’ve tagged the awards in the challenge on Lists of Bests under BARC.
Most of these books I’ve liked. Feel free to ask about any of them.
Booker Prize:
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (also a Governor General’s Award winner)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
British Book Award:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by by Lynne Truss
Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Commonwealth Writers Prize:
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Costa (Whitbread) Book Awards:
The Amber Spyglass (HDM Book 3) by Philip Pullman
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Giller Prize:
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Governor General’s Award:
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Hugo Award:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (also a Nebula)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Dune by Frank Herbert (also a Nebula)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
National Book Award:
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (also Pulitzer)
Newbery Medal Award:
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The High King by Lloyd Alexander
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Holes by Louis Sachar
Nobel:
Herman Hesse – Siddhartha
Albert Camus – The Stranger
John Steinbeck – East of Eden, Grapes of Wrapth, Of Mice and Men
Gabriel Garcia Marquez – One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, and couple of others.
William Golding – Lord of the Flies
Jose Saramgo – Blindness, The Cave
PEN/Faulkner:
The Hours by Michael Cunningham (also a Pulitzer)
Pulitzer Prize:
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Posted on May 31, 2007 in Books
Do you read e-Books? – Not really. I have a few on the computer, and I’m a big proponent of Gutenberg, Google and books digitization. I even wrote a paper about it, but I don’t generally read them.
If so, how? On your computer, or a PDA? – When I do, it’s on my laptop computer.
Or are you a paper purist? Why? – I love the feel of a good book between my hands. Nothing like a crisp, fairly unread new book smell and curling up with it. Also, even though I’m on the computer a lot reading for everything else. I feel most of my real reading should be offline.
Posted on May 29, 2007 in Knitting & Crafting
 On your left, is the two balls of Wendy Merino DK that I bought an hour ago, and on your right is The Bane of My Existence: a tangled mess of the Misti Alpaca Lace that I posted about buying in this post. I starting putting it in a centre pull ball using the toilet paper roll method, but let’s be honest, I have never had to use a reshape a hank of yarn, and something went awry. It just got steadily worse. I believe I am a patient person, but I don’t think I can untangle all this yarn; there’s 400m in a hank and I doubt I’ve gotten far at all. I think I’m going to give up and just shell out for another hank, probably in another colour because I feel the pink was bad luck. I’m going to buy it this weekend with the needles, and roll it in the store under the supervision of knitters far advanced than me.
The Wendy Merino is for a project I am going to cast on fairly soon, this weekend probably. I’ll post more about it when I do. I also bought US3/3.0mm 16″ circs and DPNS today for other projects. I know, I’ve basically planned out five (almost six) projects until the winter! Well, at least none of them are scarves.
Dewey has a fun blogroll game going on.
Posted on May 28, 2007 in Books
Here is my reading list for the Summer Reading Challenge (June 1- August 1). Almost all of it is young adult or children’s lit which is funny and also will give me a slightly high chance of actually finishing the challenge.
- The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman
- The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Rereading: Harry Potter Books 1-6 by J. K. Rowling for the HP Read Along
- Rereading: Twelth Night by William Shakespeare
In other book news, I have read little because I have been distracted by dreaming about future knitting patterns. I will read today. Yes, I shall.
Posted on May 27, 2007 in Knitting & Crafting
Here I am spending money again on yarn. One of my LYSs is having a clearance sale on Meilweneit Cotton sock yarn (45% cotton, 42% wool, 13% nylon) at 50% off so I bought a skein of the Spirit (knits wide stripes) yesterday. Who doesn’t like good, discounted sock yarn on sale? As for the Misti Alpaca Lace (100% baby alpaca), I bought that today because I was inspired this morning to start Swallowtail Shawl, I even joined the knitalong! The fact that it only requires one hank (must do centre-pull ball soon) and is affordable yet luxurious yarn sealed the deal. I got it in pink because I wanted a shawl on the pastel side and my wardrobe lacks the colour. I don’t know if it’ll be the best colour on me, but the woman at the LYS did say I could make just make another one. Will get the #4/3.5mm for it soon at the other LYS, but probably won’t start project for awhile. It’ll probably take some time to do since it’ll be my first lace shawl.
The socks are going very slowly as they should, but I had to recast on them a couple times. I’m very glad I got bamboo needles for them because they would have been slipping so much.
I actually have a lot of things to do offline and online this week which I’m not really looking forward to.
Posted on May 25, 2007 in Musings
My trip from the wilderness (cottage country) allocated me some wonderful souvenirs: big, itchy bug bites! I always seem particularly susceptible, and I don’t own bug spray since I don’t go to the country too much. I’m one of those people that bugs seem to be love to consume because even with a few people around me, I am the one that receives the most ugly of bites. I’m treating them with aloe vera and Asian Tiger balm. Other than the bites, we had a nice lazy day in which my friend and I planned to read, but ended up wading in water and watching My Best Friend’s Wedding very briefly.
My plans to knit and read these last couple of days have been thwarted. I haven’t exercised either. It’s been particular hot and humid. Tomorrow, I’m getting up bright and early for an annual garage sale to catch some deals. I’ll cast on Monkey socks tonight. I am pretty sure I can do everything; the only thing I am worried about is the gusset.
Here’s a book meme that I found from Dewey:
“You simply have to grab the book nearest to you (no cheating here), turn to page 161, and post the text of the fifth full sentence on the page along with the body of the instruction on your blog. Then you tag 3 people.â€
I haven’t started this book, but I will soon because it’s due next Friday. From Death by Black Hole by Neil Degrasse Tyson.
Glowing objects, like stars, come in three basic colors: red, white, and blue–a cosmic fact that would have pleased the founding fathers.
Heh. I’d be more amused if I was American, and it was weird for me to write the “color” because I am a staunch Queen’s English speller of “colour”. That’s for another post about my language idiosyncrasies.
Posted on May 24, 2007 in Books
Do you have any foreign language books and if so can you (still) read them? – BTT
Personally, I own one or two French books from my Immersion days. I do read at least one French book a year in an effort to not lose my comprehension. When I read in French, I always feel like I’m going through some sort of dream because sometimes I get don’t understand what’s going all the time, or maybe it’s the book. The last French book I read was L’identité (Identity) by Milan Kundera and a couple weeks ago, I took out his Le livre du rire et de l’oubli (The Book of Laughter and Forgetting). Kundera is particularly surreal in his narrative I think. I try to read some novels that are originally in French in that language, but it depends on the author. Next time I read Dumas, it’s probably going to be English.
—
I have to leave for a friend’s cottage in less than half an hour. She called me half an hour ago spontaneously to invite me. It’s the hottest day of the year yet at 31’C. I’m bringing a couple of books to read by a lake. No knitting today as I wanted to. Be back in the evening.
Posted on May 23, 2007 in Knitting & Crafting
Socks: essential and addictive to some knitters, a road to be crossed for others. I decided to try my hand at this last winter. These socks will be my first, and I’ll be making them for myself. I have been sort of putting this off since I finished the clapotis. First, I got the Regia yarn from a closing yarn store. It was only off by a mere dollar or so compared to the others. Sock yarn is not cheap I must say so even if I do get addicted, I’m not sure I can afford to make so many pairs. Yesterday, I finally went to my LYS and bought a set of five 2.5mm bamboo dpns. They’re like toothpicks. I tried doing a gauge swatch today, but I gave up. That may bite me in the bottom later, but I’m trying to decide which pattern to use. Should I just use a really basic pattern that shows pictures or try myself at some lace while at it so I can go head on in? I’m leaning toward the latter as the lace may help make them stretchier. I have many browser tabs open at the moment with pictures of turning heels and decreasing gussets as support. This seems very daunting, but I must be brave and plunge head on I guess.
Posted on May 21, 2007 in Books, Musings
I’ve been attracting some literary links while surfing lately.
TwitterLit – Updated twice a day on the various Twitter accounts with the first line of books. A very good way to get book recommendations if you’re a Twitter addict as I’ve recently become. Can be also used via email or a RSS reader.
Buyafriendabook.com – Buy a friend a book for four designated weeks a year, or just give them a book to share the literary karma. It’s like Bookcrossing (which I seemed to have given up on years ago), but more direct.
What is Stephen Harper Reading? – Canadians may only get the humor in this. Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi has decided to send a book to the Prime Ministre a book every two weeks with a letter on the choice. The image of PM Harper reading The Death of Ivan Ilych almost discombobulates me. Image does not process.
Publisher makes lite work of classics – An article from The Times Online about a publisher that is making shortened versions of classics for “convenience”:
Tolstoy, Dickens and Thackeray would not have agreed with the view that 40 per cent of Anna Karenina, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair are mere “paddingâ€, but Orion Books believes that modern readers will welcome the shorter versions.
Padding, right. This is not a new concept, and it could be helpful if you’re doing a book report about a book you don’t want to read. Goodness knows I didn’t enjoy every single moment of Vanity Fair. Though, if you want to know what happens or some literary insight, there’s Cliff Notes, Spark Notes, Wikipedia, and a lot of other choices. Someone in the article is quoted as saying that they hadn’t read Anna Karenina because it is long and finds these light versions “a breath of fresh air”.
I guess this is alright if you just want the plot, but reading has always been more than that for me. Altering or changing the books by 40% is sort of alarming. Sometimes, long books reveal a lot more than “padding”. I also think it’s completely subjective of what should or shouldn’t be taken out from a book based on some unnamed criteria they have. Do I think some of the classic authors padded? By the Dickens, yes. That does not mean it ruins my experience; sometimes there’s a lot of literary brilliance in the padding… if you like that sort of fun wordplay.
The thing is, no one is forcing you to read these classics. If you don’t like DC, AK, VF, or even Jane Eyre (which they are also book dieting), don’t read. Most of my friends are not bibliophiles, and I know lots of people who don’t like classics. Read what you like. Nick Hornby writes in one of his criticisms that we should all just read what we like and shouldn’t be forced or pressured into liking what we read. All because a book is a classic, a Pulitzer prize winner, or on the New York Times Bestseller’s list does not make it good, fun or even worth your time. Life is too short to read to books you don’t like. I just like spending my ethereal existence with long classics.