So, I have read all of Sophie Kinsella’s books. I am going to admit that the shopaholic series protagonist Becky Bloomwood can be grating, but for some reason, I keep reading the books. Kinsella still has the opportunity to make me laugh or chuckle once in a book, and I did really like Can You Keep a Secret?. I keep hoping I’ll like the others books as much, and I do prefer Kinsella over Meg Cabot most of the time. This book has a great concept: what if you did get amnesia and woke up to a totally different time in your life? I’ve wondered about it myself. The book has its amusing moments as Kinsella’s books often do, but I found the characters sometimes more grating than in her previous books. Though, I think I like the ending of this book more than in The Undomestic Goddess (which had less annoying characters but with ambivalent ending). These are fluffy chicklit novels; I don’t really expect a lot of depth from them. They don’t even take that much time. This book took me a couple hours of reading. They do allow a little distraction from daily life, and I will keep reading Kinsella’s books as a result.
Posted on June 4, 2008 in Books
Posted on June 3, 2008 in Movies, Musings
Adam’s Rib (01 05 08) – Isn’t it fun to watch onscreen couples knowing they are offscreen couples? The chemistry is marvelous. I love the pull and tug, and neither really right, but it’s such a nice little Hepburn/Tracy rom-com. Why aren’t there more rom-coms with married people like this anymore?
Penelope (05 05 08) – Produced by Reese Witherspoon, this is a cute, quirky flick with a very great cast. They shot it in the UK so there are quite a few brits, but only some of them kept their accents (Simon Woods, Lenny Henry, Russell Brand) while the others adopted American accents (James McAvoy, Burn Gorman, Nick Frost). The movie also stars Christina Ricci as the eponymous character, Catherine O’Hara, Richard E. Grant, and Reese herself. Sweet, short, and it has James McAvoy.
Hellboy (08 05 08) – I had the chance to watch this on a flight in 2004, but I dismissed it having heard mixed reviews. Since then, I’ve heard positive things about this film, and with the sequel imminent this fall, I decided to watch it. It’s my second chance at watching Guilerrmo del Toro after Pan’s Labyrinth. I can see his distinct dark fantastical style in both movies. Also, both films have fascists. I do think this film’s script is not the best comic book adaptation, but it really makes up for it with the characters. The romance is kinda sweet albeit rushed through the film. It’s fun and quirky too; I look forward to the sequel.
A World Without Thieves (09 05 08) – This is a Chinese movie starring Andy Lau; it’s okay. Lau’s wig is ugly, and all the females in Chinese movies are bone thin. They shot some of it in Eastern China, but it’s not exactly a strong script and some of the poignant, spiritual scenes are flat.
Message in a Bottle (11 05 08) – I refuse to read another Nicholas Sparks novel, but I actually like the casting in all the movie adaptations. I didn’t even recognize Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn) in this movie. Kevin Costner wasn’t that bad, but he is no Ryan Gosling. I love Paul Newman. That is all.
Cranford (4, 11-12 05 08) – What is it about Elizabeth Gaskell that makes her books so adaptable to screen? I have yet to see an adaptation of Gaskell’s novels I did not like or am indifferent too (same can not be said for the Brontes and Ms Austen). This is actually based on three Gaskell novels, and the creators have weaved the stories so effortlessly and beautifully. The acting is magnificent. There is a lot of humor, a lot of death, but a lot of warmth too. Wonderfully done.
Todo sobre mi madre (All About my Mother) (12 05 08) – None of the Almodóvar movies I’ve seen so far are all that realistic in plots, but the important thing is that they all have raw and real emotional, beautifully written, acted and shot. I like the ambiguity and the humanity of all his characters; nothing is clear cut, and there is love and feeling amidst it all. I can understand why many think this is still his most mature film to date. This one has so many layers and themes with All About Eve and A Streetcar Named Desire attached to it. Almodóvar is love.
The Forbidden Kingdom (17 05 08) – So you don’t watch these movies for plot consistencies, dialogue or even characters. It’s all about the action sequences and the cinematography in China is very well done. Still, I am not going to lie: I cringed at some of the plot turns. Why did Sparrow speak in third person?!
Lust, Caution (19 05 08) – REVIEW.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (30 05 08) – A supernatural romance where Gene Tierney (Mrs. Muir) and Rex Harrison (the ghost Captain Gregg) fall in love. It is rather sweet, and I found myself relating to Mrs. Muir’s solitary nature. I am pretty sure this was the first time I’ve seen a Tierney film, and like the third time I’ve seen Harrison. They have such nice chemistry too. I have not watched George Sanders in a lot things, but he does play assholes really well.
Total: 10.
Posted on June 2, 2008 in Books
Considered by many scholars as the last play written solely by Shakespeare, I found the Tempest an interesting mix of genres. While other plays are more obvious about their genres (be it tragedies, comedies, or romance/coms), this is considered a romance. While the romance of Miranda and Ferdinand does feature in a couple of scenes, I would not consider it a romance as compared to Romeo and Juliet. It is comedic, but also very subdued and serious at parts. Prospero is very manipulative; he seems to be in control of everything, even the courtship between his daughher Miranda and Ferdinand. There are images and themes of colonialism, servitude, and slavery, even in the romantic scenes between the lovers. Indeed, Prospero’s control of the events in the play are even meta especially in regards to the ending where he asks the audience to applause. The island’s magic and phantasmagorias can be viewed as a play within a play. I did not warm towards Prospero early on because he did not seem like a real character in the play, more a conniving puppet master moving characters toward his goal. He controls how one views the past and how the outcome will be. I think about Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series interpretation of Shakespeare as he wrote The Tempest. A reflective, older man who has spent his life connected to the themes of stage, dreams, imagination and creation, moving characters and stories around, but keenly aware like Prospero at the twilight of his life.
Posted on June 2, 2008 in Books
This update includes books read in April and May. The latter was a pretty good month for books. I read 11 and quite a few counted towards challenges. New challenges are in bold.
Current Challenges
- Book Awards (9 of 12) – None. I only have June left.
- William Shakespeare (3 of 4) – I read Othello and The Tempest. Nearly done.
- Non-Fiction Five Challenge (1 of 5) – Read Hungry Planet. May to Sept.
- Graphic Novels (8 of 6) – Read The Best American Comics 2006, Jimmy Corrigan
- Decades 08 (5 of 8 ) – Read Cranford, The Count of Monte Cristo
- In their shoes (3 of ?) – Read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
- Russian Reading (2 of 4) – Slow and steady does it.
- What’s in a Name? (4 of 6) – I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Hungry Planet, The Tempest
- TBR 2008 (1 of 12) – This is pathetic. I really need to work on this.
- Man Booker Challenge (1 of 6) – Same.
- Chunky Challenge (3 of 4) – Read The Count of Monte Cristo, Twilight, Outlander
- The Obscure Challenge ( of 1) – Read one obscure book before the end of the year.
- 342,745 Ways to Herd Cats or tl;dr (3 of 3) – Three books read from lists of favourites of other participants; read The Count of Monte Cristo, Twilight, and Outlander.
- 1% Well-Read Challenge (2 of 10) – Read 10 books from the 1001 List in 10 months. I read Cranford, The Count of Monte Cristo. See below for book count.
- Reading the Nobels (1 of 5)- Must work on this, but I do not have many Nobels at hand.
- Notable Books – None
- Pulitzer Project – None
- Booker Project – None
Personal Challenges
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die – The challenge will help this out: 84.
- TBR Pile – Books that I own and have not read. None in awhile.
Pending Challenges
- Classics Challenge ( of 6) – July to December 2008. Five classics and one bonus “modern” classic.
Completed Challenges
- Something About Me – There was no minimum; I read 4 books.
- Second Chances (3 of 3)
- Book to Movies (3 of 3)
- Summer Reading Challenge, Round 2
Posted on June 1, 2008 in Books
This week, I finished reading Outlander, The Tempest, and Remember Me?. I read the latter two yesterday and the reviews will be up this week. I am determined to finish Gilead this week; I’ve put it off for long enough. I am doubtful about when I will finish Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell though since I just got a mini boat load of nonfiction requests from the library. I am running behind on the Book Awards Challenge so I must get started on The God of Small Things, Anil’s Ghost or Little, Big as well.
With the Twilight series and Outlander, I realized my reading trends have been inclined to the romantic these past two week. I do not often read many novels that are particularly romantic or with romance as the focus. Funnily enough, they are supernatural romances. I even watched The Ghost and Mrs. Muir on Friday. I not do these things consciously; I do notice little reading trends mostly in regards to the story themes (solitary, introspective, romantic, sad, funny, etc). Though, it just seems romantic books have been coming towards me these past two weeks. Does that often happen to you where little themes arise from books?
I have a friend who is not particularly bookish that only waits for books to come to her. As a book worm, I seek and aquire books greedily. I collect them and I covet them at rapid rates. I always have several ideas what book I could read next, but she is very fly-by-edge-of-your-seat kind of girl. She is finally reading the Harry Potter books even though I recommended them to her seven years ago. For her, books come to her in a haphazard way. Though, I do think a lot of books come to me, just in much greater numbers. Where do most of the books we read come from? For me, a mix of friends and literary merits (prize lists, classic books).
Happy Sunday!
Literary Links:
Lost Titles, Forgotten Rhymes – How to Find a Novel, Short Story, or Poem Without Knowing its Title or Author
Posted on May 31, 2008 in Books
This book is 627 pages long, but I listened to the audiobook. It was narrated and read by Davina Porter; unabridged and 32 hours and 30 minutes long on 28 discs. I have been acquiring audiobooks for knitting purposes, and I had heard about this one in particular from Audiobook Knitters group on Ravelry. I am very glad I did listen to the audiobook. Though it took me a bit to adjust to the narrator, I was continually engaged with the story and the characters by her narration and the evident good storytelling.
I only knew a little bit about the story going in. I usually just jump into book, only vaguely knowing what they are about. It is better that way because then I can judge and interpret the story as the author presents it. For Outlander, I knew that it was a historical romance of sorts. It was violent in parts which is appropriate for the era, but it was darker than I thought it would be especially at the end. The book surprised me with its flawed but interesting characters, dark moments, and its ability to be engaging while being very long. It is incredibly well researched; I learned a lot about the time period, Scotland and clans while reading it. Diana Gabaldon was apparently a scientist and professor before becoming a writer which explains how in depth the book and research is.
At the beginning of the audiobook, it was not easy to warm to Davina Porter’s voice because the majority of the characters are male and I felt I was listening to a one woman play rather than muti-character story. I was impatient and wanted to read the books, but then I got more use to her voice and the characters. She is an excellent narrator. Her delivery at parts makes me smile, and I admire her choice in reading styles. It must have taken weeks to make this audiobook, and I’m aware she has done the others in the series as well. I would really like to listen to her narration more. Her British voice is the voice of Claire in my mind. I can see her so much more clearly with Ms Porter’s vocal interpretation. It is unlikely that I will listen to the others in the series because the books are all long, each ranging from 33-47 hours. I’d prefer to read it if that were the case. I’m too impatient for resolution. Abridged versions are not an option as I prefer unabridged, and I’m aware those are read by another narrator.
In conclusion, now I have another series to follow. I will review as I go along, and I am looking forward to the other books.
Posted on May 29, 2008 in Books
What is reading, anyway? Novels, comics, graphic novels, manga, e-books, audiobooks — which of these is reading these days? Are they all reading? Only some of them? What are your personal qualifications for something to be “reading” — why? If something isn’t reading, why not? Does it matter? Does it impact your desire to sample a source if you find out a premise you liked the sound of is in a format you don’t consider to be reading? Share your personal definition of reading, and how you came to have that stance. – BTT
Up until recently, I did not consider audiobooks as actual books that I read, but I realized that I “read” a lot of audiobooks last year, and they now count as reading to me. I even spend more time with audiobooks than I do with books because I read text faster. Now that I do listen to more audiobooks, listening to the stories and the information is reading in a way. For a long time, I considered reading solely things I read with my eyes in text. I consider e-books reading though I do not read them often. I also constitute graphic novels, comics, and manga reading because you are involved in a engaged in a story or learning something. I have a fairly broad definition of reading it seems. Outside of this broad definition, I guess other things aren’t reading. Though, I won’t go around telling people that reading the ingredient list off food products is “reading” (though I do this a lot as I read everything). It does not matter. I don’t think it is the definition of what reading is that limits my choices for material so much as my personal preferences for material. I know what kind of books I like to read from audiobooks to novels to graphic novels/ comics, and the different types within those frames.
Posted on May 28, 2008 in Knitting & Crafting
I first started this project with the recommended 3.25mm needle, but since I was using a worsted weight rather than the recommended DK, it was way too tight. I moved up to 3.75mm, but it still is tighter than most mittens. Oh well, I can wear it and they are warm due to the lopi. I do like stranded projects, and I would be willing to do these mittens again with the MC as a light colour as the pattern calls for.
Squirrel and Oak Mittens, started April 26, 2008, finished May 18, 2008 
Pattern: Squirrel and Oak Mittens by Adrian Bizilia.
Yarn: Ístex Létt-Lopi (100% Icelandic Wool 50g/109 yds) – less than one skein of Ash and Chestnut
Needles: #5/3.75mm 40″/100cm circulars.
Modifications: Change in yarn weight, needles, and dark colour MC.
Cost of Project: $20 for yarn and needles
Would I knit it again? Yes, but with original DK yarn weight. Also, normal light coloured MC.
Posted on May 26, 2008 in Books
The second and third book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. So far, my favourite is still the first book though I did like Eclipse and the ending of New Moon. I read both of these on my laptop which is the first time I’ve read such complete novels on the computer. If it were any other books, I would be adverse to try it. These books were short and not too intense for the eyes. There are major spoilers under the cut.
Posted on May 25, 2008 in Books
This week, I read and started quite a few books. Right now, I officially have three books going, but at some point in the week, I had five. I read Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth early in the week. I started listening the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell audiobook, but decided to stop because of technical difficulties. I’m going to continue that in text book form. I decided to listen to the Outlander audiobook. I really like it. I’m on disc 9 out of 28. I probably would have gotten even further by now if I hadn’t started reading the Twilight series on thursday. Fluffy, entertaining books; I finished New Moon on Friday and Eclipse yesterday. The spoilery review for the sequels is going up tomorrow. By the way, I still have not made progress to Gilead. I am falling behind on my challenge readings even though I read two of them this week. I still have more to do.
The New York Times has an article called “Volumes to go Before you Die” by William Grimes on Prof. Peter Boxall’s 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. It’s interesting to note that Boxall intended for the list to be controversial, and when I first the saw the list, I was puzzled by the inclusion of several books for some authors and only a couple for others. Many bookworms do react rather argumentatively by the exclusion of their favourites and inclusion of some others. Obviously, book lists and being considered well read are subjective. It is just a suggestions list after all; nothing is definitive.
I have no intention of reading every book on the list. It is true that I am part of a reading challenge that encourages it, and I have been tracking what I have read on the list for more than a year now. It’s just that even with my proclivity for long, classic, and literary books, I have certain prejudices too. There are some authors I’m a bit adverse to reading again or reading so much of. I do like crossing off the books I have read, but I usually pick the books based on other recommendations so it’s a wonderful bonus if it’s on the list. Though Grimes’s experiment of picking three books to see how they would affect him was interesting. I would like to try it because there are at least a few books and authors in the list I have never heard of and seem to be very underrated. This game does sound amusing though:
In his novel “Changing Places,” David Lodge — not on the list — introduces a game called Humiliation. Players earn points by admitting to a famous work that they have not read. The greater the work, the higher the point score. An obnoxious American academic, competing with a group of colleagues, finally gets the hang of the game and plays his trump card: “Hamlet.” He wins the game but is then denied tenure.
If only I have enough bookish friends to play such a ridiculous and subjective game. Well, I have not read Ulysses, Moby Dick, a lot of Dickens, Sense and Sensibility, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Aeneid, and Aesop’s Fables. Though as someone who does not work in book-related fields and was never an English or Lit. major, I have no one to impress or anyone to make me feel embarassed except myself.
Have a lovely last week of May.
Literary Links:
Five classics written under influence
Posted on May 24, 2008 in Books
The challenge runs from July 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. The challenge is to read five classics, and there is a bonus round of reading a modern classic suggested by other participants. For the sake of clarity, I am going to define classic as books before World War II with a bit of leeway for any book before 1970. Since I already read and own a lot of classics, this should not be too difficult. Here are possible selections I may read:
- Summer by Edith Wharton
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Death In Venice by Thomas Man
- North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
- Random Harvest by James Hilton
- Plays by Anton Chekhov
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
- The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
- Bleakhouse by Charles Dickens
- Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
- Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- Don Quixote by Cervantes
I am not going to read all of these, but I have found it impossible to determine when I will read which book.
As for my selection for modern books that will be classics. I think a few have already been mentioned by other participants, and many just seem obvious. Here are a few that I’ve thought of just now (which may be amended later):
- The Princess Bride by William Golding
- His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullaman
- Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
- The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman
- The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
That is a lot of series, but those things tend to last well.
Posted on May 23, 2008 in Books
I was aware that this book was popular, but I did not know how so nor did I know what the series was about until my friend showed me the trailer for the movie slated for December 2008. The more I learned about the series, the more I intrigued I became and convinced I would like it. The book’s paperback version is 475 pages, but I finished it in only a few hours. The fast pace of the book is driven largely by its dialogue driven and suspenseful content. Things happen very quickly, and it really is not hard at all to see why this book is so immensely popular especially for females. It has the air of chicklit about it, but better because it is fantasy romance. I don’t read many modern romance centred novels, but I know many popular and classic fantasy series do not have the central, compelling relationship of Edward/Bella. Their relationship is a classic story of forbidden love except he’s a vampire and they are teenagers in love for the first time. I think Meyer is adept at writing a teen girl’s feelings and attraction. While the book is not that full of twisted plots or self-absorbed by its own mythology, it is really good book to escape with.
This book is fun. Sure the characters (e.g. Edward) are sometimes too perfect, and there is nothing truly distinct about the writing or prose. It has that ability to take you on a ride with Bella in her romance and adventures with these vampires. The relationship is so physically tenuous due to him being a blood sucker, and the fact these are YA books written by a devout Mormon makes the sexual tension rather high in these books. It adds onto the suspense and the fascination with their relationship in the books. The escapist nature of the books makes it immensely rereadable. I say this as someone who does not really re read often or who loves the vampires subgenres. As for the characters, I liked them all for the most part. I give Bella a lot of slack for talking about Edward’s beauty every other page while being self-deprecating. She is 17 after all. It is impossible to dislike Edward; he has been designed to be the perfect romantic and courageous leading immortal male. I also liked the other Cullens (vampires) and will look forward to getting to know them more. In fact, I have already started New Moon, the second in the series.
As for the movie, the LA Times has a great article and behind the scenes clip of the movie. It really is going to be one my most anticipated films of 2008. The buzz around it is crazy enough; doubtlessly, they will adapt the sequels.