Book Fifty-six: The Hunter's Moon
Finished: November 3
Pages: 289
Super-lame, under-developed, fake mythology with a cast of characters right out of archetypes-r-us.
Bleh.
I would like my hour and a half back, please.
Book Fifty-Seven: The Naming
Finished: November 5th
Pages: 528
Wanna be Lord of the Rings with a girl protagonist. There are four more books in this series, I think. I'm not going to rush out and check them out of the library any time soon.
Book Fifty-Eight: Jinx
Finished: November 7
Pages: 272
Cute, girly, appropriately young adult. Plus, Meg Cabot is pretty adorable. The best I can say is "yay happy endings."
Book Fifty-Nine: The Ask and the Answer
Finished: November 18
Pages: 544
Seriously, this book could not have been more disappointing. Also, I am super tired of dramatic cliffhangers at the end of books just so you have to go out and get the next one. I suppose I should be thankful that the third book in this series is already out, so if I wanted to know what happens I could find out today, but quite frankly, I just could not stand to read another one of these books. There was no resolution whatsoever for any of the conflicts in the novel!
The only good thing was this quote: "To see the ocean once is to learn how to miss it" (156).
Book Sixty: All We Know of Heaven
Finished: November 22
Pages: 310
I have decided that one of the worst things in Young Adult Lit is when a woman old enough to have teenagers herself takes it upon herself to write in the voice of teenagers. It sometimes works perfectly, but in this case, it sounds fake and sad. There is nothing more embarrassing than reading a book like this one. It was overly sentimental, contrived, and quite frankly, outlandishly unrealistic. This coming from someone who loves fantasy! Two girls are mistaken for each other after a car wreck, and the resulting fallout of mistaken identity, guilt, and remorse. It could have been an excellent choice, but the lack of proper grammar, inappropriate use of slang, and ridiculous punctuation and capitalization of the dialogue of even the adults in the story made me regret ever starting it. I think that a story like this could really be used to inspire students to overcome obstacles, but it just made me want to punch every single character in the face for being the stereotypes they were.
"Good" reading,
Caitlin
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Book Fifty-five: Keturah and Lord Death
Book Fifty-five: Keturah and Lord Death
Finished: November 2
Pages: 214
This National Book Award Finalist was a remarkably quick read, and yet, in those short pages, I was blown away by the imagery in the prose. I have always been fascinated by stories about Death, and this one was no less surprising, for all it's a story that's been told over and over again. A mix of Scheherazade's 1,001 Nights; the myth of Persephone; and traditional fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast, or Cinderella, whose retellings delight me even if they are a little too "kiddy" for me; I loved the characterization of both Keturah, our narrator, the other girls in her village, and Lord Death. I loved the twists and turns in the narrative. I love the ending, because you both expect and don't expect it, and I like to be kept guessing. I like that the story takes place over such a small portion of time, but you still feel close to all the characters.
Definitely more worth the read than anything else that I've read so far this month.
Good Reading,
Caitlin
Finished: November 2
Pages: 214
This National Book Award Finalist was a remarkably quick read, and yet, in those short pages, I was blown away by the imagery in the prose. I have always been fascinated by stories about Death, and this one was no less surprising, for all it's a story that's been told over and over again. A mix of Scheherazade's 1,001 Nights; the myth of Persephone; and traditional fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast, or Cinderella, whose retellings delight me even if they are a little too "kiddy" for me; I loved the characterization of both Keturah, our narrator, the other girls in her village, and Lord Death. I loved the twists and turns in the narrative. I love the ending, because you both expect and don't expect it, and I like to be kept guessing. I like that the story takes place over such a small portion of time, but you still feel close to all the characters.
Definitely more worth the read than anything else that I've read so far this month.
Good Reading,
Caitlin
Book Fifty-Four: Like Water for Chocolate
Book Fifty-Four: Like Water for Chocolate
Finished: November 2
Pages: 246
I read this one at the behest of Lacey, I think, or Kathy, or someone who told me that The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake was a knock-off of this book. I think maybe if I had read Like Water for Chocolate first, maybe I would agree, but the books are so stylistically different that there really is little comparison except that food is involved with both.
I suppose I liked the book. I suppose, if pressed, I could come up with reasons why I liked it. In another frame of mind I might have loved this book, and I can't really come up with a good reason why I didn't love it. There was just something...off about it. Maybe it was that the book is organized into chapters by month, but the time goes by at a different rate: sometimes it seems like only a few days between chapters, sometimes it feels like several years.
I really didn't like some of the choices that the author made with the characters, made all the more difficult to understand toward the end because I didn't know how many years had gone by. I thought it had been only 2 days between chapters, but that time it was 22 years. A little shocking to discover that much time had passed, and the characters had not grown any wiser.
I really did not like Pedro, and I didn't understand why Tita did. What was so special about him? I mean, he married her sister! What a jerk. I liked her sister, Gertrudis, the most, because she seemed the most honest and true to herself. I liked John, because he was open and honest with Tita about his affections, and because he was a genuinely nice guy. Why would she choose to be with Pedro?
Ugh. Maybe I didn't like the book. It did make me want Mexican food with a vengeance, which was nice.
Good Reading,
Caitlin
Finished: November 2
Pages: 246
I read this one at the behest of Lacey, I think, or Kathy, or someone who told me that The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake was a knock-off of this book. I think maybe if I had read Like Water for Chocolate first, maybe I would agree, but the books are so stylistically different that there really is little comparison except that food is involved with both.
I suppose I liked the book. I suppose, if pressed, I could come up with reasons why I liked it. In another frame of mind I might have loved this book, and I can't really come up with a good reason why I didn't love it. There was just something...off about it. Maybe it was that the book is organized into chapters by month, but the time goes by at a different rate: sometimes it seems like only a few days between chapters, sometimes it feels like several years.
I really didn't like some of the choices that the author made with the characters, made all the more difficult to understand toward the end because I didn't know how many years had gone by. I thought it had been only 2 days between chapters, but that time it was 22 years. A little shocking to discover that much time had passed, and the characters had not grown any wiser.
I really did not like Pedro, and I didn't understand why Tita did. What was so special about him? I mean, he married her sister! What a jerk. I liked her sister, Gertrudis, the most, because she seemed the most honest and true to herself. I liked John, because he was open and honest with Tita about his affections, and because he was a genuinely nice guy. Why would she choose to be with Pedro?
Ugh. Maybe I didn't like the book. It did make me want Mexican food with a vengeance, which was nice.
Good Reading,
Caitlin
Monday, November 1, 2010
Book Fifty-Three: A Lesson Before Dying
Book Fifty-Three: A Lesson Before Dying
Finished: October 20
Pages: 256
I'm teaching this book to two of my classes at school, but I wish I was teaching it to them all. Reading this and The Help at the same time really makes me feel shitty about being white.
Sometimes I see myself as Grant, a cynical struggling teacher with no real talent that people respect because they aren't really aware of just how awful a teacher he is. Now, I don't beat my children with a ruler, but I think that all teachers are guilty of taking their anger and hurt out on students who did not cause those particular problems. Heaven knows when my students complained about writing a one page essay about the book I jumped down their throats. Sometimes I think that good literature is wasted on those who cannot appreciate it, but need to hear the message the most.
The suffering of Jefferson, having heard himself called a hog, having internalized his lack of worth, just breaks my heart. Even Grant, who I generally dislike throughout the book, I could only sympathize with him. If someone asked me to turn a person like Jefferson into a man before he was executed, I don't have the faintest idea what I would do to try to create that change.
My hope is that I would be like Paul, were I a white person in the 1940's. I think every white person wishes to be the most likeable white character in a novel like this. No one wants to be the actively racist Sheriff, or his wife, who pretends to be sympathetic but really just feels awkward. I suppose I would maybe like to be like Grant, who regains his faith and loses some of his cynicism by the end of the novel. I would like to give the grandiose speeches that reach into the soul of the person I am trying to reach, and open them up to new ideas and new self-respect.
I suppose that is the purpose of great literature, to show us how we could be better, to reflect back upon us our insecurities and doubts so that, when faced with impossible situations, we can try to figure out how to deal with them with grace.
Good Reading,
Caitlin
Finished: October 20
Pages: 256
I'm teaching this book to two of my classes at school, but I wish I was teaching it to them all. Reading this and The Help at the same time really makes me feel shitty about being white.
Sometimes I see myself as Grant, a cynical struggling teacher with no real talent that people respect because they aren't really aware of just how awful a teacher he is. Now, I don't beat my children with a ruler, but I think that all teachers are guilty of taking their anger and hurt out on students who did not cause those particular problems. Heaven knows when my students complained about writing a one page essay about the book I jumped down their throats. Sometimes I think that good literature is wasted on those who cannot appreciate it, but need to hear the message the most.
The suffering of Jefferson, having heard himself called a hog, having internalized his lack of worth, just breaks my heart. Even Grant, who I generally dislike throughout the book, I could only sympathize with him. If someone asked me to turn a person like Jefferson into a man before he was executed, I don't have the faintest idea what I would do to try to create that change.
My hope is that I would be like Paul, were I a white person in the 1940's. I think every white person wishes to be the most likeable white character in a novel like this. No one wants to be the actively racist Sheriff, or his wife, who pretends to be sympathetic but really just feels awkward. I suppose I would maybe like to be like Grant, who regains his faith and loses some of his cynicism by the end of the novel. I would like to give the grandiose speeches that reach into the soul of the person I am trying to reach, and open them up to new ideas and new self-respect.
I suppose that is the purpose of great literature, to show us how we could be better, to reflect back upon us our insecurities and doubts so that, when faced with impossible situations, we can try to figure out how to deal with them with grace.
Good Reading,
Caitlin
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