I fondly recall a particular evening in which my lovely sister, her husband, and I were driving to or from a nice dinner out when an argument sparked. Chris, always seeing the need to expand my musical education, popped in the CD Here Come the ABC's by They Might Be Giants. Cari, exasperated by her husband's supposed lameness, and, poor girl, probably having heard the same CD time after time, was not having it. One particular song, however, struck my fancy. It's called C is for Conifer. It was amazing in the dorkiest way possible. Search for this song...it will be well worth your time. Anyway, this song started the discussion of my hypothetical future offspring, and how I think it would be an excellent idea to have them listen to this CD while learning the alphabet, that way when they start school, and the teacher starts the class off by saying "C is for..." and the rest of the class shouts "Cookie!" or whatever, my kid would shout "Conifer!" I think it would be funny. She thinks it would be torture. The debate got pretty heated, and worsened when I said that, having learned that the verb to describe how monkeys swing from branch to branch is "to brachiate," I would not teach it to my kid in any other way. So, my poor child, instead of saying "let's go play on the monkey bars," never having heard this simple expression would say "let's go brachiate!" Apparently, using your children for social experimentation is not a good experience for said child or something silly like that :)
The point of this little story is to set the scene for the book I have just completed: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. The protagonist, Oskar Schell, a boy of what I believe to be 10 years, although he changes his age at his own discretion to garner either sympathy or respect, is the perfect example of how a child under my care would turn out. This kid is brilliant. However, he's just as equally socially awkward, which, I suppose, is the very thing my sister feared my poor, hypothetical children would become. This kid is so quirky that he carries around a tambourine with him and randomly plays it wherever he goes. At one point, he is having a conversation with a store clerk, and at the end of the scene, she says "Would you mind not shaking that tambourine in the store?" (Safran Foer, 336). Before this point, there was no indication that he was even doing such a thing because, to him, it was normal. Fortunately for Oskar, he doesn't really seem to realize that he's strange.
The best part of this book is definitely the author's voice. This is a story of family, of tragedy, of growth. Anyone could write this story and I'm sure many people have. But no one can write it like this, with the exception, of course, of Mr. Safran Foer. It is beautiful, and Oskar's voice shines through perfectly. You get the feeling that you're learning something from some of the things he says, but then you are quickly reminded that he is, indeed, a child, and has so much to learn about the world. One example is that he mentions that he read in National Geographic that "there are more people alive now than have died in all of human history. In other words, if everyone wanted to play Hamlet at once, they couldn't, because there aren't enough skulls!" (293). That is, in my opinion, a pretty clever way of putting the proportions into perspective. However, he then goes on to say, in a conversation with a limo driver: "Actually, if limousines were extremely long, they wouldn't need drivers. You could just get in the back seat, walk through the limousine, and then get out of the front seat, which would be where you wanted to go" (295). This shows that, even though he is capable creative thought, which is the case in both of these scenarios, he is still lacking a sense of logic. It's really quite interesting to watch as his thoughts progress, because, even though the kid is probably a genius, it is evident that he is still, well, a kid.
Although I wouldn't say that it is the main focus, this book is extremely funny. I want to share with you a particular section from the book that made me laugh out loud for 2 minutes straight, before finally being able to tell the Ashleys (my roommates) what was so funny. Oskar was depressed about how relatively insignificant life is, and so, to change his perspective, his father pointed out that if he were in a plane and dropped down into the Sahara Desert and moved one grain of sand, he would have changed the way the world was. Oskar gets excited and says:
"I changed the course of human history!"
"That's right."
"I changed the universe!"
"You did."
"I'm God!"
"You're an atheist."
"I don't exist!"
(376)
I love comedy that builds off of itself. None of these phrases would have been funny by themselves, but this scene was put together so masterfully, I could not contain myself. Eventually, I read it to the Ashleys and they enjoyed it too. Oh yeah, and they wanted me to give them a shout-out for helping me pick out my book mark for this story. "Go Ashleys! I couldn't've done it without you!" :)
It's hard to say specifically what this book is about without giving away too much. But I think a good way of putting it is that this book is about learning to live. This is true for every character we come across, even if their reasons are not the same. Interlaced with the text of this story are letters written by a grandfather that the boy never knew. These letters reveal a similar pain from another lifetime that mirror this theme of learning to live. It shows that, although the experiences may differ, the struggles are the same. These universal struggles make this book a good read for about anyone.
Safran, Jonathan. Everything Is Illuminated Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), 2010. Print.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
When You Talk to Me, I Smell Violets
So you may look at this title and ponder: What has it to do with The Return of the King? The answer is quite simple. Nothing. Stop trying to make it work. The truth is, it has been years since I have read the first two books, and I'm having a hard time recalling both characters and locations. Seems silly, in an age in which The Lord of the Rings trilogy has graduated out of geekdom and into the mainstream. But honestly, I've only ever watched the first movie. This is because I intended to read the books first, and all these years later, I have yet to do so. It really is silly. I enjoy movies that are books much more when I see them before reading the book, yet I cannot bring myself to do it in most cases. It feels like I'm cheating on the author with a younger, more energetic version of himself. But as I have read the first two volumes of Tolkien's epic, and, due to the self-imposed time constraints I have set upon myself, I will attempt The Return of the King after a Lord of the Rings viewing party minus the final installment.
In its stead, I have elected and completed the reading of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Windy Poplars. I suppose I wanted to stick with the theme of authors with initials or something, to make up for abandoning our good friend J.R.R. I first became familiar with the "Anne" series out of requirement. I was assigned in a college class studying adolescent literature to read Anne of Green Gables, the first in the "Anne" series. I was immediately a fan - right from the beginning...of the second half of the book. Honestly I hated it. Anne was a red-headed orphan between the ages of 8 and 11 (I really can't recall how young she was when this all started), who was better than another common red-headed orphan only in the sense that she did not sing and dance. Anne is described as a spirited girl with lots of scope for imagination or something like that. But to me, the "poetry" of the character was lost in her rambling nonsense. I get the feeling that we are supposed to have liked her - even at that age - but I could not stand her until she was at least 16. Perhaps it would have been different had I read this book as a child, rather than at the condescending know-all age of 20, but as it is, I didn't, and I still don't care for young Anne.
Anne of Windy Poplars is the fourth book in the series. After that initial disdain, I have thoroughly enjoyed the series...up until this one. It was not horrible, but nor was it pleasant. Getting through this book seemed too much like a chore, which is in part why we are in the last days of January and I am just finishing my first book. The main difference between this one and the others is that I feel that this one had no main purpose other than marking time. You see, Anne is engaged. I'll not say to whom, in order to prevent spoilers, so from here on out he'll be referred to as Anne's "beau", as it seems fitting to the time of this book. Oh yeah, it's in let's say the early 1900s, Prince Edward's Island, Canada. Anyway, Anne has to wait three years to marry her beau so that he may finish his schooling and start a life for them. A good part of the book is made up of letters from her to him which gets annoying pretty fast because her letters take on that annoying tone of the rambling Anne of her youth. During these three years, she has taken on the principalship of another town and meets a whole slew of interesting people.
That's another thing I disliked about this book. There are so many new people (all of which just slightly more interesting than Anne) and they are introduced throughout the book as little mini-plots of various chapters. It's so episodic that it just seems like little glimpses of life. Some of you may like that. That's fine. You should probably read this book. It's not horrible, it's just not quite my thing, and doesn't fit with the flow of previous books. But so much negativity. Let's discuss something I did like.
Although Anne is known for her sunny disposition, she does have a morbid side. Yes. That's what I like about her. She has a little rift with the "Royal Family of Summerside," more commonly known as the Pringles. One day, while strolling through the graveyard (as all normal people do), she thought "...it would be positively encouraging to see how many Pringles were where they couldn't annoy anybody anymore" (Montgomery, 40). This makes me love her. Sure, it's cruel, but you have to admit that it's amusing. However, although Anne is okay with appreciating that some of her nemeses lay dead, one thing that is inexcusable in a person is sarcasm. I don't blame Anne for this one. It's not her fault. She was created by Ms. L.M. to believe this to be the greatest character flaw imaginable. Every new character that we meet that is considered even the slightest bit villainous is also sarcastic. But hooray for Anne! She now has a mission. Apparently the point of this book is for Anne to eradicate sarcasm from the evil people of Summerside, thus saving their souls from eternal damnation. If only I could meet her and be saved as well.
L.M. clearly has a love for nature, and this shows through Anne. She is excited to see the house where she'll be boarding... you guessed it... Windy Poplars. "The path was edged by very prim, well-ordered beds of ribbon grass and bleeding-heart and tiger-lillies and sweet-William and southernwood and bride's bouquet and red-and-white daisies and what Mrs. Lynde calls 'pinies'" (Montgomery, 8). This is not very exciting to me, as I am not as visual as Anne, so I've included photos so that we can enjoy it too:
The only one I could not find to add is "bride's bouquet." As you can imagine, an image search for such a title would bring up various arrays of flowers carried in the hands of women in white. Anyway. Now that I've finally seen these images, and together, I have to admit that they are really quite lovely. L.M. has a sort of vision that I could never even dream of having. And, likewise, so does Anne. It is revealed in the next sentence that these things are not actually in bloom. She just imagines how lovely it would be. But that makes sense, as flowers seem to be a part of Anne, as is evident in the quotation that serves as my title. This is said to her by a little girl of six, and she doesn't mean it in a literal sense. There is another character, a student of hers, that tells her that she speaks the language of violets. These poetic musings by multiple characters could be very telling of her personality. Both girls are what Anne would call "kindred spirits," of which she has met a handful in each book. Neither these girls nor Anne would be considered my kindred spirits, but I understand the sentiment none-the-less, and it really is lovely.
In its stead, I have elected and completed the reading of L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Windy Poplars. I suppose I wanted to stick with the theme of authors with initials or something, to make up for abandoning our good friend J.R.R. I first became familiar with the "Anne" series out of requirement. I was assigned in a college class studying adolescent literature to read Anne of Green Gables, the first in the "Anne" series. I was immediately a fan - right from the beginning...of the second half of the book. Honestly I hated it. Anne was a red-headed orphan between the ages of 8 and 11 (I really can't recall how young she was when this all started), who was better than another common red-headed orphan only in the sense that she did not sing and dance. Anne is described as a spirited girl with lots of scope for imagination or something like that. But to me, the "poetry" of the character was lost in her rambling nonsense. I get the feeling that we are supposed to have liked her - even at that age - but I could not stand her until she was at least 16. Perhaps it would have been different had I read this book as a child, rather than at the condescending know-all age of 20, but as it is, I didn't, and I still don't care for young Anne.
Anne of Windy Poplars is the fourth book in the series. After that initial disdain, I have thoroughly enjoyed the series...up until this one. It was not horrible, but nor was it pleasant. Getting through this book seemed too much like a chore, which is in part why we are in the last days of January and I am just finishing my first book. The main difference between this one and the others is that I feel that this one had no main purpose other than marking time. You see, Anne is engaged. I'll not say to whom, in order to prevent spoilers, so from here on out he'll be referred to as Anne's "beau", as it seems fitting to the time of this book. Oh yeah, it's in let's say the early 1900s, Prince Edward's Island, Canada. Anyway, Anne has to wait three years to marry her beau so that he may finish his schooling and start a life for them. A good part of the book is made up of letters from her to him which gets annoying pretty fast because her letters take on that annoying tone of the rambling Anne of her youth. During these three years, she has taken on the principalship of another town and meets a whole slew of interesting people.
That's another thing I disliked about this book. There are so many new people (all of which just slightly more interesting than Anne) and they are introduced throughout the book as little mini-plots of various chapters. It's so episodic that it just seems like little glimpses of life. Some of you may like that. That's fine. You should probably read this book. It's not horrible, it's just not quite my thing, and doesn't fit with the flow of previous books. But so much negativity. Let's discuss something I did like.
Although Anne is known for her sunny disposition, she does have a morbid side. Yes. That's what I like about her. She has a little rift with the "Royal Family of Summerside," more commonly known as the Pringles. One day, while strolling through the graveyard (as all normal people do), she thought "...it would be positively encouraging to see how many Pringles were where they couldn't annoy anybody anymore" (Montgomery, 40). This makes me love her. Sure, it's cruel, but you have to admit that it's amusing. However, although Anne is okay with appreciating that some of her nemeses lay dead, one thing that is inexcusable in a person is sarcasm. I don't blame Anne for this one. It's not her fault. She was created by Ms. L.M. to believe this to be the greatest character flaw imaginable. Every new character that we meet that is considered even the slightest bit villainous is also sarcastic. But hooray for Anne! She now has a mission. Apparently the point of this book is for Anne to eradicate sarcasm from the evil people of Summerside, thus saving their souls from eternal damnation. If only I could meet her and be saved as well.
L.M. clearly has a love for nature, and this shows through Anne. She is excited to see the house where she'll be boarding... you guessed it... Windy Poplars. "The path was edged by very prim, well-ordered beds of ribbon grass and bleeding-heart and tiger-lillies and sweet-William and southernwood and bride's bouquet and red-and-white daisies and what Mrs. Lynde calls 'pinies'" (Montgomery, 8). This is not very exciting to me, as I am not as visual as Anne, so I've included photos so that we can enjoy it too:
The only one I could not find to add is "bride's bouquet." As you can imagine, an image search for such a title would bring up various arrays of flowers carried in the hands of women in white. Anyway. Now that I've finally seen these images, and together, I have to admit that they are really quite lovely. L.M. has a sort of vision that I could never even dream of having. And, likewise, so does Anne. It is revealed in the next sentence that these things are not actually in bloom. She just imagines how lovely it would be. But that makes sense, as flowers seem to be a part of Anne, as is evident in the quotation that serves as my title. This is said to her by a little girl of six, and she doesn't mean it in a literal sense. There is another character, a student of hers, that tells her that she speaks the language of violets. These poetic musings by multiple characters could be very telling of her personality. Both girls are what Anne would call "kindred spirits," of which she has met a handful in each book. Neither these girls nor Anne would be considered my kindred spirits, but I understand the sentiment none-the-less, and it really is lovely.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Resolution
Okay, so I don't usually do New Year's Resolutions, as I'm pessimistic in nature and don't enjoy the idea of setting myself up for self-imposed failure. However, the competitive part of me really likes the idea of challenging myself, and, so long as I can come up with something worth pursuing, the idea of a New Year's Resolution has a lot of potential. I'm really excited about what I came up with this year:
For the year of 2011, I am making it my goal to read all of the books that I own but have yet to read. This will be a big challenge, as I cannot seem to enter a bookstore without making a purchase. This challenge will exclude both textbooks and religious texts, even though I am loserish enough to sometimes read these for fun. There just isn't enough time in the year for me to include them and to actually absorb the content as well.
For this challenge, I am starting my first blog to chronicle my progress with reviews of each book I read. My reading list is as follows:
1.Before We Were Free - Julia Alaverez
2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
3. The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
4. River, Cross my Heart - Breeana Clarke
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
6.The Watsons go to Birmingham - Christopher Paul Curtis
7. The BFG - Roald Dahl
8.Matilda - Roald Dahl
9. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
10. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
11. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
12.Crime and Punishment - Fydor Dostoyevsky
13. Four Souls - Louise Erdrich
14. The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
15.Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
16. Martin Luther King, Jr - Marshall Frady
17. The World is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
18.An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
19. Grendel - John Gardner
20.The Brethren - John Grisham
21. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
22. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
23. Lancelot Du Lethe - J. Robert King
24. The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
25. The Whiskey Rebels - David Liss
26. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
27. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
28.Anne of Windy Poplars - L.M. Montgomery
29.As You Like It - William Shakespeare
30. Richard III - William Shakespeare
31. The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
32. The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien
33.The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
34. The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
35.The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
36. Queen Bees and Wannabes - Rosalind Wiseman
37.John Dies at the End - David Wong
38. Native Son - Richard Wright
39. The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
As you can see, I have quite the eclectic list. Some of them are books that I've always wanted to read, so I picked them up when I saw them in order to read them some day. Others are bargains that I've found at garage sales, thrift stores, and sale bins over the years. They are currently all listed alphabetically by author's last name for no other purpose than to make it easier for me to find specific books when I wish to recall them. I'm not actually reading them in that order, or I may go crazy if I get stuck on a particular author. I do believe I shall begin with Tolkien's The Return of the King. That is all for now. If you have favorites, be vocal about it, as it may convince me to give precedence to your suggestions.
For the year of 2011, I am making it my goal to read all of the books that I own but have yet to read. This will be a big challenge, as I cannot seem to enter a bookstore without making a purchase. This challenge will exclude both textbooks and religious texts, even though I am loserish enough to sometimes read these for fun. There just isn't enough time in the year for me to include them and to actually absorb the content as well.
For this challenge, I am starting my first blog to chronicle my progress with reviews of each book I read. My reading list is as follows:
1.
2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
3. The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
4. River, Cross my Heart - Breeana Clarke
5. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
6.
7. The BFG - Roald Dahl
8.
9. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
10. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
11. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
12.
13. Four Souls - Louise Erdrich
14. The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
15.
16. Martin Luther King, Jr - Marshall Frady
17. The World is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
18.
19. Grendel - John Gardner
20.
21. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
22. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
23. Lancelot Du Lethe - J. Robert King
24. The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
25. The Whiskey Rebels - David Liss
26. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
27. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
28.
29.
30. Richard III - William Shakespeare
31. The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
32. The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien
33.
34. The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
35.
36. Queen Bees and Wannabes - Rosalind Wiseman
37.
38. Native Son - Richard Wright
39. The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
As you can see, I have quite the eclectic list. Some of them are books that I've always wanted to read, so I picked them up when I saw them in order to read them some day. Others are bargains that I've found at garage sales, thrift stores, and sale bins over the years. They are currently all listed alphabetically by author's last name for no other purpose than to make it easier for me to find specific books when I wish to recall them. I'm not actually reading them in that order, or I may go crazy if I get stuck on a particular author. I do believe I shall begin with Tolkien's The Return of the King. That is all for now. If you have favorites, be vocal about it, as it may convince me to give precedence to your suggestions.
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