Greetings, fellow readers! Fall semester at the University of Florida is in full swing, and as I suspected, I am buried in textbook readings. It's all ok, though, because I'm taking classes I'm super excited about. To give you a quick overview, I am enrolled in:
Special Topics in Shakespeare's Tragedies
American Literature before 1865
Pompeii Archaeology Lab
The Power and Limits of Persuasive Speech
Programming Fundamentals 2 (aka C++)
Since it's the first week of class, we've mostly been covering introductory material and the necessary background to provide context for our work over the course of the semester. However, I have already read Pericles, Venus and Adonis, and the sonnets for my Shakespeare class, and some very interesting documents about the Salem Witch Trials for my American Lit class. Will keep you posted with more reading updates as time goes by.
Last week, I finally got around to doing something I've wanted to do for a while: get my Alachua County library card. I went with my friends Jordan and Alison (my scene partners from Shakespeare in the Park, if you're new to the blog), and we all got our cards, then proceeded to pillage the shelves. I restrained myself to checking out only three books, including a choose-your-own-adventure-style adaptation of Hamlet. It's been quite entertaining so far: I played as the ghost of Hamlet's father and became a posthumous oceanographer, and as Hamlet and Ophelia. Surprisingly enough, I not only survived the story both times, but also lived a long and happy life--go figure!
I have also been reading The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais, upon which the recent film starring Helen Mirren is based. I have not seen the movie yet, but if it's anything like the book, I know I am going to love it. The story follows a young chef, Hassan Haji, and his family on their journey from India to France, and their clash with Madame Mallory, a rival chef from the small French village in which they settle. The writing in this book is delightful, and the descriptions of the food are so vivid I can almost taste them (which, by the way, is an extraordinarily difficult thing to write well).
That's all I have for now. Until next time, dear readers!
Anna
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Summer Reading List, Part 7
Greetings, fellow readers! In true college student fashion, I have left my last summer blog post until the last minute . . . gosh, I'm ready for finals already!! (Just kidding, profs.) In between manic bursts of madcap packing, punctuated by long periods of laziness during which I lolled about, lamenting the demise of another summer, I managed to read quite a lot of books. I'll get to those in a minute, but first, some more news from the stacks:
I have finally cleaned out my TBR! For those of you who don't know, my Amazon Wishlist does double duty as a "To Be Read" list of all the books I want/were recommended by friends/looked interesting/will probably be terrible but only cost $0.99/can't live without. As you can imagine, it's quite a long list, and before I cleared it out, I clocked in at over 600 items. After a brief purge, I found my list about 100 items lighter. Most of the books I had either read but forgot I read, bought but haven't read yet, or lost interest in (cue the probably terrible $0.99 editions.) This was a very therapeutic afternoon of fall cleaning (is that a thing?), and the best part is, my list is now free of clutter, and it's easier for me to find the books I really want to read.
And now, for the reviews:
The Lovers Dictionary by David Levithan. I actually first heard of this book about a year ago from my good friend, Sasha, who bought it at the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore in Paris while we were studying abroad together last summer. I've never read anything by David Levithan, but she gave it a good review, so I decided to take the plunge.
This is the story of a love story, as told through a series of dictionary words and their definitions. It's a very personal account of a specific relationship, but anyone who has ever been in love will find something in this novel which resonates with them. I liked that this story was honest and did not rely on cliches to get its point across. It did a good job of illustrating that love is messy, and sometimes it's not easily resolved. Though I know Levithan writes for teenagers, this is really a book for adults. I recommend it for someone looking for a fresh take on the tried-and-true love story.
I have finally cleaned out my TBR! For those of you who don't know, my Amazon Wishlist does double duty as a "To Be Read" list of all the books I want/were recommended by friends/looked interesting/will probably be terrible but only cost $0.99/can't live without. As you can imagine, it's quite a long list, and before I cleared it out, I clocked in at over 600 items. After a brief purge, I found my list about 100 items lighter. Most of the books I had either read but forgot I read, bought but haven't read yet, or lost interest in (cue the probably terrible $0.99 editions.) This was a very therapeutic afternoon of fall cleaning (is that a thing?), and the best part is, my list is now free of clutter, and it's easier for me to find the books I really want to read.
And now, for the reviews:
The Lovers Dictionary by David Levithan. I actually first heard of this book about a year ago from my good friend, Sasha, who bought it at the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore in Paris while we were studying abroad together last summer. I've never read anything by David Levithan, but she gave it a good review, so I decided to take the plunge.
This is the story of a love story, as told through a series of dictionary words and their definitions. It's a very personal account of a specific relationship, but anyone who has ever been in love will find something in this novel which resonates with them. I liked that this story was honest and did not rely on cliches to get its point across. It did a good job of illustrating that love is messy, and sometimes it's not easily resolved. Though I know Levithan writes for teenagers, this is really a book for adults. I recommend it for someone looking for a fresh take on the tried-and-true love story.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This was a re-read for me, and as has been the case for the past several times I've read it, I actually like the parts where Jane is a child more than when she is an adult. For me, the book really fell down in terms of the relationship between Jane and Rochester (I know, that makes me a terrible person, but I really can't stand Byronic heroes.) He's not really a nice guy, and he takes advantage of her youth and inexperience on more than one occasion. I found this realization of baffling because I always enjoyed their romance as a younger reader. I also noticed Jane's conflicted relationship with religion, meaning both the organized church and her own private faith. She seems very confused about what she believes in the doctrinal sense, although she does have a strong sense of morality. I won't say I enjoyed this re-read as much as I've enjoyed them in the past, but of course it's still a good book.
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. Oh. My. God. This book was laugh out loud, wet your pants funny! Culled from Brosh's award-winning blog, Hyperbole and a Half is the story of one woman and her outrageously millennial first-world problems. Between the crazy antics of the simple dog and the helper dog and her depressed cackling over a piece of corn, I fell in love with this book. I'm going to be lending this one out to many friends. I promise you if you need a laugh, this book will deliver.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman. This book was just . . . weird. I expected to like it, I really did. What fan of Harry Potter and Narnia doesn't wish for the magical worlds of childhood favorites to be real for adults? This book, however, had no focus, and long passages which felt like the author was describing a strange drug trip. I don't even know what to say about this book, except that it had so much potential but no authorial skill to sustain its vision. Thumbs down on this one.
The Girl who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente. This is the third book in the Fairyland series, and I did not like it as much as I did the other two. Most of it consists of September taking a road trip across the moon, and I feel like Valente was just marking time. The magical elements seemed forced somehow. Plus, the end of the book was just bizarre: it turns out that the moon is both alive and pregnant, and what's more, the moon's midwife is a yeti, who up until now was the villain of the story. The ending of this book made no sense to me, and I wish Valente had tried harder.
Breakfast with Socrates by Robert Roland Smith. This book was ok: nothing special, but a good introductory primer to philosophy and its application to daily life.
The Queen of the Tearling by Erica Johansen. Finally, redemption! This book was recommended to me by two friends at work, both of whom have completely different tastes in science fiction and fantasy novels. This book was so good--I think I read it in less than three days, and I'm already dying for the next one to come out.
Kelsea (the Queen of the Tearling) has been raised in the woods by foster parents, unaware of her true identity. When she comes of age, she is thrust into the role of queen of an impoverished kingdom lacking in modern medicine and technology, with a government largely based on the annual tribute of slaves to a nearby kingdom. I liked how Kelsea has to balance her own values and sense of right and wrong with the politics of her kingdom. There are also some really great battle scenes, and did I mention the magical sapphires? If you're looking for a seriously good read, pick up this book. You won't regret it. (Sidenote: lest my review fool you, this is definitely adult fantasy fiction, not YA. Strong language and thematic material make it inappropriate for young readers.)
That's it for now; when we next meet, I'll probably be drowning in a sea of required reading!
Until next time,
Anna
The Girl who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente. This is the third book in the Fairyland series, and I did not like it as much as I did the other two. Most of it consists of September taking a road trip across the moon, and I feel like Valente was just marking time. The magical elements seemed forced somehow. Plus, the end of the book was just bizarre: it turns out that the moon is both alive and pregnant, and what's more, the moon's midwife is a yeti, who up until now was the villain of the story. The ending of this book made no sense to me, and I wish Valente had tried harder.
Breakfast with Socrates by Robert Roland Smith. This book was ok: nothing special, but a good introductory primer to philosophy and its application to daily life.
The Queen of the Tearling by Erica Johansen. Finally, redemption! This book was recommended to me by two friends at work, both of whom have completely different tastes in science fiction and fantasy novels. This book was so good--I think I read it in less than three days, and I'm already dying for the next one to come out.
Kelsea (the Queen of the Tearling) has been raised in the woods by foster parents, unaware of her true identity. When she comes of age, she is thrust into the role of queen of an impoverished kingdom lacking in modern medicine and technology, with a government largely based on the annual tribute of slaves to a nearby kingdom. I liked how Kelsea has to balance her own values and sense of right and wrong with the politics of her kingdom. There are also some really great battle scenes, and did I mention the magical sapphires? If you're looking for a seriously good read, pick up this book. You won't regret it. (Sidenote: lest my review fool you, this is definitely adult fantasy fiction, not YA. Strong language and thematic material make it inappropriate for young readers.)
That's it for now; when we next meet, I'll probably be drowning in a sea of required reading!
Until next time,
Anna
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Summer Reading List, Part 6
Greetings, fellow readers! With the end of summer rapidly approaching, I thought I'd try and squeeze in one last Summer Reading blog post. This one's kind of short--I've been working full-time hours at the bookstore, so most of my reading lately has been squeezed into my lunch break. I have managed to keep up with my ever-growing TBR, however; I feel like I need to do as much as I can before school starts again and I don't have time to breathe. Here goes:
NW by Zadie Smith. Pronounced "northwest," this novel about an ordinary corner of London is one I've anticipated greatly, given how much I've enjoyed Smith's other work. That being said, I'm finding this novel a disappointment. I'm about halfway through it, and it seems like it was written by a totally different person. Neither the story line nor the characters move with any purpose, and the narrative seems fractured and unfocused. More than once I've found myself thinking, where did the real Zadie Smith go? I've put this one aside for now in the hope of finding a better book.
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. A. LaFevre. This book was so good; I got it free through my Kindle Unlimited trial, and I finished it in a couple of days. The protagonist is an eleven year old girl who lives in an Egyptology museum in Victorian England. She can sense which artifacts possess magical qualities and knows how to thwart the ancient curses they contain. When her archaeologist mother brings home a trove which inflicts plagues on London, Theodosia takes matters into her own hands to avert chaos and restore peace and order to the world.
I found Theodosia witty and acerbic, and I relished the descriptions of Egyptian artifacts--I was obsessed with Ancient Egypt as a kid, and reading this book was like revisiting my childhood. I'm glad this is the first in a series because now I have a whole new set of adventures awaiting me!
The Giver by Lois Lowry. Somehow I missed having to read this one for school, but what with the movie coming out soon and all the kids coming to the bookstore to buy it for summer reading, I felt I had to. This book does not disappoint; it lives up to the name "classic." I don't want to give away too much and spoil the story, but I will say this: this book is about a young boy named Jonas who lives in a society where individual free will is all but eradicated. Each stage of life is planned by those in power, from the occupations citizens practice to the clothes they wear.
When the time comes for the children to be assigned jobs, Jonas is singled out for the job of Receiver, which is both a great honor and a burden. He gets the chance to see life as it would be if people had free will and shared their memories, and this experience changes him forever. I'll say no more, except that if you haven't read this yet, get thee to a library and read it posthaste!
I am also rereading Jane Eyre, my old favorite, which never fails to cheer me up. And now I will say farewell, and happy reading!
Until next time,
Anna
NW by Zadie Smith. Pronounced "northwest," this novel about an ordinary corner of London is one I've anticipated greatly, given how much I've enjoyed Smith's other work. That being said, I'm finding this novel a disappointment. I'm about halfway through it, and it seems like it was written by a totally different person. Neither the story line nor the characters move with any purpose, and the narrative seems fractured and unfocused. More than once I've found myself thinking, where did the real Zadie Smith go? I've put this one aside for now in the hope of finding a better book.
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. A. LaFevre. This book was so good; I got it free through my Kindle Unlimited trial, and I finished it in a couple of days. The protagonist is an eleven year old girl who lives in an Egyptology museum in Victorian England. She can sense which artifacts possess magical qualities and knows how to thwart the ancient curses they contain. When her archaeologist mother brings home a trove which inflicts plagues on London, Theodosia takes matters into her own hands to avert chaos and restore peace and order to the world.
I found Theodosia witty and acerbic, and I relished the descriptions of Egyptian artifacts--I was obsessed with Ancient Egypt as a kid, and reading this book was like revisiting my childhood. I'm glad this is the first in a series because now I have a whole new set of adventures awaiting me!
The Giver by Lois Lowry. Somehow I missed having to read this one for school, but what with the movie coming out soon and all the kids coming to the bookstore to buy it for summer reading, I felt I had to. This book does not disappoint; it lives up to the name "classic." I don't want to give away too much and spoil the story, but I will say this: this book is about a young boy named Jonas who lives in a society where individual free will is all but eradicated. Each stage of life is planned by those in power, from the occupations citizens practice to the clothes they wear.
When the time comes for the children to be assigned jobs, Jonas is singled out for the job of Receiver, which is both a great honor and a burden. He gets the chance to see life as it would be if people had free will and shared their memories, and this experience changes him forever. I'll say no more, except that if you haven't read this yet, get thee to a library and read it posthaste!
I am also rereading Jane Eyre, my old favorite, which never fails to cheer me up. And now I will say farewell, and happy reading!
Until next time,
Anna
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