shoelessreader

Finished this book today and I still not quite sure what to think.  I knew it’d be a book about a man who turns into a bug, but other than that I did not have many other expectations.  I do know that lately I have read several books with happy endings, so I think I was hoping for some sort of a redemption.  Mostly this book feels like the author himself was not settled with the ideas about reality; like he still had unanswered questions. 

“Books are like children in more ways than one; in their response to care and attention in early life, for one thing, and in their response to heredity and environment, for another…The book’s early life will be happier, its maturity longer, its final disappearance more distant if, like the child, it has found its lines cast among kindly and sympathetic friends and parents. Hygienic living conditions, proper prophylaxis, prevention of disease, are for both more important than medication or drugs. Thoughtful and skillful attention by competent, well trained, experienced physicians and surgeons is necessary for both.”
-Henry Miller Lydenberg & John Archer in The Care and Repair of Books


I just found this amusing. Throughout the book the author’s tones appear informational and witty; just enough to keep the reader interested.

“My parents had quite a library in London, and it got even larger in the States. They had a complete collection of famous trials, novels by Somerset Maugham, plays by William Shakespeare, complete works of Jonathan Gallsworthy, John Buchan, Charles Dickens, J.M. Barrie, and George Bernard Shaw. The Shaw book collection is very special; the first volume (Immaturity) was inscribed by the author to my mother…But whether it was in England or in America, each time my father received a book or a script to consider as a potential project, he immediately gave it to my mother to read first. If she didn’t like it, it was instantly rejected. If she liked it, she would pass it on to him. Interestingly, most of my father’s films are based on existing material: novels, plays, short stories. Very few were original screenplays.”


~Pat Hitchcock O’Connell on her parents literary habits

I finally received notification that I get to enroll in my first graduate classes come June 16th.  Yes, they will be the introductory courses (including a social networking class - at least that is how I understand it right now), but its the beginning!


And I just received my rebate from the IRS, so now its computer-buying time.  I can actually shop for deals rather than browsing like I have been for the past couple of months.  Yay!

Just another thing to add to a long list of things to do this weekend.  I love the detail on the back.  Can you guess the story?


From: Bradbury in Bronze - LA Times Jacket Copy

This weekend was TMC’s graduation. TMC could not ask for better weather this year as it was misty and cool. If I were a graduate I would have been happy to wear a robe.


On Saturday B and I went hiking in L.A. somewhere. I am not being intentionally vague because we are not quite certain where we were at. We forgot about needing a Forest Adventure Pass and since neither of us had cash, we started looking around for another hike. At the beginning it was more like a stroll, down a steep hill and cross a stream a couple of times. There was a bridge slowly falling apart that several bikers we notice still foolhardily walked across so they could continue on their bike ride. Bike ride or plunge down to the river? The plunge was more than six feet (much more), but not too high. The hiking began on our way back when we had to hike up the steep hill we came down on. If anything, I was convinced that I should start working out again.


On top of all of this, I was able to finish two books this weekend. The second book I was able to finish rather quickly because I am still very familiar with Jane Austen’s Persuasion. I felt it to be a good weekend.


Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
 Again Riordan writes an exciting and fascinating book for children. His series only continues to become better. Each new book has new monsters and battles that leave the reader on the edge of their seat. When I saw him last month he mentioned that what motivates his writing is a class of junior highers in fifth period right after lunch. He wanted to keep them awake with whatever he wrote. And he did an excellent job. His characters develop more too in each book. Wonderful books for any young boy to read, just make sure that he is able to read other books afterwards.


Captain Wentworth’s Diary by Amanda Grange
 I don’t read many Jane Austen sequels anymore, but this one caught my eye. Mostly because Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel. Amanda Grange did an excellent job in capturing the spirit of the age in her book. She added to the story, of course, but these additions were well thought out and not outside the main storyline or characters. I loved being able to read what felt like more about these characters, which should be the major goal of such sequels so I felt that Grange did great. She gave me another great insight into Jane Austen’s wonderful book.

An inscribed book, Emma, by Austen herself will go on auction June 24 this year. To imagine not only the possibility of buying the book (it is said that it will go for around 50,000 pounds), but the idea of selling it. But if you need money and have a book lying around you don’t care about, why not?


Link to newsclip.


And to balance out the post, I just bought tickets for Indiana Jones at 12:15 AM on Wednesday May 21st.  I can’t wait!!

Papercuts today announced that Harry Potter has disappeared from the NY Times Bestseller list. It has been on the list for the past ten years and now a year after the last book came out it has vanished. I am not surprised. With poor writing and a plot that hinged on the next novel, it is not surprising that the Potter books would eventually disappear from the Bestseller list. This does not however mean that they do not have as much value anymore. We don’t see famous classic novels remain on the Bestseller list for years. The fact that her books remained on the Bestseller list for ten years is a noteworthy event in the literary world, as well as the fact that her last novel had the most pre-sales for any book. Potter is not about to fall into the abyss of nothingness.


Click here for the blog: Ten Years Later, Harry Potter Vanishes from the Bestseller List

RedFence LA Times Festival of Books Day One


This video is my favorite from RedFence this weekend, but it is also the only one I’ve been able to see thus far.  Check it out.

The weekend began on Friday at the end of workshop when it was announced that I would have my workshop on Wednesday rather than Monday.  This meant I had to have a completed story to pass out on Monday.  I was not happy as Monday night was when I planned to write.  Somehow I would just have to fit in, but Friday night was left to bake pies for the party on Sunday and the weekend was LA Times Festival of Books.


On Saturday B and I went to the LA Times Festival of Books.  This year was different in two ways: 1) B was with me the entire time and 2) I actually ran into friends throughout the day.  We ended up going to the three panels, our favorite being “Imagining Other Worlds” with Cornelia Funke, Rick Riordan, and Erin Hunter.  It is a nervous thing to meet authors.  One never knows what to expect and you hope that the picture of what you believe they are is true.  Cornelia Funke was wonderful and probably my favorite.  She was friendly and sweet throughout the seminar.  I was able to learn a couple things from her, like how she would create new imaginary characters.  Sadly, I also found out that we will have to wait still for Inkheart the Movie.   Rick Riordan was surprisingly good and different from the two women.  He kept things light and entertaining.  And like in every seminar there’s the author that avoids their audience, Erin Hunter was that author who avoided being known.  She was vague and hopefully very sarcastic.  You hoped she was joking, but she never gave alternative answers.  The audience of mostly children also added a wonderful element to this seminar.  And the kids asked some great questions, though I have to wonder if Mom and Dad helped them at all. 


And I finally ended up finishing the short story for class, Monday morning the day it was due.  I tried to write something Sunday night, but I was so exhausted from Saturday and the busy day Sunday my mind couldn’t put two sentences together.  Another busy week looms ahead with TMC in the last week of classes and then Finals Week.  I will be glad for the Summer to be here.