Friday (February) Finds: TBR Additions in February

As I mentioned, I moved this month, so I feel I missed a good deal of great book reviews. I’ve done some quick reviews of Google Reader and I’ve tried to visit a number of blogs; as I did so, I didn’t always comment, but I did read your reviews. As compensation for not commenting, here’s a list of what I found notable as I read your blogs this month.

Did you write a really good book review or read a really good book that I haven’t comment on? Please share and I’ll make sure I come visit! Continue reading »

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

Is there a movie from your childhood that you recall watching over and over and over again? One that you think of, still, with fondness?

For me, that movie was Mary Poppins.

In 2007, I read A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and loved it along with the movie; they both have their merits.

So this year, I thought that I might also come to love the original character of Mary Poppins, originally created by P.L. Travers in the novel Mary Poppins in 1933.

I was horribly disappointed.

Traver’s Mary Poppins was far from the lovingly-stern nanny Disney created. She seemed, basically, mean and unfeeling. The adventures she had with the children were odd, but they lacked the sense of fun that the movie created for me. Because my first exposure was the movie, this review will compare the book and the movie throughout. There are spoilers. Continue reading »

Listen to the Wind by Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth

I can finally recommend something related to the Three Cups of Tea story.

Remember how I hated listening to the audiobook of Three Cups of Tea, which felt like a journalistic report despite being called a memoir? My mother loved Three Cups of Tea and thought it was wonderful, so I enlisted her help in writing my post for Rebecca Reads: I shared a Counterpoint post, with each of us writing our thoughts of the book.

Long story short: The issue of my “hating” Three Cups of Tea was revived last week by someone who wasn’t so happy with my very scathing review. Hate, apparently, is too strong a word, considering Greg Mortenson is in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize. (FYI, apparently more than 100 people are nominated each year.) Despite that, I still thought that the character described in the book is not a likeable person: he’s a bit too flighty for me to trust with my money. Besides, the book dragged along with horribly unnecessary details. I had to reiterate to my visitor that I have no intention of rereading Three Cups of Tea, but if the story were completely rewritten I may revisit the issue. (I said, “If Greg’s story is rewritten by a different author in a completely revamped structure, I may consider revisiting it.”)

Well, it has been rewritten. Twice. Continue reading »

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as a teenager – and I loved it. Since then, I watched the A&E movie multiple times, and then last year I watched the newer movie, which was OK. I felt it was certainly time to revisit the novel itself.

I was not disappointed. I loved it even better now.

I listened to the Librivox recording of Pride and Prejudice. While the narration was amateur, I still enjoyed the words and found it far better to experience the novel than to experience the movie(s), much as I enjoyed them. There is something about Jane Austen’s language and character development that cannot be fully contained in a full-length movie – even a six-hour version as the A&E movie is. The book wins, hands down. Continue reading »

Animal Farm by George Orwell

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the boars lead the other farm animals in a revolution against Mr. Jones’, in hope of a better life. Together, the animals take over Manor Farm, making it their own farm. Running a farm is a lot of work, but the farm animals are convinced the work is worth it because the land is their own. Basing the philosophy of “Animal Farm” on a few basic commandments (the main one being “four legs good, two legs bad”), the boars lead the animals on to relative commercial success. As time goes by, life on the farm remains challenging for the animals, and few can recall the difficult days of Mr. Jones’ rule. But few complain because they have so much pride at maintaining their own farm.

By itself, Animal Farm is an odd, but amusing tale. The animals are successful in their revolutions against humans and the reader wants to cheer them on. Then the subsequent slow transformation of Animal Farm back to the necessary evil of doing business with humans (for Animal Farm is, unfortunately, not completely self-sufficient) seems sad, for we wish success to the remarkable animals, despite the obvious treachery of the leading animals.

Put into the cultural context in which it was written, however, Animal Farm clearly mocks the rise of communism in Russia. To me, Animal Farms‘ ironic humor becomes all the more sad when one realizes the correlating story among humans suffering in Orwell’s contemporary Russia. I liked rereading Animal Farm, and now that I understand a bit more of the context, I found it quite sad, and not nearly as funny as the first time I read it. Continue reading »

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein

I know next to nothing about Philosophy, so when it came time to approach the “100s” century (Philosophy and Psychology) for the Dewey Decimal Challenge, I decided to read something from the half more challenging for me (Philosophy). This is about learning, after all, right? But between packing and moving, I felt the need to read something light and easily accessible this month. Is anything about philosophy light and accessible?

I found Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein to be such a light approach. The subtitle is “Understanding philosophy through jokes.” How can one go wrong by reading a book of jokes? While I appreciated the light-hearted approach (especially this month), I unfortunately thought there were too many “jokes” and too few concrete details about philosophy. I enjoyed my short perusal of Plato and Platypus, but I don’t feel I have a much greater understanding of philosophy having read it. Continue reading »

Caldecott Corner: The House in the Night by Beth Krommes, 2009 Award Winner

This year’s winner of the Caldecott Medal is The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes. When I asked the librarian to help me locate it (it was misshelved), she told me she didn’t like it; its illustrations were too dark. I wasn’t sure, then, what I’d think of The House in the Night. But I enjoyed reading the story of a bedtime story, and the black, white, and gold scratchboard illustrations were appropriate for the subject. Continue reading »

Hunger: An Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell

A few weeks ago, I overheard an eight-year-old girl say to an adult in all seriousness, “I’m so hungry, I’m going to die!”

I couldn’t help thinking to myself that she had no idea what true hunger was; nor do I. In Hunger: An Unnatural History, Sharman Apt Russell details what it means, physiologically, to be hungry. Then she goes beyond the science of hunger and into the social aspects by reviewing the history of how we learned to help starving people recover and the various current worldwide issues surrounding hunger, from Anorexia Nervosa to refugees. It is an intriguing look into a social problem that everyone experiences, even to a small extent, every day. Continue reading »

The Joy of Audiobooks

Whew! We’re moved! Friday the 13th turned out to be very lucky day for us — no problems at all before, during, or after the move.

In the past two weeks, there were three or four days when I did not read more than ten pages. I’ve been reading so much in the past few months, it was very strange. I was so busy packing up the house and then cleaning the new house, that I didn’t even read at the end of the day.

Then I remembered that I could listen to an audiobook.

My library has audiobooks for download, Librivox.org has audiobooks to download, and there’s always the old-fashioned way of going to the library and checking out a book on CD.

So in the past two weeks, despite the fact that I couldn’t finish many of the books I started in January, I did get through two and half audiobooks: Animal Farm by George Orwell, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and half of Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt (a biography of Shakespeare).

It was very nice to have something to listen to as I packed up boxes. My husband was out of town during much of the packing and I felt very overwhelmed. But as I followed Elizabeth and Darcy’s romance, for example, I didn’t mind the hours of chores. It was fun to hear the story as I worked.

I’ve decided I much prefer to read a book. Both Animal Farm and Pride and Prejudice were “rereads” for me (and I’ve been wanting to reread P&P for months) and so it was OK listening this time around. I also find listening to nonfiction (like the biography) to be easier on the ears — it’s easier to follow if I miss a few seconds.

However, the time I get to read is time cherished. Listening to a good book is not the same pleasure, although it still makes the chores bearable.

What’s the last audiobook you read? Which genre is easiest for you to listen to in audio?

I still have many boxes to unpack, so I suspect I’ll get through the biography in no time this week! I also have a few books I finished in January and the early days of the month that I need to review on Rebecca Reads, so be on the look out for some reviews in the coming days (assuming I have time to sit down and write them…).

Reminder: Giveaway for Really Old Classics Reviews

Hey all, thanks for your well-wishes! All is going well with our packing and moving. Thanks to audiobooks, I still get some literature in my life these days.

This is just a reminder that there are still 18 days left to get your really old classics reviews posted here in order to be entered in a drawing for a book of your choice. So keep reading!

Ok, I’m off to my audiobook and boxes of stuff.