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Archive for the ‘Conceptual level’ Category
Book review: Messenger
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006Book review: Winter’s Tale
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Mark Helprin |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1983 |
New York-state-based magical realism. One of our favorite books. | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Winter's Tale | |
Book review: Eldest (Book 2 of Paolini’s Inheritance trilogy)
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Christopher Paolini |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2005 |
We found Eragon, the first book in this trilogy (as of Spring, 2006, the third is not yet published), so involving that we were not sure we would survive until we read Eldest. And, well, Eldest is ok. We are certainly going to read the next book in the series, just as soon as we can get our eyes on it.But Eldest, like many of the middle volumes of many trilogies, was much more of a chore and less of a pleasure to read than Eragon was. | |
Perhaps this is because Eldest intersperses the interesting tale of Eragon's formal education as a Dragonrider with the travails of Eragon's cousin, Roran. While Eragon gets to hang out with the beautiful, gentle, self-involved, enigmatic Elves, Roran faces the wrath of the evil Empire pretty much on his own. And poor Roran, unlike Eragon, lacks many of the advantages that make Eragon's struggles tolerable. For example, Eragon has a dragon who has endowed Eragon with super-human abilities. Roran would also have benefited from a mentor who could have explained why the Empire was inflicting atrocity after atrocity upon Roran and his village. Roran can rely only on his considerable mental, political, and physical talents, fueled by his passion for his love, Katrina, to empower him to save himself and his fellow villagers. Eldest is bleak, much, much bleaker than Eragon. In fact, so bleak that my daughter and I often found ourselves hard-pressed to keep reading. On the other hand, when, at one point, Roran finally managed to score one of his several victories over his oppressors, my daughter was surprised and impressed. "Way to go, Roran," she cried. And meant it. I mean, many of the characters are very interesting, likeable even, even some of the not-so-savory ones. We certainly did want to know what happened to them and wished them well.Many reviews of Paolini's books have mentioned how derivative they are of the Lord of the Ring books. Since I am not much of a fan of LOTR, I can't address this point by point. Eragon certainly borrows conventions and plot twists from earlier dragon-based fantasies. It's impossible to not notice Eragon's debts to Anne Mccaffrey's dragon books. Eldest steals from other conventions as well; it seems to incorporate some Star War-ish motifs, and not to its great benefit. However, I was not overly troubled by these borrowings; I think they happen often in fantasy. What I care about is how well a book immerses us in the lives of the characters and the lands in which they find themselves. Paolini has done a good job, I think, of describing the cultures of the Elves and the towns and villages through which Roran and his allies pass. For example, when Paolini documents the way Eragon finds himself helpless to stop in his romantic pursuit of Arya, an Elf who may be nearly a century older than he is -- well, it is embarrassing, heart-breaking, and, while my daughter and I kept hoping Eragon would just stop making Arya feel that she was being stalked, we felt it rang very, very true. We pitied Eragon and sympathized with Arya for having to (repeatedly) reject him. "She's HUNDREDS of years older than you, stupid," my daughter exclaimed at one point.And there are other very lovely touches here -- Paolini's explanation of how Eragon becomes a vegetarian, for example, and the complex rules he lays out governing the use and language of magic. On the other hand, beware of graphic violence and a pervasive sense of dread in the face of overwhelming, evil enemies determined to crush the life out of Eragon, Roran, and everyone they know. And know that this sense of overwhelming danger is not resolved by the end of this, the middle, of the trilogy.-- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Eldest (Book 2 of Paolini's Inheritance trilogy) | |
Book review: The Fountainhead
Sunday, May 21st, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Ayn Rand |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1946 |
At one point, I actually believed that Ayn Rand had overreacted and that most people respect and understand that they need intelligent, capable people around them. Read The Fountainhead; Atlas Shrugged is identical except that it's much longer. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Fountainhead, The | |
Book review: The Amulet of Samarkand (Book One of the Bartimaeus Trilogy)
Friday, May 19th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Jonathan Stroud |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
CAUTION: This wonderful trilogy features characters with whom the reader will fall in love, and significant violence that has predictable consequences. Please, before recommending this first volume to a sensitive young reader, either read the whole trilogy or read our reviews of book two and, especially, book 3. Sardonic musings of a demon summoned by an academically under-challenged 12 year old apprentice wizard. | |
Together, they save Civilization as they know it. First in a trilogy. Luckily, unlike Inkheart and Eragon, this book's sequels are already in print. -- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Amulet of Samarkand, The (Book One of the Bartimaeus Trilogy) | |
Book review: Pride and Prejudice
Friday, May 19th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Jane Austen |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1813 |
It is amazing how a book that was written nearly two centuries ago can ring so true to this day. | |
It's an age-old story, obviously. A teenage girl is mortified by her family and lack of money and feels that they adversely affect her romantic prospects. And, the young man she favors agrees. | |
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Book review: In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis
Friday, May 19th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Karen Armstrong |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups |
| Genre: | non-fiction, religion |
| Year of publication: | 1997 |
Essays about the stories in Genesis. Interesting to read before/after The Red Tent. -- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis | |
Book review: The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
Friday, May 19th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Ross W. Greene |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups |
| Genre: | Non-fiction: Child-raising |
| Year of publication: | 2001 |
Dr. Greene describes certain children who, although they are not intentionally rebellious, under certain circumstances become so caught up in their frustration that they lose the ability to reason. He suggests that parents carefully choose which battles to fight (with detailed descriptions about how to make these selections) and provides suggested techniques for helping these children control themselves. | |
The book includes little dialogues in which the author recounts both successful and unsuccessful attempts to diffuse explosive situations; these dialogues are followed by analyses of what might have been going on in both the parent's and the child's minds. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children | |
Book review: The Pearl
Friday, May 19th, 2006 | Tweet |
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Book review: Kristen Lavransdatter trilogy
Friday, May 19th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Sigrid Undset |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1923 |
Undset won the Nobel Prize in literature for this work set in 14th century Norway. | |
Involving for an adult reading it, but very difficult to read, perhaps because the translation is old. The theme of the book: struggling to avoid pre-marital sex is difficult, even among church-loving people. Fascinating, detailed depictions of life on the farms, and in villages, towns and convents of medieval Norway. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Kristen Lavransdatter trilogy | |