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Archive for the ‘Fiction’ Category
Book review: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Tuesday, June 6th, 2006Book review: Summerland
Monday, June 5th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Michael Chabon |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 5 and under |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Fantasy |
| Year of publication: | 2002 |
Very long tribute to the magical powers of baseball to heal divisions between people and damage to the Earth. Intense enough so that my daughter who is not exceptionally interested in baseball kept having to check back with me to reassure herself that the story really would end in a satisfactory way (happily, that is). It also kept her intensely interested, and it gave her a new -- awe for -- the concept of the "Coyote". | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Summerland | |
Book review: Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy
Monday, June 5th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Douglas Adams |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1980 |
The book is pretty good but the audio recording of the BBC Radio production is our favorite. Once you read this the number 42 will take on a whole new meaning for you. Boy is it sad that Douglas Adams is no longer with us. | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | |
Book review: The Egypt Game
Friday, May 26th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Zilpha Keatly Snyder |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction, magic |
| Year of publication: | 1967 |
Realistic adventures of some children who think hard about their make-believe. The plot does involve a series of child murders, but these are not described in any detail. | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Egypt Game | |
Book review: Dragonfly
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Alice McLerran |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2000 |
Smoothly told tale of a group of people who band together to raise a dragon. Confronts the reality of "scientists who would intervene" without making them out to be evil. | |
Contrasts nicely with Song of the Gargoyle -- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Dragonfly | |
Book review: Messenger
Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 | Tweet |
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Book 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) | |
Almost anything from Into the Woods
Sunday, May 21st, 2006 | Tweet |
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Like…:
Here are two princes discussing themselves, their lives, their loves:
\”Clever,
Well-mannered,
Considerate,
Passionate,
Charming,
As kind as we’re handsome,
As wise as we’re rich\”
And, here’s Jack, of Jack and the Beanstalk fame, singing about his adventures:
\”There are GIANTS in the sky!
There are big, tall, terrible GIANTS in the sky!\”
In Little Red Riding Hood’s song, after she’s been rescued from the wolf, she explains how much she’s learned from
her near-death experiences:
\”When he said, ‘Come in!\” with that sickening grin, how could I know what was in store?
Once his teeth were bared, though, I really got scared–well, excited and scared–
But he drew me close, and he swallowed me down,
Down a slimy path where secrets lie that I never want to know,
And when everything familiar seemed to disappear forever,
At the end of the path was Granny once again.
So we wait in the dark until someone sets us free,
And we’re brought into the light, and we’re back at the start.
And I know things now, many valuable things, that I hadn’t known before:
Do not put your faith in a cape and a hood,
They will not protect you the way that they should.
And take extra care with strangers, even flowers have their dangers.
And though scary is exciting, nice is different than good.
Now I know: don’t be scared. Granny is right, just be prepared.
Isn’t it nice to know a lot! And a little bit not…\”
The witch’s lament, after Rapunzel escapes from her tower and bad things happen to her:
This is the world I meant.
Couldn’t you listen?
Couldn’t you stay content,
Safe behind walls,
As I Could not?
Now you know what’s out there in the world.
No one can prepare you for the world,
Even I.
How could I, who loved you as you were?
How could I have shielded you from her
Or them…
No matter what you say,
Children won’t listen.
No matter what you know,
Children refuse
To learn.
Guide them along the way,
Still they won’t listen.
Children can only grow
From something you love
To something you lose…
Cold Missouri Waters Lyrics by James Keelaghan
Sunday, May 21st, 2006 | Tweet |
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Extremely sad song that describes how the innovators among us are
not always appreciated. About the person who invented the backfire.
We like the performance by Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell on
August ‘Forty-Nine, north Montana
The hottest day on record, the forest tinder dry
Lightning strikes in the mountains
I was crew chief at the jump base, I prepared the boys to fly
Pick the drop zone, C-47 comes in low
Feel the tap upon your leg that tells you go
See the circle of the fire down below
Fifteen of us dropped above the cold Missouri waters
Gauged the fire, I’d seen bigger
So I ordered them to sidehill and we’d fight it from below
We’d have our backs to the river
We’d have it licked by morning even if we took it slow
But the fire crowned, jumped the valley just ahead
There was no way down, headed for the ridge instead
Too big to fight it, we’d have to fight that slope instead
Flames one step behind above the cold Missouri waters
Sky had turned red, smoke was boiling
Two hundred yards to safety, death was fifty yards behind
I don’t know why I just thought it
I struck a match to waist high grass running out of time
Tried to tell them, Step into this fire I set
We can’t make it, this is the only chance you’ll get
But they cursed me, ran for the rocks above instead
I lay face down and prayed above the cold Missouri waters
And when I rose, like the phoenix
In that world reduced to ashes there were none but two survived
I stayed that night and one day after
Carried bodies to the river, wonder how I stayed alive …