I just finished reading:
The Last Unicorn - Magical, lovely, wonderful. It's not full of action, I didn't swallow it whole in one day, but I really enjoyed reading it.
I just started reading:
The Neverending Story -
"If you have never spent whole afternoons with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting the world around you over a book, forgetting cold and hunger--
If you have never read secretly under the bedclothes with a flashlight, because your father or mother or some other well-meaning person has switched off the lamp on the plausible ground that it was time to sleep because you had to get up so early--
If you have never wept bitter tears because a wonderful story has come to an end and you must take your leave of the characters with whom you have shared so many adventures, whom you have loved and admired, for whom you have hoped and feared, and without whose company life seems empty and meaningless--
If such things have not been part of your own experience, you probably won't understand what Bastian did next."
Next, I'm going to read:
Stardust
How about you?
P.S. Oh! Oh! Oh! I found this - Top Ten Book Quotes - {because I was too lazy to type the quote from the Neverending Story} and doesn't it seem like such a fun thing to do? Coming {hopefully} soon to a blog near you.
P.S.S. I'm also in the middle of reading The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin. Very, very excellent stuff. The Farthest Shore- fabulous!
Our {Wild & Crazy} Days ~ Making our days a part of your days!
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2012
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Catching Up . . . Book Reviews
Hello today!!
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee-- As recently discussed with visiting family members, I haven't read a book so boring since high school/college text books. I wish the author had stuck to her quest of finding the origins of "Chinese" food in America. Instead, she addressed historical, political and social challenges facing Chinese people in America, interspersed with interesting tidbits about chinese food. Such as fortune cookies are Japanese, General Tso's chicken was never eaten by Genereal Tso, as most of the Chinese food Americans think of isn't really food eaten by Chinese people. My favorite line in the book came from her chapter about how Chinese restaurants began in America and the sheer number of them in America, where she concludes with: Our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie. But ask yourself: How often do you eat apple pie? How often do you eat Chinese food?
The Open Road by Pico Iyer-- This book is about the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism, the challenges he faces with the modern world, etc. What do I say about it? Hmmm, a Hindu Indian man, writing about his friend the Dalai Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism, being read by an American, Utah Mormon girl. Let's just say there was plenty "lost in translation." I won't even begin to attempt to think about how I'd review this book.
A Treasury of Great American Scandals: Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Father and Others Who Let Freedom Swing by Michael Farquhar-- This is the second book I've read by Farquhar (A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans--see Book Reviews) and it is much more entertaining than the first one. Actually, at times I felt like I was reading the National Enquirer because some of these scandals are so far-fetched. The difference would be that these stories are actually true. One favorite part was when the author declares what many of us have probably been thinking about the girls who started the Salem Witch Hunt in 1692, by stating they were probably "just plain bored." Another part is about Richard Nixon in the author's "American Hall of Shame" where he shares the president's tirades as captured on recording equipment in the oval office. Nixon and his bugs, right? Anywho-- I'll share a quote from the book: "On His Vietnam Policy: 'I'd rather use the nuclear bomb.'"
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi-- The kids and I love this book!! We've been listening to it in the car and it is wonderful. Disney totally messes up when they don't use more of the original stories. Kids would love a fairy with blue hair that is a little girl who becomes Pinocchio's sister, then an older woman who becomes Pinocchio's mother, then a blue goat who gives her cabin to the Talking Cricket, and finally the fairy who turns Pinocchio to a little boy. A blue goat? What is not to love about it!! We are listening to it again.
Picture Book: Marsupial Sue Presents The Runaway Pancake with audio CD, written and read-aloud by John Lithgow-- Think of the gingerbread man (can't catch me, etc.) but much more entertaining. "No, no. No, no, no. I'm too fast, you're too slow. Pan, pan, patty-cake pan . . . I can get away from you, I can." On the CD Lithgow is reading to a live audience of kids, which makes it much more fun.
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee-- As recently discussed with visiting family members, I haven't read a book so boring since high school/college text books. I wish the author had stuck to her quest of finding the origins of "Chinese" food in America. Instead, she addressed historical, political and social challenges facing Chinese people in America, interspersed with interesting tidbits about chinese food. Such as fortune cookies are Japanese, General Tso's chicken was never eaten by Genereal Tso, as most of the Chinese food Americans think of isn't really food eaten by Chinese people. My favorite line in the book came from her chapter about how Chinese restaurants began in America and the sheer number of them in America, where she concludes with: Our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie. But ask yourself: How often do you eat apple pie? How often do you eat Chinese food?
The Open Road by Pico Iyer-- This book is about the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism, the challenges he faces with the modern world, etc. What do I say about it? Hmmm, a Hindu Indian man, writing about his friend the Dalai Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism, being read by an American, Utah Mormon girl. Let's just say there was plenty "lost in translation." I won't even begin to attempt to think about how I'd review this book.
A Treasury of Great American Scandals: Tantalizing True Tales of Historic Misbehavior by the Founding Father and Others Who Let Freedom Swing by Michael Farquhar-- This is the second book I've read by Farquhar (A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans--see Book Reviews) and it is much more entertaining than the first one. Actually, at times I felt like I was reading the National Enquirer because some of these scandals are so far-fetched. The difference would be that these stories are actually true. One favorite part was when the author declares what many of us have probably been thinking about the girls who started the Salem Witch Hunt in 1692, by stating they were probably "just plain bored." Another part is about Richard Nixon in the author's "American Hall of Shame" where he shares the president's tirades as captured on recording equipment in the oval office. Nixon and his bugs, right? Anywho-- I'll share a quote from the book: "On His Vietnam Policy: 'I'd rather use the nuclear bomb.'"
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi-- The kids and I love this book!! We've been listening to it in the car and it is wonderful. Disney totally messes up when they don't use more of the original stories. Kids would love a fairy with blue hair that is a little girl who becomes Pinocchio's sister, then an older woman who becomes Pinocchio's mother, then a blue goat who gives her cabin to the Talking Cricket, and finally the fairy who turns Pinocchio to a little boy. A blue goat? What is not to love about it!! We are listening to it again.
Picture Book: Marsupial Sue Presents The Runaway Pancake with audio CD, written and read-aloud by John Lithgow-- Think of the gingerbread man (can't catch me, etc.) but much more entertaining. "No, no. No, no, no. I'm too fast, you're too slow. Pan, pan, patty-cake pan . . . I can get away from you, I can." On the CD Lithgow is reading to a live audience of kids, which makes it much more fun.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Film Club
The Film Club by David Gilmour
Synopsis: The true story of a father who lets his son drop out of high school--if he agreed to watch three movies a week with his father.
I enjoyed Gilmour's engaging writing style, and especially his humor throughout the book. It very much felt like I was sitting with him, listening to him tell his story. As a parent taking a non-traditional approach to educating my kids, I related to many of his feelings, worries about what would come of his decision to let his son leave high school. On the other hand, I don't feel like Gilmour was advocating his approach to be tried by others, or trying to tear down public education, or taking a political stand. He is just relating his experience with his son. It is amazing to see the quality of their relationship all because this father decided to take a real interest into his son and what he felt his son needed. This is especially true when contrasted with the father-teenage son relationships usually portayed by the media-- anger, frustration, rebelling, clashing against each other, etc. It was a quick read--I finished it in a day. Overall, I say thumbs up. As a warning there is profanity, and references to alcohol and sex, throughout this book.
Synopsis: The true story of a father who lets his son drop out of high school--if he agreed to watch three movies a week with his father.
I enjoyed Gilmour's engaging writing style, and especially his humor throughout the book. It very much felt like I was sitting with him, listening to him tell his story. As a parent taking a non-traditional approach to educating my kids, I related to many of his feelings, worries about what would come of his decision to let his son leave high school. On the other hand, I don't feel like Gilmour was advocating his approach to be tried by others, or trying to tear down public education, or taking a political stand. He is just relating his experience with his son. It is amazing to see the quality of their relationship all because this father decided to take a real interest into his son and what he felt his son needed. This is especially true when contrasted with the father-teenage son relationships usually portayed by the media-- anger, frustration, rebelling, clashing against each other, etc. It was a quick read--I finished it in a day. Overall, I say thumbs up. As a warning there is profanity, and references to alcohol and sex, throughout this book.
Monday, July 14, 2008
A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans
A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans: Pirates, Skinflints, Patriots, and Other Colorful characters Stuck in the Footnotes of History
by Michael Farquhar
I learned about this book on and NPR (National Public Radio) interview with the author. This book covers 30 men and women who made a mark on American history, but are forgotten--thus the title. Some of them I have heard of, such as Anne Bonny, female pirate of the Carribean. I enjoyed her chapter the best, even though I'm familiar with her due to my kid's interest in pirates. Though this book certainly adds details to her life not found in the children's books we've read together, and for good reason. Though born to a wealthy plantation owner , she'd much rather be a pirate than attend balls or other such proper social activity of her time. She's wild. "If you'd fought like a man, you wouldn't be hanged like a dog" is her fairwell to her pirate lover before his hanging. I love it.
Others in the book were interesting and appalling at the same time, such as Gaston B. Means, who is horribly MEAN. Fittingly called a scoundrel, he murders a woman by shooting her in the back of the head and claiming she shot herseld, and then fakes a second will to try to get her fortune, and that's just the beginning. What eventually lands him in jail (FINALLY!!), is the swindle he invented to make money from the Charles Lindbergh baby kidnapping by leading people to believe he is in contact with the kidnappers and he can have the baby safely delivered for $100,000, and then $35,ooo more, and then . . . . Yuck.
Others were more than just a little boring, like Alexander "Boss" Shepherd who made Washington DC beautiful. Not surprising he's forgotten. Good work I'm sure, but not my cup of tea.
Others a little crazy, like John Ledyard who attempted to walk around the world. Why? Yeah I don't know. He liked to be starving, cold, lost, and unsuccessful? Hmm. A glorified version of adventure? You would think he'd get the picture, but he kept going.
Overall, the book gets a thumbs up. I enjoyed most of it and I'm intersted in reading some of Farquhar's other books such as "A Treasury of Royal Scandals" and "A Treasury of Great American Scandals."
by Michael Farquhar
I learned about this book on and NPR (National Public Radio) interview with the author. This book covers 30 men and women who made a mark on American history, but are forgotten--thus the title. Some of them I have heard of, such as Anne Bonny, female pirate of the Carribean. I enjoyed her chapter the best, even though I'm familiar with her due to my kid's interest in pirates. Though this book certainly adds details to her life not found in the children's books we've read together, and for good reason. Though born to a wealthy plantation owner , she'd much rather be a pirate than attend balls or other such proper social activity of her time. She's wild. "If you'd fought like a man, you wouldn't be hanged like a dog" is her fairwell to her pirate lover before his hanging. I love it.
Others in the book were interesting and appalling at the same time, such as Gaston B. Means, who is horribly MEAN. Fittingly called a scoundrel, he murders a woman by shooting her in the back of the head and claiming she shot herseld, and then fakes a second will to try to get her fortune, and that's just the beginning. What eventually lands him in jail (FINALLY!!), is the swindle he invented to make money from the Charles Lindbergh baby kidnapping by leading people to believe he is in contact with the kidnappers and he can have the baby safely delivered for $100,000, and then $35,ooo more, and then . . . . Yuck.
Others were more than just a little boring, like Alexander "Boss" Shepherd who made Washington DC beautiful. Not surprising he's forgotten. Good work I'm sure, but not my cup of tea.
Others a little crazy, like John Ledyard who attempted to walk around the world. Why? Yeah I don't know. He liked to be starving, cold, lost, and unsuccessful? Hmm. A glorified version of adventure? You would think he'd get the picture, but he kept going.
Overall, the book gets a thumbs up. I enjoyed most of it and I'm intersted in reading some of Farquhar's other books such as "A Treasury of Royal Scandals" and "A Treasury of Great American Scandals."
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