For those of you who don't know, the Hop is blog event happening on Friday to spread the book blogging love. You can find the list of blogs and all other information at Crazy-For-Books. Happy Friday and Enjoy the Hop!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Last April Hop!
Hi all fellow Hoppers. Thanks for stopping by!
For those of you who don't know, the Hop is blog event happening on Friday to spread the book blogging love. You can find the list of blogs and all other information at Crazy-For-Books. Happy Friday and Enjoy the Hop!
For those of you who don't know, the Hop is blog event happening on Friday to spread the book blogging love. You can find the list of blogs and all other information at Crazy-For-Books. Happy Friday and Enjoy the Hop!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Prolific Blogger Award
Having just started to actively promote my blog, I was amazed to find that Becki over at Confessions of a Bibliophile. Hers is one of my favorite blogs I have found thus far through the blog hop last week. She updates very regularly and about books I've either read and enjoyed or have wanted to read. Most recently her review of Revolutionary Road has me putting it on hold at the (not always so) lovely Harold Washington Library.
Thank you Becki!
A prolific blogger is one who is intellectually productive, keeping up an active blog with enjoyable content. After accepting this award, recipients are asked to pass it forward to seven other deserving blogs.
Now comes the hard part. So many of the people I follow deserve awards, but heres my 7 in no particular order.
As always wishing everyone an amazing day!
-Sarah
A Summer at Hogwarts
Since I have recently hit 20 followers, I wanted to try something interactive.
First, a back story. My college offers a class on fantasy literature, and one of the sections focuses completely on Harry Potter. Even though I'm going to be a senior in the fall I was not able to get into this magical class, and instead spent several hours last week watching special features on the special edition Harry Potter DVD's.
So, now for the plan. I want to reread the series, but I was wondering if anyone else would be interested in spending the month of July reading with me. It would be similar to a book club, but seeing as most people have already read the books this would be more about rediscovering favorite characters and story-lines, finding connections where you didn't see them before and overall just loving (or hating, whatever you like) J.K. Rowlings fantasy world.
I know most of us are fast readers, and that these books are like crack, but since everyone has busy lives and other things they would also like to read I'm instituting July be Harry Potter month. Starting the 1st of July everyone participating would start reading Sorcerer's Stone, and throughout the month I will post discussion promps. By the 31st (or Harry's Birthday, for those of you nerdy like me) we will have all finished Deathly Hollows.
Just comment on this entry if your interested in participating or have any other ideas for this mini book club!
First, a back story. My college offers a class on fantasy literature, and one of the sections focuses completely on Harry Potter. Even though I'm going to be a senior in the fall I was not able to get into this magical class, and instead spent several hours last week watching special features on the special edition Harry Potter DVD's.
So, now for the plan. I want to reread the series, but I was wondering if anyone else would be interested in spending the month of July reading with me. It would be similar to a book club, but seeing as most people have already read the books this would be more about rediscovering favorite characters and story-lines, finding connections where you didn't see them before and overall just loving (or hating, whatever you like) J.K. Rowlings fantasy world.
I know most of us are fast readers, and that these books are like crack, but since everyone has busy lives and other things they would also like to read I'm instituting July be Harry Potter month. Starting the 1st of July everyone participating would start reading Sorcerer's Stone, and throughout the month I will post discussion promps. By the 31st (or Harry's Birthday, for those of you nerdy like me) we will have all finished Deathly Hollows.
Just comment on this entry if your interested in participating or have any other ideas for this mini book club!
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Heights
The Heights
Peter Hedges
Tim Welch is a history teacher at a private school still working on his dissertation about loss. Kate Welch is a stay at home mom who loves taking care of her children. Everything changes when they meet Anna Brody. Tim takes a year off, Kate gets a job. New feelings appear. Told from several different perspectives, but mainly Tim and Kate you get to learn what life is like in the Heights.
Hedges, who wrote both the novel and screenplay for Whats Eating Gilbert Grape as well as several other screenplays has come up with one of the most over told stories ever. It's rare for an avid reader, such as myself to think "This would be better as a movie" but it's true. The story unfolds like some mediocre character driven drama. The book itself reads like an Oscar nominee, not an Oscar winner, one of those dry dramas where everyone makes bad choices and says terrible things and people rave about it for a few weeks and then when they think about it years latery they're all like 'yeah, that was kind of terrible'.
The characters themselves are contrived, Kate is endearing in the beginning before she becomes annoying. Tim is interesting before becoming pathetic. Anna Brody is always mysterious before you realize she is about to cause to most uneventful causal event ever.
There is obviously a demographic for novels like this, and with it being only 293 pages it's a little hard to justify putting it down. Hedges, stick to writing for the screen. Love your movies, hated this novel.
My Rating
**
Peter Hedges
Tim Welch is a history teacher at a private school still working on his dissertation about loss. Kate Welch is a stay at home mom who loves taking care of her children. Everything changes when they meet Anna Brody. Tim takes a year off, Kate gets a job. New feelings appear. Told from several different perspectives, but mainly Tim and Kate you get to learn what life is like in the Heights.
Hedges, who wrote both the novel and screenplay for Whats Eating Gilbert Grape as well as several other screenplays has come up with one of the most over told stories ever. It's rare for an avid reader, such as myself to think "This would be better as a movie" but it's true. The story unfolds like some mediocre character driven drama. The book itself reads like an Oscar nominee, not an Oscar winner, one of those dry dramas where everyone makes bad choices and says terrible things and people rave about it for a few weeks and then when they think about it years latery they're all like 'yeah, that was kind of terrible'.
The characters themselves are contrived, Kate is endearing in the beginning before she becomes annoying. Tim is interesting before becoming pathetic. Anna Brody is always mysterious before you realize she is about to cause to most uneventful causal event ever.
There is obviously a demographic for novels like this, and with it being only 293 pages it's a little hard to justify putting it down. Hedges, stick to writing for the screen. Love your movies, hated this novel.
My Rating
**
Hop!
It's Friday and, as I am learning, that means it's time for another Blog Hop! I'm looking forward to not messing this one up like I did last time and finding a ton of new and great blogs. If you're over from the Hop and want to drop in and say hi feel free to comment here (or on anything, I'm not picky).
Oh, and I know it's really early. I'm not crazy, just not tired.
-Sarah
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Steig Larsson
(From the back cover)
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of inquiry and corruption.
Having seen copies of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or it's squeal The Girl Who Plays with Fire everywhere in the past few weeks i decided I needed to check it out. It's an intriguing set of mysteries. The books original Swedish title translated to Men Who Hate Women, and that theme is ever present through the book in the mysteries that Mikael and Lisbeth are trying to solve.
In the beginning it seems like there is far to much story to cover. There's the libel case that Blomkivist has just lost against the corporate giant Wennerstrom, there is Harriet Vanger who is dead or missing and comes from a dysfunctional family that also happens to own a large business, and there is Salander who is always distant and defiant. I'm impressed at how Larsson connected all of these stories and made them into something worth reading. Some parts could drag, and if I had to read about how Blomkivist didn't think he could solve this case one more time I may have set the book down, never to finish.
The Vanger family is very interesting. It's a huge family (with a small family tree in the front of the book) and everyone has secrets. I had a hard time trusting any of them throughout, not even Henrik Vanger, the lovable old man who has brought in Blomkivist. Henrik's obsessive nature makes him someone you need to watch. The fact that Blomkivist agrees to work for him shows of his trusting nature, and makes him the biggest contrast for the interdependent Salander.
That's it for my attempt at a spoiler free review. It's vague but pretty much every plot point was important in the bigger picture.
My Review
3.5/5
Steig Larsson
(From the back cover)
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of inquiry and corruption.
Having seen copies of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or it's squeal The Girl Who Plays with Fire everywhere in the past few weeks i decided I needed to check it out. It's an intriguing set of mysteries. The books original Swedish title translated to Men Who Hate Women, and that theme is ever present through the book in the mysteries that Mikael and Lisbeth are trying to solve.
In the beginning it seems like there is far to much story to cover. There's the libel case that Blomkivist has just lost against the corporate giant Wennerstrom, there is Harriet Vanger who is dead or missing and comes from a dysfunctional family that also happens to own a large business, and there is Salander who is always distant and defiant. I'm impressed at how Larsson connected all of these stories and made them into something worth reading. Some parts could drag, and if I had to read about how Blomkivist didn't think he could solve this case one more time I may have set the book down, never to finish.
The Vanger family is very interesting. It's a huge family (with a small family tree in the front of the book) and everyone has secrets. I had a hard time trusting any of them throughout, not even Henrik Vanger, the lovable old man who has brought in Blomkivist. Henrik's obsessive nature makes him someone you need to watch. The fact that Blomkivist agrees to work for him shows of his trusting nature, and makes him the biggest contrast for the interdependent Salander.
That's it for my attempt at a spoiler free review. It's vague but pretty much every plot point was important in the bigger picture.
My Review
3.5/5
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday Hop
I just discovered the Book Blogger Hop. So hi to anyone stopping by from there! I'm supper excited to go find other amazing book blogs now. Hope everyone else is enjoying the Hop as much as I am and that everyone has a great weekend.
-Sarah
-Sarah
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