| Reading: Waiting for Snow In Havana |
[Sep. 20th, 2005|11:28 pm] |
I want this to be a post about what I am reading. After several
years of only reading once in a while, I'm on a tiny bit of a
roll. The last few weeks have been book-ful. I'd like to
come back to this post as a way to keep track of what I've read, since
the library won't do it for me. Maybe make it some kind of sticky
entry, or something.
For now I'll just say that I am currently reading Waiting for Snow in Havana : Confessions of a Cuban Boy,
a memoir by Carlos Eire. I like it, most of the time. I do
tend to enjoy childhood memoirs, particularly when they relate difficult
times. (I wonder why...)
I also want to work on my ability to identify opinions and
thoughts about things I read, enough to put them into writing.
We'll see how far that goes.
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| About books |
[Jul. 21st, 2005|11:40 pm] |
I think ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) samidha tagged me for this one...
Total number of books I own:
About 100 (I counted, kind of). Plus a stack of 7 that is separate, because I have a habit of assigning angst to ordinary objects. Aside from the emo-quotient, they are valuable, most being rare and old. I also used to have a healthy Stephen King collection, that must have numbered a dozen or so.
Last book I bought:
Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling, in an attempt to not suck at my new job, since I've never really done it before. I'd really like to get through this one quickly.
Last book I read:
Well, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but that's kind of a given. I finished it in a respectable 2 days, and was as disappointed as the next fan (at the outcome, at least).
Before that, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was the the first book I had read in a while. I don't think I have any library fees on that yet, but I probably should work on remembering to return it. I'm not the most succinct reviewer, so I'll just say that I enjoyed it.
Five books that mean a lot to me, in no order:
We could go for the ones in the pile, I suppose, but we shan't. How about:
- Karen, by Marie Killilea (samidha, it's a true gimp-kid story from the 1940s if you haven't read it) I'm not sure where this went, maybe banished in one of my "some kinds of books are lame" phases (like Stephen King was).
- Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole was something I read and re-read until it fell apart as a kid, having little else to do for fun at the time. Thank goodness for hardcovers and Amazon.
- Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece was acquired around the same time, I think. Not quite as dogeared, but I liked it. I think the link is right. I remember being glad I'd read this when the 9th grade English class was starting Edith Hamilton's Mythology, which I don't think I ever finished, but I do have.
- Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlen is the only book of his I have read, not really being into the genre. But this book has stuck with me.
- Seen and Heard: Teenagers Talk About Their Lives, by Mary Motley Kalergis is a book that I am in. I was never really thrilled with how my section came together, but I haven't forgotten the process of the thing, for reasons good and less-good (hi, mom!).
Tag 5 people to do this meme:
I am now the anti-tag, so... anyone else who wants to play.
I really need to read more, again. |
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| Harry Potter and the Childish Adult |
[Jul. 13th, 2003|01:07 am] |
I found this an interesting editorial from the New York Times, as it appears here (registration required of course, but it is reprinted elsewhere as a quick search will show)... I also posted it in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) harry_potter and sane_potter.
July 7, 2003
Harry Potter and the Childish Adult
By A.S. BYATT
LONDON
What is the secret of the explosive and worldwide success of the Harry Potter books? Why do they satisfy children and - a much harder question - why do so many adults read them? I think part of the answer to the first question is that they are written from inside a child's-eye view, with a sure instinct for childish psychology. But then how do we answer the second question? Surely one precludes the other.
The easy question first. Freud described what he called the "family romance," in which a young child, dissatisfied with its ordinary home and parents, invents a fairy tale in which it is secretly of noble origin, and may even be marked out as a hero who is destined to save the world. In J. K. Rowling's books, Harry is the orphaned child of wizards who were murdered trying to save his life. He lives, for unconvincingly explained reasons, with his aunt and uncle, the truly dreadful Dursleys, who represent, I believe, his real "real" family, and are depicted with a relentless, gleeful, overdone venom. The Dursleys are his true enemy. When he arrives at wizarding school, he moves into a world where everyone, good and evil, recognizes his importance, and tries either to protect or destroy him.
( Click for the rest of the article... )
And some responses, found by a sane_potter-er:
--Grown-up fans of Harry Potter get pummeled
--Literary pomposity casts a dark spell over Harry Potter |
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| plantain looks like bacon |
[May. 27th, 2003|04:35 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | me, reading | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jackson 5 - It's Your Thing | ] |
Hi.
So it's late. What do I have to say for myself? Not a damn thing. What, you wanted to read something? Ummm... well there's some abstract rambling about my life over there. Or, I guess you could read about how Stephen King is my dirty little secret... as long as you realize I already know I'm a dork. |
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| sane + potter |
[Nov. 6th, 2002|07:39 am] |
It was nice to discover sane_potter. I was starting to feel left out, because I can't get into Harry Potter fanfic. So, yay for interesting discussion about the actual books, I hope. |
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