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RE: Book Reviews - 10/26/2006 9:27:23 AM
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babbred
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Reading quickly is like any other skill: the more time you devote to it, the better you will become. I can read pretty quickly, but that's because I've been doing even since before I went to school.
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There's nothing better than a good friend, unless it's a good friend with chocolate.
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RE: Book Reviews - 10/26/2006 2:25:16 PM
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Auben
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The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander MaCall Smith
Nicely written novel about a woman, Precious Ramotswe, setting up the first female detective agency in Botswana. It follows her through her life and her Daddy's life and all of her cases. Through it all you get a nice solid feeling of life for an intelligent christian woman in Botswana.
The tone is great. Its comforting. Its fun. I highly recommend this one to any christian readers junior high or above, especially if you like detective fiction.
grade: 8
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 11/3/2006 6:47:26 PM
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Nocturnalux
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Auben
My fastest pace is 100 pages an hour. I read Anna Karenina in 8 hours (4 2-hour days, 800ish pages) and Gone With the Wind in a week. Both of those were in high school.
Wow! Kudos to you that is quite impressive!  I suffer from severe dyslexia, it's a bit of a miracle that I learned how to read at all. But that's not relevant now, what matters is...book review (while I take a break from Nanowrimo!) As promised:
The Name of The Rose (Il nome della rosa; Portuguese translation by Maria Celeste Pinto)
The Name of the Rose is structure as a detective story, the main plot focuses around discovering the reasons and the people behind a series of mysteries deaths that take place in a 14th century Monestary in the Northern regions of Italy. Although plot thus presented seems quite traditional, The Name of the Rose is anything but. Behind the grisly deaths and the intense personality of an original Franciscan monk that is charge of the investigation and the first person narrative told by his naive young helper, a Benedict novice, hides a vast wealth of knowledge, historical, philosophical, theological and artistic.
This is a book that demands the reader to be up to speed with a few avatars of late Medieval Thought as well as the political manipulations that defined the age. Joachim de Flora, the controversy behind the Franciscan order and the heresies it bred, Aquinas, the shady role of the Inquisition, the faltering but still mighty authority and gravitas of the monestaries, the quarrels between Empire and the Pope, the importance of preserving Antiquity, the desire to read messages of a symbollic order in all things natural superimposed with a budding empyrical sense that was to fully develop during the Renaissance: all these elements come together in a very coherent story that is never too narrative as to become formulaic but never departs from the story telling genre in ways that hinder the narrative process.
At the heart of what is a beautiful but convulted book is the role of knowledge, one's right to gain access to it and the abortive results of withholding information from the face of the world.
The Name of the Rose will not appeal to everyone. Those not at all familiar with Latin might find the quotations mostly useless (I am student of Latin myself and although I am just starting I found the Latin references quite easy to apprehend, since my mother language, Portuguese, stems from a Latin root. The long enumerations and the almost obsessive inter-textual and historical references might put some people off as well as the displays of argumentation that don't pertain directly to the action.
Although the inner logic is solid for the most part we cannot help wondering whether some details that us mere reader figured out without an effort wouldn't seem quite clear to such an amazing intellect as William's, the detective.
Ultimately, this is a story about a dying age that still endures but that has started a long decline into a new epoch: the end of the Middle Ages and the yet distant lights of the Renaissance glimming in the horizon. This is a book written by a literature lover for literature lovers. Not perfect but still very well layered and conceived.
_____________________________
I am an agnostic but I mean no harm.
*Lux et Veritas*
Light, where art thou.
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RE: Book Reviews - 11/6/2006 10:00:24 AM
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Auben
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Nice review Nocturnalux. I'm sure you got more out of it than I did. I think I read mine back in college with barely an understanding of mideval history or latin. The information itself seemed like a second labyrinth mirroring the libraries labyrinth.
I can't help but think a library labyrinth is the coolest thing.
Artemisia by Alexandra Lapierre
Historical novel imagining the life of well-known 17th century painter Artemisia Gentileschi. Her rape by her drawing teacher and father's friend Agnostino Tossi. Her marriage, children, and work in Florence, Rome, Naples, and London. Her love and rivalry with her father. Her connections to the spying underworld of the 30 year war. Lots of juicy stuff.
Lapierre has a very vivid imagination and make it very easy to get into Artemisia's world through the smallest of details. However, she's also a florid and wordy writer in the style of some romance writers. Sometimes her guesses didn't add up for me, but it was always an interesting journey. Her level of research and detail made up for some of the inflated emotion.
Grade: 7 They do discuss sex fairly often, both regarding Artemisia's rape trial, her husband, and her lovers. Not graphically enough to make one thing of porn, but definitely often and with gusto. This may be uncomfortable when they talk about her last great lover for whom she almost gave up painting.
_____________________________
Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 11/13/2006 9:17:48 AM
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Auben
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A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
This is my first by Murdoch, a British writer and philosopher who's selected biography was shot into a movie with Kate Winslet and Judy Dench.
This was a hard book to like but a very easy book to read. The basic premise is that a husband with both a wife and a mistress is left by his wife for her lover, his best friend. The wife/friend draw him into a dependence relationship which manages to distance him from his mistress. And it twists. And it twists. And it twists. After a while the twists seem obvious but the first several are interesting in their knowledge of human nature and the way they solidify unlikely behaviors. Murdoch has a smooth, fast style that propels you quickly to the end.
Still, I couldn't really like it. The narrator was a jerk from the beginning (partially so you wouldn't feel too sorry for him) and the relationships, caught up in sex and power are depressing. So I'm impressed with Murdoch (will probably try something else) but maudlin about the novel.
Grade: 6 (well-structured and interesting but characters too dispicable to truly enjoy)
The House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories by Yasunari Kuwabata
This is my third by Kawabata, a nobel prize winning author from Japan. This one is a set of 3 short stories, but it really centers on his classic novella-length short story 'The House of the Sleeping Beauties.' Its one of his best known works, considered to be his finest by many.
The premise revolves round a 64 year old man contemplating the end of his life since the marriage of his 3 daughters, who is introduced to a house where, for a fee, an old man can sleep (literally) with a young girl put into a profound sleep. She will not awake. She will never know him or remember him. This is not about sex, although the narrator humors himself that he is still strong enough to perform. This is about memory and age. The girls bring up sucessive memories of his life and varying emotions. He becomes quite addicted to the feelings and the sleep.
Well-written, but slow and contemplative. It doesn't really solidify into more then that and the reader is left thinking of their own aging process. The real ending isn't really on the page, but in your mind and how you interpret Eguchi's whole journey.
Grade: 8, but definitely not for everyone
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 11/13/2006 1:38:52 PM
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Nocturnalux
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Oh, I've been planning to read Iris Murdoch's The Sea, the Sea, for ages now. But for one reason or another I never do.
And now:
The City of the Sun (Civitas Solis) by Tommaso Campanella (translated into Portuguese by Álvaro Ribeiro)
The City of the Sun is a utopian text, one that self-consciously assumed itself as such. The author, explicitly stems his work on its more direct forerunners, to boot: Plato's Republic and Thomas More's Utopia. As such, it comes as no surprise that the text is structured as a dialogue between two parties: a sea captain that has visited the City of the Sun and grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller that enquires about this insofar unknown place.
The description of the City of the Sun is thorough and includes such diverse aspects as geography, political system, social organization, religious and philosophical beliefs, techniques and traditions. Thus we learn that this city is very vast, placed on a great hill, in a vague location somewhere between India and the Taprobane. A series of concentric circles form the body of this city and each circle contains information, in the shape of paintings, that serve a didactic purpose. There are three principal magistrates in the City: that of Love (that handles all matters of reproduction), that of Wisdom (which basically interprets the cosmos) and that of Potence (that is responsible for all war related affairs). All these are overseen and controlled by a strangely ambiguous figure called "Hoh" or, occasionally, "The Metaphysical". These four powers are in constant dialogue and appoint all lesser magistrates.
Education plays a very important role in the City. All children, regardless of gender, have the same basic education that must cover the liberal arts, science, technical arts, all tempered with a healthy dose of physical exercise.
The ideal that presides the City is one that places the community above the individual, and this is a point that the author never tires of stressing. As such, the division of means and goods rests on merit and not on dynastic values. Property is taken as public, and all rewards are sanctioned by the magistrates on the grounds of personal contribute to the common cause.
This election of the common above the private has some strange consequences. For example, not only does all property belong to the Republic as so do women. Abolishing the concept of marriage, the Solarians have no defined couples. Procriation is defined according to the influences of the stars which is settled by the magistrate of Love. Since the idea is to create a perfect offspring the pairings of parents-to-be do not take into account personal preference but physical and moral qualities that combined might create a better generation. This is a rather touchy issue and the author felt the need to add an appendix to the dialogue itself in which he justifies this sharing of the female part of the city. Taking as his main authority Plato, Campenella in a very scholastic system of refusal and justification, sets out to prove that this situation is according to Natural Law and that since the Solarians lack the law of Revelation, there is nothing wrong in it. Which is odd, since we are told that these same people are familiar with the gospels.
Another appendix was added to justify the abolition of private property and this particular argumentation takes as its authorities the Primitive Church in which all was owned by the whole, which avoided the great ill of the world: avarice. Thus Campanella concludes that this is the true Apostolic way of life which goes against what he had already stated, ie: the Solarians have no revealed religion.
The author was very well versed in matters of law and he turns it to his advantage on this appendixes. Unfortunately, anyone not into the meanders of Renaissance law might find his argumentation puzzling to say the least. Perhaps the most relevant aspect of these appendixes is the defence of the utopic genre as a paragon to be emulated even if it is impossible to accomplish.
References to the discoveries and the importance given to mechanical accomplishments (the Solarians only work a few hours per days as their technology allows them to spend most of the time in salubrious leisure; the Solarians apparently have built flying machines as well ships without sails or oars) as well as to philosophical and scientifical issues (the City possesses a great library and its inhabitants are invited to partake from as much knowledge as possible) clears grounds this work in the Renaissance.
A few areas are shady and perhaps deliberately obscure, like the religion of the Solarians, which strikes me as some proto-Christianity mixed with a pan-paganism of a mystical tendency.
Overall, I'd advice The City of the Sun to anyone who is curious about Utopian literature, political science, literature in general or philosophy.
_____________________________
I am an agnostic but I mean no harm.
*Lux et Veritas*
Light, where art thou.
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RE: Book Reviews - 11/21/2006 11:22:18 PM
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angelatwork
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"Be Still: Let Jesus Calm Your Storms" by Cherie Hill, This is a MUST read.
Be Still, Let Jesus Calm Your Storms, by Cherie Hill is an inspiring book that Christians, as well as all individuals who are seeking peace in a chaotic world, will find to be life-changing. Regardless of where readers are in their walk with God, the words of the author and her use of Scripture to support her advice and encouragement will enable them to understand much more about faith and how it is the path that gives peace of mind in all situations. The faith, however, must be in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.
When I first realized that this book was based upon Scripture which describes how Jesus, who was awakened by the frightened disciples, calmed the storm, I thought I probably wouldn't glean much new information from the familiar passages. But was I ever wrong!
As I read the pages of this book, I began to understand just how powerful this particular incident could be to individuals if only they would choose to apply the doctrine to their own lives. The author makes it ever so clear that readers can overcome any storm in life by trusting in God's Word.
Let me briefly touch upon some of the issues that Cherie Hill addresses in her book...revelations that she so clearly brings to light, using her easy-to-understand teaching skills, and various selections of Scripture. In the beginning I decided to highlight in yellow the sections that were particularly meaningful to me, and the result was a book that now appears to have been printed on yellow paper.
The author reminds readers of Jesus' assurance that during our lifetimes, we will have many trials and sorrows (John 16:33 NLT). She explains that, just like the disciples, we have seen or personally experienced miraculous events, and yet we may remain uncertain as to the author of these events. It wasn't until the disciples witnessed the calming of the dangerous storm, that they became convinced Jesus was truly the Son of God. Although the disciples were expert fishermen and had undoubtedly been through many storms on the Sea of Galilee, God used an area where they felt most confident to bring them to the end of themselves so that they would turn to Him. Jesus calmed, not only the external, raging storm, but more importantly, the internal storms within the fishermen. Cherie Hill believes that He is ready and eager to do the same for all of us if we simply ask with faith.
When bad things happen to us, it is all too easy to ask God, "Why me?" But in this fallen world, we learn to expect the unexpected. However, the author continually reminds us that we are not alone in the storm; just as Jesus was with the disciples during the squall, He is with us if only we acknowledge His presence. Since Jesus overcame the world, He will help us do the same with the many storms we encounter. Instead of looking past Jesus who could save us, or trying to bail water out of a capsizing vessel, we need to be in the back of the boat with Jesus who is asleep, relying on the power of God the Father. We need to "be still" and listen with faith.
The author addresses the following questions that all of us have probably asked ourselves at one time or another: Does God really care? How do we hear God? How do we distinguish God's voice from that of Satan's? Why does God want us to be in the eye of our storms? How do we choose faith over fear? Why do we lose hope? What is the difference between God's peace and the peace of the world? Faith is a gift from God, but how can we receive this gift? How do we get more faith? How can we be sure our faith is real? Why do we place limitations upon God? How is it possible that "being still" requires action? If we surrender our lives to God, won't we feel out of control? What is the difference between reacting to life and responding to it? How can an individual experience peace or rise above the storms when our lives are falling apart because of a terminal illness, death of a loved one, loss of a job, a nation hit by terrorism, and a world that seems determined to destroy itself?
It is my hope that readers will memorize many of the Scripture verses that Mrs. Hill presents throughout the book. This cannot be emphasized too much as Scripture is our greatest weapon when we combat the enemy. As pointed out by the author, when Satan tempted Jesus, He answered with Scripture. I recently woke up in a large diagnostic hospital, apparently having an MRI after being rushed there from another hospital by ambulance. Having lost seven hours of my memory, I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there, but I found myself saying Scripture that I had memorized. I wasn't in the boat alone so I simply rested with Him, unafraid of the strange surroundings, unafraid of my memory loss, and unafraid of the loud noises from the testing. This is a MUST READ book that will enable you to face the storms of your life with faith and not fear.
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RE: Book Reviews - 12/17/2006 9:43:04 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Book 2 in the Ender's Game quartet (see side thread), Andrew Wiggen is now 35 years old and travels from world to world as a Speaker for the Dead, a humanist answer to clergyman and eulogy. He learns of someone's life and speaks the truth, both good and bad, about them. A new alien race is found, one not as technically evolved as the human race and they are being protected by a ban on communication and trade. When one of the Xenologer's (alien anthropologists) is killed by them many question the ability to keep peace with the new race.
Card manages to keep things complex, especially when discussing misunderstandings between species and religions. Ender is too perfect though. He needed some flaws in my opinion. Reads fairly quickly.
Grade: 8 (humanism)
_____________________________
Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/10/2007 3:44:58 PM
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Nocturnalux
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Ghosts (Gengangere) by Henrik Ibsen (translated into English by Peter Watts)
This play is Ibsen at his darkest, most desperate and forlorn. Rather short, the emotional intensity takes a while to settle but once it does it only thickens until the very ending: probably one of the most anguish filled finales of all time. The plot revolves around a widow who sent her only son away so that he might not be corrupted by the sinful ways of his father. Mr. Alving, the deceased father and husband, kept a spotless reputation thanks primarily to Mrs. Alving desperate attempts to keep the truth from being known. Osvald, the son, eventually returns to the quiet Norwegian town where the action takes place, only to learn some shocking things about his father's conduct, his own blood line and the secret to a strange malady that plagues him.
The scenes between mother and son reminded me of Hamlet and Gertrude, even if the tone is completely different: yet they both contain the same heart shattering sincerity that many times gets lost amidst words. This is a dark outlook on human condition, on sacrifices wasted that amount to nothing, of the insidous power of corruption that overlaps generations and consumes all.
Especially interesting is the theme of euthanasia at the end, something that one would not expect to find in a late 19th century play.
_____________________________
I am an agnostic but I mean no harm.
*Lux et Veritas*
Light, where art thou.
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/15/2007 10:30:08 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
Book 3 of the Ender series. This series has come a long way since the original Ender's Game. I see the first novel as a good youth novel. The pace if pretty quick and the situations don't get more complex then a youth novel. The second novel (The Speaker for the Dead) was a lot more complex, definitely an adult novel and an adult interested in religion and family dynamics. This third one takes that maturity even further. I'm sure there was at least 1 ethical/moral/religious thought per chapter and often more than one. It was dense. The middle section was a bit slow but the end brought twist after twist. Definitely a middle novel though. It ended on an unfinished note.
This one concerns the myriad characters involved in saving the planet Lusitania, the only planet to house 3 (or is it 4?) sentient species, and it's eminent distruction by the Council of Planets for refusing to send two of it's Xenologers (alien anthropologists) for trial on a different world. The warships are fitted with a bomb known as the Little Doctor. Each faction has it's own motivations and viewpoint. Many want the same thing but for different reasons and in different ways. Card keeps the human complexity of politics and adds some theoretical physics and genetics for fun.
I liked this one much better than the last one. Andrew (Ender) got too perfect in Speaker for the Dead and in this one he's taken down a few notches which makes him a much better character. I enjoyed the denseness of the writing, although I can't remember half of his ideas and I didn't always agree with him.
Grade:8.75 extremely dense and filled with ethical challenges
_____________________________
Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/16/2007 11:40:09 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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Surprised by Joy: The Shape of my Early Life by CS Lewis
Memories of his road from childhood through his conversion in adulthood. Some interesting things. A little philosophy as you get near the end. It's interesting how he made his conversion in such an intellectual way.
Worthwhile.
Grade: 7.8
_____________________________
Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/21/2007 8:35:00 PM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1195
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From: somewhere over the rainbow
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The Stand by Stephen King
Grade: 9 (didn't give it a 10 for graphic language and scenarios)
Everyone has probably heard of this book (or at least the TV miniseries that aired in the 90s), but if you haven't read The Stand yet I would recommend it. The story starts in the summer of 1990, June, and slowly introduces the main characters (both the good guys and the bad guys) in the days prior and during the superflu epidemic. The Stand is the classic good vs. evil story. The virus, a creation of the U.S. government, escaps its underground laboratory in the California desert by way of a scared, panicky Army guard by the name of Campion who takes his family and flees eastward. By some glitch of bad luck (for the rest of the country) he was able to escape his security post prior to the lab's automatic containment procedures. He sets in motion the beginning of the end for everyone, except those lucky (or unlucky) survivors that are immune to the flu. At first, no one is aware the flu is anything to worry about, as it comes across as the common cold or flu, but that changes as people start dying left and right. King gives a thorough description of how society falls apart as 'Captain Trips' (as the flu is called) sweeps through the country and how the main characters get caught up in the madness during those brief few weeks it ran its course.
If that wasn't bad enough for those left alive to struggle to survive in this desolate landscape, they also have to contend with the "Dark Man", the "Walkin' Dude", that "Imp of Satan" who is marshalling all the bad apples left in America in, what city but Las Vegas. On the other side is Mother Abigail, a 108 year old woman from Nebraska representing good. All the survivors have terrifying dreams of a faceless man, sometimes a red Eye, the dark man. But, there are those who also have dreams of endless cornfileld and an old black woman sitting in a rocker on her front porch singing hymns and strumming on a guitar. The dark man and Mother Abigail are both calling to different types of people that will result in a showdown, a Stand of good vs. evil.
Once I started reading, the book pulled me in and King describes the characters in such detail that you almost feel like you know each one personally and feel for them as they slowly come to realize that the society and life they knew slowly crumbles around them. You feel their shock at the chaos in the aftermath, the numbness as loved ones die before their eyes, the terror of it all. He is able to describe what the characters go through and feel so well, you understand the emotions they feel because you are going through it with them. You see the desloation and bleakness of the cities and towns through their eyes, how they are empty of all life, now just huge tombs for the dead. King breathes life into these characters, and you end up sympathizing for the characters and their situation. Even the ones that end up siding with the dark man (for example, Trashcan Man. I won't go into detail, but you'll understand if you read the book). All the characters have a choice. They can side for good or they can side for evil. The dark man never forces anyone to come to him, though he utilizes all the pyschological terror and fears in dream to try to sway each person to his side, everyone that sided with him came willingly.
The book was hard to put down, their world became my world. If there was any fault in the book it would be the explicit language and scenes in some parts of the book. And the ending was somewhat disappointing but the first 1000 pages more than made up for that. Oh, that was another matter I forgot. The book is extremely lengthy, at 1100+ pages, but it moves along and it doesn't seem so bad.
_____________________________
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/22/2007 12:39:50 AM
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Nocturnalux
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I quite enjoyed "The Stand". It might be King's best book.
_____________________________
I am an agnostic but I mean no harm.
*Lux et Veritas*
Light, where art thou.
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/22/2007 10:39:25 AM
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Auben
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From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
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I think so too. You can tell where he got writer's block and how the entire book changes from that point, but it was very good.
I just finished Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
Honestly, it was very much a romance novel. I'm not really into those. I spent too much time predicting how many times she'd be threatened by rape or he would get beat up. She did a wonderful job with research and I thought the honeymoon intimacy portrayed to be realistic and well done. She has a good sense of pace and storytelling.
There is sex, lots of sex (and I do mean lots), between a married couple.
Grade: 7.5 (well done, but this is the best I can do for a romance novel..they tend to be predictable)
_____________________________
Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/22/2007 3:40:01 PM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1195
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Nocturnalux
I quite enjoyed "The Stand". It might be King's best book.
Yah, though I did get annoyed at some of the characters and how dense they could be sometimes. Fran's whining and helplessness got annoying and Larry's self-hate/doubt got tiring too. Sometimes I wanted to shake some sense into them, but of course they are only characters in a book.  Just goes to show how great of a job King did with this book in creating his characters. I had other quibbles, but not enough to detract from the book. Overall, it was a really good book.
_____________________________
O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/22/2007 7:38:56 PM
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Nocturnalux
Posts: 192
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I *hate* edited versions...I'd ban them off the face of the Earth, if I could.
If there is one thing that can be said about King's books is that they hardly ever make good movies. Nine out of ten, the theatrical adaptation is simplistic and very crude, not to mention these tend to look like very cheap productions.
It was also a great book. I lost contact with King's works over the years as I grew into other kinds of literature, but I still find some of his books to be of interest, especially the earlier ones.
_____________________________
I am an agnostic but I mean no harm.
*Lux et Veritas*
Light, where art thou.
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RE: Book Reviews - 1/27/2007 10:15:40 PM
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rnershigh
Posts: 1195
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From: somewhere over the rainbow
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IT by Stephen King
Don't go by the movie, you must read this book to get the whole story of IT. The movie doesn't do the book justice at all, you really don't get to know and understand the characters.
This book is more than about a horrifying shape-changing monster, It, that murders people, adults and children. Yes, this is a horror book and has depictions of gruesome and terrifying scenes, but that's not really all that the story is about and you can't just shrug and group this book into the "just another horror book" category with the likes of Bentley Little, Simon Clark, Richard Laymon, or even Dean Koontz (another author I love to read). It goes much deeper than your typical horror book. It is about deep friendship and love, about goodness, facing fears, bittersweet childhood, and growing up.
The book is really two stories in one, the first set in 1985, and the second as a series of flashbacks to the summer of 1958 in Derry, Maine. Every 27 years (give or take a year or two) It comes back and goes on a terror spree in Derry, Maine. It is a cycle that goes back even before there was a Derry. It pervades the very streets of Derry (you might say it is the essence of the town) and possibly is the cause of all the stife and violence that has occured there. What is It? I won't give that away, but it's interesting what explanation (if you could call it that) King gives for what It is and where It comes from. The movie never really goes into where It comes from, and the book goes into more detail and even has a few sections where It is talking from its point of view.
Anyways, It is a part of Derry, in the sewers and drains, living there before there was even a town called Derry. Its favorite guise is Pennywise the clown, with a silver suit and orange pom-pom buttons and a handful of ballons. Seven children: Bill Denbrough, Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Stan Uris. Each confronted It and almost defeated It in 1958, and all have vowed with blood to come back and kill It for good if the killings ever start up again. They each encountered It in its many guises, and lived through it. Somehow, they are all fated to come together during that summer to fight It. In the present time, 1985, the seven children who are now adults are called back to Derry to finish what they started back in the summer of 1958.
King is at his best with his characters. I loved the characters in this book. King goes into detail with each one, infusing life into the characters, so much so you feel like you know each one personally. I didn't have one favorite character, they each completed the other and made the "Loser's Club of the Barrens": There was Stuttering Bill (or Big Bill as he's called by his friends) the leader of the group, Trashmouth Richie and his many Voices, highstrung and nervous Eddie with his aspirator always handy, Stan quiet and thoughtful, Bev the tough but vulnerable girl, Ben "Haystack" who despite his weight was endearing, and Mike steady and always there. You can feel the love, affection, and bond of friendship they have for one another in their good-natured ribbing and teasing, that easy bantering back and forth among each other, and in the various activities that bond them closer as a group (the building of the clubhouse or the Great Rockfight against the bullies). So at the end of the book, you feel and understand the love mixed with sorrow Mike feels when he thinks of his childhood friends.
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O Grave! where is thy Victory?
O Death! where is thy Sting?
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/7/2007 11:18:48 AM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card (book 4 in the Ender quartet)
Not as completely dense with complex moral ideas as Xenocide. Much easier to get through. Xenocide impressed me with its intelligence but it tired me out. I finished this just to feel some closure.
Brings all the characters (Ender, Miro, Jane, Peter, Val, Wang-mu) to their endpoint. I read in the back that Xenocide and this were all one book (that would have been 1100-1200 pages) but they decided to divide it and I could see why. He uses some interesing WWII Japanese history in this.
Grade: 7.9 Don't read unless you've read the others. I think even Card was getting a bit tired, even so it's good. Just not to the level of the other 3 books.
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/7/2007 6:47:21 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien
Candidate for US Senate John Ward finds himself poison after allegations of a massacre in Vietnam surface during the election. He and his wife Kathy retire to the north woods to recuperate. While John explores his rage at his loss, Kathy expresses her relief. When Kathy disappears one morning it is not completely clear what happened. How much did Vietnam damage John, and how much did his father's death affect him? Did Kathy simply walk away?
This novel slowly unravels with straightforward narration mixed with quotations from characters (like a journalist or biographer would do) and books. Nearing the end the writer goes through the varying possibilities of what could have happened.
Not bad. Some parts of it were really engaging (the beginning when you are working off of speculation). Others are repetitive or dull.
Grade: 7
< Message edited by Auben -- 2/8/2007 4:20:12 PM >
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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RE: Book Reviews - 2/8/2007 4:33:36 PM
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Auben
Posts: 1611
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: Where pines tower and cranberries float
Status: offline
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Where Rivers Change Direction by Mark Spragg
A book of life essays from the writer of An Unfinished Life and A Fruit of Stone. Mark Spragg grew up on a dude ranch near Yosemite, Wyoming. The oldest dude ranch in the state. He was hired by his parents at a young age and grew up in the bunkhouse. He tells the tales of hard and lonely men. He talks of horses and boys growing up.
This is such a man's book, highly recommended in that respect. It's well-written, although I think the last few essays become overly introspective and clogged with adjectives. Spragg is obviously a man who loves Wyoming and understands a bit about boys growing up.
grade:8.75 the last few essays bring it down a bit, occasional salty cowboy language and rough situations
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Tamara
~Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time~
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