Entries tagged with "books"
Hey, look over there!
posted by srah on March 18, 2008 5:57 PM
I guest-posted at Jamelah.net today. So if you're interested in insane rants on the intersection of food and children's literature, that is where you should be....
As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University
posted by srah on March 16, 2008 12:01 PM
Tags: books, his dark materials, the little prince
I am almost finished listening to the audiobook of The Amber Spyglass, the third book of the His Dark Materials series¹. I started thinking about animal form my dæmon would have if I lived in Lyra's world. The Intarnets tell me that it would be this: #58;//go ldencompassmovie.com/goldenCompass_blog.swf?id=1128656"> Apparently I have twelve days before my dæmon settles, and if you don't think this form accurately represents me, you all have some influence in changing it by clicking above (if you can't see the button to go to the next question, it's that brown area in the bottom right corner). I'm...
Interviewed by The Collective
posted by srah on March 15, 2008 6:46 PM
Tags: blogging, books, christmas, holidays, how nancy drew saved my life, interviews, movies, musicals, ohio
It's been over a week since The Collective invited readers to be interviewed. I asked for questions then forgot about it for a while, but here - at last - are my answers to their questions. From Jennie!: 1) Why does Ohio insist on throwing more snow at us? Why? From heather! anne!: 2) What is the all-time best Christmas movie? The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It makes me tear up every time I see Imogene taking her earrings out to look more like Mary, or hear that Leroy left the ham behind for the Baby Jesus. "It's a present....
Purple haze all in his brain
posted by srah on January 28, 2008 10:12 PM
Tags: books, jane austen, mansfield park, movies
Mansfield Park is possibly my least favorite Jane Austen novel. I'm actually not sure exactly how I would rank all of her novels - it would be something like: Persuasion/Pride & Prejudice (tie)Northanger Abbey/Sense & Sensibility (tie)Emma/Mansfield Park (tie) I have a general idea of how much I liked them, but I've also never sat down and read each one in succession and my memories of the books are very much influenced by the movie versions. Mansfield Park, I think, suffers the worst from this, because I've never been satisfied by a movie version. Although I'm not that fond of...
The hero/ Under the stairs is now the man who holds/ Our last true prayer
posted by srah on December 10, 2007 7:42 PM
Tags: books, driving, harry potter, harry potter and the deathly hallows
Listening to Harry Potter books-on-tape while driving seems like a good idea, until you're driving in the rain at the end of Deathly Hallows and you have to see through two levels of moisture. I don't have windshield wipers for my tears! http://youtube.com/watch?v=tXClBpytvRg Good news: I was actually sad when Dobby died this time. Apparently Jim Dale's narration added something to the story that was not there when The Voice Inside Srah's Head was reading the book last summer. Is it 2010 yet?...
And if we all could spread a little sunshine
posted by srah on November 17, 2007 12:04 AM
Tags: books, nablopomo, nablopomo 2007, reviews, the lovely bones
My most recent listen-in-the-car endeavor is The Lovely Bones, which is an interesting story but very strangely told. I'm not sure now if I would have liked it better if I'd read the text version rather than listening to the audio book, but I suspect that's the case. I have a feeling that the flowery and metaphorical language that bothered me might have been less noticeable if I had read it rather than having it read to me. For example: She asked for coffee and toast in a restaurant and buttered it with tears. - "Snapshots" What? Did she butter...
Henry Tilney: Women love him, women want to be him
posted by srah on October 25, 2007 12:41 PM
Tags: books, jane austen, northanger abbey
I'm currently listening to the audiobook version of Northanger Abbey. It got me up to Michigan and back this weekend, and I still have a tape or two to finish off on my short jaunts around town. I had the clever idea that I was going to blog about how I could identify with both the heroine, Catherine Morland, and the hero, Henry Tilney, but then I discovered that I wrote exactly that almost exactly five years ago when I read the book for the first time. There is nothing new under the sun! I am fortunate, I suppose, to...
I raise my mug of Bunsen-burner hot cocoa to you
posted by srah on September 12, 2007 7:23 PM
Tags: a swiftly tilting planet, a wind in the door, a wrinkle in time, books, madeleine l'engle, rip
"It was a dark and stormy night." - A Wrinkle in Time, opening line I was saddened to read this weekend of the passing of Madeleine L'Engle, one of my favorite authors. After reading the articles I realize it has been years since I read A Wrinkle in Time, so that is my current bedside reading for this week. For years I've thought that the other books in the Time Quartet - A Wind in the Door, Many Waters and A Swiftly Tilting Planet - were better than the first book in the series, but upon rereading, this one is...
Don't kill Arthur Weasley!
posted by srah on July 19, 2007 8:46 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the deathly hallows, walking
While I was out for a walk last week I passed the textbook store in town where I had reserved my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I dropped in to ask about their Harry Potter festivities, because I could remember being told that they were opening sometime before midnight, but I couldn't remember the exact time. I asked the woman behind the counter what time they were opening for Harry Potter and she said, "11:45. 11:40. Half an hour before midnight." I don't know if she was just making it up as she went along, if she...
Oh waaah waaah, my life is so hard.
posted by srah on July 18, 2007 9:29 PM
One of the nice things about being a grown-up is that I have a lot more free time for fun-reading in the evenings than I did when I was a student and had to do school-reading all the time or feel guilty about the school-reading I wasn't doing. One of the bad things about being a grown-up is that I only ever seem to want to sit down and read a book when it's time to leave for work. Alas, I have to go to work instead of reading, so it is taking me forever to finish the multiple books...
Coughing up the galleons...
posted by srah on May 16, 2007 5:46 PM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the deathly hallows
My copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now on reserve at my local bookstore. I forgot that I even had a local bookstore until someone pointed out to me this week that one of the textbook stores in town also has a collection of real books. That's nice. I hadn't yet figured out how I was going to get Harry Potter, but I thought it would involve either driving an hour to Cincinnati, going up to Michigan for the weekend or hoping that they had it at Meijers. None of them had the right combination of: a)...
Is this a kissing book movie?
posted by srah on April 22, 2007 8:22 PM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the deathly hallows, harry potter and the order of the phoenix, movies
Hooray! Lots of action and tension... and I don't just mean the awful, awkward Harry/Cho kissing situation. And while we're at it... [new international trailer via dollsome]...
So nice they named it twice! The other name is Manhattan.
posted by srah on March 29, 2007 7:15 PM
Tags: books, new york city, stamford, the baby-sitters' club, the office, travel, tv
At the end of April, I will spend a weekend visiting one of our study abroad providers in Stamford, Connecticut. Yes, that Stamford, would-be home of Dunder-Mifflin Northeast and the next major town to Stoneybrook. Wow. I am so awesome. Why don't I have any friends around here, again? In addition to visiting super-dibble Stamford, there will also be a "social outing" to New York City. It will be so special I might even call it... Super Special! Then I will glue glitter and feathers on my Kid-Kit and-- wait, what was I talking about? New York intimidates me more...
If I meet him in heaven, I'm leaving
posted by srah on March 29, 2007 6:45 PM
Tags: books, comics, employee health and well-being, health, mitch albom, unshelved
I recently signed up for a lunchtime program sponsored by the Office of Employee Health and Well-Being, where participants are all supposed to walk from their workplaces to a designated place on campus, then learn about something related to happy/healthy living. I skipped the first week because the theme was line dancing, which makes me the opposite of happy. Then after I signed up, I found that the last week - which was supposed to be about "journaling" - has been replaced with something that threatens to make me even less happy than line dancing: a book discussion about Mitch...
Pumpkins and shoes!
posted by srah on March 8, 2007 9:07 PM
Tags: books, movies, the no. 1 ladies' detective agency
Mma Ramotswe is coming to film! I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, I'm excited about the opportunity to expose The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to a wider audience, but on the other hand, I don't see how any movie can measure up to my mental image of the book or any actress to my mental image of Precious Ramotswe. It is nice to see, though that the movie is actually being filmed in Botswana. If nothing else, we will get to see the scenery!...
'Give her hell from us, Peeves.'
posted by srah on January 24, 2007 12:33 PM
Tags: books, books on tape, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
For more than a month now, I have been working my way through the book-on-tape of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's such a long book that I haven't reread it since it first came out, and I thought I probably ought to have a refresher before the movie comes out. The book-on-tape format works well for a book like this - I just pick up where I left off every time I get in the car and don't have to lug that huge tome around. I started it before driving up to Michigan for Christmas, have...
The No. 1 Ladies' Hair-Teasin' and Veranda-Sittin' Agency
posted by srah on November 8, 2006 10:31 PM
Tags: books, how nancy drew saved my life, reviews, the no. 1 ladies' detective agency
She was a traditionally built lady, after all, and she did not have to worry about dress size, unlike those poor, neurotic people who were always looking in mirrors and thinking that they were too big. What was too big, anyway? Who was to tell another person what size they should be? It was a form of dictatorship, by the thin, and she was not having any of it. If these thin people became any more insistent, then the more generously sized people would just have to sit on them. Yes, that would teach them! Hah!- Morality for Beautiful Girls...
'I'm not a Frenchie! I'm a Belgie!'
posted by srah on November 22, 2005 5:02 PM
Tags: agatha christie, books, books on tape, evil under the sun
I've taken up listening to audiobooks in the car. For someone like apete, who actually has a commute from home to work, this makes sense. For me, it's a little weirder, because I live about five minutes from work. But I'm enjoying my literature, even if it does just come in short bursts. It's also accompanied me to such exciting destinations as Cincinnati and Delightful Downtown Hamilton (just minutes from shopping and fun!), which the format is a bit better suited for. The current audiobook in question is Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun, as read by David Suchet. Mr...
Super dibble adventures of the freshest kind!!!
posted by srah on August 17, 2005 12:31 PM
Tags: books
There are an awful lot of people out there (myself included) who wasted their formative years learning more than anyone needed to know about Kid-Kits, silly-billy-goo-goos, and Jenny Prezzioso's family situation. Fortunately, today some of those people have put their knowledge to good use in the form of Baby-sitters Club fan fiction. There is, frighteningly enough, lots of serious BSC fan fiction out there, where people are so enamoured with the series that they had to continue their fabulous adventures (including the never-ending repetition of the character introductions, from Kristy's MILLIONAIRE!!!!11oneone stepfather to Claudia's almond eyes and perfect complexion to...
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: My thoughts
posted by srah on July 17, 2005 2:55 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the half-blood prince, hermione granger, lavender brown, neville longbottom, ron weasley, weasleys
I went to Borders last night with Alfie to pick up her reserved copy of the book. It was a bit of a zoo. When we picked up Order of the Phoenix at Waldenbooks, we stood in a line of about thirty people, picked up the book and were probably home by 12:30. At Borders this year, we were given a number somewhere in the 500s and everyone milled around until midnight, which was when they finally started lining people up by number. We were home by about 1:45. Zonk. Interesting, though: When we bought Order of the Phoenix, the...
Christmas in July!
posted by srah on July 16, 2005 12:55 PM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the half-blood prince
Alan Rickman must have left it in my mailbox, for that's where I found it. Apparently Ann Arbor's UPS deliveryfolks only work a half-day on Saturdays, so some of their Harry Potter deliveries were outsourced to the US Post Office. Pictures are taken, blog is blogged. Now to get reading!...
I would settle for Rupert Grint! But that's kind of gross!
posted by srah on July 14, 2005 3:59 PM
Tags: alan rickman, books, harry potter, harry potter and the half-blood prince, rupert grint
To follow up on a previous post: From the delivery reports so far, it looks like all of the deliveries are being made by celebrities who have something to do with what's being delivered. This is fair - if Dale Jarrett showed up on my doorstep, I believe my exact reaction would be, "Hey.... Guy in a Jumpsuit.... It's really amazing to actually meet you in person, Guy in a Jumpsuit. I'm a big fan of... whatever it is you do. Oh well. At least I got my Harry Potter book. Bye." But in something I read about the promotion,...
Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I deliver orders to just one person: you.
posted by srah on July 8, 2005 12:40 AM
Tags: books, harrison ford, harry potter, harry potter and the half-blood prince
I can picture it now... *doorbell rings* *srah races to the door to collect her Amazon delivery* *delivery-person hands srah a box* *srah's jaw drops* *srahfamily's collective jaws drop* "Don't everyone thank me at once." If Han Solo delivers my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a week from Saturday, I'm going to... ... I don't know. Take a picture of him or something. I'm such a wimp....
'Mr Blythe: no one cuter in the Maritimes!'
posted by srah on June 30, 2005 1:06 PM
Tags: anne of green gables, books, musicals
Holy crap. In my series of embarassing revelations about my fascination with Anne of Green Gables, I shall tell you that I have just discovered Anne & Gilbert: The Island Love Story, a musical based on Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island. It makes me feel like I could... I don't know... sing in a saloon? (Why is this music so catchy? I really want to hate this more than I do! Don't tell.) [via... um, ahem, L.M. Montgomery Fan Fiction]...
Book #6 approacheth!
posted by srah on June 26, 2005 10:46 PM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the half-blood prince
Order your copy today!ERRORYou do not have Javascript enabled.Until the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!Hogwartsmagic.com Thanks to Katie, mine shall be delivered to my very own front door! At last, in nineteen days, there will finally be something blogworthy in my life!...
My (shameful?) escape to Prince Edward Island
posted by srah on June 17, 2005 3:49 PM
Tags: anne of green gables, books, fan fiction
Please tie your shoes, because you are going to want to sprint away as far as you can get from me and my blog. You may then wish to shower in order to cleanse yourself and perhaps to rinse out your eyes in order to recover from the horror which I am about to type: This summer, I have really gotten into reading Anne of Green Gables fan fiction. Oh my god. I actually wrote it down. In general, I find that fan fiction is rubbish. The characters do things they never would have done under the original author's power,...
'I've never killed anyone... with a hammer.'
posted by srah on April 14, 2005 10:27 PM
Tags: books, david sedaris
Dear David (since I'm all about the open letters this week), IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou and I kinda want to be you. Your loving gnome, SRAH...
Another meme
posted by srah on March 25, 2005 9:47 PM
Tags: attraction, books, boys, calvin o'keefe, gilbert blythe, memes
I was tagged! What's to be done? 1. You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451 - which book do you want to be? This is a strange question. What difference does it make, if they're all going to be burned? I guess Dante's Inferno, just for the sake of irony and because I've never read it. 2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Trillions. From books, Gilbert Blythe and Calvin O'Keefe come to mind. 3. The last book you bought is: I bought some books as Christmas presents... but I never have time to read anymore. :( So...
Required reading... and viewing
posted by srah on March 15, 2005 5:28 PM
Tags: 1776, blackadder, books, dave barry, gilbert and sullivan, jeeves and wooster, just shoot me, monty python, movies, sideways stories from wayside school, srahfam, star wars, the pirates of penzance, the stupids, three by the sea
I realized today that there are certain things that should be a prerequisite for anyone hoping to be "in" with srahfamily*. Srahfamily is, of course, the coolest family on earth and everyone wants to be "in" with them. But first you must understand the organizational culture by way of its cultural artifacts!**. This is an attempt to chronicle some of the things that are most often quoted or referred to around here (in some cases I have included a favorite quote because I just can't help myself!): BooksThe Stupids Die ("This isn't heaven - this is Cleveland!")Dave Barry's Book of...
Half-Blood Prince release date announced!
posted by srah on December 21, 2004 12:57 PM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the half-blood prince
July16July16July16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11...
Libraries, libraries everywhere/ Nor any book to read
posted by srah on November 12, 2004 11:37 AM
Tags: books
I dream of a day where I will read books. Books that are not textbooks. Books that are in no way related to Information Architecture or Marketing or Reference Librarianship. Books that involve made-up characters, doing things like getting murdered. No one ever gets murdered in my InfoArch book and it really burns me up! I may have a brief chance to read such a thing ("fiction," I believe they call it, although it's been so long that the name sounds strange to me) during Christmas Break, but then it's another few months of non-fiction until I graduate. Grownups, will...
'Can it be true? That I hold here in my mortal hand a nugget of purest green?'
posted by srah on July 15, 2004 5:58 AM
Tags: assistantship, books, harry potter, harry potter and the sorcerer's stone, paris, travel
On our last night in France last year, at the end of the assistantship, Renata, Jenny and I went out for Indian food. We found a restaurant just by wandering around and I happened to look up and see that it was in the Rue Nicholas Flamel. At the time, I only knew Flamel as the "only known maker of the Philosopher's [or Sorcerer's] Stone" from the Harry Potter books, but it turns out that he really existed. Flamel was a fourteenth-century French alchemist and that he really was rumoured to possess the Philosopher's Stone, which is supposed to create...
'Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point.'
posted by srah on May 10, 2004 9:01 AM
Tags: a swiftly tilting planet, a wrinkle in time, books, movies
I read A Swiftly Tilting Planet this weekend and decided that Peter Jackson really ought to get in on the Wrinkle in Time action - that the Wrinkle in Time series deserved the same treatment as The Lord of the Rings and that he could probably do it. All through the Harry Potter Extravaganza last night (Sorcerer's Stone plus deleted scenes plus previews from Prisoner of Azkaban) they showed previews for a made-for-TV Disney miniseries of A Wrinkle in Time that airs on ABC tonight. Calvin doesn't have red hair. Mrs Murry isn't beautiful enough. Sandy and Dennys have disappeared....
'Everything that is, is information'
posted by srah on January 1, 2004 11:28 PM
Tags: books
"If first you will solemnly swear, up and down and cross your heart, that you will let us go, we will give you information, information about infinite information, that is, we will make you your very own Demon of the Second Kind, which is magical and thermodynamical, nonclassical and stochastical, and from any old barrel or even a sneeze it will extract information for you about everything that was, is, may be or ever will be." - Stanislaw Lem, The Cyberiad Stories, "The Sixth Sally, or How Trurl and Klapaucius Created a Demon of the Second Kind to Defeat the...
'Uncle! I'll nurse you back to health! With soup!'
posted by srah on December 18, 2003 2:57 AM
Tags: books, lord of the rings, lord of the rings: the return of the king, movies
Return of the King was The Book That Wouldn't End. The climax comes, then the book drags on forever, tying up millions of loose ends and telling you what everyone did for the rest of their lives. Even after taking out an important end sequence, Return of the King was The Movie That Wouldn't End. It was great, but the end was so very long and so very filmed in slow-motion. I also laughed inappropriately much too often, but that could be me. For example, I couldn't help but giggle every time Gondor's ridiculous helmets came onscreen. And seriously? They...
There is no Jekyll, only Hyde
posted by srah on August 3, 2003 10:09 PM
Tags: books, croswell opera house, music, theatre
I think one of the most damaging things you can do to yourself is to read The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Having read that, my rigid little mind can't accept people pronouncing Jekyll "jeck-ull" (it's "jeek-ull") or conveying Hyde as a huge green monster, and it makes me completely insane. Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding! I saw Jekyll & Hyde today at the Croswell Opera House and was extremely disappointed because a) it wasn't anything like the book, b) it wasn't very well written, and c) it wasn't a very good production. This was...
Happy birthday, J.K. and Harry!
posted by srah on July 31, 2003 11:39 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, j.k. rowling
Rowling is our Queen, Rowling is our Queen, She's raking all the shillings in*, Rowling is our Queen... Rowling will write everything, She won't leave out a single thing, That's why all her readers sing: Rowling is our Queen. * yes, I am aware that shillings don't exist anymore, but pounds didn't fit and dollars seemed inappropriate. not that shillings isn't. shut up....
'One more lesson like that and I might just do a Weasley.'
posted by srah on July 26, 2003 1:20 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
I did wonder about a few of these lines while reading Order of the Phoenix, but I certainly didn't catch all of them: Order of the Phoenix Fun-Tastic Innuendo List [via Somewhat, Muchly]...
Votre dévouée élève, qui vous aime de tout son coeur
posted by srah on July 24, 2003 12:07 AM
Tags: assistantship, books, french, grenoble, quote, reviews, teaching, the professor, vichy
While reading The Professor (thanks for suggesting it, Katie), I was full of fantasies about updating it (à la Pride & Prejudice/Bridget Jones), writing a novel loosely based on it, or bringing it to the big screen. The book is about an Englishman who is unhappy in his work, so he goes off to Belgium and teaches English. I like it despite the protagonist's airs of grandeur, because there are parts that remind me of my experiences as a teaching assistant in France. No man likes to acknowledge that he has made a mistake in the choice of his profession,...
Meesa meejahoor
posted by srah on July 22, 2003 7:03 PM
Tags: a mighty wind, books, harry potter, harry potter and the goblet of fire, movies, mr darcy's daughters, quote, the professor, time travel, writing
I am what Meg calls a meejahoor. Recently I have been constantly trying to read four or five books at the same time and watching movies when I come up for a breath of non-literary air. I think this is because I was deprived of English-language books and movies (or at least of selection) in France and I'm now so inundated with them that I gave myself and get in over my head. Read/viewed within the past week: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - it's a reread, but an interesting one, what with all I've learned in book...
Toutes les grandes personnes ont d'abord été des enfants
posted by srah on July 11, 2003 12:56 PM
I am rediscovering my love for Le petit prince. Unlike a lot of people I know, I didn't read The Little Prince as a kid. I wasn't even aware of it until we read it in my tenth grade French class. I quite enjoyed it, but I hadn't given it much thought in a while. Est-ce que mon dessin vous a fait peur?/ Pourquoi un chapeau ferait-il peur? There's now a French spectacle musicale based on the musical. We bought my sister the soundtrack, only to discover that she had a negligent tenth grade French teacher (this is saying a...
Muggle-born, Magic-educated
posted by srah on July 11, 2003 9:01 AM
Tags: ann arbor, books, harry potter, harry potter and the chamber of secrets, srahfam
'My name was down for Eton, you know, I can't tell you how glad I am I came here instead. Of course, mother was slightly disappointed, but since I made her read Lockhart's books I think she's begun to see how useful it'll be to have a fully trained wizard in the family..." -Justin Finch-Fletchley, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets My parents and I have had this conversation: If I had been accepted to Eton (which would have been surprising since I'm a girl) and Hogwarts (which would have been surprising because, as far as I'm aware, it...
A just but controlling God
posted by srah on July 9, 2003 11:14 AM
Tags: books
I would like to write a novel, but they say that once you get started, they sort of write themselves. I've been reading a lot of "How to Write" books recently that suggest that kind of thing, about building believable characters, and how they become real people. Once you get to know a character, it'll write itself. It comes to life, and takes off from there. Being a control-freak, I don't think I could handle that. I am in charge here, you are my character, and you will do what I tell you to do. I would like to write...
Potterholism as a cause for insomnia
posted by srah on June 29, 2003 3:10 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
I am awake and online at 3am because I remembered reading online that the prophecy in Book 5 was a lot less disappointing if you read very carefully everything that the Death Eaters say in the prophecy/fight scenes. The person who wrote this suggested rereading that section (or the whole book), and said that we should get it then. I did so, and I still didn't get it, and now I can't find the original post for more clues. I don't know if it was a blog-post or a comment somewhere, and neither Google nor Daypop has been helpful, and...
Harry Potter Meme
posted by srah on June 27, 2003 9:10 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix, memes
This post is going into hiding to prevent spoilers for those who haven't read Book 5. Read on, MacDuff....
No, I will not shut up about this
posted by srah on June 23, 2003 12:55 AM
Tags: arthur weasley, books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix, neville longbottom, remus lupin, ron weasley
But look, I'm so nice that I put questions 9-21 in the MORE... section, so you don't have to read them if you don't want to. That is how much I love you, dear readers. Beware minor Book 5 spoilers... 1. Favorite HP Book (1-4) and Why? Prisoner of Azkaban because it's more exciting and hopeful than Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. Goblet of Fire is good but long. It has parts that are better than PoA, but taken as a whole, PoA comes out on top. 2. Favorite Character(s) (try to stick with 3 or less) Ron Weasley,...
Because I can't talk about anything else this weekend...
posted by srah on June 22, 2003 11:19 PM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the sorcerer's stone
It's a shame when people won't even give Harry Potter a chance. His celebrity has gotten the best of him, and now half the people I read online seem to be refusing to read the books. If you think Harry Potter is kid stuff or just hype, I would ask you to read the first 30 pages or so of The Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. If it doesn't get you hooked, fine. But I like to think it will. Don't knock it till you've tried it!...
It is time for me to tell you...
posted by srah on June 21, 2003 4:25 PM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix, hermione granger, neville longbottom, ron weasley
Well, I'm done. And it was a really good book. Like Goblet of Fire, it dragged a bit at some parts in the middle, but finished with a bang. I laughed a lot (though less than in previous books), I cried a bit, and chapter 37 gave me goosebumps. I can't wait for Book 6 and am rather frightened that J.K. Rowling doesn't have a deadline for the last two books. I don't, however, think that Order of the Phoenix was a great book. I enjoyed it as an established Harry Potter fan. I liked to see the continuing adventures...
The spirit was willing, but...
posted by srah on June 21, 2003 10:54 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
Around 5am, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I went to sleep, about halfway through the book. Latest favorite bit: "Have a biscuit" (p. 248) I'm trying not to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but if you have, you should get it. I am in the late 400s now, and things are looking Extremely Bad. Romantic entanglements are annoying and disgusting me. No one is dead yet, but I'm hoping it will be a surprise death when it comes, because if it's the person they seem to be suggesting, it is shaping up...
Annoying loud girl jumping up and down at Waldenbooks? That would be me
posted by srah on June 21, 2003 1:10 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
Stood in line for an hour behind the likes of Mr and Mrs JDay, but now we haves it and it's our precioussssssssssszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Pardon me, nodding off already. Not sure I'll make it to the end, although Becky and I made a Meijers-run to stock up on supplies to get us through the night. I will be munching almonds and cottage cheese and honeydew (although not all together) and chocolate to get me through the tragic death of Whoever It May Be. Ah, the suspense....
Save all Weasleys! Take Cho Chang!
posted by srah on June 20, 2003 10:01 PM
Tags: books, ginny weasley, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
What if it's Ginny? WHAT IF IT'S GINNY? Two hours to go. I'm going crazy......
Don't call me this weekend; I'm busy
posted by srah on June 17, 2003 11:12 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
I can already predict that I will be nocturnal this weekend. My schedule will be thrown off by staying up until 1am to pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (not hairy pottery), then not being able to sleep until I've finished the 900+ page monster. When I finally got my hands on Goblet of Fire, I started in the morning or afternoon and stayed up until 4am, caught up in the book and sniffling. This time, Becky and I have each reserved our own copy so that I don't have to wait for...
I like to call it, "The Mighty Sister Act of Ducks II"
posted by srah on June 17, 2003 10:44 AM
Tags: books
Robin and I are going to write romance novels this summer, but I'm having trouble taking it seriously. I think that might be a requirement. I don't think even Harlequin will accept a blind medieval pirate on the Louisiana bayou falling in love with the time-travelling princess of a made-up country. Just a guess. I would probably have the same luck with my brilliant story about a woman pretending to be a nun and teaching music in a Catholic high school, who falls in love with the hockey coach of one of her students, who is only a coach because...
I thought I was alone in this
posted by srah on June 13, 2003 9:30 AM
Tags: books
"Petrov will be proud of me if I buy new office supplies. I'll be giving in to an urge to do what makes me happy. While I'm out, I also could pick up some new socks. It does feel good to have warm, clean socks in the morning. Heck, might as well go on a simple pleasure spree. [...] "Yes, I know - there is something laughable about a person who thinks she's getting wild because she's going to buy office supplies. Well, you have your fun. You can watch your pornos and smoke your grass and climb onto your...
"I wouldn't have such trouble adjusting to the world if the world made sense."
posted by srah on June 11, 2003 3:09 PM
I'm reading Carrie Pilby by Caren Lissner. I identify with the main character because she's a 19-year-old genius with no friends or social skills. Except I have friends and moderate social skills. And I'm not 19. And... well, okay, I'm not a genius either. I've always thought that my thoughts would someday serve a great purpose in the world, but the more days that pass, the more unlikely it seems. I've considered starting a log of my thoughts and ideas, but I fear if I do, I'll feel obligated to run to the log and write down every thought I...
An unhairy AnnArborite protests
posted by srah on April 7, 2003 3:26 AM
"The women looked like I would have if I'd stayed in Ann Arbor. They wore their hairy legs and underarms as a badge signifying their higher power of reasoning and their disinterest in conventional standards of beauty." - A Map of the World, Jane Hamilton As I was reading this book, it suddenly struck me that I knew what was going to happen next. I got excited about my new-found psychic abilities until I realized that I had already seen the made-for-TV-movie-esque film based on it....
ET, llame à la maison
posted by srah on March 30, 2003 1:23 PM
I'm still reading Contact. In the book, an alien civilization has been receiving our television signals and sends a message to the Earth. It occurs to me that if an alien civilization only had one language on their whole planet, they might think we were much more complicated than we are. If they had no concept of foreign languages, would it even occur to them to try to understand the languages in our broadcasts, or would they just think it was gibberish? And if they did try to translate, would it occur to them that our planet manages to survive...
Great Expectations in education
posted by srah on March 30, 2003 3:50 AM
Tags: books, charles dickens, education, high school, jane austen
Reading Great Expectations for the first time, I am inspired to question the value of my education. I took advanced English classes in one of the best public schools systems in Michigan, but I don't remember ever reading Charles Dickens in school. I don't even recall any excerpts from A Christmas Carol in my textbooks. What is going on here? I read Oliver Twist on my own a few summers ago and found it very clever and funny. I've tried A Tale of Two Cities twice but I've never been able to get into it, which turned me off from...
Literary confusion
posted by srah on March 29, 2003 11:45 AM
Tags: books, charles dickens
I am simultaneously reading Contact, The Best of Roald Dahl, and Great Expectations. So far, my favorite parts are when Pip is contacted by space aliens and when Miss Havisham is shipped off to the meat-packing factory....
Librovore
posted by srah on March 8, 2003 6:07 AM
That may or may not mean someone who eats scales. I don't know any Latin. I spent a large part of our trip shopping for, buying, and reading books in English. Between my London-Paris and Paris-Vichy train rides today (6.5 total hours of travel time), I managed to polish off two of them. I am quite pleased with my new acquisitions: Beggars Banquet (the latest Ian Rankin), Mother Tongue and Notes from a Big Country (now that I have full collections of Rankin and Brookmyre, my latest victim is Bill Bryson), Talking to Addison (recommended by Cheryl because the author...
The Assistant in the Blé
posted by srah on February 19, 2003 5:32 AM
Tags: adolescence, books, the catcher in the rye
"I don't exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it." I've read The Catcher in the Rye before, but I guess I didn't get it. I quite enjoyed it this time, and it made me laugh. Maybe the last time I was too caught up in being a teenager myself to appreciate Holden's blatant confused, angry, frustrated, annoyed adolescence....
'Do you think I tamper with children? I am, after all, a priest!'
posted by srah on February 18, 2003 3:12 AM
Tags: books
I am reading The Thorn Birds. Now I want to watch the series and go to Australia to see all the interesting furry animals and hear the interesting place names and vocabulary. I want to hear people say things like "Jims! Look! A dinkum Drogheda budgie!"....
All I do is quote
posted by srah on February 12, 2003 7:40 AM
"I like living in England because everywhere else is foreign and strange. The only language I speak is English: I dropped French at school and took up hurdling with the athletic team instead. Even now, in later years, my instinctive reaction on hearing French is to jerk one leg in the air and propel myself towards low garden walls. But I wouldn't like anyone to think that I don't like Abroad. I do. Abroad means adventure and the possibility of danger and delicious food, but Abroad is also tiring and confusing and full of foreigners who tell you that the...
At the end of the journey
posted by srah on January 20, 2003 3:46 PM
Tags: books, lord of the rings, lord of the rings: the return of the king
I have finished The Return of the King, the third part of The Lord of the Rings. All I want to know is if they found the Entwives. Is that too much to ask? Treebeard starts talking about them the first time he meets Merry and Pippin, then never shuts up, sounding for all the world Middle-earth like a horny, lonely old man. One of my goals in finishing the books was to read about the glorious reunion of the Ents and the Entwives, and the birth (planting?) of cute little Entlings. BUT NO. I'm going to dig up JRR...
With a Friend Like Harry, who needs other reading material?
posted by srah on January 18, 2003 9:42 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out June 21, 2003. I know, I know, I'm the last person in the world to know this, but I heard on the radio that it was coming out in the fall. It didn't occur to me that they were talking about the French translation. Duh. Amazon gives us a sneak peek at a few lines of the text, including the opening: "The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.... The only person...
Completely shameful and useless post
posted by srah on January 15, 2003 10:59 AM
Tags: books
Remember in Sweet Valley High, how the twins were blond, tan, perfect-size-6s, wearing matching gold lavalieres? At some point at the beginning of every book, when it repeated all of that crap, it also told you that Elizabeth Wakefield drove a red Fiat. Presumably Jessica had a matching one at some point, but crashed it or sold it for smack or something. I am extremely disappointed, being in Europe, to discover that a Fiat is not necessarily the Barbie Dream Car that I had envisioned, but that it was more likely something downright European (by which I mean small, boxy,...
srah doesn't speak British
posted by srah on January 12, 2003 3:51 PM
Tags: books
I am inordinately proud of myself for picking up on one instance of rhyming slang in A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away. At one point, someone is mentioned as wearing a false moustache and Gregories. Gregories, as in Gregory Pecks, which rhymes with specs. I am such a nerd, to be so proud of myself as to need to record the feat here, but at least it only took me about five minutes to get it....
Homegirl
posted by srah on January 12, 2003 8:49 AM
Tags: assistantship, books
I can't find anything enticing enough to lure me out into the cold, so here I am, rotting in my apartment, snacking, and reading. I have now finished The Fellowship of the Ring and A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away and have already done the dishes and written a letter to Christopher Brookmyre that I will never send. I am now debating between starting The Two Towers or going stir-crazy and losing my mind. Insanity imminent....
In case you haven't noticed, I like quotes
posted by srah on January 11, 2003 8:05 AM
Tags: assistantship, blogging, books, quote, valery larbaud
Especially ones about diaries that I can apply to my blog. Before break, I read an English translation (yes, I am lazy) of A.O. Barnabooth: His Diary, one of the best-known works of Valéry Larbaud, namesake of my lycée, vichyssois author but perhaps best known as the translator-to-French of many a famous 20th-century anglophone writer - most notably James Joyce and William Faulkner. The book is the diary of an invented character named Archibald Barnabooth, a South American millionaire who has inherited his money from his father and wanders around Europe trying to figure out what one should do with...
Loverlas
posted by srah on January 9, 2003 1:18 AM
Tags: books, boys, legolas, lord of the rings, lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring, pato
I am reading The Lord of the Rings (well, The Fellowship of the Ring at the moment). I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that we saw The Two Towers in Grenoble (in English!) or that I am just happy to have something new to read, but I am enjoying it more than I have on previous attempts. Maybe it's the fact that I read the Prologue and discovered that the book began as a linguistic guide to Middle Earth - a way of explaining all of the languages in The Hobbit. Speaking of the...
'The two kittens, ears flattened beneath the ribboned bonnets, looked both ridiculous and endearing.'
posted by srah on December 12, 2002 12:42 PM
I have just been reading a neat little science-fictiony book by P.D. James. I thought that P.D. James only wrote mysteries and in fact, this one was in the mystery section, but then again so is The Bluest Eye, so I wouldn't really go by that. The Vichy Public Library's English books section is... creative. Anyway, The Children of Men takes place in 2021, when the human race has been afflicted with sterility and hasn't reproduced itself since 1995. People have lost interest in sex and there are a lot of unstable middle-aged women who went crazy with untapped maternal...
I, being of relatively sound mind and body...
posted by srah on December 7, 2002 4:26 AM
Tags: books, gilbert and sullivan, pg wodehouse, saki
After reading plenty of Saki, Wodehouse, and various other books that touch on the subject, I've decided that I want a big gang of relatives clamouring for my favour and sucking up to stay in my good graces, in the hopes that they will be the heirs to my enormous fortune. The only problem I can see so far is the absence of said enormous fortune, but I have decided that it would be a lot easier to inherit it myself than to earn it. So I've decided to become the heir to the estate of Arthur Sullivan or Richard...
Surely never had a male so adventurous a tale
posted by srah on December 6, 2002 1:03 PM
Tags: books, gilbert and sullivan
I have started reading The Diary of a Nobody. "What a coincidence," comes a voice from the Peanut Gallery, "I am reading the same thing myself, this very minute." Quiet, you. The name of one of the co-authors of this humorous Victorian story of life in the middle-class suburbs sounded familiar to me. After some grueling research, consisting of reading the Introduction, I learned that it is, indeed, the same George Grossmith who was a member of the D'Oyly Carte theater company and who played such parts as John Wellington Wells and Ko-Ko in the original productions of Gilbert and...
'Put that bloody cigarette ou--'
posted by srah on November 29, 2002 9:43 AM
Tags: books
I have found something to keep me entertained for a while: 500+ small-print pages of The Complete Stories of Saki. Daddy had read them and suggested them but I never got around to it. I am quite enjoying them because in order to being a long, time-consuming book, the stories are sort of like a twisted P.G. Wodehouse. They're full of upper-class twits and overbearing elderly aunts, but also full of people being eaten by sacred ferrets and suchlike and whatnot. Ridiculous and twisted is just the way humour ought to be. 'And be surrounded by Americans trying to talk...
Teacher, educate thyself
posted by srah on November 12, 2002 10:17 AM
Tags: books
Whenever I'm in France, I undertake Attempts To Educate Myself, because the selection of English books available to me runs heavily towards the classics. I don't know if my vague memories are of the book or the film, but if I've read the book (or had it read to me) it was years ago. I am happy to say that I quite enjoyed Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass when I read them last weekend, because it was just the amount of whimsy and ridiculousness that appeals to me. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in...
Queen of Suspense
posted by srah on November 10, 2002 7:42 AM
Tags: assistantship, books, mary higgins clark, reviews
Thinking I was very clever to outwit my six-book check-out limit at the library, I checked out a book that was actually three novels in one volume, all by Mary Higgins Clark. How sneaky you are, srah. All of that reading and it only counts for one of your six. It will bring you hours and days of enjoyment. Of course, it would have helped if you knew anything about Mary Higgins Clark before, because it turned out to be hours and days of blah and screaming. While my solitude is slowly leading to insanity and making me talk to...
Next thing you know, I'll be working as an elf...
posted by srah on November 4, 2002 11:00 AM
Tags: assistantship, books, david sedaris
I was going to blog about this later, but I have also found a 2001 Onion A/V Club interview with David Sedaris. I am ecstatic. I want to go out for coffee with David if he's still in France. Find me, David! I have also just discovered that David and his sister Amy are both on What'sBetter.com, so here comes the long-waited (since this weekend) post: I am turning into David Sedaris. It's not that I can't ask for one of anything, it's that one carrot looks so lonely in the bag. He needs a friend to live with him....
The Book-Monster Strikes Again
posted by srah on October 22, 2002 1:55 AM
I am reading American Rigolos, which Agnès lent me. It's the French translation of a British book about America, written by an American. Bill Bryson worked in England for twenty years before going back to the US and bringing his British family with him. So, while he sounds American and all, he has trouble adjusting to the culture he knew a long time ago. He wrote this series of articles for a newspaper back in England, and they were published as Notes from a Big Country (in the UK) and I'm A Stranger Here Myself (in the US). The strange...
Very Harry
posted by srah on October 21, 2002 4:55 AM
Tags: books, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix
There's a possibility that EITHER our old pal J.K. is planning on an eighth book OR they're just trying to cover things up by registering a lot of titles for upcoming Harry Potter books. Personally, I'm disappointed to hear them all at once and have the surprise spoiled. Just hurry up and get the fifth one out!...
The voracious reader attacks an Orange
posted by srah on October 21, 2002 2:15 AM
Tags: a clockwork orange, books
I read A Clockwork Orange this weekend and I think it's affected me. Not in terms of wanting to go out and kick people in the gulliver, thankfully, but in terms of wanting to call people my droogs and describe things as horrorshow. Being written in this strange Russo-Anglo-American slang made the book a lot more enjoyable to read and distracted me from the violent bits that the movie very graphically showed. In the book, I could concentrate on the language and get on with it. Have I mentioned that I hate Stanley Kubrick?...
"If you think this country's bad-off now, just wait'll I get through with it"
posted by srah on October 19, 2002 10:00 AM
Tags: a clockwork orange, assistantship, books, jane austen, music, persuasion
"What type of music do you like?" my students have asked me. "I like lots of different kinds," I usually answer. Which is true, as evidenced by my choices at the library's discothèque: Satie's Oeuvres pour piano, Vanessa Paradis' Bliss, Echoes of Chile, and The Marx Brothers Sing and Play. My book selection ranged from Persuasion to A Clockwork Orange, so that's not much better....
Dippy hermaphrodite Austen character seeks new book to read
posted by srah on October 17, 2002 2:30 PM
Tags: books, jane austen, northanger abbey
The book-monster that is srah has finished Northanger Abbey. I think Catherine is one of Jane Austen's dippier main characters, but I also identified with her a lot. Great, what does that say about me? I also identified a lot with Henry Tilney, the male protagonist. Great, what does that say about me?...
I bet Bath-water tastes better
posted by srah on October 17, 2002 12:40 PM
Tags: books, jane austen, northanger abbey, quote
Once upon a time, there was a girl who went to spend some time in a town known for its waters. When she arrived, she was very lonely. Sound familiar? I am reading Northanger Abbey and quite enjoying it, so I will share some of my favorite parts: "How uncomfortable it is," whispered Catherine, "not to have a single acquaintance here!" "Yes, my dear," replied Mrs. Allen, with perfect serenity, "it is very uncomfortable indeed." "What shall we do? The gentlemen and ladies at this table look as if they wondered why we came here -- we seem forcing ourselves...
Bibliothèque
posted by srah on October 17, 2002 6:50 AM
Tags: assistantship, books, jane austen, library, northanger abbey
I went to the public library yesterday to get a card and feed my voracious hunger for the written word. I am out of control. I will eat read two a night. I need to get started on French ones, because that will slow me down. So I have Foreign Exchanges in honor of me, Northanger Abbey in honor of Becky, and The