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May Reading Challenge: Love and Freindship (and other early works)
First of all, I can’t tell you how excited I am to see the movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s Love and Freindship. If it is playing in a city near you, please go see it. It may come to a movie theater near me in 6 months if it does at all, so hopefully it goes to DVD or Netflix. Although, does it bother anyone else that “Friendship” is spelled correctly in the movie title? Usually, a spelling correction would bring me extreme delight, but here, it rubs me slightly the wrong way. While I continue to turn that over in my mind, I’ll share with you my thoughts and…
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March Reading Challenge: Go Set a Watchman
While reading this novel, it was unavoidable to think about the controversy surrounding its publication. There was much concern that Harper Lee was coerced into signing a book deal, and did not want this book to be published at all. The investigation into these concerns found them to be unnecessary, thus the blast of criticism ceased, at least openly. The story opens with 26-year old Jean Louise Finch – Scout – travelling back home to Maycomb, Alabama from New York City (where she now lives). The fluidity with which she floats back and forth from present to past memories is not as jarring as it could be, and readers of…
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In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
When tragedy strikes, it is often hard to remember what life was like before. In an instant, your perspective on the world changes: new frustrations arise, out of not understanding or denial; comfort is disrupted by fear; a piece of your life can be ripped from you with no chance of returning. Tragedy can come with growing older, changing family structures, world events that may challenge our way of living; all things we can at least make a good attempt at trying to grapple with maturely.
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March Reading Challenge: Introduction
We are rounding the corner of the second week of March, and since the official start of spring is just two weeks away, I’ve decided to set goals that are about cleaning out clutter and focusing on organization since the beginning of the year has been a little hectic. These goals carry over to my Reading Challenge, as I’m setting out to read two books that have either been sitting in my bookshelf or have received many “renews” from the library. Adding books to my “Read” list is an official bookish spring cleaning activity. For this month, I’m going to be reading two novels by authors towards whom my love has…
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Banned Books Week
*Happy* Banned Books Week! I put asterisks around Happy because the phrasing seems a little adverse, although it is appropriate because of its purpose. The observance of Banned Books Week was created in 1982 as a response to the overwhelming surge of literary censorship. Since then, over 11,000 books have been challenged because of “unsuitable” or “offensive” content. The American Library Association (ALA) receives reports of attempts to censor or ban books and uses the information to inform readers and the public of such controversies and to further promote informational access. “Okay,” you may be saying, “but censorship violates my right, authors’ rights of freedom of speech. You know, a basic amendment right.…
A blog about books and miscellany
