I finished reading Eden’s new novel today. It’s brilliant, and it made me cry, just like her first novel. 😉
I wish I could have taken a photo of myself weeping as I finished reading it. That would have been pretty cool…
UPOP
1
Category Archives: reading rainbow
Freedom Writers
I read lots-n-lots of blogs in Bloglines. I save stuff that I want to link to/talk about. Sometimes I never get around to it. And every once in a while, I do this.
Over at PopWatch a few weeks ago, they “reviewed the reviews” of Freedom Writers. I want to see this movie, despite my lukewarm feelings about Hilary Swank (Oscar voters, is she really our greatest living actress? Really?).
Some backstory. A few years ago, I took a job in public relations at a nonprofit agency in WNY. For the most part, I hated this job. I won’t get into why. But while I worked there, I got to do a few really, really cool things. One of those things was meeting Erin Gruwell, the teacher behind the Freedom Writers Diary.
Ms. Gruwell, and several of her students, signed my copy of the book. And even though I could never accomplish the things she accomplished, meeting her and reading this book was a large part of what inspired me to become a teacher. So I found snippets of reviews like this completely annoying:
“And not that she needed a crack habit, but Erin herself is so unbelievably saintly — and her fellow teachers so snivelingly evil — that she’s impossible to believe as anything more than an inspiration-bot. Every student is fundamentally good and easily taught and reformed, and the eventual triumph of the human spirit is so predetermined that it’s not particularly satisfying. The music swells, the tears well up, Swank smiles lovingly, and the crack pipe starts to look rather appealing.”
Hm. Mr. Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly seems to completely ignore the fact that Erin Gruwell is an actual person. I don’t know how true-to-life (or to the book) Freedom Writers is, but, well, this just seems like an utterly ridiculous thing to say. Erin Gruwell’s story is one that seems made-for-Hollywood, too good to be true. But the thing is, it IS true.
I’ll post my own review after I see it. 😉
Books read in 2006
In light of my decision to keep The Places I Go and make some changes, I moved a bunch of posts over here this morning.
I have many, many things I should be doing…and instead I’m playing with my blogs. 😉
I’m finding that there are a number of books I read last year that I never got around to posting about. Ah well.
At any rate, you can see the updated list (with links) here.
Book blog post
You may remember that I decided to nix my reading/writing blog, The Places I Go, in favor of bringing all of my book blogging over here.
Well, I’ve had a slight change of heart.
I’ve decided to keep The Places I Go, and I’m in the process of doing a site revamp. My goal is to make it a place where I’ll write about YA literature and authors. Look for an update in the near future.
Book club, anyone?
As you may or may not know, Jen, Lady Turpentine and I have formed a book club. Our next selection is Hey, Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland. (Jen posted a bit of a review here)
We’ve opened up the club to virtual members…people not within reasonable proximity who’d like to read along. As soon as we decide on the date of our next meeting, we’ll post it as a “read by” date. After the meeting, we’ll post and you can jump in and share your brilliant insights.
Let us know if you want to join in!
Reading, watching, listening
I’m long overdue for one of these…
Reading: Last weekend, I finished Meg Cabot’s All American Girl. I continue to adore Meg Cabot. She writes fluff, yes, but she does it really, really well. I laughed out loud many times while reading this book.
I also finished the Sandman series. Overall, I liked it very much. There were some points where I thought the story sagged, where Gaiman wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing or where he was going. I liked the ending, but could have done without most of The Tempest. (not a bad idea, but it was a little boring.)
I started reading Swamp Thing. This isn’t something I would have ever thought about reading, but for Rand, but I’m really enjoying it. Alan Moore does horror really, really well. He knows that I need to connect with the characters and care what happens to them in order for the creepiness to be effective. (This is the same thing I like about Stephen King.)
I haven’t done much other reading in the past couple of weeks, as I’ve been getting into the swing of my classes.
Watching: Well, Heroes and Studio 60 came back this week. Hurrah!
Additionally, I’ve watched season 1 of the UK Office (which, okay, I do like…but I still think I like the US version better), season 1 of Extras (really, really funny), a bit of the first season of MASH (lord, how I hate Trapper John), and probably a whole bunch more that I’m forgetting.
Listening: I listened to the new Weird Al, which I got as a Christmas gift. Pancreas had me laughing out loud. Overall, it’s a little heavy on the hip-hop parodies, but they’re really funny. Hm…I can’t think of any other new things I’ve listened to recently. Tell me something I should be listening to. 🙂
Project 365-books
My personal to-read list
For me, reading has always been a solitary pursuit. I mean, I would occasionally exchange the spirited emails with friends about the latest Harry Potter, or beg someone I knew to read the book so I could talk about it…but this whole book club thing is entirely new to me. I’m glad we’re doing it; I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. 🙂
At any rate, I do have a list of books that I want to read, that I’ve been meaning to read, etc. I’m not considering this a “do-or-die” thing. That is, I won’t feel like a failure if I don’t read them all by a certain date. I already own a pile of these, others are on my wish list. Possibly some of these will end up being book club selections, and others I’ll read on my own time. Some I might not get to at all. But anyway, here it is.
All American Girl, Meg Cabot (YA)Bras and Broomsticks, Sarah Mlynowski (YA)Anatomy of a Boyfriend, Daria Snadowsky (YA)- The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Dog, Dave Barry
- Catch-22, Joseph Heller
- All But My Life, Gerda Weissmann Klein
- Lisey’s Story, Stephen King
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling
- The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote
- Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay
- Wicked, Gregory Maguire
- Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft, Mindy Klasky
The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell- The Android’s Dream, John Scalzi
- Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing, Margaret Atwood
Hey, Nostradamus!, Douglas Coupland
I probably still have more, but that’ll do for the moment. Let me know if you’ve read any of these, or if you have any “you absolutely must read this!” suggestions. 🙂
The Salem Witch Tryouts
When Rand and I went to Toronto to visit Debbie, we spent some time wandering around a bookstore. I saw this book, picked it up and showed it to Debbie, and said “I really wish I’d had this idea first.”
The premise is great–a cute, popular cheerleader from Beverly Hills, who just so happens to be a witch, is plucked from her life and forced to move to Salem and attend witch school.
The execution, though, is just meh. Prudence has little of the likability or charm of the main character in Non-Blonde Cheerleader. It’s also painfully obvious that this is the first book of a series. All that happens is that she makes the cheerleading squad. Oh, and gets kissed by the cute bad-boy of the school just before he gets expelled.
I almost forgot…I was nearly driven crazy by the narrator’s constant use of the word “kewl”. That won’t be dated in, oh, 5 minutes.
And another thing…can you really, in good conscience, name your main character (who is a witch) Prudence after Charmed? (Shannen Doherty’s character was named Prue, short for Prudence…)
I still wish I’d come up with the idea first. 😉
The Awakening/Book club meeting
Many moons ago, LT sent out a “Hey, let’s form a book club” email. Jen and I said “cool!” We finally had our first meeting yesterday, at Caffe Aroma on Elmwood. (LT gives her report here!)
I had never read The Awakening. As you may recall, I was not a lit major in college, and this wasn’t one of the selections I had to read either in high school or in my intro survey course. I did, however, read about it when I crammed for the exams I took to get the necessary credits to be certified in HS English.
So I knew how it ended, and I think I was a bit jaded by this information.
Which is not to say that I disliked it; I didn’t. It was certainly thought-provoking, and provided plenty of topics for discussion. I, for one, found the social commentary aspect much more interesting than the “feminist” aspect…that is, the idea that appearances were everything. For example, Edna’s husband didn’t seem to mind so much that his wife had moved out. It was more “What will people think?”
And in the end, even, Edna rationalized her decision by saying that it would be better for her children this way…their reputations wouldn’t be damaged.
That’s interesting. And sad.
I think if I were teaching literature, I’d pair this selection with The Yellow Wallpaper and discuss how women’s health issues were so woefully neglected. But hey, that’s just me. 😉
Jen had the camera, so look for photos soon.
We need to choose our next selection. We’ve all tossed a few ideas out, but nothing solid. Any suggestions?