I have recently been reading through the 'Wheel of Time' books. I am currently half way through book 9. Only 4 more to go!
A friend and a work colleague both suggested I read 'Game of Thrones'. This will have to wait for 'Wheel of Time' to be completed, and given that we have no television, I can choose when to watch the consequent series on DVD.
So I was searching for it on Amazon to see if it was available for Kindle. I found it, and was reading the product description, only to stumble upon the reccommendation that 'it's the greatest fantasy epic of modern time!'
'Hang on a minute' I thought. 'That's generally language attributed to 'Wheel of Time''. I checked, and it turns out that pretty much every fantasy book has some such reccommendation, so I decided to come up with a few of my own:
Harry Potter: Biggest fantasy phenomenon of our time
Twilight: Romeo and Juliet meets fantasy in the greatest Romance for young people (although, this is NOT my reccommendation)
Wheel of Time: Greatest Fantasy Epic of our Time (Given that it's just so darn long!)
The Inheritance Cycle: Written by the luckiest 15 year old I know
His Dark Materials: The greatest fantasy deception of our time
None of which truly compare to the classic fantasy of C.S. Lewis' 'Narnia' series, or the immortal Tolkein in 'Lord of the Rings'.
FYI, on my Kindle, I will be reading the first edition stories of the Brothers Grimm, as well as a little Jules Vern. Should be quite exciting. Until then.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Acquiring Kindle and other matters
Ok, I have recently made a luxury purchase. Not that I condone this all the time, mind, but allow me to provide some setting.
My husband and I are currently residing in a caravan while we await housing to become available through his job. Therefore, we have very little space. I had still been purchasing books and making use of the free book exchange at the reception desk, but books sure do take up a lot of space.
So, as soon as I discovered free classics were on offer through Amazon's Kindle store, I went out and purchased my very own e-reader.
I was a little nervous at first, thinking I would miss physically holding a book in my hand, but you know what? Once you have a case on that baby, it's actually a lot more comfortable to read, because you don't have to squirm arround to read the skinny side!
So hopefully I can speed up the rate of which I read these classics.
For now, I also recently purchased every available 'Wheel of Time' book, in the hopes of finishing in time for the next installment.
My husband and I are currently residing in a caravan while we await housing to become available through his job. Therefore, we have very little space. I had still been purchasing books and making use of the free book exchange at the reception desk, but books sure do take up a lot of space.
So, as soon as I discovered free classics were on offer through Amazon's Kindle store, I went out and purchased my very own e-reader.
I was a little nervous at first, thinking I would miss physically holding a book in my hand, but you know what? Once you have a case on that baby, it's actually a lot more comfortable to read, because you don't have to squirm arround to read the skinny side!
So hopefully I can speed up the rate of which I read these classics.
For now, I also recently purchased every available 'Wheel of Time' book, in the hopes of finishing in time for the next installment.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Of Mice and Men
My first Steinbeck novel, and referenced by Sawyer in a number of LOST episodes, most notably early in the third season, when Ben takes him up to a lookout on Hydra Island after conning Sawyer with a fake pacemaker to let him know that he has nowhere to run even if he did escape his polar bear cage. It sounds kind of ridiculous when you think about it. How on earth did this television series get to me?
Before I go into Of Mice and Men, I should point out that I have been without a television for over 18 months now, and currently only have the final LOST season on DVD with me, my other copies with the rest of my DVD collection on the other side of the country. So if I seem a little out of touch, this is probably why. But I will say that in my absence of the idiot box, the times when it has graced my presence I have been dissappointed with drama quality, and disgusted with comedy. I may be getting jaded, but you try living for a year without TV, then watch an our or so of one of the commercial stations and my bet is you will understand. TV is utter garbage.
Enough of my current soapbox.
I was dissappointed that LOST actually gave away the ending of this short novel. Not a fan of spoilers. So the entire time I was reading it, I was thinking 'I'm pretty sure X happens...the only question is when?'. And no, I'm not telling you what X is on principle!
It is so refreshing to read something well written though. I reacted to this similar to how I reacted to Carrie. Just enjoyed reading a story that wasn't over the top and concerned more with characters than plot. I have been spending a lot of time plugging away at The Wheel of Time and boy does Jordan get bogged down in plot and lose his characters sometimes!!
OMAM had simple characters I guess, and a simple story but powerful themes. The idea that came accross strongly to me on the first reading was that all the characters had dreams - pies in the sky that they could never attain, and didn't always believe possible. When George and Lennie's dream becomes closer to reality, it tastes good, only to be snached away by inevitability of character choices. Nothing was going to change Lennie, who he was and how he reacted. I would have liked some more backstory on the two characters though. There were always comments about the oddness of them being together, but they were never realised. I guess that only plays into the final scene, and gives more questions about why George did what he did.
Conclusion. A simple story with simple characters, and a powerful, thought provoking conclusion. Worthy of the LOST list - although I can't quite see the paralells between it and Sawyer. May have to read it again. LOST could have learnt more from this book about simplicity.
Before I go into Of Mice and Men, I should point out that I have been without a television for over 18 months now, and currently only have the final LOST season on DVD with me, my other copies with the rest of my DVD collection on the other side of the country. So if I seem a little out of touch, this is probably why. But I will say that in my absence of the idiot box, the times when it has graced my presence I have been dissappointed with drama quality, and disgusted with comedy. I may be getting jaded, but you try living for a year without TV, then watch an our or so of one of the commercial stations and my bet is you will understand. TV is utter garbage.
Enough of my current soapbox.
I was dissappointed that LOST actually gave away the ending of this short novel. Not a fan of spoilers. So the entire time I was reading it, I was thinking 'I'm pretty sure X happens...the only question is when?'. And no, I'm not telling you what X is on principle!
It is so refreshing to read something well written though. I reacted to this similar to how I reacted to Carrie. Just enjoyed reading a story that wasn't over the top and concerned more with characters than plot. I have been spending a lot of time plugging away at The Wheel of Time and boy does Jordan get bogged down in plot and lose his characters sometimes!!
OMAM had simple characters I guess, and a simple story but powerful themes. The idea that came accross strongly to me on the first reading was that all the characters had dreams - pies in the sky that they could never attain, and didn't always believe possible. When George and Lennie's dream becomes closer to reality, it tastes good, only to be snached away by inevitability of character choices. Nothing was going to change Lennie, who he was and how he reacted. I would have liked some more backstory on the two characters though. There were always comments about the oddness of them being together, but they were never realised. I guess that only plays into the final scene, and gives more questions about why George did what he did.
Conclusion. A simple story with simple characters, and a powerful, thought provoking conclusion. Worthy of the LOST list - although I can't quite see the paralells between it and Sawyer. May have to read it again. LOST could have learnt more from this book about simplicity.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
A Tale of Two Cities
I have recently completed this Dickens masterpiece, referenced in LOST.
A lesson to take away, firstly, is not to always read introductions first. This introduction gave away the ending. How dissappointing. Still, the journey was a well constructed piece of literature and the introduction (which I completed reading after the story) contained some useful insights.
Why couldn't my high school English class have studied this novel? To Kill a Mockingbird is great, but Dickens' depictions of the mob mentality and self sacrifice are so much more interesting than the effects of racism on a community (which does not do TKAM credit...but I am in a rush).
The mob mentality and two characters were what struck me most in this novel. The first, Sydney Carton, struck me as peculiar because by all rights and respects he is such a failure even to himself. He does not even choose failure, rather he accepts that he can't change it. It is intersting that his entire being is self sacrifice - his inelligence if used for himself and not for the benefit of Syver could have rendered him an incredibly high part of society. I don't believe he does this willingly, but it is noteworthy that his existance props up that of those around him, by his own doing or not. The second character that struck me was that of Jerry, and very simply and quickly, it is because of his change of attitude towards being God-fearing. The French Revolution can be described as bringing secularism to the forefront of societies, and it is interesting the contrasts Dickens provides (being of that God-fearing era) of the God-fearing and non God-fearing. Illustrated mainly through Defarge claiming 'Long live the Devil' but also when Jerry realises what Godlessness can do to society after witnessing horrors of the French Revolution. An intersting comment on society.
A lesson to take away, firstly, is not to always read introductions first. This introduction gave away the ending. How dissappointing. Still, the journey was a well constructed piece of literature and the introduction (which I completed reading after the story) contained some useful insights.
Why couldn't my high school English class have studied this novel? To Kill a Mockingbird is great, but Dickens' depictions of the mob mentality and self sacrifice are so much more interesting than the effects of racism on a community (which does not do TKAM credit...but I am in a rush).
The mob mentality and two characters were what struck me most in this novel. The first, Sydney Carton, struck me as peculiar because by all rights and respects he is such a failure even to himself. He does not even choose failure, rather he accepts that he can't change it. It is intersting that his entire being is self sacrifice - his inelligence if used for himself and not for the benefit of Syver could have rendered him an incredibly high part of society. I don't believe he does this willingly, but it is noteworthy that his existance props up that of those around him, by his own doing or not. The second character that struck me was that of Jerry, and very simply and quickly, it is because of his change of attitude towards being God-fearing. The French Revolution can be described as bringing secularism to the forefront of societies, and it is interesting the contrasts Dickens provides (being of that God-fearing era) of the God-fearing and non God-fearing. Illustrated mainly through Defarge claiming 'Long live the Devil' but also when Jerry realises what Godlessness can do to society after witnessing horrors of the French Revolution. An intersting comment on society.
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