tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19477746198556952702024-03-14T10:17:25.674+01:00In the middle of a good bookjudygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-31402784105191627052013-10-24T18:38:00.002+02:002013-10-24T23:35:35.381+02:00Gone to the DogsChecked in on my blogs today. I didn't mean to let a couple of years go by. What happened to the me that used to check on my blogs almost daily? Twitter, Facebook and dogs.<br />
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My life experienced a paradigm shift when I retired, as I moved back to the States after 30+ years living overseas to a state and city where I knew two whole people other than my husband and son. I was no longer going in to teach daily, with the intellectual jolt and interaction with students and colleagues. I experienced culture shock. Eek. As great as it was not having to go to work each day, I also lost my reason for getting up and getting moving. I had health issues that needed to be addressed. I could have written posts about my difficult assimilation and my gall bladder issues, but I decided to spare you my misery. Are you bored with this paragraph of my life? I am. Bleach.<br />
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Moving on. I continued tweeting on Twitter. Compared to blogging, which takes hours, tweeting 140 characters is easy and fast. Feedback is quick, and plucking out interesting news, links and points of view out of the Twitter feed kept my attention much better than looking at a blank writing field and trying to fill it. But, too much Twitter made me twitch, so I even stopped doing that. Facebook kept me in touch with friends I had left behind, and it still does.<br />
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But, what mostly happened to me is that my life went to the dogs: young dogs, old dogs, puppies, shy dogs, happy-go-lucky dogs, well-behaved dogs, dogs who needed basic training.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KaPZLx3wVu8/Umk3-JYelQI/AAAAAAAABf8/-oJDJo3E6ac/s1600/Gus+hiding+under+a+chair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KaPZLx3wVu8/Umk3-JYelQI/AAAAAAAABf8/-oJDJo3E6ac/s400/Gus+hiding+under+a+chair.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Bogart on our deck, trying to hide under a chair.</td></tr>
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It all started with a blurry photo posted by a new acquaintance on Facebook of a depressed young dog named Bogart curled up in the fetal position at the <a href="http://blounttn.org/animal/">Blount County Animal Center</a> where volunteers' efforts had not managed to get him to adjust to life at the shelter. He was about 7 months old and had spent his life living in the wild with his mother and brother. He wasn't eating and was skin and bones under his long hair. He was unadoptable and the outcome for him was not promising. I looked at that photo and thought, I think I can help him.<br />
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And that is a tale in itself, how I went to the shelter and registered as a foster, how Bogart would not walk on a leash and pooped and peed in fear when my son picked him up to carry him to our car, how he almost immediately escaped our fenced yard, how we tempted him back (salmon snacks), how each day for a month we focused on finding ways to help him make the small, gradual progress that eventually lead to him trusting us and us adopting him and renaming him Mr. Guster (AKA Gus, AKA Guster Longfellow).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uypxPwMJMe4/UmlFkq-eA7I/AAAAAAAABgU/wHUYQ-hnHf8/s1600/Guinness&George.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uypxPwMJMe4/UmlFkq-eA7I/AAAAAAAABgU/wHUYQ-hnHf8/s400/Guinness&George.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">George and Guinness, therapy pups.</td></tr>
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Part of our therapy included bringing home a couple of bull mastiff puppies (George and Guinness) who found Guster fascinating. If he ran away, they ran after him. If he hunkered down, they climbed on top of him or hunkered down next to him. They helped him make a big leap forward into learning how to be a dog who loves humans.<br />
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After they left to be adopted through a rescue in Pennsylvania, other dogs and puppies came and went. In one year we fostered 34 dogs and puppies. Some stayed a few days, others a few months, depending on the need. Two sick little puppies did not survive. It has been an adventure that has introduced us into the world of animal shelters, rescues and dedicated volunteers who try to save as many lives as they can.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kvFOm5JLYYU/Umk70BAsdxI/AAAAAAAABgE/3v5_tXZN8vY/s1600/Maxwell+Tug+of+War.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kvFOm5JLYYU/Umk70BAsdxI/AAAAAAAABgE/3v5_tXZN8vY/s400/Maxwell+Tug+of+War.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Guster, formerly Bogart, playing tug of war with shy Maxwell as Jadzia watches. Guster has moved from being the dog who needs help adjusting to the dog who helps other dogs adjust.</td></tr>
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My screen saver shows me images of the much-loved doggy souls who have passed through our door, pooped in our yard or (in the case of puppies) on newspapers in our kitchen floor, curled up next to us on our couch and given us lots and lots of doggy kisses.<br />
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They told me when I retired, I would find something to do. It's more a case of they found me.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K2wjsCGtT8c/Umkxal3VTqI/AAAAAAAABfs/G_0YTZWsmAw/s1600/Dog+lineup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K2wjsCGtT8c/Umkxal3VTqI/AAAAAAAABfs/G_0YTZWsmAw/s400/Dog+lineup.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">From left, son's dog Jadzia, rescued from an abusive airman who planned to dump her on a country road because he had orders for England and his attempts to house train her by beating her were not getting him the results he wanted; former foster dog Maxwell, another abuse victim who came to us a very shy dog, foster failure Guster who spent early life struggling to survive in the wild and has progressed from being depressed and afraid of all humans to my new BFF, Gidget, the only one in this image we acquired from a breeder, who acts as a therapy dog for many of our fosters, and current foster dog Precious who came to us looking like a plucked chicken suffering the effects of extreme neglect. She has her own Facebook page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/savingprecious">Saving Precious</a></td></tr>
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<br />judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-11318344686070795972010-04-28T20:03:00.001+02:002010-04-28T20:15:46.421+02:00Pocket Poetry Movement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SUFVhjWzz_I/AAAAAAAAAxc/mZuSL26If-k/s1600/froggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SUFVhjWzz_I/AAAAAAAAAxc/mZuSL26If-k/s320/froggy.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>Thursday, April 29, 2010 is<br /><a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/p">POEM in your POCKET Day</a>.<br /><br />If you have trouble thinking of one, click on this<a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/409"> LINK</a> and print one out. I clicked on <a href="http://www.poets.org/media/pocket/shel_sidewalk_pocket.pdf">CHALK</a> and got Shel Silverstein's poem, <i><a href="http://www.poets.org/media/pocket/shel_sidewalk_pocket.pdf">Where The Sidewalk Ends</a></i>, always a crowd-pleaser.<br /><br />I clicked on <a href="http://www.poets.org/media/pocket/pocket_frog.pdf">FROG</a> and got one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems, <i><a href="http://www.poets.org/media/pocket/pocket_frog.pdf">I'm Nobody! Who are You?</a></i><br /><br />Here's a link to a frog poem of my own, <i><a href="http://talktojudy.blogspot.com/2008/12/foggy-boggy-froggy.html">Foggy Boggy Froggy</a></i>. Enjoy and remember to share a poem!judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-27752005728852706642010-04-15T09:40:00.006+02:002010-04-15T11:10:09.328+02:00Hang On, Paradigm Shifting<div><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/S8bPS8cO68I/AAAAAAAABTQ/Y3_aEhVjBwE/s1600/alg_ipad.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460279522602445762" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/S8bPS8cO68I/AAAAAAAABTQ/Y3_aEhVjBwE/s320/alg_ipad.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Photo from: <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/04/14/2010-04-14_apple_forced_to_delay_international_launch_of_ipad_as_demand_outstrips_supply.html">NYDailyNews.com</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The apple ipad is going to change everything about the way we read and the way we read to our kids. Yes, there will be new products down the line, but this is the first one. This is the breakthrough, and soon we will be using it to read favorite stories to children at bedtime. This is what kids are going to have on their laps in the back of the family van on long trips. This is what we've been waiting for.<br /><div><br /><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gew68Qj5kxw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gew68Qj5kxw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />Within a few years, we will no longer see small children lugging backpacks almost as big as they are to school and back home. Instead of buying new textbooks, schools will download them and keep them current by downloading updates. It is going to change how we teach everything, including reading. Young readers will be able to listen to the words read fluently as their eyes follow the text. Science and math texts will have full-color graphics that move and give students 3-dimensional images. Teachers will be able to upload assignments and students will be able to download presentations they missed when they were absent. We're on the cusp of a whole new world.<br /><br />And, no, I don't have mine yet. I'm waiting for the 3G model, but it's a must have, and I will have it.<br /><br />*Paradigm shift: <i>A complete change in thinking, belief systems, or a scientific breakthrough that allows the creation of a new condition or new way of doing something previously thought impossible or unacceptable</i></div></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-77823591295799379582010-04-13T12:38:00.002+02:002010-04-13T12:46:00.012+02:00Grave Mistress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/S8RBYASIrsI/AAAAAAAABTM/iynwgNKJS68/s1600/Franklinbooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/S8RBYASIrsI/AAAAAAAABTM/iynwgNKJS68/s400/Franklinbooks.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Sometimes the best books are the ones we stumble upon. Yesterday I stumbled upon Ariana Franklin's <i>Grave Goods</i> in a bookstore. I enjoy historical murder mysteries and this one, like the <a href="http://inthemiddleofagoodbook.blogspot.com/2008/03/favorite-authors-ellis-peters.html">Brother Cadfael series</a> by Ellis Peters, is set in Medieval England. What really caught my interest was that it was set in Glastonbury, long thought to be Avalon of the King Arthur legend and site of his burial. I carried the book with me into a restaurant and while waiting to be served, opened it up and read the first chapter. "This is a good one," I told my husband.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Later that evening, I sat at my computer watching the Twitter feed roll by, but kept getting pulled back into A.D. 1176 England and the story of Adelia, a young woman trained as a doctor in Salermo, Italy. I finally immersed myself in the story, and didn't stop reading until I turned the last page at 2 a.m.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This being the third book of the series, I had missed much of the setup that had led to Amelia living in England and occasionally being called into service as a coroner by King Henry II, he who made a martyr and saint of Thomas Becket, but also brought common law to England. Enough of the prior history was woven into the story that I had no trouble getting up to speed. It's a fascinating period of history, but the author manages to include the history in the story without the history becoming the story. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In this story, Adelia, who is fleeing her home of four years to avoid being tried for witchcraft, is sent to investigate the unearthing of a casket in Glastonbury, which may or may not contain the remains of King Arthur and Guinevere. In the course of her investigation, she uncovers a twenty-year-old murder, searches for lost friends, and possibly discovers many truths about King Arthur.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I found Adelia to be very likable, more knowledgeable about science and anatomy than Cadfael, who would have loved her, and less rigid than Sister Fidelma, whom I also love, but is a lawyer, and therefore pontificates a lot. Adelia has to be careful, since most would view her medical activities as heretical, but she's feisty, independent and determined, and King Henry II, whom she would prefer to avoid, has learned that she is also a valuable agent, who can be counted on to unravel any mystery and tell him the truth of it, even if it's a truth, he'd rather not hear.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I couldn't put this one down, so I'll be going back to read the first two books in the series: <i>Mistress of the Art of Death</i> and<i> The Serpent's Tale</i>, and look forward to the next one <span style="font-style:italic;">A Murderous Procession</span>, which just went on sale April 1.</div><br /><br />Click on the title to this post to visit the author's website.judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-80550022216287153932010-03-27T20:30:00.002+01:002010-04-04T13:12:39.843+02:00Imagination<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/084/3/d/Imagination_by_syncaidia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/084/3/d/Imagination_by_syncaidia.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Lucida Grande';font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:11px;">Thanks to Twitter, I discovered this beautiful work of art. The detail is amazing. If you remember how much you loved to go to the library or want to help your children understand the magic to be found there, click on the <a href="http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/084/3/d/Imagination_by_syncaidia.jpg">LINK</a> to get the full-sized version. And visit the artist, syncaidia's <a href="http://syncaidia.deviantart.com/art/Imagination-158346315">page</a>.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Lucida Grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"><br /></span></span>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-49703855710650158892009-07-22T17:44:00.009+02:002009-07-22T18:50:43.666+02:00The Runes of the Earth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Smc0EYH2AkI/AAAAAAAABJI/dR33weT90zo/s1600-h/runesearth.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Smc0EYH2AkI/AAAAAAAABJI/dR33weT90zo/s320/runesearth.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361311131207336514" /></a>I took a break from painting my house last week and spent a day immersed in the Land, which I last read about back in the 1980's. A full 20 years have passed between the publishing of <i>White Gold Wielde</i>r in 1983 and <i>The Runes of the Earth</i>, published in 2004. The Land was a reality visited by Thomas Covenant, a man with a rare form of leprosy in a series of 6 novels, always during a time when he was injured and unconscious in his real life on earth as we know it. Those novels also dealt with his struggle to wonder if what he was experiencing was real, and he was referred to as the Unbeliever. He was the quintessential reluctant hero. In the Land, he found himself in complete health and regarded as a savior, sought out for his possession of a white gold ring, capable of being used to wield wild magic, unlike his waking life where he was spurned and impotent. <div><br /></div><div>I really enjoyed the books, but over 20 years have passed since I read them, so I took time out to read the synopsis provided at the beginning of the book. I can't say that it totally brought me up to speed. I've forgotten a lot, but it did enough to get me going.<div><br /></div><div>Thomas Covenant, the hero of the first two trilogies, died in the final novel, but Linden Avery, a medical doctor who was pulled with him into the land in the second trilogy is alive back in the real world. Ten years have passed and she is still trying to find a way to reach Covenant's very insane wife, Joan Covenant. Covenant's son is now 21 and wants custody of his mother, Joan, even though he clearly lacks the ability to care for her needs. Linden is afraid of him and what he might intend and attempts to warn the local sheriff and security staff. Linden also has a special needs son, Jeremiah, she adopted after he was abused by religious nut cases who forced him at the tender age of 5 to stick his hand in a bonfire in the earlier series.</div><div><br /></div><div>After a series of violent events initiated by Covenant's son, Linden finds herself back in the Land. She also realizes from the bullet hole in her shirt, that in the real world, she is dead, and that she cannot return to that life. Her son is missing, and apparently in the possession of The Despiser, the evil force in the Land that wants to force her to destroy the Arch of Time and release him from his prison. Approximately 3,000 years have passed in the Land, during the 10 years she has been in her own reality.</div><div><br /></div><div>In this first novel Linden has to figure out how to use the power of the ring she inherited from Thomas to find the Staff of Law, which has been lost. She hopes it will help her find her missing son, and restore the Land to health.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>There was an awful lot of exposition in the beginning to prepare new readers for the Land, and I found myself impatient for the story to get there, but it got there and in dramatic and memorable style. Once there, the story moves quickly and furiously as Linden finds herself in one desperate situation after another, fortunately finding some friends and allies along the way. She also finds herself having to deal with both the help and harm of Esmer, whose dual nature forces him to balance every deed he does to help her with one equally dastardly and potentially deadly to her and to the Land she love. </div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Smc87i1WC2I/AAAAAAAABJQ/Pj2mnCzIu5w/s1600-h/fatal_revenant.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Smc87i1WC2I/AAAAAAAABJQ/Pj2mnCzIu5w/s320/fatal_revenant.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361320875068361570" /></a><br /></div><div>These books are not simple. This is adult fantasy, not something your kids will enjoy. This isn't the typical, go on a quest with friends, find a magic object, beat the bad guys and save the world fantasy. The issues are complicated and include the theme of unintended consequences. The reason Joan Covenant is able to wreak such havoc in the Land is because in the real world, Dr. Linden Avery, gave her back her white gold wedding ring, thinking it would soothe and calm her, not realizing that it could affect the Land when used in the real world. Each time Joan beats her head in her insanity she creates rifts in time and space in the Land called Caesures. So, even though she meant well, Linden now bears some responsibility for what the Land is now suffering. She has the ability to wield great power using her ring, but using wild magic could also unmake the world and do irreparable damage to the Arch of Time. Figuring out what action she should take that will not play into the hands of the Despiser, finding her way in a land much changed and where everyone she knew before is gone, and persuading many reluctant players to help her is part of the problem she needs to solve.</div><div><br /></div><div>I enjoyed this first book of the series and will soon be reading the second of the series: <i>Fatal </i><i>Revenant</i> (2007). Books 3, <i>Against All Things Ending</i> (2010) and Book 4, <i>The Last Dark </i>(2013)<i>.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>The titles of the first two trilogies are listed below, in case you missed them and want to read them first.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever:</b></div><div><i>Lord Foul's Bane</i> (1977)</div><div><i>The Illearth War</i> (1978)</div><div><i>The Power that Preserves</i> (1979)</div><div><br /></div><div>The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenent</div><div><i>The Wounded Land</i> (1980)</div><div><i>The One Tree</i> (1982)</div><div><i>White Gold Wielder</i> (1983)</div><div><br /></div><div>Visit the author's website <a href="http://www.stephenrdonaldson.com/">HERE</a>.</div></div></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-70831585451332207062009-06-09T20:36:00.005+02:002009-07-22T18:52:25.735+02:00Life After Death<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Si6sT9qIfII/AAAAAAAABFQ/klykyHA2tKY/s1600-h/LifeAfterDeath.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Si6sT9qIfII/AAAAAAAABFQ/klykyHA2tKY/s400/LifeAfterDeath.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345399266704129154" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This is a busy time of the year for me. The past month has been life at a frantic pace. I often compare the last few weeks of school to those old Crash Test Dummies commercials, full speed until they hit the wall and come to a sudden stop. No easing to a gentle stop.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Finally, just one more day of school and then summer break begins, when I will have some time to do all the stuff that needs doing to our house, but also some free time to sit on the terrace and read.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">R</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">g</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">h</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">n</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">w</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">l</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">l</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">b</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">m</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">e</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">m</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> reading </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Deepak Chopra's book </span>Life After Death: the Burden of Proof</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, and finding it satisfying and enlightening. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The author has read and studied the philosophies of many faiths, and brings in elements of them and tries to show how they are different, but also how they share similar ideas about the soul and its continued journey after death. I am comfortable with Chopra's ideas, since I share them, but he also explains things in new ways, and this I find satisfying and helpful for my own understanding.</span></div><div><div><br /></div></div></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-57226362949562024782009-04-30T19:46:00.007+02:002009-04-30T20:38:20.551+02:00House of Spirits and Whispers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SfnkdJZKPjI/AAAAAAAABC8/4wcWR5BCVvQ/s1600-h/House+of+s+and+w.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 235px; height: 352px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SfnkdJZKPjI/AAAAAAAABC8/4wcWR5BCVvQ/s400/House+of+s+and+w.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330542823358479922" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If you like true tales of haunted houses, you will enjoy reading Annie Wilder's book </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">House of Spirits and Whispers</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. This is the story of a woman who moves her family into a Victorian house in Sibley, Minnesota (an historic Mississippi river town) only to find out it is haunted.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Unlike the baffled mother in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://inthemiddleofagoodbook.blogspot.com/2008/03/dont-call-them-ghosts.html#links"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Don't Ca</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><a href="http://inthemiddleofagoodbook.blogspot.com/2008/03/dont-call-them-ghosts.html#links"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ll Them Ghosts</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, who hadn't a clue what to do, this woman has had experience with ghosts and spirits. She comes from a long line of psychic women and has some mediumistic abilities. She is not particularly surprised to find that she is sharing the house with earlier inhabitants. She is quite willing to share as long as the spirits behave themselves. She is not the only member of the family who has experiences there, but hers are the most vivid, and occasionally scary.<br /><br />The old house had been turned into 3 apartments by Leon, the former owner, and the Wilders have to make some significant changes to transform it into a house suitable for herself, her two children and occasional house guests. The floor plans in the front of the book are very helpful in orienting oneself and I often referred to them as I read the book.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Leon is still hanging around when Annie and her family move in, and he has strong feelings about the place. After driving off everyone else who showed interest in the place, he appears to consent to her family moving in. As they explore their new home, they discover a treasure of sorts hidden in the basement, a rustic door with an interesting old seed poster on it (seen on the cover of the book) and discover that Leon is not the only ghost. Several spirits have lingered in the house. The house sits across the street from a funeral home and they suspect that some spirits are attracted to their house and drop in on their way to other places. It all makes for a lively experience, sometimes too lively.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />This book is a quick, easy read. The author keeps things moving, and ends every chapter with a teaser that makes you want to find out what happens next. Watch the video to learn more about Annie Wilder and her haunted house.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z0OclPBxDfU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z0OclPBxDfU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center><br /></div></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-7264941311452614892009-04-19T10:50:00.023+02:002009-04-19T20:20:37.469+02:00Zombies on the Brain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SermObW5BDI/AAAAAAAABA8/zYqLd0nhMVI/s1600-h/P%26j%26Z.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 262px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SermObW5BDI/AAAAAAAABA8/zYqLd0nhMVI/s400/P%26j%26Z.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326322644855358514" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Some purists may be annoyed that someone has had the cheek to add zombies to Jane Austen's classic novel of manners, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pride and Prejudice</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Other readers may wish the author, Seth Grahame-Smith, had added more of them. He has stayed true to the plot line, while using the zombie threat to inject humor and enhance our understanding of the characters. I particularly enjoyed his exaggeration of the silliness of Mrs. Bennet and the youngest Bennet daughter, Lydia, the additional sarcasm of Mr. Darcy, and the unpleasant fate of some of the more disagreeable characters.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />The author sticks close to the script, sometimes just tweaking Austen's words a bit, such as in the opening sentence:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Most of his additions are low-key, gentle reminders of the situation, such as:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Elizabeth most thankfully consented, and a servant was dispatched to Longbourn to acquaint the family with her stay and bring back a supply of clothes, and at Elizabeth's request, her favourite musket.</span></span></blockquote></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SertAlcQsxI/AAAAAAAABBE/vgCkvGVavHo/s1600-h/Zombie+Eliza.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SertAlcQsxI/AAAAAAAABBE/vgCkvGVavHo/s320/Zombie+Eliza.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326330103625462546" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Battles with the zombies are, of course, an addition to the original tale:</span><div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Elizabeth knew that she and her present party were all doomed to slow deaths if the horses should fall into Satan's hands, so she sprang skyward, firing her musket as she flew through the air, her bullets penetrating the heads of several unmentionables. She landed on her feet beside one of the horses, and with her sword, began cutting down the attackers with all the grace of Aphrodite and all the ruthlessness of Herod.</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Another gem:</span></div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">What remained of Charlotte</span> [who has been bitten by a zombie] <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">would have liked to have believed this change the effect of love, and the object of that love her friend Eliza. She watched him</span> [Mr. Darcy]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> whenever they were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without much success, for her thoughts often wandered to other subjects, such as the warm, succulent sensation of biting into a fresh brain.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />I particularly enjoyed the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Reader's Discussion Guide </span>supplied at the end with questions for not-so-serious contemplation, such as:</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">•Is Mr. Collins merely too fat and stupid to notice his wife's gradual transformation into a zombie, or could there be another explanation for his failure to acknowledge the problem?</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br />•Some critics have suggested that the zombies represent the author's views toward marriage––an endless curse that sucks the life out of you and just won't die. Do you agree, or do you have another opinion about the unmentionables?</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">•Vomit plays an important role in </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Pride and Prejudice and Zombies </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">. . . Do the authors mean for this regurgitation to symbolize something greater, or is it a cheap device to get laughs?</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br />•Some scholars believe that the zombies were a last-minute addition to the novel, requested by the publisher in a shameless attempt to boost sales. Others argue that the hordes of living dead are integral to Jane Austen's plot and social commentary. What do you think? Can you imagine what this novel might be like without the violent zombie mayhem?</span></span></blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Serx_ZFiomI/AAAAAAAABBM/j4UnHTHIVOw/s1600-h/Zombiesinkitchen.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Serx_ZFiomI/AAAAAAAABBM/j4UnHTHIVOw/s320/Zombiesinkitchen.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326335580687213154" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Not any more!</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />What would Jane think? (WWJT)</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I think she would be delighted that the independent Elizabeth Bennet is a ferocious fighter capable of killing ninjas and zombies alike with ease, while still retaining good sense and sensibility. Having experienced the repression and limitation of women in British society of the time, Jane may well be delighted at the self-sufficiency of the Bennet women and the further confirmation of the uselessness of silly people in this version of her story.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is an amusing read, especially for anyone familiar with the story, and all in good fun. Hopefully, the addition of zombie hordes will attract more readers to this classic tale.<br /><br />There are 20 illustrations in the book, done in the style of the original illustrations of the original </span><span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pride and Prejudice</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> (sans zombies).</span></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-47321932320183556752009-03-29T12:42:00.009+02:002009-04-18T14:19:31.319+02:00RECENTLY READ<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Sc9RgzPt37I/AAAAAAAAA_4/A3ohVGdXHlQ/s1600-h/Saturnalia.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Sc9RgzPt37I/AAAAAAAAA_4/A3ohVGdXHlQ/s400/Saturnalia.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318559308901638066" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Marcus Didius Falco, as usual, has been handed an impossible task by one of the Emperor's flunkies: to find a missing hostage, a beautiful, dangerous and mysterious prophetess from Germania, who objected to finding out she was to be the chief sacrifice during the Saturnalia festivities. She left behind a body sans head, has a big head start, and a persuasive personality. As usual, in Marcus's way are officious slaves, uncooperative patricians, a family with problems of its own, and quack doctors. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">He must race against time and his chief rival, Anacrites, the Chief Spy. Along the way he will rely on his wits and his ability to read between the lines and see the truth the witnesses are trying to hide from him. He's had a lot of experience with the general public and his dysfunctional family. He knows when people are dissembling.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Read more about this novel by clicking on the title of this post.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Read more about Lindsey Davis and the Marcus Didius Falco novels </span><a href="http://inthemiddleofagoodbook.blogspot.com/2008/03/favorite-authors-lindsey-davis.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">HERE</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-32681221311788204842009-03-12T18:32:00.011+01:002009-04-12T10:30:17.568+02:00Puzzling Adventures with Edgar Font<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SblLJpyEk0I/AAAAAAAAA-Q/Lzcn1yZ-iTo/s1600-h/EFfam_800x600.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SblLJpyEk0I/AAAAAAAAA-Q/Lzcn1yZ-iTo/s400/EFfam_800x600.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312359864666985282" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Audrey and Garrett, cared for by a busy aunt and mostly absent father, have become introspective and hesitant after the death of their mother. When they are shuffled off to live with their grandfather for the summer, a man they hardly know and last saw at their mother's funeral, they expect to be bored and miserable. After all, he lives in a retirement home with other old folk. What could possibly go right?</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But their grandfather turns out to be anything but ordinary and not at all feeble. A life-long adventurer with a world class collection of artifacts to prove it, he's not ready to settle down and fade away like the ghosts that haunt the home. He wants to be sure that when he dies, any place he haunts will be worthy of him.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So, off go the threesome, into a series of adventures, three so far, involving mysteries, clues, and a generous dose of mystical, magical hijinks in search of the perfect place to haunt. And one of the problems with that, is that such a perfect place may already be haunted by someone else who doesn't want Edgar Font and his grandchildren to solve the mystery.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SblHh3WmzcI/AAAAAAAAA-I/E8rBwXziHwg/s1600-h/frogator_800x600.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SblHh3WmzcI/AAAAAAAAA-I/E8rBwXziHwg/s400/frogator_800x600.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312355882580233666" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The series of books:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Edgar Font's Hunt for a House to Haunt</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> include:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Adventure One:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> The Castle Tower Lighthouse</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"></span>Adventure Two:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> The Fakersville Power Station</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Adventure Three:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> The Flint Island Treehouse</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The delightful illustrations are done by the author, Patrick H.T. Doyle. Young readers are offered a puzzle to solve at the end of each book, which they can use to access more stuff on the website. These books will appeal to most upper elementary and middle school readers. The characters are interesting, the puzzles are puzzling, the adventures adventurous and a lot of fun.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Visit the author's website: </span><a href="http://www.edgarfont.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">edgarfont.com</span></a></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-11908131348154162342009-03-01T13:03:00.005+01:002009-04-19T20:23:57.443+02:00Scary Done Right<div class="separator" style="float: left; margin: 5px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Sap2MTvHmmI/AAAAAAAAA9g/PRzMEnIZrwQ/s1600-h/coraline-book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Sap2MTvHmmI/AAAAAAAAA9g/PRzMEnIZrwQ/s320/coraline-book.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:medium;">I</span><span style="font-size:medium;"> like</span><span style="font-size:medium;"> Neil Gaiman. I have not read all of his books. I discovered </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Coraline</span></span><span style="font-size:medium;"> about 3 years ago and liked it enough to read it twice, and it has had a good following with my middle school readers.</span><br /><span style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:medium;">I stumbled onto one of his adult novels when I picked up the book </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Neverwhere</span></span><span style="font-size:medium;"> at an airport bookstore to read on a long flight, only discovering after finishing the book, that this was the same author who wrote the deliciously scary </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:medium;">Coraline</span></span><span style="font-size:medium;">. I also enjoyed the movie,</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:medium;"> Stardust</span></span><span style="font-size:medium;">, although I have no idea how close it is to the book, which I have not yet read. So, I can't say I'm an expert on Neil Gaiman, but so far, so good.</span></div><span style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><br /><div><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:medium;">The Graveyard Book</span></span><span style="font-size:medium;">, his latest children's book, starts with some very scary images indeed. The worst is not stated, only hinted at, leaving it to the reader's imagination to fill in the rest, as it should be. A man, clearly an assassin, moves through a house holding a bloody knife, implying that he has murdered a family: father, mother and children, and is now searching out his last victim, a toddler, who should be in his crib and no problem at all. But this youngster is an adventurer, who has climbed out of his crib and wandered up the street into a graveyard. So begins the adventure of Nobody Owens, a scary and enjoyable tale.</span><span style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="float: left; margin: 5px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Sap3MNehwSI/AAAAAAAAA9o/pY7TVFO04Hs/s1600-h/graveyardbook1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size:medium;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/Sap3MNehwSI/AAAAAAAAA9o/pY7TVFO04Hs/s320/graveyardbook1.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div></div><div></div><div><span style="font-size:medium;">Some people don't like Neil Gaiman's approach, too full of sinister images and fearsome villains for children they think should be sheltered from all knowledge of the dark side. I like his work. I find it spooky, but also filled with humor for those who are looking for it.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size:medium;">The original purpose of fairy tales was to scare little children into being good, but also show them how they can be brave, courageous and compassionate in the face of a dangerous world. That call to courage is something all children and adults can relate to. Boldness and determination are the qualities of Neil Gaiman's heroes, large and small, not a bad message for our children, not bad at all.</span><br /><span style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:medium;">The movie, </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://coraline.com/"><span style="font-size:medium;">Coraline</span></a></span><span style="font-size:medium;">, is now showing. </span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><center><object height="264" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wucwkOxJmPc&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wucwkOxJmPc&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="264"></embed></object></center>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-17795237104578825122009-01-08T19:41:00.004+01:002009-01-11T20:32:44.363+01:00Magician Reading<div class="separator" style="float: left; margin: 5px;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SWZJuyXQO-I/AAAAAAAAA3o/j-e84_v3ql0/s1600-h/magicianread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SWZJuyXQO-I/AAAAAAAAA3o/j-e84_v3ql0/s320/magicianread.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">In going through a collection of clipart that someone gave me. I've came across a few treasures worth sharing. This one gave me a chuckle. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "in the middle of a good book."</div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-62399760336715552182008-12-24T16:45:00.001+01:002008-12-24T16:51:44.779+01:00Seasons Greetings 2008<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SVJZ2uMl1bI/AAAAAAAAAy8/BP06x84lcW0/s1600-h/JudyXMAS08.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 321px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SVJZ2uMl1bI/AAAAAAAAAy8/BP06x84lcW0/s400/JudyXMAS08.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283384109507663282" /></a>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-26816808156530279342008-12-14T08:43:00.010+01:002009-03-01T16:35:20.070+01:00Favorite Authors - Sue Grafton<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SUTP2lmpvKI/AAAAAAAAAx8/HbiKtvjV85s/s1600-h/Grafton.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SUTP2lmpvKI/AAAAAAAAAx8/HbiKtvjV85s/s320/Grafton.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279573199899180194" /></a>The first "alphabet" detective novel by Sue Grafton was published and set in 1982 and the latest was published in 2007, but set in 1987, so while time has passed for us, it has moved much more slowly for Kinsey Millhone, a PI in fictional Santa Teresa, California, who doggedly tracks down killers and cheats, even when the crimes are years old. She's an independent woman with trust issues regarding men, except where her close neighbor, Henry, is concerned. Henry is a vigorous octogenarian, a retired baker, who rents his garage studio apartment to Kinsey. He and Rosie, at whose restaurant Kinsey hangs out, provide the closest thing Kinsey has to family. <div><br /></div><div>In the earlier books, to dress up, Kinsey would put a jacket on over her black turtleneck with jeans, and cut her hair with nail scissors. She's moved up a little bit in style since then, but still keeps it simple and real. Like all good detectives, she's observant and picks up on the small things and takes a lot of notes. She keeps in shape by jogging, which is good, because she's fond of cheeseburgers with fries. She can handle a gun, thanks to her training and couple years spent on the police force, but while mostly law-abiding, she does what she needs to do to get inside and get at the truth.<br /><br />The crimes described in these novels are carefully crafted, and reading them is an education in not only how to commit a crime and how to solve a crime, but also how to avoid being the victim of a crime. The author has acquired an amazing knowledge of the inner workings of all kinds of companies, government agencies, and investigative procedures. I think a PI could study Kinsey's methods and get plenty of ideas on how to do the job. Things are different now, of course. We are 25 years ahead of her in time. Kinsey doesn't use a computer, and while they are starting to be mentioned, she scoffs at the idea that they could be useful. There are still 6 letters of the alphabet left, so 6 more stories until the final one, <span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Z is for Zero</span></span>. It will be interesting to see when and whether Kinsey ends up using a computer or the early Internet to help solve a mystery.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SUTOspDdw_I/AAAAAAAAAx0/wHgt8msQb00/s1600-h/Tisfor.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SUTOspDdw_I/AAAAAAAAAx0/wHgt8msQb00/s320/Tisfor.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279571929515017202" /></a><br /></div><div>Her latest novel, <span style="font-style:italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">T is for Trespass</span>,</span> addresses the problems the elderly and their families have finding caregivers, and how easy it is for the unscrupulous to take advantage of them. The criminal in this book knows how to steal other people's identities,while hiding her own, and how to manipulate people and situations. It is clear that the author considers this villain to be completely evil. It is Kinsey herself who looks into the woman's credentials and okays her employment, a move she will later regret, and one that puts her grumpy neighbor Gus's life in danger.</div><div><br />You don't have to start at the beginning or read these in order. Each book stands nicely on its own. Kinsey likes having closure.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 0);"><a href="http://www.suegrafton.com/bookshelf.asp?ISBN=0399152970">Kinsey Millhone series</a></span><br />"A" Is for Alibi (1982)<br />"B" Is for Burglar (1985)<br />"C" Is for Corpse (1986)<br />"D" Is for Deadbeat (1987)<br />"E" Is for Evidence (1988)<br />"F" Is for Fugitive (1989)<br />"G" Is for Gumshoe (1990)<br />"H" Is for Homicide (1991)<br />"I" Is for Innocent (1992)<br />"J" Is for Judgment (1993)<br />"K" Is for Killer (1994)<br />"L" Is for Lawless (1995)<br />"M" Is for Malice (1996)<br />"N" Is for Noose (1998)<br />"O" Is for Outlaw (1999)<br />"P" Is for Peril (2001)<br />"Q" Is for Quarry (2002)<br />"R" Is for Ricochet (2004)<br />"S" Is for Silence (2005)<br />"T" Is for Trespass (2007)</div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-82561655437338967612008-12-09T20:15:00.010+01:002008-12-10T06:40:18.343+01:00The Tale of Despereaux<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/ST7HgaDT1HI/AAAAAAAAAxM/2V-NdOORaHM/s1600-h/taleofdespereaux.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277875172887745650" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/ST7HgaDT1HI/AAAAAAAAAxM/2V-NdOORaHM/s320/taleofdespereaux.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 216px;" /></a><b>The Tale of Despereaux: <span style="font-style: italic;">Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread</span></b> won the Newberry medal in 2004. I read it a year later and was totally charmed by Despereaux, a tiny mouse who doesn't quite fit in with the other mice. He was the last child of his mother, born with enormous ears and open eyes. He often stops to look at the light that comes through the castles grand windows or to listen to sounds others don't hear and quite forgets to scurry or hug the walls. Despite the efforts of his older brothers and sisters to tutor him the ways of mice, he seems ill-prepared to survive in the dangerous world of a castle where war has been declared by the humans on all rodents.<br /><div><br /><div></div><div>When his sister tries to convince him to nibble on the books in the castle library, especially the tasty dark spots, he is instead entranced by the words on the page, <span style="font-style: italic;">Once upon a time</span>. He returns to the library time and again, to the despair of his family, to read the book all the way through. In it he learns about knights, and love, and honor, and when he meets Princess Pea, he cannot resist speaking to her and telling her, "I honor you." And as silly as it may seem for a mouse to love a princess, love is the most powerful force in the universe, and his love for the princess will save them all.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/ST7Ng33FHNI/AAAAAAAAAxU/A80IoZ5ImUg/s1600-h/princess.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277881777959279826" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/ST7Ng33FHNI/AAAAAAAAAxU/A80IoZ5ImUg/s320/princess.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 219px;" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Another character important to this tale is Chiaroscuro, familiarly known as Roscuro, a rat who lives in the dark dungeon, but like Despereaux, is fascinated with the light. He resents those who live above, because they have banished all rats to the darkness, and this makes him dangerous.</div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Miggery, a not-very-bright, sadly disfigured servant girl who has been badly mistreated by life, sees Princess Pea and covets her beauty and her easy life. She shares her longing with Roscuro, who exploits her desire and conspires with her to kidnap Princess Pea and hold her prisoner in the vast dungeon. It is our miniscule hero, Despereaux, who sets himself the task of finding and rescuing her, and due to his courage and resourcefulness, he does, of course, succeed.<br /><br />I loved this book. I read whole chapters aloud to my reading classes, showing them the beautiful illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering. The one of the princess leaning down with her hair falling down toward the floor and our hero is my favorite.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is a perfect book. If you have a young reader in elementary school who does not own this book, it would make a perfect gift that will be treasured. Buy it in hardback. It will be passed on to the reader's children years from now as a cherished family heirloom. And don't forget to read it yourself. They say that we are every age we have ever been, so even if you are no longer a child, the child in you will love this book.<br /><br />This charming book has been made into a movie, which I have not seen. I watched the trailer today, and while I enjoyed the look of Despereaux, the scenes depicted were quite different from any in the book, so it is clear that some liberties have been taken with the story line (sigh). I hope that the movie will encourage many young readers to discover this special book. You can visit the movie website: <a href="http://www.thetaleofdespereauxmovie.com/splash/">HERE</a> </div></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-47844149476778079432008-11-09T20:06:00.004+01:002008-11-09T21:36:51.680+01:00Shadowmarch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SRc3JsAQVZI/AAAAAAAAAl4/g4TFonnk-y0/s1600-h/Williams.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SRc3JsAQVZI/AAAAAAAAAl4/g4TFonnk-y0/s400/Williams.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266738928803665298" /></a>It has been a while since I read a Tad Williams book. I was delighted by <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=49">Tailchaser's Song</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">, which I read back in the 1980's</span>. Then there was a long pause until I read the<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=8">Memory, Sorrow and Thorn</a></span></span> trilogy (published between 1988 and 1993). I enjoyed that series so much that after finishing, it I quickly reread it, and savored experiencing it all over again. It's been too long since I read it to write a proper review, but I recommend that series if you haven't read it.<div><br /></div><div>My next encounter was <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=17">Otherland</a></span></span>, in which my children tried to interest me, as they thoroughly enjoyed this series, but I could not get into it. It seemed too episodic and it looked like it was going to drag on forever. I could not buy into the concept of everything happening in a virtual reality. I read the first book and that was enough for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>Back to the present. I recently read <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=16">Shadowmarch</a></span></span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/book.aspx?id=25">Shadowplay</a></span></span>, the first two novels in Tad William's latest fantasy trilogy. The final novel, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Shadowrise</span>,</span> is still in the oven. This is the Tad Williams I love, painting a rich fantasy world with characters of complex history and character.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Southmarch</span> is a kingdom threatened by two main dangers in addition to the power struggles that threaten to destroy it from within: from the south, a spreading theocracy headed by a maniacal god-king, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Sulepis Bishakh am-Xis III</span>, a strange being who may not be completely human, but is completely evil. He is trying to take over the world and having pretty good success, since no one wants to be the next to die, and that is the price of failure.</div><div><br /></div><div>To the north, behind the misty shadowline, which lies close to the castle of <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Southmarch</span>, is the land of faerie and many bitter magical creatures who long to march south and recapture the lands taken from them by the humans centuries ago. To enter the mist, means madness for humans, and few who enter ever return. Now, it appears that the shadowline is moving south along with an army of fairy folk.</div><div><br /></div><div>The royal twins, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Briony</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Barrick Eddon</span>, brother and sister, find themselves regents of Southmarch upon the bloody murder of their older brother, who was himself filling in for their father, a prisoner in a southern kingdom. They have some irritating qualities, immaturity on her part and peevishness on his part, that make them unlikely heroes. I suspect that this intentional on the part of the author, so that we will be able to see them grow as they struggle to deal with the court intrigues and other dangers from north and south they will need to face and conquer to fulfill their destinies, whatever those may turn out to be. While the story moves steadily forward, with many a twist and turn, in the first two novels, it is not clear how their tale will end.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is the characters who surround the twins who provided much delight for me as a reader. </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Ferras Vansen</span>, the captain of the Royal Guard, hopelessly in love with Briony, and on a possibly hopeless mission to safeguard her brother, Barrick, who seems hell-bent on getting himself killed or captured in the Shadowland.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Shaso</span>, the master of arms, who rose to power after becoming a captive, was their father's trusted advisor, but comes under suspicion of being the murderer of the twin's brother.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Chert Blue-Quartz</span>, a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Funderling</span>, who in the tradition of Hobbits and other small folk, is steadfast and humble, and probably a key player in resolving many of the mysteries surrounding this story.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Flint</span>, a child mysteriously brought out of the Shadowlands and dumped back in the land of the mortals. He appears to be a child with no memory, but a mission. Chert spends much of his time watching out for and chasing after Flint, trying to determine whether he is the good child he appears to be or an agent for evil. Flint discovers and makes contact with the Rooftoppers.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Beetledown</span>, a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Rooftopper</span>, tiny humanoid beings who dwell on the rooftops and inside the nooks and crannies of the castle. He is a scout, and can capture and ride a rat or a bat, if need be. He fears nothing and no one.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Qinnitan</span>, a young religious acolyte, chosen to be one wife of many in the harem of the god-king, Sulepis, who finds herself desperately on the run from him. What her part is to play in this story is one of the puzzles that will not be clear until the third novel is published.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are many other characters, including unexpected allies, such as a silly poet, a blind fairy, and a comical, but very disgusting raven. One of the amazing things that Tad Williams does, even with those characters who may only appear in one scene, is to make them seem whole, fully fleshed-out creatures. I don't know how he manages to come up with just the right anecdote to explain their sense of self, but he does it. He is full of surprises, but moves the story smoothly back and forth between three or four concurrent stories, each person not knowing what the other is doing, but all moving forward toward what I hope will be a satisfying conclusion.</div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-37549955639516014712008-10-05T09:43:00.020+02:002010-04-13T09:24:32.309+02:00Soon I Will Be Invincible<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SOhyDBWP9cI/AAAAAAAAAi4/O9U2IGicOcY/s1600-h/Invincibletitle.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253574361554613698" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SOhyDBWP9cI/AAAAAAAAAi4/O9U2IGicOcY/s320/Invincibletitle.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a>If the comic book artists and writers were right, we would be living in a world of secret government programs to create super soldiers, aliens and mutants where superheroes and villains would hang out in bars together and either plot to take over or plan to save the world. With wry wit, Austin Grossman's humorous novel takes us into this world of science gone mad, time travel, aliens, impossible scenarios and brightly-costumed metahumans with supernatural powers. He uses Dr. Impossible, he-who-would-be-invincible, and Fatale, a dreadfully-injured young woman turned human cyborg and novice super hero, to tell the story, but it is really Dr. Impossible's story.<br /><br />Dr. Impossible is a scarily-intelligent, geeky loner who never fit in, not even with his family. On one level, it's the usual story of teenage angst, unfulfilled love and clumsy genius. All he really wants is acknowledgement and love, same as anyone else, but he's spent his life being overlooked and underrated. So, what's left for "the smartest man in the world" to do? Take over the world, of course. Show them all. And even though he freely admits he is going to lose, he never stops trying to become the emperor of everything. <br /><br />His persistence and our sympathy with his desire for recognition make him an endearing villain. He notes that wearing a cape doesn't do much for one's social life and the images of him changing into and out of his costume behind bushes, wearing sunglasses and lurking in alleys behind garbage dumpsters until he is ready to make the grand entrance demonstrate some of the unglamorous aspects of having a super identity. But, he also builds cool gadgets and awesome robots with junk he mostly gets from Radio Shack. He has visions of grandeur, but he's not quite evil enough to want to destroy the world. Really, submission will do, and then he promises to be magnanimous. He enjoys the brief, but glorious hours when he has the world's attention, always knowing the moment will come when someone will come along, pound him into submission, and haul him back off to jail. You've got to admire his guts. He wants to win. Who doesn't?<br /><br /><blockquote>Maybe I should have been a hero. I'm not stupid, you know, I do think of these things. Maybe I should have just gone with the program, joined up with the winning team, and perhaps I would have, had I been asked. But I have the feeling they wouldn't have wanted someone like me. They'd turn up their nose or just never quite notice me. I knew some of them in high school, so I know.</blockquote><br /><br />Observations about himself:<br /><blockquote>The cape is pure melodrama, a coup de thèâtre, useless in a fight but indispensable in making an entrance, worth minutes of tedious oration. No one who sees that broad crimson swath billowing behind me as I step through the breach I've made in their perimeter is going to ask too many silly questions. A simple half mask is enough to keep my identity from public knowledge and fold me into the public persona.<br /><br />In street clothes, I'd just be a criminal. Which I am, of course, but in the costume I'm something more. I wear the flag of a country that never existed and the uniform of its glorious army, spreading forth the dominion of the invincible empire of me. Doctor Impossible.</blockquote><br />Observations about his enemies:<br /><blockquote>It's always chancy, facing down one of these people. No matter who it is, you're going to be dealing with the end product of a long, improbable story, of a person so strange and powerful that he or she broke the rules of what is ordinarily possible. Whoever you're facing is guaranteed to be special––an Olympic wrestler, a radioactive freak, the fated son of somebody. They're winners. Taking a red arrow or a sea horse or the letter <span style="font-style: italic;">G</span> as their symbol, they sally forth to make your life difficult.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SOhzx1-KlrI/AAAAAAAAAjA/Mj9VVs-tilM/s1600-h/UK.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253576265466287794" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SOhzx1-KlrI/AAAAAAAAAjA/Mj9VVs-tilM/s320/UK.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />Fatale, the young woman who agrees to become a cyborg rather than die or be left horribly disabled and disfigured after being run down by a dump truck in Brazil, offers astute observations on members of The New Champions, the super hero squad that opposes Dr. Impossible. Her conversion includes a lot of metal components (she now weighs 500 lbs.), onboard computers, a mini-nuclear reactor in her vaginal area, ruling out child-bearing, but also the reason she no longer has to worry about getting her period. She's good-hearted, and wants to prove herself as the new kid in the squad, but is also lonely and curious about her fellow heroes. She knows she's in when she finds a New Champions costume on her bed<br /><blockquote>I stop and look at myself in the full-length mirror, a machine-woman hybrid in a leotard. Female cyborgs are supposed to be wasp-waisted pleasure machines, but the fact is, it takes a lot of structural metal to carry a miniature reactor and this much hardware. I'm six four, taller than most men, with long thighs and broad shoulders. Even with my silver hair down, the impression is a bit more fearsome than traditionally beautiful.<br /><br />I run a hand down my flank, feeling the cool metal and then the real flesh, thinking of how long it's been. Not since the accident and how long before that? I don't even know. I only know I'm not a virgin. That's all.<br /><br />I look again, to see Fatale of the Champions. It's hard not to be a little proud of myself. I flip the hair back and do a Fatale pose for an imaginary photo shoot.</blockquote><br />Click on the title of this post to go to the author's website. I got a kick out of the safety tips for children:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saftey Tips for Kids</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Be Smart!</span> If there is a metahuman conflict in your neighborhood, do not attempt to intevene.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Be Alert!</span> If your friends or classmates show signs of Malign Hypercognition Disorder ("evil genius" syndrome), ask them to seek help.<br /><br />Signs include:<br />-extreme intelligence<br />-secretive behavior<br />-impatience with assigned classwork<br />-cackling</blockquote><div><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SOiIKAoLkoI/AAAAAAAAAjI/fhIclOVL7VA/s1600-h/IDcard.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253598670876283522" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SOiIKAoLkoI/AAAAAAAAAjI/fhIclOVL7VA/s320/IDcard.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br /><div></div><br /><div>Dr. Impossible says that getting super powers makes you find out who you really are, a villain or a hero. You can find out, too. <a href="http://www.sooniwillbeinvincible.com/">The Department of Metahuman Affairs (DMA)</a> is screening applicants for the Champions Reserve Force. Take the quiz, come up with your superhero or villain identity name, and receive an I.D. card.</div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-91112589563161545872008-09-13T17:03:00.012+02:002008-10-21T17:21:07.297+02:00The Wicked Years<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SMv_XGykWhI/AAAAAAAAAY8/gbAjosKnWb4/s1600-h/Witchbooks.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SMv_XGykWhI/AAAAAAAAAY8/gbAjosKnWb4/s320/Witchbooks.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245566963427858962" /></a>Gregory Maguire's <span style="font-style:italic;">Wicked</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Son of a Witch</span> are the first of three books set in Oz that tell the story of familiar characters in a most unfamiliar way.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Wicked</span> tells the story of Elphaba Thropp and how she grows up and gradually into the familiar character of the Wicked Witch of the West.<br /><br />In this Oz, Elphaba is born under mysterious circumstances to a a promiscuous mother and a preacher, as are her strange sister (possessed of no arms for whom the sparkling slippers are entranced to help her stay upright and move about), and a somewhat charming, nefarious brother, whose story is a central part of the second novel. Elphaba becomes friends of a sort with Galinda, of money and frou frou-dom, a union of opposites united in defense of intelligent animals, and she falls in love with Fiyero, a man who is ultimately murdered by the Wizard's forces, thus setting an embittered and possibly pregnant Elphaba on the road to witchyhood. And we all know how that ended.<br /><br />In the second book, <span style="font-style:italic;">Son of a Witch</span>, 10 years have passed and Liir, a young man who grew up in Elphaba's shadow and may be her son, but she never said, and possibly never knew, is found unconscious and badly injured at the side of the road. As he struggles on what may be his deathbed, we travel back and follow his journey as he leaves the witch's castle after her meltdown and goes off to search for his possibly-half-sister, Nor, who was last seen being abducted by the Wizard's men, but may still be alive somewhere in Oz.<br /><br />This is a coming of age novel (aren't they all?). He travels with Dorothy to Oz, is later aided somewhat by the Scarecrow, Glinda and an odd old Maunt (the Oz version of a nun) named Yackle in his quest. He possesses the witch's cape and broom and intelligence, but is innocent of the ways of men and the ways of Oz, where above all, everyone seems to be out for him or herself, and there doesn't seem to be much compassion to go around. He survives through a combination of dumb luck and instinct. The further he travels, the more is asked of him by others who assume that he is the witch's son and must have some of her powers. When he finally makes the attempt to be all that others are asking of him, he saves some, but neglects others, and suffers loss and gain in equal measure.<br /><br />As in the first two books, we are left with loose ends that need to be tied up. Hopefully, the third book, titled <span style="font-style:italic;">A Lion Among Men</span> will tell us whether Liir will ever find Nor or be reunited with Candle, and what happened to the Grimmerie, the book of magic that disappeared from the witch's castle. As with the first two books, I expect this one will deal with the bigger questions of destiny, justice, and the struggle for power versus the struggle for equality that plays out in every society.<br /><br />These books are amazing in their complexity, but also for how Gregory Maguire ties all of the disparate characters with their different motivations who all seem to be struggling against each other into a coherent whole, which serves as the background for the stories of the main characters from Baum's original Oz.<br /><br />The novel <span style="font-style:italic;">Wicked</span> is the basis of the popular Broadway musical and there is a movie in the works. Gregory Maguire has written a number of other novels and books for children as well. Click on the title of this post to visit the author's website.judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-37198820866271565942008-08-13T00:24:00.004+02:002008-09-14T09:02:07.413+02:00The Time Traveler's Wife<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SKINqmRlJQI/AAAAAAAAAYM/c1Awb2CgP34/s1600-h/TimeTravelersWifeBif.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233760742437889282" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SKINqmRlJQI/AAAAAAAAAYM/c1Awb2CgP34/s320/TimeTravelersWifeBif.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;" /></a>When Henry and Clare meet for the first time in the present, he is 28; she is 20; he is seeing her for the first time; she has known him for years. She has been visiting with his older time traveling self in the meadow behind her house since the age of 6. To him, she is a complete stranger. So, how do you handle a relationship where one partner has a habit of disappearing on the spot, leaving behind only a pile of clothing?<br /><br /><div></div><div>Time is the uninvited guest in this love story, the barrier that keeps the lovers apart, but also assures that they will eventually find each other. This is not the usual time travel novel, no science fiction future or prehistoric worlds, no great evil to be defeated, just "normal" persons trying to live a normal life and have a normal marriage when one of them just won't stay put no matter how hard he tries.<br /><br /></div><div></div><div>Swirling around them are friends and family, some of whom must be brought into their secret world to help Henry when he time travels, since he arrives at his unselected destinations there and back in nothing but his birthday suit. Each trip is perilous and a test of his survival skills, which include pick pocketing, lock picking, fighting, and staying in shape so that he can run away from danger very fast. He never knows when he will leave, when or where he will end up, how long he will be there, or how long he will be gone. Since stress seems to be a key trigger, he has a hard time staying put for important events like meeting the parents, weddings and child births.<br /><br /></div><div></div><div>The author, Audrey Niffenegger, does an admirable job of keeping the story flowing forward, in spite of the jumping to and fro in time. The early part of the book focuses on Clare's encounters with Henry in the meadow and her frustration that grows as she grows into her teenage years that Henry will tell her nothing of their future. Next the author takes us through Henry's childhood, how he learns to survive time travel as a young boy (sometimes from his older self) and the experiences that shape him into a tough, cynical young man who struggles and looks for ways to avoid time traveling in drugs and alcohol. By the time he meets Clare in his present, which is the one timeline that you can count on, he is ready for redemption and at this point she knows him even better than he does himself, enough to believe in the man he will become, because she has spent so much time with his future self.<br /><br />The writing is beautiful in this novel, the story compelling, the love between Clare and Henry rich and true. The possibility of a time-traveling husband seems real enough to be considered a problem that a good wife just might have to cope with.<br /><br />There is a movie in the works. I'm not a fan of movies made from novels. This is a good story. Hopefully, they won't ruin it. However they do it, it won't be as complete or as in depth as what the author has written in this novel, so watch the movie, but read the book first!<br /><br /><br /></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-81887335651661937732008-07-23T00:33:00.005+02:002008-12-09T12:46:42.686+01:00The Thirteenth Tale<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SIZiVXLTb5I/AAAAAAAAAX8/SsWHF_AQ8ko/s1600-h/ThirteenthTale.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SIZiVXLTb5I/AAAAAAAAAX8/SsWHF_AQ8ko/s320/ThirteenthTale.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225972536748240786" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The Thirteenth Tale, </span>the first novel by Diane <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Setterfield</span>, reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list after only one week in publication in 2006. No wonder. This novel isn't just a great mystery, but the writing is breathtaking. It's been a long time since I have read a book whose sentences alone have been such a pleasure to read. I feel my own plod along in their own straightforward, unimaginative way to the end of the line, while hers surprise me at every turn with unexpected images and metaphors.<div><br /></div><div>The novel centers around a world-famous, much-loved author and gifted storyteller: Vida Winter, an elderly woman fast approaching death, who has entertained herself by telling many versions of her life to the literary press, none of them true. She summons a reclusive young woman biographer, Margaret Lea, to her house by promising to tell her the truth, a pledge to which Margaret aims to hold her.</div><div><br /></div><div>As they settle into the house and winter weather settles in around them, Vida Winter's story gradually unfolds: of intense love, of sorrow, of managing the unmanageable, of hard choices. It is a story of madness and redemption, of loneliness and love, of losing and finding. One of the recurring elements of this novel is twins; their closeness, their love; their need for each other, yet also the uniqueness of each. As Ms. Winter tells her tale, Margaret makes inquiries to verify the details and locate the missing segments of the puzzle. As she pieces together the remarkable tale of the writer, she also struggles with her story, her own missing twin and her own loneliness.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, love triumphs in the end: the lost are found; the family is reunited; secrets that need to be kept are kept; those that need to be told are revealed; and Margaret emerges from the secluded world of books into a more authentic life of friendship and perhaps even love.</div><div><br /></div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-33898063493089458742008-06-14T22:33:00.011+02:002008-12-09T12:46:43.255+01:00The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SFQrWSJwtrI/AAAAAAAAAWs/dG8bXUixsqI/s1600-h/cover.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SFQrWSJwtrI/AAAAAAAAAWs/dG8bXUixsqI/s320/cover.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211838330604402354" /></a><p>I had trouble reading this book, but not for the reason you might think. I started reading it during my middle school reading class, and kept laughing out loud. So, I read the first 3 chapters to the class, and one of the boys, who had just finished the book he was reading, asked if he could check it out. Fine, I thought, I'll finish reading it when he is done. But, as soon as he was finished, another student checked it out, and then another, and then another, and then another. This book has not been anywhere near the bookshelf. It wasn't until the last day of school that I was able to get my hands on it.<br /><br />I immediately put it in my favorite reading spot (the throne room), and found myself spending extra time there. My husband occasionally came by to check on me, concerned that I might be ill. Not exactly, just glued to my seat because I didn't want to put the book down.<br /><br />This is a wonderful book, with a protagonist so engaging and funny, that I kept reading to see what he would have to say about the next difficult situation he would face, because his life has been one difficult situation after another. The opening line of the book is "I was born with water on the brain." Arnold, AKA Junior, Spirit has several things wrong with him, including brain damage from encephalitis, ten extra teeth (which were removed in one sitting, since Indians are poor and the res only received access to major dental procedures once a year), poor eyesight, and a couple of speech impediments (stuttering and a lisp). He has a huge head, a scrawny body, and big feet. He gets beat up a lot, but has managed to survive in part because his best friend, Rowdy, serves as his protector.<br /><br />On the first day of his freshman year, he throws his textbook and breaks the nose of his geometry teacher, because he is frustrated to find that the textbook he has been issued is so old, it has his mother's name in it. But, the teacher, instead of being mad, is glad that he hasn't given up on himself and tells him to escape now, leave the res and go to the white school 22 miles away. Junior may be a physical oddity, but he is smart. When he transfers to the all-white school, and becomes the only Indian there besides their mascot, he discovers that he is even smarter than the average white kid.<br /><br />Will Arnold/Junior find friends at his new school? Will Rowdy ever forgive him? Will he survive the basketball game against his former school? Heck, will he find a ride to take him the 22 miles to the school in Reardan, or will he have to walk . . . again?<br /><br />Arnold is also a cartoonist, and the book is peppered with hilarious commentary in the form of his cartoons, created by Ellen Forney.<br /><br /></p><blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SFQ2_MUipKI/AAAAAAAAAW0/7FMozHHULqA/s1600-h/illust.jpg"><img style="float:center; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SFQ2_MUipKI/AAAAAAAAAW0/7FMozHHULqA/s320/illust.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5211851128041546914" /></a></blockquote><blockquote> I draw all the time.<br />I draw beacuse words are too unpredictable.<br />I draw because words are too limited.<br />If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning.<br />But when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it.<br />If I draw a cartoon of a flower, then every man, woman and child in the world can look at it and say, "That's a flower."<br />So I draw because I want to talk to the world. And I want the world to pay attention to me.</blockquote>The language of this book appeals to kids, because Arnold talks like a kid. He tells his story eloquently, but in a simple, direct way, with humorous references to various bodily functions that we all have to deal with, whether we talk about them or not. Bad things happen in this book, just as bad things happen to most Indian families on the res, and Arnold tells with great honesty how he and his family and friends survive, and sometimes don't survive. The life of a reservation Indian is a world apart from that of the white kids at the school attends, but due to his humor and his tenacity, he survives and eventually begins to thrive.<br /><br />The book is finally sitting on the bookshelf, but as soon as school starts in the Fall, I expect it to fly off the shelf.<div><br />This novel was written by Sherman Alexie, who grew up on the reservation that he writes about. Click on the title to visit the author's website.</div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-36479491493004968102008-05-27T18:41:00.011+02:002009-01-07T21:14:37.481+01:00The Singer of All Songs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SDw6XHOaARI/AAAAAAAAAUc/Grri0dqPNVk/s1600-h/Constable+books.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SDw6XHOaARI/AAAAAAAAAUc/Grri0dqPNVk/s400/Constable+books.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205099438084325650" /></a><br /><blockquote>Everyone is on a journey. Everyone needs to learn how to be brave, and resourceful, and kind. The world is full of cruelty and danger, but it is also filled with unexpected magic and wonder, and it is those who are open to the possibility of magic who triumph in the end. These are the lessons that fairy tales teach, and though not all fantasy writing sticks to the fairy tale rules, I would argue that fantasy can confer the same benefits on its readers. --Kate Constable</blockquote><br /><p>Fortunately for us, after trying unsuccessfully to write realistic novels, Kate Constable turned to fantasy and gave us something fresh and new in that genre. I just finished reading <span style="font-style:italic;">The Singer of All Songs</span> and enjoyed it very much. How interesting that I had never noticed the word “chant” in the middle of the word “enchantment.” If you enjoyed the Earthsea novels by Ursula LeGuin, you will enjoy this one.<br /></p><p>Calwyn is a novice priestess and she is pulled from her cloistered world by Darrow, a young wizard of sorts, who needs rescuing. In the world of Tremaris there are many forms of chantments, and they are practiced in different lands, although they have become frowned on and even banned in some. Calwyn has led a sheltered and privileged life, raised by the priestesses in Antares who sing a chantment which raises a ring of ice which protects their lands. Calwyn chafes somewhat under the restrictions placed on her and wonders what lies beyond the walls. And then one day while singing the wall, she finds a young man lying injured in her path who claims to have flown over the wall. <br /><br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></p><blockquote>Darrow said quietly, “Thank you for all you have done for me, Calwyn. Perhaps we shall meet again someday.”</blockquote><blockquote>For a moment Darrow seemed about to say something more, but then he turned toward the river. She watched him plunge into the water, holding his stick above his head. Already the river had seized him in its current; soon he would be carried beyond the Wall and into the Outlands. Once more he would roam the world, and sail the wide seas in those boats of his, while she was locked inside the gray walls of Antaris, watching the moons wheel overhead and the seasons come and go, every day the same as the one that had gone before. And she would never see him again––</blockquote><blockquote>Abruptly she thrust the little globe deep into her pocket</blockquote><blockquote> “Wait!” she cried, stumbling down the slippery bank. And then she was in the water.</blockquote><br />This is a great story for young adults. It is easy to follow and the characters are easy to like. I hope that the author does a better job of developing the character of Darrow in the next novel. My only complaint was that he was constantly terse, troubled and thinking too deep thoughts to be troubled to communicate with Calwyn. I thought the brooding hero thing was a bit overdone. All in all, I think the author has done a better job with her female characters than with the men, but she has such a nice lyrical touch in her writing that I am willing to forgive her this and hope that more will be revealed of his character in the following books. Ah well, if there were no obstacles to the course of true love, the story would be over too soon and I am looking forward to immersing myself in the rest of this story. <br /><p></p><div><br /></div><div>I finally got around to reading rest of the trilogy: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The Waterless Sea</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The Tenth Power</span>. I enjoyed the continuation of the story. Many of the questions I had about Darrow and how the characters relate to each other, why they had the powers they had, and how the peoples of the planet came to be there, were answered. </div><div><br /></div><div>The author has written several other books. You can learn more at her website. Click on the title of this post or click <a href="http://www.kateconstable.com/">HERE</a>.</div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-85238530337008716952008-05-22T19:44:00.014+02:002008-12-09T12:46:44.859+01:00Enchantress From the Stars<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SDWxQnOaAQI/AAAAAAAAAUU/nSBvmFfzYeU/s1600-h/Enchantress.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SDWxQnOaAQI/AAAAAAAAAUU/nSBvmFfzYeU/s320/Enchantress.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5203259843461906690" /></a><p></p><blockquote><b>If you care about the future of Earth, you should care about space! --Sylvia Engdahl</b></blockquote>Originally published in 1970, <span style="font-style:italic;">Enchantress From the Stars</span> was redesigned and a new edition published in 2001. It is now being discovered by a new generation of readers. I read it years ago and when I saw the beautiful new edition last year, I picked it up and enjoyed getting reacquainted with Elana and Georyn.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Enchantress From the Stars</span> is the story of three civilizations at different stages of evolution. Any one of them could be ours, in the past, in the near future, or in the far future. Elana, a young member of the Federation, an advanced race with psychic abilities, ends up helping her father and fiancé on an urgent and unexpected mission to save the world of Andrecia. This was not supposed to happen. She is young and untrained, and they were on their way to a family reunion. But she is also highly curious, and manages to get herself in place, thinking that she will get to go on a grand adventure.<br /><br />The book draws on the language of fable and fairy tale for Georyn's story and that of space invaders with ray guns for the intermediate civilization, the Empire, that is attempting to plant a colony on Andrecia. The locals view the land chewing machine brought in by the Empire as a dragon living in an enchanted forest. The local king sends warriors to fight it, and eventually the locals think to send in a virgin to appease it. Only the expedition's doctor is bothered by the treatment of the indigenous population, who are usually stunned and held in confinement, but also occasionally vaporized. And those held captive are to be sent back to the Empire as specimens to be studied in a lab. Elana's father determines that the best course of action is to use the belief of the "younglings" in magic to access the latent telekinetic talents of one of them and prepare him to demonstrate this ability, hoping to scare the highly technical and nonbelieving Empire into leaving this planet alone.<br /><br />Elana must play the role of the Enchantress, setting tasks Georyn to help him find the courage and ability he will need to play his role. As she interacts with the young man to help him develop his natural ESP and telekinetic ability, the enchantress becomes enchanted by him, his courage, intelligence and determination, his curiosity and his desire to grow beyond the world into which he was born. She wonders at one point what it might be like to see each other just as a boy and a girl, not as beings from different realms, who must soon separate, as she must return to hers when the task is completed. Falling in love was not part of the plan. But, even though they know that their love can never be completely fulfilled, in the end, it is their love for each other that saves them both and saves Georyn's world.<br /><br />The author has an interesting website where you can learn more about her belief that our future lies in the stars, that terrorism is just one sign of planetary overcrowding and how important it is that we seek solutions for what ails our planet.<p></p>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1947774619855695270.post-25717901374690309842008-05-02T17:11:00.011+02:002009-01-07T21:07:01.846+01:00Thursday Next<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SBs4ao4hbfI/AAAAAAAAASU/Cr2g02Ob5bg/s1600-h/Ffordebooks.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SBs4ao4hbfI/AAAAAAAAASU/Cr2g02Ob5bg/s320/Ffordebooks.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5195808625404243442" /></a><p>The Thursday Next series of novels by Jasper Fforde are delightfully comic adventures set in an alternative version of Swindon, UK in which the printed world reigns supreme and people are excited by productions of Richard III. Everyone reads and literature is the main source of entertainment and diversion. What most people don't know there is that literature in this universe has a very real life of its own, a life that must be protected, for if anything is changed in the inner book world, it changes in every book in the outer real world as well.</p><div><br /></div><div>It is possible to enter, if you know how or have the inclination, this world inside the books, and our heroine, Thursday Next, turns out to have a talent for it. In the first book, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Eyre Affair</span>, Thursday is a Special Operative in a literary crime detection unit trying to figure out who is kidnapping characters. She has to step into the book, literally, when Jane Eyre disappears from Jane Eyre. After she sorts out that mess and changes the ending of the novel to the one we now enjoy (when did that happen?), her problems seem to mount, as her husband is kidnapped and eradicated by the evil Goliath Corporation, who really runs things. It takes a couple of novels to get him back. She is occasionally helped by her time traveling absent father. Her baby has a gorilla for a babysitter, her beloved pet is a dodo, Hamlet is hiding out in her mother's house and there are mammoths in the garden. It's a strange, strange world, and only Thursday seems to be able to keep track of who is real and who is missing and what should be where, as she battles the Goliath Corporation for justice and fairness for her and her loved ones.<br /><br />If you slept through American and British lit class, you might have a little trouble keeping up with the action of these books. For those whose classical education was a bit thin or it's been a few years and the memory of details are fuzzy, Fforde provides enough background information and makes the characters come so alive, that you might find yourself wanting to pick up an old classic and see what you missed or didn't quite get the first time. Aside from the literary references and all the characters from so many novels floating around in the plots, the world that Jasper Fforde has concocted is delightfully unlike any other I have found in literature. His stories are innovative and I never know in what direction he is going to take Thursday or where she will end up.<br /><br />The novels have brought attention to Swindon, UK, which in time may even name some streets after characters from the books. The author and his fans have created their own universe where Thursday next is occasionally "spotted" at one party or another or walking down the streets of Swindon. He has a whimsical and extensive website I encourage you to explore by clicking on the title of this post. Here is a video in which the author talks about the world of Thursday Next.<br /><br /><center><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ChpKfEVXqNE"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ChpKfEVXqNE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></center><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SBs6wI4hbgI/AAAAAAAAASc/fQnBVwOMdxk/s1600-h/Firstamongsequels.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgwvh-R8kQk/SBs6wI4hbgI/AAAAAAAAASc/fQnBVwOMdxk/s320/Firstamongsequels.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5195811193794686466" /></a><br /></div><br />The Thursday Next books in order of publication:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Eyre Affair<br />Lost in a Good Book<br />The Well of Lost Plots<br />Something Rotten</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">First Among Sequels</span>, the next Thursday Next novel<br />came out in July 2008.<div><br /></div><div>It's on my shelf. I'm looking forward to reading it!</div>judygrahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11800886346623253551noreply@blogger.com0