April Flowers Bring Pymalion

It's spring, and what a way to start off the new season with flowers and an image make-over. Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, is about a flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, in Victorian England whose "kerbstone English will keep her in the gutter to the end of her days" (Shaw, Act I). Luckily, Professor Henry Higgins comes to Eliza's aid as a supportive patron.

 . . . [she] utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere—no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespear and Milton and The Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.

Isn't it great to have a loving patron who will compliment you and be concerned about your welfare. I certainly wish I could have someone as understanding as Professor Higgins to "help me talk good," and could "pass [me] off as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party," or "could even get [me] a place as lady's maid or shop assistant, which requires better English" (Shaw, Act I).

 

Courtesy of Goodreads.com

The Alchemist

I'm not that far into The Alchemist, but I LOVE it! I like Paolo Coelho's message/theme, that we must search for our "Personal Legend." As a recent graduate who feels lost, or not sure about what to do with my life (when I can do anything I want becasue I'm really not tied down to anything), it really speaks to me, and has caused me to rethink what I want to do with my life.

It blew my mind when he introduced the Old Man as  Melchizedek, the King of Salem. Melchizedek was barely mentioned in the Old Testament when Abram (Abraham) paid his tithes to him--the Old man asked the boy to give him one-tenth of his flock. I was even more amazed when the Old Man opened his cape to reveal the breastplate with two stones . . . the Urim and Thummim--also barely mentioned in the Bible--which have a lot of meaning to us. I wonder if other people reading this book will stop and think about the significance of the Urim and Thummim (as seer stones), or just pass over it.

"It's a book that says the same thing almost all the others books in the world say. It describes people's inability to choose their own Personal Legends. And it ends up saying that everyone believes sthe world's greatest lie."

"What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.

"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie." (p.18)

The Appeal of Percy Jackson

Lately, I've been reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and they are enjoyable and addicting--like Harry Potter or Twilight. There are 5 books in the series and I just started book 4. It tells the story of what the gods would be like in our time living in America. I can see the appeal for middle school children, especially boys.

The series is about a boy named Percy (short for Perseus) Jackson who, at the age of 11, finds out he is a half-blood (demigod or "hero"), and his father is Poseidon from "the big three" (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades). There is a prophecy that a child of "the big three" will rise up against Mount Olympus. Percy goes on lots of adventures receiving help from some gods (Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena), and making enemies of others (Ares).

Each book begins with Percy being thrown out of school because he has to battle some monster from Greek mythology (#1 a fury, #2 laistrygonians, #3 a manticore, and #4 empousai) and then heads for Camp Half-Blood to get some training and receive an oracle for his next big adventure. (Oracles and prophesies are constantly misconstrued because the language is obscure and can be interpreted in different ways, and if interpreted wrongly it will cause peril, but no matter what you do to prevent the oracle from happening they always do--Oedipus, Macbeth, Voldemort, etc.) Percy's short-term goals are returning Zeus' lightning bolt (#1), rescuing his goat friend Grover (#2), saving Artemis and his friend Annabeth from the "Titans Curse" of holding up the sky (#3), and I haven't gotten into #4 yet but I'm guessing it probably has something to do with a minotaur and a labyrinth. Long term his goals are to stop Lord Kronos, Zeus' dad, from overthrowing Zeus.

Like I said, I can see the appeal this book has on boys there is something happening from the first chapter, and his troubles don't stop, he runs into monsters and gods from Greek mythology until he accomplishes the oracle. It is a great way to introduce young students to mythology; Percy's stories familiarize the students with characters from his world like "Auntie Em's" (Medusa) who sells garden statues that she has created, or how a witch named Circe who turns men into guinea pigs, or discovers how manipulative the Titan Atlas is. When kids read the actual Greek myths they already know who the gods and monsters are and what they are capable of doing. The series is a nice escape for adults as well, especially after reading Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment.

*Image courtesy of ambookgeek's blog: http://ambookgeek.vox.com/library/book/6a00d4141e3bba3c7f0110169cf6f5860d.html

Does Elinor Have "Sense"?

Finally, after months of drudging through, I finished reading Sense and Sensibility! (That's two completed Jane Austen novels, with about 3 I haven't finished in years.) The plot structure was similar to Twilight. It was really slow with a lot of build up, and then bam the last 100 pages are the most exciting, intense parts (the edition I read was 356 pages long). The ending was a little too clean, and Austen, I guess, wants the reader to have warm fuzzy feelings for Edward, and think of Robert as a cad, and Lucy Steele as a vain self-absorbed person. I think the purpose in that is because she wants us to feel like Elinor has some shred of "sense."

Mark Twain didn't care for Jane Austen much, nor did he care for Sense and Sensibility. He doesn't have nice words to say about any of the characters,"Elinor is a wax figure and Edward a shadow, and how could such manufactures as these warm; up and feel a passion. Edward is an unpleasant shadow, because he has discarded his harmless waxwork and engaged himself to Lucy Steele, who is coarse, ignorant, vicious, brainless, heartless, a flatterer, a sneak" and he goes on further. The only character that is endearing from beginning to end is Colonel Brandon and Marianne doesn't appreciate him until it's too late. She doesn't deserve him!

Mark Twain quote from Who is Mark Twain? published by Harper Studio

Sometimes the Book is Just Better Than the Movie

The new Harry Potter movie looks great. It looks like the directors decided to tell the story properly. A while ago I was talking to a friend who is in film studies, and we started talking about the Harry Potter movies and he said that he liked the third movie, Prisoner of Azkaban, the best of the movies (he obviously hasn't seen the sixth one), and I said that was my least favorite. I couldn't stand it for many reasons mostly because the knight bus wasn't as cool as I thought it would be (most people that I talk to about the series like this scene in the books); Professor Lupin was a disappointing werewolf, I totally could have taken him on he was so scraggly (after watching Van Helsing I know they can do better); and most importantly they screwed up the story. The director, Alfonso Cuaron who directed a Little Princess (which I love), focused more on visual effects than the story. To me telling the story is the most important part, and he blew it blew it by leaving out a lot of the "magical" story-points, so by the end it didn't make sense. Although, I have heard from many people who have not read the books, but are filmy people, like Cuaron's movie the best of all the Harry Potter films.

I like to re-read the Harry Potter books before I see the movies as a refresher. I've read the books so many times that each year blurs together (which they should). The Half-Blood Prince is a good one. It's all about Voldemort's past, and the beginning of the final battle. There is a lot going on in Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts that he doesn't quite make it back to his seventh year. Don't worry friends, J.K. Rowling promises seven years and we get it. Here is a new preview to the movie coming out July 17!

The Jane Austen Curse, or Hitting a "Reader's Block"

Have you ever hit a wall in a book? You're reading along and everything is fine, and then BAM! You hit a wall, or a "reader's block" if you will. I don't know how it comes about, but it happens, and it happens to me a lot.

I am currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Usually I try to read the book, and then see the movie, but not so with Jane. Her books are well written, but I have a really tough time getting through them. The movie actually helps move the story line along, and I envision Colonel Brandon as Alan Rickman (Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series), the only problem I can see with this image is that Colonel Brandon is actually in his thirties, while Rickman is not (and was not during the filming of the movie). With that aside a side (hahaha) I am stuck, and having a hard time getting back into the novel.

How does this happen? Is there a cure? I am afraid that the book will end up being another started and not finished project. The only Jane Austen book that I have started and finished was Northanger Abbey, a short and sweet book. I have started Emma, Persuasion, and Pride and Prejudice.

There have been plenty of books that I have left unfinished, like another "current" book Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, a childhood favorite.

John Flanagan - The Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan

I saw this book advertised as a good read on the blog UVSC English Teachers. I had purchased it a few months ago and hadn't yet read it because it's from a series. When I saw, however, the recommendation for it, I couldn't put it off any longer.

A very short synopsis: On Choosing Day, Will wants to become an apprentice for Battleschool, however, he not only is refused but the Ranger, Halt, has his eye on the boy. He is accepted as a Ranger and starts learning the new lifestyle. Soon there is a menacing threat - Morgarath, who started the war that orphaned Will, is back.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. Especially if you liked Veil of Darkness (The Earthsoul Prophecies series) by Greg Park, Magician: Apprentice by Raymond Feist, and love fantasy. Incidentally, I recommend those books as well.