For some reason I read the second book of the “Dark is Rising” series before I read the first one. I didn’t realize I had done that until I discovered Over Sea, Under Stone and read that this was the first in a series. The second book, Dark is Rising was very odd. I couldn’t get into it and I struggled with the power to travel to alternate times that some of the characters had. I had the opposite experience when it came to Over […]
Just Shows How A Year Can Change Someone…For the Better
When I began re-reading the Harry Potter series in May (clearly I didn’t make it very far), I remember wondering what I had committed myself to after finishing “Sorcerer’s Stone.” Because my experience wasn’t as exciting as it had been previously, I think I didn’t put much stock into finishing “The Chamber of Secrets”. Compared to my re-reading of “The Sorcerer’s Stone”, I liked “The Chamber of Secrets” a lot more than I thought I would. Maybe because the characters have all be established or […]
Goblins, Gnomes, Cobs, Oh My!
I had decided this summer to re-tool my sophomore English class and teach genres that don’t always get taught in small, private schools. One of those genres, and one of my favorites, is Fantasy. So I’ve been trying to read as much YA Fantasy as I can, looking for contemporary and classic works. One of the classics that I’ve stumbled across is George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin. Interestingly, C.S. Lewis saw Mr. MacDonald as an inspiration for writing. Mr. MacDonald’s style is very […]
British Mythology Redux
My experience with Kazuo Ishiguro has only been Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. The more I’ve read of Mr. Ishiguro’s, the more I enjoy his style. He begins his narratives very subtly developing conflicts and characters and builds towards endings that pack a punch. The Buried Giant departs from his usual content, while he tackles re-imagining British mythology. The world of the story is post-Arthurian where the Britons and the Saxons are living amongst each other, slowly building the cultural milieu we […]
If Shakespeare, Dickens, and Christie Co-Wrote a Book
One of my students just read The Count of Monte Cristo last year and has been on my case about reading it. I couldn’t help chuckling when the Cannonball Book Club decided to read it. It’s like karma’s trying to tell me something! While I knew that this was going to be a long read, I was looking forward to it. I’ve seen Wishbone’s and Jim Caviezel’s versions of The Count so I knew the basic plot of the novel. I didn’t know how the […]
The Most Non-fictional Fiction
I thought I had read or knew about C.S. Lewis’s works, but The Great Divorce slipped my notice until one of my co workers mentioned it. I’ll be honest and admit that I’ve avoided Lewis’s non-fiction work. Granted, I typically don’t a lot of non-fiction to begin with, but I prefer Lewis’s fictional works. As luck would have it, The Great Divorce is a fictional piece although it reads like non-fiction. This combination makes it an interesting read, nothing like I’ve read before. There was […]
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