I always feel weird reviewing classics. It’s like, what am I going to say about Oscar Wilde that hasn’t already been said? Surprise, surprise, Oscar Wilde’s work is still perfect. Surprise, surprise, Oscar Wilde was super witty and reading his work is a complete joy. Surprise, surprise, Wilde’s life ended in tragedy and I still wonder what other magnificent works we could have had from him if it hadn’t been for the awful societal prejudice of his time. Obviousness aside, I do really recommend the […]
Who knew running away to nerd-camp could be so complicated?
From Goodreads: Elliot Gabaroche is very clear on what she isn’t going to do this summer. 1. She isn’t going to stay home in Sacramento, where she’d have to sit through her stepmother’s sixth community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest. 2. She isn’t going to mock trial camp at UCLA. 3. And she certainly isn’t going to to the Air Force summer program at her mom’s base in Colorado Springs. As cool as it would be to live-action-role-play Ender’s Game, Ellie’s seen three generations of […]
Close but no cigar.
This book made me sad because I wanted to love it and I couldn’t so more than like it. The characters were solid and the dialogue wasn’t bad but everything else was lacking. I mean, I enjoyed the plot, but I can’t really give Lev AC Rosen credit for that, since All Men of Genius is a retelling of Twelfth Night. A Victorian era, steampunk retelling of Twelfth Night with a dash of The Importance of Being Earnest* thrown in, to be exact. Violet and […]
A Serious Play About Trivial Matters
Most days I wish that I could create my own hybrid Algonquin Round Table and use my razor sharp wit to amuse my (fake/dead writer) friends. While I wish I was a good person all the time, I’m actually “best” when scathing…it’s a blessing and a curse. As I’ve grown up, I think I’ve tucked away most of these tendencies but I still think about my perfect round table. My line up shifts here and there over the years but always at the table are […]
“More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read.”
I promised myself that if I finished my full cannonball ahead of schedule that I would get at least one classic that I had not read off my TBR list. That brings us to The Importance of Being Earnest, which I was reminded was on my list by Aamil The Camel’s lovely review. The best part of reading this play, which I’m sure many of you read in high school although I did not, is that it is still laugh out loud funny nearly 120 […]
A trivial comedy for serious people
Thirty-first book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. Yet again, I have taken up a play by Oscar Wilde and yet again, I’m amazed by the layer upon layer of depth and meaning that the satirical work contains. You wouldn’t think that a comedy of errors would have anything to offer in the way of moral commentary or philosophical meanderings, but when you’re reading Wilde, you better expect profundity in his most trivial statements. This is a play about two men who pretend to […]