Tolstoy and the Purple Chair - Quick Review

An interesting memior concerning a woman working through her grief over her sister's death.  I enjoyed sharing the author's journey, but sometimes the stories felt a bit repetitive, and later the chapters were a bit vague as to their purpose within the scope of the memior.  The stories felt at times like they would have been better served as individual essays, rather than chapters in a book.  I, personally, would recommend The Reading Promise over this book.  They are similar, but The Reading Promise is much stronger and less indulgent. 

Books, books, and more books. . .

1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?

Probably my collection Lloyd Alexander and Madeline L‘Engle books, since The Chronicles of Narnia have been kicked out and onto the spare room‘s bookshelves.

2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you'll read next?
Current read: Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Last read: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Next read: Well, the next in the pile of library books is Ink and Steel by Elizabeth Bear, but it might get switched out for Blackout by Connie Willis.

3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. I saw rave reviews all over the internet but the book is horribly written. The characters are shallow/one dimensional and somehow this fantasy manages to be completely unimaginative. AND the love story subplot wasn’t believable at all.


4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you'll read, but you probably won't?
Age of Innocence. There is just something about Edith Wharton’s books that make me become distracted after the first chapter.

5. Which book are you saving for "retirement"?
I’m not that patient. I don’t really save books.


6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
I never read the last page in a book I want to finish. If I begin skipping ahead in a book, I know its time to put it aside because I only do that with books that bore me.


7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
They can be really interesting. I’ve been reading these first because they give me a bit of an idea of how the book is going to go. If they are boring the book is usually boring too.

8. Which book character would you switch places with?
Tiffany Aching, cause she lives in Discworld and is otherwise awesome.

9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Emma by Jane Austen. I remember the very first time I sat down and opened the pages of my first library booksale copy. It was a magical moment. J

10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
I found a first edition I Capture the Castle for free at the library, but that isn’t that interesting of a story. Sorry. I get all my books at the library book sale. I don’t really need to acquire them in any other way.

11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
I give my cousin Abby books that I think she might like on occasion, but most of my books go to the library book sale.

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Pride and Prejudice, the one with the cover that makes it look like a bad romance novel. I’ve read that copy so many times that I finally considered it worn enough to allow myself to bend down the pages.

13. Any "required reading" you hated in high school that wasn't so bad ten years later?
Not in high school, but I was in a kids book club that read the Giver and I loathed that book the first time around. This past year I read it again and fell in love with it. I’m beginning to love post apocalyptic fiction ever since I read Canticle of Leobowitz and Hunger Games.

14. What is the strangest item you've ever found in a book?
Old baseball cards.


15. Used or brand new?
Library booksale books are the best.

16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Genius. I just started reading his books this past year, and at the last booksale, I picked up about five of his so that I’ll have one on hand for awhile. I read three of his books in one year which is unusual for me since there aren’t many authors that I follow. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman are about the only others that I read with any regularity.

17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
North and South. The book by Elizabeth Gaskell just wasn’t as good and looking at John Thorton is much more enjoyable than reading about him.

18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
Twilight. Simply for the reason that the actors are horrible and there is not enough plot to make those books into interesting movies.

19. Have you ever read a book that's made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
Nope.

20. Who is the person whose book advice you'll always take?
I don’t take advice on books. I’m super picky and freakishly controlling about my book choices.

BBC Drama - Autumn/Winter - 2010/2011 (Scenes from 9th, 10th and 11th in...

David Tennant, Matt Smith, Jamie Bamber, Christopher Eccesleton, Rufus Sewell, Keely Hawes, Michael Gambon, Romola Garai, Helena Bonham Carter, Rosamund Pike, Creepy Colonel Brandon, oh the list goes on and on. The British are so lucky to have all this for their fall television line up. We get Dancing with the Stars and crime dramas. I know we're getting Upstairs Downstairs next year on Masterpiece, hopefully we'll get Single Father too.

Supernatural Starts This Friday. Here's hoping Misha Will Be Back. . .

Vote Saxon!

John Simm is Hamlet!  First, The Tenth Doctor and now the Master too in the role.  He is playing Hamlet through October at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.  I loved David Tennant in the role, but personally I think John Simm might be able to pull it off even better.  John Simm is an amazing actor.  His portrayal of Sam Tyler in Life on Mars was beyond brilliant and of course, I love the Master.  This is just too fun.  Too bad I'm not going to England until next year. . .

Hawaii Five-O is not the Event, but it sure is fun.

Last night was the premiere of two shows I'd been less than excited about seeing, Hawaii Five-O and the Event.  The Event was one of the many shows I had considered to be doomed to failure.  After seeing the pilot, I have no idea whether or not it will catch on.  My mom liked it.  I was annoyed that there was yet another dire moment taking place on a plane.  J. J. Abrams has done that too often for it to be shocking anymore.  I'll keep watching it, but I'm not really holding my breath for anything too great.  After LOST, 24, and Prison Break went down the tubes, I kind of got over this type of show. 

After the Event was over, I ran up and watched Hawaii Five-O on my HD-TV.  First and foremost, the show is absolutely gorgeous (and I'm not just talking about Alex O'Loughlin).  The scenery is the best since LOST.  The show was like a condensed action movie full of shoot outs and helicopters.  Both of the leads got shot in the first episode.  It was awesome.  Of course, I was sold the moment I realised that James Marsters was the villain of the first episode.  I love Spike.  I really enjoyed the show, much more than the Event and I hope it stays on.  Alex has had two failing shows now (Moonlight and Three Rivers) and so I hope this one sticks for him.  He and Dano had great chemistry together and will make a good duo in the show.  The other two actors I wasn't so sure of.  I never liked Boomer on Battlestar Galatica and her main role in Five-O was to look good in a bikini.  Hopefully, she'll get more of a personality as the show progresses.  Jin from LOST did a decent job, but I really find it distracting to listen to him when he isn't talking like Jin.  Six years of LOST has really branded him as that character in my mind. 

Anyways, I'll keep watching both shows for now, but I already know that I'll have much less fun watching the Event.  Hawaii Five-O is just too fun.

Girl Power!

Frequently, I'm seriously annoyed by the way women are portrayed on television and in the books I'm reading. Yesterday, I finished I Am Number Four. About halfway through the book, I began to roll my eyes. The author wanted the readers to buy that the main character, John, was in truly in love with a school mate, Sarah. I did not buy for one second that what they had was love. They are fifteen for one AND, more importantly, the poor girl had no personality. She was a face and nothing more. John always called her things like "Gorgeous" and thought about how pretty she was. That was the extent of what we knew about her and it was also all apparently he cared to know too. The story is basically this: John and eight other aliens came to earth when their planet is destroyed, big bad aliens are trying to kill them, and John knows he's next. The idea behind the plot is Superman's back story for the most part. John has superpowers, etc.   John isn't a likable main character.  He's selfish and that selfishness gets those close to him hurt or killed.  He is never has to accept the consequences for his actions even when bad stuff happens and its his fault.  He's the male version of a Mary Sue.  Anyways, back to his love interest . . .  when John finally tells Sarah that he's an alien, there are no questions or "Oh my gosh!" moments. She believes him right off the bat and isn't at all weird out that he isn't human or even that he's been lying to her about everything since she met him. Oh yeah, and right before she finds out he's an alien, she manages to be stupid enough to be the only person stuck in a burning house. John, of course, has to save her. There is crying involved.

The worst moment in the book came when John and his protector are fighting it out with the bad aliens and Sarah won't stop clinging to him and crying. She cries a lot. He tries to push her off of him but she won't leave. She has to be led away by another big strong man because she doesn't even have the brains to know when to hide. At the end, the author somehow wants us to believe that this idiotic wimp would kill a bad alien. I didn't buy it. She was in hysterics when she saw them earlier and there is no way that the little woman the author created could have even stabbed an alien.  I read the book thinking the book would get better but no, it got worse.  The author made me so frustrated because whoever they are, they should have known better than to create a self-centered character like John (and present him as a hero) and a girl without any personality.  These two aren't the only things wrong with the book but they are the pair that made me want to scream when I was finished.   

Sarah was an example of a horribly weak female character, but unfortunately, she is not the exception. Last weak, I finished Mockingjay. I had been under the impression that the main character, Katniss, would be a strong woman. She kicks butt and wants to take down the government. By the third book, however, she spends all of her time being used by the resistance, sulking, and blaming herself for every thing. She never steps up to the plate. She never takes control of her own life. While reading the book, I came to the realization that any other character in the series would have been more interesting at that point. She didn't do anything. How can you write a book about a character who doesn't do anything or make any choices? Well, Suzanne Collins proved that you can, but it makes for a horrible book. 

Katniss and Sarah are just a few in the long line of weak female characters that have been saturating the media lately. After finished that horrible book in the afternoon, I was so thankful to catch the new show Nikita last night. After watching an episode of Covert Affairs this summer, I was hoping that Nikita wouldn't go the same way and bring another set of boy obsessed female spies to the TV. My hopes were rewarded. The new Nikita is along the lines of her predecessors, the original Nikita and Sydney Bristow. She kicks butt and has a mission she believes in. The show was billed as a Girl Power show and it definitely rises to that title. There are two strong female leads, Nikita herself and Alex. Both are smart and tough. Nikita is trying to take down Division, the place that turned her into an assassin and killed her fiancé Danny (shades of Alias here). She has been in hiding for a while but now is instigating a war with Alex as her ally. Alex is on the inside feeding Nikita information. She was picked up off the streets as a new recruit and is being trained to be an assassin.  Of course, Nikita trained her first and so we are given a really interesting duo. I have great hopes for this show. It doesn't fit in with the other shows in the CW line up but I'm hoping that it will stay on anyway. It promises to be an interesting show and I, for one, am thankful to see a strong woman on television again. Her appearance last night renewed my hope that there are some more writers out there who believe young women need strong female characters to encourage and empower them.