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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
March reads
I just realized that I forgot to post about the books I read during the month of March. Again, this is books finished, not simply dabbled in or begun. It's a VERY short list this month, thanks to a) good weather getting us outside, b) work, c) The Nikon, d) this blog, e) all the OTHER blogs I started reading recently, and f) Les Misérables. I couldn't start another one while I was reading that because I was afraid I'd give up and not go back to it.
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March:
- Les Misérables -- Victor Hugo -- story/characterization 5. actual book as a whole: 3
- There's a detailed review of this in this post.
- Izzy, Willy-Nilly -- Cynthia Voigt -- 4.5
- This is a book I first read in junior high, and I revisit it periodically. Cynthia Voigt has a way of writing about young people that makes theme seem as real as the person sitting next to you, or more so, and she tackles serious issues without either minimalizing them or preaching for pages on end about them.
One aspect of this book that I particularly like, more even than the drunk driving discussion, which is the main theme, is its treatment of friendship and of the issues: what makes a friend? How important is it to "fit in"? It looks at the judgments made by those who do fit in about those who don't in a really satisfying and subtle way, through the character Rosamund Webber, who is one of my literary heroes.
- This is a book I first read in junior high, and I revisit it periodically. Cynthia Voigt has a way of writing about young people that makes theme seem as real as the person sitting next to you, or more so, and she tackles serious issues without either minimalizing them or preaching for pages on end about them.
- No Children, No Pets -- Marion Holland -- 4.5
- This is an old (1950's-ish) children's book, somewhat in the style of an Americanized "Secret Seven" kind of thing, but with fewer children involved. My mother read it aloud to my brother and me when we were children, and I just finished reading it aloud to my children, who hung on every word just as I did when I was little. I enjoyed it myself as well; it's interesting, if for nothing else, as a nostalgic look at pre-Disney, pre-space-center Florida.
- Much Ado About Nothing -- William Shakespeare -- **
- ** How do you rate Shakespeare? You just don't. Either you restate the obvious or you look like someone who's trying to be different simply for the sake of noncomformity. So no number rating for this one. I will say that I actually really anjoyed reading it, and not just from the standpoint of being a person in love with language and its use. I was interested; I wanted to know what happened next. I didn't even know the story, so this was lots of FUN to read.
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