Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Monthly Review (August 2010)

September 2, 2010 in Misc, Monthly Review | Tags: Monthly Review | 1 comment

Man, I miss blogging. I’m doing what I wanted and keeping up with my schoolwork, but I miss blogging and reading and interacting with bloggers. I’m enjoying my classes (for the most part) and I know I’ll be glad I cut back on blogging when all my papers and tests start happening around the same time, but right now? Right now I’m kinda sad.

I had no idea blogging would be SUCH a large part of my life! I’ve been doing it pretty steadily for nearly two years now, and while I’ve taken some breaks before I’ve never consciously cut back on blogging altogether before. I’ve got MUCH less to do now, and since there’s not a whole lot to do at school yet I’ve actually been sitting around staring at my computer wondering how to occupy myself. I’ve so far solved that problem by watching the new BBC Sherlock Holmes series (I haven’t seen episode three yet so DON’T SPOIL ME) and old American movies, but what’s to stop me from BLOGGING? Eh? Except myself, of course. Because I said I wasn’t going to as much as I did before. Right.

But I DO miss blogging. Maybe I can blog instead of watching the same TV shows over and over again (I’m seen Sherlock episode one about four times already). Maybe I can post a bit more and it’ll be okay! So I guess I’m trying to say: a) I miss y’all, b) I have slightly more free time than I thought I would have, and c) look forward to more frequent posts from me for the time being (although still no memes. I’m tired of meme). I guess I’m lonely? However silly that makes me sound.

Reading Stats
11 total books read
25 total books reviewed
0 ebooks
0 audiobooks
11 pbooks

8 were by authors new to me
0 were rereads!

Top 3 Books
172. Countdown – Deborah Wiles [rating: 4/5]
179. The Meaning of Everything – Simon Winchester [rating: 4.5/5] %
180. Mexican Enough – Stephanie Elizondo Griest [rating: 4/5]
Read the rest of this entry »

Review: The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester

September 1, 2010 in 4.5/5, History, Non-fiction, Reviews | Tags: simon winchester | 2 comments

179. The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester
Publication: Oxford University Press (October 2, 2003), Hardcover, 256pp / ISBN 0198607024
Genre: Non-fiction, History
Rating:
Read: August 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:

From the best-selling author of The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and Krakatoa comes a truly wonderful celebration of the English language and of its unrivaled treasure house, the Oxford English Dictionary. Writing with marvelous brio, Winchester first serves up a lightning history of the English language–’so vast, so sprawling, so wonderfully unwieldy’–and pays homage to the great dictionary makers, from ‘the irredeemably famous’ Samuel Johnson to the ‘short, pale, smug and boastful’ schoolmaster from New Hartford, Noah Webster. He then turns his unmatched talent for story-telling to the making of this most venerable of dictionaries. In this fast-paced narrative, the reader will discover lively portraits of such key figures as the brilliant but tubercular first editor Herbert Coleridge (grandson of the poet), the colorful, boisterous Frederick Furnivall (who left the project in a shambles), and James Augustus Henry Murray, who spent a half-century bringing the project to fruition. Winchester lovingly describes the nuts-and-bolts of dictionary making–how unexpectedly tricky the dictionary entry for marzipan was, or how fraternity turned out so much longer and monkey so much more ancient that anticipated–and how bondmaid was left out completely, its slips found lurking under a pile of books long after the B-volume had gone to press. We visit the ugly corrugated iron structure that Murray grandly dubbed the Scriptorium–the Scrippy or the Shed, as locals called it–and meet some of the legion of volunteers, from Fitzedward Hall, a bitter hermit obsessively devoted to the OED, to W. C. Minor, whose story is one of dangerous madness, ineluctable sadness, and ultimate redemption. The Meaning of Everything is a scintillating account of the creation of the greatest monument ever erected to a living language. Simon Winchester’s supple, vigorous prose illuminates this dauntingly ambitious project–a seventy-year odyssey to create the grandfather of all word-books, the world’s unrivalled uber-dictionary.

Review

I’ve heard some really great things about Simon Winchester’s books but I’ve never actually read them, mostly because I couldn’t decide which to start with. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883? A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906? Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire?! But then I got The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary for a good price around, oh, a year ago– and yeah, it took me a while to get to it but the point is that I DID get to it, and furthermore I really enjoyed it!

I’m much more a fan of pop history/science/etc sorts of book than stodgy, purely academic books; I like to be entertained while learning something new, you know? It’s why I liked Bill Nye the Science Guy and The Magic Schoolbus so much! And Simon Winchester is very entertaining. The tone of the book is one of fond exasperation, mixed with admiration and pride (Mr Winchester is British), and luckily it never seems to dip into exaggeration or sensationalist areas– a downfall of some pop history books. (Mr Winchester didn’t need to exaggerate because it’s already a pretty fantastic story, but I’m glad he didn’t even try because it would have made me distrust him.) That, mixed with a rather lively writing style and a really interesting story makes The Meaning of Everything one of my favorite nonfiction books.

I don’t really want to ruin anything of the “plot” for you, but let me say that it’s way longer and way more complicated than you’d think it’d be. It’s also a LOT of fun to read about.

And

Get your own copy @ Amazon or Powell’s and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog!

Other reviews: I can’t find anyone. Apparently people have read Mr Winchester’s other book about the OED (see below), but not this one– or at least, they haven’t reviewed it.

I also liked: Galileo’s Daughter | Island of Lost Maps | Devil in the White City

Sort of related: The Broken Teaglass, which is a mystery set around a lexicographical collections…thingy!

I just remembered that I’ve got a copy of The Professor and the Madman, which is related to this one in that it focuses on one of the main contributors to the OED, Dr. W.C. Minor, who helped from inside the walls of an asylum. Totally going to read it now if I can find it!

Related news story that’s come up in the last few days: OED probably not getting another printing. I can’t say I’m THAT sad, because that’s a huge amount of paper. But I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to do it– surely universities and such will want a copy, and people who really love words. Maybe they could do a pre-order kind of thing and then only print that many copies? Hm.

Also, can anyone recommend me a good pop science book? I’m interested in astronomy and early 20th century science history, but I’ll try anything that sounds good!

Review: Countdown by Deborah Wiles

August 26, 2010 in 4/5, Fiction, Historical Fiction, History, MG, Reviews, YA | 6 comments

172. Countdown by Deborah Wiles
Publication: Scholastic Press (May 1, 2010), Hardcover, 400pp / ISBN 0545106052
Genre: Historical Fiction, Documentary Novel, MG
Rating:
Read: August 2010
Source: Library
Summary from Amazon:

It’s 1962, and it seems everyone is living in fear. Twelve-year-old Franny Chapman lives with her family in Washington, DC, during the days surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. Amidst the pervasive threat of nuclear war, Franny must face the tension between herself and her younger brother, figure out where she fits in with her family, and look beyond outward appearances. For Franny, as for all Americans, it’s going to be a formative year.

Review

I found this on the new book shelf at the library where I work and was immediately attracted by a) the cover and b) the numerous photos and documents reproduced inside. You may be wondering what a “documentary novel” is– well, that’s a phrase the author coined herself, and basically it means a historical fiction novel with actual stuff from that historical time period mixed in for visuals.

So alongside a chapter about kids practicing ducking and covering, for instance, is images of the propaganda depicting just that. It’s very interesting stuff, and I think it actually makes the novel more effective. Reading about Franny’s experiences during the 60′s is one thing; she’s a fictional character, and that automatically puts a distance between the actual events and what’s being presented in the book. The addition of photos, movie stills, maps, etc. closes that distance and brings the whole thing more into the realm of reality.

Countdown is furthermore brought into reality by the fact that Deborah Wiles went through almost exactly what Franny went through in the book. She lived where Franny lived, she went to a version of the school Franny went to, and Franny’s friends were a version of Ms Wiles’ friends. The story is told with an authority that you tend to get with people writing autobiographical fiction books, and I really enjoyed that.

There’s lots of interesting details in Countdown. It essentially takes place in a middle class white person bubble, but there are hints to what’s going on in the rest of the world– protests, marches, etc– and I hope that’s explored more in the next book. There’s also big themes of friendship and family and just plain ol’ kid-growing-up, which was nice because it kept the book grounded in real life– I know I keep saying that– and made it about the PEOPLE who lived through the 60′s rather than just what was going on in the 60′s era.

So, Countdown: a really excellent book! And I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series whenever they come out.

And

Watch the trailer:

Get your own copy @ Amazon or Powells and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog!

Other reviews: The Reading Zone | Semicolon | Reading and Rooibos | GalleySmith | The Happy Nappy Bookseller

If you like this book you might also like Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn, a YA book set during WWII that deals with a lot of the same feelings and situations that Countdown deals with like friendships, being loyal to your country and what that means when individuals get involved, and the terror of living during an unsteady time. Or you might like Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting, another WWII era YA book set in a girls’ boarding school that deals with friendship, peer pressure, acceptance and tolerance, and boys.

Also: I’m actually taking a class on the 1960′s in America this semester! It’s super interesting so far, and we’re reading really good books (and watching a few movies).

Status of the blog

August 25, 2010 in Misc | 7 comments

So classes started here on Monday, and I’m already feeling a) overwhelmed and b) extremely capable. “Overwhelmed” because there is a LOT to do in each class, a lot of writing and reading. “Capable” because I think I can handle it. Unfortunately I can only handle it if I cut out some time spent on hobbies. Hobbies like blogging and reading-for-fun.

I don’t plan on completely cutting out blogging (or fun reading), but I suspect I’ll be doing it a lot less than I was in previous semesters. So here’s what’ll change:

Reviews will be shorter and probably there’ll be more of them in one post. Like my mini-reviews posts are.
I’ll be cutting out memes, including my Thursday Tea meme and Sunday Salon (which were the only ones I was doing, anyway).
I’ll be absent for most blogging community things (including comments and events), though I’ll check in on the more important ones.

Now let’s see how well I’ll keep to my plan! I’ll be Tweeting when I can so you can keep up with me there if you want. Or you can email me, because I’ll always have time for emails!

Winner of A Desirable Residence!

August 22, 2010 in Contests/Giveaways, Misc | Leave a comment

The winner of A Desirable Residence is #20: Ruthie B.! Congratulations! Her favorite book she read this summer (a question I forced entrants to answer) was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, which I haven’t read but of course is very popular.

Thank you to everyone who entered! I’ll be doing more giveaways later on in September, so stay tuned if you wanna, y’know, get more free books.

Review: Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

August 21, 2010 in 3.5/5, Fiction, Historical Fiction, MG, Reviews | 5 comments

170. Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
Publication: Balzer + Bray (February 23, 2010), Hardback, 272pp / ISBN 0061791059
Genre: Historical Fiction, MG
Rating:
Read: August 2010
Source: Library
Summary from Amazon:

Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.

Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.

But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance’s holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Review

This is such an adorable book! And I’ve probably just turned off about half of you, but believe me when I say it’s also got some things in it that absolutely horrified me, some exciting scenes that kept me reading long beyond the time I should be asleep, and a strong female protagonist that anyone would love to read about.

Probably there will be spoilers from here on out.

Mostly the horrifying things came from the characters other than Penelope and the Incorrigible children, like the people who took in the children and all their friends. Everyone but Penelope seems to be under the impression that just because the children were living among wolves for a few years and act more like animals than humans, their humanity is negated and so it’s totally okay to go off hunting them with GUNS, oh my god it was seriously disturbing. And the worst thing is that people in the Victorian times thought exactly that! And I bet some people in today’s modern world would think the children were animals, too. (But would they try to hunt them?)

That’s one thing I liked about The Mysterious Howling, actually: it wasn’t afraid to talk about horrible things like grown men trying to hunt down children with guns, though it does it within a shell of innocence (Penelope’s, mainly) and MG-style writing. I appreciated that, because it could have very easily slipped into a melodrama/Gothic thing, and instead it’s a quirky, sweet, slightly-tinged-with-horror story.

For such a sweet story there was a surprising amount of character depth and development– although maybe not so much positive development in anyone other than Penelope, who became extremely responsible, and the children, who learned quickly to act more civilized– and I appreciated that even though the baddies were obviously unhinged, they weren’t just evil because they were evil. There were reasons for the bad things they did, and there was even hints that they could be reformed into goodies if Penelope stuck around them long enough. Sort of like how Mary Poppins fixed everyone in the Banks house (not that Penelope is up to M. Poppins’ standards of nanny-ing, yet). Penelope is very practical, a thing which tends to be appreciated in a person, and I’m sure she could win over anyone given enough time.

I do look forward to reading the next book in the series, because this one ends with a very big (and yet somewhat expected) revelation that should be fun to explore later. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be released until March 2010! Woe is me.

And

Watch the book trailer:

Get your own copy @ Amazon or Powell’s and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog!

Other reviews: Books By Their Cover | Confessions of a Bibliovore | Becky’s Book Reviews | A Chair, A Fireplace, & A Tea Cozy

The book has a cute website with some interesting extras, so be sure to check it out!

Mini-Reviews: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Magic Moon, Trinity Blood #1

August 20, 2010 in 1/5, 2.5/5, 4.5/5, Action, Adventure, Beach Reads, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, MG, Mystery/Detective, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Translated, Vampires | Tags: douglas adams, trinity blood | 1 comment

153. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Publication: Pocket (June 1, 1991), Paperback, 306pp / ISBN 0671746723
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Humor
Rating:
Read: July 2010
Source: Bought

Review

I had to read this for my summer class, and I’m glad I was forced to because I don’t think I would have made it past the first few pages if I didn’t expect for it to get better. Those were some boring first few pages. Ignore those pages. It does get better. It gets so much better I feel like slapping myself for having a copy of Dirk Gently for over a year and not reading it!

Honestly, I think I like it a little better than even the Hitchhiker’s Guide books. Possibly I just like Dirk Gently better than any other Douglas Adams character, but I also really like the themes in Dirk Gently. Think for yourself, don’t depend on someone else (or something else) to make decisions for you, and don’t make science into a religion? Those’re some good themes, and they’re cushioned in a humor so delicious I just want to cuddle the book close and never let it go. It’s wonderful.

If you haven’t already read a Douglas Adams book then this one might the book to start with. If you have read a Douglas Adams book before then you won’t be disappointed with Dirk Gently. Either way– totally worth reading!

154. Magic Moon by Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein
Publication: TokyoPop (October 3, 2006), Paperback, 344pp / ISBN 159816452X
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, MG
Rating:
Read: July 2010
Source: Bought

Review

Oh my GOD I hated this book. Now that it’s been a few weeks since I read it I can look back and understand why, exactly, I disliked it so much, but at the time all I could think about was that I wasted three hours reading it. So here’s why I didn’t like Magic Moon:

1. Either the writing or the translation is very plodding. It doesn’t have a flow, it’s very choppy, and in some parts it feels like half the meaning of the words was missing. In other parts it’s like half the STORY is missing, and it got really annoying.
2. The characters are pretty stereotypical. Actually, the entire story is stereotypical. Young boy hero saves a fantasy world? That plot only makes me happy when it’s got something different going on in the details or a plot twist somewhere, or something Magic Moon doesn’t have anything like that. It’s just a typical wannabe-epic fantasy with all the standard epic fantasy characters. None of them have any depth– and if they did have depth I completely missed it– none of them are likable, and by the end I hated all of them.
3. The dialogue is horrible. Again, it might be the translation, but it felt like the characters were reading from a script from a particularly bad B-movie. Seriously cheesy stuff.

So basically, it’s a typical fantasy story with half-baked characters, bad writing, and an infuriating ending. I won’t talk about the ending because, y’know, spoilers, but if it had been the exact opposite of what it was I would have felt much less irritated than I did. GOD.

155. Trinity Blood: Rage Against the Moons #1 by Sunao Yoshida
Publication: TokyoPop (April 3, 2007), Paperback, 232pp / ISBN 159816953X
Genre: Horror, Action
Rating:
Read: July 2010
Source: Bought

Review

I read this immediately after finishing Magic Moon because I wanted something fluffy and almost totally different from what I just read. It could have been a disaster, because Trinity Blood is not the best written series– but it wasn’t! A disaster, I mean; it’s still not well written, but it is very enjoyable. It’s got vampires and a dystopian society with a weird version of the catholic church, lots of action scenes, a bit of sexuality, a killer android, a holographic nun, and a bit of steampunk thrown in for good measure. You know those silly TV shows that don’t have much depth to them but you enjoy watching them anyway, if you’re in the right mood and need something silly and relaxing to set your brain to? That’s what the Trinity Blood books are like. They won’t win any literature awards, but they’re a lot of fun to read!