06.26.06
Posted in Biography, Literary Studies at 7:50 pm by Rosepixie
The descriptions of each girl are vivid, inviting the reader to picture them. Nafisi’s fascination with color, particularly the colors that thoughts evoke (as opposed to the colors one actually sees with one’s eyes), is incredibly clear. She lingers over what colors each girl wore and the shades of their skin. She clearly responds to color very strongly. The result of this is images rich in color, which is actually pretty rare. It’s exceptionally noteworthy when one remembers that most of the time these women were only seen in head-to-toe black. Color helps to individuate them in a way nothing else really could. It’s wonderful!
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Posted in Childrens, Fiction at 6:43 pm by Rosepixie
When did Moyra get so weepy? She hasn’t really been like that before. I’m glad that the story has been good (and it really has) but the fact that it’s told so very badly is quite frustrating. The puzzles and riddles have been very good and I loved the secret doors and everything. I’m generally impressed with the quality of the mystery itself. I just want to know what they were thinking when they allowed such dreadful writing to mar the book. It’s extremely disappointing.
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Posted in Biography, Literary Studies at 5:36 pm by Rosepixie
I’m so exicted about reading this book! I love reading about how people read books. I’m fascinated by how their lives and communities color the books they read and how the books color their lives and communities in return. Like many worlds, the world Nafisi is writing about, the world of young women in Tehran, is very alien to me. Through Azar Nafisi and her students’ experiences reading books (espeically the ones I know well), I hope to develop a new understanding, however incomplete or lacking, of their world and their lives.
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Posted in Childrens, Fiction at 4:35 pm by Rosepixie
I am constantly baffled by the behavior of adults in this series and this book is no different. Torin’s reponse to the kids is rather baffling. He first tries to ignore them, then hears only what he wants to from what they say and finally dismisses them as silly, easily manipulated children and tells them to go home and play. To begin with, this is very inconsistant with how he is generally portrayed (which hasn’t always been consistant before, but is basically better than this). Further, it doesn’t make sense. The kids are Knights of the Silver Dragon and have saved the day and solved mysteries enough times that Torin dimissing them the way he did really doesn’t make any sense. It’s extremely frustrating and works more to undermine the series than anything (why read about them if they are just silly kids?). I may just write to Mirrorstone about this one!
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Posted in Humor, Philosophy at 3:01 pm by Rosepixie
This was a fun book to read. I loved how it managed to be both lighthearted and serious, funny and joyous. The stories were sweet, inspiring and funny. The writing was great and I loved the many quotes. This whole book sounded like a fun project to have done and it turned out beautifully. I’m really glad that I read it!
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06.25.06
Posted in Childrens, Fiction at 1:05 am by Rosepixie
The first riddle was clever, so I have hope for the second one. The rest of the mystery is quite odd. I’m confused about the symbol, since I don’t recognize it as any particular symbol and hope that Kellach would recognize it if it was the symbol of Wee Jas! The strange ransacking of Moyra’s house sort of baffles me, but I have faith that it will eventually make sense.
What’s frustrating about this book is that the actual plotline is pretty good mbut the writing is terrible. The dialogue is dreadful and the characterizations are extremely strange. I can’t quite figure out why the author feels the need to retell so many things completely under the assumption that the reader doesn’t know any of it. Briefly explaining some things again is perfectly acceptable, but eleven books into a series you can generally assume most of your readers know that already. The other thing is that often the information is pretty much irrelivant to this particular story, so long recaps and explanations feel out of place and drag the story to a crawl. It’s quite frustrating.
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Posted in Humor, Philosophy at 12:41 am by Rosepixie
One thing that I’m not thrilled with in this book is the use of clip art. I don’t object to the concept, and some of the specific pieces are ok, but there are problems. Sometimes it’s the placement (there is no consistancy and some placements are just weird). Other times it’s the choice of picture (what does a candle have to do with “subversive”?). My biggest objection, however, is that while only maybe a fifth of the pages get clip art, pieces are repeated (the moon and stars picture has appeared three times - two only two pages apart). I just don’t understand why they did that. It doesn’t really add anything and it’s frustrating and annoying.
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06.24.06
Posted in Childrens, Fiction at 12:37 am by Rosepixie
Cries of “don’t split the party!” keep echoing in my head. Why is Moyra in the House of the Dead alone? And why did the boys run off, leaving her to be so? First off, they don’t appear to have any other leads, so where the hell else are they going? And again, you never split the party like that! It’s the worst idea ever! Ok, actually, letting the cleric die is a little worse, but still… And they don’t have a cleric (which they should work on).
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06.23.06
Posted in Humor, Philosophy at 11:46 pm by Rosepixie
I love that by sixty the women who contributed to this book feel that they can be selfish and agressive from time to time because it gives me hope that I will feel that way someday. Not that I’m never selfish now, but I never feel that I *can* be. The unabashed pride at being “scrappy” made me smile. It’s a great image!
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Posted in Childrens, Fiction at 11:38 pm by Rosepixie
Ok, this hasn’t started altogether promisingly. Less than a chapter in Zendric’s memory is gone and a “suspicious figure” has been spotted by Moyra. A few chapters later things aren’t much better. Hopefully the plot will get better, but it’s not happening terribly quickly. I like the kids being on the ball and making connections, so hopefully that will continue. Whoever wrote the adults’ dialogue (presumably Plummer, the author) needs some help! Royma, who has never been this bad before, suddenly calls all children, including Moyra, her daughter, “boy” or “girl” awkwardly in nearly every sentence she speaks to them! It’s just one example of what’s bugging me, but it certainly is driving me nuts more than anything else so far! I really hope this gets better.
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