Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

5 stars
R-2

Wow.

Okay, so if I'm being totally honest I have to say that I picked this up because a) it's not terribly long and b) I'm trying to clean off my shelves a bit and didn't expect to love it.

I guess it's good it's slim, because it is sooooo staying on that shelf.

What an interesting WWII story.  Or post-war... whatever.  Depends on how you look at it.

This book is chilling and utterly compelling, fascinating and terribly tragic.

And I loved it.

Totally fully whole-heartedly recommended.

The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY could they not have at least FILMED the Scouring of the Shire?!?!!?!?

Sorry, just a little freak-out there.

So we come to the end.  Sort of.

You know, except for the 125 pages of appendixes that I haven't read through yet.  (I decided to save most of the to read with The Silmarillion, which I've actually never read.  So that should be fun.

One thing I've found very interesting-- there are so many little bits and scenes and conversations that actually are in the movies, but are in completely random/different places.

For instance, in the movie Aragorn sends Sam looking for athelas, or kingsfoil.  In the book, it's Ioreth from the Houses of Healing that he sends.  The conversation is near word-for-word and yet it's stuck in a completely different context.  Interesting and weird all at the same time.

Also interesting-- Arwen finally speaks!  I don't think she'd had a single line until after marrying Aragorn.  As much as I don't love what they did with her in the movies, I understand needing to give her a bigger role.  Can you imagine telling someone like Liv Tyler, "No, honey, you don't say anything.  You just sit there and look pretty for a few minutes in the first movie.  No, sorry, you aren't in the second one.  You get a few pages in the script of the third, but yeah, you only have one or two lines." LOL

Characters that I think were totally undercut in the movie(s):
First and foremost-- SAM!  I will contend to my dying breath that it is Sam that is the true protagonist. 
I've said it before and I'll say it again-- Faramir.  Totally the most-butchered character.  Sigh.
In the "simply too shallow a portrayal" category-- Eowyn.  Too much fire, too little frost, almost no depth.

And frankly, I think cutting out Merry and Pippin's roles in the Shire is a disservice.

Anyway. 

Easier to get through than Two Towers, certainly, but there were, interestingly, places where I actually wanted more description, if you can believe that.  A disturbing thought, really.

I do think I've OD'ed on LoTR, though.  The other night I tossed and turned having the most bizarre dreams, and all I remember about them was someone shouting "Ecthelion".  Yeah, no idea.  Apparently I'm being haunted by Denethor's father.  Sigh.


And yet, I think I want to watch the movies again. :)

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

Not as easy as Fellowship... blah.

I still love the story, but did we really have to put ALL of the stuff in the west in the first half and make the second half ALL ABOUT FRODO?!?!?!?  UGH!!

That whole thing would have been so much more tolerable if it had been in 15 page chunks.

Though, I must say, the section with Faramir was all the more lovely after how the movies butchered his character.

I especially love the spot in the book where he basically says, "Look, Boromir was my brother, and I love him, but it's okay, I know he was kind of an idiot."

Soooo many things that I desperately wish had made it into the movie, and soooooooooo many things that I wish hadn't been.

Probably the hardest of the trilogy to read, (slog, slog, trudge, trudge, slog) but it's not like you can skip it, lol.

The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

Um, I'm gonna say 5 stars
YF

Okay, I have a serious love/hate relationship with these books.  Last week I talked about how I found The Hobbit, right?  So naturally, after reading that, I picked up this.  Yeah, so did NOT work.  I don't think I got more than 60 pages in.

I couldn't stand it!  The paragraphs went on for ages, the descriptions were mind-boggling and it was all just too much.

So fast forward a few years.  The movies are coming out and I MUST read the book first.  Because I'm neurotic that way.

I FORCED myself through the book.  Ugh.  Great story, can't stand the writing.  The paragraphs and descriptions are still ridiculous and it feels like there is NO direct dialogue.  Shoot me now.

This time through was better.  It's been almost 10 years, and as we watched the movies a couple weeks ago, I found that I'd lost a lot of the details from the book.  And since I'm neurotic, that drove me nuts.  So I read it again.

And it was better.  The paragraphs didn't seem as long, I realized there was more dialogue than I'd thought, and frankly, I read differently than I did last time I read it.  For one, I give myself permission to skim.  Which makes a HUGE difference in the ridiculously long descriptions.

And honestly, the movies helped too.  Nevermind all the stuff that was cut and all the crazy things that were changed, the movies at least make me better able to picture the setting and the characters-- and to hear how they might talk.

(Hugo Weaving was a dreadful casting choice, by the way.  Holy cow.)

Anyway, so it was better.  And I'm kind of excited to dive into The Two Towers.

(Not the least because I know I won't have to deal with the butchery of Faramir that happens in the movie.  "The ring will go to Gondor" indeed.)
(I <3 Faramir and Eomer.)

Counts for the Support Your Local Library Challenge.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

5 stars

YF

Okay, so flash back to a family vacation when I was.... 11 or so.  Maybe 10.  Whatever.

Anyway, we were in Northern California, driving through the redwoods, and came across a little place called Hobbiton, USA.  (Apparently, it is no more, which is very sad, but you can see pictures at the RINGERS Photo Gallery.)

For whatever bizarre reason, I had never heard of The Hobbit.  Blasphemy, I know.  But I enjoyed walking through Hobbiton, listening to the story (there were speakers at each spot and you pushed a button to hear that part) and got hold of the book as soon as we got home.  And enjoyed it.  (Then I tried reading the Lord of the Rings and that's a whole 'nother story for another post.)

Anyway.  I hadn't read it again.  But now seemed like a good time, what with rumors flying about the movie and all.  (Plus we just watched the trilogy.)  I do think it's interesting that most of the rumors involve actors whose characters were not actually IN The Hobbit, but whatever.

It's going to be interesting to see how the movie turns out-- the tone is so different.  Assuming they get Hugo Weaving again as Elrond (which they should, if only for the sake of continuity) he's going to have to actually be happy, which will just be weird.

Back to the book-- we actually currently own two copies-- the little paperback at the top of this post is what I actually read, because the other was a little too unwieldy.  It does, however, have cool pictures, so I flipped through it as I went along.

If I decide to read it with the kids, I think we'll use the illustrated one.

For those of you who have read this with/to your kids, what age worked?  I can't decide if Boo is old enough to actually be interested.  And, again, there are no girls.  (Let's face it, Tolkien wasn't real strong on the female characters.)

Now I'm gearing up to read the trilogy, but like I said, that's a whole 'nother story.  :)

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Reread
5 stars... still :D
R- 2? nothing graphic

From the introduction-- "In 1692 nineteen men and women and two dogs were convicted and hanged for witchcraft..."

Huh? Two dogs? Seriously??

How did those trials go? "Confess, Fluffy!"

Sorry, feeling a little punchy.

Seriously, though, how does one convict a dog of witchcraft? Do you think they really hung the dogs? That's just weird. (I mean, if it were black cats that would make a little more sense...)

Confession: I absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt believe that, had I been born in Salem at the appropriate time, I'd have totally been burned/hanged/whatever as a witch.

Anyway, the play. I love this play. I loved it when I read it in high school and I love it now.

I also seriously ticks me off. People are idiots. I mean, really, who thought this process through? No one, I tell you. Confess or die. Whether you're guilty or not. *shudder*

I also love the movie. You know, the one with what's-her-name playing Abigail. You know who I mean. She's in Little Women too. Winona Ryder. That's her name. (Yes, I actually had to IMDB that. So sad.) In fact, I think I need to check that movie out from the library and watch it again.

So, anyway, if you haven't read it, go do it. It's not long. It's fabulous though.

Celebrate Your Favorite Under-Appreciated Classic Author

I love Henrik Ibsen. I think I own every play the man wrote and I've read pretty much all of them too. LOVE them.

It all started in 10th grade-- AP European History (which was a great class, by the way). We could read A Doll's House for extra credit or something. I was hooked.

I think A Doll's House is still my favorite. There's just something about it. I can't even put my finger on what exactly. I just love it.

So, who do you celebrate? And it can't be Shakespeare or Austen... or Dickens. They aren't under-appreciated.
How were you introduced to their works?

Let's give the under-appreciated classics a little love... :D

War of the WORLDS???

**Warning- Spoilers below!**
I try not to, but just couldn't avoid it with this one....

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
4 stars
R-0

Okay, let me start by saying that, regardless of what else I say, this is a great book. If nothing else, one must acknowledge and respect its place in the history and evolution of literature. Wells was a brilliant, forward-thinking pioneer.

But really--
First of all, can it really be called War of the Worlds if the only fighting was in England and it lasted MAYBE a month?? Come on.

I LOVE the arrogance that the Martians naturally would have targeted England. It's fabulous. Personally, if I were going to invade the world, I'd spread my 10 ships out across Europe (keeping in mind the time period). But no, clearly the way to go is to send them all to England.

I also love that the very advanced, intelligent "just brains" aliens aren't smart enough to consider bacteria! It's like the aliens on Signs that are killed by water. WHY in the name of all that is... well, whatever for the aliens... would they invade a planet COVERED IN IT?!?!? Seriously.

Now, I have read this before, and I was interested in the movie, but haven't seen it yet. Now that I've reread the book, I don't see how they made a movie of it. I mean, not a whole lot really happens. The whole thing is over within a month and the narrator spent like half the time hiding in a crumbling house. Not exactly action-packed.

And what happened to the brother???? I mean, you have to assume he lived, since the narrator is telling us what happened to him.... but he's seriously never heard from again. Very weird.

But, like I said, you can't NOT respect it. At least I can't.

It's a classic for a reason.