Greetings, folks.
I read Pinocchio for the second time a while ago. It was veery interesting to read the first time, having grown up watching the Disney movie version. Well, I don't know what the heck Walt Disney was thinking, because the book is nothing like the movie. He must have had a heck of an imagination; he pretty much changed the whole plot. I don't know about you, but it bothers me when people do that when the book was already terrific....
It's about a little wooden boy made by a dude named Geppetto.(That much the movie got right.) Even before Geppetto carved him, he was making mischief and being impossible to control. He was a real ham. But he always dreamed of becoming a real boy. When he meets a beautiful fairy girl who tells him she will grant his wish if he becomes a well-behaved puppet, Pinocchio is inspired and determined to behave the rest of his life. But Pinocchio has EXTREMELY bad will power. It's so bad, in fact, half way through the book I couldn't even believe it. You see, Pinocchio keeps saying he will be a good puppet, but then he doesn't go through with it. The fairy keeps re-appearing and telling him she will give him another chance, but he just doesn't get it. Just when he's soooo close to getting his wish, he blows it again. It's rather frustrating to read! But it's so funny! It's a very comical story, and it's very, very unique. It is a little scary though; it's a bit bizarre. It has this spooky-ness about it the entire story, and some really weird things happen. It's not exactly the jolly, innocent children's story everyone assumes it is.
It's great thought! My family and I have always loved it. I definitely recommend it.
Rated #4, maybe even #5 (It was a while since I finished it, so I can't remember which I decided on...)
Thanks for reading. I hope you will read this book; it's a real treat.
Arwen
Friday, March 19, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Two Dead Boys and some other stuff...
Hey people,
First, thanks to all who participated in the discussion! It was great. Thank you for reading the book. If anyone has any suggestions for book discussions, let us know.
I'll post in a few days, but I thought I would post this poem in the meantime. It's really interesting - the author is anonymous, and there a few different variations; because of this, it's not exactly considered "real" poetry. But I love the ironic and bizarre humor of it.
Here's my favorite version:
One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
One was blind and the other couldn't see,
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man came to see fair play,
A dumb man came to shout hooray!
A paralized donkey, passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
A deaf policeman, hearing the noise,
Came to arrest the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
Ask the blind man; he saw it too.
Very strange, very funny. Yeah?
I also wanted to re-post what is left of the booklist, just to remind you of what you can be reading. (Most the time we post on these books, but I have posted on other books too.)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Bronze Bow - Elizabeth G. Speare
Little Britches - Ralf Moody
Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes
Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
The Spectre Bridegroom - Washington Irving
Two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare
North to Freedom - Anne Holm
Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi
If you want to know which of these books you should read first (or read at all) please talk to me; some of these books are fantastic, and I'd love to recommend them.
Well, thanks for reading the books and following the blog - please invite your friends to follow too!
Always,
Lady Arwen
First, thanks to all who participated in the discussion! It was great. Thank you for reading the book. If anyone has any suggestions for book discussions, let us know.
I'll post in a few days, but I thought I would post this poem in the meantime. It's really interesting - the author is anonymous, and there a few different variations; because of this, it's not exactly considered "real" poetry. But I love the ironic and bizarre humor of it.
Here's my favorite version:
One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
One was blind and the other couldn't see,
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man came to see fair play,
A dumb man came to shout hooray!
A paralized donkey, passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
A deaf policeman, hearing the noise,
Came to arrest the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
Ask the blind man; he saw it too.
Very strange, very funny. Yeah?
I also wanted to re-post what is left of the booklist, just to remind you of what you can be reading. (Most the time we post on these books, but I have posted on other books too.)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Bronze Bow - Elizabeth G. Speare
Little Britches - Ralf Moody
Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes
Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
The Spectre Bridegroom - Washington Irving
Two Gentlemen of Verona - William Shakespeare
North to Freedom - Anne Holm
Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi
If you want to know which of these books you should read first (or read at all) please talk to me; some of these books are fantastic, and I'd love to recommend them.
Well, thanks for reading the books and following the blog - please invite your friends to follow too!
Always,
Lady Arwen
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Romeo and Juliet disucussion
Here's the start of the discussion - this is going to last a few days. That way everyone can get a chance to participate. Here are the questions again:
1. What effect does the accelerated time scheme have on the play’s development? Is it plausible that a love story of this magnitude could take place so quickly? Does the play seem to take place over as little time as it actually occupies?
2. Compare and contrast the characters of Romeo and Juliet. How do they develop throughout the play? What makes them fall in love with one another?
3. Compare and contrast the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio. Why does Mercutio hate Tybalt?
4. Apart from clashing with Tybalt, what role does Mercutio play in the story? Is he merely a colorful supporting character and brilliant source of comic relief, or does he serve a more serious purpose?
5. How does Shakespeare treat death in Romeo and Juliet? Frame your answer in terms of legal, moral, familial, and personal issues. Bearing these issues in mind, compare the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Mercutio, and Mercutio and Tybalt.
Sorry I couldn't get this going until now. I hope it's not too late.
1. What effect does the accelerated time scheme have on the play’s development? Is it plausible that a love story of this magnitude could take place so quickly? Does the play seem to take place over as little time as it actually occupies?
2. Compare and contrast the characters of Romeo and Juliet. How do they develop throughout the play? What makes them fall in love with one another?
3. Compare and contrast the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio. Why does Mercutio hate Tybalt?
4. Apart from clashing with Tybalt, what role does Mercutio play in the story? Is he merely a colorful supporting character and brilliant source of comic relief, or does he serve a more serious purpose?
5. How does Shakespeare treat death in Romeo and Juliet? Frame your answer in terms of legal, moral, familial, and personal issues. Bearing these issues in mind, compare the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Mercutio, and Mercutio and Tybalt.
Sorry I couldn't get this going until now. I hope it's not too late.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Happy Birthday Darles' Chickens!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLES' CHICKENS!!
Ok everyone, this month was the month that we founded this blog! To be exact, March 28th, 2009 was the official date.
Fun facts:
1.) Darles' Chickens is Charles Dickens with the first letters reversed.
2.) We've had one official discussion - two, come Saturday.
3.) The Hobbit has been on the booklist since the original booklist.
4.) After two comments, usually they aren't about the book anymore.
5.) In one year, we've managed to have the love/hate relationship of the decade.
6.) 22 of the 47 posts have actually been on books.
7.) The most number of comments was 34, on The Tempest and Out of the Silent Planet. The least was 1, on Fabiola.
8.) We have 19 followers- 3 of which have never commented.
9.) There has been at least one post every month.
10.) "Poetry" has the most tabs with 9,- the next highest number being 5 for "Romance."
Can anyone think of anything else? Thanks to Tini who started this and to everyone else who had kept it alive with comments and posts for the last year! May the next be as good!
~DC Board
P.S. Let me know if the info is wrong. I did the best I could.
Ok everyone, this month was the month that we founded this blog! To be exact, March 28th, 2009 was the official date.
Fun facts:
1.) Darles' Chickens is Charles Dickens with the first letters reversed.
2.) We've had one official discussion - two, come Saturday.
3.) The Hobbit has been on the booklist since the original booklist.
4.) After two comments, usually they aren't about the book anymore.
5.) In one year, we've managed to have the love/hate relationship of the decade.
6.) 22 of the 47 posts have actually been on books.
7.) The most number of comments was 34, on The Tempest and Out of the Silent Planet. The least was 1, on Fabiola.
8.) We have 19 followers- 3 of which have never commented.
9.) There has been at least one post every month.
10.) "Poetry" has the most tabs with 9,- the next highest number being 5 for "Romance."
Can anyone think of anything else? Thanks to Tini who started this and to everyone else who had kept it alive with comments and posts for the last year! May the next be as good!
~DC Board
P.S. Let me know if the info is wrong. I did the best I could.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Roughing It
Hey people,
This time I read Roughing It by Mark Twain. Now believe me, this was a big surprise for me, but I didn't really like it. I usually like Mark Twain's stuff, but this failed to intrigue me. I was really sad about it too. I had made up my mind that I would probably like it, just because it was Mark Twain, but I was wrong. :(
The story was basically a semi-autobiographical account of Mark Twain's adventures in the Wild West from the years 1861-1867. Sounds alright, right? Wrong. I dunno what was up, but it just seemed really random and disconnected. He spent wayyyyyyyy too long on a stagecoach and felt it was necessary to explain everything. Everything he explained had some connection to the story of course, but was it really necessary? For instance, when traveling through a dreary section of nothingness somewhere in the middle of the United States, he made the comment that it was dangerous robbery territory. Then, he expanded upon the subject and told about a famous outlaw who used to roam the territory and how he wanted revenge in some guy blah blah blah blah blah. You get the point. He spent a whole chapter on it. He expanded upon everything from jackrabbits to Indian outlaws. Did this advance the story? I didn't think so, but maybe I missed the point.
In my opinion, if you would like to try Mark Twain, don't start with this one. Try Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County or The Prince and the Pauper.
Considering that this book wasn't poorly written, but just rather not my style, I rate it a 3/5.
Tony
3/5 recommendation
This time I read Roughing It by Mark Twain. Now believe me, this was a big surprise for me, but I didn't really like it. I usually like Mark Twain's stuff, but this failed to intrigue me. I was really sad about it too. I had made up my mind that I would probably like it, just because it was Mark Twain, but I was wrong. :(
The story was basically a semi-autobiographical account of Mark Twain's adventures in the Wild West from the years 1861-1867. Sounds alright, right? Wrong. I dunno what was up, but it just seemed really random and disconnected. He spent wayyyyyyyy too long on a stagecoach and felt it was necessary to explain everything. Everything he explained had some connection to the story of course, but was it really necessary? For instance, when traveling through a dreary section of nothingness somewhere in the middle of the United States, he made the comment that it was dangerous robbery territory. Then, he expanded upon the subject and told about a famous outlaw who used to roam the territory and how he wanted revenge in some guy blah blah blah blah blah. You get the point. He spent a whole chapter on it. He expanded upon everything from jackrabbits to Indian outlaws. Did this advance the story? I didn't think so, but maybe I missed the point.
In my opinion, if you would like to try Mark Twain, don't start with this one. Try Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County or The Prince and the Pauper.
Considering that this book wasn't poorly written, but just rather not my style, I rate it a 3/5.
Tony
3/5 recommendation
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