Although this book is tailored towards second language learners, I was recommended this book for its organization and what not.
As a book for English learners, I definitely feel that some of the sentence structures were too hard and some of the ways that the authors tried to simplify some of the concepts caused the sentences and the concepts to seem like they were harder than they actually were. Towards the end of the book, I found that the editing and the focus started to wane a little. However, the conclusion started to coherently wrap things together.
With that said, I think that conceptually, the book was well written and well thought out. The plot meanders in and out of its main point and even the main point is a little fuzzy. It has this philosophical take of "who are we? why are we here?" but sometimes it makes me wonder whether or not it was appropriate for a book whose purpose is to get the reader reacquainted with the English language.
Eh, overall, I wouldn't recommend it to most readers. It does make things interesting for second language learners but I think it gets too hard too quickly and it may discourage, rather than encourage readers. The philosophical aspects of it are interesting, but those points may be lost on an English-language learner because grammar becomes so essential to understanding.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Beowulf by Unknown Author, translated by Seamus Heaney
I really liked this epic poem. The translation was really good and the story is far more interesting than I had expected it to be. It could also be because when I read it for class, the discussion that came out of it was really really good. We looked at the inevitability of Beowulf's decision to fight the dragon (when he knew he was going to die, leaving his country vulnerable to attacks - the only reason there was peace was because of him), the various social conventions that guided the warriors' decision to fight and seek adventure/glory and the poet's commentary on such societal conventions.
There's an interesting idea of pride/humility with the various leaders that are mentioned throughout the poem. One thing to look at was whether or not Beowulf had pride. I would argue that he didn't until later because if he had any kind of hubris, the epic poem convention would have it so that he would have to fall to learn some kind of lesson - this never happened. I think he had pride when he went to go fight the dragon, which makes me wonder if the poet was saying something about how experiences brings about pride (which I think is true even today).
I think one of the coolest things about this poem is that you could relate it to today, if you wanted to. Some of the social conventions obviously don't apply (like it isn't a social norm to exact revenge on the killer of your brother/kinsman or to receive some kind of blood money so that you won't avenge the deceased - the poet has some interesting commentary on that). Like the idea of selflessness is something that I think is implied even today. It is glorified in a way because so few people act on it. Interestingly enough, it was expected at the time, but I think because again, so few people actually lived it, that those who did act selflessly (or in the interest of their country rather than their own), it becomes a heroic quality. Well, I suppose if we were to talk about the loyalty of one's country and sacrifice, that's expected of our soldiers. I wonder if it really exists in the pure form that was expected of warriors in Beowulf's time.
Anyway, these kinds of works are generally pretty inaccessible to the general audience because people don't like to sit through poems and it's old. However since a modern translation exists and it was artfully done (not just some bland word for word translation that makes one feel like they're chewing on the remnants of something that was once good), I would recommend the poem to people. The story is actually pretty good. There's a lot that could be derived from it. I remember we had to read Grendel by John Gardner in high school and I think it would be interesting to read again since reading the original poem in translation.
There's an interesting idea of pride/humility with the various leaders that are mentioned throughout the poem. One thing to look at was whether or not Beowulf had pride. I would argue that he didn't until later because if he had any kind of hubris, the epic poem convention would have it so that he would have to fall to learn some kind of lesson - this never happened. I think he had pride when he went to go fight the dragon, which makes me wonder if the poet was saying something about how experiences brings about pride (which I think is true even today).
I think one of the coolest things about this poem is that you could relate it to today, if you wanted to. Some of the social conventions obviously don't apply (like it isn't a social norm to exact revenge on the killer of your brother/kinsman or to receive some kind of blood money so that you won't avenge the deceased - the poet has some interesting commentary on that). Like the idea of selflessness is something that I think is implied even today. It is glorified in a way because so few people act on it. Interestingly enough, it was expected at the time, but I think because again, so few people actually lived it, that those who did act selflessly (or in the interest of their country rather than their own), it becomes a heroic quality. Well, I suppose if we were to talk about the loyalty of one's country and sacrifice, that's expected of our soldiers. I wonder if it really exists in the pure form that was expected of warriors in Beowulf's time.
Anyway, these kinds of works are generally pretty inaccessible to the general audience because people don't like to sit through poems and it's old. However since a modern translation exists and it was artfully done (not just some bland word for word translation that makes one feel like they're chewing on the remnants of something that was once good), I would recommend the poem to people. The story is actually pretty good. There's a lot that could be derived from it. I remember we had to read Grendel by John Gardner in high school and I think it would be interesting to read again since reading the original poem in translation.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde
I liked this play. It's interesting how the humor of this play, written decades ago, still translates to today. I think the most difficult thing for me to do was read it imagining that all the characters were saying each line in complete seriousness. I couldn't do it for some of the lines because they were so ridiculous. Yet, that was Wilde's expectation in the production of the play.
I wonder if it's because of society today that takes nothing seriously and everything is in some way or another ironic that I couldn't read the play seriously.
At any rate, I really enjoyed it. I liked how Lady Bracknell said everything contrary to what was expected of her, yet those ironies were poignant because those things are often implied by high-class society but never explicitly stated. Wilde makes a scathing commentary on the upperclasses but he mixes it in with such ridiculous humor that it's easily missed. It's one of those things where if he were a comedian, he would pause while everyone would go "Ooh, burn!" However, in the play, the flow of the conversation doesn't allow for such reaction and the moment passes.
Brilliant in it's own way and when taking it apart as literature, it becomes even more interesting.
Rather than recommending this play to people though, I'd rather see the production. That's how plays are meant to be enjoyed and I would take a friend or recommend a friend to see the play.
I wonder if it's because of society today that takes nothing seriously and everything is in some way or another ironic that I couldn't read the play seriously.
At any rate, I really enjoyed it. I liked how Lady Bracknell said everything contrary to what was expected of her, yet those ironies were poignant because those things are often implied by high-class society but never explicitly stated. Wilde makes a scathing commentary on the upperclasses but he mixes it in with such ridiculous humor that it's easily missed. It's one of those things where if he were a comedian, he would pause while everyone would go "Ooh, burn!" However, in the play, the flow of the conversation doesn't allow for such reaction and the moment passes.
Brilliant in it's own way and when taking it apart as literature, it becomes even more interesting.
Rather than recommending this play to people though, I'd rather see the production. That's how plays are meant to be enjoyed and I would take a friend or recommend a friend to see the play.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Fifty Shades of Grey series by E L James
I can see why this book is a best seller. It has a compelling plot, deep characters and it appeals to a pretty wide audience, especially with all of the sex (so it also appeals to the people who like romance novels). Seriously. The first book did not need that many in-depth encounters, in my opinion. I suppose it could be justified because of Christian's background but eh. It felt unnecessary when I was reading it.
The writing itself was pretty bad. It was raw in an irritating way. A counterexample of raw in a good way would be S.E. Hintion's Outsiders. That's a good piece of fiction. Here, it's the bad kind of writing where the editors sucked both at grammatical editing (small small details, but I picked up on it, which means that someone didn't do their job properly) and just overall plot editing. I hate reading a book where I feel like I can do a better job than the editors. This is the first time I've ever felt this way, which means it was pretty bad (one error, here or there is fine - it happens and I understand that, but there were several glaring errors). I don't know though, honestly, I got the books as a pdf from a friend and it kind of makes me wonder if the lack of quality is because it was some sort of pre-release version. I suppose I could buy or borrow the book and double-check, but I've decided I don't want to re-read this series.
James was also lacking in many ways but I think that she could've been salvaged by a good editor - hm, perhaps there's more to it than just her lack of experience in writing. Eh. I mean it takes writers time to get used to the story they've created and get used to the voice of their characters and understandably so. I think that's why it sometimes takes me some time to warm up to the writer - I know I've mentioned that with some writers. However, I think that here, the discomfort was a little too apparent - the choice in wording (or lack thereof - it gets better by the last book), certain types of grammatical structures (who the heck says "I've not"? Perhaps it's from a region in the States that I've never been to - I know it's used in England.. but it just struck me as an atypical sentence structure. If it was one of the characters that consistently used it, that'd be one thing, but all the freaking characters used it. That annoyed me.) and the flow of conversation was at times awkward. Very awkward. When a friend said she got a headache reading the first five chapters, I understand why.
That said, overall, I think James had a really good plot idea and one that sells. By the second book, I started to see why James inserted so many sexual encounters. It was one of the things that Christian needed to work out and the way it tied into Christian's emotional and mental state was a nice touch. I still think that the first book had too many. I suppose I'd have to reread it to analyze the necessity of all the sex scenes, but as I said before, I don't think I want to subject myself to the series, much less the first book again.
What I liked about the book though, is how the problems were resolved. There were a lot of emotional scenes that James was able to convey pretty well. As the series continued, the writing became simpler and more poignant. I also liked that all the characters were beautiful. The likelihood of that actually happening is pretty rare, but it helped work the imagination a little. :) And, as I said before, it appeals to the masses.
Overall, I'd have to say it was an easy read but lacking in any other kind of substance than the obvious. I think I'd recommend the book to women (womenfolk always love these kinds of stories) but I'd warn general readers of the explicit content.
The writing itself was pretty bad. It was raw in an irritating way. A counterexample of raw in a good way would be S.E. Hintion's Outsiders. That's a good piece of fiction. Here, it's the bad kind of writing where the editors sucked both at grammatical editing (small small details, but I picked up on it, which means that someone didn't do their job properly) and just overall plot editing. I hate reading a book where I feel like I can do a better job than the editors. This is the first time I've ever felt this way, which means it was pretty bad (one error, here or there is fine - it happens and I understand that, but there were several glaring errors). I don't know though, honestly, I got the books as a pdf from a friend and it kind of makes me wonder if the lack of quality is because it was some sort of pre-release version. I suppose I could buy or borrow the book and double-check, but I've decided I don't want to re-read this series.
James was also lacking in many ways but I think that she could've been salvaged by a good editor - hm, perhaps there's more to it than just her lack of experience in writing. Eh. I mean it takes writers time to get used to the story they've created and get used to the voice of their characters and understandably so. I think that's why it sometimes takes me some time to warm up to the writer - I know I've mentioned that with some writers. However, I think that here, the discomfort was a little too apparent - the choice in wording (or lack thereof - it gets better by the last book), certain types of grammatical structures (who the heck says "I've not"? Perhaps it's from a region in the States that I've never been to - I know it's used in England.. but it just struck me as an atypical sentence structure. If it was one of the characters that consistently used it, that'd be one thing, but all the freaking characters used it. That annoyed me.) and the flow of conversation was at times awkward. Very awkward. When a friend said she got a headache reading the first five chapters, I understand why.
That said, overall, I think James had a really good plot idea and one that sells. By the second book, I started to see why James inserted so many sexual encounters. It was one of the things that Christian needed to work out and the way it tied into Christian's emotional and mental state was a nice touch. I still think that the first book had too many. I suppose I'd have to reread it to analyze the necessity of all the sex scenes, but as I said before, I don't think I want to subject myself to the series, much less the first book again.
What I liked about the book though, is how the problems were resolved. There were a lot of emotional scenes that James was able to convey pretty well. As the series continued, the writing became simpler and more poignant. I also liked that all the characters were beautiful. The likelihood of that actually happening is pretty rare, but it helped work the imagination a little. :) And, as I said before, it appeals to the masses.
Overall, I'd have to say it was an easy read but lacking in any other kind of substance than the obvious. I think I'd recommend the book to women (womenfolk always love these kinds of stories) but I'd warn general readers of the explicit content.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I really liked this book. To be more specific, I really liked the ending. There were times when the book was slow and parts where I felt like I was slogging through it because it was heavy reading (for me at least). It's pretty depressing throughout and I never like depressing books.
However, towards the end, the pace picked up and I really like the turn that Dostoevsky makes with how Raskolnikov changes. I feel like there were so many allusions to Christianity that it makes me wonder if this book is some kind of allegory to it or if it has some strong parallels to it.
In terms of the writing style, as with any author, I found it difficult to get into Dostoevsky but the way he creates flow is pretty interesting. He really gets into some details but I think it was well done and necessarily so. He portrayed Raskolnikov's mental state pretty well and the ideologies of each of the characters was well executed.
As I mentioned before, the movement of the plot was slow (especially by the standards of popular novels nowadays) and sometimes I felt like it completely stagnated but perhaps Dostoevsky was trying to portray the stagnation of Raskolnikov's mind so it worked out in its own way.
Overall a decent read. It was heavy reading and I can see why high schoolers complain about how reading the book is "crime and punishment" (har har) but I also see the academic value in it. I want to come back to this novel some time but I would hesitate to recommend it to others because it isn't as accessible as a lot of other novels.
However, towards the end, the pace picked up and I really like the turn that Dostoevsky makes with how Raskolnikov changes. I feel like there were so many allusions to Christianity that it makes me wonder if this book is some kind of allegory to it or if it has some strong parallels to it.
In terms of the writing style, as with any author, I found it difficult to get into Dostoevsky but the way he creates flow is pretty interesting. He really gets into some details but I think it was well done and necessarily so. He portrayed Raskolnikov's mental state pretty well and the ideologies of each of the characters was well executed.
As I mentioned before, the movement of the plot was slow (especially by the standards of popular novels nowadays) and sometimes I felt like it completely stagnated but perhaps Dostoevsky was trying to portray the stagnation of Raskolnikov's mind so it worked out in its own way.
Overall a decent read. It was heavy reading and I can see why high schoolers complain about how reading the book is "crime and punishment" (har har) but I also see the academic value in it. I want to come back to this novel some time but I would hesitate to recommend it to others because it isn't as accessible as a lot of other novels.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
I didn't like this volume as much as his other ones. There was a running theme of death which I feel he treated pretty well (comically almost, but tastefully so). I think there was another book of his that had something similar or I might be thinking of this book. I had started reading it and had put it down and forgot it for a while.
It definitely had a darker aspect than his other books. Eh.
It definitely had a darker aspect than his other books. Eh.
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Got some really good recipes and ideas for recipes. Desultory style. Relaxing read but too slow-paced and plotless for my tastes.
Apparently, she has another book out. Not sure if I want to follow up.
Made me want to visit Italy.
Apparently, she has another book out. Not sure if I want to follow up.
Made me want to visit Italy.
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