June 2012
18 posts
“Don’t underestimate how much antagonism there is toward women and how many...”
– Nora Ephron’s commencement speech at Wellesley College in 1996 (via rachelfershleiser:thewordunheard)
The classics
shitmystudentswrite:
I’m quoting from the ancient Greek philosopher Aeropostale.
These people are the ones I pray for.
5 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #21- free-kay
The most disturbing book you’ve ever read:
Confession: I typically don’t read genre fiction or fantasy, so my definition of disturbing might be a bit different.
The most disturbing book I’ve ever read is We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. The book is from the perspective of a mother whose teenage son massacres his school. I bought the book when I was in England...
2 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #20- where I do it best
The environment you most enjoy reading in:
Honestly, I will read any where and at any time. When I was in high school, I read in class. When I was in college, I loved going to the campus library to read. I would hide on one of the less-frequently visited floors, usually with my best friend in tow, and just camp out. Nowadays, my favorite place to read is in my armchair with a cup of tea close...
4 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #19- the underdog
A book that you think is woefully underrated:
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
I think there are a lot of opportunities to learn while reading this novel—to learn more about WWII, the Holocaust, about connecting with other people, and how intricate and entwined our lives can be.
30 Day Book Challenge Day #18-highly overrated
A book that you think is highly overrated:
I’ll probably be tongue-lashed for this, but I do not understand what the big deal is about Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. The guy was a genius and very clever, and I’m in the process of reading some of his essays, which, so far, I think are more deserving of attention.
There will always be a part of me that believes the most...
2 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #17- just not into it
A book you want to like, but can’t get into for whatever reason. Why can’t you get into it?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. I’ve tried to read this book multiple times and just can’t get very far into it. I want to read it, but I just keep getting stuck. I’ll give it another go eventually.
4 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #16- never
A book you haven’t read and have no intention of ever reading:
Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I tried to start this book once because I was supposed to read it for a class in college, but I didn’t want to read it and never could get past the first 10 pages. The weird thing is, I like Melville’s short stories.
4 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #15- plans
A book you haven’t read but is on your “will read” list:
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
4 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #14- regrets
A book you regret not having read sooner:
-To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I was in college before I read this book and actually didn’t love it until I read it again. It’s become a book I teach in my developmental courses.
-Jane Austen’s novels (other than Pride and Prejudice): I didn’t read all of Jane Austen until AFTER college and I absolutely love Emma,...
6 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #13- childhood faves
Your favorite book from childhood:
It’s always hard to choose just one book. I’ve loved to read for as long as I could remember and devoured books like The Little House on the Prairie. I also loved the American Girl books, Dr. Seuss, Where the Wild Things Are, Goosebumps, The Berenstain Bears, The Giver, and The Boxcar Children. I read anything I could get my hands on, including...
2 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #12- favorite authors
Your favorite authors:
Charles Dickens Jane Austen Leo Tolstoy Thomas Hardy Mary Oliver Rita Dove William Shakespeare Ernest Hemingway William Faulkner Flannery O’Connor Eudora Welty Jim Wayne Miller TS Eliot Daphne du Maurier Louisa May Alcott Joan Didion Truman Capote Samuel Beckett JD Salinger Pablo Neruda Adrienne Rich Maxine Kumin Maurice Manning Silas House Sharon Olds Thomas Merton...
2 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #11- awful films
Name 3 absolutely awful film adaptations of books:
1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (and HP and the Half Blood Prince) based on the novels by JK Rowling
2. Sherlock Holmes films
3. not sure. I’m going to look through my films and come back to this one
8 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #10- film adaptions
Name 5 absolutely great film adaptations of books: (I’m not good at this, but okay)
1. Doubt based on Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley (it’s a film based on a play)
2. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
3. The Muppet Christmas Carol based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone based on the novel by JK...
5 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #9- quotes about books
Your favorite quotes about books:
From A Moveable Feast:
“All you have to do is write on true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know” (Hemingway).
From The Situation and the Story:
“….the task is to become acquainted with the stranger who lives inside your own skin, the one who answers when your name is called” (Gornick 108).
From Ex Libris:
...
5 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #8- favorite quotes from...
Your favorite quotes from books: (These don’t even begin to cover it, but these are some right at my desk at the moment)
From The Catcher in the Rye:
“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it” (Salinger 18).
...
2 tags
30 Day Book Challenge Day #7-the worst →
Here’s a link to my post on the worst book I’ve read in the last year.
3 tags
look what you do, oh ruby blue
you better stop ...