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briefly, books
Aug. 20th, 2015 01:00 amThere just aren't enough hours in the day :(
I read Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard the other day, all at once without quite meaning to. I read it a long time ago so it was a return to something I half remembered.
The story is about Tree-ear, a young orphan in 12th century Korea. He lives under the bridge with his friend Crane-man in Ch'ulp'o, a village on the seaside famous for its pottery and its celadon glaze. Tree-ear is fascinated by pottery and dreams of doing it himself one day. One day he accidentally breaks one of the master potters in the village's pots, and in trying to pay back his debt becomes an assistant to him.
This is such a jewel of a book, small and succinct but nevertheless beautifully balanced and clear. It's just such a satisfying and kind book. It is a children's book, so it's short, but the characters are well drawn and the conflict relatable, sympathetic.
It is also a Newbery book that does not have an animal dying in it! I'm sorry, Where the Red Fern Grows scarred me on that medal.
==
I was on a long train ride a couple weeks ago and since I can't read on moving vehicles I tried an audiobook - I downloaded Michael Scott's The Magician, book two of his The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. It was actually pretty good! The book isn't exactly the best written thing ever - and it's definitely not written with the idea of turning it into an audiobook in mind, which doesn't help! - but it's compelling and I listened with enjoyment. The narrator put on accents and did a good job of differentiating characters and giving the voices emotion and feeling; one of the reasons I probably think the book isn't that well done is because the narrator gives the dialogue emotion, which Scott has to write in afterwards, so it only feels redundant because the narrator has gotten there first. Of course it takes a lot longer and I'm better at absorbing text by reading than by listening, but it's good to listen to when doing other activities.
I've half-listened, half read the third book. The one thing I can't take is the narrator voicing female characters' screaming. It sounds so ridiculous!
Also, I've forgotten how much I love kitchen-sink fantasy. You know, the kind where all the different myths and pantheons coexist (often in urban areas!) I love seeing how authors put them all together, who has relationships with whom, how the varying levels of power all add up. And how they interpret varying myths. This series also has a lot of historical figures show up - we've already met Joan of Arc and the Count of St Germain for example. (And they're married, which initially made me squint but well, they're both immortal.)
I tried listening to another book, The Painted Girls, which is a lot darker. It starts with the woman pleading with her landlord to not throw her and her daughters out onto the streets - this is, what, 19th century France? predictably the cover has Degas on the cover as it is about dancing - and I got about thirty seconds in and had to stop, delete the file, and give up on that story. I can read it but I definitely can't listen to it.
I read Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard the other day, all at once without quite meaning to. I read it a long time ago so it was a return to something I half remembered.
The story is about Tree-ear, a young orphan in 12th century Korea. He lives under the bridge with his friend Crane-man in Ch'ulp'o, a village on the seaside famous for its pottery and its celadon glaze. Tree-ear is fascinated by pottery and dreams of doing it himself one day. One day he accidentally breaks one of the master potters in the village's pots, and in trying to pay back his debt becomes an assistant to him.
This is such a jewel of a book, small and succinct but nevertheless beautifully balanced and clear. It's just such a satisfying and kind book. It is a children's book, so it's short, but the characters are well drawn and the conflict relatable, sympathetic.
It is also a Newbery book that does not have an animal dying in it! I'm sorry, Where the Red Fern Grows scarred me on that medal.
==
I was on a long train ride a couple weeks ago and since I can't read on moving vehicles I tried an audiobook - I downloaded Michael Scott's The Magician, book two of his The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. It was actually pretty good! The book isn't exactly the best written thing ever - and it's definitely not written with the idea of turning it into an audiobook in mind, which doesn't help! - but it's compelling and I listened with enjoyment. The narrator put on accents and did a good job of differentiating characters and giving the voices emotion and feeling; one of the reasons I probably think the book isn't that well done is because the narrator gives the dialogue emotion, which Scott has to write in afterwards, so it only feels redundant because the narrator has gotten there first. Of course it takes a lot longer and I'm better at absorbing text by reading than by listening, but it's good to listen to when doing other activities.
I've half-listened, half read the third book. The one thing I can't take is the narrator voicing female characters' screaming. It sounds so ridiculous!
Also, I've forgotten how much I love kitchen-sink fantasy. You know, the kind where all the different myths and pantheons coexist (often in urban areas!) I love seeing how authors put them all together, who has relationships with whom, how the varying levels of power all add up. And how they interpret varying myths. This series also has a lot of historical figures show up - we've already met Joan of Arc and the Count of St Germain for example. (And they're married, which initially made me squint but well, they're both immortal.)
I tried listening to another book, The Painted Girls, which is a lot darker. It starts with the woman pleading with her landlord to not throw her and her daughters out onto the streets - this is, what, 19th century France? predictably the cover has Degas on the cover as it is about dancing - and I got about thirty seconds in and had to stop, delete the file, and give up on that story. I can read it but I definitely can't listen to it.
