Hello.Linzie

19. What is your favorite language to read in? I have to go with English as it is the only...

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:39:00 -0400

19. What is your favorite language to read in?

I have to go with English as it is the only language I am fully functional within. HOWEVER! I wish I could grab some French books. I have a French minor I rarely get to put to use. Maybe I’ll order a young adult novel in French and get cracking.

I remember reading the abridged version of Les Misérables in high school French. Me and my friend had a super dumb moment where we read “bateau de guerre” as “baton de guerre” and so we were all “War stick? Like… a gun? Is a gun a war stick in French?” For like fifteen minutes.

monotonemarlowe: Fucking love her.

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:34:53 -0400

monotonemarlowe:

Fucking love her.

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Mon, 20 May 2013 19:33:34 -0400

Critical Reading of Memoirs of a Geisha

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:29:13 -0400

Critical Reading of Memoirs of a Geisha:

Deviant Art user Fuyou-hime is doing a critical reading with fact checking in regards to the art of geisha as presented in Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

HI Linzie, just on your recent post about MOAG, and writing some notes on it once you've finished, look up Fuyou-hime on deviantart, she's doing a chapter by chapter coverage on the book, you might find it interesting ^^ (in her journal entrys)

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:26:59 -0400

I just looked it up and yay for critical reading and fact checking! This is especially important when it concerns an “exotic” culture. I remember one of my high school English teachers was all about Memoirs of a Geisha but in looking back she didn’t really have the background knowledge to regulate discussion very well. I’m sad to say the discussion devolved into whether geisha could be considered prostitutes. I was the only one arguing that they do not qualify as prostitutes, which is a whole different can of worms.

Have you heard of Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki?

Life Update

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:17:41 -0400

I put in my two weeks notice to my part time job because I got the job I phone interviewed for, even though my asshole cat was trying to serenade me for the first fifteen minutes of it!

derpycats: dino cat doesn’t like to dino Find more of Captain...

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:14:31 -0400

derpycats:

dino cat doesn’t like to dino

Find more of Captain Pancakes on instagram @GracieHagen

Misery Chick Reading

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:51:19 -0400

So, I’ve started reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I needed to return to my depressing topic reading after reading A Little Princess; I have a reputation to uphold. Seriously, at work I just have the most depressing information to talk about. I did the math and something like 1/3 of the books I’ve read this year could be interpreted as sad or depressing.

But yeah, to offset the uplifting hopeful tale of a spirited young girl who is struck down into poverty but upholds her sense of self and is rewarded by being uplifted from her dire circumstances to go on and aid others without such benefactors I am now reading the fictional delusional memoir of a pedophile. Huzzah. This is my second reading of Lolita.

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Sun, 19 May 2013 09:23:02 -0400

Tree Bookends by Design Atelier Article.

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:38:12 -0400

Autumn Bookend

Winter Bookend

Love and Books Bookend

Spring Bookend

Hearts Bookend

Tree Bookends by Design Atelier Article.

bookgeekconfessions: Goodnight, Geeks!

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:32:23 -0400

bookgeekconfessions:

Goodnight, Geeks!

dragonstonefireandblood: jojen-reedd: hodor? Bran has grown...

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:10:13 -0400

dragonstonefireandblood:

jojen-reedd:

hodor?

Bran has grown into a fine young woman.

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Sat, 18 May 2013 16:46:14 -0400

ideulistic: cuteeeeee

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:16:00 -0400

ideulistic:

cuteeeeee

the-adequate-gatsby: the-adequate-gatsby: the-adequate-gatsby: My sister keeps asking me if I...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:20:07 -0400

the-adequate-gatsby:

the-adequate-gatsby:

the-adequate-gatsby:

My sister keeps asking me if I want to go see The Great Cosby with her and I don’t have it in my heart to correct her.

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Sat, 18 May 2013 12:46:14 -0400

18. Not even in textbooks? [writing in the margins] No, because I need to resell those afterwards.

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:34:09 -0400

18. Not even in textbooks? [writing in the margins]

No, because I need to resell those afterwards.

"“You wicked thing,” said Lavinia, turning on Sara; “making up fairy stories about..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:29:18 -0400

“

“You wicked thing,” said Lavinia, turning on Sara; “making up fairy stories about heaven.”

“There are much more splendid stories in Revelation,” returned Sara. “Just look and see! How do you know mine are fairy stories? But I can tell you,” —with a fine bit of unheavenly temper— “you will never find out whether they are or not if you’re not kinder to people than you are now.”

”

- pg, 56, A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Book Review: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:24:33 -0400

Started Reading: May 15, 2013

Finished Reading: May 17, 2013

Number of Pages: 312

Rating: ★★★✩✩

I decided to read A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett because it was on some tumblr book reading club but I didn’t read it for the month they were reading it because I’m a rebel. The 1995 film adaptation is also a movie I used to watch a lot as a child.

Sara Crewe is a privileged young lady who has been raised primarily in India with her widowed father, Captain Ralph Crewe. When she turns seven she is sent to a boarding school in England which is under the supervision of Miss Minchin who is a strict woman who supports the status quo of early 20th century England. Sara is fond of making up stories and entertaining her fellow classmates. She has fabulous wealth and is a bright clever young girl to boot which gains her many admirers but also causes petty jealousy among her peers. She likes to pretend she is a princess as a way of self improvement, saying that she must be a better person to be considered a princess. However, it is easy to pretend you are a princess and be kind and thoughtful when your every need is met. When news arrives that her father has died abroad and she is left without an inheritance due to bad business ventures she must see if she can maintain her pride and sense of self through adversity.

It was interesting reading something from back in the day, which I haven’t done in a while. Burnett has several social messages spanning from the validity of personhood of the poor, charity, what makes a person noble and the whole walk a mile in someone else’s shoes message. Sara Crewe is depicted as pretty much faultless which is a huge flaw in modern writing but when your primary audience are wealthy people who are considered fortunate to be literate you have to tread lightly with your criticism. An audience is more likely to see themselves as the protagonist and try to imitate her so she might as well be flawless. Sara does have some zingers:

“You wicked thing,” said Lavinia, turning on Sara; “making fairy stories about heaven.”

“There are much more splendid stories in Revelation,” returned Sara. “Just look and see! How do you know mine are fairy stories? But I can tell you” —with a fine bit of unheavenly temper— “you will never find out whether they are or not if you’re not kinder to people than you are now.”

pg. 56

A Little Princess is pretty typical of the time period; an orphaned child who goes through adversity but is lifted out of it. In it people are rewarded for noble behavior. My main criticisms are very modern ones. None of the average underprivileged are raised up out of their stations; nobody comments on their own problems and how they are brave and strong in their own ways. The only validity given to issues of the poor are seen through a privileged child’s experience. Also, while some of the things Sara does are lovely, such as offering charity with her vast fortune, they aren’t helpful in consistently helping the impoverished. Ready education and safety nets are a greater boon to the underprivileged than anything else, but that’s just my 21st century sensibilities interfering.

Like I said I loved the movie growing up and the book is similar in almost every way, but it does have some twists and turns that surprised me. Apparently Burnett had wrote a different version called Sara Crewe and I wonder if the movie took elements from one to make it more palatable and less complicated for children.

Overall it was okay if you don’t insert a lot of your personal politics into a piece from 1905.

Caturday by silverwing-sparrow Happy Caturday, Bookporners!

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:58:33 -0400

Caturday by silverwing-sparrow

Happy Caturday, Bookporners!