Well, well, well. I am most impressed-- once again-- with Rick Riordan's work. Big Red Tequila was GREAT--- muy bien, vato.
...and for you Elmore Leonard fans out there-- Riordan is definitely influenced (or at least seemingly so) by the Man. Looks like I'll be back in the library looking for The Widower's Two-Step sometime in the near future.
After finishing Big Red Tequila, we stopped by the library to check out books for my sons' trip to the grandparents house. While there, my older one picked up M.T. Anderson's The Game of Sunken Places. Talk about keep-you-on-your-toes-what-in-the-world-will-be-around-the-next-corner adventure writing! Oh, my! M.T. should definitely keep eating his broccoli while humming (take a peek at his link above). This little story is a pretty quick read, and full of wonderfully imaginative, page-turning events. Thanks, son, for that suggestion. I passed it on to the younger kiddo to read while away from home. Anderson's made it to my "need to read more by this author" list.
My current book of choice is The Princess Bride by William Goldman. This man is a literary genius!* I have ALWAYS been a fan of The Princess Bride, the movie. Since the first time my dear hubby (boyfriend at the time) shared it with me, it has been my fairy tale-- phooey with Cinderella**, and Snow White, and Belle, and all those other lovelies for which stories are written, Buttercup and Westley are it for me. In fact, I named my new Jeep Buttercup (much to the groaning dismay of all the males in the house).
So last week, I found a gift card to one of the chain book stores in the area (a wonderful gift from one of my students to her reading teacher!) and went in, not really looking for anything in particular, and found the thirtieth anniversary edition of The Princess Bride.
"Why not?" I thought.
Now, I'm thinking, "What took me so long?"
Goldman writes the story under the pretense of abridging a version of Buttercup's and Westley's tale written by S. Morgenstern. He makes personal remarks and comments about growing up with this story told to him by his father, and sharing it with his own son. He shares opinions given to him by his wife and "scholars" about his particular omissions and how he handles the work, that he chose to shorten for the benefit of his own son. The deal is, though:
There is no S. Morgenstern version of The Princess Bride. It's a ruse! Goldman writes it all.
What a fantastic literary technique-- truly imaginative.
Plus, there's sword fighting, pirates, a giant, torture, revenge, and true love. Who could ask for anything more in a story?
I'm about halfway through the book now; I'm sure the second half will be as good as the first, if not better. Sure, there's a FEW minor differences (so far) between the movie and the book, but nothing of serious consequence. Readers and movie lovers will agree-- it's a good thing Mr. Goldman wrote the screenplay as well.***
Looks like I have another one to add to my "need to read more by this author" list.
Perhaps I'll work on compiling that and share with you next.
*Not everyone I read is as great as these last choices of mine-- I've just been lucky this summer. Last summer, I was not so lucky. If you'd like particulars, send me an email and I'll share.
** I DO love Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson, though. She's much more sensible.
*** William Goldman trivia: Goldman also wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Plus, a whole bunch of other stuff.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Shocked by the Bible
My husband recently ordered the book, Shocked By the Bible by Joe Kovacs. He read about a chapter or so one night, and then I stole the book, and read it front to back.
Interestingly enough, there are many things in the book that I knew about-- the pagen ritual ties to Christmas-- Noah's drunkenness-- Jesus wasn't the only one to walk on water. There were, however, some things that were not necessarily in the front of my mind, but rather a memory of going over these things in my past. The "God demands divorce" chapter and the "Satan asking permission of God to do evil" bits-- honestly, I do need to give my Sunday School teachers some credit, in that many of these things were not so shocking, but rather "oh, yeah! I remember that! Isn't it crazy how that happened?"
The chapter on unclean animals, was a bit of a shocker, though. Taking the Bible at its word, rather than our passed-down interpretation of it, well...let's say there's some thinking to do.
Now that I've finished up with that book, I've moved on to something I've found rather disturbing in the past-- moving from children's literature to adult literature. This in and of itself is not so bad--although I tend to read more kid's lit than anything.
My "experiment" (if you will)
I take a well-liked children's author (in the eyes of the kid's lit readers in my house) and read his or her adult literature work.
Not too scary, you might think. Well, the last time I did this was with Daniel Handler. His name might now be too familiar to you, but he wrote the abso-smurfly wonderful A Series of Unfortunate Events under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket. This series of stories is wonderfully rich and full of...well...unfortunate (and twisted) events. If you've not read the books (all 13), please do so (unless, of course, you prefer stories about happy little elves).
Well, as I said, the last time I decided to read the adult "stuff" of a beloved children's author, Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler was "it".
I picked up Adverbs.
Then The Basic Eight.
Then Watch Your Mouth.
I tried them all, yet never could I find that extraordinary voice I was looking for. Perhaps it is Lemony Snicket's writing I prefer to Daniel Handler's.
This experience has made me wary in attempting the experiment again. But I've decided to move past it and go on. Now it's Rick Riordan's turn.
Dear Mr. Riordan. I shared some comments from his blog a post or so ago. I enjoy his Percy Jackson series oh-so-much, as do both of my sons. So, why not try his adult stories? Why let Mr. Handler skew my view and upset my enjoyment of a good book? So, I decided to go for it, and picked up Big Red Tequila at the library yesterday.
I must say, "So far, so good." The only thing that I've found utterly revolting is that the title is not a specific brand of tequila, but is rather the "drink of our younger days" for the main character and his love interest (so far, that is)-- Big Red soda AND tequila.
EW.
HOWEVER-- it's not enough to keep me away from the book. Like I said-- "So far, so good". Mr. Riordan definitely has his own style, but with a bit of a trace (no pun intended*) of Elmore Leonard**. MAYBE. I'll have to finish the book and let you know about that one.
But for now, I'm off to write a bit of my own story. It's been a long time swimming around in my head-- time to get some more of it out.
* You'll have to read a bit to get it
**This is a compliment. I'm a fan of Mr. Leonard's work.
Interestingly enough, there are many things in the book that I knew about-- the pagen ritual ties to Christmas-- Noah's drunkenness-- Jesus wasn't the only one to walk on water. There were, however, some things that were not necessarily in the front of my mind, but rather a memory of going over these things in my past. The "God demands divorce" chapter and the "Satan asking permission of God to do evil" bits-- honestly, I do need to give my Sunday School teachers some credit, in that many of these things were not so shocking, but rather "oh, yeah! I remember that! Isn't it crazy how that happened?"
The chapter on unclean animals, was a bit of a shocker, though. Taking the Bible at its word, rather than our passed-down interpretation of it, well...let's say there's some thinking to do.
Now that I've finished up with that book, I've moved on to something I've found rather disturbing in the past-- moving from children's literature to adult literature. This in and of itself is not so bad--although I tend to read more kid's lit than anything.
My "experiment" (if you will)
I take a well-liked children's author (in the eyes of the kid's lit readers in my house) and read his or her adult literature work.
Not too scary, you might think. Well, the last time I did this was with Daniel Handler. His name might now be too familiar to you, but he wrote the abso-smurfly wonderful A Series of Unfortunate Events under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket. This series of stories is wonderfully rich and full of...well...unfortunate (and twisted) events. If you've not read the books (all 13), please do so (unless, of course, you prefer stories about happy little elves).
Well, as I said, the last time I decided to read the adult "stuff" of a beloved children's author, Daniel "Lemony Snicket" Handler was "it".
I picked up Adverbs.
Then The Basic Eight.
Then Watch Your Mouth.
I tried them all, yet never could I find that extraordinary voice I was looking for. Perhaps it is Lemony Snicket's writing I prefer to Daniel Handler's.
This experience has made me wary in attempting the experiment again. But I've decided to move past it and go on. Now it's Rick Riordan's turn.
Dear Mr. Riordan. I shared some comments from his blog a post or so ago. I enjoy his Percy Jackson series oh-so-much, as do both of my sons. So, why not try his adult stories? Why let Mr. Handler skew my view and upset my enjoyment of a good book? So, I decided to go for it, and picked up Big Red Tequila at the library yesterday.
I must say, "So far, so good." The only thing that I've found utterly revolting is that the title is not a specific brand of tequila, but is rather the "drink of our younger days" for the main character and his love interest (so far, that is)-- Big Red soda AND tequila.
EW.
HOWEVER-- it's not enough to keep me away from the book. Like I said-- "So far, so good". Mr. Riordan definitely has his own style, but with a bit of a trace (no pun intended*) of Elmore Leonard**. MAYBE. I'll have to finish the book and let you know about that one.
But for now, I'm off to write a bit of my own story. It's been a long time swimming around in my head-- time to get some more of it out.
* You'll have to read a bit to get it
**This is a compliment. I'm a fan of Mr. Leonard's work.
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