February 24, 2010
The 7th…
Posting a review on Barnes and Noble! It’s on Atwood’s The Year of the Flood, which is also just a couple of posts down. They’re always asking for reviews of products, and I this time I thought – why not? Last semester’s class in book publishing rekindled an excitement for books that, ironically enough, library school had nearly stamped out of me. The small mountain of free uncorrected proofs and advance reader copies that I lugged back from ALA Midwinter, sitting in two corners, quietly tempting me to read, makes me long to give up this librarian notion and become a reviewer.
So, my seventh adventure was to put my thoughts out there on the bookseller’s website for anyone to read, and
I intend to do more. Such fun! My name for reviews is pixie-girl. 😉
February 22, 2010
Adventure the Sixth and possibly the best of all of the year…
Yes, it’s early days in 2010, I know that. But this will likely overshadow many an adventure with its utter fantasticness!!! On Monday the 15th my friend Kim and I went to the Museum of Science, passed through the barrier and landed at Hogwarts. The train was there, but it took no time time get to the school and get sorted.
From then on it was a self-directed tour of actual props and costumes used in the movies, and it was wonderful…I just can’t get over it. All I could do was drink it in. Hermione’s Yule Ball gown was there, and I would have loved to have tried it on. Ron’s and Harry’s beds with the curtains, wands, portraits, the Marauder’s Map – it was all there. I threw a Quaffle through a hoop, pulled up a Mandrake, and sat in Hagrid’s huge chair. Buckbeak, two centaurs, Dobby, Kreacher, and a Dementor were present as well.
I don’t know what else to say. It was brilliant. 🙂
February 14, 2010
The Year of the Flood ~ Margaret Atwood
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but this cover is literally covered with elements from the novel, and begs to be picked up and read. I loved it. This novel, set at some point in the future, is clearly a companion piece to Oryx and Crake, but if you haven’t read it, it’s not a problem. It’s got some of the same funny names for animals genetically spliced together (like rakunks), high-end spas called AnooYoo, and pleebs with their pleebrats. These terms can get slightly irritating at first, but just read through it and the words will become second nature and practically normal in Atwood’s dystopian creation. The Year of the Flood also has a religious sect called God’s Gardeners, a group of people who are preparing themselves for a Second Flood, the Waterless Flood. As the book opens, the Flood has occurred, and two women, Ren and Toby, have managed to survive in different places. The story unfolds through their eyes, mostly spent in remembering the years leading up to the Flood and how their two lives have intertwined as they each prepare to face living in a world where there are no more people. And if there are, what will life be like from now on?
Atwood doesn’t pull any punches in telling us that we are destroying the earth rather than being stewards of the land, and that a heavy price will be paid for our consumerism. The God’s Gardeners’ leader, Adam One, gives lessons on different saints’ days (St. Rachel Carson, St. Dian Fossey, to mention a few), praising their efforts to live harmoniously with the land and the animals. The first Flood wiped out most of humanity, and the second will do the same. It’s a book about relationships, too, and sometimes you get slapped in the face when something that touches your own life comes up. It can often make you tear up in spite of yourself. And then, I will find myself laughing at sentences about death and maggots, and wondering about myself. But that’s how Margaret Atwood works much of the time, in my opinion. You get lost in her words, and then your life is suddenly engaged with the story. Great read:)
February 12, 2010
Testing a Haiku or Two…
Surrounded by fear,
One beating heart is stilled by
A forest of ghosts.
Rising from nowhere,
The fog blinds and terrifies,
And is gone once more.
February 8, 2010
Adventuring On…
This year, some of my floormates proposed The Year of 52 Adventures – one adventure per week for 2010. Sounds like a tall order, but the adventures can be as little or as big as you want. Trying a new restaurant is an adventure. Opening a new restaurant counts, too. 😛 I’m a little late listing mine, but I’ll try to be better.
Adventure the First – We finally had enough snow that didn’t blow away on the island to make our first snowman there – I dressed it. (I said it could be small).
Adventure the Second – Attending an LIS online Career Fair at home, in my pajamas, next to the woodstove. The classy way to attend such functions
Adventure the Third – My first conference! The ALA Midwinter meeting was held here in Boston – very convenient for me! It was fun, I wrote for Cognotes, the conference newspaper, and snagged 37 free books plus other goodies!!
Adventure the Fourth – A whirlwind and intense five-day course in Corporate Librarianship. Visited a couple of such libraries in town, some fast presentations and short analyses, and done!
Adventure the Fifth – A trip to the MFA. The Museum of Fine Arts is free to Simmons students, and a few of us took a trip last Friday back to Ancient Egypt. It was a special exhibit, and it was amazing!! The artwork was colorful and lovely, the boats were incredibly well-preserved, not to mention the head! I think I need an Eye of Horus tattoo now…
the happy haunted turtle 