About the book (from Blogging for Books):
Legendary nature photographer Art Wolfe presents an intimate, behind-the-scenes guide to the experiences, decisions, and methods that helped him capture images from some of the most exciting locations across the globe.
In Photographs from the Edge, you'll discover the secrets behind forty years of awe-inspiring photography from around the world. Wolfe takes you from the mountains of the Himalayas to the sandy shores of Mnemba Island, with stops in the crowded streets of India and the alkali lakes of Africa along the way. You’ll learn the equipment, settings, and creative choices behind each photograph. From endangered species to cultural celebrations to natural wonders, Wolfe brings each subject to life through his stunning photography and the stories he shares in this one-of-a-kind photo safari.
About the author (from the back cover): Art Wolfe's photographs are recognized throughout the world for their mastery of color, composition, and perspective. He is a recipient of the Photographic Society of America's Progress Medal, the coveted Alfred Eisenstaedt Magazine Photography Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Nature Photography Association. Wolfe's award-winning television series, Art Wolfe's Travels to the Edge, airs on PBS stations throughout the country and worldwide. He is a popular educator and speaker for such companies as Microsot, IBM, and Sheraton Hotels, and is the author of many books, including The New Art of Photographing Nature and The Art of the Photograph.
See more of Art Wolfe's work at his website: http://artwolfe.com
My thoughts:
My first thought was that it was a beautiful book. Then I realized there is a lot more than just photographs in this book. I am not well acquainted with different types of cameras; mainly I use a point-and-shoot (or my phone) for photos. This book has a wide range of cameras and settings being shown (Nikon, Canon, Leica; Canon being most prevalent). It was nice though to read this in the introduction:
"I have no sentimental attachment to my equipment- I'll use whatever I can afford or get my hands on at the time...Truthfully, it's all about the camera you have in your hands: I'm not above shooting with my iPhone while walking through a market square and, yes, these images have found their way into my archives as well." p.6
(I don't have an iPhone but still it made me feel some better.)
For each image we get to read which camera and settings were used, which is nice, but we also get the story behind the photograph. That is why I wanted this book. I like to know the story behind the image. Also, the images range over 30-years-time, so we can see the progression of what was perhaps important to the photographer, from the image and the way he relates the experience.
My daughter grabbed the book to look through before I did and she pored over the images and read through the descriptions. It's a good book to have for aesthetics as well as informative for those who wish to attempt photography of various aspects of nature and people.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free as part of the Blogging for Books program. They give me free books; I give my honest opinion.
I reviewed the first book put out by Sanders here.
I received this book for the purpose of an honest review. I received no compensation. See Disclosure/Policies.
Illustrated Book of Sayings by Ella Frances Sanders
ISBN: 978-1607749332
Hardcover, 112 pages
Publisher: Ten Speed
Retail: $14.99
About the book:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Lost in Translation comes this charming illustrated collection of more than fifty expressions from around the globe that explore the nuances of language. From the hilarious and romantic to the philosophical and literal, the idioms, proverbs, and adages in The Illustrated Book of Sayings reveal the remarkable diversity, humor, and poignancy of the world’s languages and cultures.
About the author: ELLA FRANCES SANDERS is a writer out of necessity and an illustrator by accident. She currently lives and works in the city of Bath, UK, without a cat. Her first book, Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World, was a New York Times bestseller and is now, perhaps ironically, being translated into many other languages. She still doesn’t know exactly how it all happened, but things seem to be going OK.
She can be found at ellafrancessanders.com and various other social media places.
My thoughts: Love it! It's a lot like her first book, and includes not so well known phrases from other languages. I like how there are comparable reasons for the saying in another language as there are in English.
I would really have liked a pronunciation of the saying. We like languages in our home, but if we only see the words with no guide on pronunciation... it's not generally a phrase well hold onto. There's always Google Translate, I suppose.
The illustrations are fun, adding to the book's charm.
If there is another book like this from Sanders, I'd like to add it to my collection!
About the book: On May 1, 1915, with World War I entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era's great transatlantic "greyhounds" -the fastest liner then in service- and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game. As the Lusitania made her way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small- hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more- all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history. Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history. About the author: Erik Larson is the author of five national bestsellers, including The Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts, which have collectively sold more than 6.5 million copies. His books have been published in seventeen countries. My thoughts: "Larson is one of the modern masters of popular narrative nonfiction...(New York Times book review)" This is my first time reading a book by Larson, though I now own four of his books. This will definitely not be my last Larson book. I had long thought that Larson's books were fiction, through and through. Loosely based on historical events but with much license for making it more interesting. Well, truth can be stranger- or in this case, more interesting- than fiction. Pardon my little tangent here: Recently I attended an education conference where one of the speakers, Dr. Carroll Smith, talked about the importance of narrative in our learning. What is 'narrative' exactly? According to Wiki: "A narrative or story is any report of connected events, real or imaginary, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, and/or still or moving images." In the talk by Dr. Smith, I learned that the amygdala (small portion of the brain that deals with emotions) is activated when reading a story just as if it were happening in reality. The emotions are firing 'mirror neurons' in our brains, allowing us to mentally and emotionally connect with the situation. Those connections are what help us retain what we read. Okay, back to the book and my thoughts of it. I was interested to read about the last crossing of the Lusitania because it is given such a small part in the history books. Interestingly, I did not know {rather I did not recall} that there was a span of almost two years from the sinking of the Lusitania to the United States entering the war. On top of that many more civil ships were sunk by the Germans, killing more Americans, after the sinking of the Lusitania, than I had previously known. A general curiosity started me on the book. The writing style and personal stories of the people who were on the Lusitania (the captain, crew, passengers), who had command of the Lusitania (administration at Cunard), who were in charge of military movements (British prominent leaders, Room 40), and even the behind-the-scenes take on the German's who were influential in the whole thing (the submarine captain, military leaders, and others) was what kept me going. There is a good portion that talks of Woodrow Wilson's life during this time. Some of the passengers were from places I've lived: Oregon, Cleveland, Ohio, and Wyoming. There were so many different reasons for making the trip via ship: fastest ship at the time, most secure (they thought for sure there'd be military escorts), and dare I say, naiveté. These people were on their way to see family, to make business transactions, to get a vacation, and so many more reasons. Really appreciate this book. There were some points that I am really unsure why they were included, other than to get a full sense of the times, but they were not distracting. I'd read that another reader did not care for the inclusion of Wilson's love-life {it's so super mild; nothing inappropriate} but I found it to be a new view on Wilson. A side I'd not known about. The book includes the following at the back: Notes, Bibliography, Index, Reader's Guide, A Conversation with Erik Larson, and An Essay from Erik Larson: "Where Ideas Come From" I am very much looking forward to my next Larson read: In the Garden of Beasts. **Disclaimer: I received this book for free for review from Blogging for Books. Do you blog? Do you love books? Then sign up! No compensation was given and I'm never required to submit a positive review.
I'll spare the details of how this all came about {that could well be a post for another day} but I'm sharing here how some of our lessons {hopefully} will go at the co-op starting in the Fall. These are only examples and not the specifics that will be in the line-up.
Our group will have students ranging in age from 6 to 17 {just a couple in the upper ages}. If you would like more information about the co-op you can either send an email (with "Interested in CM co-op" in the subject line) to cmeoneo@gmail.com or visit (and ask to join) the Charlotte Mason Educators of Northeast Ohio Facebook group. Email is probably the quickest way to get a reply.
We are covering the enrichments, riches, electives, or as Wendi more appropriately called them: The Uncommon Core. These include {for our specific co-op, and not in any particular order} Picture Study, Composer Study, Literature, Folksong, Poetry, Nature Study, and Handicrafts. The last two won't be included in this post; perhaps another day, another post.
These are all introductory lessons. Recently I found someone had created a lesson plan that is just about perfect for setting up a CM lesson. It is located in the AO Facebook group (you have to be a member of the group; it's titled Method of a Lesson Rubric). I will outline the basics of the rubric. This is slightly different and also based on the Six Steps of Narration found at the AO forum.
Living text
Title/chapter/pages
Introduction (set up)/Review of previous lesson
Supplies to use
Names, places, vocabulary
Reading of text
Student reads Teacher reads
Narration and Conversation Type of narration (oral, written, act out, drawn, etc.)
Closing (missed points or areas to ponder)
Picture Study- Diego Valezquez “Juan de Pareja”
~20 or so minutes- subsequent lessons may only take 15 minutes as there will not be the introduction to the painting, as it's covered for 2 weeks
Introduce the painter and the painting (info taken mostly from wikipedia):
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was born around June 6, 1599 in Seville, Spain. I say around then because that is the day he was baptized, which probably happened a few days or a week after he was born. He died August 6, 1660 in Madrid, Spain. Share image of painter.
Velazquez created between 110 and 120 paintings, mostly oil on canvas, and mostly portraits. He made trips to Italy to work on paintings but spent most of his life in Spain.
Now I’ll read fromI, Juan de Pareja*. This is an introduction to the painting we will be looking at today.
Here I read pp. 140-145 (about 4-6 minutes), followed by narrations.
The painting you have is titled Juan de Pareja. Velazquez completed this in 1649-50. It is an oil on canvas painting. The size of this painting is 32 in × 27.5 in. I will show the approximate size on a whiteboard/chalkboard if possible.
Study the painting closely. Look at the details and get the picture in your mind. Remember it so well that you will be able to hang this in the art gallery of your mind. You’ll have a couple minutes to look at the picture and then you can tell what you saw.
Juan de Pareja, detail
Focus on the painting; 1-2 minutes
Okay, turn over your picture. Tell what you saw in the painting. No peeking.
Narrations
Composer Study- Camille Saint-Saens, Carnival of the Animals (Intro and the March of the Lion and The Swan)
~15 minutes
Introduce the composer (info taken from Classics for Kids and wikipedia):
Camille Saint-Saëns (French: [kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃s] (IPA)) was born in Paris on October 9, 1835, and died in Paris December 16, 1921. (May ask: What country is Paris in?)
-show a picture of the composer; if we have a timeline may place his picture in the correct place-
He was an only child whose father died when he was just a baby. He lived with his mother Françoise-Clémence, and her aunt, Charlotte Masson (with two s’s!). <added for the name!> As a boy in school, Saint-Saens did very well and enjoyed French, literature, Latin and Greek, math, and other subjects.
In music, Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy. Who can tell what a child prodigy means? <Allow for answer> At 2 ½ he could pick out tunes on the piano; at the age of 3 he composed his first piece; and by 7 he was giving public concerts as a pianist and organist. When he was 10, he made his public debut and offered to play any one of Beethoven’s 32 sonatas from memory. He had a perfect memory of anything he had ever read.
He was born in Paris, France, but when he was in his 30s he discovered he liked to travel (eventually making 179 trips to 27 countries).
Saint-Saëns had many positions associated with music, including teacher. He was writing music during what is called the Romantic era -a time when art and music was more expressive and emotional- but his style of music was traditional and conservative and for the most part followed Classical traditions. He did write operas but they were never very popular. His best-known works are concertos, an organ symphony and The Carnival of the Animals.
What can you tell of Saint-Saens? Narration
Carnival of the Animals was a fun piece, written when Saint-Saens was supposed to be working on a more serious piece. He didn’t want it to be published in his lifetime because it was not serious enough! There were a few private performances but it wasn't published for the public until 1922.
The Carnival of the Animals has 14 movements. We will listen to 2 of those today.
As you listen, pay attention to the instruments you hear. Also, is it fast or slow, loud or quiet? How does it make you feel? If this were a story, what do you imagine is happening?
I have this on CD* and will play it for the class.
Play: Introduction et marche royale du lion (Introduction and Royal March of the Lion) (to 1:48)
What did we hear? Narration.
Notes for teacher on the piece (from wikipedia)- if needed/wanted: Strings and two pianos: the introduction begins with the pianos playing a bold tremolo, under which the strings enter with a stately theme. The pianos play a pair of scales going in opposite directions to conclude the first part of the movement. The pianos then introduce a march theme that they carry through most of the rest of the introduction. The strings provide the melody, with the pianos occasionally taking low runs of octaves which suggest the roar of a lion, or high ostinatos. The two groups of instruments switch places, with the pianos playing a higher, softer version of the melody. The movement ends with a fortissimo note from all the instruments used in this movement.
Play: Le cygne (The Swan) starts 15:57 to 19:05
What do you think of that piece? How does it make you feel? Is it different than the first we listened to? Narration.
Notes for teacher on the piece (from wikipedia)- if needed/wanted: Two pianos and cello: the lushly romantic cello solo (which evokes the swan elegantly gliding over the water) is played over rippling sixteenths in one piano and rolled chords in the other (said to represent the swan's feet, hidden from view beneath the water, propelling it along).
Literature- The Princess and the Goblin
~20 minutes Introduce author (info from many sources):
George MacDonald was born December 10, 1824, in Huntly, Scotland. He died in Ashtead, England on September 18, 1905. Share picture of MacDonald.
As a young boy MacDonald lived in the country and he had ample opportunity to explore the outdoors. He went to an independent school that was different from the more traditional schools, but he had poor health causing him to miss many days. When not working on his father's farm, MacDonald enjoyed reading books that fed his imagination. These helped him when he was older to write poetry and books of fantasy. Besides reading, it has been said that he spent much time riding, swimming, or just day-dreaming. At some point during his childhood, he happened upon a castle or mansion in the 'far North' in which was housed a wonderful library. This played a large role in his love of literature and helped his imagination grow even more. His experiences in the out of doors, the country side, the opportunity to explore castles, and reading books from the library helped him to write scenes that portray 'vigor and immediacy' in his own works.
Most of MacDonald's books were works of poetry or written for adults. He had eleven children and often would entertain them with his stories. This helped him see his talent for writing children's books. The story we will be reading, The Princess and the Goblin, was written in 1872.
Read chapter 1- Narrations.
Folksong- ON ILKLEY MOOR BAHT ‘AT
~10-15 minutes
What is a folksong? <allow for answers> It’s a song that folks sing! ;)
On Ilkley Moor Baht 'At is "On Ilkley Moor without a hat." It is a Traditional English folksong from Yorkshire. <Where is Yorkshire? What continent?>
This is a fun Yorkshire song (basically) about the dangers of not wearing a hat!
Listen to it all the way through first. What do you hear?
play from Youtube - https://youtu.be/qWXwqEGdWLc
"You'll catch your death of cold, we shall have to bury thee, the worms will come and eat thee up, the ducks will come and eat the worms, then we'll eat the ducks, and we'll have eaten thee.”
Our poet is Emily Dickinson. She was born December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts, and died May 15, 1886. Share photo of Dickinson.
-read a {very} little bit from Emily Dickinson bio in Modern American Poetry anthology. Narrations.
I'm going to read two of her poems today. Pay attention to the words she uses and how she arranges them. As you're listening to the poem, imagine what is happening. Think of how you feel when you are hearing the poems.
Read "I Had a Guinea Golden" Narrations Read "I had no time to hate..." Narrations
Picking up where I left off with reasons to open a lending library: Modern works* written for children push political correctness, deliberately and blatantly. They seek to stir the hearts and minds of young people to tolerance. While there is absolutely no reason to demean a person, there is no reason to deliberately point out every possible conflict. It leads people to search for what is wrong, not what is right. It is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish what people 'believe' in the books that they put out. Wanting everyone to 'get along' and 'love one another' is a great idea but the way to do that isn't to point out every little thing that is, or could have been, wrong. Neither is the way to let everyone do what they want and no one can be offended. We have to understand where people come from. We have to understand the past. We have to understand the past in the context of the past. Not in today's context because that warps the past; we cannot change the past. It was what it was. We must learn from it but we cannot change it.
That is what some books written today are attempting to do: Change the past. The injustices of every little slight are brought to light with a spot light. Even when no such conflict was present at the time. It is an issue today and so writers are injecting it into the past. Interestingly, I find that when this happens, instead of creating a more peaceful world, it creates division and strife. How so? It makes children constantly on the look out for something wrong with others' behaviors. It creates distrust of others. It is the opposite of what the writers are supposedly trying to do. Some older books will have words or phrases that are taboo in today's society. There are accounts of clashes between one group or another with language that we don't want our kids to say, or even think about another group. We want to shelter our children but also foster a mindset to think positively about others. Don't we? But on the flip side, those who have strongly held beliefs as to what is Biblically right and wrong find the push for acceptance of the wrong to be 'taboo'. Those who do what is Biblically wrong are hailed as heroes in the writings today advocating tolerance. Oftentimes those who stand up for their Biblical beliefs are hailed as oppressive and discriminating. They are not tolerated. Why the difference? But more important perhaps is: Why not include both of these kinds of writings in libraries? People can figure these things out.
Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow. {Men In Black}
That is why. But I believe that people, every person, has the right to have access to such books. Since the public libraries stock their shelves with the modern writings, a lending library that contains the older materials {that the other libraries often toss out} will be of benefit to people. *This is not to say that all modern writings are geared this way but it is an increasing trend that I do not foresee changing soon.
After reading Leif Enger's Peace Life a River I honestly wasn't sure I wanted to pick up this book, his second. And in case you do not go over to my linked review, do know that I loved the book.
No. It is the case of liking the book so much that I'd set myself up to assume that any subsequent books by Enger {Leif, to be specific, as I've discovered he has a brother, Lin, of whose works I've not read- yet} had to be absolutely stellar, or downright bad. It's like movie sequels, right?
I was wrong. But not completely. This is a good book, in the sense that it is well-written and peeks into the thing that makes a person a person. But I just didn't make a connection like Peace Like a River did. I would have to go back to my Goodreads and see how long it took me to read the two but I'm going to step out on a limb and say this one took twice as long. {Never mind that I read half of it in 2 hours while sitting in a public library waiting for the day to pass while in Detroit last month.}
While I was reading there were so many similarities between books, albeit completely different characters and settings, that I had much to think on in terms of 'what does that mean?' Not in the sense of what did Enger mean, because really, how often does a writer set out to inflect a certain meaning throughout his works; meanings that can be found in more than one work. I don't think it is intentional. Of course I'm not a writer. I could be completely wrong.
The main character is Monte Becket: a one-hit wonder in the literary world. Married to an ever patient wife and father to a boy with stories in his head. The story starts out without fanfare. There is no great declaration of his awesomeness or his great deeds, or even what he plans to have happen. It doesn't give indication, but for a little catch here and there, of the story that will unfold.
Other characters, because Monte's wife Susannah and son Redstart are not really in the story much but the beginning, in passing mention, and then towards the end, are Glendon, Siringo, and Hood Roberts. Of course there are others who you get to know a little. Like the little doctor {which now I wonder if he truly was 'little'- just his demeanor suggests he was small; I'll give a bit of the story later on of which he is featured} who treats Siringo somewhere mid-book, and Darla. Oh, yes and the actor Ern Swilling. Both have brief but important parts.
What happens though is that Monte takes a journey, first with Glendon and then continues on with Siringo, that changes him quite a bit. Through the whole adventure he {and therefore we} catches glimpses and straight-in-the-face instances of what drives a person, what goes on in the minds of some people. In the end, we can see how people are changed.
Here's that bit from the book I said I'd share:
On the third day Clary dosed Siring heavily and went in after the bullet. He located it between the rib it had smashed and the lung it would have pierced otherwise. Waking afterward Siringo told the doctor he had strolled through a deepening valley at the bottom of which he'd glimpsed the gates of Hell- black as you'd expect with the usual smoke rising in the background. His voice amused, Siringo described an emissary who had come from the gates dressed in shiny skin like an eel's. The emissary told Siringo they had a room reserved under his name but he wasn't coming in just yet. Clary said, "I know a preacher in Ponca City. I'll send for him if you like." "To what point and purpose?" said Charles Siringo. "Well, in case you wish to make a reservation elsewhere." "Be an adult, Mr. Clary. It happened in my mind. My own good brain carved out that valley and built those gates; that eel-skin fellow was my own conjuring." Clary regarded him placidly. "Most men would prefer not to take the chance." I will say for Siringo that he held to his convictions. Weak from days of fever and pain, he still found the strength to say, "I can't believe I let an idiot probe my guts with a knife." "As you wish," said Clary.
I didn't like this book as much as I liked his first book. I finished it less than an hour ago and so I am still processing what I've read. In time I may come to like it more as I have opportunity to connect with the book, the writing, and the characters. But I do not think it will place as high as- no, I know it will not- Peace Like a River.
Another bit that I connected with {my dad used to smoke a pipe and so the smell is something that brings pleasant memories}:
As the day warmed, we warmed to the man we followed. "See how he tends his dog," Siringo remarked, as we wound through a patch of spiny low cacti. "How do you mean? I don't see the dog's prints at all here." "Right, he's carrying the little chap," Siringo said. "How far ahead?" Siringo didn't answer but less than an hour he reined up in a place where the earth sank and softened and blue-green moss appeared on the stones. "Do you smell that?" he said. "No." We moved ahead at a quicker pace. The smell he had mentioned came to me first as a mere sense of reassurance. Only eventually did I recognize it as pipe tobacco. Name a more heartening aroma!
And just a little fun thing that I gleaned from the book, a connection I made: I watched a tv show focusing on 'mysteries' surrounding artifacts found in different institutions in the US, mostly museums. One episode, which I watched just a night or two ago, was about Salton Sea in California. Here's a portion from the book that I recognized the location before it was actually specified {love when that happens!}:
Glendon's voice hushed at the word Yuma, of whose ravages he had heard from experienced compadres: the sun beating through latticed ironwork, the brazed manacles set into the stone floor. Viewing the penitentiary from his far hilltop Glendon had no way of knowing it had been shut down years earlier and posed no threat. He crossed the Gila and a short while later the weedy Colorado before veering northwest toward a bank of dunes he knew from long ago. He was in familiar country and so was surprised when a lake appeared shining where there had been only dry and saline earth. The lake was too large to see across, too large to be misplaced. Riding Sparrow along the water's edge he wondered at his memory until an Indian woman emerging from a tilted house informed him the Colorado had breached its banks a decade before and created this new ocean. At its bottom lay the bones of a town named Salton. Glendon had stopped in Salton twenty years before and done a little business in a the saloon- he told the woman so, but she wasn't interested. She hated the lake. It grew more bitter year by year. Glendon rode on.
I would recommend the book but I wouldn't say it's a "don't miss" book.
Pulitzer Prize winner and American master Anne Tyler brings us an inspired, witty and irresistible contemporary take on one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies.
Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she’s always in trouble at work – her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner.
Dr. Battista has other problems. After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There’s only one problem: his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, all would be lost.
When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying – as usual – on Kate to help him. Kate is furious: this time he’s really asking too much. But will she be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?
About the author (from the back cover):
Anne Tyler is the author of twenty bestselling novels. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated at nineteen from Duke University and went on to do graduate work in Russian studies at Columbia University. A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler's New York Times bestselling twentieth novel, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize; her eleventh novel, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
More about this Hogarth Shakespeare series (from the inside flap):
For more than four hundred years, Shakespeare's works have been performed, read, and loved throughout the world. They have been reinterpreted for each new generation, whether as teen films, musicals, science-fiction flicks, Japanese warrior tales, or literary transformations.
The Hogarth Press was founded in Virginia and Leonard Woolf in 1917 with a mission to publish the best new writing of the age. In 2012, Hogarth was launched in London and New York to continue the tradition. The Hogarth Shakespeare project sees Shakespeare's works retold by acclaimed and bestselling novelists of today.
My thoughts:
Thankfully, one doesn't have to know Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, to understand the book; but it does help. I found it very difficult to get into the book. I haven't read Shakespeare's play but I know the premise and have read many summaries. This is one of my daughter's favorites of Shakespeare so I let her read the book first. She really liked it! I'll just be right upfront here: I did not like the book. That is until I was mostly done with it. I was trudging through it because 1) I requested it as a review book and it was given to me for free, and 2) dd *really* liked it! So I plugged away and eventually liked the book as well. We are not supposed to like Kate, and believe me, I didn't! But to be honest, I didn't really care for any of the characters. I mean, what is up with her dad? He is the typical absent-minded professor, er, scientist perhaps. And his assistant is...well, a foreigner. That sounds bad, doesn't it? But really that is how he is painted in the book! He is not up to speed on American English phrases or mannerisms, he blunders a lot, but he really is the most likable character. Kate's sister Bunny is an annoying teen girl with serious self-image issues. I don't think she is as ditzy as she lets on though. No, sir. So, if you have read the original play, you know that there is a plot to marry off the older daughter. I believe in the play, though, that is because someone also wants to marry off the younger daughter. Well, this is the 21st century and you don't do that with 15 year olds. Bunny is 15 (or is it 16? either way- underage!) and while she is interested in boys, obviously, there is no plot to marry her off. Quite the contrary; her father and Kate both mention that she is too young for much of anything (except her clothes; she's much too old for the clothes she wears). Kate's dad and his assistant apparently have cooked up a scheme to get the assistant a green card so he can stay in the States to continue the research they have been doing for 3 years. In order to get that green card he would need to be married. Well, Kate isn't doing anything important, so why wouldn't she mind marrying this guy? Right? Makes perfect sense! The book goes through trivial meetings of Kate and (totally drawing a blank on the guy's name) the assistant, as well as a lot of her being confused by what is going on. But there are also strange little 'insights' of Kate tossed in that we really do not get to fully understand how she, being who she has been painted to be, could have come to those conclusions. They don't logically flow. But the story builds up, you move along with the flow, and you get to the end. My daughter wrote a paper on this play a few years ago in high school and honestly it intrigued me enough to request this book now to review. In her paper she talked about how critics, modern ones mostly, are often up in arms over this whole marrying off a woman to get further in whatever pursuit a man has. Also in the play, but not really so much the book that I could tell, Kate is picked on to the point that she pretty much breaks down her stubbornness. Many find this disrespectful of women. Eh. Like I keep saying, I haven't read the original play, only this book. I can imagine that there are those who will have a problem with Kate's treatment (and I should hope the portrayal of Bunny! but maybe not so much that one with the push for teens to read/listen to books that advocate teen s*x- but to be clear, there is nothing so extreme in this book) and the general plot to marry her off to some guy that she herself didn't pick, choose, ask to, or even want to marry of her own free will. To be sure, though, she does marry him of her own free will. She isn't forced. At the end Kate grows into a much better, likable person. I think, if this were all a real story, even if she didn't marry the guy, she would have grown a lot. And so, a book that I had to force myself to start reading came out to be a good book worth finishing. Now I really need to read the original play!
***Disclaimer: I freely received an Advanced Reader Copy from the Blogging for Books program for the express purpose of an honest review. All opinions are my own; I am never required to give only a positive review. See Disclosure/Policies.***
