July 2010

Hi, all,

I hope you are enjoying your summer break. Don't forget to do your summer reading! I wanted to leave you a note about some of the books I have been reading this summer:

I began the summer with The Master and Margarita, which was an interesting tale from the turn of the century (19th) Russia, and offered a fictional perspective on events in Russian history. The prose was very detailed and the characters were vivid, despite jumping around a bit in the narrative. It did all come together in the end. Like many Russian writers of that period, Mikhail Bulgakov, relies heavily on religious symbolism and I found the addendum explaining the references invaluable in accessing the layered meanings in Bulgakov's work. It is an anti-Stalinist piece offering the question: "What would your good be doing if there were no evil, and what would the earth look like if shadows disappeared from it?"

This literary journey was followed by the quick paced new Riordan series starter, The Red Pyramid. Riordan is working on doing for the Egyptian gods and mythology what he did for the Greeks in the Percy Jackson series, but I found I was not as riveted to "the Kane chronicles". I liked the story line, Carter and Sadie have descended from a line of two pharaoh families, and pharaohs have traditionally been able to host a god and perform magic. Due to their unique heritage, they have the potential to be quite powerful and encounter a number of different Egyptian gods in their adventures. I didn't enjoy how the narration was split between the two main characters, even though each chapter told you who was telling the story. On the flip side, I was invested enough with the characters and story that I will likely seek out the next in series, with the hope that it will be a bit tighter like the Percy series.

I also read Enter Three Witches, which was a retelling of Macbeth told from the perspective of the Thane of Cawdor's daughter, Mary. Mary is being raised as the ward of the Macbeth's so she can learn all the skills she will need to run a household. The story follows the tale of Macbeth closely enough that I ended up reading the play along with the tale to marvel at Caroline Cooney's close adaptation. Cooney uses some of the lines from the play within the narrative, often so well incorporated that you only recall that they sound familiar.

Last night I finished Jose Saramago's novel, Death with Interruptions. The story was completely intriguing: what happens if death (purposely using the small 'd') stopped people from dying? What problems would be encountered? Halfway through, death resumes her role, but has implemented a one week warning system - people receive a violet envelope letting them know they will die in 7 days... Then one day, death's unrefusable letter gets returned to sender. I really enjoyed this book although some aspects of the translation I read may be off-putting to readers - mostly in the layout - dialogue was separated by commas within the same paragraph, although it was always clear who was speaking and some paragraphs would extend for more than a page or two. The story though was strong enough to carry through these layout issues.

Next on my list is: Forgotten Fire, the fictional retelling of the Armenian genocide that occurred in Turkey prior to the Holocaust. It is based on the author, Adam Bagdasarian's great-uncle's experiences during this time period.

As for my assigned summer reading, I have finished The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and am planning on watching the film later this week to compare how they relate and differ.

Please let me know if you have any questions about your summer reading and assignments and I would love to know:
What have you been reading?