This week I have started the Two Towers which is the second book in the Lord of the Rings series. I absolutely love it. I have always been a Lord of the Rings fan but until this week I had only seen the movies and read the Hobbit, and the Fellowship of the Ring.
To tell the truth I have actually started the The Two Towers before but I had never finished it. This happened a few years ago when I could not read as well and couldn't really understand what I was reading most of the time anyway. I had gotten to one of the most boring parts of the book when I accidentally lost it. A few months later I found it again, the problem was that I couldn't remember where my place was in the book. (this was before I had discovered the usefulness of bookmarks) and I did not want to start back at the beginning again, so I just left it and went on to easier stuff.
Let's hope that does not happen again. :)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Hard Poetry
Well I finished the Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves by Edmund Spencer a little bit late because it was the hardest book I have had to read yet.
Even though it was a difficult to get into and sometimes confusing, it is well written. Once you start to understand it is a good tale with lots of strange scenes. I enjoyed how the verses flowed and I thought that the way the writer chose to say some things really was genius. I liked the editor because he was funny and informative. Anyone who wants to read something that is very deep with Christian themes read Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves.
At the beginning of every chapter or Canto, there is a preamble verse that tell a little about what will be in the chapter. These preambles are written in iambic verse and you can sing them to the tune of Gilligan's Island. Here is an example;
To sinfull house of Pride, Duessa
guides the faithful knight,
Where brothers death to wreak Sansioy
doth challenge him to fight.
So on Monday I will be starting The Two Towers. :)
Even though it was a difficult to get into and sometimes confusing, it is well written. Once you start to understand it is a good tale with lots of strange scenes. I enjoyed how the verses flowed and I thought that the way the writer chose to say some things really was genius. I liked the editor because he was funny and informative. Anyone who wants to read something that is very deep with Christian themes read Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves.
At the beginning of every chapter or Canto, there is a preamble verse that tell a little about what will be in the chapter. These preambles are written in iambic verse and you can sing them to the tune of Gilligan's Island. Here is an example;
To sinfull house of Pride, Duessa
guides the faithful knight,
Where brothers death to wreak Sansioy
doth challenge him to fight.
So on Monday I will be starting The Two Towers. :)
Monday, January 16, 2012
First of Poetry
Well I finished The Three Theban Plays. I liked them all. They were very depressing and about everyone dies at the end, but they were so well written, the characters were well formed, and everything made sense at the end.
The three plays are the story of a man whose fate was told to his parents at birth, the fate was so horrible that they sent him away and once he was old enough to understand his fate he went out of his way to avoid it. The horrible thing about it is that if no one had known of his fate, it would never have happened. His fate came true because of everyone's reactions to it. I really liked the idea of the story.
My next book is a book of Poetry, called Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves. I know absolutely nothing about is except that it is the first book of a series. I am not going to be reading all the other books, just this one. I do not know why, but that is what mom is telling me to read. :)
The three plays are the story of a man whose fate was told to his parents at birth, the fate was so horrible that they sent him away and once he was old enough to understand his fate he went out of his way to avoid it. The horrible thing about it is that if no one had known of his fate, it would never have happened. His fate came true because of everyone's reactions to it. I really liked the idea of the story.
My next book is a book of Poetry, called Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves. I know absolutely nothing about is except that it is the first book of a series. I am not going to be reading all the other books, just this one. I do not know why, but that is what mom is telling me to read. :)
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Extra
I have almost finished The Three Theban Plays (good since tomorrow is Friday) and I really like them! They are all very tragic but so well written.
Other than my list of a book a week I also have to read a few books for my school. For history I have to start, The Imitation Of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. I know nothing of this book besides what I have read on the back which says it is a book of inspiration and instruction.
Also for my English class I have to read the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. I have read some Shakespeare but never one of his tragedy's. My favorite of Shakespeare's play's has been A Comedy Of Errors. If you have never read it, you do not know what you are missing. That play is hilarious.
Other than my list of a book a week I also have to read a few books for my school. For history I have to start, The Imitation Of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. I know nothing of this book besides what I have read on the back which says it is a book of inspiration and instruction.
Also for my English class I have to read the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. I have read some Shakespeare but never one of his tragedy's. My favorite of Shakespeare's play's has been A Comedy Of Errors. If you have never read it, you do not know what you are missing. That play is hilarious.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
More Books
Since I have already gotten through a book and a half, I have started wanting to read more classics or any new books that I have never read before.
So, I am not going to only read 28 books or whatever the number was. I am going to add more books to my list and I will plan to read them all for how many weeks it takes. I do not know when I will stop reading. I think it will just go on till I have no more good ideas for books, or until I just want to stop.
If anyone wants to start reading along with me I would be very happy for the company and If you want to comment your views on any book that I am reading that would be great too!
Happy reading! :)
So, I am not going to only read 28 books or whatever the number was. I am going to add more books to my list and I will plan to read them all for how many weeks it takes. I do not know when I will stop reading. I think it will just go on till I have no more good ideas for books, or until I just want to stop.
If anyone wants to start reading along with me I would be very happy for the company and If you want to comment your views on any book that I am reading that would be great too!
Happy reading! :)
Monday, January 9, 2012
Thoughts On Book Two
Today I started The Three Theban Plays. The book includes three plays (hence the name) and the plays are, Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus. If you have read these plays before and notice that they are in the wrong order, than congratulations because my mom pointed that out to me only after I was half-way through the first play. Instead of completely starting over I decided to just keep on reading.
To me plays have always been harder to read and to understand mostly because of the long flowing speeches, the format, and because I find plays harder to picture in my mind than with books. Although what I have gone through so far in Antigone has been really good and interesting.
The play started very abruptly because the story was already in motion. The characters are all very interesting people, the uncle is the evil, unfeeling bad guy that uncles always are in story's. And the two sisters are two very different people, but they make sense as sisters.
So far I like this book and I am curious as to what happens next which is always a good sign that the book is a good one.
To me plays have always been harder to read and to understand mostly because of the long flowing speeches, the format, and because I find plays harder to picture in my mind than with books. Although what I have gone through so far in Antigone has been really good and interesting.
The play started very abruptly because the story was already in motion. The characters are all very interesting people, the uncle is the evil, unfeeling bad guy that uncles always are in story's. And the two sisters are two very different people, but they make sense as sisters.
So far I like this book and I am curious as to what happens next which is always a good sign that the book is a good one.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Number Two
Well, since I finished The Odyssey I will be starting the next book on my list. The book is is another Greek classic called, The Three Theban Plays, by Sophocles.
This one I do not at all know if I will like, mainly because on the back of the book it says, "This book towers over all the rest of Greek tragedy." Yay, a sad book. I am not like my older brother, he really likes tragedies, not me. If the story ends with one or both of the main characters dying I don't like it.
My brother says, "But if everything turns out right it isn't realistic." I agree but I would rather see a movie or read a book about a happier world where everything is good, then a movie or book where everything is like our world- unhappy.
Ah well. I will read it and decide after I am finished whether I like it or not. Who knows, it might surprise me.
This one I do not at all know if I will like, mainly because on the back of the book it says, "This book towers over all the rest of Greek tragedy." Yay, a sad book. I am not like my older brother, he really likes tragedies, not me. If the story ends with one or both of the main characters dying I don't like it.
My brother says, "But if everything turns out right it isn't realistic." I agree but I would rather see a movie or read a book about a happier world where everything is good, then a movie or book where everything is like our world- unhappy.
Ah well. I will read it and decide after I am finished whether I like it or not. Who knows, it might surprise me.
Friday, January 6, 2012
First Book, Check!
Well I just finished the Odyssey, all twenty-four chapters. It took me exactly four days to finish and to tell the truth I would not have believed that I could have finished it that fast when I started it.
It was a very interesting book. I would not say that it was my absolute favorite book ever, but I did not dislike it. The book's story did not interest me as much as the culture of the time. Things that the people said and did that were perfectly normal then are strange and not fully understood now. For example the custom of grabbing peoples knees, I have no idea why this happens so much in the Odyssey, I think it might be some way of begging for peace or something. Several of the characters do this several times and it is never explained. But I guess we can't talk because our culture today also has some very strange customs, like when meeting someone we grab hands and yank up and down, and we hit doors to get the attention of those inside.
It was a very interesting book. I would not say that it was my absolute favorite book ever, but I did not dislike it. The book's story did not interest me as much as the culture of the time. Things that the people said and did that were perfectly normal then are strange and not fully understood now. For example the custom of grabbing peoples knees, I have no idea why this happens so much in the Odyssey, I think it might be some way of begging for peace or something. Several of the characters do this several times and it is never explained. But I guess we can't talk because our culture today also has some very strange customs, like when meeting someone we grab hands and yank up and down, and we hit doors to get the attention of those inside.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Odyssey Thoughts
Well I am already to chapter 5 of the "Odyssey" and so far it is not like anything I have ever read. It is more poetic than any of the modern books today, and it flows differently than books that I have read before. I especially like how whenever Homer writes that morning had come he writes, "When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared" Even though that sentence gets very repetitive, it does not make the book boring it just makes me want to laugh at the strangeness of the sentence.
So far I like it. Though while reading the "Odyssey" it comes in handy to have a list of the names of all the characters in the book because while reading it I mix up Amphimedon, and Amphinomus.
One of the best things about reading the "Odyssey" is that we have an older, hard-backed, yellow-ish paged, and awesome looking copy. This makes it all the more fun to read. There is something different about reading a new addition, clean, and unwrinkled copy of a book, than reading the older copy that looks like it has been picked up many times to be read again.
Reading a book that looks fresh off the store's shelf makes me scared to open it too wide, so when I read a wrinkled copy I feel more relaxed.
So far I like it. Though while reading the "Odyssey" it comes in handy to have a list of the names of all the characters in the book because while reading it I mix up Amphimedon, and Amphinomus.
One of the best things about reading the "Odyssey" is that we have an older, hard-backed, yellow-ish paged, and awesome looking copy. This makes it all the more fun to read. There is something different about reading a new addition, clean, and unwrinkled copy of a book, than reading the older copy that looks like it has been picked up many times to be read again.
Reading a book that looks fresh off the store's shelf makes me scared to open it too wide, so when I read a wrinkled copy I feel more relaxed.
Blog Intro...
Okay, so for school in 2012 my Mom decided that my two sisters and I would start reading more classics by joining the 52 week book challenge with her. I joined in but I am only listing 28 titles because I have several other books that I recently got for Christmas that I want to read too. These new books are not allowed to be added to my list of classic titles because they are what my sister calls "Fluff".
We are starting the challenge this week after school has started back. I am starting with "The Odyssey" by Homer. I am not sure what I will think about this book. I have always enjoyed Greek mythology but I have never read a book like this and because I do not know if it has a happy ending I am slightly hesitant.
We are starting the challenge this week after school has started back. I am starting with "The Odyssey" by Homer. I am not sure what I will think about this book. I have always enjoyed Greek mythology but I have never read a book like this and because I do not know if it has a happy ending I am slightly hesitant.
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