Comments on A Light Inside: Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'm Excited to Read in 2012...

Masha and Jenna, if you're still...

2012-01-07T18:21:14.582-08:00

Masha and Jenna, if you're still checking this thread, when I first read The Giver several years ago, I didn't know it was a trilogy, either. The end of The Giver had me going for weeks with the question (to steal from Mockingjay), "Real or not real?" It was that ambiguous, in a genious way. Gathering Blue doesn't answer the question, but is marvelous in it's own right. Messenger is my favorite and has some fantastic Christian symbolism in tying up the trilogy. But each book takes a different tack on, or facet of, a totalitarian dystopian world.

I think it would take a sensitive, wise, and perceptive teacher to help young readers appreciate these books. Sorry you didn't have that teacher. I found them
profound as an adult, but wouldn't have liked them as a kid.

--Arabella

Joining the ranks of one who is looking forward to...

2012-01-06T05:45:47.171-08:00

Joining the ranks of one who is looking forward to your review of The Giver.

Arabella, I had no idea it was a trilogy either! I was compelled to read The Giver in 6th or 7th grade and I hated it at first, but I think part of my initial distaste for it was due to the fact that our teacher gave us very little instruction on it. She had taught the book for a decade using the same worksheets and handouts and a decade later is probably still teaching it with the same worksheets and handouts. She seemed to be going through the motions to get a paycheck and put almost no effort into helping us understand or unpack what we were reading, which I of course sensed and resented. It ended up being very frustrating for me, though I eventually got what the author was trying to say. When I read it the second time I was still harboring the emotional reaction of the anger produced in me by having been given a (at the time) confusing story and no tools with which to understand it. So I still disliked it even though I could grudgingly admit that the moral of the story was excellent and the concept was brilliant. In hindsight I can also see that there are some complex themes in the book that I would have been unable to grasp as a child anyway because they are beyond the province of childhood.

Jenna, I am looking forward to your review to help me appreciate the book better and assuage my unreasonable dislike for it.

Masha, your aside on Michael O'Brian made me laugh! What an indictment.

I was really looking forward to it before I heard ...

2012-01-05T17:22:32.093-08:00

I was really looking forward to it before I heard the news about your essay..besides, then I can put it next to O'Brian on the shelf and imagine the arguments.

...and thanks for asking! :D

2012-01-04T19:35:11.801-08:00

...and thanks for asking! :D

Arabella, The Giver is a trilogy? Ho...

2012-01-04T19:34:39.093-08:00

Arabella, The Giver is a trilogy? How did I not know this?! LOL. Well. I suppose I'll have to read them all, then.

Cheers on your fun reading! I do that now and again. It's totally worth it.

Masha, can't wait to hear what you have to say about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. :D Also, I think it's hilarious that you're reading O'Brien's book. I've read some of his arguments (and thought them provably false, of course), but not the entire book.

As for my essay in Harry Potter for Nerds, like anything else in publishing, it takes forever and then one more day. :) But just a week or two ago I got a file from Travis asking for my eyes, and I sent back corrections, which I am sure he forwarded immediately on to the publisher. So, hopefully soon!

I'm really excited to read. I don't know w...

2012-01-04T17:50:11.536-08:00

I'm really excited to read. I don't know what yet, really. I want to read the creepy fairy story you reviewed, and I want to read Markets Not Capitalism because it's my brother-in-law's book and he gave it to me when I'd planned on buying it! I'm looking forward to reading Love in the time of Cholera, because I haven't, and a book by Michael O'Brian about why I shouldn't let Yarrow read Harry Potter (spoiler: it's evil :) I LOVE books about other books being evil! & no, I'm not expecting to be at all impressed with his argument, people who sacrifice art for 'the message' in their own writing really shouldn't complain about other people's failures). I also want to read Jenna's essay in that other book, when will it be fixed? And I want to read Jude the Obscure again, because I remember loving it, but little else about it.

Happy New Year!

The Giver is fantastic, and be sure to read the wh...

2012-01-04T12:21:47.051-08:00

The Giver is fantastic, and be sure to read the whole trilogy. I plan to check out the Percy books; we gave the set to our nephew for Christmas. Crossed is waiting, and A Million Suns (sequel to Across the Universe) comes out in a few days.

I plan on rereading some childhood and teen favorites, and will maybe read Twilight Saga again. I'm giving myself some fun reading for quite awhile as a rest cure!

--Arabella

Thanks, everybody! nea barabea, The Scorpi...

2012-01-04T10:52:06.872-08:00

Thanks, everybody!

nea barabea, The Scorpio Races is supposed to be really good. I'm excited about it.

Trish and Donna, now I'm particularly hopeful that I'll like The Giver! And Happy New Year to you, too. :)

George, haha. I wouldn't like to say how long it's been since I've been on Pottermore. Surely they'll get the ebooks out this year... surely!

rockyriverteenlibrarian, great! I do rather expect to go on with the Heroes series; Riordan's writing is so hilarious that it's some of the most fun leisure reading I've come across in recent years. Oh, and I hope you enjoy Ender's Game! It's exquisitely wonderful.

I need to read Crossed too. I highly recommend con...

2012-01-03T15:28:09.628-08:00

I need to read Crossed too. I highly recommend continuing with the Heroes of Olympus series. I personally think it's even better than Percy Jackson (and I love Percy!)I am desperate for The Mark of Athena, book 3 in the series. I just bought myself a copy of Ender's Game. No more excuses. I WILL read it in 2012. Here is my list http://wp.me/pzUn5-JE

I'm not sure I have a list of what books I'...

2012-01-03T12:10:24.374-08:00

I'm not sure I have a list of what books I'm excited about for this year. In fact, I'm sure I don't have any idea. Maybe I'll skim through what's sitting on my Kindle. :)

What I'd really like to be excited about is eBooks of Harry Potter. But goodness knows when Pottermore will get its act together...

VERY excited you'll be reading The Giver. I bo...

2012-01-03T12:02:09.173-08:00

VERY excited you'll be reading The Giver. I bought it for the bargain e-book price too, for my phone because I reread that book so often it's the kind of thing I'll pull out and read in a waiting room, and now I can do it on my phone. That book changed my life in 6th grade when I read it. I can't wait to read what you think of it :)

PS: Happy new year!

The Giver is a good book! I read with my son a cou...

2012-01-03T11:59:10.796-08:00

The Giver is a good book! I read with my son a couple of years ago and we both really liked it.

I haven't read The Scorpio Races! I am really ...

2012-01-03T11:54:29.036-08:00

I haven't read The Scorpio Races! I am really excited about it too! :)