Since I have joined Kat with a K’s Summer Reading Program, I feel I ought to give updates a bit more often than once a month. So I figured I’d aim for a post on the books of the week (or, in this case, fortnight).

So far this month, I have read:

Pericles, by William Shakespeare
From the Shakespeare Theatre (because the book jacket is lame): “Pericles begins in Antioch, where Prince Pericles of Tyre must unravel a riddle to win the hand of a princess. But when Pericles discovers King Antiochus and his daughter’s terrible secret, he must flee for his life. Pericles sets sail—traveling from kingdom to kingdom—falling in love with a princess (Thaisa) and conceiving a child (Marina). After a terrible storm strikes their ship at sea, father, mother and daughter are separated. ”

Why this book? The Shakespeare Theatre was performing Pericles as its Free for All performance and I’d never read it. A few years ago, Karen, Rudi, Michael, and I went to see a performance of a Shakespeare history play that I hadn’t read and it was very confusing. I recognized Falstaff and the king of England and eventually figured out that another character must have been the French king, but it was a less than ideal play-watching experience. I didn’t want to be caught out again, so I read the first four acts before we saw the play. (I finished the final act today, since it’s always nice to be surprised by the ending of a play when you’re seeing it for the first time.)

My take: Pericles is a lesser-known Shakespearean play for a reason. The first half is believed to have been written by another playwright and it’s all based on an epic poem by the 14th century poet Gower (who appears as the narrator in the play (although not in the staged version we saw)). Apparently the story was well-known at the time, but it was definitely full of unrealistic melodrama by today’s standards. I mean with two assassination attempts, incest, a shipwreck, a birth and death at sea, a pirate attack, a brothel, and slavery in its slim 163 pages, it packs almost as much action in as a soap opera episode. The story at the heart of the play is a sweet one, nonetheless, and the ending is happy. The whole story is far-fetched, but it’s fiction and allowed. Worth reading if you haven’t already.

Pages: 163

Hoot, by Carl Hiassen
From the book jacket: “Roy Eberhardt is used to the new-kid drill. His family has lived all over, and Florida bullies are pretty much like bullies everywhere. But Roy finds himself oddly indebted to the hulking Dana Matherson. If Dana hadn’t been mashing his face against the school bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is the first interesting thing Roy’s seen in Florida. . . . Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy’s trail. The chase will introduce him to some other intriguing Floridian creatures: potty-trained alligators, a sinister pancake PR man, some burrowing owls, a fake-fart champion, a renegade eco-avenger, and several poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails.”

Why this book? I was in the kids’ room at the library and this popped out at me. I knew it had recently been made into a movie and that the book had good pre-movie hype, so I thought it might be time to check it out.

My take: Somehow Hiassen’s name makes me think of gross-out books and I don’t know why. Maybe his adult books are less appetizing? But this story was sweet and reminded me a bit of Louis Sacher’s Holes, but without the prison element or the magical realism. Essentially it focuses on how you develop a personal code of ethics and how far you take it. I really liked the main character who seemed to be an average sort of teen boy with a bit too much curiosity for his own good. Worth a read as well as a good gift for a young person in your life.

Pages: 292

The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader”, by C.S. Lewis
From the book jacket: “How King Caspian sailed through magic waters to the End of the World”

Why this book? As you might have seen in the earlier issues, I’ve been re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia since the movie came out last winter.

My take: The Narnian characters go sailing! Yes, there are a few other things going on the book — slavery, a child being turned into a dragon, invisible people — but it’s pretty much just Narnia on water. Not as good as the original.

Pages: 216

Gatsby’s Girl, by Caroline Preston
From the book jacket: “Just as Jay Gatsby was haunted by Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald was haunted by his own great first love — a Chicago socialite named Ginevra. Alluring, capricious, and ultimately unavailable, she would become his first muse, the inspiration for such timeless characters as Gatsby’s Daisy and Isabelle Borgé in This Side of Paradise. . . . Now, in this richly imagined and ambitious novel, Preston deftly evokes the entire sweep of Ginevra’s life — from her first meeting with Scott to the second act of her sometimes charmed, sometimes troubled life.”

Why this book? I read an excerpt on NPR’s website and thought it seemed like it had potential.

My take: I liked it. Ginevra starts off as your stereotypical debutante — spoiled, rich, and willful. But as time goes on she becomes more than that. She grows — through her reading of Fitzgerald’s books, through seeing herself as a Peter Pan-type of spoiled heroine, and through hearing of Fitzgerald’s frustrated life. By the very end of the book, you feel that she’s grown in ways that Fitzgerald was never capable of — and perhaps in ways that he never realized one could grow.

Pages: 310

Total: 4 books, 981 pages

Jen Robinson had an idea to start a list of cool girls from children’s literature. She solicited her readers’ opinions for suggestions and she has now posted 200 Cool Girls from Children’s Literature at her site.

Of the top ten, I know 8 of the girls. (I may have read one of The Borrowers books, but I have no memory of any of the characters and I’ve never even heard of The Westing Game.) Of the next ten, I know only half. And of the full list, I’ve only read 63! I’d better get reading. (Can I count these as some of my summer reading books, Kat?)

(Via A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy)

When I was in high school, I liked joining things — French Club, Key Club, Environmental Club, volleyball, softball, basketball, drama performances, creative writing magazine, yearbook…. You get the idea.

I thought that had worn off as I’d gotten older, but in the last week, the joining gene seems to have resurfaced since I have signed up to take part in two new projects:

The Kat with a K Summer Reading Program
Kat thought back to her childhood summers and remembered how much fun those summer reading programs the public library used to offer were. So she decided to create her own summer reading program and invited folks to join her. How could I resist?

For this challenge, I aimed low: only 10 books over the course of the summer. I thought about 15 or even 20, but given I only managed two last month (and since I can’t read and knit at the same time (see below)), I decided to play it safe.

But Kat also offered the chance to have a bonus goal and here I aimed high. As I mentioned here, I want to read Alexis de Tocqueville. So my goal is to read the complete text of Democracy in America — all 769 pages of it.

The Knitting World Cup 2006
Since I did eventually finish my Knitting Olympics projects, I thought I would try my hand at the Yarn Monkey’s World Cup knit-along. Who knows? Maybe I’m more of a summer sport girl. (I also thought I would hand the mousie booties from the Olympics over to their new owner, and Heidi seemed pleased by them.)

So what am I turning my needles to? A summer tank top from the most recent issue of Interweave Knits. I’m adapting it to work with Rowan’s Summer Tweed in Exotic (a turquoise tweed in cotton-silk).

The project has stumbled a bit in the early days as my guage swatch seems to have no bearing on either the pattern or the yarn’s specifications. I gave up on the math and decided to just cast on. Except that the pattern calls for a provisional cast on, which I didn’t know. Rudi went to sleep last night to the sounds of my bemoaning the yarn, the needles, the pattern, and my own inability. To give you some clue of how miserable I was, it took me about three hours to cast on and to knit three rows. Three hours. Today’s work is still moving slowly, but there does seem to be actual progress. Let’s just hope it’s not for naught and that the silly thing fits.

And let’s keep our fingers crossed that this is all I sign myself up to do for the next few months….

Guess what I won’t be watching? Tuesday Night Book Club, which starts next week on CBS.

I like light fluff combined with books as much as the next person (was Pam Anderson’s Stacked really that bad?). And I realize this is going to make me sound very shallow. But I just don’t think I would have so much in common with these women.

Sure, I may peek at the book list. But I think that’s where my interest in the show stops.

Last month I bemoaned only reading five books. Sadly that appears substantial compared to the piddling two I managed during May. I find that hard to believe. I mean, yes, there were two knitting magazines I snuck in there. And I started one book before deciding it wasn’t for me. But still … two?

I have been wandering around the house for two days looking in piles, picking up volumes, and wracking my brain for books I may have accidentally taken back to the library without first noting them. But I can find nothing. Apparently I’ve just had an underwhelming month.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t want those two books to feel in any way unworthy.

They were:

A Good Year, by Peter Mayle

From the book jacket: “Max Skinner is not exactly setting the London financial world on fire — and when his supervisor steals his biggest client, it’s definitely time to inspect the vineyard in Provence that his recently departed uncle left him. Heartily and happily distracted upon his arrival by the landscape, the weather, and the food — not to mention the gorgeous notaire handling the estate and the stunning owner of the local bistro — Max almost forgets about his inherited property.”
Why this book? I don’t remember why exactly I first picked up A Year in Provence. It was probably recommended by one of the dozen bookstores that email me suggestions. But since then, I’ve been hooked and when Mayle himself came to D.C. two years ago to promote this book, we paid money to attend the reading.
My take: If you’ve read any of Mayle’s Provence books, this will come as no real surprise to you. The scenery is luscious, the food leaves your mouth watering, and the characters are sweetly quirky. A charming read.

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

From the book jacket: “When Dorothy triumphed over the so-called Wicked Witch of the West in Frank Baum’s tales, we heard only Dorothy’s side of the story. The Wicked Witch we think we know is the predictable, green-faced villainess straight out of MGM’s imagination. But there’s more to the story than that. Where did the Wicked Witch come from? How exactly was she wicked? Why shouldn’t she want her sister’s charmed shoes? And, most important, what is the true nature of evil?”
Why this book? It’s come up a lot in my life recently. There’s the musical… There’s the sequel… Rebs bought it and despised the beginning so heartily she took it back to her bookstore… Di liked it enough to IM an endorsement. And I’ve been listening to a podcast version of The Road to Oz over the course of the last few months.
My take: If your only experience with Oz is the movie, you may not enjoy the book as much as if you have read some of the Frank L. Baum stories the movie is based on. But having said that, I thought that most of the book was very clever, thorougly drawing on Baum’s world as it does — from the characteristics of the various inhabitants of the nation to the types of characters he peopled his books with to the small details that changed between the book and the movie (those slippers aren’t really ruby in the stories, for instance).

Maguire enjoys playing with language and includes a number of Word Wealth words. My friend Amani was so taken with his vocabulary she started writing down words she wanted to learn.

Maguire also began an interesting discussion on the role and/or nature of evil. Is there such a thing? If so, what makes a character evil or makes them do evil things — free will, destiny, some combination? Is collateral worth the price of eliminating evil? Is it cut-and-dried? And are there always two legitimate sides or perspectives to things?

Unfortunately, something happened toward the end of the novel and for whatever reason he rushed around trying to squeeze the end of the story in before the book got too long. My head reeled as he bounced from one scene to another and as he tried to wrap Elphaba’s (the witch’s real name) story up as neatly as possible. But in his hurry to close the curtain, he undermined the importance of the questions he raised earlier, leaving me a little disappointed in what was otherwise a terrific novel.

I have mentioned before how jealous I am of those living in the U.K. because they have access to The Guardian in its hard copy format. It is possibly the best book paper in the world and easily surpasses anything I’ve seen here in the U.S.

This week they look at what makes a successful independent bookseller: “The Best Sellers”.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of independent bookstores. I will patronize the national chains when I’m looking for something I know the smaller shops in my area won’t have (crossword puzzle books for Gramma, for instance), but if I’m buying a book for myself, it’s not going to be at a huge mega-bookstore.

Looking for quality independents in the D.C. area?

Olsson’s is a local chain with two stores in D.C. and three in Virginia (including one at National Airport). I’ve not visited their Courthouse location, but I can recommend without hesitation, any of their three other stand-alone stores. Dupont lacks a cafe, but you’re not missing it in that neighborhood. Over the last few years they have expanded from just selling books, cds, and dvds to include renting out art house/BBC movies and series. And they offer a free membership that nets you discounts over time.

Politics and Prose is what you envision when you envision a local bookshop — or what it would be if it regularly appeared on Book TV on C-Span2. It feels cosy, even if it has expanded over the years. New books and an area for readings are located upstairs and the downstairs is devoted to remainders, a great kids’ section, and a tasty coffeeshop.

You couldn’t go wrong with either one.

Via Bookish.