Princessy.
Oct. 28th, 2009 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainbowunicorn_readsAs promised, I finished reading some of the books from my list last weekend. I went to Booksale again, however, and had to eat my words re not spending on books. I saw Affinity by Sarah Waters for php70, how could I resist? I've been looking for this book for ages and it was quite nicely priced.
Anyway, got to finish three books (finally!):
1. Double Fudge by Judy Blume
2. The Price of Salt by Monique Truong
3. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Double Fudge by Judy Blume
Judy Blume has helped me to both grow up and still take care of my inner child. I saw a tattered copy of "Are you there God, it's me Margaret" owned by my mom and instantly fell in love. I think I might have read all the books she has written and cherished each one. She depicts all the painful and awkward details of adolescence but manages to add her unique touch of wit and wry humor to it. Recently, since i've been on a write-a-gushy-love-letter-to-your-idol phase, I've decided to write to her and tell her everything, every ounce of adoration, just to get it out of my system. Well whaddya know, she wrote back (quite possibly automatically generated, but still).
After reading (and loving) the other "Fudge" books-Superfudge, Fudge-A-Mania, and Otherwise known as Sheila the Great, I was looking forward to reading Double Fudge. I wasn't disappointed. Has all the trappings of a Fudge book, meaning: little boy wisecracks. If you're a fan of Judy Blume, this will be a fun addition to your collection. If you haven't read any of her books yet, well, this is a fun read anyway. Nothing too dramatic, Not much angst, except for the predictable awkward tumble of emotions of older brother Peter, but what do you expect from teenagers, right? If you're a fan of Lois Lowry's Anastasia and Sam books, you'll feel right at home with this one.
What I think: 7.5 unicorns
The Price of Salt by Monique Truong
Told through the eyes of their Vietnamese cook, this sensual novel about the life of partners Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas in Paris blew me away. Truong writes magnificently, with lyrical passages such as:
"Although we strap time to our wrists, stuff it into our pockets, hang it on our walls, a perpetually moving picture for every room of the house, it can still run away, elude and evade, and show itself again only when there are minutes remaining and there is nothing left to do except wait till there are none."
Personally, I like the buildup of the plot till the middle part, but after that, she kind of lost me. There are some passages that are artfully written, but too much of it confuses me--which is real and which is imaginary? It distracted me from the plot and I gave up. After putting off finishing this book for more than a few months, I decided to give it a go again last weekend and successfully finished it. The ending really wasn't for me, though. Might be perfect for rainy nights, read while sipping a cup of tea, or for reading at the beach, with saltwater licking at your feet.
What I think: 8 unicorns
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Do you also like unicorns? How about rainbows, or tea parties? If you said "oh, yes!" to all three, you will definitely like this book. Filled with whimsical descriptions like:
"There is sufficient plum cake, saffron cake, cherry cake, iced fairy cakes, eclairs, gingerbread, meringues, syllabub, almond fingers, rock cakes, chocolate cakes, parkin, cream horns,Devonshire splits, Cornish pasty, jam sandwiches, lemon curd sandwiches, lettuce sandwiches, cinnamon toast and honey toast to feed twenty or more."
This book is a sensory treat, especially if you fancy books like The Secret Garden or A Little Princess or any of Enid Blyton's books. There are magical creatures, and the animals are almost human, just like in Narnia (in some parts smarter than the humans) but it was just too sexist for me to love it. I understand the setting is supposed to be the 1800s, and that this was written around the 1940s, but I can only take so much of sexist references, like "Women are not supposed to do that, That's not what Men do blah blah blah". I'm glad I got to read this after my pre-pre-teen years though, or I might have mistaken some of the gender stereotyping here as reality. The movie based on this book intrigues me, though, since there are some scenes in the book like a room filled with pink gardenias, or a banquet of cakes that I want to screencap, and tumblerize.
What I think: For the imagery, this should have been an 8, but it's sexist, so I give it a 6.5 in average.
Anyway, got to finish three books (finally!):
1. Double Fudge by Judy Blume
2. The Price of Salt by Monique Truong
3. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Double Fudge by Judy Blume
Judy Blume has helped me to both grow up and still take care of my inner child. I saw a tattered copy of "Are you there God, it's me Margaret" owned by my mom and instantly fell in love. I think I might have read all the books she has written and cherished each one. She depicts all the painful and awkward details of adolescence but manages to add her unique touch of wit and wry humor to it. Recently, since i've been on a write-a-gushy-love-letter-to-your-idol phase, I've decided to write to her and tell her everything, every ounce of adoration, just to get it out of my system. Well whaddya know, she wrote back (quite possibly automatically generated, but still).
After reading (and loving) the other "Fudge" books-Superfudge, Fudge-A-Mania, and Otherwise known as Sheila the Great, I was looking forward to reading Double Fudge. I wasn't disappointed. Has all the trappings of a Fudge book, meaning: little boy wisecracks. If you're a fan of Judy Blume, this will be a fun addition to your collection. If you haven't read any of her books yet, well, this is a fun read anyway. Nothing too dramatic, Not much angst, except for the predictable awkward tumble of emotions of older brother Peter, but what do you expect from teenagers, right? If you're a fan of Lois Lowry's Anastasia and Sam books, you'll feel right at home with this one.
What I think: 7.5 unicorns
The Price of Salt by Monique Truong
Told through the eyes of their Vietnamese cook, this sensual novel about the life of partners Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas in Paris blew me away. Truong writes magnificently, with lyrical passages such as:
"Although we strap time to our wrists, stuff it into our pockets, hang it on our walls, a perpetually moving picture for every room of the house, it can still run away, elude and evade, and show itself again only when there are minutes remaining and there is nothing left to do except wait till there are none."
Personally, I like the buildup of the plot till the middle part, but after that, she kind of lost me. There are some passages that are artfully written, but too much of it confuses me--which is real and which is imaginary? It distracted me from the plot and I gave up. After putting off finishing this book for more than a few months, I decided to give it a go again last weekend and successfully finished it. The ending really wasn't for me, though. Might be perfect for rainy nights, read while sipping a cup of tea, or for reading at the beach, with saltwater licking at your feet.
What I think: 8 unicorns
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
Do you also like unicorns? How about rainbows, or tea parties? If you said "oh, yes!" to all three, you will definitely like this book. Filled with whimsical descriptions like:
"There is sufficient plum cake, saffron cake, cherry cake, iced fairy cakes, eclairs, gingerbread, meringues, syllabub, almond fingers, rock cakes, chocolate cakes, parkin, cream horns,Devonshire splits, Cornish pasty, jam sandwiches, lemon curd sandwiches, lettuce sandwiches, cinnamon toast and honey toast to feed twenty or more."
This book is a sensory treat, especially if you fancy books like The Secret Garden or A Little Princess or any of Enid Blyton's books. There are magical creatures, and the animals are almost human, just like in Narnia (in some parts smarter than the humans) but it was just too sexist for me to love it. I understand the setting is supposed to be the 1800s, and that this was written around the 1940s, but I can only take so much of sexist references, like "Women are not supposed to do that, That's not what Men do blah blah blah". I'm glad I got to read this after my pre-pre-teen years though, or I might have mistaken some of the gender stereotyping here as reality. The movie based on this book intrigues me, though, since there are some scenes in the book like a room filled with pink gardenias, or a banquet of cakes that I want to screencap, and tumblerize.
What I think: For the imagery, this should have been an 8, but it's sexist, so I give it a 6.5 in average.