Thursday, June 23, 2011

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand


I'm in love with Major Pettigrew. Or, maybe I'm in love with Edgecomb-St. Mary's. Or, maybe I'm just an Anglophile.

Last spring break, we (Mere, MR and I) picked this book up at the Mt. Pleasant Barnes and Noble and decided that it would be our next "Williamson Girl Book Club" selection. I recall liking the cover art and the brief back cover write-up. Then, we put the book down, Mere deciding she'd buy it on Kindle (did you?) and I decided I'd buy that fifth Outlander book (really, when am I going to stop reading those!!) instead and that I'd get Major Pettigrew's Last Stand as an audiobook later.

I am confident, CONFIDENT I must say in all caps, that you all will love this book, too. It's sharp, funny, peaceful, and sweet. A well-written little gem with lots of little conversations and sentiments that make me wish I had the paper version so I could dog ear the corners of the pages that I really like. But alas, the narrator is wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I keep losing my place in the audiobook and find myself going back and having to relisten to whole chapters of the book and not really minding a bit.

And remember, you're never too old to fall in love with an unsuitable person. xoxo

Sunday, June 12, 2011

By the Lion, Patrick Stewart!

First of all, I would like to salute the good Capt. Picard for doing an amazing job at narrating "The Last Battle." Sure, the female voices could be... more female, but I really don't see anyway of getting around that (likewise to all the male voices by Kate Reading (Mistress of the Art of Death (Mom, did you ever finish it?) and weirdly Shopaholics as well). Harrrrrryyyyyy!)


I find that, once into a book, I really start to forget whether or not I like the narrator, as long as the book is good. Sometimes the narration is helped by having appropriate accents for the narrators (Life of Pi) or additional voices (Broadway Nights). I was continuously appreciative of several things about Patrick Stewart, including his definably different character voices and his ability to speak quickly in extreme situations while still dictating/annunciating well (he also just has a really nice voice)!

As for the book, I really love most all things Narnia and this is no exception. Having gone through the audio books lately, however, it has been interesting to re-gauge my reaction to them with my somewhat more feminist and analytic eye/ear. It is always frustrating to listen to anything I idolized as a kid, and then realize as an adult that the girls are sometimes really treated as 'little delicate things...' I disagree, however, that Lewis was completely sexist. I don't want to defend his treatment or old-school thinking, but the fact remains that Aslan appears most to Lucy and there is ne'er a book where an important (if non-fighting) female is opposite a male. I seriously wonder if the girl characters would be written differently if Lewis was writing today. I also am a supporter of girls and boys being different and better at certain things than the other in some cases, which also come into play often. I, after all, feel a little surer of showing a bike problem to a Dad or guy friend, but I would just as soon show it to Capers if she is around! I don't really feel like addressing the Christian analogies right now, but I like them, and maybe it's something for the comments.

Hope I haven't lost anyone here. My personal opinion (of which there are plenty in the various book blogs/reviews found simply in searching for a picture for this blog) is that I still love the book and find its metaphors good, but there are somethings I don't like. The good outweighs the bad, however, and I don't feel like I'm compromising my standards to say that.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Krakauer

Remember back when Gwennie posted this about Jon Krakauer? Well, the spell has taken me in as well. However, I'm going in a bit of a different order. I listened to Into Thin Air, just finished Under the Banner of Heaven and am now listening to Into The Wild.

I've seen the movie of Into the Wild so I have a good idea of the storyline, but I think his writing really does pull you in more than even a visual story can. Thoughts?

I'm also thinking that Under the Banner of Heaven will be my least favorite. I don't hate it persay.. and it definitely made me think... it's just... depressing. I realize that might be a funny thing to say since the other two also involve death, but it's in a totally different way. Murder vs. Extreme outdoors. I also have been telling people about Under the Banner and for some reason they always tell me to stop. Hmm.. Did anyone else read/listen to this?

By the way, is anyone buying an AT&T accessory anytime soon? I have a 25% off coupon and will mail it to you...