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July 25
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Britt
gave
 
to:
MirrorMask (Audio CD)
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads author!)
bookshelves:
fantasy-sci-fi,
fiction,
identity,
kids,
ya
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
Britt said:
"I just finished listening to the BOCD today. I enjoyed the story, the writing and the reader. It was simple, but creative and engaging.
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Britt
gave
to:
Little Earthquakes (Mass Market Paperback)
by Jennifer Weiner (Goodreads author!)
bookshelves:
fiction,
relationships,
romance
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
Britt said:
"It took me awhile to get into this book. I am single, do not want to get married anytime soon and do not want to have kids. This made the story one I could not relate to and one I had a hard time caring about, really. But the more I read, the more I ...more
It took me awhile to get into this book. I am single, do not want to get married anytime soon and do not want to have kids. This made the story one I could not relate to and one I had a hard time caring about, really. But the more I read, the more I started to like the characters and get involved in their lives. I enjoy Ms. Weiner's writing style, and it is a good story with well-drawn characters; I just think I would have liked it more had the topic been one I really cared about.
My favorite character was Kelly, who started out as my least favorite. I think she ended up being the most interesting because she grew so much by the end. Second favorite was definitely Becky, who was funny and irreverent and the one I could relate to the most. I love that they created a game in which the purpose was to throw yarmulkes at babies' heads and try to make them stay. That is definitely the type of activity I would participate in were I ever to become a mother....less
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July 23
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Britt
marked as to-read:
From Hell (Paperback)
by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Britt
gave
to:
Betrayed (House of Night Novel, Book 2)
by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
bookshelves:
fantasy-sci-fi,
fiction,
romance,
ya
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
Britt said:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
I enjoyed the main ...more
I like Betrayed a bit more than Marked. I thought the story was more interesting and complex, and (some of) the characters have been fleshed out more. It still has all the things I like from the first one as well.
I enjoyed the main conflict in the book, though the villains were a bit over the top. It was more interesting to me than coming in and taking down the evil queen of the school within the first two days of being there. I am glad that certain characters (Aphrodite & Neferet, especially) have become more complex than the cardboard cutouts everyone acted like in the first book. I like that we see not even the main characters are safe, though the fact that Stevie Rae is not exactly dead has me wondering if they are going to miraculous find a cure and she will be restored to her fledgling form? I hope not, though I liked her character.
All the repetitive information recapping the first book was quite annoying. This, along with various other things I do not like, makes the writing feel forced and awkward. I think it's an interesting premise overall, but it just seems like they are trying too hard to create this cool, hip, original vampire world.
Still do not like all the pop culture references, making all these celebrities into vampires, and defining words for us. Also do not like the authors' need to explain why the main character knows certain pop culture references or that liking certain things makes her a dork. And I do not like that the authors' feel the need to explain the characters to us, how gay Damien is or how country Stevie Rae is. Stop shoving them into stereotypes and just let them be!
Still annoyed that Zooey is the most amazingest vampire fledgling eva!!! And that she gets not one, but three of the hottest guys around interested in her. I know fiction can be used to fulfill fantasies that could never happen in real life, but come on now. Also, Zooey is supposed to be wise and mature and a great leader, but she is still sounding very immature. I'm still annoyed by how casually she runs around calling people losers for how they look, what they wear, and choices they make that she doesn't like. She has good ideas and makes a lot of smart choices, but the way she reacts to what she is deciding against makes her seem less mature.
So, lots of annoying things still! But they were there to a lesser degree than the first book, and the story was more interesting. I'm looking forward to the next one....less
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Britt
read and liked
Sasha's
review of Betrayed (House of Night Novel, Book 2):
"This book was faster paced and more engaging then the first, and now I'm going to be forced to read the third. The characters felt a bit more complex and a bit less idiotic, although there were still awkward vocabulary lessons and such. Also, the a...more
This book was faster paced and more engaging then the first, and now I'm going to be forced to read the third. The characters felt a bit more complex and a bit less idiotic, although there were still awkward vocabulary lessons and such. Also, the authors seem to have some strange impulse to explain why the main character knows things. Really, she can make a Brady Bunch reference without having to explain that she saw reruns on Nick at Nite, I promise. ...less
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July 21
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Britt
is currently reading:
The City of Ember (1st Book of Ember)
by Jeanne Duprau
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Britt
is currently reading:
Watchmen (Paperback)
by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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July 19
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New comment on Britt's review of
The Host: A Novel
(see all 5 comments)
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July 18
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Britt
gave
to:
Marked (House of Night, Book 1)
by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
bookshelves:
fantasy-sci-fi,
fiction,
identity,
ya
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
Britt said:
"Typical teen story in which there is a black and white delineation between the heroes and the villains, and you will never mistake one for the other. Our heroine comes from a troubled family, longs for a place to belong, is marked as incredibly and s...more
Typical teen story in which there is a black and white delineation between the heroes and the villains, and you will never mistake one for the other. Our heroine comes from a troubled family, longs for a place to belong, is marked as incredibly and shockingly extraordinary amongst her new peers, butts heads with the queen of the school who is also the flatly drawn villainess, immediately catches the eye of the hottest guy at school who is also the ex of our villainess, shows remarkable powers and wields them with a confidence and skill even the most advanced prodigy would not have after one day in a new world with new rules (after suffering from slight self-esteem issues easily erased by her upbeat and encouraging friends), and is wise beyond her years leading her to take on the benevolent savior leader role amongst her friends and eventually the entire school.
The author captures the teenage voice well enough (though it did seem she was trying a bit hard at times), but all the pop culture references got annoying. Also, while she did sound like a teenager, the narrator’s voice irritated me. She spent a good deal of time passing harsh judgments against particular types of people and behavior. Girls who wear lots of makeup are losers (as are a great many other people throughout the book). Teenagers drinking and smoking is horrifying and disgusting. Wanting to kiss someone you are attracted to apparently makes you a slut. She dislikes one of her classmates because he is not only annoying but also unattractive. While I am not saying that teenagers having sex and drinking and smoking is a good thing, I felt this moralizing had more to do with the author wanting the kiddies to know how dirty these things are than with the character really holding these opinions. It felt that her reaction to them was more immature than the character the author wanted us to see.
Also, not a fan of all the hatred for religion. More of the author pushing her point of view than creating anything compelling within the story. What does this really add? Nothing that couldn’t have been done some other way.
The author does more telling than she should, which always annoys me. You don’t need to tell me that you hate homophobes; I can tell that by the way you’re speaking about their intolerance. You don’t need to tell me you’re a dork; I can tell that by the Star Trek sweatshirt you wear. You definitely don’t need to tell me that you have no choice in being the villainess because that is the role you are meant to play, I can tell that by reading the rest of the book. Also not cool? Defining words within the text. Not necessary! Are we writing an SAT prep novel? No!
I am getting a bit tired of the vampires who are so much more powerful, beautiful, intelligent, wonderful than humans and have all these amazing abilities and gifts. This just makes it too easy to use these abilities to get out of whatever trouble pops up in the story. Neferet showing up at the Samhain ritual? Why would she? Because she’s intuitive? I’m not buying it. It’s just too convenient.
Ok, so, those are some pretty negative bits that I did not like about the book, but I did enjoy it overall. I do like the vampires the author created. I like that becoming a vampire is a biological change that your body could reject, thus killing you. I like that they are mortal and just have a longer life span than humans. I like that they can go out during the day, it’s just really uncomfortable. I like that they have a vampire school. I like that they are part of society, excelling in the arts. I like that vampires have a matriarchal society. I think the mixture of the goddess and vampirism is interesting. I like the main character’s new friends. The concept is interesting and fun, and I will probably pick up the sequels at work tomorrow....less
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July 16
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Britt
read and liked
Christopher's
review of When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge:
"Every two weeks, a language dies. Over the past several years there have been several books written about this sad phenomenon, ranging from popular works such as Mark Abley's SPOKEN HERE: Travels Among Threatened Languages to more academic coverage l...more
Every two weeks, a language dies. Over the past several years there have been several books written about this sad phenomenon, ranging from popular works such as Mark Abley's SPOKEN HERE: Travels Among Threatened Languages to more academic coverage like VANISHING VOICES: The Extinction of the World's Languages by Daniel Nettle and Suzanne Romaine. K. David Harrison's WHEN LANGUAGES DIE has a universal appeal. The author, a professor of linguistics at Swathmore College, writes in an approachable style that emphasizes the human element of language death, the last speakers of languages who feel great pain at their loss, while giving a rigorous argument for language preservation.
One common point in favor of language preservation is that certain possibilities of human language are found only in small indigenous languages, and were they not attested there, we would not know the human brain could accept such features. Urarina, a language spoken in the Amazon that has OVS word order, is the standard example and is present here. Harrison, however, gives some original arguments. His fieldwork has taken him to several smaller populations of Eastern Europe, Siberia, the Philippines and Mongolia. He has visited populations who maintain a traditional way of life with complex folk techniques. Harrison's first argument for language preservation is that the switch from an indigenous language and its useful terminology for local industry to an outside language creates inefficiency. He observes that older reindeer herders among Siberian peoples speaking their own language are able to express themselves about their duties much more concisely than a younger generation speaking Russian, who must resort to circumlocution. I like this argument. It does not resort to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language determines what you can say, for the younger generation can still speak of the details of reindeer herding, but it sees value in a language that can encode such information more efficiently.
Harrison's second argument for action against language death is that traditional languages pass down useful knowledge through the generations simply by being used, and this knowledge is lost through adopting an outside language. He gives exhaustive coverage of various calendar systems throughout the world, where names for months are tied to the agriculture or hunting cycle. Simply by growing up speaking such a language, a young person is endowed with knowledge of the plant cycle or the breeding habits of local wildlife. He gives examples of Siberian populations who no longer remember details of certain natural phenonmenon because they have lost their traditional calendar and use only the Russian one. While in many cases this is applicable, this argument doesn't hold when local peoples simply cease caring about traditional views of the natural environment. The same forces which encourage language shift, industrialization and urbanization, are those which tend to replace traditional ways of life altogether. When people are living in large blocks of flats in the city, going to work in offices or factories, is the traditional calendar any more meaningful than the new one?
In fact, this ties into one major objection I have to pleas for language preservation as usually formulated. As linguists, we can agree with languages are interesting and worthy of preservation. We might agree that some of what indigenous populations do, such as their agricultural lore, should be preserved. However, I don't see how we must all believe that all indigenous ways of life are worth maintaining. This is especially true with regards to religion. Whatever your spiritual beliefs are, religion is usually an issue of what is right against what is falsehood, and it doesn't make sense to call for relativism. Have some priorities here, people. While less critical of missionary efforts than other books on this subject, even Harrison succumbs to this, writing on page 153 'We should be sensitive to the impending loss of so many more religions and worldviews as languages die.' I would like to make linguistics my life's work, but there's no way I buy that.
The book is lavishly illustrated with photos of the speakers of threatened languages and with various diagrams. The author even includes sign languages alongside spoken languages, which no other work on the subject to my knowledge has done. Of the books I've read on the general phenomenon of language death and the worthiness of language preservation, Harrison's When Languages Die is, while by no means perfect, probably the best....less
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