Dana Swier Huff's Blog, page 91
March 30, 2010
A Really Good Day
First, I received an e-mail from HarperCollins informing me that I won The Map of True Places Sweepstakes. I enter contests like this all the time, but I never have any expectation of winning. My prize is a weekend in Salem, Massachusetts, a place I have always wanted to visit (especially as an English teacher). I am so incredibly excited. I hardly know how it happened. Like I said, I enter these contests whenever one strikes my fancy, but how exciting!
Second, I am slowly catching up with my ...
March 13, 2010
Living the Literary Life
NovelWhore tweeted a good question: "What book most represents what you want your life to be like?"
This is a tough questions to answer. I would love to be able to go to Hogwarts and do magic like the characters in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, but Harry and Company go through some very rough times. They lose their loved ones, they're tortured and outcast for their beliefs, and they experience a great deal of pain and suffering. Not even magic can eradicate these types of problems.
Una...
March 12, 2010
The Help
I have been listening to Kathryn Stockett's novel The Help during my commutes and car trips, and I finished it this morning just moments after I pulled into my parking space at school. Stockett's first novel is about the relationships between white Southern women and their black domestic help during the Civil Rights Movement era in Mississippi. I have picked up the hardcover novel several times, but until my principal recommended it, I wasn't sure I'd like it. I think sometimes the book is d...
March 7, 2010
Reading Updates
I have three books going at the moment. I am listening to The Help whenever I'm in the car, and sometimes I have to sit in the car a little longer so I can finish a particularly good part. I am absolutely loving this book, and I can't wait to discuss it with my faculty's book club.
I'm also re-reading Pride and Prejudice. This annotated version is helping me understand nuances I'm not sure I picked up the first time I read it years ago. The only problem I have with the annotations is that...
February 28, 2010
Tales of the Jazz Age
American literature lovers (and teachers)! Tales of the Jazz Age: 11 Classic Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald is available on Amazon for $4.99. I don't usually do this kind of thing, but it sounded like a great value to me, so I'm passing it on. The collection includes "The Jelly Bean," "The Camel's Back," "May Day," "Porcelain and Pink," "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Tarquin of Cheapside," "O Russet Witch," "The Lees of Happiness,"...
February 14, 2010
Google and Book Reviews
If you have ever Googled a book and had trouble finding book reviews, you might Alex Iskold's article at ReadWriteWeb interesting.
My main source for reviews is other book blogs, Amazon reviews, and Audible reviews. How do you find books?
February 11, 2010
Between the Lines
Valerie Jackson, whose husband Maynard Jackson was mayor of Atlanta, hosts a radio show on the local NPR affiliate, WABE, called Between the Lines. The show's focus is books and their authors. I listen to the show on a regular basis through my podcast subscription (iTunes link). If you are looking for a good book podcast, you really need to try this one out. Ms. Jackson is an excellent interviewer. She has a way of asking just the right questions and drawing her subject out. I invariably...
February 8, 2010
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels
The fifth book in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, begins more than a decade after its predecessor, Something Rotten. Thursday's son Friday is now a teenager whose thoughts seem to revolve more around his favorite group Strontium Goat than on joining the ChronoGuard—something he must do, and soon, or the world might end. And that's the least of Thursday's problems. She also has to deal with the two book versions of Thursday Next, a reappearance of old ...
February 7, 2010
Reading Update
I am within 80 pages of finishing Thursday Next: First Among Sequels. I should be able to share a review soon.
I am about 70% in on Crime and Punishment, and I have to say that I am just not into it. I will finish it because I've gone too far to turn back. My judgment at this stage is that there are really interesting parts leavened by parts I either can't understand or am just not interested in. It's running on two stars at the moment.
I am also slowly moving through Mansfield Park, and not...
January 26, 2010
Wuthering Heights: Audio Book
I became a member of Audible last month. To me, $14.95 a month for an audio book each month seemed like a fairly good deal. I know that Audible uses DRM, and some folks have a problem with that, but if I am just going to listen to the book on my iPhone or computer, it shouldn't be a problem. When you join Audible, they give you a free audio book, and I did not hesitate a bit in choosing my first book: Wuthering Heights. My only hesitation was in wondering which version to choose. I decided...
