Alright, alright. I know most of you out there are probably wondering what's become of me.
Well, to put it bluntly, I've been busy. I've had a whole pack of choir things to do, and frankly, I've been somewhat lazy. So, in order to jumpstart this project back into submission, I have done a couple of things. First, I have decided to leave the Thick Important Books alone for a bit (other than Crime and Punishment, which I'm still working on reading)
Second, I have watched a couple movies of books that I've read, and I'll post about them in the coming days.
Don't worry! I haven't forgotten or abandoned this. I just needed it to be kick-started. I think we're good now.
On to the books! In my attempt to read something and finished it, I picked up The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. A few years ago, this was made into a movie with Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway (a personal favourite) and honestly, I was rather enthused to get to read the book.
It didn't disappoint. Now, I have to put a disclaimer in here. This is not the same sort of book as the ones that I have read so far. This book, as amusing as I find it, is not great literature, nor does it pretend to be. It's a teen book, for kids who dream of being princesses themselves. I freely admit a bit of princess dreaming myself. Who doesn't want to be told that they are actually a princess?
Well, that would be one Mia Thermopolis, a gawky girl who just wants to pass her algebra class. She writes about all the issues about being a princess that no one ever thinks about, such as the press, and the people who only want to be her friend because she has Status. I admit that I was rather amused and proud of a girl who could tell the ruler of a country to their face that they could basically take the succession and shove it.
The book itself is written in one of the oldest styles of literature, first person letter. Well, in Mia's case, it's first-person diary, but the idea is the same. The main character is telling the story in their own words to the readers. There were a couple times in the book that I wanted to hit Mia upside of the head and tell her to open her eyes, but hey. No one can talk to fictional characters, right?
All in all, it was a good light read, and something that I was glad to have to re-boot this project. *sigh* I guess I'm stuck going back to Crime and Punishment and War and Peace now. Drat.
Days: 342
Books: 97!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Detour! Memoirs of a Geisha.
Alright, guys. This is the long-awaited post about the book I read, oh drat, about a week ago. So, if you will excuse me for being absent for a few days, let's get back into the blog, shall we?
Memoirs of a Geisha was written in the late 90s about a fictional geisha, or artist/entertainer in Gion, Japan in the 1930s-1940s. It was slightly controversial when it originally came out because the author had interviewed an actual geisha for research, and fictionalized quite a lot about the situations and the mores of the lifestyle.
All in all, I really liked this book. First of all, it is written in a flowery, interesting style, but nothing too heady or over-the-top. It's a very lovely break from thick Russian books. As to the actual plot, it's a somewhat typical coming-of-age story, where the girl has one dream throughout her life, and through a quirk, achieves it in the end. The best part of the book, I think, was all of the descriptions of life in Japan, and the intricacies of what it really is to be a geisha. The descriptions of tea ceremonies, kimonos and dances were, frankly, quite lovely.
The protagonist says many times that a geisha is not a prostitute, she is an artist, dancer, and entertainer first and foremost. However, it seems through other things that the author says, one of the functions that a geisha performs is sometimes having sex with men with whom they have an ongoing financial arrangement. These men, called dannas think of the geisha as their mistresses. Also, when a girl is ready to lose her virginity, men bid on that, almost like an e-bay auction. This is one of the most controversial parts of the book, as ex-geisha have come out and said that the truth of the matter is absolutely nothing like that at all. Interesting at the very least.
Possible prostitution aside, it is a quite lovely book that kept me reading and kept me interested.
Tomorrow, I promise, we'll get back to War and Peace!
Days: 349 (eek!)
Books: 98 (It'll be there for a while.)
Memoirs of a Geisha was written in the late 90s about a fictional geisha, or artist/entertainer in Gion, Japan in the 1930s-1940s. It was slightly controversial when it originally came out because the author had interviewed an actual geisha for research, and fictionalized quite a lot about the situations and the mores of the lifestyle.
All in all, I really liked this book. First of all, it is written in a flowery, interesting style, but nothing too heady or over-the-top. It's a very lovely break from thick Russian books. As to the actual plot, it's a somewhat typical coming-of-age story, where the girl has one dream throughout her life, and through a quirk, achieves it in the end. The best part of the book, I think, was all of the descriptions of life in Japan, and the intricacies of what it really is to be a geisha. The descriptions of tea ceremonies, kimonos and dances were, frankly, quite lovely.
The protagonist says many times that a geisha is not a prostitute, she is an artist, dancer, and entertainer first and foremost. However, it seems through other things that the author says, one of the functions that a geisha performs is sometimes having sex with men with whom they have an ongoing financial arrangement. These men, called dannas think of the geisha as their mistresses. Also, when a girl is ready to lose her virginity, men bid on that, almost like an e-bay auction. This is one of the most controversial parts of the book, as ex-geisha have come out and said that the truth of the matter is absolutely nothing like that at all. Interesting at the very least.
Possible prostitution aside, it is a quite lovely book that kept me reading and kept me interested.
Tomorrow, I promise, we'll get back to War and Peace!
Days: 349 (eek!)
Books: 98 (It'll be there for a while.)
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