Awarded by Celtic Traveler

I was awarded the Beyond Your Imagination Award--thanks, Celtic Traveler!


So here how it goes: I have to name 8 books I'd like to live in for two weeks. And then I have to award eight people.

1. The Lord of the Rings
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles
3. The Sign of Four
4. Kidnapped
5. The Silver Chair
6. The Magician's Nephew
7. Treasure Island
8. My Sleeping Beauty/18th century story (if it's ok to pick one of my stories)

I tag anyone who wants to do it!

P.S.  Book review for Moby-Dick coming soon...

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Book Review: "Nearest charted island is at least a thousand miles. It's a water landing, gentlemen."

Airborn
by Kenneth Oppel
My overall rating:  4 out of 5 stars

[let me know if there are any typos]

The story:  Fifteen-year-old Matt Cruse works as a cabin boy on a ship--but not just any ship.  Sailing through skies instead of oceans, the elegant, passenger airship Aurora is kept afloat with hydrium gas, and is operated by a crew and captain, all dedicated to their jobs.  Resourceful and clever, Matt is looking forward to promotion and a successful career...until a newcomer and an airship of pirates threaten to make that impossible.  He also meets the beautiful Kate de Vries, who is determined to find out what were those mysterious flying creatures that her grandfather saw from a hot air balloon.

My thoughts:  I first heard about this book on Amazon.com; it sounded good, and it was compared to Robert Louis Stevenson and Jules Verne's books, so I thought I'd read it.       



Oppel has an excellent writing style for YA books.  The book seems to be a combination of the Victorian/Edwardian era and the 21st-century; overall, the writing style is quite readable, but not dumbed-down or too 21st century.  Based on the story itself, it's not clear in what era, exactly, this book takes place; but I really liked the historical setting, as well as reading about life on the Aurora (reminiscent of Royal Navy fiction).

Secondly, I think it's great that there are still authors like Oppel who write these kind of adventure stories.  Compared with its contemporaries, Airborn is probably one of the best books for teens; it kind of reminds me of the Horatio Hornblower series.  It's not perfect (more on that later), but we could certainly use more books in the classic adventure/sci-fi vein.

The characters were pretty good.  Matt Cruse, the narrator, is in some ways an average guy, and in other ways quite extraordinary.  He stays on the Aurora, even just as a cabin boy, because it was the same ship his father worked on, up until his death; and Matt feels closer to his father on the airship than anywhere else.  He hates being on land; it makes him feel claustrophobic, and he loses that sense of escapism that he has when he's flying.  His love for his airship and his fear of land is something that he often struggles with, and it makes him an interesting character.

The Aurora's captain, Captain Walken, is a lot like Captain Pellew from the Hornblower series--he's concentrated on doing his duty and doing the right thing.  Most of the crew members didn't get much "screen time", but a few of them were memorable, such as the cook, Chef Vlad.  I didn't particularly like Kate.  I guess she was supposed to be a strong heroine, but she seemed cliche to me--pretty, intelligent, disrespectful, rebellious, and feminist.  She's kind of spoiled, so maybe that explains some of her character traits.  But it's too bad she wasn't more original or likeable.  Then there's Szpirglas, the pirate captain.  He was also slightly cliche--in contrast to everyone else, he seemed straight out of the 18th or 19th centuries, even down to the boots.  Now, while that is what comes to mind when you think of a pirate, I can't help but think that Szpirglas would've been more interesting, and maybe creepier, if he was more 20th-century, like everyone else. 

I won't give any spoilers about the "flying creatures"...all I'll say is that that part of the plot got kind of boring after a while, but maybe it's just me.  The pirate subplot and the descriptions of the airship were much more interesting; and in the last 200 pages, the plot got really exciting.  Before I read the book, I knew next to nothing about airships; but I learned a few things, and the author even provides a sketch/map of the Aurora for the reader to refer to.  Speaking of pirates, I was glad to see that the pirates in this book are truly portrayed as villains; which, needless to say, is unusual these days.  Not only did the author take this point of view, but he made it convincing. 

Now for the things I didn't like.  The book is rather politically correct, which doesn't fit the era it seems to take place in.  Also, there were a few awkward scenes, mostly because of the romantic subplot.  Kate, as aforementioned, was quite annoying at times, and not always a good role model.  Occasionally there were some bad words, but not a lot. All things considered, I'd say Airborn is more for ages 12+, than for kids.

In summary, it's a good introduction to classic sci-fi/adventure stories, or just a fun read if you already like the genre or want to try something different.  I do plan on getting the sequel from the library and hope it will be even better.  :) 

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Almost Alice blog event!!!!

 
Ëarwen at Thoughts of a Shieldmaiden is having an Alice in Wonderland blog event during the week of August 1-7.  Being an Alice in Wonderland fan myself, I will definitely be participating, and I can't wait to see everyone's entries!

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Quote of the day

"For I believe that much of a man's character will be found betokened in his backbone. I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul. I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world." - Moby-Dick, Chapter 80

:P  

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"another man's treasure"

Today we helped set up a rummage sale at church!  And my feet still hurt, from running around carrying and pricing stuff.  ;)  But I'm glad I could help.  I was able to "preview" a lot of the stuff, and I got some paper doll books (Queen Victoria & Albert, and Godey's Lady's Book), a Christmas Carol CD, Screenwriting For Dummies (I really want to learn how to write a real movie script!), and a couple other things.

I'm almost 2/3 of the way through Moby-Dick, and I'm planning on participating in the Dickensblog "Five Years Later" fanfiction challenge.  =)  I don't have any ideas yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something.  Hm, actually, I just thought of a Little Dorrit story I might be able to write.....  Anyway, if you haven't been to Dickensblog yet, I highly recommend it!

I also wrote the first chapter to yet another new book I'm going to be writing.  Unlike many of my stories, it takes place in the 21st century and is largely based on personal experience.  I didn't bother to write a plot outline for this one...so far, I don't think it needs one.  I'm probably just going to write it for fun...not necessarily as a book I'd want to have published. 

And thanks for all the comments on the previous post!  :)

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Sewing a jacket: Part 2

I finally finished sewing that green jacket I posted about last month.  :)  It shouldn't have taken this long, but for various reasons (and all my fault, I'll admit) it did.  Anyway, here it is:



I followed the pattern pretty closely, but I did make it a little shorter.  I think it turned out pretty good...maybe slightly too big, but better than too small, I guess.





Has anyone else tried this pattern?

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Awarded by Meg

I was awarded the The Stylish Blogger Award--thanks, Meg!
Write 5 random things about yourself, and then tag 5 other people.

1.  I have a large Polly Pocket collection.
2.  I'd love to ride in a hot air balloon someday!  Maybe I read too many Jules Verne novels... 
3.  I know where to get the BEST fish & chips ever.  :)
4.  My next book is going to be a historical fiction, set in the Napoleonic/Regency/Romantic era.
5.  I love it when it's sunny and raining at the same time, especially in the evening.

I tag Awel, story_weaver, Jane, Celine, and Grace.

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Holmes!

Check out these photos from the upcoming BBC TV show, "Sherlock", which I've heard is going to be on PBS this fall or winter:
http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/tubetalk/a239125/first-look-picture-exclusive-sherlock.html

I love that first picture.  Cumberbatch looks a LOT how I would picture Sherlock Holmes--in the books, he's actually only 27 at the beginning of the series, even though he's usually portrayed as at least ten years older.  His costume is very cool! 

Here are some things I have heard about it, from news article(s):

"Watson is in the same war, he’s wounded in Afghanistan, just like in the first story." 

"He comes home, has no friends, nowhere to live and he meets someone he went to medical school with who is looking for a flat to share, and that’s it." 

"Holmes and Watson are much younger in the original books and that is how we have written the modern version."   Finally!

"Moffat said the appeal of the violin-playing sleuth was timeless."  :D

You know, I'm not particularly a fan of modern retellings, but so far, this doesn't sound too bad.  I'm still highly doubtful, but I hope this is a good series.  I love the idea of Holmes having an mp3 player and laptop. ;)

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You know you've been reading too much Moby-Dick when...

 ...you glance at a shopping list and, for a split second, read one of the headings as "Whale Fishery".  What it actually says is "Whole Foods".

:P

Years ago, when I first tried to read this book (and stopped halfway), I thought it was the most boring classic I'd ever read, as well as one of the hardest books I'd ever read.  The plot is pretty simple--an insane captain sets out to get revenge on a whale.  The book, however, happens to be over 600 pages long.  It alternates between telling the story and talking about whales, with whole chapters that read like encyclopedia articles with author's commentary.

Surprisingly enough, though, this time I like it.

The writing style is very interesting.  It's first-person, but the narrator is able to tell the reader practically as much as third-person narration does.  Sometimes the narrator tells the story like any other author, with even comic relief.  Other times he goes on for chapters about whaling, and whales, and his thoughts.  And, every time he changes the subject, he usually starts a new chapter.

The narrator himself is really annoying.  I mean REALLY annoying.  Why is it that, with all his self-righteousness of being fair and unbiased, he would still seem to be prejudiced towards certain kinds of people?  I especially disliked his attempted ironic comparison of the Quakers' pacifism and their whale-hunting.  I think it goes without saying that there's a big difference between killing a person and killing a whale. 

As far as Captain Ahab goes, the book brings out his sanity more than the movie version does.  There was, for example, an interesting subplot that shows how scheming he could be; I also get the impression that, before he lost his leg, he seemed to be a pretty normal person.  I'm going to have to watch the film again, but these seem to be a couple of the differences between the book and the film.

In any case, Starbuck is my favourite character. He is a rational character amidst "the madness of crowds".  "'Vengeance on a dumb brute!' cried Starbuck, 'that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness!'"

Now, I've seen the 1956 version (a good movie, by the way), so I know how the story is going to end.  But the thing about Moby-Dick, is that it's almost like a mystery.  In some ways, it's more suspenseful than a mystery, because it's not a story I can completely understand.  And it's not like Lord of the Rings, either, where you can keep finding the answers to your questions--I don't know if that's possible with Moby-Dick.  It's just really complex...an extraordinary book which tries to explain every little thing to the reader, and yet leaves me with nearly as many questions as before.

Something which I only learned recently is that a true-story whaling accident was part of the inspiration for writing Moby-Dick, and it just so happened that I had already read a book about it.  The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex is an eyewitness narrative written in 1821 by Owen Chase, who was the second in command.  It's a must-read in my opinion, an amazing survival story.  Even if I hadn't ended up reading Moby-Dick later on, I was glad to have read Chase's book first. I always prefer reading a book written by somebody who was actually there; and these days, whaling stories may not be as glamorous as pirates and Royal Navy books, but they're nonetheless a fascinating part of American history.

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Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!

:)  We're going to my aunt & uncle's house later today...maybe I'll take some photos! 

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