I’m a little late with this update, but it’s still the beginning of July…time for a check-in on reading challenges. Most of what I’ve been reading for challenges (and in general, actually), has been focused on the “Finishing the Series” challenge. But it requires by far and away the most reading, so I guess that’s good!
As usual, linked titles go to my reviews, starred titles have reviews coming, and feel free to ask if you want to know more about anything!
What’s your favorite patriotic movie? I’m a big fan of 1776, but one of my favorites for the Fourth of July is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
It’s an old Jimmy Stewart movie about party politics and idealism. A governor needs someone to fill a senator seat until the next election, and is being pressured by various interest groups. On his children’s advice and with a lucky coin toss, he ends up choosing Jefferson Smith (Stewart), the wholesome and naive head of the Boy Rangers. In Washington, Smith is taken under the wing of established Senator Paine (Claude Rains). Everyone figures Smith will sit quietly and cause no trouble, but when he proposes a bill to establish a boys’ camp, he inadvertantly sets events in motion that will expose Paine’s corruption, setting Paine and the political machine against him.
It’s really Smith’s wide-eyed idealism that makes this movie for me. It’s not about the founding fathers, but Smith believes in all those principles they stand for. You know, things like freedom and honesty and a government that works for the people. There’s a wonderful scene when Smith first comes to Washington D.C., when he just wanders around to look at all the sights and all the monuments and is breathlessly blown away by history and meaning.
And there’s the famous filibuster scene, Smith’s last-ditch effort to fight back as the political machine turns everyone against him. Jimmy Stewart plays exhausted desperation and sincerity very well. He’s the perfect fit for the role throughout–he takes impossible naivety and makes you believe in it. He’s the classic Everyman, and his Everyman is a really nice guy you’d like to know.
It doesn’t hurt to have Claude Rains in the movie either. He forever endeared himself to me in Casablanca–come to think of it, as another corrupt government official. Captain Renault was cheerfully corrupt and honest about it, while Senator Paine is less witty and more two-faced and devious.
It’s a classic Frank Capra movie (he also directed It’s a Wonderful Life and You Can’t Take It with You) and you know what you’re getting with Mr. Capra–idealism, strong values and warm feelings. It’s a black-and-white movie with a black-and-white message, and even though I think life and certainly politics have a lot more gray most of the time, it is nice to celebrate the holiday visiting Capra’s idealized world.
And then, of course, to set off some fireworks. How will you be celebrating the Fourth of July?
Other reviews:
Great Old Movies
Cinema 1001
Anyone else?
Today I have a post up on my company’s blog, PhilanthroPost, about how inspiring I found Tamora Pierce’s books when I was growing up. I’d very much appreciate it if you’d drop past the blog to read it, and maybe leave a comment or a like! Here’s the beginning of the post:
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“Girls are 50% of the population. We deserve to represent 50% of the heroes.”
– Tamora Pierce
Sometimes the people who inspire us never existed. And sometimes it’s the people who created those fictional characters who furnish the inspiration.
Tamora Pierce is an author of young adult fantasy novels, and at the risk of sounding like I’m exaggerating, I can tell you that she changed my life. Tamora Pierce writes books about strong women, or “sheroes.”
When Pierce was starting out in writing, there was (and to some extent, still is) a belief that books about boys were more marketable. The theory goes that young adult girls will read stories about male heroes, but young adult boys won’t read about female leads—write about a boy and you have twice the market, meaning there weren’t as many stories about heroic girls, and not as many role-models for girls to read about.
But almost thirty years ago, Pierce wrote Song of the Lioness…
Read the rest of the story on PhilanthroPost!
First, a bit of business–the first post for the Going Postal group read goes up a week from tomorrow. I contacted everyone who let me know they were interested, but there’s still plenty of time to join in–so let me know if you’d like to! Now, on to the review…
I put Cinder
So was it worth the wait? Yes–because I was very curious about it.
As you may have guessed or known, Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella, though I was surprised by how loose a retelling it actually was. Set a vague distance into the future, Cinder is a cyborg, mostly human but with a mechanical hand and leg, and circuitry in her brain. While she is downtrodden by her (adoptive, not step) family, and there is a prince and a ball, the book mostly focuses on the search for a cure for a pandemic sweeping the globe, as well as rising tension with Lunars, the human moon-dwellers who have developed mental powers to manipulate others.
I quite liked Cinder. She’s a strong Cinderella who’s plotting escape from her family and doesn’t actually care that much about the ball–she has bigger problems to think about. I loved the cyborg-ness too, and wanted more of that element. What was there was fun, from the low-tech (storing things in a compartment in her calf) to the high-tech (she can mentally connect to the internet, and her body warns her when she’s overheating).
Prince Kai was a nice guy, though a bit bland. He served his role in the story perfectly well, and had a little more complexity in his uncertainties about how to fulfill his position as prince (and soon to be emperor), but he didn’t strike me all that much either. In a bit of a reversal of that, my one biggest issue with the book was that I wasn’t sure why he was so struck by Cinder. He starts singling her out almost as soon as he meets her–and I do appreciate that they meet and start developing a relationship well before the ball. It’s just that I’m not sure what prompted him to pursue that relationship. I mean, I like Cinder–but I’m really not sure why the prince, who has every girl in the country to pick from, decided he liked this particular one. I’m all in favor of the idea that he saw something special in her, only I don’t feel like the book ever made clear what exactly it was, or even if there was something–I’m just assuming there must have been.
So it wasn’t a heart-stopping romance, at least not for me, but I am curious to see where it goes. This book is the beginning of a series, and there are a lot of threads still to be explored. There are some good tensions in Cinder and Kai’s relationship, like the political marriage he’s being manuevered into with the Lunar Queen, and the small fact that Cinder is trying to hide being a cyborg from him. Cyborgs are looked down on as somehow less than human, in what I’m sure is intended to be a reimagining of the social structure of Cinderella’s original setting.
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention Iko. She (it?) is Cinder’s friend and somewhat fairy godmother-like figure, and she’s a robot. She’s a robot who is also a hopeless romantic, quite forward, and often funny. She wants Cinder to go to the ball more than Cinder does, and she’s really rather adorable at times. The most moving moment in the book for me involved Iko’s personality chip–and that’s all I’m going to say, to avoid any spoilers!
So, to sum–fascinating concept, good characters (especially Cinder and Iko), okay romance, pretty good plot though at times it stretched on a bit, and one late-in-the-book twist was really obvious (maybe that was just me–but I don’t think so). I liked the book–I didn’t love it–but I am adding it to my list of series, and plan to read the next one when it comes out!
Author’s Site: http://www.marissameyer.com/
Other reviews:
Stella Matutina
At Home with Books
Book Journey
Andrea’s Book Nook
Book Nut
I saw this on a LOT of blogs before it finally got to me…did I miss yours?
My photo for this week is not impressive from a photography standpoint, but there is a fun story to it.
Doctor Who fans will know that “Bad Wolf” is a recurring phrase throughout the first few seasons of the new series. It’s something that shows up in random places and in the backgrounds of scenes—like in graffiti.
So I was quite excited to see it scratched into a table at a restaurant. That particular table is a big one in the back covered with random carvings and graffiti—none of the other tables are like that, so I have to assume the management gave approval at some point! There are probably lots of references to different topics if I looked for them, but the “Bad Wolf” one excited me—because it’s graffiti of something that was, in its original form, graffiti…it’s like a double reference.
The first time I noticed the carving I was in the restaurant for a meeting of a Sci Fi Book Exchange, and I did not, alas, have a camera (though I was with people who understood my sudden exclamation). Fortunately I was back a few weeks later with my book club, just after viewing the recent solar eclipse, and had my camera ready to go. I hit a snag, though, because the table was occupied; there was a group there playing Magic.
I debated whether to ask them to move their game boards so I could take a picture, and finally decided…if there was ever a group likely to understand why I wanted to snap a picture of “Bad Wolf” graffiti, this was probably it, right? So I asked, and they were gracious and didn’t look at me like I was crazy, and I got my picture.
And no, it’s not impressive photography. But it’s graffiti of Doctor Who graffiti! Either someone was very clever, or the Doctor and Rose came through for lunch one day.
Visit At Home with Books for more Saturday Snapshots!
Tales of the Marvelous 