Lessons we can all Learn from Beedle

Awesome!  Great lessons we should all know and learn....Rowling writes with great understanding of human nature and knows that we all need to be kind to one another, love, not cheat each other, and live life to its fullest....Beautiful.  I LOVE, love, love this book!  Everyone should read this book!!!

I Would Love to Train a Dragon!

My wonderful British Lit students this Spring 2012 semester chose to read (and watch) Cressida Cowell's How to Train Your Dragon.  It's obvious that the series (there are currently 8 books in the series) is geared specifically for 8-12-year-olds--boys, in particular, but I, for one, LOVE the books!  I think that this series of books should be recognized and touted just as much as the Harry Potter series, if not more so.  I guess the biggest difference between the two series (besides the subject matter) is that Harry Potter has more appeal to a wide audience rather than being so focused on a specific audience.  I do think, though, that if more people would give the How to Train Your Dragon series a chance, more people--of all ages--would enjoy it--tremendously!

It's just plain fun.  It has everything a great story should have.  And the best part is that it's a quick read.  I was able to read the whole book in just a little over 2 hours.  And Hiccup is such a fun character!  And who wouldn't love Toothless???

Yes, the book and movie are vastly different, but if we read the book and watch the movie, seeing each as its own entity, then both can be enjoyed for its own story.  I love the idea of Toothless being small enough that he rides on Hiccup's shoulder, but I also love the idea of Toothless being large enough that Hiccup rides him!  Dreamworks movie is beautiful and just so much fun to watch.  Besides, Stoick the Vast is played by Gerard Butler!  What's not to love!!!!  But the book is just as much to read as the movie is to watch....

That Fascinating Tattoo Girl

I finally read The Girl Who Played with Fire.  I'll tell you: after finishing the first book, I really had NO desire whatsoever to read any more, but once I start a series, I try to finish it.  So, I'm finally finishing the series.  I don't understand why Stieg Larsson's series has gotten so much hype.  The only reason I can think of is that it's so popular because of all the weird sex stuff going on in the books.  I'm bored out of my mind with this series.  It takes Larsson FOREVER to get from one scene to the next.  He tries TOO hard to keep things a mystery, but there really and truly is such a thing as TOO MUCH MYSTERY. 

I do admit that Lisbeth Salander is one of the most interesting characters I've read about in recent books, but at the same time, a great character isn't enough to carry a whole story.  I am interested in finding out what happens to Lisbeth, but I really could care less about reading this whole book/series.  This particular book was approximately 630 pages and, sadly, I FELT all 630 pages.

The best books I've ever read are the ones where, regardless of the length, I don't even realize when I turn a page.  Larsson's books are tedious and make me notice each and every turn of the page.  It's WORSE than reading a textbook.  As I said, though, the only saving grace about this series is Lisbeth Salander.  She really is interesting, fascinating, and completely the type of young woman we love to hate--not quite as much as Scarlet O'Hara, but still pretty good.  Lisbeth's story ruins "it" for her; at least Scarlet's story is interesting and kept me anxious to turn to the page for the next thing....and even ended too soon, in spite of the fact that it's almost a thousand pages long!!!!