Similes, Images, and Metaphors, Oh My!

I started reading THE WEIRD SISTERS by Eleanor Brown because it was chosen as part of the book for list for World Book Night for 2014.  I want to try to read a number of the books so we have a better idea of which books to choose if we're chosen as givers.  (By "we" I mean CVCC.)

The book is good.  I wasn't as impressed as it seems others have been with the novel, but I didn't dislike it by any means.  What stood out the most to me throughout the novel is not the fact that everyone, especially the dad, speaks quite often using Shakespearean quotes.  Nor is it the fact that this family reads rather than watches television.  Nor is it the wonder of fighting cancer or even the struggles each sister goes through.

All are great parts of the story, but what struck me the most throughout my reading of the novel were all the similes, images, and metaphors.  Hundreds of them.  Some of them were a bit overwhelming in their comparison.  I have to wonder how much Eleanor Brown was conscious of them as she wrote them.  Did they just happen in the course of her writing and they're a happy accident or was she very aware of what she was doing with them from start to finish....?

Just a few to spark your interest--

"floating like a dandelion seed" (7)
"felt as though she were folding in on herself like an origami crane" (71)
"the way the false stars of the light strings twinkled below the real stars, giving the impression that she could have reached up and held the light of a thousand years in her hands" (151)

Martin's Predictability

I honestly don't know what to say about the third book in George R. R. Martin's GAME OF THRONES series, CLASH OF KINGS.

A few short criticisms I have of the book (and series) are. . .
1.  even though Martin is doing his utmost to avoid predictability, I am finding myself knowing what is going to happen to next a lot of the time--not every time, mind you, but quite often.  For example, when the last chapter began with Bran, I knew the book was going to end with a powerful image of the ruined but not completely destroyed Winterfell.  It's the best way to end this particular book and it's an incredibly powerful image.
2.  There are too many characters.  I am finding it more and more difficult to keep the different characters separate.
3.  Every once in a while, Martin begins telling the story through the eyes of a whole new character--someone we haven't met at all.  It is very disconcerting and adds to the confusing of #2.

(I said I'd keep my criticisms short....)

A few of the positive points of Martin's book (and series) are...
1.  The story is really very good.  It is virtually impossible to quit reading--listening (remember that I'm listening to the story on CD in my car) to the story.  I've had several times when I've gotten where I'm going, but I don't want to get out of my car because I'm at a good part!
2.  I find myself caring about characters who are not all that lovable.  Tyrian is the best example of that.  I haven't decided yet what to think of him, but at the same time, I can't help but notice how he SEEMS to care even when he's trying very hard not to.
3.  I also care about many of the characters in the story.  I was devastated in book 1 when--well, in case you haven't read it, I don't want to ruin it for you.  Dani is my all-time favorite in the whole series so far.  She's awesome--and she's barely even 15 years old!!!

If you want to fall asleep quickly....

Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse:  What can I say about Virginia Woolf except:  be sure when you read anything by her that you're well rested and ready to focus and/or have your caffeine!

Letting me figure "it" out for myself....

MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION by George Bernard Shaw is a new one for me.  The online class I'm taking this fall hasn't been the most productive idea that I've ever had (we're down to two of us left in the class and the other person isn't posting to the discussion board until the last minute for each lesson), but yet the class is, at least, giving me the opportunity to read a few pieces of British Literature that I've never read.  Shaw's play is one example of that.  The play as a whole does not have much action or much to make it interesting enough to be a play that modern readers would enjoy as much as others.  But I have to say that I enjoyed it simply because the whole play is about how Mrs. Warren is a prostitute, but not once in the whole play is the word (or any word that means the same thing) actually used.  Shaw brilliantly uses the words of his characters as well as their reactions to those words to reveal the truth of her profession.  It's genius.  I love it when I read something and the author lets me figure out what's going on without feeling a desperate need to tell me what to think, feel, or take away from the story.  It's what makes writers like Edgar Allan Poe so genius, and it's certainly what makes MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION by George Bernard Shaw worth reading.

Grieving Creatively....?!

CREATIVE GRIEVING is certainly a wonderful resource to read for ANYONE grieving.  Elizabeth Berrien lost a child and then less than 18 months later, her husband died.  She shares her story with wonderful heart and humor, but mostly an obvious passion to help others who are grieving--at whatever stage of grief the person may be.  She is going to be at Malaprop's Book Store in Asheville, NC on Monday, November 19.  I am going to do everything I can to be there.  I'd love to meet this amazing woman who has walked such a tragic walk, but who is coming through her grief journey with a renewed purpose.  She has opened a grief, trauma, loss support group program in Charlotte, NC called "The Respite."  I am hoping to attempt to go visit one day.

As one who has suffered 3 separate child losses, this book was one I flew through.  It does help to know that others hurt, too.  But Berrien has reminded me of the importance of sharing my story as a way of helping others and giving me (as well as what has happened to me) PURPOSE.

It's a quick, wonderful read that is well worth your time......