Getting the Watchmen from the library

Setting: early saturday morning, york university library (this particular library also doubles as a computer lab; hence the computer tech also doubles as a librarian)

Me: I'm looking for a copy of The Watchmen; the system says that there should be a copy available but I couldn't find it in the stack.
Librarian: DVD or soundtrack?
Me: the comic book, please.
Librarian: the graphic novel (long pause)
Me: umm, ok, yes, thank you.
Librarian: the graphic novel (longer puase)
Me: Umm, yes, the graphic novel
Librarian: let me check the back

Book Club Portraits March '09

Our New List for 2009:

#1 Chris: The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
#2 Sylvia: The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
#3 Debbie: Crow Lake - Mary Lawson
#4 Teresa: Animal Farm - George Orwell
#5 Michelle: The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
#6 Mary: Because of Winn Dixie - Kate Dicamillo
#7 Lisa: The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
#8 Bethany: Watchmen - Alan Moore
#9 Sharon: The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
#10 Iulia: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
#11 Andrew: Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
#12 Janet: Here Today - Ann M Martin
#13 Joanne: TBD

The Educated Imagination

I just started reading it and I found a great quote, chuckle chuckle:

"A person who knows nothing about literature may be an ignoramus, but many people don't mind being that."

- Northrop Frye

He's right, it's not a condition with any symptoms of pain or discomfort.

(and now I sound like such a snob! :P )

Updates

Natty Bumpo got bumped off. Sorry Natty!
Andrew is promising new and exciting choices for this upcoming book club.

We're skipping to Catherine's Charmed Life

Happy Birthday Catherine! We miss you!

That's all for now!

Here's our reading list:

1 Gloria - The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
2 Cath - The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios: Short Stories by Yann Martel; the literary equivalent of tickets to the Cirque du Soleil!
3 Debbie - Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott; one of the coolest book I've ever read. I didn't nominate it last couple times cuz I was afraid what y'all would think of me afterward =)
4 Mary - The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin; light, funny and quirky "the perfect vacation story" told 1920s-style, says reviews: "calls your attention to this ridiculous, lovable thing, human nature, and invites you to smile at it"
5 Andrew - A Game of Thrones, book one of the song of fire and ice trilogy... it's... it's...filled with so much intrigue. It's a fantasy novel.
6 Catherine - Charmed Life, by Diana Wynne Jones; YA book set in a magical world...first in a totally addictive series.. for anyone who loves Harry
7 Sharon - The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Mystery)
8 Janet - TBA
9 Sylvia - The Educated Imagination by Northrope Frye; when she read first read, it changed the way she saw the world! And it's only 80 pages
10 Bethany - Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein; sci fi but again this one acts as a satirical commentary...Will provide much discussion
11 Iulia - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick; the BladeRunner movie is based on this! So far - it is winning for book with the best title!
12 Chris - TBA

mid November

We are down to short stories, and we're still flaking! tsk, tsk, people!
The book club is currently reading short stories by Budge Wilson. Has anyone finished?

I was thinking that we can keep track of the books we read. We've gone through quite a bunch of them already. Maybe I'll feel like listing them all one of these days.

By the way, this is our next one for Oct. 15th:

And I have to say that I haven't laughed quite so much on the subway before.
:)

If you miss this one but have a comment, go ahead and post on it!

Chinese Sticky rice

For those of you who don't know, this is how chinese sticky rice bundle should be like -- in case you mistaken it to be the deep fried mini granola bars we had =)

20,000 Leagues of Colonialism

I think I am having way too much fun reading this book!
Here are some of my personal favourites:


“but I declare that they shall not eat me without my protesting”

"It is an infamous shame," cried Ned Land, who broke out for the twentieth time. "We speak to those rogues in French, English, German, and Latin, and not one of them has the politeness to answer!"

“My friends," I answered, making a sign for them to enter, "you are not in Canada, but on board the Nautilus, fifty yards below the level of the sea.”

“For some days we saw a great number of aquatic birds, sea-mews or gulls. Some were cleverly killed and, prepared in a certain way, made very acceptable water-game.”

“On the 25th of January the ocean was entirely deserted;”

‘"By the bye, M. Aronnax you are not afraid of sharks?" "Sharks!" exclaimed I. This question seemed a very hard one. "Well?" continued Captain Nemo. "I admit, Captain, that I am not yet very familiar with that kind of fish."’


I am not done yet, but I find it vastly humorous! (and I'm already talking like them ... )

Athos

"The enemy's gate is down!"

Hi all;

I'm sorry girls (and guys), I'm not sure if I can make book club this Thursday because of my mom & Flora's imminent return from their month of Asia vacation. So, I thought I'd contribute my 2-cents and sing my praises for Ender's Game here =)

Ender's Game is the only Sci-Fi that managed to wakes me up at 6:00am Sunday by the necessity of reading. It helps that the story is an extremely fast & easy read and that the futuristic gadgets are all so cool (I'd like one of those desks and mind games, please). Most of all, though, I like it because it doesn't read like a Sci-Fi -- but simply a story of a young - very young - boy who desperately tries to fit. Now that I think about it, other than the Sci-Fi part, Ender's Game reads a lot like Harry Potter =)

Throughout the story, Ender repeatedly comments that he's becoming Peter (e.g. looking into a mirror in the free game and see Peter's face), but at the end, he wasn't manipulative or feared. In fact, he had to be tricked into battling the buggers, and felt remorse for his sacrificed soldiers & the bugger world when he found out. It reminds me of what Dumbledore said to Potter near the end of Chamber of Secret: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

The idea of "Third" in the first chapter instantly reminds me of population control in China – our book club is just naturally attracted to communist stories, aren’t we? =) Speaking of Communism backdrops, what do you think of Graff? "Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive." The ideas of "monitoring" children from birth, plucking them from their home to battle school, monitoring their every move & thoughts -- where's the Big brother to complete the picture? =)

Being so satisfied with the book, I did a little googling and found the whole lot of prequels and sequels -- and am quite determined to not read any of them unless one of you suggests otherwise. I also found that OS Card is a devoted Mormon, who'd know? Such a great Sci-Fi, I'd have guessed that a Scientologist wrote it!

Potato Salad a la Iulia, made for the viewing of Babette's Feast

Now that I look back, what would the viewing of Babette's Feast have been without some cooking?! Here is our mayo-free potato salad recipe:

Makes 3 servings:

1 large sweet onion
1/4 garlic clove

Roast with sunflower oil at low temperature for 10 minutes

3 baked potatoes - 30 minutes at 525F (can be cut and boiled too)
2 boiled eggs (10 minutes)

Cut potatoes and eggs into generous chunks and mix with onions and garlic.

Add chopped up Cilantro.
Mix gently with a spoon.

And voila!

Athos

How to get us boys to read about you girls

In light of our recent Pride and Prejudice marathon, where 66% of the boys present succumbed to sleep at some point during the 6 hour long event, one might be tempted to believe that we men are incapable of appreciating so called "girl books". But despite the embarrassing truth that I was one of the guys who nodded off during the P&P viewing, I maintain that this belief is unfounded and untrue. Men are more than capable of enjoying good books, even those popularly believed to be aimed at a female audience, as long as we can find something uniquely suited to the male palette in them. In fact, a recent Slate article (The Little Men who Love Little House) suggests that boys and girls can appreciate the same books but for different reasons:

The real appeal of Little House for many boys probably isn't the narrative, but rather the precise and detailed descriptions of how to tap a maple tree for syrup or load a musket.

Personally, I felt I had developed over the course of six hours of P&P viewing a strong craving to see some vigilante justice dealt to that worm of a man, Mr. Wickham. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that all those fencing scenes where Mr. Darcy demonstrated more than adequate ability to carve up Mr. Wickham with his deft swordsmanship were merely teasers to string me along. The ultimate showdown between the two heroes in this story was a lousy payoff in the form of debt consolidation. What is this? A story for accountants? Show me some blood and fighting!!! As it stands, Mr. Wickham's only punishment at the end of this drawn out story is a life destined to be spent with a naive teenager cursed with a very healthy libido. Woe is him. Come on, for most men this is more fantasy than punishment. I ask you: where is the justice?!?!?

May I suggest that the next book we pick for the book club be written with a suitably balanced blend of rich story development for the girls and tangible action scenes for the boys?


David

feb 20th meeting - part iii

john donne (1572-1631)

holy sonnet xiv:
batter my heart, three-person'd God

01 batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
02 as yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
03 that i may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
04 your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
05 i, like an usurp'd town to another due,
06 labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
07 reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
08 but is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
09 yet dearly i love you, and would be lov'd fain,
10 but am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11 divorce me, untie or break that know again,
12 take me to you, imprison me, for i,
13 except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14 nor ever chaste, expect you ravish me.


there is a debate in iulia's english class over whether this a sacriligious, perverted poem, or a well-written, heart-felt and raw plea to God. (she votes the latter, btw). john donne wrote many "morning after" type of sonnets - he eventually became a minister, but his poetry was still very raw (with some very violent and sensual imagery).

- rather than cliched "everything is wonderful and perfect" and christian-ly religious words, this sonnet is an open and honest cry to God
- things are not so happy or perfect --> it contains very human emotions

- he needs to be broken from his sins --> even his reason (God's viceroy, or representative, in him) is weak and has been held captive, instead of defending him. it's when you end up sticking to your own interpretations and rationalizations instead of listening to God and reason.
- when lucy and co. should have been following aslan in prince caspian, despite a very long and torturous decision-making process where they knew (deep down) that lucy was right, the majority of the group decided against reason and did not follow aslan's path

an ancient greek belief: reason is what elevates man from beast. reason connects us to the Divine.
- if we are slaves to our passions or follow our senses, we drive ourselves further away from God. these whims are also very fleeting as well.
- unfortunately, our society today is very emotions-driven --> do we believe b/c we believe christianity/God is the truth? or b/c we have a feeling about it? we need to be seeking God.

come in, come in!

"If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, and magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin,
Come in, come in!"

~ Shell Silverstein


welcome to our new blog members. :)