Sunday Salon: Sounds Familiar.
I read and reviewed three books this past week: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones, and the graphic novel Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham. I also finished the audiobook of Moonheart by Charles de Lint – which review will go up… eventually.
I’m currently reading Made in America by Bill Bryson. This is only my second book by Bryson – I read A Walk in the Woods a few years ago – and thus far it’s definitely interesting but not as funny as I’d expected. It’s also a lot more actual history, and not as much linguistic history as I was expecting.
My current audiobook is The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman. As much as I love His Dark Materials, I’d given up on the Sally Lockhart series after the second book, The Shadow in the North, was a big disappointment. However, earlier this summer I saw one of my friends reading the series, and we got to talking about it, and she assured me that the third book was much better than the second. And, thus far, she’s right. I was hooked into the mystery from the first page, I just hope that the ending lives up to its promise.
Not much news from the home front – this week’s been busy (when is it not?) but not particularly noteworthy. Actually, my life this week has been pretty deftly summed up by yesterday’s Piled Higher & Deeper:
On tap today are laundry, cleaning, audiobook listening, and potentially some actual reading. Woo.
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LOVE that cartoon!
Open book exams? I NEVER had one of those in my life.
Sarah – It’s frightening (and somewhat depressing) how often Piled Higher & Deeper hits home. :)
Lenore – I’ve had a few exams where we were allowed to bring in a single 8×11 sheet of paper as an “open book” – mostly in physics classes where there were a bunch of equations and they didn’t care if we’d memorized them, only that we knew how to apply them.
I’m jealous of your reading volume this week!
Ah, college. It is still hard to believe that I graduated 10 years ago!
One day I will read the Sally Lockhart books. I saw their movie adaptations on PBS a few weeks ago. I liked them.
Haha! I have to send the cartoon to my husband’s cousin. She just started teaching lol
Love the cartoon – brought back memories :) Thanks for the tip on the Sally Lockhart series – I’m going to give them a try, I think, esp since you’re liking the third one so far.
lol at the cartoon :P
I’m going to read the second Sally Lockhart book soon, so I’m glad you said what that about it…now I can adjust my expectations. And if it still lets me down, it’s good to know that the third one is better!
Karen – Nah, don’t be. Brisingr was mostly read last week, just finished this week; Dark Lord of Derkholm was a fast read; and the Fables graphic novels are forty-five minutes each, tops.
Mari – I’ve seen the PBS version of The Ruby in the Smoke, but I didn’t even know they’d made a movie of the second one. Off to Netflix!
Ladytink – Well, for her sake, I hope she finds the cartoon completely unrelateable.
BelleEnchanted & Nymeth – I know some people don’t mind or even really like the second Sally Lockhart book, but I just didn’t care for the plot much. The first one was so exciting – Rubies! Curses! Opium! Pirates! – and then the second one was… um… Patent fraud! Woo!
As the mother of an undergrad, I love the cartoon. It’s hilarious!
I remember asking some of those questions. :) I always thought it would be great to teach at the college level. Hmm…
HA!!!! I’ve been an undergrad for SIX YEARS, and yes, that’s totally what I mean.
Nicki, love the comic. The only Bryson I’ve read is Notes from a Small Island, which I loved.
bermudaonion – If you forward the link to your kid, they’ll know we’re onto ’em!
LH – Oh, I love teaching – the kids who are actually trying make it worth it.
raych – So your secret code’s been uncovered!
Shana – My dad’s been on my case to read A Short History of Nearly Everything for years now, and I never seem to get around to it… maybe this year…