Welcome to Theatre Thursday!  Because plays are books too, I will be featuring each Thursday a play I’ve read that I think you should read.  After all, I got a degree in this stuff and it’s languishing.

So.  That’s the plan for Theatre Thursday.

On this fine Thursday I’m exhausted from too little sleep and a full day of work, so I’ll just give you a selection now and talk about why, later.

You should read William Shakespeare’s HAMLET.  Not just because it’s a classic, though that’s important.  But also because it’s a very SMART play, a very TIGHT play, and way better than most people would have you believe.

If, like many folks, you feel plays were meant to be watched and not read (and indeed this is true), then I strongly recommend the Kenneth Branagh HAMLET.  Because seriously?  All the others cut a lot of stuff out.  This is the only Hamlet movie with the WHOLE SCRIPT in it.  Yeah, it’s over 4 hours long.  But it’s 4 BRILLIANT hours.  And it’s out on DVD now, too.

We’ll talk more about why HAMLET is awesome another time.  For now, just take my word for it.  Here’s a quick snippet for you. 

Enter HAMLET, reading

LORD POLONIUS
O, give me leave:
How does my good Lord Hamlet?

HAMLET 
Well, God-a-mercy.

LORD POLONIUS 
Do you know me, my lord?

HAMLET 
Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.

LORD POLONIUS 
Not I, my lord.

HAMLET 
Then I would you were so honest a man.

LORD POLONIUS 
Honest, my lord!

HAMLET 
Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world goes, is to be
one man picked out of ten thousand.

LORD POLONIUS 
That’s very true, my lord.

HAMLET 
For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a
god kissing carrion,–Have you a daughter?

LORD POLONIUS 
I have, my lord.

HAMLET 
Let her not walk i’ the sun: conception is a
blessing: but not as your daughter may conceive.
Friend, look to ’t.

LORD POLONIUS 
[Aside] How say you by that? Still harping on my
daughter: yet he knew me not at first; he said I
was a fishmonger: he is far gone, far gone: and
truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for
love; very near this. I’ll speak to him again.
What do you read, my lord?

HAMLET 
Words, words, words.

LORD POLONIUS 
What is the matter, my lord?

HAMLET 
Between who?

LORD POLONIUS 
I mean, the matter that you read, my lord.

HAMLET 
Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here
that old men have grey beards, that their faces are
wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and
plum-tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of
wit, together with most weak hams: all which, sir,
though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet
I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down, for
yourself, sir, should be old as I am, if like a crab
you could go backward.

LORD POLONIUS 
[Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method
in ’t. Will you walk out of the air, my lord?

HAMLET 
Into my grave.

LORD POLONIUS 
Indeed, that is out o’ the air.

Aside

How pregnant sometimes his replies are! a happiness
that often madness hits on, which reason and sanity
could not so prosperously be delivered of. I will
leave him, and suddenly contrive the means of
meeting between him and my daughter.–My honourable
lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you.

HAMLET 
You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will
more willingly part withal: except my life, except
my life, except my life.

Because I’m overly fond of alliteration, I’ve decided that in order to be able to make Thursday “Theatre Thursday,” I will be answering the Booking Through Thursday questions on Tuesdays.

So here’s the lectitans weekly schedule:
Sunday - Seven on Sunday
Monday - Monday Misdirection
Tuesday - Booking Through Thursday Tuesday
Wednesday - Open
Thursday - Theatre Thursday
Friday - Poetry Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wonderings

So today, Booking Through Tuesday:

Imagine that everything is going just swimmingly. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all’s right with the world. You’re practically bouncing from health and have money in your pocket. The kids are playing and laughing, the puppy is chewing in the cutest possible manner on an officially-sanctioned chew toy, and in between moments of laughter for pure joy, you pick up a book to read . . .

What is it?

A Piers Anthony book, no question.  (I should note that last week the question was which book is your “comfort food,” to which my answer would also have been a Piers Anthony book.)  For the happier times, I want something Xanth, I think.  Xanth books are phenomenal to read when the weather is good.  If it’s a bad day, then I’m more in a Bio of a Space Tyrant mood.

I’ll explain on Thursday what I’ll be doing for Theatre Thursday.  Still looking for a topic for Wednesday.  Little Willow suggested good ones but I feel they’d be duplicating my Monday Misdirection and Weekend Wonderings posts. 

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I'm hoping to institute a theme for just about every day of the week here at

 . 

Let me show you what the week looks like so far:
Sunday - Seven on Sunday (Thanks, 7-Imp!)
Monday - Misdirection Monday
Tuesday - empty
Wednesday - empty
Thursday - Booking Through Thursday
Friday - Poetry Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wonderings (Remember those?)

Any suggestions for Tuesday or Wednesday?  Alliteration is always fun.  I want to keep reviews a possibility for just about any day, but until I find themes for Tuesday and Wednesday I'll try and be sure to post reviews on those days.

 

 

I’m trying to develop a theme for each day on my blog here, because that way I won’t agonize over what to write and instead end up writing nothing.  If I have a schedule, a routine, if you will, updates should be much more frequent.  (Very honestly, the day job has me wanting to avoid the computer.  It’s just that teaching makes me tired, and often looking at a computer feels like more work.  When I was in college, this never would have been a problem, and computers WERE my job, then.)

Because I take a musical theatre dance class on Monday nights, Mondays are a bit lean on writing time for me.  Because of this, I’m going to make Monday Misdirection my theme.  All this means is that on Monday I will post links I’ve collected over the past little bit (probably about a week or so).  Then I’ll post them here.  It’s misdirection, because it looks like I’m posting, but really I’m just directing you elsewhere.

On with the show:

Over at The Cybils, things are heating up.  Last week, they welcomed us to the 2007 Cybils.  This week, they’re profiling their volunteers.  There are five profiles up now, and more to come.  Nominations open a week from today, and anyone can nominate books published in English in 2007 - one nomination per category, please.

The September issue of The Edge of the Forest is now online.  This month you’ll find a feature article on the portrayal of Baba Yaga in Western literature, an interview with Barnstormers author and former teacher Phil Bildner, reviews of all shapes and sizes, and much more.

Hispanic Heritage Month began on September 15, and Scholastic is providing a Hispanic Heritage Booklist at their website.  They’ve also included a lesson plan, unit plan, an online activity, and a list of other resources.

Teen Read Week is October 14 - 20 and is being sponsored by ALA and YALSA.  In conjunction with YALSA, the Readergirlz are hosting an event called 31 Flavorite Authors for Teens; the Readergirlz will be hosting a different author chat each day for the month of October.  I hope they’ll have transcripts; I’ll probably miss some of the chats but would love to read them all!  I’m especially excited about Rachel Cohn.  You can read more about the event at the Readergirlz website.

That’s all I’ve got for this Monday Misdirection, but it’s only stuff I’ve put together today.  As the week goes on, I’m sure I’ll collect more, so stay tuned for next week!

 
If you would, please go to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and read how you can help out with “Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure” blogging event. Anyone and everyone who has a blog is urged to participate.

Thank you.

As I gear up for this year's NaNoWriMo, I'm making reading lists.  I've never won NaNoWriMo.  I always run out of steam.  I don't want that to happen anymore!

I've chosen YA urban fantasy as my genre of choice this year.  So far I know I want it to be a story about a girl who has to save her sister.  I feel that's vague enough that I can express it without worries of anyone stealing my idea.  I have established a writing LJ parallel to this one, entitled

 , to chronicle my plans for writing.  I'm on NaNoWriMo as KimberlyH, should you care to be buddies.   

Here are my reading lists that I'm using as resources:
Bildungsroman: Fantasy Novels for Kids and Teens
Bildungsroman: Monster Mash
Bildungsroman: Vamping It Up
YALSA: Magic in the Real World

Anyone have any other list suggestions?  I'm looking for lists rather than titles, because it's nice to get lots of info in one place.

 

 

 

In case you didn't hear, Madeleine L'Engle has died.  I felt a quick pang of pain at this, and have found some poetry of hers to share with you.

http://www.technomom.com/reading/lengle.shtml

Here's my favorite bit from there:

 You are still new, my love. I do not know you.
Stranger beside me in the dark of bed,
Dreaming the dreams I cannot ever enter,
Eyes closed in that unknown, familiar head.

and all the rest of part iv of "To a Long-Loved Love."

 Each week at Booking Through Thursday, Deb asks a book-related question.  Here's this week's question:

Are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?

Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?

Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

I am the latter kind, the anti-Goldilocks.  I will read anywhere and everywhere, for any amount of time.  I have been known to tear through books in the car and on airplanes; I read while I wait for webpages to load.  I read while I cook.  Audiobooks enable me to read when I drive, but more than once I've had a book in the passenger seat and been at a stoplight and had to work very hard not to pick it up and thus risk a wreck.  (Have you seen the episode of Family Guy where Peter keeps reading the Archie comic while he's driving?  I'd be like that, but with more words and fewer pictures.)  I read when people are talking to me.  I read when the TV is on.  I'd read in the movie theater if I could, sometimes.  I can read sitting, standing, or lying down.  I read while I'm on lunch duty.  The only thing I need to read is text; everything else is incidental.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE WILLOW!

First, an aside: you may have noticed in my posts that I tend to include anecdotes and that I am not especially impartial or matter-of-fact in my reviews.  The reason for this is that I started this journal to be a personal reading journal, and so I use it to chronicle my own experiences of books.  This is different than someone who writes exclusively for their audience.  I do try to be interesting and to consider my audience interests, but

 remains a personal journal, and so the content will always have a personal touch.

And now, on to the review.

In Dia Calhoun’s Aria of the Sea, Cerinthe Gale, a 13 year old resident of the kingdom of Windward, moves from her small island to the capital city in order to audition for the School of the Royal Dancers.  As she attends the school, though, Cerinthe finds that her late mother’s dream for her to be a professional dancer is in conflict with her own talent for healing and her devotion to the goddess the Sea Maid.  Cerinthe blames her own error in healing for her mother’s death, and so when her rival, Elliana, is injured, Cerinthe is reluctant to help because she fears another failure.  It is at this juncture that Cerinthe must choose who she will become.

I’m afraid to reveal much more of the plot than this, because I don’t want to spoil more for you.

There are quite a few things that Dia Calhoun does incredibly effectively in Aria of the Sea.  First, she conveys Cerinthe’s homesickness with startling accuracy.  I missed Cerinthe’s imaginary home island myself, reading about Cerinthe’s feelings.  Second, she paints a true-to-life portrait of teenage rivalry; while my art when I was Cerinthe’s age was theatre and not dance, I experienced hostility from multiple corners of my tiny theatre world.  Elliana very much reminded me of girls I knew, right down to the realization Cerinthe had that though Elliana may be wealthy, that didn’t mean she was truly happy.  Nobody wants to be married off according to her parents’ will, after all.  Third, Calhoun aptly describes the pain one feels when one’s faith has deserted her.  Cerinthe, who has always heard the voice of her goddess the Sea Maid, ceases to hear her once she comes to the capital.  Calhoun describes Cerinthe’s sense of abandonment with great intensity.

What Aria of the Sea does best, however, is demonstrate the difficulty that lies in a choice between two callings.  Cerinthe is a very talented dancer, and well-trained.  She is less well-trained as a healer, but displays more talent.  The choice between these two callings is heart-wrenching.

I would especially recommend Aria of the Sea to fans of fantasy, coming of age stories, and the arts.  I would more generally recommend it to anyone who likes a moving story.  I’d be especially likely to put it in the hands of girls in the twelve to fourteen age range, whom I think will identify heavily with Cerinthe.

Book: Aria of the Sea (Affiliate Link)
Author: Dia Calhoun
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Original Publication Date: 2003
Pages: 272
Age Range: Young Adult
Source of Book: Library

 A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy : The Vietnam books by Ellen Emerson White,

Big A, little a : to The Deep by Helen Dunmore,

Bildungsroman : the May Bird Trilogy by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Not Your Mother’s Bookclub takes a look at some recently revised classics,

Fuse Number 8 : Stoneflight by George McHarque

lectitans: Gentle’s Holler and Louisiana Song both by Kerry Madden

Chasing Ray fini: Kipling’s Choice by Geert Spillebeen,

Interactive Reader : A Plague of Sorcerers by Mary Frances Zambreno,

The YA YA YAs : Resurrection Men by TK Welsh

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast : Such a Pretty Face: Short Stories About Beauty edited by Ann Angel