A Little Bit of Thursday List Action

First of all.........Blogging>Class

Now that we have that covered...

Some of the best books we have read have stemmed back from our childhood. It is vitally important, especially in today's 'instant gratification' society, that we hold on to the things that really matter. Beloved childhood stories are one of those things. Parents do not realize the impact that the right books can have on a child for the rest of their lives. I know I would not be reading to the excess that I do today if it weren't for the stories about Harry, Alice, or Peter.
Here are our choices for the ten best children's books of all time:

1. Harry Potter series (obviously)"For future reference, Harry, it is raspberry...although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam preferences before impersonating myself."
One of the most popular series of books in the world, and no doubt our favorite, Harry Potter has a following ranging from small kids to elder adults. J.K. Rowling's intricate story, and the emotional ties the fans have with her characters, make these books a must read.

2. The Chronicles of Narnia"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
Another popular fantasy series by C.S. Lewis, friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. Seven separate stories centered around the ficitional land of Narnia, where animals talk, and anything childlike and fantastical goes. Some of the best quotes in a children's story you can find; although we've used it in a previous blog, this quote is too good not to use again.

3. Alice in Wonderland"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"
A very well known story, by Lewis Carroll, also a sort of trippy adventure. Although similiar to the classic Disney movie, there is a more powerful and intense feeling to the book.

4. Anne of Green Gables"People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is."
Known for her dramatic line "I'm in the depths of despair," this character is one of Prong's favorites, and there is no doubt that she has used that line, with a faint hand to her forehead, in the most desperate of situations. (Prongs- like when I loose a shoe)

5. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh "Johnathan, wherever you are, your thoughts must comfort her tonight. She will be waiting, and you will not return."
If you've seen The Secret of Nimh movie, well here is it's origin. Another great book to read as a child, and then reread as an adult. A story about a widow-mouse struggling to find a way to save her sick child from being run over by a plow! Sound weird? Just read the book it's good.

6. The Phantom Tollbooth"...for one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are. You see it's very much like your trying to reach Infinity. You know that it's there, but you just don't know where-but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for."
This book is filled with puns, wit, and a never-ending play-on-words. Reading this as a child, you'd see a delightful little adventure to go on, reading it as a adult however, you seems to get every allusion, joke, and mathematical equation. It's fun at either stage in your life.

7. Peter PanPeter: Oh, the cleverness of me. Wendy: Of course, I did nothing... Peter: You did a little.
Well, I loved the Disney movie of course, but reading the book is completely different. Peter is completely cocky, and oh boy is it hilarious. You still have your basic story of Neverland, never growing up, you know the basics. But Peter is quite the pistol in the book version. Highly recommended.

8. The Wind in the Willows"After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working."
A cute story to read when you feel like laying out on a summer day and getting lost in some crazy world where Moles talk. That happens to me a lot.

9. Charlotte's Web"What do you mean less than nothing? I don't think there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something - even though it's just a very little bit of something. But if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is."
No doubt an endearing little story, yet another where animals talk! We all know the plot, let's get to the juicy lines:

10. Tuck Everlasting
"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses it turning."
Tuck Everlasting is one of those books who's lessons you never forget. It asks the question that mot people have probably thought about one time or another: if you had the chance to live forever, would you? It has wonderful lessons and the writing is beautiful. Perfect kids, or even adults.

Now, to other matters...I proudly bought a copy of Mark Twain's The Guilded Age at our recent trip to The Ohio Book Store in Cincinnati. This copy was published in 1881 and it was only 7 dollars!!! And it's really pretty so I want to show it off....Ok folks, thanks so much for sticking around with us. Hope this was a nice little post to keep you going until our next two reviews. Be sure to stop back in the next few days for Padfoot's review of Hard Times, and Prongs review of The Crying of Lot 49. Have a great weekend.

-mischief managed-

A Little Bit of Thursday List Action

First of all.........Blogging>Class

Now that we have that covered...

Some of the best books we have read have stemmed back from our childhood. It is vitally important, especially in today's 'instant gratification' society, that we hold on to the things that really matter. Beloved childhood stories are one of those things. Parents do not realize the impact that the right books can have on a child for the rest of their lives. I know I would not be reading to the excess that I do today if it weren't for the stories about Harry, Alice, or Peter.
Here are our choices for the ten best children's books of all time:

1. Harry Potter series (obviously)"For future reference, Harry, it is raspberry...although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam preferences before impersonating myself."
One of the most popular series of books in the world, and no doubt our favorite, Harry Potter has a following ranging from small kids to elder adults. J.K. Rowling's intricate story, and the emotional ties the fans have with her characters, make these books a must read.

2. The Chronicles of Narnia"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
Another popular fantasy series by C.S. Lewis, friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. Seven separate stories centered around the ficitional land of Narnia, where animals talk, and anything childlike and fantastical goes. Some of the best quotes in a children's story you can find; although we've used it in a previous blog, this quote is too good not to use again.

3. Alice in Wonderland"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"
A very well known story, by Lewis Carroll, also a sort of trippy adventure. Although similiar to the classic Disney movie, there is a more powerful and intense feeling to the book.

4. Anne of Green Gables"People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is."
Known for her dramatic line "I'm in the depths of despair," this character is one of Prong's favorites, and there is no doubt that she has used that line, with a faint hand to her forehead, in the most desperate of situations. (Prongs- like when I loose a shoe)

5. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh "Johnathan, wherever you are, your thoughts must comfort her tonight. She will be waiting, and you will not return."
If you've seen The Secret of Nimh movie, well here is it's origin. Another great book to read as a child, and then reread as an adult. A story about a widow-mouse struggling to find a way to save her sick child from being run over by a plow! Sound weird? Just read the book it's good.

6. The Phantom Tollbooth"...for one of the nicest things about mathematics, or anything else you might care to learn, is that many of the things which can never be, often are. You see it's very much like your trying to reach Infinity. You know that it's there, but you just don't know where-but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for."
This book is filled with puns, wit, and a never-ending play-on-words. Reading this as a child, you'd see a delightful little adventure to go on, reading it as a adult however, you seems to get every allusion, joke, and mathematical equation. It's fun at either stage in your life.

7. Peter PanPeter: Oh, the cleverness of me. Wendy: Of course, I did nothing... Peter: You did a little.
Well, I loved the Disney movie of course, but reading the book is completely different. Peter is completely cocky, and oh boy is it hilarious. You still have your basic story of Neverland, never growing up, you know the basics. But Peter is quite the pistol in the book version. Highly recommended.

8. The Wind in the Willows"After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working."
A cute story to read when you feel like laying out on a summer day and getting lost in some crazy world where Moles talk. That happens to me a lot.

9. Charlotte's Web"What do you mean less than nothing? I don't think there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something - even though it's just a very little bit of something. But if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is."
No doubt an endearing little story, yet another where animals talk! We all know the plot, let's get to the juicy lines:

10. Tuck Everlasting
"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses it turning."
Tuck Everlasting is one of those books who's lessons you never forget. It asks the question that mot people have probably thought about one time or another: if you had the chance to live forever, would you? It has wonderful lessons and the writing is beautiful. Perfect kids, or even adults.

Now, to other matters...I proudly bought a copy of Mark Twain's The Guilded Age at our recent trip to The Ohio Book Store in Cincinnati. This copy was published in 1881 and it was only 7 dollars!!! And it's really pretty so I want to show it off....Ok folks, thanks so much for sticking around with us. Hope this was a nice little post to keep you going until our next two reviews. Be sure to stop back in the next few days for Padfoot's review of Hard Times, and Prongs review of The Crying of Lot 49. Have a great weekend.

-mischief managed-

Prongs - Seventh Review - Pride and Prejudice

Dear loyal, patient, and probably annoyed readers-
Padfoot and Prongs here apologizing once again for our general lack of updates. When we started this blog our original intent was only to put up reviews to build our writing portfolios, and build ideas for our company. It has since turned into pretty much our first born child with all of the attention and spoils that we give it, and lately we have been pretty horrendous parents. We do however hope that in the near future we will be back to our attentive selves and give this blog all of the time and affection that it deserves. Until then, please bear with us and our pathetic amount of updates.

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all."
Pride and Prejudice
By Jane Austen

As a rule, I try not to read books more than two times (unless it is Harry Potter or Ayn Rand of course) because I do not like to spoil the magic that I felt after the first read. Sometimes quotes that you fashioned to be groundbreaking at first glance, are not as captivating as you remembered the second time around. However, upon my 5th reading of Pride and Prejudice, I can safely say that this book shatters all of my preconceived notions of that idea. Every time I venture down the road to Pemberly, I feel more attached and indebted to the characters as I was the previous read. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen has taken the best of the world that she knows, and given you a story in the best way she knows how. The beauty of Jane Austen's writing is that she was able to compose a story that spreads through time, gender, race, and age; something that most novelists can only dream to come near.

Since most people (more or less) know the overall plot of Pride and Prejudice, I won't focus to long on the story line. Just in case you need a refresher, the general idea is: girl meets boy. Boy and girl do not like each other. Boy and girl realize their initial impressions were wrong. Boy and girl fall in love. Pretty simple. Except that it's not. This novel is full of intricate details and passionate characters that shape the entire outcome into one of the most compelling and intellectually-satisfactory endings in literary history. As the novel suggests, the pride and the prejudice of the characters is the axis in which this novel orbits, it is the source of all conflict, and all resolution. Between mother's who just don't know when to shut up, and the open rejection of all things middle class, this story is rife with enough insults and conflict to consider itself a victorian-day-Jerry Springer. The plot alone is enough to throw this book into the top of the literary charts.

"From the very beginning— from the first moment, I may almost say— of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry." - Ouch.

What truly makes this book, in this blogger's opinion, worthy of true literary worship, is the style in which Jane Austen works in her own social commentary and view of life as she knew it, into the voice and narration of the book. The narrator is honest and judgmental but with specific intent. She helps guide you down the complicated and rule-based lives which she, along with the characters, were forced to face at that time. In a world that was comprised of marriages based on money, Jane Austen dared to believe that a happy marriage, could be based on love.

Austen's characters are dripping with flaws and limitations that could have easily been the cop-out needed to show that a marriage for money
was at the time, a resonable option for the illusion of happiness. However, Austen proves to us through her timeless narration, that happiness in itself is timeless, and can only be reached through the love of a rational and intellectual equal, which a marriage demands. Austen writes with confidance and integrity, using intellectual virtue and reason as her main guide posts. Her lessons and morals could not ring any more true today, than they did 100 years ago.

" How Wickam and Lydia were to be supported in tolerable independence, she could not imagine. But how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brough together because their passions were stroner than their virtue, she could easily conjecture.

While I can rant and rave about how fantastic this book is all day, there is no need to take my word on it. When a classical novel has reached such an eternal status, that someone is comfortable with making it into a Zombie-filled satire, you know that you truly have a literary masterpiece on your hands. For those of you who might not be into the somewhat complex prose of Austen's original work, be sure to check out this new soon to be best seller that has been released by Quirk Classics. It has all the charm of the original, paralled with all the hilarity of Zombies.

If you have never tackled this classic before don't be embarassed. Biblioaddict recently put up a post with a letter of apology to Ms. Austen for having neglected her in the past. If you are a first timer, or (like me) are on your 5th read, if you are a fan of ever-lasting love, embarassing mothers, or classic-zombie novels, Jane Austen has a little something for everone at any age, at any time. Be sure to check this classic off sometime in the near future.

-mischief managed-