Much Madness is Divinest Sense – Page 89 – Books, Poetry, Quilting, Baking, Life, the Universe, and Everything

Reading on My Kindle

Posted on May 16, 2010September 19, 2015 by Dana

I have only had my Kindle a few weeks, and now that I’ve read two books on it, I am about to admit something so ghastly, so horrible, that you might want to sit down.

Are you sitting?

I actually enjoy reading on my Kindle better than paper books.

There, I said it, and there’s no taking it back.

What do I like better? When reading Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? it was a snap for me to look up a word I came across and did not know. I also have found that with these two books, even without the added pleasure of reading the bathtub, I just zipped through the books. I have no idea why I was able to read faster on the Kindle than on paper, but I suspect it has something to do with simply being absorbed by the book and not flipping pages around and also with the dimensions, which allow for easy reading while lying down in bed. I don’t have to prop up one side or the other. Notetaking is easy, and I don’t feel as though I’m really marking up the book. Plus I can find my notes very easily. If I want to look up something I read (like last night when Steven Levitt mentioned the restaurant French Roast, and I wanted to find out if it was still in business) I am able to open up a browser and look it up. The typeface is easy to read. Probably a sign of my age, but when I see books with small type or a lot of type crowded on the page, I groan.

So am I going to be burned as a heretic? I know some people who will view this statement as equivalent to my having been seduced to the Dark Side. No worries. I have no desire to murder all the Younglings.

photo credit: Iain Farrell

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Freakonomics

Posted on May 15, 2010December 10, 2011 by Dana

The faculty at my school volunteers to sponsor one summer reading selection. Students have more choices (and more eclectic choices) and can discuss a book with a faculty member they might not otherwise have the opportunity to discuss books with. We limit seminars to ten students, so popular books fill up fast. For the second year in a row, Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner has been one of the fastest-filling seminars. Last year it was sponsored by one of our Assistant Co-Heads who has a background in business and manages finances for our school. This year, it was sponsored by one of our social studies teachers who counts economics among his responsibilities.

The book is a fascinating look into some of the economic factors that you might not necessarily think about but that nevertheless have an impact on our lives. When I was a young teen, one of my favorite books was called Boyd’s Book of Odd Facts. I find trivia interesting, and I love learning about weird things. I wouldn’t necessarily say that Levitt and Dubner are dealing in trivia, but the book reminded me of Boyd’s Book in that I had the same feeling reading both: my verbal exclamations prompted Steve to ask me to read what I was reading. The book might be best known for its controversial stance that the passage of Roe v. Wade led to a decrease in crime in the 1990’s when the effects of unwanted children being born might first have been felt in terms of crime. While I found that chapter compelling, I was less interested in sumo wrestlers. I found the chapter on naming practices to be one of the more interesting parts of the book, but perhaps that is because I’m intrigued by naming practices.

The inclusion of some additional materials added only nominally to my enjoyment of the book. I will bet that French Roast in Manhattan wishes the extra material hadn’t been included. Overall, I would have to say the book is a light, interesting read, and I can certainly see why so many of our students are drawn to it. You can learn more about Freakonomics at its website.

Rating:

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Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?

Posted on May 10, 2010December 10, 2011 by Dana

James Shapiro’s latest book Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? examines the Shakespeare authorship question in a way that it traditionally hasn’t been examined by academics: seriously. An interesting problem has arisen in the age of the Internet: the conspiracy theorists have been able to be heard in ways that were impossible 20 or 30 years ago, and their claims have been taken much more seriously as a result. We live in an era that thrives on conspiracy and hidden history. Shapiro, rightfully I think, recognized that it was time for a serious Shakespeare scholar to examine and present the case for Shakespeare as the writer of his plays—which he has managed to do brilliantly and without resorting to attacking the intellect of the anti-Stratfordians.

Shapiro begins by examining the origin of the anti-Stratfordian movements in an unlikely place—the early biographies of Shakespeare, which sought to correlate Shakespeare’s life to his plays and sonnets. It’s a slippery slope, Shapiro warns, because it ultimately deprives Shakespeare of an imagination. Shapiro also examines the rise and fall of the Baconians. The history of the Oxfordian movement was particularly interesting in light of the fact that many famous actors and even Supreme Court justices have decided in favor of Oxford over Shakespeare. And Shapiro does not flinch from describing the uncanny resemblances some parts of Oxford’s life have to the plays; however, he also presents solid evidence in favor of Shakespeare that should put to rest any doubts. It should, but it won’t precisely because people seem compelled to believe in their favorite candidates with the zeal almost of adherents to a religion. Terms like “heretic” and even “blasphemy” are thrown around. And in such a tightly contested matter, even if the preponderance of the historical evidence is in favor of Shakespeare, minds are not going to be changed. However, what Shapiro’s book likely will do is offer those skeptical but not entrenched a solid argument for Shakespeare. This book is a must read for Shakespeare lovers and teachers of Shakespeare. Every year my students ask me about authorship. I feel much more informed now than I have felt in the past.

Rating:

I don’t know that I can attain Litlover status in the Bibliophilic Books Challenge, but this book would make a fourth book toward the six required to meet that challenge level. I committed to reading three: the Bookworm level.

As a postscript, I enjoyed reading this book on my Kindle very much. I was much more absorbed into the book than usual, interestingly enough, and I forgot these books usually have a lot of notes and a large index, so I reached the “end” well before I realized it.

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Kindle Update

Posted on May 9, 2010September 19, 2015 by Dana

I am about halfway into my first book on the Kindle. I’m reading James Shapiro’s discussion of the Shakespeare authorship question: Contested Will. I am happy to report that I love reading on the Kindle. The digital e-ink display is easy to read. I quickly lost myself in the book, and I even discovered a couple of advantages of reading on the Kindle as opposed to paper.

When I read lying down, the book is easier to manage, and I don’t have to do that awkward shifting thing you have to do when you change sides of the book.
I am not shuffling through the book as much. I am re-reading a little less. The focus is on the page at hand.
I’m not trying to calculate how much I have until the end constantly. I already know.
I am not flipping to the end to see what Shapiro will discuss next. I imagine the benefits of not flipping to the end will be even greater with fiction as I won’t be as tempted to ruin the ending.

Admittedly, the reason I’m not doing 2 and 4 is that they’re a little harder to do on the Kindle, though not impossible. I like knowing the percent of the book I’ve read, so there is no need to flip to the end, subtract the number of pages I’ve read, and compute the percentage.

One disadvantage is that I do like to read in the tub, and I can’t bring the Kindle into the tub.

I am finding it just as easy to disappear into a book, and so far, no problems losing my place.

As to the book, I have read about the history of the claims of Baconian and Oxfordian camps, both of which I found interesting. I am finding the book to be a fair-minded discussion of alternative theories of authorship. As Rob Hardy, an Amazon reviewer, writes, “Shapiro is never condescending.” Another reviewer notes that “this book is the most sympathetic and serious analysis of [anti-Stratfordian] views they are likely ever to receive from a legitimate scholar who does not agree with them.” Still, Shapiro is correct is that the zeal some have shown for their particular views on the authorship question borders on religion. It’s amazing to me that we live in an age when the simplest explanation is no longer the best—conspiracy and hidden agendas are favored over history. I find it intriguing too that the Oxfordians have been so successful in promoting their candidate that many folks believe that people who believe Shakespeare wrote the plays ascribed to him are the nutters.

I’m looking forward to reading Shapiro’s case for Shakespeare next. Shapiro said many expressed disappointment that he was tackling this issue in a book, but I’m glad he did.

photo credit: jlcwalker

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A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599

Posted on May 4, 2010December 10, 2011 by Dana

James Shapiro’s A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 describes the events surrounding one of Shakespeare’s most prolific years, beginning with his finishing Henry V, through the composition of Julius Caesar and As You Like It, ending with the composition (and revision) of Hamlet. I had not read much before wishing we had a book like this for each of the years of Shakespeare’s career. Shapiro deftly connects historical events such as the threat of Spanish invasion, a botched campaign in Ireland led by the Earl of Essex, and fears regarding Elizabeth’s succession to characters and events in these four plays. Starting with winter 1598-1599, Shapiro sets each play’s composition in a different season and describes the historical events during that time period. One of my students once noted that I always say “No one writes in a vacuum.” I didn’t know I said it that much, but it’s true, and Shapiro’s book is a testament to the influences upon Shakespeare’s writing.

I found it intriguing to discover the types of historical evidence for Shakespeare, especially in light of the fact that so many people claim he didn’t exist or didn’t write his plays. I am looking forward to reading Contested Will, in which Shapiro examines the anti-Stratfordian theories for authorship.

This book abounds with descriptions and side notes that lend an extra layer of understanding. It was this year that the Lord Chamberlain’s Men fired their clown, Will Kemp, and hired a couple of excellent boy actors capable of playing strong female roles. It was this year that the Globe was constructed when the lease on the land housing the Theatre could not be renewed. In addition, Shapiro shares the in-jokes most modern readers would likely miss:

The cross-pollination of the plays reaches another level when Polonius unexpectedly tells Hamlet, “I did enact Julius Caesar. I was killed i’ th’ Capitol; Brutus killed me” (3.2.99). John Heminges, who played older men, probably spoke these lines and also played Caesar. The in-joke, which audiences at the Globe would have shared, is that Richard Burbage, who was playing Hamlet and had played Brutus, was about to stab Heminges again. (328).

Of course, this example is only one among many. This book will have a treasured place on my shelf and will be at hand when I teach Shakespeare again. If you enjoy Shakespeare, Tudor history, the Renaissance, or just a good book about books, read A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599.

Rating:

This book is my third selection for the Bibliophilic Book Challenge. I committed to the Bookworm level of the challenge, which means completion of three books, so the great news is that I have completed this challenge. I may continue to read more books suited to the challenge.

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Reading Update: October 10, 2010

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Posted on April 30, 2010September 19, 2015 by Dana

Susanna Clarke’s novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell breaks all the rules. It’s over 800 pages long. One of the title characters isn’t properly introduced until over 200 pages into the novel. Clarke develops the history of her world largely through incorporation of 185 footnotes. Generally any one of these things would cause me to gripe about a book, never mind all three. However, I’m not the first reviewer to say the novel, even at over 800 pages, seems too short—I wanted more. The late introduction of the charismatic Jonathan Strange serves only to further develop the mystery surrounding him and to establish the character of his counterpart—his teacher and rival—Mr. Norrell. And finally, the footnotes establish Clarke’s alternate history England as a world rich in magic and still every bit as real as our own world.

“Two magicians shall appear in England…”

The Learned Society of York Magicians, theoretical magicians, mind, not practical magicians, is confronted by Gilbert Norrell and forced to disband. Norrell, who has led a reclusive life of study in his library at Hurtfew Abbey in York, is suddenly thrust into London society. Eager to be of assistance to the government in the war against France, he makes an unwise alliance. Eventually, he gains a pupil in Jonathan Strange, but the two magicians part ways. Jonathan Strange delves into darker and more dangerous magic, while Norrell is unable to to see the dangers right under his own nose.

The book ties each strand of its storylines together in the ending, which will not satisfy all readers, but which I liked—the door is open for a sequel, or not, as Clarke wishes. Clarke evokes the characterization of Dickens, the storytelling of Austen, and the Romantic sensibilities of Byron (who appears as a character himself), all of which combine to create a book that seems wholly new and fresh—certainly unlike anything I’ve ever read before. This novel is obviously a commitment, but it pays off well in the end.

I listened to this book on audio, and Simon Prebble’s narration is wonderful. I love the distinct voices he gives to the characters. If I have any complaint, it is only that he changes the voice of Christopher Drawlight near the end and mispronounces the word sidhe. Minor quibbles in an excellent audio adaptation.

I read this novel for the Once Upon a Time Challenge, but it also makes the fifth book for the Typically British Reading Challenge.

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Kindle TBR Pile

Posted on April 24, 2010April 26, 2010 by Dana

Most avid readers I know have a TBR (to be read) pile. I mostly keep my TBR pile on Goodreads. I sometimes remember to put these books on my Amazon Wishlist. I have recently acquired a Kindle, and my department at school gave me an Amazon gift card in honor of my being selected as the Georgia Council of Teachers of English (GCTE) Secondary Teacher of the Year.

Since purchasing my Kindle, I have downloaded several books, all now in my TBR pile.

I really added Horns at Steve’s request, as he has been wanting to read it, but it has received good reviews, and I think I’ll eventually check it out, too.

I think I first heard about Contested Will via Twitter, but I’m not sure if it was @shakespearetav or @madshakespeare. I’m reading A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro, the author of Contested Will, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I see the anti-Stratfordians have begun panning Contested Will in Amazon reviews.

I have long enjoyed Terry Jones’s take on medieval history. Many people don’t know it, but Jones is a medieval scholar with a degree in English from Oxford. He has a gift for bringing history alive with humor, and I always enjoy whatever he does. Medieval Lives has been on my Amazon Wishlist for ages, so I finally purchased it.

I found out about The Dream of Perpetual Motion via Mad Shakespeare, which is a clever blog that you should be reading if you are a Shakespeare fan. This novel is a steampunk version of Shakespeare’s late romance The Tempest. I have never tried steampunk before, but I have tried books with elements of steampunk, such as Stardust. I was dithering about whether to download this book when @paulwhankins, who created a wonderful introduction to steampunk using LiveBinders, said it was good. That was enough for me.

I also found a good deal on three novels from the Brontë sisters on Kindle for $0.99. I haven’t read anything by Anne Brontë, and this collection affords me the opportunity not only to add an additional Brontë novelist to my TBR pile, but also to have my favorite novel (Wuthering Heights) and Jane Eyre at my fingertips wherever I go. The collection comes with Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Agnes Grey. If I can, as we say down here in the South, “get off the stick” and read it, I might finish it in time to include it as part of the All About the Brontës Challenge.

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Dearest Cassandra

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Kindle

Posted on April 18, 2010September 19, 2015 by Dana

I have been saving funds earned as an Amazon affiliate to purchase a Kindle, and if you have visited recently, you may have caught my post about whether to buy a Kindle or a Nook. I settled on a Kindle after doing the research. The iPad is far outside of my price range for a e-book reader. I purchased the Kindle, but I had to wait some time before it shipped, and I’m not sure of the reason.

The Kindle arrived on Dylan’s birthday (April 16). Steve unboxed it before I could get home from work, but I took some pictures of the Kindle.

I bought a cover for the Kindle, and I’m happy I did. I’m not sure how I’d have kept it safe otherwise. The Kindle all snug in its cover looks like a nice Moleskine notebook.

Here’s a picture of the opened cover. The buttons are small but easier to use than the iPhone keyboard. Navigation didn’t take very long to learn.

The Kindle changes the display on the screen when you put it in sleep mode. Most of the images have been of authors, like this one of Mark Twain, but I have also seen what looked like an illuminated manuscript.

I already ran into an issue when I tried to download my textbook for Educational Research onto my Kindle. I already have it on my Kindle for iPhone and for Mac. Well, I kept receiving a message that said the book could not be downloaded onto my device. I did a search online and discovered this problem can be traced back to the publisher who most likely set the number of times the book could be downloaded onto a device very low. It figures a textbook author would do that. I don’t blame Amazon for that issue; it’s the textbook company.

I have been happy with the Kindle so far. I checked out some of the free books, but I’m not sure what to download. It’s all so overwhelming right now.

I know a lot of the romantics think I’ve committed heresy, but I will say this. I love reading. Period. Books, e-readers, online (although reading books online is very hard for me). It doesn’t matter to me. I’m sure there were folks who romanticized manuscripts when the printing press was invented and books came into being. The book’s run is not over, and I have not defected to the other side. I have simply added a tool that will allow me to read books more easily on the go. I just don’t understand why it has to be an either/or prospect.

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Multiple Copies

Posted on April 17, 2010September 19, 2015 by Dana

Emma’s recent comment on my review of The Annotated Pride and Prejudice inspired this post. I don’t own multiple copies of many books, but I do own multiple copies of a few. Perhaps it is telling in terms of my literary interests?

I own two copies of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

The image on the left is the US cover of the novel, and the reason I have a copy of that edition is that I use it to teach the novel. The image on the right, which is my favorite of the two, is the UK edition, which my friend Roger sent me.

I have three editions of Wuthering Heights. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite book, but it might be Wuthering Heights. Certainly it’s safe to say it’s one of my favorites based on the number of copies I own.

I have the Norton Critical Edition for teaching. It includes a variety of lit. crit. articles and reviews. I think it might be most appropriate for college studies, but I use it with my high school students, too. I am not a fan of the Norton typeface, and neither are my students. I especially like Emily Brontë’s diary, which is included in this text. The edition to its right is the Barnes and Noble classics series edition. I love the pink cover and the beautiful image on the cover (Weymouth Bay by John Constable). This edition is the first one I read. It is directed at high school students, I think, and it has really good footnotes, a list of famous quotations from the novel (with page references), Charlotte Brontë’s preface to the 1850 edition, an introduction by Daphne Merkin and notes on the Yorkshire dialect by Tatiana M. Holway, and a good family tree in the front. For some inexplicable reason, the Norton edition, which throws in everything but the kitchen sink, does not have a family tree. I don’t know how to keep track of the characters in Wuthering Heights without a family tree. The third edition I own is the audiobook as narrated by Janet McTeer and David Timson. Janet McTeer has actually played Nelly Dean before. Both actors do a masterful job with the text, McTeer of course reading the parts narrated by Nelly Dean, and Timson the parts narrated by Lockwood. I have every intention of buying an edition for my Kindle (I am just settling on the right one). *Yes, I bought a Kindle after doing the research on Kindles, Nooks, and iPads, and I will post about it, soon.* I also really want a paper copy of this edition because I’m in love with the cover:

Here is the full image, front and back:

Click on the image to see a larger version. Gorgeous, right?

I also own two editions of Pride and Prejudice: the annotated edition Emma described as her favorite (mine, too), and the Bantam Classics edition, which was the first edition I read.

The cover of The Annotated Pride and Prejudice is actually a drawing of Austen’s niece, Fanny Knight. Bantam‘s cover painting is Miss Rosamond Croker by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

There was a time when I didn’t mind mass market paperbacks at all. Over the last few years, I have decided I don’t like them much, and I don’t know whether to attribute it to older age and failing eyesight or the fact that mass markets crowd too many words on the page, too closely together, which just doesn’t make for as pleasant a reading experience as a trade paperback or hardcover. For a mass market, the BN edition of Wuthering Heights is pretty nice, and the words aren’t too crowded, but the Bantam edition of P&P—well, the Bantam edition of anything, really—seems more crowded. I actually stopped reading my Bantam edition of Persuasion because it was too hard on my eyes and took up reading the book on Stanza on my iPhone.

I have two editions of Persuasion, too. The Bantam edition I just mentioned and an audiobook version I won from Austenprose. I haven’t listened to the audiobook yet, but I am excited to do so. I’m not sure whether Persuasion or Sense and Sensibility is my second favorite Austen novel. Maybe they’re tied. Nah. Sense and Sensibility is second. But I do love Persuasion, and I especially love Captain Wentworth’s letter. I deleted Persuasion from my iPhone after I finished it to save space. I wouldn’t necessarily do that on my Kindle because I only intend to have books on the Kindle, but my iPhone has all my music and tons of other apps, too.

The only other books I own multiple copies of are the Harry Potter series. I have multiple copies of these books for several reasons:

I have read some of them so many times I literally wore them out and had to replace them.
We couldn’t share books when they were first released because we all wanted to read them (we have multiple copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).
I really wanted the tenth anniversary edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I have to say the paper feels very nice, and the cover is gorgeous.

Which books do you own multiple copies of and why? Please share in the comments.

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Sunday Post #41: Books and Tea

Change of Plans

Crime and Punishment

Posted on April 11, 2010September 19, 2015 by Dana

Though I wasn’t due to finish Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment via DailyLit until next week, I decided to go ahead and finish today. I really wanted to like this book. It’s one of those books you hear a lot about. It’s one of those books people like to say they’ve read. I should preface this review by saying that I’ve read very few Russian classics. I tried to read Dr. Zhivago; my sister Lara is named after Yuri Zhivago’s love interest. I couldn’t get into it, even though I loved the movie. I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (review), and I really didn’t like it all that much, although I found the concept intriguing.

The central character of Crime and Punishment is Raskolnikov, a student in St. Petersburg who murders a pawn broker and her sister with an axe. Most of the book centers around his mental state both before and after the crime. I had a great deal of difficulty with the names. Some of the characters have nicknames, which made it nearly impossible for me to keep up with the characters. I’m sure this is purely a cultural-based confusion because if a character in a book were named William but variously called Will, Willie, or Bill by other characters, I doubt I’d have trouble. However, in a book with names that are already challenging for me to keep straight, I found myself quickly confused, and I think that confusion hampered my enjoyment of the novel. I might have done better to read a version with more notes. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that the end result is that I’ve been put off Dostoyevsky. I’m not sure I’d want to try another book of his after not enjoying this one, especially when I think about the large number of books in the world I could read instead that I might truly enjoy. I found parts of the book compelling—the murder scene, Svidrigailov’s death, a fight among some of the women (whose characters I confess I had the most difficulty keeping straight) in the middle of the book, and the end—but these moments were few. Most of the book I found hard to get through both because of my confusion and because the story was not grabbing my interest. I had already reached what I call “the point of no return” before I decided I didn’t like the book. The “point of no return” is the point at which you’ve read so far into the book that you feel you should just go ahead and finish. I really, really wanted to like this book, which is why I pushed myself up to that point. When I realized I didn’t like it, I felt sad. I have so rarely been disappointed by classics.

My next novel from DailyLit will be Gulliver’s Travels, a much shorter novel, and one I have neglected. I was supposed to have read it in high school, but I found it difficult to understand at that age. I think I will enjoy it better twenty years on from the last time I tried to pick it up. It’s a British book, which will enable me to continue to the next level in the Typically British Challenge.

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