Posted by Adrienne on April 29, 2008 under Books | 
7 Australian teenagers go on a camping trip into the bush. When they come back, they find that all of their parents are gone and their pets are dead or dying. Another country has invaded while they were gone, and has taken over their town.
That’s the idea behind Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. And Marsden does an okay job with this great idea (great for a book, I mean – I wouldn’t want this to happen to me!). His 8 teenagers (they meet up with another boy later in the book after the trip) are interesting people, and I loved all the Aussie-isms (slang, nicknames, British spellings, etc). However, the book really is mostly about the teenagers growing up; it never wraps up the invasion story, but left me hanging. That said, I stayed up too late to finish it, and that’s good praise.
One other interesting thing: a one point, the narrator talks about losing the fantasy of security – she never even considered that her country would be attacked by anyone – which is something that I got a taste of after September 11, 2001. This book, however, was published in 1993.
Posted by Adrienne on April 27, 2008 under Random Thought |
We spent all of last weekend moving to our new place. It was a long and exhausting time, but it was worth it! Friday was spent ordering new furniture. We got a buffet, a new table, and a sectional, all of which will be delivered within the next two months. I can’t wait – I really like they way all the pieces look and I’m excited to install them.
On Saturday, we bought a few more pieces of furniture – a chaise and a set of shelves – and did the actual moving. We were much more organized this time than we have been in times past, and that was a big help. Also, moving in is incredibly easy when there are no stairs to contend with. A big thank you to our friends who came to help us, and also to our friends who wanted to come help us, but were sick. Thanks for not coming and thereby not getting us sick too.
I’m most excited about the new chaise. It’s all set up next to the window and ready for me to spend a day lounging, reading, and watching the world go by. Unfortunately, we’re going to be pretty busy for awhile, so I don’t think I’ll get to have a Chaise Day until sometime in late May. Or maybe late June.
We may take some pictures of our new place when we receive our new furniture and have unpacked all of our boxes. Don’t hold your breath waiting, though. It’ll be a little while.
Posted by Adrienne on under Doodles |
Remember the Dragon doodle from a few weeks ago? (Go take a look back if you want, I’ll wait) Great! These are a few of his compatriots from the realm of Faerie:
The Unicorn is a fairly well-known fantastical creature (I particularly like the little goat-beard mine has), but the Gryphon might not be so well known. My label in the doodle isn’t spelled correctly – the correct spelling is ‘Gryphon.’ I was, however, in class at the time, and there wasn’t a dictionary handy. Because the gryphon has eagle parts (head and wings) and lion parts (body and tail) it was thought to be a very powerful and majestic creature. The most famous gryphon I know of, though, was kind of laid-back. That was the gryphon who hung out with the mock turtle in the play version of Alice in Wonderland. When we put that show on for our spring festival at my high school, I got to play the gryphon. I was told to be really laid back and calm, to contrast with the girl who played the mock turtle. She was told to be a real drama queen. It was a fun play to do.
Posted by Adrienne on April 26, 2008 under Books |
The 24th book that I read this year was Sailing to Sarantium, and after finding the cliffhanger at the end, I decided I needed to read the sequel. I’ve just finished the sequel, for book #30, and it was just as good as the first one.
Lord of Emperors continues the story of Crispin the mosaic artist, as he works on a magnificent mosaic on the high dome of the great sanctuary of Sarantium. Read more…
Posted by Adrienne on April 24, 2008 under Baseball, Books |
My 29th book was, for a change of pace, non-fiction. David Halberstam’s October 1964 tells the story of the ‘64 Cardinals and the ‘64 Yankees and how they got to the 1964 World Series and who won. Halberstam does a very good job of telling the story, deftly weaving in information about the different players, managers and front-office men involved, and of the two teams in the seasons before and after 1964.
Read more…
