Beowulf

Beowulf by Benedict Flynn


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I didn't like it, I think it's a guy thing. All that killing and bloodshed, all that honoring gold. Ick.

It goes back to my earlier discussion of what makes a book good. Just because it's a classic of poetry doesn't mean it's good.

I was going to say that it follows speaking traditions, tell the reader what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. It's rather tiresome. Then I realized it's from a spoken tradition.

There was one part of the book I actually liked, and that was the section where the original action actually took place. That part was relatively well told. The rest of it was just a rehashing. And they should have renamed the characters Tom Dick and Harry, I couldn't keep track of them all.

The Boy Who Killed Caterpillars by Joshua Kornreich


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Once again, it's hard to know how to say whether I liked the book or not.

Is it a good book if you enjoy it? (I did not). (one star)

Is it a good book if it is horrifying and sticks with you and gives you nightmares? It certainly qualifies then. (5 stars?)

It's unusual.

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. It's a kids book, but it held me spellbound. It's more like a series of short stories than a novel, except that it does hang together and progress forward. The four Melendy kids pool their allowance to allow each of them to do something really special. This is the story of the adventures that followed.

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I've been reading a lot when I can't sleep at night.Booklist, 2009, revisited

Here is my new book list (though I am fairly certain it is incomplete):

1. Beowulf, translated by Benedict Flynn, 8-22-09
   
2. The Boy Who Killed Caterpilalrs, Joshua Kornreich, 8-21-09
   
3. The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright, 8-20-09
4. The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, 8-19-09
   
5. Acorna's Quest, by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, 8-18-09
   
6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradly, August 16, 2009
7. Jane Eyre, by Emily Bronte, August 7, 2009
8. A Little Book on the Human Shadow, by Robert Bly, July 27, 2009
9. The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich, July 26, 2009
10. Acorna, by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, July 20, 2009
11. The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbs, by Bill Watterson, July 13, 2009
12. The Actress, by Elizabeth Sims, July 11, 2009
13. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
14. Marley: A Dog Like No Other, John Grogan
15. Goodnight, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
16. Bad Dog, Marley, John Grogan
17. The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
18. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
19. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
20. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
21. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
22. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
23. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
24. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
25. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
26. The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway
27. The River King, Alice Hoffman
28. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
29. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
30. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
31. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
32. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
33. I Claudius, Robert Graves
34. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome
35. The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini