A Sublime Video for Bibliophiles

I just discovered this woman’s videos yesterday. What a beautiful,serene life!serene life!

 

A Kindred Spirit

By serendipity, I just discovered this smart, engaging woman’s vlog on books and writing. Farah lives in the UAE and is articulate, perceptive and oh so knowledgeable about current books.

After the first video I watched (above) I immediately subscribed. Then I watched her talk about writing and bonded with her because as a screenwriter, I am concise with description and context and get right to the dialog.

According to her Good Reads account she reads 100 books or more a year. Wow. I envy that. I have to update my Good Reads, but I aim for 26 books a year.

Above Farah talks about the 5 classics she wants to read this year. Some she probably finished by now.

Here’s my list of classics I have read this year:

1. Dante’s Inferno – a reread and a delight. I got a lot more out of it.
2. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington – just started so watch this blog for a review.
3. His Excellency by Émile Zola – the third book I’ve read in the Rougon-Macquart series.
4. The Kill by Émile Zola – my goal is to read all 20 of these Rougon-Macuart books.
5. Prometheus Unbound by Aeschylus – It was a classic I missed though I knew the legend.
6. The Lady of the Camilias by Alexander Dumas, the Younger – it reminded me of The Kill.
7. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I reread this and discussed it online with a friend, with whom I try to read a classic and discuss it online each summer.

 

 

How to Read More

I just discovered BookTube and will share my new favorite blogger. Till then I’m sharing this inspiring video on reading.

I will add to this blog soon. I’ve had a tumultuous year and haven’t read as much as usual, but I haven’t stopped reading.

Watch this space for some uploads starting on Friday.

 

The Hobbit in Under Two Minutes

This month’s book club selection is The Hobbit, which I’m enjoying but having technical difficulties with as I got it as an ebook.

 

Paper Towns

I discovered John Green through his Vlog Brothers’ videos on You Tube. His video on The Great Gatsby led me to Bookfighters’ YouTube channel where Green’s Paper Towns was mentioned. The video convinced me to add Paper Towns to my reading list and I’m glad I did.

I did like Paper Towns, especially the last chapter, but it wasn’t as good as I expected. I think Green’s assessment of Gatsby was so trenchant that I expected Fitzgerald level writing. His writing is good and very much like his patter on Vlog Brothers. The patter that wows in a YouTube video can tire in a novel.

Paper Towns centers around Quentin, a.k.a. Q, a smart, geeky teen who’s smitten with Margo Roth Spielgelman, the dream girl next door. As kids, Q and Margo lived in each others pockets. Now in high school Margo, who sees the superficiality and fakery of life in Orlando, inhabits the social stratosphere, while Q lives on the margins with his geeky friends, Radar and Ben.

The first part of the book follows Quentin and Margo on a late night series of vengeful adventures and pranks. Margo’s pure energy and sarcasm. He’s tailing along as she exacts creative revenge from her cheating boyfriend and frenemies.

The next day, Quentin hopes he and Margo can now be friends or more than friends. At least she should acknowledge him at school. Yet part two takes readers in a different direction. Margo disappears. Since she’s over 18, the police can’t launch a search. She’s run off before and her callus parents don’t take any action, in fact they change their locks. So Quentin hunts for her picking up the esoteric, poetic clues she’s left like bread crumbs. The big question is whether she’s still alive.

If I were in a book club, my first questions to discuss would be: Do you think Margo is a narcissist? Was she worth saving? Is she a 21st century Daisy Buchanan?

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• Ms French’s class recommend… (storansl2english.wordpress.com)
• The Power of Dreams (createamelody.com)
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