MacKenzie Rae Reads

from Erica Baum’s “Dog Ear”

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 23:37:54 -0700

from Erica Baum’s “Dog Ear”

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Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:24:08 -0700

Just read this part with the little girl I babysit! :)

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:14:05 -0700

Just read this part with the little girl I babysit! :)

heaven!

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:58:22 -0700

heaven!

<3

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:01:01 -0700

Emma

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:35:01 -0700

Jane Austen will always remind me of my high school AP English class. Not only did we read Pride and Prejudice along with every other high school in the US, we read Mansfield Park as summer reading. My love for Austen began then, and I promised myself I’d read all of her novels in my lifetime. Eventually I got around to Sense and Sensibility, which is easily my favorite. A couple weeks ago I stumbled across a pretty copy of Emma at Piccolo’s Books, and decided to start number four!

Emma seemed extremely familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. A couple chapters in my friend saw me reading, and spilled, “that’s the book Clueless is based on!” Bingo. My favorite movie as a pre-teen reflected in early 19th century lit. LOL. I must admit that this kept me reading. The first 100 pages I found rather dull, but now that I could visualize the characters as a young Paul Rudd and a bleach blonde Alicia Silverstone, the novel brought a little smile to my face. “AS IF!”

As the charm of the Clueless ties faded, I found myself a bit perplexed. I wanted to love Emma, because I love Austen. But… hmm… I thought it was a bit silly. Well, silly for Austen, not silly for nowadays.

Emma thoughts:

1. Emma - One of the things I enjoy most about Austen’s novels is her ability to write strong, intelligent, logical main characters. Austen’s leading ladies may have a moment of poor judgement, or misjudge someone’s character (ahem… Darcy), but overall they are level-headed and good. Emma does not fit this bill. She may have a sweet nature about her, but she is judgmental and meddles in other’s lives. Sure, she learns her lesson in the end, but she annoyed me the entire book!

2. Predictable? - Maybe I’m just seeing patterns as this is my fourth Austen, but I found this plot much more predictable than the others. Especially everything revolving around Mr. Elton and Mr. Knightley… so obvious!

3. Too much down time - I greatly enjoy how carefully and subtly Austen’s plots develop and reveal themselves. The gradual nature of her novels makes them more realistic, and also makes the climax much more heartfelt and grand. This said, I think Emma had too much down time. I wanted more, and never got it.

Now that I got this out of my system, who am I to critique Austen? Even though I didn’t particularly like Emma, it’s leaps and bounds better than a lot of what you’ll read. I mean, come on! It’s a classic.

RATING: 3.5 stars.

NEXT UP: I needed a major change of pace, so I picked The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It’s been on my To Read list for way too long. BUT I realized it’s the second book in the series..?? Do I need to read Angels and Demons first?

XO MacK

A favorite quote of mine!

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:56:00 -0700

A favorite quote of mine!

5 Books at Once?!

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:32:55 -0700

I just read that Thomas Jefferson invented a book stand that allowed him to read 5 books at one time! Now if only he had invented some contraption that allowed you to read in bed without holding the book and also flipped the pages!

Shakespeare for a Year

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 11:58:46 -0700

Hi friends!

My good friend Emily is an avid reader, primarily of classics. She recently told me that she created a list of Shakespeare plays she was going to read this year, one per month. I couldn’t help but join her! As an aspiring actress (in addition to reading blogger) I don’t read enough plays, and thought this would be a good way to get familiar with some Shakespeare I haven’t read. It will also help me find new monologues. I love monologues!

Here’s the list! I’ve bolded the ones I’ve already read, put asterisks by the ones I’ve performed in, and ~ signs by the ones I’ve seen on stage or on film!

Shakespeare for a Year:

January - Macbeth
February - Romeo and Juliet * ~
March – Richard III ~
April – Twelfth Night
May – The Tempest
June – Much Ado About Nothing *
July – Julius Caesar
August – Midsummer Night’s Dream ~
September – Henry V
October – Antony and Cleopatra
November – Othello ~
December – Hamlet ~

I’m excited to start! Who’s joining me?

Goodbye, friends! Today I am off to Munich, Salzburg, and...

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:52:42 -0700

Trinity College Library, Ireland

Bibliothéque Nationale de France, France

The Library of El Escorial, Spain

Biblioteca Geral, University of Coimbra,

Handelingenkamer, Netherlands

Abbey Library of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Admont Abbey Library, Austria

Melk Monastery Library, Austria

Strahov Monastery Library, Czech Rep.

Clementinum National Library, Czech Rep.

Goodbye, friends! Today I am off to Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna! This post of fabulous libraries caught my attention, because I will be visiting the one at the Melk Abbey!!! :D

<3

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:54:57 -0700

The Pilot's Wife

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:00:51 -0700

The Pilot’s Wife does NOT save the drama for its mama, lemme tell ya! DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. Drama out the yin yang. Filled to the brim. Imagine that really juicy cat fight that happened your junior year of high school… got it? Now multiple that by 12,000. SO MUCH DRAMA. However, this is one of those rare books that not only gets you with the plot points, but is also well written. Go figure. Think if Gossip Girls had been written by J.K. Rowling. Dynamite. Also… LOL.

The Pilot’s Wife follows a wife’s journey after she learns that her husband, a pilot, has died in a plane crash. (It screams Oprah’s Book Club, because it is). Oh, but just you wait. It doesn’t stop there. This isn’t merely a fictionalized portrayal of the grief process, it’s juicy. Each page is filled with twists and turns, romance, betrayal, and anything and everything else emotionally exhausting. I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll stop now.

Why I Liked It:

1) Well Paced Suspense - Anita Shreve knows a thing or two about gripping a reader. Just when everything seems to be winding down… BAM! She hits you with another OMG. It’s like this the ENTIRE book. That’s a feat.

2) Realistic Emotions - The main character, Kathryn, experiences every emotion on the gamut. I liked that Shreve was able to capture these emotions through Kathryn’s reactions to events, descriptions of situations, and interactions with her family, rather than naming each shift. She describes and weaves through each feeling without concretely defining them, while still triggering empathy from readers.

I Didn’t Buy…

Some of the OMG moments. While some of the crazy twists are incredibly and devastatingly believable, I found that others were a stretch. Again, no spoilers here, but one of the last shockers revealed is sort of over the top. I thought she could have found a more plausible and relevant reason for the plane crash happening.

RATING: 3.5 stars. When I finished reading this book a few weeks ago I would have given it 4. Looking back, however, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a favorite. It’s well-crafted and entertaining in a heart-wrenching way, but not for everyone.

Thoughts? Submit a response!

<3 MacK

Happy Monday from Matilda!!

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:58:10 -0700

Happy Monday from Matilda!!

I am currently reading Emma by Jane Austen. I’m not...

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 14:58:00 -0700

I am currently reading Emma by Jane Austen. I’m not entirely sold yet. I think it’s my least favorite of the 4 (S+S, P+P, MP) that I’ve read so far.

Book v. Film - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 16:39:08 -0700

I’ve never enjoyed watching movies that much. Every once in a while I’m in the mood, but over all I’d much rather read for entertainment. That’s probably pretty obvious given the content of this blog. I’m not even that interested in seeing book adaptations in film. 99% of the time I like the book better, and 50% of the time the poorly executed movie diminishes my love for the book unfairly. Generally, I steer clear.

When I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2.5 years ago, I was apparently the only person on the planet who didn’t get the appeal. Call me faint of heart, but I found nothing intriguing enough about the plot worth getting through the torture/brutal rape scenes. I also found the characters flat, and the pacing weird. Slooooooooow then fast! Slllllllllllllooooooooooow then fast! Granted I didn’t read the whole series, but not my cup of tea.

When I found out that the Rooney Mara/Daniel Craig blockbuster was in the makes, however, I was interested. Looking back I realized that a lot of what I didn’t like about the book was that it read like a movie script. I finally got around to seeing the film (another score from my library’s stacked DVD collection), and I LOVED IT. I REALLY REALLY LOVED IT. All the excess was trimmed out, and the actors brought the characters to life, filling in all of the gaps left out in the book. I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve ever liked the movie version BETTER than the book. Has this ever happened to you guys?

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Thu, 07 Jun 2012 12:00:49 -0700

I will always love The Martian Chronicles. RIP Ray Bradbury.

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:24:00 -0700

I will always love The Martian Chronicles. RIP Ray Bradbury.

The Poisonwood Bible

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:05:00 -0700

Once every year or so I encounter a book that entrances me from its first sentence. The Poisonwood Bible is one of those books. Author Barbara Kingsolver tells the epic tale of the Price family - a mother and four young daughters led by their zealous, Baptist missionary father into the heart of the Belgian Congo in the 1959. Kingsolver crafts the Prices’ hardships and ultimate demise using such lush description and overwhelming emotion, I was locked in from the get go.

Section 1 (or Genesis) begins,

Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened.

First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees. The trees are columns of slick, brindled bark like muscular animals overgrown beyond all reason. Every space is filled with life: delicate, poisonous frogs war-painted like skeletons, clutched in copulation, secreting their precious eggs onto dripping leaves. Vines strangling their own kin in the everlasting wrestle for sunlight. The breathing of monkeys. A glide of snake belly on branch…. The forest eats itself and lives forever.

Wow. Wow wow wow. I could dissect these few sentences for hours in complete reader’s ecstasy. It’s merely the beginning of our introduction to the setting, and yet we don’t need much more. This paragraph captures the vivacity, the power, the beauty, and the danger of the Belgian Congo. Africa is startlingly alive, luring the Prices in, but not without a fair warning. The opening also introduces the “glide of snake belly,” the grave omen repeated throughout the plot line. Finally, “war-painted like skeletons, clutched in copulation”… some of these lines are practically poetry! They deserve to be read out loud. Ahhhh, so much great stuff crammed in! This passage encapsulates exactly what Kingsolver does best - rich imagery, foreshadowing, and a mastery of language that’s nearly unbeatable.

Other wonderfulness…

1) Rotating narration - Kingsolver tells the story through the voices of all four Price daughters and their mother, Orleanna. Orleanna reflects back on her experience in the Congo from a relative present, while Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May move the plot along as it’s happening. Each girl holds a unique perspective, and knitted together as a whole they reveal an undeniably truthful account of their family’s destruction. I found myself looking forward most to Adah’s sections. She is a great example of a dynamic character - pessimistic, yet longing; mute, yet lover of words.

2) History lessons - Soooo I must have missed the day we learned about African colonialism and struggle for independence in history class. (Or it isn’t really taught in American high schools, which I feel is more likely). Everything from Belgian control of the Congo to blood diamonds to dictators to American sponsorship of said dictators is covered in this book. The real genius, however, is that Kingsolver includes the Congo’s history from the viewpoints of both the first world countries (through Rachel and the Underdowns) and the Congolese (through Leah and Anatole). She also weaves it into the plot so seamlessly that you never feel like you’re reading huge chunks of historic explanations. Woo hoo!!

3) Nathan Price - Reverend Price is the kind of bad guy that you love to despise. Think Joffrey from Game of Thrones. Pure evil. HOWEVER, I think it’s interesting to explore the events and emotions that created Nathan… war trauma? Guilt? Fear?

I could talk about how much I love this book for days, but I must move on! The only thing I didn’t like about this novel is that the end drags on a bit. After the climax, you’ve still got another 150 pages that read as a sort of epilogue, following the girls into adulthood. On one hand, it’s interesting to hear how the Congo shaped their lives. Kingsolver is particularly good at showing how Africa weaves itself into the girl’s very fibers, making it nearly impossible for them to return to normal American society. However, it’s a little dull and redundant.

Even so, I give this book 5 stars of out 5. GO READ IT.

Submit your thoughts on The Poisonwood Bible here! Follow me please! :)

<3 MacK

I remember this book being a lot darker than this trailer makes...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:19:42 -0700

I remember this book being a lot darker than this trailer makes it out to be, but I also read it when I was 10… sooo… hmmm. Looks like a good movie, though!

A Good Old-Fashioned Library

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:50:30 -0700

As a new college grad I’ve spent my fair share of time in the library. My college’s is super high tech and brand spanking new, and in addition to studying and research, I’ve also taken advantage of their solid popular reading collection. I think since the William H. Hannon Library is primarily utilized by students cramming for tests, people don’t think to look for their pleasure reading there, as well. This means that everything I want to read is usually on the shelves. Perfect. Our library also looks like a space ship… so that’s neat.

Hannon Library is sweet but I’m no spring chicken, I’ve always loved the library. I got my first public library card in Portland, Oregon in 5th grade, and yesterday… DRUM ROLL… I GOT MY SECOND! Woo! I am now a proud member of the LA Public Library system. Nerd alert. I haven’t gotten a chance to check out my branch’s stock of books yet, but they have a surprisingly awesome DVD collection. I checked out The Social Network, and saw tons of other new releases (which surprised me since I remember my childhood library having two VHS copies of Michael Crawford in Concert and a lonely Berenstain Bears on the shelf at any given time.) Hopefully the bookshelves will live up to my expectations, as well!

(^ Why is this picture so gigantic?? )

Now you know those die hard library people that put things on hold and wait for months to get their paws on a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Yeah, I’m not one of them. I’m an online used book sort of gal, in addition to the steals I find at garage sales, etc. I also recently visited Piccolo’s Books which is literally READING HEAVEN. EVERY BOOK IS $1. (Review of Piccolo’s to follow. It’s that good.) BUT there’s something about a library that is incredibly magical to me.

I like that all the books have been read by multiple people. I think it gives them some character! I also like the peace and quiet. And let’s be real… where else can you just take something for FREE? That’s a true testament to the power and importance of reading and knowledge. As a society, we’ve deemed reading so crucial to human development that we pay to make it easily accessible with tax dollars. Finally, libraries have a sense of community that is often lost nowadays. There are still moms that take their kids to story hour on Wednesday afternoons, and that warms my heart.

Some more of my favorite libraries…

Central Library in Portland, Oregon - You may have to fight a few angry homeless people to get in, but trust me, it’s worth it. It has an outstanding sheet music collection on the third floor.

Boston Public Library - There are really no words to describe the beauty of this place. If you’re doing the tourist thing in Beantown, it’s a must see. BPL is a wedding hot spot, I hear. I think you can see why.

Check back Tuesday for another book review from MacKenzie Rae Reads! Follow me! :)

<3 MacK