Monthly Archives: January 2012

Masterpiece Monday (Delayed): The Crucible

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Cover of "The Crucible"

Image via Amazon

Rating: 4 out of 5

So sorry I didn’t blog yesterday, but I’ve been so busy attending school, working, and learning Japanese. I won’t probably post as frequently this semester. I’ll try to continue with Masterpiece Monday the best I can, and hopefully I’ll post one more time a week. I’ve been getting a steady increase of traffic since I started my blog, so as long as you keep reading, I’ll keep writing!

Anyways, this past weekend I taught another SAT class, and one of the masterpieces we discussed was The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in 1952. This play revolved around a group of girls who had been accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.

17-year-old Abigail Williams is the devious perpetrator behind this whole fiasco: she was a maid for the Proctor family and had an affair with husband John. Believing that John loves her, not his wife Elizabeth, Abigail is determined to have Elizabeth executed for witchcraft. Unfortunately, a bunch of other people are dragged into her plans, including John’s friend Giles Corey who is pressed to death with stones.

Most people who have read this play know that it’s an allegory for McCarthyism, since Miller himself was questioned for allegedly being a communist after The Crucible was performed. Many of Miller’s colleagues were also accused, including his close friend and director of his play Death of a Salesman, Elia Kazan.

What I love about The Crucible is the timelessness of its themes. Lives can be ruined because of rumors, which is why this is a great play to read in high school. No one knows gossip like teenage girls, so The Crucible offers a perfect opportunity for teachers to caution their students about the consequences of all that “he said, she said.”

I also appreciated Miller’s devotion to his research. He traveled to Salem to write, and used actual figures during the trials, such as Giles Corey. In addition, the play’s Cold War allegory provides two history lessons in one piece of literature. Success!

The only con to The Crucible is that even though it narrates events from hundreds of years ago, it’s a tragic reminder that people still believe in supernatural notions like witchcraft, possession, and exorcism. How many people have committed horrendous crimes and justified their actions by claiming that the devil made them do it? Whether they’re fundamentalist or mentally ill, this finger-pointing to invisible spirits is extremely dangerous. And if you argue that these incidents are few and far between, note that 20% of Americans still believe in witches (Gallup 2005). Clearly, religious paranoia exists over 300 years after the Salem Witch Trials.

I highly recommend this play, as well as the 1996 film with Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor and Winona Ryder as Abigail. Hopefully, I’ll be able to read more of Miller’s work this year, as he deservedly holds the title of one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century.

Favorite Quote: “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”

Audiobook Review: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

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Rating: 4 out of 5

Ever since I listened to Tina Fey’s Bossypants, I loved how audiobooks made my commute more enjoyable. Only interested in light-hearted books that require little concentration (because how hard would it be to pay attention to Moby Dick while avoiding crazy text-and-drivers?), I decided that Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) would make a good follow-up.

Mindy Kaling became famous for playing Kelly Kapoor on the American version of “The Office.” Her character is so obnoxiously shallow and narcissistic, but Mindy is actually someone most women could relate to. She’s a 30-something size-8 who likes gossip, guys with chest hair, and sneaking out of parties. I loved learning all the quirky tidbits about her, like how she creates revenge fantasies for her workouts, or how she hates the color navy.

Mindy talks about her childhood friends, her jobs leading up to “The Office,” and how she handles fame. She dishes on her co-stars Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson. Even her friends BJ Novak, Mike Schur, and Brenda Withers provide the other various voices on the audiobook.

Bossypants literally made me laugh out loud, but Is Everyone… still got me to chuckle every now and then. Even though Mindy’s not as funny as Tina in my opinion, I think younger readers will appreciate Mindy’s struggle to date men not boys, over Tina’s frustrations with the mommy wars. But if you’re a fan of female comedians, you’ll probably love both of them.

So got any more great audiobooks ideas? Only requirements: must be read by the author and offer lots of laughs!

Favorite Quote: “Teenage girls, please don’t worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her current life. What I’ve noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school is also big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it’s so wonderfully fair.”

Book Review: Crossed

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Rating: 2 out of 5

Ok, well that was underwhelming. I just finished Crossed, the second book in Ally Condie’s Matched trilogy. Sometimes I think I’m just too nice to a book series. I think to myself, “Oh, it’ll get better…I’m sure it’s just building up to some action-packed scenes…Ok, then maybe it’s more of a character novel…” etc. etc.

This book fails like many sequels, because it follows the notion that the second novel is allowed to be the least exciting of trilogies. Just the bridge from beginning to end! But honestly, if you write like that, why have the bridge at all?

In this installment, the chapters flip-flop between teenage love interests Cassia and Ky’s perspectives. They’ve escaped the corrupt Society and are desperately looking for each other while discovering answers on how to join the rebellion called the Rising. During their travels, they meet a few other ostracized youth and bond together through their turmoil.

If it sounds interesting, sorry, it’s not. It takes half the book for Cassia and Ky to reunite, and all they do is spout off melodramatic drivel and kiss every now and then. This series will obviously be compared to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, because both authors are Mormon and cater to the high school girl demographic. However, at least Meyer understands sexual tension! Mormon or not, if you’re going to write about teenage love, throw in some raging hormones at least, sheesh!

This book is just straight-up dull. Much like Meyer’s sequel New Moon, it sucks when you present a love triangle and then don’t include the entire triangle in the book! Why should I care about characters like Xander, if they’re not going to stick around? However, whereas Meyer created a passionate rivalry between Teams Edward and Jacob, I don’t feel the chemistry between Condie’s characters. She suffers from too much telling and not enough showing–just because Cassia and Ky say they love each other, doesn’t mean I’ll believe them.

Basically, all these characters do is run around in the wilderness. I was greatly disappointed, but I feel I’ve invested enough in the series to finish it when the last book comes out at the end of this year. This series better not go from great to horrendous like The Hunger Games trilogy did–otherwise I might stop reading YA fiction for a while.

Next on my to-read list is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night…I need to take a break from fluff for a while. And be on the lookout for my audiobook review of Mindy Kaling’s autobiography!

Masterpiece Monday: “One Art”

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Cover of "One Art: Letters"

Image via Amazon

Well, I spent a good portion of this morning desperately searching for the case to my new Skullcandy earbuds. I flipped over couch cushions, opened all my desk drawers, found popcorn kernels and a pencil, but to no avail. Finally, when I thought that I was way too young to be going senile, I checked the pockets of the coat I had worn yesterday. Victory!

I love finding poems that reflect my everyday life, and Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” does just that. I don’t usually feature modern writers, but Bishop has won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for her poetry (1956 and 1970, respectively). Thus, I think this poem more than qualifies for Masterpiece Monday:

“One Art”

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

– Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.

This poems has a casual tone, but it’s actually an adaptation of the classic villanelle (most famously seen in Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night”). The poem records all the things that the speaker has lost–objects, cities, a lover–and although it seems like it does not affect her, she still remembers that she lost them. The repetition connotes a need to remind herself that loss, even though it may not be an “art” or may actually be “hard to master,” can become easier to live with time.

Lastly, her addition of “Write it!” seems to have two meanings, one that urges her to finish her thought and another that suggests that writing down her feelings makes it easier to cope with loss. I have to agree with that second meaning, because although blogging about my temporarily lost earphone case seems silly, expressing your emotions in writing has always been so therapeutic for me.

Whether you’re mad at yourself for losing your phone for the third time this week, or you’re experiencing the death of a loved one, I hope that Bishop’s poem brings you comfort. And if you’ve got any recommendations for future Masterpiece  Mondays, I’m all ears!

Weekend Update!

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So I feel bad that I haven’t started off the new year with a bunch of blogging, but that’s because I’m currently reading Ally Condie’s sequel Crossed and listening to Mindy Kaling’s audiobook Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? So far both are going ok, but Mindy’s is definitely more entertaining. Hopefully, I’ll be posting both reviews next week.

I’ve also started my last semester of grad school: I’m taking a class on Media Ethics (no, not an oxymoron!), and I’m also the social media specialist and student grader for a professor in my program. Not to mention, I’m still working as an academic tutor, and preparing for my two-month-long comprehensive exam. Phew! Just typing this paragraph stresses me out! But come May 19, I will be DONE! Watch out real world!

Ok, one more thing about myself and then I promise I’ll bring the discussion back to books. I recently spent a relatively insane amount of money on Rocket Languages Japanese (still cheaper than Rosetta Stone!), a program with dozens of speaking, writing, and cultural lessons. It’s got PDFs I can print out, and mp3s I can transfer to my iPod.

Why did I do this, you ask? Well, it’s not official yet, but for my graduation present, my younger brother and I are going to Tokyo to visit one of my best friends who lives there! We won’t be travelling until the end of June, but I want to learn as much Japanese as I possibly can before we go. It’s a challenge with everything else I have going on, but studying the language has become my favorite extracurricular activity!

Alright, back to the main attraction: this week I read on The Huffington Post that Candace Bushnell’s The Carrie Diaries has been picked up by the CW. Not a huge surprise, since “Sex and the City” was one of the hottest shows ever, and its teenage prequel will be perfect for the CW’s demographic. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the creators of “Gossip Girl,” will be producing the show. Much like my opinion of the Gossip Girl novels, I have a feeling that The Carrie Diaries may be better on screen than in print–mostly because all that high school melodrama seems more tolerable when you can stare at gorgeous guys like Ed Westwick.

So which actress do you think should play 17-year-old Carrie Bradshaw? Blake Lively’s got the look, but is too mature now to pass for a teenager. Dakota and her sister Elle Fanning are the right age, but look way too innocent to pull off Carrie. After a Google search of “blonde actresses under 20,” I found some worthy choices. These girls all have Disney/Nick backgrounds, so going to the CW will give them that “I’m not a little kid anymore” vibe. Plus, they’re all 18-19 years-old.

AnnaSophia Robb (“Soul Surfer,” “Bridge to Terabithia”) 

Image via DenimBlog

Meagan Martin (“Camp Rock,” “10 Things I Hate About You” TV show)

Image via IMDb

Emily Osment (“Hannah Montana,” “Spy Kids” 2 and 3D)

Image via TeenIdols4You

So who deserves the coveted role of Miss Carrie Bradshaw? One of these young women, someone else, or someone completely unknown? Let me know!

Minna-san sayonara! (Goodbye everybody!)

Masterpiece Monday: Invisible Man

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Ralph Ellison (Image via Wikipedia)

Rating: 4 out of 5

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I thought I’d review an African-American novel for Masterpiece Monday. Unfortunately, African-Americans and people of color in general are vastly underrepresented in the literary canon–and in my own blog. I hope to feature more ethnic writers in the future, and I encourage recommendations from you guys! (Well, except Toni Morrison…I still have the bad taste of Beloved in my mouth from high school).

So I chose Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, because it was published right before King’s March on Washington, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. It also has the most easy-to-remember first line ever, which I quoted in my AP Lit essay: “I am an invisible man.”

Indeed, the protagonist is never named, but he secretly lives in New York in the basement of a whites-only apartment building, which is illuminated by 1,369 lights from a power company. The man narrates his story, which includes his time spent at an all-black college, his job at a paint factory known for its white paints, and his shock treatments while recovering from a boiler explosion.

Eventually, he is recruited into the Brotherhood in Harlem, and he must struggle with the various members trying to make a difference in the black community. Although he’s often disillusioned by his fellow African-Americans, he remains determined to incite political change and overcome his metaphorical invisibility.

Even though this novel has scenes that are hard to stomach (especially Trueblood’s incestuous relationship with his daughter), Invisible Man is beautifully written. Ellison’s distinct voice tells what it was like to live in the mid-20th century as an African-American man. He doesn’t sugarcoat the racism in America, but he also doesn’t let one perspective dominate the conversation. Moderate and radical black activists are represented in the story, as well as those who submit to whites to simply get by in life.

Ellison also makes many historical and literary allusions, from everybody to Louis Armstrong, to H.G. Wells, from Marcus Garvey to Homer. But for someone named after Ralph Waldo Emerson, these cultural references seem to run in the family.

What people like Ellison and MLK Jr. demonstrate is that there is no reason to speak for somebody, when they can speak just as eloquently for themselves. I realize that I can never know what life as an African-American is like, whether the year’s 1950 or 2012, but I thank black writers for sharing a piece of them with the world, so we can learn from one another and encourage love for all human beings, no matter the color of their skin.

Favorite Quote: “I was pulled this way and that for longer than I can remember. And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own. I have also been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself. So after years of trying to adopt the opinions of others I finally rebelled. I am an invisible man.”

Book Review: Summer and the City

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Image via HarperTeen

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Hello readers! I’m officially writing my first book review post-LASIK! For those who care, my surgery went well and although my vision’s slightly blurry, that should pass. I have to wear eye shields at night and take a ton of drops during the day for a while, but I’m healing fast and loving life without glasses! It will take some getting used to, but I’m looking forward to starting 2012 with a brand new perspective (literally)!

Ok, for those who don’t care, on to the book review! I just finished Candace Bushnell’s Summer and the City, the sequel to her prequel The Carrie Diaries, which I received as a birthday present last year. This novel follows Carrie Bradshaw (protagonist of the oh-so-popular TV show “Sex and the City”) as she spends the summer in New York before her freshman year at Brown.

As Carrie attends a writing workshop, she lives in Samantha Jones’ apartment, since Samantha is too preoccupied with her fiance Charlie at his place (any SATC viewer knows this engagement won’t last a second). Soon she meets Miranda Hobbes, the romantically disillusioned pro-life activist/feminist. Carrie gets carried away (pun intended) by all that NYC has to offer: shopping, parties, men, and the promise of a brighter future.

Unfortunately, as much as I loved Carrie in the TV show, she’s a pretty obnoxious 17-year-old in this book. She was pretty immature and naive in The Carrie Diaries, but it’s obvious she hasn’t grown a bit. In fact, with a newly stroked ego when it comes to her writing abilities, she’s downright pompous.

She foolishly gets involved with a recently-divorced 30-something playwright named Bernard Singer. Bernard just wants a little sex pet, but Carrie believes he’s “The One” and proceeds to lie about her age, call him every 30 minutes, and make a complete joke out of herself.

There are blatant inconsistencies between the books and the show, mainly about Carrie’s de-virginization story. But when the climax of a novel coincides with a character’s first climax, you know there’s not much substance. Technically, this book’s considered young-adult, but I worry that teenage girls are going to get the wrong ideas about love and life.

Carrie and her friends were horrible role models when they were young (and many would argue, even in their 30′s), so read this story for entertainment, not instructional, purposes. Don’t believe everything people say, don’t have sex out of peer pressure, and DON’T drop out of school for a life in a big city thinking you can rely on sheer willpower. Trust me, get an education and a job–the big city will still be there when you’ve gained some experience.

So unless you’re a hardcore “Sex and the City” fan, pass this book up. Carrie’s just a self-centered, misguided twit, and there’s too many novels out there with more worthy female leads. I’m about to start Crossed, the sequel to Ally Condie’s Matched, so I hope main character Cassia proves stronger and smarter than miss Carrie Bradshaw.

Masterpiece Monday: “The Birthmark”

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Bye bye glasses!

Rating: 5 out of 5

BEWARE: SPOILER ALERT!

Well, I thought about taking the day off because I’m finally getting LASIK surgery, but then I immediately thought of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark.” (Yes, this is solid proof I’m a paranoid pessimist).

Hawthorne was, of course, the famous author behind The Scarlet Letter, but he was also a prolific short story writer. “The Birthmark” was first published in 1843, and it told the tale of a scientist named Aylmer and his wife Georgiana. Aylmer thinks that his wife is absolutely perfect…except for her hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek.

Obsessed with the birthmark, he decides to try to remove it, and Georgiana, out of love for her husband, agrees. He had a dream in which he cut the birthmark all the way to her heart, and then cut her heart out too. Obviously, this foreshadowing means doom for Georgiana.

After many failed experiments, Georgiana’s disappointment in a husband who does not accept her flaws causes her to want her mark removed just as desperately, so as to rid them of their madness. When Georgiana drinks a potion made by Aylmer, her birthmark finally fades away, but at the cost of her life.

This moral of this story is relatively easy to comprehend: Accept the flaws of yourself and others, because what’s on the inside is more important than what’s on the outside. I also believe that it shows women that we should not let men try to “fix” us, because there are plenty of good men out there (in this story, it was Aylmer’s assistant Aminadab) who will love us for who we are.

Because Aylmer only made a fuss over Georgiana’s birthmark after they were married, many literary scholars believe the story alludes to Hawthorne’s own sexual guilt. Hawthorne was known for being an emotionally conflicted man, most prominently because one of his ancestors was a cruel Puritan judge during the Salem Witch Trials. The writer even added a “w” to his last name to distance himself from his past. Most of Hawthorne’s stories, therefore, juxtapose natural human desires with religious piety.

As for why this story popped into my head the day of my LASIK surgery, I admit I’m pretty terrified of an Aylmer-sized mistake happening. I also feel nostalgic toward the 15 years in which I’ve been wearing glasses. I never wore contacts due to my inability to stick something in my eyes and my unwillingness to take care of the maintenance. I faced quite a bit of bullying because of my “four eyes,” but I wouldn’t have done anything differently. My glasses have been a part of my identity, and it will be strange to not need them anymore. I can imagine I’ll buy a non-prescription pair for when I miss having them around.

The one thing I can say to anyone who knows someone getting LASIK, is don’t tell them, “You’ll look so much better without glasses!” First off, it’s a passive-aggressive compliment implying they’re ugly in glasses. Secondly, how do you know they’re getting LASIK for appearance’s sake? I like the way I look in glasses, especially the pair I have now. I’m getting the surgery for practical reasons: seeing at night, in the shower, when I’m applying makeup, or when I’m swimming. I would love to not have to wipe them every time my dog licks my face.

Although many insurance companies disagree, LASIK is not a cosmetic surgery, I’m getting it done so I can see. And if a guy all of a sudden is interested in me just because I’m not wearing glasses anymore, then he can go screw himself. I don’t want an Aylmer whose love is only skin-deep.

So whether you have a birthmark, glasses, cellulite, stretch marks, a bald spot, or any other feature that makes you human, don’t worry. Good people will love you, with or without them.

Audiobook Review: Bossypants

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Cover

Image via Wikipedia

Rating: 5 out of 5

I’m back, fellow bloggers! Hope you all started the new year with a bang! Determined to broaden my horizons in 2012, I decided to buy my first audiobook. I was never interested in the medium after my middle school English teacher tortured us with an audio version of Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, an excruciatingly boring book about a boy lost in the wilderness.

But I thought I’d give audiobooks another shot and bought Tina Fey’s Bossypants on iTunes. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Tina Fey is the delightfully hilarious comedian who became famous for her work on “Saturday Night Live,” the chick-flick “Mean Girls” with Lindsay Lohan, and her show “30 Rock,” which is currently in its sixth season.

I had wanted to read Bossypants (2011) for the longest time, because absolutely everybody was raving about it. Since I knew it was going to be outrageously funny, I thought it would make my approx. 30 minute commute to and from work more bearable.

I was not disappointed. Tina narrated the audiobook herself, and her voice is so entertaining. She discusses everything from her bad-ass dad and facial scar, to her rise to fame with her various acting and writing gigs. She talks about meeting Sarah Palin after her popular impersonation with Amy Poelher, her horrendous honeymoon cruise, and her opinions on being a working mom. Part memoir, part improv, it’s what anyone should hope their life story sounds like.

What I love about Tina, and what makes her so relatable is her down-to-earth personality. She’s beautiful, but not of the supermodel quality, and when she says she was dorky as a child, she’s not just being modest (She even has a PDF full of old family photos to prove it!). But she’s also smart, sensible, and determined to battle sexism both at work and at home.

My only complaint is a practical issue. I know it takes a lot of time and effort to record an audiobook, but I spent over $20 for 5.5 hours of listening. If you paid attention to my commute time, I finished the book in less than a week. Thus, if I purchased audiobooks for the whole year, I would spend over $1000! Granted, I don’t regret buying it, but since paper books are so much cheaper and last a lot longer, audiobooks might have to be an every-now-and-then thing.

Overall, if you love Tina Fey, you’ll obviously love this book, but even you don’t know much about her, I bet you’ll still love it. I’m not lying when I say I was literally laughing out loud, to the point where I’m sure the drivers around me thought I was nuts. Sometimes when people can’t shut up about a book, you should tread lightly, but in this case, just jump right in! You won’t be sorry!

Favorite Quotes:

“This worked out perfectly for me in college, because what nineteen-year-old Virginia boy doesn’t want a wide-hipped, sarcastic Greek girl with short hair that’s permed on top? What’s that you say? None of them want that? You are correct.” 

“Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. In what other profession would you brag about not knowing stuff? ‘I’m not one of those fancy Harvard heart surgeons. I’m just an unlicensed plumber with a dream and I’d like to cut your chest open.’ The crowd cheers.”