Sword in the Stone II

    I finished the Sword in the Stone and I must say that I didn't really get all the hype about it. Maybe it gets better as he grows older, but in this book when he's a child he wasn't much of a likable character. The Wart was a good name for him. I think I'll try to read the sequel--the lady in the lake?--but finding it might be more work than I'm willing to put in.
    To put it in perspective, I suppose I have to realize that the writing style was quite drab in that time period, so I should be happy I could get through a chapter of it. I'm looking forward to The Wizard of Earthsea a little more. I hope it has more interesting magic than what was shown in King Author, where Merilyn just turned Art into different animals. I used to be a rabid fantasy reader, so I look forward to seeing the classic and comparing it to other, more modern, fantasy I've read.

The Sword in the Stone

T.H. White wrote The Sword in the Stone, the first King Arthur story. I first picked this novel up because my mother mentioned that I should read some Arthurian legend because it's a allusion found in literature often. I've found it slower going than usual, there being less dialog and more description than I'm used to. Despite the pace, its a interesting book. The characters are engaging and complicated, both their bad and their good sides shown to the reader.
     One thing about it is that it's really really corny. It's written as a classical fantasy, which are cony to begin with, but this takes it a little farther. Especially the scene with Robin Wood, which takes place about three-fourths of the way through the book. If I were to make a request to the author, I would ask that he or she write the scene about the sword already! It's the title for gods sake!

Name all the Animals III

We finished Name all the Animals over the weekend and are supposed to report on it. My report is on the characters, namely Alison, Roy and Terri. The author(and main character) makes the characters very realistic since they are real people and all the things they said were said in real life, giving them a very down to earth feel. They might jave been real, but I didn't really like them.
Alison, who is the main character, I found annoyingly non-productive. She never really grew as a character, simply going from normal to depressed to normal again. She was also horny as hell which I found somewhat uncomfortable. She didn't really do anything for me.
    Roy, who is dead, is a complicated character because you never really get to know him. He lives only in her memories and those memories are usually about good times, so he strikes you as a good guy. I'm sure he was a good guy, but it was odd having a character that you never heard anything bad about. 
   Terri, Alison's girlfriend was a main character, but you didn't really see into her head. Most of the scenes with her were riddled with Alison's insecurities. She isn't very insecure like most girls her age and she feels very new age to me(not that that's a bad thing). I found myself being disappointed with her when she got a new girlfriend out of the blue like she did, though. All in all, I wasn't a huge fan of the characters but I didn't hate them either.

Name all the Animals II

We were asked to be specific in this post, to write about the writing instead of the plot. Well, I like the writing, it's very personalized and not as sad as The Bell Jar. She uses a lot of details for her scenes and she really describes everything, which seems impossible, since it was years ago. She also uses pretty vivid images to descibe how she's feeling or how Roy is feeling. The way she wrote about Roy, like he was still alive, yet not, was interesting and I liked it a lot.

Name all the Animals

     So, this isn't an awful book, but I'm not loving it either. Part of it's my fault, I'm sick of sad stories, but I don't really enjoy memoirs all that much. The character is annoying and her family is even worse. I also ruined the book for myself by reading the author interview and realizing that(spoiler alert!) she falls in love with a woman. When ever a female character entered the story I was wondering if it would be her. I was also disgusted with her when she has sex in a nun's room. What is she thinking?
     It is kind of interesting in that it takes place in Rochester and I know all the land marks she mentions. It gives an interesting account of Mercy life, one I'll never be able to experience myself but will always wonder about.
    All in all, it's not a bad book but I don't really like it.

Sylvia Plath's Poetry

The swarm- I don't really understand her poetry, it's too deep for me, but this one was about people in the country that shoot thing. It's written in lines of four--quartets?--and had a few fragmented line brakes. The swarm is referring to a swarm of bees that get higher and higher and eventually get shot down by the gray faced men.
Resolve-this poem is all about images, cats and roses bushes and sneering winds. It had a few one word lines and funky line brakes that probably mean something. I liked it better than The swarm because it was short and simple. I didn't understand what she was resolved about, but maybe it was to live.
Years-this poem, as far as I can tell, is about how she's tired of life. She mentions that she never wanted eternity, and that God isn't high on her favorite people list.
Stillborn-I actually liked this one, it's about how poems are similar to stillborn baby's. I got the comparison, and appreciated that I didn't feel stupid reading it. It was also a sad poem, surprise, surprise, but it wasn't all weepy. 

The Bell Jar

We are now reading The Bell Jar by Silvia Plath fro Mr. Craddock. Personally I don't like it at all. I realize that she's depressed, that she's going crazy, that she's going to kill herself, but really, she can stop whining already. It's all, this sucks, that sucks, woe is me. Suck it up!
   I also don't really enjoy this writing style. I can't wait to be finished with it.