April - National Poetry Month

I've been waiting for this for awhile. An excuse to talk about poetry, even if it's only by myself. April is National Poetry Month. Check out the American Academy of Poets website for more details here. A review of their synopsis:

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

I'm going to participate in the Poem-a-day email, and will post them here for the entire month, along with any other favorites I can think of. I am also reading two poetry books, Final Harvest - Emily Dickinson's Poems and Custard and Company - Poems by Ogden Nash, both of which I will review and discuss at the end of the month.

I encourage anyone else to chose a poetry book for this month and review it here. There are a lot of fun ones out there. If anyone has a favorite poem, or one you've written yourself, please post away.
Otherwise, happy poetry reading!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by JK Rowling

You don’t have to be a wizard or a kid to appreciate the spell cast by Harry Potter. For me returning to this series was like returning to a familiar pillow and blanket, a favorite dessert, or my favorite well-worn shoes: instantaneous comfort. What a joy this was to read again.

Because most everyone is as familiar with these three-dimensional characters and spooky scenes as they are the ingredients in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, I’m going to test your knowledge and walk through the book in question form. Only the most diligent kids; or I mean grown-ups may apply.

1. On what day of the week does our story begin?

2. How many presents did Dudley get for his eleventh birthday?

3. What country is the boa constrictor at the zoo from?

4. What day of the week was Harry’s eleventh birthday?

5. What did Hagrid cook for Harry when he first met him?

6. Name one course book first year students at Hogwarts will require.

7. What is Harry’s wand made from?

8. While waiting to board the train, what does George offer to send his mom from Hogwarts?

9. What kind of lumpily packaged sandwich does Ron unhappily unwrap on the train?

10. What is the first portrait password to get into Gryffindor tower?

11. What bone did Neville break while attempting to fly?

12. Who is the captain of the Gryffindor’s Quidditch team?

13. What game does Harry compare Quidditch to?

14. On what holiday does the troll appear?

15. What is the name of the three-headed dog guarding the trap-door?

16. What gifts did Harry receive for Christmas?

17. What does Dumbledore see when he looks in the Mirror of Erised?

18. How old was Nicholas Flamel?

19. What kind of dragon does Hagrid have? What’s its name?

20. How did Filch once punish wayward students?

21. Name the centaurs Harry meets in the forest.

22. What instrument do they use to put the three-headed dog asleep?

23. What position did Ron play on the chess board?

24. What flavor of bean did Dumbledore eat while visiting Harry in the hospital?

25. How many times have you read this book?

***

A delightful read that's worth revisiting often, even if I am a muggle. 4 Stars

More Harry Potter Trivia

Some amusing quotes from the first four books.

Do you know which book they are from?

1. "'They're... they're really... well, thanks, Dobby,' said Harry, and he pulled them on, causing Dobby's eyes to leak with happiness again."

2. "'Now -- be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm.'"

3. "'Well... when we were in our first year, Harry -- young, carefree, and innocent --' Harry snorted. He doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent. '-- well, more innocent than we are now -- we got into a spot of bother with Filch.'"

4. "'Certainly I knew, Minerva,' she said quietly. 'But one does not parade the fact that one is All-Knowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous.' 'That explains a great deal,' said Professor McGonagall tartly."

5. "'I've been promoted,' Percy said before Harry could even ask, and from his tone, he might have been announcing his election as supreme ruler of the universe."

Be sure to decide your answers (unless you want to cheat) before you look at the comments.
Happy reading!

Spotlight for February

I'm trying to reread the Harry Potter Series again this year and thought I'd spotlight the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the month of February. A lot of us are very familiar with this series, so for the next thirty days or so, I'll occasionally post tidbits about JK Rowling, the book and maybe some Potter trivia as I try to familiarize myself with the series again.
Here's a few samples. Anybody already know the answers?

1. What kind of wizard does Hagrid tell Harry he's going to be?
2. On the Hogarts Express, which candy bar does Harry hope to buy?
3. In which order does Professor Mcgonagall introduce the houses to the first years?
4. What did Harry think they had to do to be sorted?
5. Whose head did Fred and George have bewitched snowballs bouncing off of?

Just a taste ladies. Just a taste...
Happy reading!

A Confederacy of Dunces

By John Kennedy Toole

“A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once.”
So enters in the first paragraph of this Pulitzer Prize winning novel, a most memorable character, Mr. Ignatius Reilly.

Ignatius is a “slob extraordinaire”, a lunatic on almost every level, a “fat Don Quixote” who at thirty years of age and nine years of school later, is jobless and still lives with his mother in a quiet little city named New Orleans. You'd think a character like that would be hard to like, but surprisingly by the end of the book I found him, and the laughable cast of characters that make up this farce to be quite endearing.

When Mr. Reilly’s long-suffering, slightly drunk mother gets in a car accident, our anti-hero’s life takes an unfortunate turn. She insists he leave the comfort of his yellow stained sheets, his screaming at the television, his castigating the world on big writing tablets that he keeps hidden under his bed, and get a job to help pay the damages. Fortuna has indeed dealt him a serious blow. What of his valve? What of his lute playing? But find a job he must, and we know of course, it will not end well.

A stint at Levi Pants, where “when he was at last nestled upon his perch, he looked like an eggplant balanced atop a thumb tack”, he leads the factory workers on an all out revolt for the “last crusaders of Moorish dignity”. His second attempt as a hot dog vendor also ceases as quickly as it begins, where he complains: “These carts are like Chinese puzzles. I suspect that I will be continually pulling at the wrong end.”

Woven within these promenades into the working world is a tapestry of endearing, and almost equally as obnoxious, secondary characters. Poor, always sick Patrolman Mancuso who couldn’t arrest anyone if he tried; Miss Trixie, the million year old secretary at Levi Pants who’s never allowed to retire no matter how bad she wants to; Miss Lee, the Nazi-like commandant of the Night of Joy Bar; Jones, one cool cat, floor sweeper who utters the word “Ooo-eee. Everythin in the Night of Joy firs rate” every chance he gets; and the stripper Darlene and her murderess cockatoo.

A complex cast in a complex, almost Dickens type of novel. I liked it, even though like Seinfeld, it was really about nothing of importance. Just a snapshot of life in New Orleans in the 50’s. A clear picture. The characters and scenery were so well described, I felt like I was there. John Kennedy Toole never lived to see it developed into the grand art it has become. I wondered as I read how closely his life matched Reilly’s. Was he too enclosed often in his room in the house that he still shared with his mother, writing furiously about the ails of the world around him?

It's a shame we will never know for sure. I would've liked to read a sequel to Reilly's exploits with his nemesis and girlfriend, Myrna Minkoff. Instead I must be content with a good chuckle, and a long sigh. Indeed, I hope my valve survives it. 4 Stars

***This was the Spotlight Book for January. Did anyone else get it finished? I'm curious what others thought of the book. Apparently you either love it or hate it. No inbetween .

Recommended book for January

Leslie has assigned me the month of January to pick a book. For those of you who would like to read the book there will be a discussion held at the end of the month. This will also go towards your reading duels if you are participating.
The book I have chosen is "A Cofederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.


Here is a brief synopsis of the book:
Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. ("Speeding along in that bus was like hurtling into the abyss.") But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and writing his endless comparative history screeches to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso--who mistakes him for a vagrant--and then involved in a car accident with his tipsy mother behind the wheel. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job.

I hope some of you will participate and enjoy the book along with me.