Top Ten Tuesday: World's I'd Never Want to Live In

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish!
Today's topic is World's I'd Never Want to Live In (or Characters I'd Never Want To Trade Places With). I'll do a bit of both.

Firstly, fictional worlds:

1. Panem. Ugh. Who would? Hunger Games themselves are freaky - not to mention all the other horrors.

2. Divergent's Chicago. Though this isn't half as bad as Panem, I still don't like the idea of having to commit yourself to one character trait. Isn't everyone technically divergent, one way or another? I'm probably somewhere between Abnegation and Erudite, with some Amity as well.
I like my (real) Chicago much better. :-)

3. Calormen from The Chronicles of Narnia. (The countries are Ettinsmoor, Narnia, Archenland, Calormen - from North to South - if you didn't know.) The society in Calormen is extremely male-dominated, with slaves and harems. The government just isn't very nice. I'd probably end up as the wife of some old fellow, and live an unfulfilled life. Not cool.

And now, characters:

4. Fantine from Les Miserables. I think Fantine has one of the most heartbreaking stories in all of literature. Her guy left her pregnant, she has to become a prostitute to support her child (who's caretakers are using Fantine's money for themselves, and not for the child) - it's all so depressing. Thankfully, she has a gleam of happiness at the end before she dies, but still...


5. Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo. Sure, he gets a humongous treasure and all. But what's the price? He is arrested on his wedding day for a crime he didn't do, and then his best friend marries his fiance. He is in prison for YEARS and then has his heart burning up with revenge for even longer, until he learns that he isn't God. And he was such a successful and happy young 19 year old in the beginning of the book! I think he definitely got the short end of the stick.

6. Juliet from Romeo and Juliet. Of course, she just has to fall in love with that ONE guy at the party that just HAPPENS to be a Capulet.

7. Ezra Jennings from The Moonstone. He's ugly and has a reputation connected to him for a crime he didn't commit. But the poor guy is just trying to be a good doctor!

8. The Two Women in White in The Woman in White. Both Anne Catherick and Laura Fairlie definitely don't have happy lives. To live with that kind of a husband! Poor Laura. (I'm glad they both have their (sort of) happy endings, though.)

9. Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The poor fellow, living under the burden of revenge and wanting to escape society. I feel so bad for him!

10. The Entire Tuck Family from Tuck Everlasting. I would never want to live forever. It would become such a meaningless existence, growing old while everyone you love dies. You.... just... keep.... living....

(As a matter of fact, I wouldn't want to be an elf from LOTR either for the same reason, but at least the elves can die in battle - which isn't exactly my preferred way to die either...)

What about you? Which characters would you NEVER want to trade places with? Or what worlds would you never want to live in?

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 4 (Ex 1-24)

(Chapters 1-24)

The stories just keep getting longer and longer!

The story of the Exodus from Egypt is one that I have heard over and over and over again since my childhood. When my sister and I were little, we would go to the Chicago Botanical Gardens a lot, and visit this bridge to the Japanese Garden (trust me, this does have something to do with Exodus):



Here, my mother, my sister, and I would act out (numerous times) the story of Moses crossing the Red Sea.
One person would be Moses himself, stretching his arms out over the (rather placid) water; another would be the Israelites, grumbling about how they were about to get killed; and the third person would be (who else?) the Pharaoh, leading an invisible army of Egyptians from further down the path.
"Run!" the person playing Moses would scream, and the Israelite(s) would run across the bridge, with the Pharaoh in hot pursuit. Then came the dramatic moment - Moses would drop his (her?) arms, and the Pharaoh would execute an excellent performance of a drowning Egyptian right in the middle of the bridge.
It was pretty fantastic. :-)

My point (yes, there is a point here, outside of entertaining you with my family's crazy theatrical endeavors) - my point is that Moses has sort of become a Biblical hero, along with Abraham, Joseph, Solomon, David, and even Jesus. Moses is the mouthpiece of God, through which God works amazing miracles like the Parting of the Red Sea and the Ten Plagues of Egypt. Heck, he even stars in a movie! Moses has been Hollywood-ified. Enough said.

As I was reading the chapters this week, I noticed that, in reality, Moses is one of the most reluctant and unexpected heroes. He's not a war hero (like he is in The Ten Commandments). He's not a high official. For heaven's sake, he's not even eloquent! He stutters, and clearly hates even the thought of public speaking. And here's God (in the burning bush), saying that he's got to go talk to Pharaoh. That in itself is scary, let alone that God adds that Moses is going to lead the Israelites out of slavery. Moses is very much so not ready.

Though Moses may not be a heroic hero, he is the literary hero of this story, and he does succeed, with the help of Aaron's slightly better public speaking skills. But he still is continually unsure of what God is planning.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that as I read more and more of the Bible, I'm starting to realize how human all these characters are. The kiddy Bibles that I read at 8 years old make it sound like Abraham, Joseph, and Moses are some sort of perfect heroes - but they're not! They are fantastically well-rounded Characters.

That's it for this week. I sense the beginning of LOTS and LOTS of Rules! I suppose I'll just somehow have to stick it out through Leviticus and Numbers... don't expect too much content for the next few weeks. I'm not too great when readings lack a story line.

Any thoughts on Exodus? Let me know in the comments!

~Sophia

Little Free Library

As I said, I have had very little time lately to devote to this blog, but I thought I'd share some pictures of something awesome I saw on our ski trip.

Outside of a bakery there was this little box on the wall:

It was filled with books!

I googled "Little Free Library," and THIS came up. Apparently, there are Little Free Libraries EVERYWHERE! The idea is that you take a book, and you donate a book. 

Spectacular! I'm going to find one near my house.

~Sophia

Exciting Things in the Mail

So this post is going to be about a little bit of everything.

Firstly, this came in the mail a few days ago:

Lifeline Theatre, as I have mentioned THOUSANDS of times before is my absolute favorite theatre company. They write their own (most excellent and loyal) adaptations, and have the most fantastic - yet simple - sets. You may remember my post on their adaptation of The Three Musketeers.

And so, how perfect is it that they are doing A Tale of Two Cities, so conveniently close to our December readalong of that exact book!

I am looking forward to seeing the play with GREAT ANTICIPATION. It's running from Mid-February to Mid-April. (And then Monstrous Regiment is their production in June!)

If anyone is in the Chicago area, I highly recommend you check out Lifeline.

Continuing on with what came in the mail, this little book came just a few hours ago:

My wonderful aunt has, for the past three years, bought me a subscription to the wonderful magazine Writers' Forum. As an aspiring author, I have found its advice invaluable, and though I have yet to submit a story to its monthly competition, I have written in with a question for their advice columnist. This question surprisingly won that month's "best question" prize, which was the above book (though it HAS taken a good many months to get here... I wrote in sometime in the summer). I am super excited to read this book, because short stories are quite a challenge for me (novels come easier). I have trouble conveying scenes and ideas in a few poignant words, so hopefully it'll help me out.

Thirdly, and finally, I have a bit of sad news to convey to you all. (Don't worry, it's not too sad.) Because I have a LOAD of scholarship essays due in early February (gotta pay for college somehow), and because writing those obviously takes higher priority over writing this blog, I won't be updating nearly as often as I have been. :-(

Yes, I still have to write my post on The Night Circus (which might have to wait until February), and I will continue to do Top Ten Tuesdays and The Bible Project on Sundays. But that's probably all you're going to get for the next few weeks. I was thinking of doing some Shakespeare in honor of The Classics Club's monthly topic, but that might not happen. 

So there you go. That's the end of tonight's update!

~Sophia

Top Ten Tuesday: My Reading Wishlist

I'm ba-ack! I haven't done a TTT in weeks!
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. 

Today's topic is: Things I'd Make Authors Write About More.

Considering that I am myself an aspiring author, these things will almost definitely pop up in my own writing! 

1. Non-Western-Europe Fantasy. Almost all fantasy is set in a pseudo-Medieval-Western-Europe type culture. Now, I love Medieval Western Europe, but wouldn't it be awesome to see a Slavic fantasy? An African fantasy? A Middle Eastern fantasy? An East-Asian fantasy? The author Lloyd Alexander has a few books of this nature - but I want to see MORE! :-)

2. No Romantic Component. Yes, yes, we all love a little romance. But it would be refreshing to have a book where the romance either ended really early on, or barely existed at all. And continuing on a similar strain...

3. A Guy-Girl-Girl Love Triangle. This DOES happen in real life! But you wouldn't know from reading books nowadays. It's just because men traditionally "chase" the girl, and if a girl "chases" a boy, she's perceived as desperate. Also, when a Guy-girl-girl love triangle is (rarely) used, its a bratty, claw-scratching fight between the girls. Why is a Guy-guy-girl love triangle such a romantic thing, and the flip side just so middle-school-ey? A good author (not me) could probably make an awesome guy-girl-girl triangle which felt sincere.

4. Real Nerds (particularly girls). By this I mean girls who really enjoy some subject in school. REALLY ENJOY. For me, it's chemistry, literature, calculus, and even a bit of physics. The only real nerd girl that I have come upon in literature is Hermione. Seriously? There should be more.

5. Happy Families. One of my favorite blogs (The Thousand Lives) just had a post on this, and it's something I really agree with. There are SOOO many disfunctional families in literature. I know this is because all books need conflict, and it's easier to sympathize with the MC if he/she is in a bad situation. But come ON. Show us some supportive - yet disciplining - parents. Some awesome sibling relationships. Happy marriages. I know that life isn't always fine and dandy, and divorces DO happen, but it seems like almost all books have dysfunctional families.

Okay, I'm running out of things... this one is difficult!

Any thoughts? What would you like to see more of in books?

~Sophia

The Bible Project: Week 3 (Gen 35-50)

(Chapters 35 - 50)

Joseph

I really enjoyed reading the Joseph story. I mean, I've known it ever since I was little, but I just found it pleasant to actually read. Maybe it's because it's our first real story (development, rising action, climax, conclusion) that's spans at least five chapters. The rest have all been more like little snippets.

This line made me laugh:
"Now Joseph was strikingly handsome in countenance and body." (39:6b)
I read the above to my sister and she said, "Oh my gawd, I met this TOE-tally CUTE guy - he is so strikingly handsome in countenance and body!" in her best stereotypical teenage girl voice.

For some reason I really don't have much else to say.
Perhaps it is because it was more of a story - there's not much to analyze.
Perhaps it is just because I am not up to making any profound statements today.
Most likely it is because I have somewhere to be in fifteen minutes - profound statements don't come quickly.

On to Exodus!

Do you have anything (profound or otherwise) to contribute regarding the Joseph story? Comment!!

~Sophia

Monstrous Regment by Terry Pratchett // Funny Fantasy

Okay, gonna keep this nice and short, because I'm rather swamped with schoolwork and other responsibilities.

I read Monstrous Regiment in two days while on vacation. I'd almost forgotten how good it felt to read a book in less than a week. The past few months have been filled with squeezing in reading time in between schoolwork, and it was good to just - read. (Though I have a sad feeling that I'm about to go back to that limited-reading-time sort of life now.)

Anyway, you may remember that my introduction to Pratchett occurred some months ago, and I really enjoyed it. Monstrous Regiment was equally spectacular.

It's really hard not to give spoilers, but I really enjoyed how the story kept giving me more and more surprises as it went along. Just marvelous.

Pratchett's worldbuilding is also marvelous. It's a fantasy world - with overtones of the real world. Somehow, there are a thousand comments on our society and rules. Consider Nuggan's Abominations in Monstrous Regiment. Nuggan is a god who is just a creation to suppress the people. Rocks are an Abomination unto Nuggan? Now, I am a Christian, and I believe in God (and don't think God is at all like Nuggan), but it is an interesting view in religion in general, and how religion can be used to oppress and suppress the people. It makes me think of the Church in the Middle Ages.

It also makes me wonder if Pratchett was at all religious. 

Update: If anyone else was wondering, after some slight research I have discovered that Pratchett is an atheist.

Continuing on, Pratchett is always astounding me with his amazing insights into life. His little comments on life veiled in humor prove that Pratchett spends a lot of time watching people. Everyone talks about how George R. R. Martin is so excellent at writing female characters. Personally, I don't completely agree. But Pratchett? His women are pretty spot-on, I'd say. Monstrous Regiment is a fantastic example of that, and there are a variety of different female characters portrayed.

This is getting to be a longer post that I thought it would! I'd like to end it with this note:

Lifeline Theater (my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE theater company) is doing an adaptation of Monstrous Regiment. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the book is going to transfer to the stage. Shows are in June and July, so I'll have to wait a bit, but it's worth waiting for!

Have you read Monstrous Regiment or any other Terry Pratchett? Did you like it? If you've read Pratchett before - which of his books do you recommend I read next?

~Sophia