Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

reading & coffee



This is what I’m doing this morning. I’ve piddled around online a bit, but this is the plan—keep doing this.


Yesterday I finished The United States of Atlantis by Harry Turtledove. It’s the second in a set of three (so far). I liked the first a lot, but this one was so-so. A lot of repetitious dialogue, etc., and a good bit of the time it just seemed like he was setting up the situation for the next book.

If you’re not familiar with Harry Turtledove, he writes mostly alternate history. It’s like historical fiction, except there’s always a “what if” element that creates the setting. Like, what if the South won the American Civil War? Or, in the case of these Atlantic books, what if the eastern chunk of North America—from the east coast to roughly the Mississippi River—were actually a separate continent out in the Atlantic Ocean? And then he writes a story set there. He’ll often use some actual historical characters along with fictional characters. In The United States of Atlantis there are fictional characters who are analogous to various historical characters from the American Revolution.

Anyway... I just started Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. And that’s my plan for the rest of the morning, which, at this point, isn’t very long. So, maybe it’ll also be part of my afternoon—that, and coffee, and being naked.  Whee!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

In the Night Kitchen


Maurice Sendak died today.


He was a beloved children’s author, best known for “Where the Wild Things Are”.  He also wrote other things. I remember in elementary school watching “Really Rosie” (music by Carole King).

I even vaguely recall there being some kind of live performance, maybe by the class a year or two ahead of mine. Or maybe I’m remembering that wrong.

Anyway, the Sendak work I remember liking the most was “In the Night Kitchen”.


It’s about a boy who falls (or dreams) into the “night kitchen” and has a little adventure there.


I remember thinking that the cooks looked weird.


They all look the same, which is weird, and they also all look like Oliver Hardy from the Laurel and Hardy comedy team.

(He's the the one on the right.)

I also remember noticing that Mickey (the kid) was naked, and knowing that was unusual for kids’ stories. But I didn’t find it bothersome or perverse.






So, there was also an animated version.


I wish the picture quality were better, but this is all I could find.

The music was composed by, and the narration performed by, Peter Schickele (a.k.a. P.D.Q. Bach).

Apparently, the book was really controversial and banned in various places back in 1970 when it was written. According to this article—“The 15 Most Controversial Picture Books” —it remains on various lists of banned or controversial books.

Also, It was a Caldecott “Honor” Award recipient (which is like first runner up).

Well, I applaud Maurice Sendak for having the balls to let his character have balls.