Wednesday, May 14. 2008
Mark Dunn's novel Ella Minnow Pea is a series of letters between several residents of Nollop, a fictitious island-nation off the coast of South Carolina. Nevin Nollop, the creator of the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" which is famous for containing all the letters of the alphabet in a single sentence, is the country's name-sake and is highly revered by it's citizens.
The town square contains a monument to Nollop, with the famous phrase spelled out on lettered tiles. As the book begins, the letter Z drops off the monument, and the town elders declare that Nollop is speaking to them from beyond the grave and telling them to strike the letter Z completely from their language.
When I was told about the premise of the book, I thought of it as an interesting mechanic for a novel: the subsequent correspondence has to use more interesting words to get around the letter-restrictions. For example, if you're q-restricted, you couldn't say "question", but you could say "posit". A definite draw for the "wordsmith" in me.
The book starts out as an innocent collection of correspondence, primarily between Ella Minnow Pea and her family and friends, but quickly turns towards darker territory as they chronicle the events that follow.
Friday, April 25. 2008
When I tell people that I graduated with a B.A. in Linguistics, they usually ask me, "So, how many languages do you speak?". In fact, I only got into Linguistics because I was interested in learning other languages. So when I answer their question with "Two - English and Spanish" (I learned Spanish while living in Panama), I can see the disappointment in their eyes. I know they were expecting an answer more like "Six" or "Eight". As it turns out, that's really not what Linguistics is about. Yes you do study other languages, but you don't necessarily learn to speak other languages. I spent 3 months in a "Linguistic Structure of French" class without learning to speak a single phrase in French. Theoretical Linguistics is more about studying languages in order to understand the underlying manner of how the brain works.
Steven Pinker's Book The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language is a great place to start for someone who wants to start into current Linguistic theory.
Monday, March 31. 2008
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
by Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley
Walton, in continuation.
August 26th, 17--
You have read this strange and terrific story, Margaret; and do you not feel your blood congeal with horror, like that which even now curdles mine? Sometimes, seized with sudden agony, he could not continue his tale; at others, his voice broken, yet piercing, uttered with difficulty the words so replete with anguish. His fine and lovely eyes were now lighted up with indignation, now subdued to downcast sorrow and quenched in infinite wretchedness. Sometimes he commanded his countenance and tones and related the most horrible incidents with a tranquil voice, suppressing every mark of agitation; then, like a volcano bursting forth, his face would suddenly change to an expression of the wildest rage as he shrieked out imprecations on his persecutor.
Continue reading "Frankenstein - Final Installment"
Tuesday, March 25. 2008
Some of you might have wondered what happened in October to the Book of the Month. Well, with the travel and work that I was doing, I ended up going into an unannounced hiatus. Today, I am declaring the hiatus at an end. Within the last few days, I have posted the next couple of chapters to Frankenstein, October's book. There are a few more chapters to go, so watch for those over the next few days.
Starting in April, I will be starting with Moby Dick as the Book of the Month. Hopefully this time, I can get posts set up so that posting is easier. There will likely be more chapters than days of the month, so I may post more than one chapter a day, or it may declare a "Book of Two Months" thread.
One other change you'll see is that the individual chapter postings no longer show up on the main page, even though they will continue to be included in the RSS feed. This is so the individual chapters don't "hide" the reviews that have been done by some of the other authors. I will make an initial post that the Book of the Month has started with some details about the month's choice, but if you are looking for the next installment, you'll have to get it by clicking the link at the right.
So, stay tuned as the postings and content increases. It will be enjoyable for any who care to lounge at the Pub.
Monday, March 17. 2008
I've owned 5 Novels by Daniel Pinkwater for some time now. It's been on a shelf in my library for several years. The book, surprise surprise, is a collection of five of his young adult novels. I had never heard of anything by Pinkwater, so I was somewhat reluctant to begin reading something by an unknown author (to me at least). Imagine my delighted surprise when I started with the first novel, Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars. I've read funny stories before, but I've never read a story that had me laughing so hard I couldn't keep reading... TWICE!
Friday, October 12. 2007
Some of you may have noticed that I've been posting Frankenstein this month as a "Book of the Month." I'm still playing around with the lengths of those posts, although with this particular one, I'm trying to make sure I've got enough time to run the whole book. It's been a little slow going getting it started, but it seems to be working out relatively well. Some of you that are subscribed to the RSS feed will need to let me know if it is way too much for your reader to handle. I'll be posting some more tonight, so keep on reading.
Dandy
Monday, October 1. 2007
Ray's post on DailyLit has inspired me. I have to admit it is a cool service. I haven't subscribed yet, but I may. In the meantime, I wanted to give you guys a little taste of what it might be like. In addition, I wanted to get you guys in the mood for the upcoming holiday (notice the changes to the look of the site). As such, beginning tomorrow, I'm planning on doing a daily post of a portion of "Frankenstein" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. I personally haven't read the book yet, but I will be as the month goes on. In the meantime, you can drop by once a day to see the latest installment of the book, or you can point your favorite RSS reader to the site and get it that way. The links are at the bottom. If you miss any of the installments, look in the new category I'm creating called "Book of the Month." If it's something that you guys like, I'll keep it up with other books to come. In any case, enjoy the season, and enjoy the book.
Dandy
Tuesday, September 25. 2007
For those that have trouble finding time for reading, DailyLit may be just what you need. The service feeds you small chunks of the book you're reading, sized just right for a quick bit of reading every day. You can get your daily literary dose either by email or by RSS feed.
I've been trying it out for a few weeks now and so far am really enjoying it. I found it a very odd way to read at first. Not that I was reading a book electronically, but that I was reading such a small amount in a such a brief sitting; being accustomed to sitting down and reading a book for hours at a time. But of course, that's just the point. Feasting on a book in this way usually limits reading to just weekends and interferes with the dozen other things on the weekend to-do list. With DailyLit you nibble instead of feast.
Now I'm not sure nibbling works for every book out there. My first experiment with this is Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw. Being a play, I suspect it's a lot easier to adapt to the frequent stop and start cycle. With a novel, you won't be reading a chapter at a time, just a couple of pages. So leaving off right in the middle of something and having to pick it up again the next day may be too jarring for many works.
All in all, though, it's definitely worth a shot at sprinkling in a bit of literary goodness into your daily routine. http://dailylit.com
Friday, August 24. 2007
There are times when even avid readers have a hard time getting into a book. I count myself among those who, at times, can't find anything that interests me. In particular, the last couple of weeks I've been trying to find something new to read that I can really get into. In the meantime, I've been trying to force my way through a book.
Continue reading "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell"
Monday, August 20. 2007
Just thought I'd stretch my Latin muscles a little. It's been almost a year since I last posted. Hopefully such a lag in posting will no longer be a normal occurrence. You may have noticed some new names on the side bar. I'm trying to recruit some help in the reviewing of reading material. All of these guys are people I know and have dealt with in the past. I trust their judgment and think they will be a good addition to the site.
Continue reading "Tempus Fugit!"
Wednesday, September 27. 2006
Well, a lot of things have been going on to keep me from posting. Not the least of which has been my own lazy nature. Since the last post, I've changed jobs, went back to school, left school and am working on starting my own business. In the meantime, I've been reading books. Unfortunately, most have been technical books and not really that interesting. Hopefully, I'll have a little more time going forward that I can at least post more often, if not regularly. Maybe I'll finally get this thing rewritten to include some features for the users. Either way, I'll keep you posted.
Dandy
Thursday, May 4. 2006
A little less than a week ago, I sat around with some friends and talked about how we get to know the people in our neighborhood better. The discussion centered on how to really earn their friendship. We talked about striking up conversations and similar ideas, and then someone mentioned that we could offer to help them with some project, or even ask for help with one of our projects and then we could reciprocate in a similar fashion. Later that night, I remembered having wanted to see the movie " Pay It Forward ", which had a similar premise. Then, as I sat down to the glow of a computer screen, I realized I should read the book. I am glad that I did.
Wednesday, May 3. 2006
Just a quick note to point out some changes to the site.
1. I set the configuration to only show the first paragraph on new entries. If you want to see the whole thing, you'll need to follow the link at the bottom of the entry.
2. I added a link to the side so that you can choose the style you want to see when you are on the page. Currently it gets reset when you close your browser, but eventually it will be tied to a user profile so it will look that way every time you log in.
I am planning on doing a review post tonight. It might be late, so check back tomorrow for that. I'm trying to finish the book before I post. Have a good day.
Tuesday, April 25. 2006
Well, that didn't take long. I missed my deadline by two weeks on only the third post, not to mention the fact that I don't really have a book to review this time. About all I can say is that I added some new categories which can be seen to the left. I put the different types of books under a "books" category and made categories for "news", "personal" and "tech".
Continue reading "Missed Deadlines"
Thursday, April 6. 2006
In a recent article in the Washington Post, it states that the current personal savings rate sits at negative 0.5 percent. This marks the 11th consecutive month that the personal savings rate has been in the negative. This is only one indicator of the unfortunate state of many American's finances. As such, now is an appropriate time for all of us to read and apply the principles found in the book titled " The Richest Man in Babylon ."
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