In any case, the word I have chosen for the week of February 27 is:
"Febrile: marked or caused by fever; feverish."I think I should be able to remember this one... :)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Vocabulary: Week 9
Week 9 is upon us. I don't know if I'm actually learning the definitions of these words, but I have attempted to use some in conversation... must make more of an effort!
In any case, the word I have chosen for the week of February 27 is:
In any case, the word I have chosen for the week of February 27 is:
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Book Review: The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
To quote The Miami Herald and The Daily Telegraph, "Astonishingly captivating...fierce and ingenious," and "Heart-in-the-mouth stuff, terrifying and moving. Haddon is to be congratulated for imagining a new kind of hero."
The story takes place in Swindon, England, and is written in the voice of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15 year old boy who has extraordinary math and physics skills, and a perfect memory. It never says he is Autistic, just that he has behavioral problems, but that is the idea I get from the descriptions of his preferences and behavior.
So, in the beginning, Christopher discovers that his neighbour's poodle, Wellington, has been murdered with a garden fork in the middle of the night. And Mrs. Shears (the owner) thinks that Christopher did it, because he's a bit different and she found him holding the bloody dog in her yard. So the police come and speak to Christopher but he doesn't understand the questions and when the police officer tries to pull him up off the ground, Christopher hits him, which earns him a "caution," which haunts him for the rest of the book. Christopher decides that he's going to discover who killed Wellington, so he looks at all the likely suspects, and starts talking to various neighbours, even tho he doesn't like talking to strangers. And he decides to write this book, which will be a murder mystery.
In his detecting, an elderly lady neighbour tells Christopher that his mother, who he believes to have been dead for 3 years, never did die, she had an affair with Mr. Shears and they ran away together. But Christopher is not affected by this information because his father told him his mother was dead, and his father wouldn't lie to him, so he believe the affair happened before she died.
When Christopher's father happens upon the book, he discovers that Christopher knows the truth about his mother, and he becomes very upset, hits Christopher, and takes the book away. Christopher ends up finding his book in his father's closet among piles of letters addressed to Christopher. After reading them, he realizes that they're from his mother, and it finally sinks in that Mother is still alive and living in London.
Not long after this, Father tells Christopher that he was the one who killed Wellington. Because after Mother ran away with Mr. Shears, Father didn't know how to tell Christopher what had happened so he told him she'd died and it was just easier to keep on lying. In the meantime, Mrs. Shears became a close friend and would sometimes stay with them, and Father thought that someday she might like to live with them permanently, but she ended up caring more about her dog than she cared about them. So he'd killed the dog. Knowing that his father was a "murderer" and a liar made Christopher very frightened to be near him, so he decided that he couldn't stay there any longer. At first he was going to ask Mrs. Shears if he could stay with her, but she wasn't home and the elderly neighbour wanted him to talk about the situation with his father, so he ended up running away, deciding that he was going to find his mother in London.
The rest of the book more or less details Christopher's difficult and strenuous journey to London and shows how he was able to use the skills and knowledge in his possession to find his way around train stations and London itself. He stayed with Mother and Mr. Shears for a few days, but he and Mother eventually went back to Swindon because things weren't going very well anymore with Mr. Shears. Once home, Christopher is able to take his Maths A level exam, which he has been looking forward to for a long time and didn't think he'd be able to do while he was in London. He gets an A grade on the exam, and Mother gets a little apartment near Father's house. Father makes Christopher promise to work on their relationship by agreeing to spend a certain amount of time with him every day, and in return Father will do things to show Christopher that he can trust him again. Father buys Christopher a dog, which he names Sandy, and life starts to get back to normal for Christopher.
The closing paragraphs are so touching, and I just have to quote them:
Overall story rating: 9/10
Recommendation: 15+ for some language and content
The story takes place in Swindon, England, and is written in the voice of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15 year old boy who has extraordinary math and physics skills, and a perfect memory. It never says he is Autistic, just that he has behavioral problems, but that is the idea I get from the descriptions of his preferences and behavior.
So, in the beginning, Christopher discovers that his neighbour's poodle, Wellington, has been murdered with a garden fork in the middle of the night. And Mrs. Shears (the owner) thinks that Christopher did it, because he's a bit different and she found him holding the bloody dog in her yard. So the police come and speak to Christopher but he doesn't understand the questions and when the police officer tries to pull him up off the ground, Christopher hits him, which earns him a "caution," which haunts him for the rest of the book. Christopher decides that he's going to discover who killed Wellington, so he looks at all the likely suspects, and starts talking to various neighbours, even tho he doesn't like talking to strangers. And he decides to write this book, which will be a murder mystery.
In his detecting, an elderly lady neighbour tells Christopher that his mother, who he believes to have been dead for 3 years, never did die, she had an affair with Mr. Shears and they ran away together. But Christopher is not affected by this information because his father told him his mother was dead, and his father wouldn't lie to him, so he believe the affair happened before she died.
When Christopher's father happens upon the book, he discovers that Christopher knows the truth about his mother, and he becomes very upset, hits Christopher, and takes the book away. Christopher ends up finding his book in his father's closet among piles of letters addressed to Christopher. After reading them, he realizes that they're from his mother, and it finally sinks in that Mother is still alive and living in London.
Not long after this, Father tells Christopher that he was the one who killed Wellington. Because after Mother ran away with Mr. Shears, Father didn't know how to tell Christopher what had happened so he told him she'd died and it was just easier to keep on lying. In the meantime, Mrs. Shears became a close friend and would sometimes stay with them, and Father thought that someday she might like to live with them permanently, but she ended up caring more about her dog than she cared about them. So he'd killed the dog. Knowing that his father was a "murderer" and a liar made Christopher very frightened to be near him, so he decided that he couldn't stay there any longer. At first he was going to ask Mrs. Shears if he could stay with her, but she wasn't home and the elderly neighbour wanted him to talk about the situation with his father, so he ended up running away, deciding that he was going to find his mother in London.
The rest of the book more or less details Christopher's difficult and strenuous journey to London and shows how he was able to use the skills and knowledge in his possession to find his way around train stations and London itself. He stayed with Mother and Mr. Shears for a few days, but he and Mother eventually went back to Swindon because things weren't going very well anymore with Mr. Shears. Once home, Christopher is able to take his Maths A level exam, which he has been looking forward to for a long time and didn't think he'd be able to do while he was in London. He gets an A grade on the exam, and Mother gets a little apartment near Father's house. Father makes Christopher promise to work on their relationship by agreeing to spend a certain amount of time with him every day, and in return Father will do things to show Christopher that he can trust him again. Father buys Christopher a dog, which he names Sandy, and life starts to get back to normal for Christopher.
The closing paragraphs are so touching, and I just have to quote them:
"{Talking about his Maths A level grade, and that he's going to take the Further Maths for A level exam next year...} And I'm going to pass it and get an A grade. And in two years' time I am going to take A-level physics and get an A grade. And then, when I've done that, I am going to go to university in another town. And it doesn't have to be in London because I don't like London and there are universities in lots of places and not all of them are in big cities. And I can live in a flat with a garden and a proper toilet. And I can take Sandy and my books and my computer. And then I will get a First Class Honors degree and I will become a scientist. And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? and I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything."
Overall story rating: 9/10
Recommendation: 15+ for some language and content
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Vocabulary: Weeks 7 & 8
I wasn't able to get around to posting a new word last week because I was a bit frazzled over getting into a new routine at my new job(!!!).
So, for the week of February 13:
Here's to learning new words and doing new things and having new jobs!
So, for the week of February 13:
"Inherent: involved in the constitution or essential character of something: belonging by nature or habit: intense."And for the week of February 20:
"Ubiquitous: existing or being everywhere at the same time: constantly encountered: widespread."Inherent is a word I've heard, and possibly even used, without really knowing the definition, and in fact, what I thought it meant was a little bit off. As for ubiquitous, I've read it many times before and it seems to be a popular word to look up on Merriam-Webster online, but again, I didn't really know what it meant.
Here's to learning new words and doing new things and having new jobs!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Book Review: Dancing with Butterflies by Reyna Grande
Dancing with Butterflies is a touching story about the lives of 4 Mexican women. Yesenia and her husband Eduardo own Alegrìa, a Folklòrico dance studio/company in Los Angeles. Elena and Adriana are sisters. Elena, the most naturally talented dancer they had, left Alegrìa to marry her boyfriend Richard when she found out she was pregnant. Adriana lives, eats, breathes Folklòrico, even tho she has to work twice as hard as everyone else and still is not the best. Her true talent is her voice, but she refuses to acknowledge it because dancing makes her feel connected to her long-dead mother. Soledad is an illegal immigrant who came to the US 17 years ago to help her mother take care of her new baby sister, Stephanie. Soledad can't speak much English, and because she has no papers there's not much she can do for work. But she is an incredibly talented costume designer, and when Alegrìa has the money, they hire her to make their costumes. She was born with a birth mark on her face, and her mother always told her that she would never be able to find a man because of it.
Since moving to the US it has been Soledad's dream to own her own dress shop. She saves every penny she can, and her dressmaker friend Rùben promises to help her make her dream come true. He has his papers so he can buy property, whereas she can't. Soledad is in love with Rùben, but he is gay, and he ends up using the money he promised Soledad to have a sex change. Soledad's dream of owning her own shop goes down the drain. Then they get word that Soledad's grandmother is dying, so Soledad and her mother and Stephanie go to Mexico to see Abuelita Licha, but she's already dead when they get there. Then it is a struggle to get Soledad back to America.
Yesenia's knee has been bothering her for sometime, but she keeps dancing in spite of it. Eventually the knee gives out and she can no longer dance. To her, this is the end of life because Folklòrico is everything to her and Eduardo. The doctor tells her that losing weight might help her knee. She eventually decides that dieting is useless, so she goes to Mexico to have liposuction without consulting her husband or son. She then becomes addicted to body-sculpting surgeries (she has a face lift and tummy tuck later on, which doesn't turn out as planned) and steals money from Alegrìa to support her addiction. Her marriage is in a shambles, and she ends up looking up an old high school love interest and having an affair with him.
Elena is almost full term when she loses her baby. The depression that takes over her ruins her marriage and her love for life. She teaches at a local high school, and after her husband leaves, a new student joins her after school Folklòrico dance program. His name is Fernando, she can see his talent and helps him join Alegrìa. She also has an affair with him, but the guilt of their affair on top of the depression from the loss of her marriage and daughter pushes her inside herself and away from everyone she cares about.
Adriana has a knack for always finding the worst men and not being able to hold a steady job. Her mother died when she was young and because Adriana looked so much like her mother, her father would beat her as he had beaten her mother. One time he hit her and she was bleeding and Elena called the cops, and they put their father in jail and made the girls live with their paternal grandparents who hated them. Elena then moved away to college and left Adriana to deal with their grandparents. Adriana has never forgiven Elena for abandoning her. Adriana hooks up with the new dancer, Emilio, at Alegrìa. Emilio is bad news, he beats her up constantly. They plot together how to take over Alegrìa now that Yesenia and Eduardo seem to be having problems and aren't doing their jobs anymore. Emilio uncovers the truth about Yesenia's surgeries and breaks the group up. Then he tells Adriana that he's going to use Stephanie to get the money to start his own dance company, and basically tells Adriana she won't have anything to do with it. She hits him over the head (in the car) and he ends up driving into a tree and running away from the scene. She wasn't wearing her seatbelt so she hit the windshield, but miraculously wasn't seriously injured.
Yesenia decides that while it's too late to save her marriage, she can still try to save Alegrìa by working to put the money she stole back, and finding Soledad to smuggle her back. She enlists Elena to take over as director of the new Alegrìa, and she agrees. Adriana finally decides to try out for a mariachi band and give up on dancing. And Soledad finally comes home after months in Mexico, 2 failed attempts at crossing the border, and an injured ankle.
Butterflies is the recurring theme because the dancers look like butterflies; in Mexican culture, butterflies are the spirits of loved ones who have passed; Soledad would always tell anyone who would listen about the Monarch butterflies coming to her hometown (which she was able to see again while she was in Mexico); and Adriana had once overheard her mother talking to Yesenia about the children dancing and said that they looked like butterflies except for Adriana who looked more like a moth, which made Adriana hate butterflies and get a tattoo of a moth on her shoulder.
The end!
Overall story rating: 9.5/10
Recommendation: 18+ for language and mature content
Since moving to the US it has been Soledad's dream to own her own dress shop. She saves every penny she can, and her dressmaker friend Rùben promises to help her make her dream come true. He has his papers so he can buy property, whereas she can't. Soledad is in love with Rùben, but he is gay, and he ends up using the money he promised Soledad to have a sex change. Soledad's dream of owning her own shop goes down the drain. Then they get word that Soledad's grandmother is dying, so Soledad and her mother and Stephanie go to Mexico to see Abuelita Licha, but she's already dead when they get there. Then it is a struggle to get Soledad back to America.
Yesenia's knee has been bothering her for sometime, but she keeps dancing in spite of it. Eventually the knee gives out and she can no longer dance. To her, this is the end of life because Folklòrico is everything to her and Eduardo. The doctor tells her that losing weight might help her knee. She eventually decides that dieting is useless, so she goes to Mexico to have liposuction without consulting her husband or son. She then becomes addicted to body-sculpting surgeries (she has a face lift and tummy tuck later on, which doesn't turn out as planned) and steals money from Alegrìa to support her addiction. Her marriage is in a shambles, and she ends up looking up an old high school love interest and having an affair with him.
Elena is almost full term when she loses her baby. The depression that takes over her ruins her marriage and her love for life. She teaches at a local high school, and after her husband leaves, a new student joins her after school Folklòrico dance program. His name is Fernando, she can see his talent and helps him join Alegrìa. She also has an affair with him, but the guilt of their affair on top of the depression from the loss of her marriage and daughter pushes her inside herself and away from everyone she cares about.
Adriana has a knack for always finding the worst men and not being able to hold a steady job. Her mother died when she was young and because Adriana looked so much like her mother, her father would beat her as he had beaten her mother. One time he hit her and she was bleeding and Elena called the cops, and they put their father in jail and made the girls live with their paternal grandparents who hated them. Elena then moved away to college and left Adriana to deal with their grandparents. Adriana has never forgiven Elena for abandoning her. Adriana hooks up with the new dancer, Emilio, at Alegrìa. Emilio is bad news, he beats her up constantly. They plot together how to take over Alegrìa now that Yesenia and Eduardo seem to be having problems and aren't doing their jobs anymore. Emilio uncovers the truth about Yesenia's surgeries and breaks the group up. Then he tells Adriana that he's going to use Stephanie to get the money to start his own dance company, and basically tells Adriana she won't have anything to do with it. She hits him over the head (in the car) and he ends up driving into a tree and running away from the scene. She wasn't wearing her seatbelt so she hit the windshield, but miraculously wasn't seriously injured.
Yesenia decides that while it's too late to save her marriage, she can still try to save Alegrìa by working to put the money she stole back, and finding Soledad to smuggle her back. She enlists Elena to take over as director of the new Alegrìa, and she agrees. Adriana finally decides to try out for a mariachi band and give up on dancing. And Soledad finally comes home after months in Mexico, 2 failed attempts at crossing the border, and an injured ankle.
Butterflies is the recurring theme because the dancers look like butterflies; in Mexican culture, butterflies are the spirits of loved ones who have passed; Soledad would always tell anyone who would listen about the Monarch butterflies coming to her hometown (which she was able to see again while she was in Mexico); and Adriana had once overheard her mother talking to Yesenia about the children dancing and said that they looked like butterflies except for Adriana who looked more like a moth, which made Adriana hate butterflies and get a tattoo of a moth on her shoulder.
The end!
Overall story rating: 9.5/10
Recommendation: 18+ for language and mature content
Book Review: 1984 by George Orwell
Since a lot of people have read this classic, I don't really feel worthy of writing a review. Therefore, I will simply quote the back cover and give my personal rating. :)
Overall story rating: 6/10
Recommendation: 14+ for language and mature content
Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent - even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101...
Overall story rating: 6/10
Recommendation: 14+ for language and mature content
Monday, February 7, 2011
Vocabulary: Week 6
Well, here we are, week 6 of 2011. So far we've learned curmudgeon, conflagration, Coptic, frisson, and bucolic.
The word I have chosen for this week (January 30) is an adjective:
An interesting word that I found while reading last week. I might have heard it before, but had no idea of the definition. Let's see if I can make use of it this week... :o)
The word I have chosen for this week (January 30) is an adjective:
"prodigious - 1a: obsolete: being an omen: portentous; 1b: resembling or befitting a prodigy: strange, unusual; 2: exciting amazement or wonder; 3: extraordinary in bulk, quantity, or degree: enormous"
An interesting word that I found while reading last week. I might have heard it before, but had no idea of the definition. Let's see if I can make use of it this week... :o)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Vocabulary: Week 5
I failed at using frisson in conversation this week. What can I say, I don't have that many conversations and I forgot the definitions when I do use a word. So you use the word in normal conversation and the person you're conversing with is all, "What does that mean?!" and you're all like, "Uh... I can't remember, but it works here, trust me."
Anyway, so the word for this week (January 30) is:
Anyway, so the word for this week (January 30) is:
"Bucolic: 1) of or relating to shepherds or herdsmen: pastoral, 2a) relating to or typically of rural life, b) idyllic"Hm...
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