Tag: book log

I like the plot of Royal Magic. Reminds me a bit of the Laotian movie The Rocket, in that there’s a society that thinks twins are bad luck.

Ruth Chew writes books that take kids on magic adventures. The only magic in Royal Magic is the fact that two kids are accidentally transported to someplace else when they go to the natural history museum in New York.

When and Why I Read Royal Magic

I was trying to figure out whether the plot involved time travel because a book blogger asked me about it.

Genre: children’s fiction (fantasy)
Date started / date finished:  22-Jan-17 to 22-Jan-17
Length: 127 pages
ISBN: 0590447424 (paperback)
Originally published in: 1991
Amazon link: Royal Magic

Yep, that’s the name of the famous book. It’s not actually called Peter Pan!

I saw the play at least once long ago, and the Disney movie at least once not so long ago. I was curious to read the book. When I did, several things surprised me.

• Disney didn’t change the story much; in the book as well as the movie, Nana is a dog, for example, and many other character, setting and plot details line up surprisingly well.
• The Lost Boys and Peter Pan actually kill pirates. Descriptions of the fights aren’t particularly graphic, but the idea of orphaned children using sharp, deadly weapons on adults—on anyone—is disturbing.
• The narrator is rather intrusive. Sometimes the effect is humorous, but sometimes it’s just annoying. Children’s books aren’t often written this way anymore.

More on characterization of Peter, Tinker Bell, Mr. and Mrs. Darling, and Hook below.

Continue reading Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie

The 126th way one can make money with one’s typewriter is, presumably: Write a book about ways one could make money with one’s typewriter.

I bought this book at a rummage sale in part because it was well made and thus physically pleasing: It’s a cloth-bound hardcover (those are rare these days); it’s in good shape for its age; the typography is charmingly old-fashioned. The book was produced in 1939.

I also bought it because I wondered whether the ideas were still relevant more than 70 years later, in an age when there are more personal computers than there ever were typewriters. What’s changed and what hasn’t? See below for examples, as well as when and why I read the book.

Continue reading 125 Ways to Make Money with Your Typewriter by David Seltz

Things that Suck is utterly charming, from the visual pun on the front cover to the sarcastic marketing text on the back cover. (A starburst on this Andrews McMeel edition, comparing itself to its self-published predecessor, claims: “We guarantee it sucks 20% more than ever!”)

The list of things that suck and the flip-book illustrations (of a mosquito that ultimately gets squashed by a tomato) are printed only the odd-numbered pages, leaving the pages on the left-hand side blank. If the list were alphabetical, it would be boring, but surprising juxtapositions give the content an entertaining ebb and flow. Some of the items are arranged in little groups; some are given in pairs of opposites; some tell a story that goes from bad to worse to terrible; some are meta (self-referential).

Whether you’re a victim of injustice or dandruff, there’s something here you can identify with, and something even worse. Far from being depressing, this book will cheer you up.

When and Why I Read Things that Suck

This is a short book that consists entirely of a mosquito-themed flipbook illustration and a list of life’s large and small annoyances. I saw it cheap at an atrium remainder sale and snapped it up.

Genre: non-fiction (humor)
Date started / date finished:  30-Dec-16 to 30-Dec-16
Length: 160 pages
ISBN: 9780740797606 (paperback)
Originally published in: 2008
Amazon link: Things that Suck

Reading Six Frames feels like reading a set of notecards. There’s a bit of text on each page, and the bits of text are arranged into chapters of related observations, but overall the content is choppy and sparse (see photos below). Since there are few pages and not much text per page, the book feels more like an essay than a book.

More below on what it’s about and photos of how sparse the text is, as well as when and why I read it.

Continue reading Six Frames by Edward de Bono

Some books about lying and deception say “lying is generally bad and sometimes very bad, so lie as little as possible,” and I find myself agreeing. Others, like Born Liars, say “lying is ubiquitous, natural, and inevitable, so there’s no need to feel either guilty about your lies or surprised when others lie,” and once again I find myself agreeing.

Surely I’m not just a fickle pushover? Let’s just say I’m approaching the topic of lying via the Hegelian dialectical method: thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Some lies are harmful and should be avoided, while other lies should be considered normal or even healthy, and it’s important to know what strategy to use in various contexts. Ta-da!

For many facts and ideas that stood out as well as information on when and why I read the book, see below.

Continue reading Born Liars by Ian Leslie

The book No One Understands You and What to Do about It should be called Why No One Understands You and What to Do about It. The title sounds off balance because the first half is a clause and the second half is a noun phrase. Or perhaps the title should be something that doesn’t sound as self-obsessed or self-pitying, because the book is not so much a self-help book as it is a collection of fascinating psychological insights presented in a way that is both entertaining and informative.

When and Why I Read No One Understands You and What to Do about It

Reading First, Break All the Rules might make you think that people are so unique that we’re all somehow fundamentally unknowable. But apparently there are ways to mitigate this feeling of isolation.

Genre: non-fiction (management, psychology, self-improvement)
Date started / date finished:  18-Dec-16 to 20-Dec-16
Length: 191 pages
ISBN: 9781625274120 (paperback)
Originally published in: 2015
Amazon link: No One Understands You and What to Do about It