bookish.frog @bookishdotfrog - Tumblr Blog

In praise of books

I find calm and joy in books. In reading books, yes but also in their care, organisation and aesthetics. Books can take us out of ourselves, bring our attention to a moment, an idea or a place far distant. Yet they can also focus our attention on the now, the weight in the hand, the rustle of the page or the bubble of anticipation felt at making or renewing acquaintance.

#booklr #bibliophilia #calm

twirlytumblfluff

On the morning of the World War I armistice, Nov. 11, 1918, American fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker took off against orders and made his way to the front. He arrived at Verdun at 10:45 and flew out over the no-man’s-land between the armies. Less than 500 feet off the ground, “I could see both Germans and Americans crouching in their trenches, peering over with every intention of killing any man who revealed himself on the other side.”

I glanced at my watch. One minute to 11:00, thirty seconds, fifteen. And then it was 11:00 a.m. the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I was the only audience for the greatest show ever presented. On both sides of no-man’s land, the trenches erupted. Brown-uniformed men poured out of the American trenches, gray-green uniforms out of the German. From my observer’s seat overhead, I watched them throw their helmets in the air, discard their guns, wave their hands. Then all up and down the front, the two groups of men began edging toward each other across no-man’s-land. Seconds before they had been willing to shoot each other; now they came forward. Hesitantly at first, then more quickly, each group approached the other.

Suddenly gray uniforms mixed with brown. I could see them hugging each other, dancing, jumping. Americans were passing out cigarettes and chocolate. I flew up to the French sector. There it was even more incredible. After four years of slaughter and hatred, they were not only hugging each other but kissing each other on both cheeks as well.

Star shells, rockets and flares began to go up, and I turned my ship toward the field. The war was over.

(From his autobiography.)

aletea

A machine-vision algorithm can tell a book’s genre by looking at its cover. This paves the way for AI systems to design the covers themselves.

We all do it, even if we’re not ‘supposed to’…but you may soon outsource your bookcovery judgements to your AI system if that makes you feel better. :)

House Rules - Review

“Frankly, I wonder who Frank was, and why he has an adverb all to himself.”

some spoilers below

Initial thoughts:

Whoa! This is a lot longer than I thought it would be…I’m a slow reader and was reading this as part of an online book group so had a deadline!

The book is centred around Jacob who has Asperger syndrome (AS) whose neuro-atypical behaviour and a tendency to give unsolicited criminology advice to the local police (in fairness, he knows way more than they do thanks to it being a current focus of his obsessive tendencies) puts him under suspicion when his social skills tutor Jess goes missing.

The story is told by cutting between the central cast of characters narrating the story. Jacob, his mother Emma, brother Theo and Jacob’s lawyer Oliver being the main ones. This style gives us the chance to gain an insight into each of their thoughts and impressions on each other and the central events of the story.

The author seems to have done a great deal of research and the characters feel believable and distinct.

Things I liked:

I talk with a few guys with AS who are customers at work so while I’m certainly not well informed about it, I can say that Jacob felt real from my outsider experience of AS.

Things I (dis)liked:

Not very much! I initially disliked the relationship between Emma (Jacob’s mum) and Oliver (his lawyer) because it felt like it was going to dominate the last chapters of the book, but it really didn’t and in fact I had pretty much the same reaction as Jacob - initially hostile when I thought it would steal focus from the story I was invested in (for Jacob it seemed Oliver would be less focused on his case) to quickly accepting but not particularly interested when the danger of this was past.

Final thoughts:

Although I didn’t find a lot of mystery in the book (you realise fairly early on what’s happened to Jess), the tension is still there because no matter what, you don’t know how or if that’s going to come out, and when it does what the consequences may be - it all feels like very uncharted territory for everyone involved.

In the end I could have happily read more, I feel pretty invested in these characters. I understand why the story ends where it does though, Jacob tells us that the story will end once he’s proved his innocence to us - I love how reliable he is.

I got this copy through my local library - find yours in the UK or anywhere in the world

#book review #book recommendations #house rules #jodi picoult #asperger syndrome #communication #libraries

no-piate-deactivated20140607

bookishdotfrog

Favourite things, together.

Is very important reads.

(via GIPHY)

#cat gif #book gif #giphy #funny gif

Happy Halloween!

From ‘The Haunted House’ by Thomas Hood 1897. Image available via Flickr, The British Library.

#halloween #old illustration #british library #flickr

“ Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.” ― Laurie Halse Anderson.

#censorship #quotes #flickr #created #using #public domain images

A Thousand Rooms - Review

A thousand rooms is a book about life, even though the first line is the killer 'You don't wake up expecting to die'.

Initial thoughts:

The idea of waking up dead struck me as a pretty eerie thing to imagine and I was intrigued by how the character would go about figuring out what is supposed to happen 'Next'.

Things I liked:

Loved the image of the red shoes, not only for providing a great cover image but for the way they connect the story right the way through and come to feel like a character themselves.

There are some well-written moments of grief in the novel which are very touching and yet these are balanced with lighter moments - I particularly enjoyed the scene when Katie's mother is clearing out her room and her reaction to what she finds there!

Things I disliked:

I liked Katie and felt we got to know her pretty well but I was a little disappointed that the other characters didn't feel as real to me somehow (except for the shoes!). I think this is partly down to the first person style and it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.

The romantic elements in the book didn't appeal to me but that's not to say they wouldn't be a welcome aspect to another reader, just not my style.

Final thoughts:

I'm pleased to have discovered Helen Jones and I'm looking forward to reading my way into another world created by her in The Ambeth Chronicles.

Part of my book haul this weekend (photo to follow as I haven’t got around to uploading it just yet, too busy reading!). A Thousand Rooms is by the lovely Helen Jones who I had the pleasure to meet at an author event but just to be clear I paid for my copy - my opinion here is honest & my own.