Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein poems keep showing up in unexpected places, like Pinterest, and I never realized before how deep they are until I read them with a pair of adult eyes. What a fantastic writer! And not to mention the artwork in his books are very charming.

Famous for books like "The Giving Tree," Shel Silverstein may have passed away over a decade ago, but the messages of his work speak classic principles and counsel. Here's just a few I enjoyed:

And of course, I read a few others that put a smile on my face:

Do you have a favorite Shel Silverstein poem, story, or book? Which one is it?

-Hillary

Shel Silverstein's book, "Where the Sidewalk Ends" can be found at byubookstore.com.

Angela's Ashes

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”
- Frank McCourt

Have you ever had a book that took you on an emotional roller coaster every time you turned a page?

Frank McCourt’s Angela's Ashes is a memoir about his experiences growing up as a poor, Catholic child in Ireland. I remember wiping the tears from my eyes at one paragraph followed by laughing at the next. I couldn’t believe how much power an author had to make me become an emotional mess.

A Washington Post review said about Angela’s Ashes:

“For if the physical conditions of Frank McCourt's Limerick childhood were appalling -- fleas, rats, a single malodorous toilet for 11 families, TB, typhoid fever, diphtheria and the deadly damp from the River Shannon -- and the emotional conditions were impoverished by his family's inability to express love, he emerged with at least one great inheritance: the Irish gift for, and love of, language and music.

Angela's Ashes confirms the worst old stereotypes about the Irish, portraying them as drunken, sentimental, bigoted, bloody-minded dreamers, repressed sexually and oppressed politically, nursing ancient grievances while their children (their far-too-many children) go hungry. It confirms the stereotypes at the same time that it transcends them through the sharpness and precision of McCourt's observation and the wit and beauty of his prose.”

McCourt uses his words to describe such a terrible living circumstances in often a humorous and optimistic light. What I liked about this book was that after I finished it I didn’t feel incredibly depressed. With other books that discuss the human condition, I have to go eat some ice cream or watch a happy movie to carry on with life. But with Angela’s Ashes, McCourt is able to leave a sense of hope as well as a new, poignant insight. 

This Pulitzer-prize winning book is an excellent addition to a reading list, and definitely one needed to be read at least once.

Have you read the book? What did you think of it? 

Nothing to Envy: A lecture from Barbara Demick

BYU's Kennedy Center announced its book of the semester.... Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, and she will be giving a lecture today at 11:00.

Demick is a Beijing correspondence journalist for the LA Times. She followed six North Korean citizens for over fifteen years who left the country eventually. She wrote their stories of surviving famine and living through a totalitarian regime. 

An Wall Street review said about Demick's book,

"Ms. Demick has written a deeply moving book. The personal stories are related with novelistic detail ..."Nothing to Envy" depicts a society in chaos, where people have lost confidence in their government but don't yet have the will or the tools to rebel. Ms. Demick doesn't offer a view of what the future holds for the totalitarian regime that has oppressed North Koreans for six decades. But the growing discontent can't bode well for the regime's long-term health." 

With the difficulty it takes to acquire information about North Korea's government and society, Demick's book should be a insightful read for sure.

"Nothing to Envy" is available at the BYU Bookstore in the General Books section.

Abraham Lincoln and Vampires

A few weeks ago I was fortunate to visit England. As I was touring by Big Ben, Birmingham Palace, and the Parliament buildings, I noticed a statue that seemed slightly out of place...

That's right, President Abraham Lincoln.

If there is anything I have noticed lately about honest Abe honestly it's the fact that he keeps showing up in odd places. 

Although Abe is in England as a symbol for slavery abolition, Abe has confronted more unusual frontiers in literature and film: vampire hunting.


Seth Grahame-Smith, author of the notorious Pride and Prejudice and Zombies strikes again. 


New York Times has Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter  as number 15 on its list of bestsellers in fiction, while its movie has gotten a terrible score of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes.


So why did the movie flop and the book fly?


Well, there's always the classic saying: the book was better than the movie.


But judging by the reviews of the movie from the book, the movie decided to take the humor out of the vampire hunter concept. The movie is rated R and falls under the category of horror.


Perhaps it was the author's creativity and humor in mashing up the idea of abolitionism and superstition.


As a LA Times review put it:


"...at a time when the market is flooded with vampire titles, most of them young adult romances, a writer who can transform the greatest figure from 19th century American history into the star of an original vampire tale with humor, heart and bite is a rare find indeed."


Either way, Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter leaves a compelling interest and looks like a pretty entertaining read at the least. If you're looking for Abraham in different contexts, this book will fulfill that need.

What do you think about this book, is it inappropriate for the U.S. president? Have you read Grahame-Smith's works? Does abolitionism have anything to do with vampire hunting?


-Hillary