Friendsday Wednesday: Becoming Madame Mao with The Politick

On Friendsday Wednesday, I discuss books with friends or ask them to write a guest review of a book. For this Friendsday Wednesday, The Politick (of the blog Curious Sparkplug) wrote a guest review of Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min. This review is also posted on Goodreads (click here).

i really liked this book, the writing style fascinated me.

although we covered a bit of China's history with Mao Zedong in school, i was not very familiar with who he was exactly. and so, it was out of interest of Mao that i pulled this book from the school library's shelf.

not only did this novel help me to understand who Mao was, it also gave me insight on his own private life and habits.
yet, the text is not only about Mao. it is about his actress of a wife, Jiang Qing.

she was a strong and powerful woman in history, though one who was not quite as influential as others.
i think she was important because, through this book, i learned of her adolescent hardship and how that contributed greatly to her suspicious nature as she grew older. this is important because her life is one that can be studied with vivid intrigue. she never really knew who she was, and today there are many who share this trait. and even though she never held a firm grasp on her true spirit, she was able to fight for what she believed was right and to most importantly, hold her own.

i am not saying i agree with what she did throughout her career, but only that she was a strong figure that demanded her rightful respect.

she had trouble with love.

though she fell in love, she was not used to it and it scared her. this led to bitterness and a cold heart by the time she was married to Mao. it also left her heart nearly drained of affection by the time she birthed her first daughter.

Thank you for this review, Politick!

Picture Book Marathon, Day 23

I'm getting to the last few miles and my river of ideas is running a bit low. But the end is in sight! If I save up my rest days for Assessment Week (next week), I'll be done by Saturday, and I still have a few old books that I can post if I need.

Today's book is a bit silly and nonsensical, but I like it. It's charming in its own way.

Picture Book #23: My Hat is a Hat

My hat is a hat. It keeps my head warm.
It keeps my hair dry if I'm caught in a storm.

My shoe is a shoe. It goes over my socks.
It keeps my toes safe if I step on some rocks.

My bag is a bag. It holds all my stuff.
I fill it all the way up 'til my friends say "enough!"

My dog is a dog. She barks all the time.
But she's so cute  and I love that she's mine.
(some half-rhyme action going on here, but it just means I can't think of a good full rhyme)


Etc. for about 10 more stanzas. I don't think the story really has a point, but it's something I could imagine kids reading to their parents, rather than parents having to explain it to their kids.

Next week (probably Monday) I'll put up a poll to see which books people liked best, and which I should continue working on. I think I'm probably going to choose the top three winners and edit/ finish/ fix up those during March. Also, as soon as PBM is over, I'll get back to my regular reviews and whatnot. Right now I'm using every hour I can get.

Picture Book Marathon, Day 22 (again)

Today's idea is for a wordless picture book. I don't have it in my head all plotted out page by page, but in my head it's beautiful and soft, probably in watercolor by someone who can draw better than I can.

It follows the story of a little boy, from when he's 4 and 5 drawing with crayons on colored paper through when he's 9 or 10 drawing on printer paper with markers to middle school, doodling on notebook paper, and in high school, when he goes to art classes. This I think is the main part of the story, how he grows in these classes, graduates high school, goes through college, until he's an adult, a professional artist creating art all the time, giving some away, selling some, and then he grows older, (a wrinkled hand with a paintbrush,) and until he can no longer paint, but he sits in his house, surrounded by his creations. And he is content.

Teaser Tuesday, 6th Edition

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am doing a slightly different version of Teaser Tuesday. Since I go through books so quickly, I'm going to put a quote from any book I've read in the past week.

Actually, I've missed the past two weeks since I've been so caught up in PBM. So this Teaser Tuesday is for everything since February 1st.

***

"I'm not foolish enough to predict that silicon biology is impossible, but unless those creature defecate sand and live on planets with volcanoes constantly expelling ultramicroscopic silica, this element probably isn't up to the task of making life live. Luckily for it, silicon has ensured itself immortality in another way." - The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean

"At the end of the hall there came a flurry of movement. Even without looking, Halli felt his shoulders stiffen, he sensed enmity suddenly in the room." - Heroes of the Valley, by Jonathan Stroud

"Georgette's mother said, 'I think you'd do better to get a cat instead of a child. Cats are less trouble,' which didn't do much to help Georgette in the feeling-loved department." - Cloaked in Red, by Vivian Vande Velde

"Had she intended for him to hear? There was no telling." -The Changeling Prince, by Vivian Vande Velde

"Jonathan wished he could talk to Jessica, even for a few moments. He wanted to explain that this was no big deal, really." - The Secret Hour (Midnighters #1), by Scott Westerfeld

"'Is that fun? Putting together the same puzzle again?'" - Instead of Three Wishes, by Megan Whalen Turner

"The tree branches were like a stepladder reaching upward, and I climbed frantically. Long after Kai and Karina had settled themselves on a wide branch far above the forest floor, I kept going, pulled by an urge  I did not understand." - A True Princess, by Diane Zahler

"Early in October, when the corn was cut and stacked and some of it was already threshed, a flight of pigeons came whirling through the air and alighted in the yard of Animal Farm in the wildest excitement. Jones and all his men, with half a dozen others from Foxwood and Pinchfield, had entered the five-barred gate and were coming up the cart-track that led to the farm." - Animal Farm, by George Orwell

"... he said to Finn, 'Take the Key out. We need to take care of it.'" - Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher

"The old woman was wrapped in a dark red nightgown, worn so thin that it shifted in the barely perceptible breeze that pushed past Dess and through the door. The woman's eyes were wide open, the whites glowing in the darkness, but her expression showed more curiosity than fear." - Touching Darkness (Midnighters #2), by Scott Westerfeld

"'Got your flashlight?' Jonathan said, one foot already out the window. 

... 'Yeah, right here.'" - Blue Noon (Midnighters #3), by Scott Westerfeld

Picture Book Marathon, Day 22

I don't have today's book yet, but I wanted to post the illustration for Dustin's book so that it can count as a book in the marathon. I feel like I'm going to need those rest days in this final stretch.

Picture Book #19: Jason and the Astronauts

A retelling of the myth Jason and the Argonauts. In this one Jason goes into space to find the Golden Fleet. All of the adventures from the original (the clashing rocks, the dragon, etc.) are going to be in here, but changed to fit the new story. 

I don't love the illustration, but I did it quickly (those spaceships are really just 1 spaceship copied and pasted).  However, I do like the simple color scheme with the blue, gray, and gold. If I redo the cover I want to keep those colors.

All the credit goes to Dustin for thinking of this idea, and all the blame goes to me for not getting the research together and just sitting down to write the darn thing. 

Until later, when I think of (and write) a book for today.

Picture Book Marathon, Day 21

Picture Book #21: The Tooth Fairy Only Likes Clean Teeth

Once upon a time, before toothbrushes were invented, the tooth fairy had a very busy life. She spent the night collecting teeth that children had put under their pillows, and the day cleaning and polishing and fixing them up. She barely had any time to sleep. She was very unhappy with this arrangement, so she was relieved when someone finally invented the toothbrush. She could collect pre-cleaned teeth, give them a little shine, and go to bed. She even had a little time to relax. But then one day, she started finding dirty teeth again. It was the teeth of the children who didn't brush their teeth. She was upset, but she didn't want to go back to all that hard work again, so she just left the teeth where they were. The children were so upset that they didn't get any money for their teeth that they (um.... did something?). But the tooth fairy was stubborn. She didn't want to carry gross teeth around, so she kept leaving dirty teeth where they were. Eventually, however, she collected so few teeth in a night that she had nothing to do for long periods of time. So she went around to all the children's houses and left notes that said, "If you brush your teeth, I'll take care of them when they fall out." In this way the children and the tooth fairy compromised, and they all lived happily ever after.

Gahh, what a weak ending. I wouldn't buy this book if I saw it in the store. It seemed like such a promising idea, and then I got to the middle and had no idea where to go from there. I'll probably go back and edit this one so it's actually okay.

I liked this idea because as a kid I absolutely hated brushing my teeth. I don't remember why. I don't think I had a reason. I just remember that I tried to get out of it whenever I could, saying that it was too late and I had to go to bed, or that I "forgot" or whatever. Then my brother got two cavities and then that scared me into liking  to brush my teeth for a while. And then a got a cool electric toothbrush and that was that. Anyway.

I don't really like the picture either. I like the way I drew it, but I didn't realize that it was really tiny and so when I enlarged it it was all weird and pixelated (like you can sort of see in the font). I'd like to re-do the drawing and make it a bit better. I think this whole picture book needs work. Perhaps after the marathon is over. Then again, perhaps not.

On Buying Books

Today, Shannon Hale, author of The Books of Bayern, Princess Academy, Rapunzel's Revenge, and many other wonderful books, posted this post on why it's important to keep bookstores. Also today, Kristin Cashore, author of Graceling and Fire, posted this post on why we should support independent businesses. I decided I had to find an independent bookstore near my house (and quickly). So I found one that was just a few minutes away, bought The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and put another on hold to buy later this week. It was a very nice little bookstore that I'd actually walked right by many times before and not known it was a bookstore.

I also put a button on my sidebar (you have to scroll down a bit, but it's there) that is a pledge to read the printed word. I'm not going to get a kindle or a nook or anything, but I'm going to stick just with regular old printed books. I've actually been opposed to buying a kindle for a long time, even though everyone says I should get one. I buy so many books that I'm constantly running out of space to put them. I have 4 separate bookcases in my room because every time I fill one up, I put another in. But I've tried reading on other people's Kindles and it isn't the same as reading a physical book. You don't get the book-ness of it, the feeling of the pages and the cover and so many other things I can't really describe that make a book special. When I see I book that I love in a bookstore, I take it off the shelf even though I know I'm not going to buy it because it's like a friend. When I look through bookstore shelves, I see so many books that I've read and enjoyed that I see on my own shelves every day and it's like they're all saying hi to me. I know all their stories and beautiful descriptions and characters. I'm obviously in love with books; I wouldn't have a book blog otherwise. But getting back to the point, books are special and stories are special. That is why we must keep the printed word alive.

Picture Book Marathon, Day 20 - Illustration

The boy looks a bit more serious than I wanted, but overall I'm very pleased with the way this turned out. I think that the most valuable thing I got from this marathon, even more than the creative process of writing a book every day, was really learning how to draw and how to use photoshop.

Picture Book Marathon, Day 20

Still working on Dustin's book from yesterday. I thought it would be a quick and easy book, but I think it's probably going to be one of the more work-intensive picture books (which, if you haven't guessed, isn't very much - a couple hours at most)

But I do have a couple lines from my promised monster book for today.
Picture Book #20: There's No Monster Under My Bed

There's no monster in my closet!
My closet's full of clothes.
If a monster tried to hide there,
he'd be so squished, he'd bump his nose!

There's no monster under the bed!
My bed is on the ground.
I won't even bother looking
'Cause I know he won't be found!

There's no monster outside my window!
There's just some little trees.
The leaves would tickle any monsters
And then he'd have to sneeze!

Etc. for another 4 or 5 places. I know my rhymes are getting worse and worse, so I'll stop here for now.
I imagine this book to be fun and full of bright colors. When I draw the cover later, I'm going to try to get that feel. Good luck to me.

Picture Book Marathon, Day 18

I didn't get a chance to write out my book for today, but I do have an illustration for it. I think it could be a really great book if I do it right.

Picture Book #18: The Monster Under the Bed

It's going to be about all the different monsters in this boy's room (under the bed, in the closet, outside the window) and how they keep him safe at night. I think it could turn out really well if I can write it right.

I used to think the monster under my bed was a snake. I would have to jump into my bed from a couple feet away so that it couldn't get my toes. But now I keep my typewriter (the one in my icon picture) under my bed, and it wards off the monsters. But because of that, I wanted to write a book  about nice monsters. Actually, originally this was going to be about all the monster traps he keeps in his room so that the monsters couldn't get in. And it was going to rhyme. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do that, but if I don't like the way this one turns out, I might try both ways. Actually, that could count as another book....

Dustin: your book is coming next. It's going to be good. And then I'll write the second monster book.

P.S. Julie Olson, another Marathon participant, posted this book yesterday. I wish I could draw like this. I really do.