Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

Rating: ★★★
09/03/14

My weird Sunday read. The day I usually take a break from honest, heartbreaking, disturbing books that make my soul want to sleep forever. I found this Wimpy Kid book by chance, and without even reading the book description, I jumped right in. It's always nice when apparently innocent books with cartoons and everything, actually contain brilliant comedy, wit and a good eye for describing human behavior. In this case, it's not that consistent, but it's... good.

This is a journal (not a diary) written by Greg Heffley, a kid “stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons”. It happened to the best of us. The reasons he gave as to why he's keeping a journal are familiar. First, his mother told him to. Second:

I did the same thing when I was a kid. I had a diary and wrote all my brilliant thoughts in it; it gave me some relief and it was my way of leaving my mark in this world. Someday someone would find it and say “hey, I'm going through the same thing”. Because time knows no difference when it comes to emotions.

We human beings often have that idea of transcendence. We want to leave our mark. Our ego isn't satisfied with just being known by our family and some friends. No. We must be a well-known figure around the world and for many years to come. Leaving money aside, people also want fame. And most of the times, it doesn't even matter the reason; whether it's because of a walk on the moon or a date with some other famous brat, we want to be recognized. And the most ironic and pathetic thing of all, after achieving fame, we hate it. I can't help remembering a beautiful quote relating this matter:

What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill

A certain portion of uncertain paper:

Some liken it to climbing up a hill,

Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour:

For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,

And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper,"

To have, when the original is dust,

A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.

Lord Byron, Don Juan (Stanza 218)

Amazing how a simple image in some comic can say this much. Or maybe I just wanted to really find something. Either way...

The book has its moments. There's gentle irony and annoying sarcasm combined with average comedy skills. Yes, it wasn't a hilarious read. But it is entertaining (though, the Halloween stuff kind of bored me after a couple of pages). It's all about what the author says rather than the way it's written—quite the opposite to what I'm used to. The writing is simple (I think it was meant for kids, so I knew I had to read it) but there's a familiar feeling you can't avoid. Old memories come back to you, for better or for worse. There's a lot of anecdotes in this book that made me think of my own school days. They weren't that good, though. But they were awesome comparing to what we have today. A girl always reading, writing, drawing, listening to weird music and speaking a language not many understood (I loved reading the dictionary and my words were like Dutch for my schoolmates). I think I wouldn't be able to survive today's school (insert "tragic violin sound" here).

Yes, school is another chapter in your life. It's what you do with it what really counts. I know what my cool schoolmates that used to mock everybody's geekiness are doing right now... Which reminds me:

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Charles J. Sykes

* Photo credit: Book cover via Goodreads.
Picture from Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

The Tales of Mother Goose - Charles Perrault

Rating: ★★★
19/01/14

Yes. I'm reviewing The Tales Of Mother Goose and I'm not ashamed of it.

So, I was looking at my childhood shelves (yes, that actually exists) this morning and I ended up re-re-re-re-reading Perrault's fairy tales. I decided to write some lines because, well, it's Sunday and I didn't have this book on my GR shelves (even though as a kid, I was a big fan of "the guy who wrote Cinderella"). And by "lines" I mean just one thought. These 17th-century fairy tales are really, honestly, so fucked-up. Wolves and ogres eating little kids, snakes coming out of girls' mouths, cruel/negligent parents and subjugated kids, several killings for different reasons (hunger, disobedience). I wouldn't have been able to get a good night sleep after hearing about grandma's desire of eating her grandsons. And what about hubby serial killer Bluebeard? Wasn't he a delight?

Disney certainly gave us a lighter version of all these.

There are little pieces of truth inside those innocent tales (“The Fairies”, where there's a mother who loved the elder daughter because she resembled her so closely –“as people naturally love their own likeness”) and other stuff are confusing and unfair (ugly people telling you it's more important to be smart than beautiful but eventually, they end up being beautiful too, so...).

I've always enjoyed the morals; those little verses at the end of the tale that shows the author's interpretation. After a bloody, disturbing tale, there's usually a lesson to be learned.

Nature oft, with open arms,
Lavishes a thousand charms;
But it is not these that bring
True love's truest offering.
'Tis some quality that lies
All unseen to other eyes --
Something in the heart or mind.

The Hunting of the Snark - Lewis Carroll

Rating: ★★★★★
11/01/14

Well, I gave TV a chance today. However, I found Titanic, Terminator 3, reality shows and other stuff, so, those aren't real options for me. I have no sitcoms to watch right now. Although, I'm kind of tired of watching the same sitcoms/tv series all the time. There's nothing new now. Once Upon a Time is on, so that's a good background sound. What to do on a Saturday afternoon? Yes. Let's find something out of the ordinary to read. And what did I find? A brilliant, typical Carroll nonsense poem. I loved it. Such a unique and fascinating work, full of wit, mystery and absurdity. A bunch of weird men go to find an even weirder creature called Snark. Among those men, we have a Bellman, a Boots, a Barrister, a Broker, a Beaver, a Butcher who only can kill beavers and even a guy who forgot his name!

He would answer to "Hi!" or to any loud cry,

Such as "Fry me!" or "Fritter my wig!"

To "What-you-may-call-um!" or "What-was-his-name!"

But especially "Thing-um-a-jig!"

Well, I think it's funny, don't judge me. It's also amusing the way the Snark it's described. It seems we may have met a couple of Snarks in our lives.

The third is its slowness in taking a jest.

Should you happen to venture on one,

It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:

And it always looks grave at a pun.

I know I did!

Anyway, after reading this poem (it has beautiful illustrations, too), I started to search for meanings, a classic “What the hell did I just read?” kind of questions. So this journey doesn't end with the last verse.

There are a couple of references from another poem written by Carroll, Jabberwocky, published in his novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, which I read years ago. I re-read it and it made me want to read the whole novel again! And no, there's no shame in that. 'Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again', another Lewis said. I never stopped reading those, anyway.

Fábulas - Jean de La Fontaine

Rating: ★★★★★
14/09/13

This is one of my most precious memories of my childhood. Before going to school, sometimes after, I used to go to a nearby kiosk and buy some chocolates. But these chocolates weren't ordinary ones. They came wrapped with tiny books inside: the fables of Jean de La Fontaine. That is one of my earliest independent, adult-free contacts with literature that I can remember, so I really treasure those fables. I didn't know they were such classics of the 17th century. I found them entertaining so I started collecting them (I've never liked chocolate that much, so I used to give it to other kids) and eventually, they led me to Aesop. Thanks to my grandma, actually, my GR back then. Around that time, she started flooding my house with books and was the one who encouraged me to start taking English lessons with her.

"The Lion and the Mouse", "The Ant and the Grasshopper", "The Cat and the Mice", "The Mice in Council", "The Fox and the Grapes", "The Fox and the Stork"... all favorites of mine. Damn, now I am truly nostalgic.

Well. I hope you enjoy my "it has nothing to do with the book" review. I gave this book 4 stars at first, but now I'm a mixture of books, images and nostalgia so, a 5-star rating it is.

Matilda - Roald Dahl

Rating: ★★★★


June 23, 2013

Another wonderful memory of my childhood. Sort of. I read this book years ago (I won't say how many, of course), and I loved it. My dear grandma (my Goodreads back then) bought it for me. I read it as fast as I read [book:Little Women|1934]. I just couldn't put it away. Amazing story, nice writing, funny descriptions of... kind of awkward situations. Really good book. A book that I no
longer have because I lent it to someone and that someone NEVER gave it back to me. So, if you, "someone", have this book and you do not remember buying it, that means it is MY book which you know it was not given as a freaking present because I loved it but I wanted you to read it so you could love it too and then maybe buy your damn copy!

Yes, that is why it is not such a wonderful memory, I guess.

Anyway, that was therapeutic.

***

July 12, 2014

I wanted to clarify that, yesterday, after so many years, and just because that person saw me the other day and "remembered", I have my Matilda copy back. Its beautiful pages are now so, so yellow and sad. Now, it will receive the care it deserves.

I do not like lending my books. I do not trust humanity with my books, so never again!

The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Rating: ★★★★

06/09/13


I was given this book when I was a child, and of course, I didn't know what the hell this guy was talking about. I got lost in all his symbolism and it made me feel too stupid (a recurring feeling). Boxes, planets, asteroids, snakes, weird men, baobabs. I re-read it later, and I loved it. As I grew older, I learned how to appreciate the gift of symbolism. It all may seem nonsense, at first, but some books deserve a second chance to see it is all there: the essence of the author, what he is trying to say. It makes me wonder, it makes me think, it makes me want to punch the writer right on his face because I don't understand why the heck he doesn't write in a straight-forward manner. But I end up enjoying those complications.

In this particular book, there are valuable ideas and lessons that every person should read.