Court
It is more about Parisians than the French and sometimes she acknowledges this, but it was irritating at times. Think about it, someone goes to New York (or perhaps LA) and says ‘now I know what Americans are like', sigh no.
I did find her discourse on the school system very interesting.
Also, when I went to a supermarket in Paris I experienced zero issues, is it a difference of twenty plus years, or did I just not go during peak hours?
Oh and her ‘interviews' are just short conversations with her husband, not in-depth and often come off as childish.
It is more memoir, or from her point of view, rather than an overview of what France, or even just Paris, is like.
(3.5 stars)
I read the French edition today, I had planned on reading the English edition right after, but some of my third graders wanted to read it so I've loaned it out to them. Dommage, á demain.
I believe that I understood most of it, enough to find it charming & humorous. Plus the art has a fantastic style. Merci Elise, vous êtes une artist fantastique. Je voudrais à lit vous livres tous.
This has prompt me to look up many books. I already had a banned/challenged bookshelf, but this encouraged me to seek more of those books out. I was already interested in LBGTQ+ picture books (and to a lesser extent YA, I have read Luna and heard of many that were mentioned), and this helped list titles I was unfamiliar with. I will also now be seeking out books by celebrities and books that won awards (good as well as bad awards).
I loved how the idea of censorship was presented. It's a thorny issue, yet not all bad. I was pleased to see some examples of ‘positive' censorship, such as a contemporary author changing her ending a little (by a few words) to avoid exoticizing her non-white main character. Or forwards added to long ago published works explaining why and how the original text was (or in some instances weren't) altered. In other instances it was only images that were changed. Fascinating topics, such as why some works, in some contexts should not be censored, eg works by Twain in an academic setting. I agree that history/literary texts should not be edited to make us look better and that it can (in the right setting) lead to powerful lessons and understanding. Perhaps that is somewhat of an anthropological view, but still valid.
So much good and enjoyment from this. I found it because I had enjoyed another Betsy Bird book, and I will now also consider the other two authors.
Only one minor critique, I wish that the authors had acknowledged their western view point, as it seemed that mostly western texts and ideas were discussed. I am also curious as to other view points. For example in China Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was at one time banned due to talking animals; different cultures and eras have different mores and ideology.
Another ‘review' that is more journal entry.
The teacher that I am lucky to be in a classroom with, read this to the class with the intention of pointing out that trying and doing is important regardless of age or the feeling that ‘one should already know something'. I agree, stigma and shame hold people back –often needlessly.
The book made me think of my own grandmother, whom I speak with near daily. My grandmother is literate, however she was denied a formal education past 9th grade. When she was about 14 she left for the convent, happily. Unfortunately, the sisters there felt that she was too difficult to teach and/or that she was more useful doing other tasks. Later in life she earned her GED, going to night classes. Whenever she mentions this accomplishment I always let her know that I am proud of her and acknowledge that what she did was difficult. I am privileged in that not only did I receive a formal education, but that my parents made it a priority.
Not everyone is nearly so lucky. My father recently met a man in his early twenties (with substance issues) that was barely literate. I believe that he could suss out basic information, but not literate enough to read something lengthy like a book or contract.
Barbara Bush championed literacy because she believed that is was linked to homelessness. Literacy in one of my causes, and I am so happy that I get to help promote it in many forms.
“Mars is used as isolation for people with deadly illnesses. One day, the planet is visited by a young man of 18 who has the ability to perform telepathy. The exiles on the planet are thrilled with his ability and a violent fight breaks out over who will get to spend the most time with their visitor and enjoy the illusionary paradises he can transmit. In the struggle, the young man is killed and the escape he provided is lost forever.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illustrated_Man)
Read as part of ‘The Illustrated Man'. I thought that the concept was fantastic, I however felt that the character with the ability was disappointingly unimaginative and a little dim. I kept wondering why he couldn't trick or outwit his attackers. I felt let down by this one.
Cette livre élargir mon vocabulaire. Mots intéressants.
Mon fracais, c'est pauvre, mais j'essaie de pratiquer.
I found the lovely jem at my library. My French is pretty limited, so it was amusing to try to suss out the particularly unique vocabulary. Some linguistic intrigues:
The word for bat (chauve souris) literally translates to bald mouse, which reminded me that the Mandrin for hamster littlerally translates to ‘storage mouse' due to their pouch cheeks
and
l'aube, means dawn which just strikes me as pretty. It inspired to look up twilight, crépuscule (like the word crepuscular in describing ocelots— Thanks Archer), pénombre (penumbra) and aube naissante (literally nascent dawn, which is just poetic).
I appreciate that I can find poetry within both English and French.
This is more of a journal entry than a review, but this book just sparked such a unique joy in me.
The art is excellent! I will keep Mme Lebourg on my radar and continue to look at French picture books.
2.5? I think I'll have to try this in print to see if my opinion changes.
My disappointment is partially my own fault, I thought that this story was going to be so much more. What I mostly had heard about this book was ‘it's a future dystopian novel where books are illegal and burned, so those who resist memorize books'. The characters that memorized books didn't happen until the end. Additionally, those characters aren't interesting, or at least not near as interesting as the ones I had dreamed up.
The writing at times is masterful, it's Bradbury and he is very capable of turning a lovely phrase, structuring something to make you think, or including fantastic imagery. However he was also wordy, and worse: came off as bitter. You can be bitter, but make a cogent point, move the story, convey something meaningful. It's somewhere between a cautionary tale and a bitter man yelling at the younger generation.
I appreciated J.G. Keely's review and agree that Bradbury mixes up message and medium.
I still love you(r work), Bradbury, even if you did have a pissy afterword that includes you rejecting the merit of female characters – at least that's how it came off.
Well written, and well voiced. I love his stand up and his use and commentary of language, I was so glad to hear that he would be reading it. He makes great use of accent and various languages and does a great job of giving one a historical background and geopolitical context to his own experiences. I appreciated how frank he was about race, racism, and culture.
I think I will now have to watch The Daily Show to experience more of him; he is a delight, making you laugh, think, and reconsider.
Excellent balance between narrative experience and factual information. Also, greatly appreciated the introduction and how she states that she is an unreliable source, but she does her best. Loved the information towards the end about the experiment with ketamine and the rubber hand to better understand schizophrenia. Most of the time she came off as quite skilled and competent, but there were a few moments where it felt hackneyed due to her flippant use of common turns of phrase or came off someone acting like a journalist. These moments are few and a majority of the writing is interesting and feels authentic.
I did watch the Netflix special of this, the book (or at least audiobook) is much better. In the book Stephen is much more caring and present. I think they also misrepresented her age and ability in the show, perhaps so the actress comes off as more believable. The book also spends some time talking about her recovery, which is important as well as how she tries to help others with her knowledge and experience. The special is pretty good, but the (audio)book eclipses it.
I especially enjoyed tales from the Mayan and other cultures I would not have otherwise encountered.
The Rumi poetry was lovely, heart warming, comforting. I also delighted in an alternative perspective of Shakespeare's “Shall I compare thee to a summer's day” (Sonnet XVIII). Told from a son recalling a summer memory of his mother.
Loved the mystical nun artwork, as well as The Book of Ester as a whole.
I would be intrigued to see what else was considered. The Book of Kells comes to mind, as does Utopia (or something by Thomas More), Machiavelli's The Prince, Faust, an opera (although it might be that early opera (1600's) seem to be heavy with Greek/Roman history/mythology), some Norse Mythology, some Egyptian literature, the tale of Anansi or African folk tale (understandable that much of it might be oral and thus difficult to put a date on it).
I appreciated that these volumes cover both the familiar and undiscovered for me, helping to reveal knowledge gaps or expose me to that which I might not have considered. It also makes classical literature feel more accessible.
I hope that I can seek out some of the artists' work.
The art was lovey and highly enjoyable, I am fond of Trondheim's style and Findakly has a great use of color.
The content jumps around, but that's understandable, what I was annoyed at was that many things were unclear or I didn't understand how, or if, things were resolved. Not sure if this is an issue of translation, a cultural gap, purposeful ambiguity or if information is just not there.
Her experiences are interesting and I would check out more of her work.
Sigh, I always seem to like the fashion sketches more than the actual outfits. Things were pretty, but most veered into one of these categories: over-the-top, time & cost intensive, inconvenient, uncomfortable, and/or impractical.
Mostly skimmed, not all images loaded on my digital copy 🤷🏻♀️ and some interviews did not catch my attention.
