Weekly Geeks 2010-27: Judging a Book...

I thought it would be fun to look at book covers. I'll give you several topic ideas--and you can choose which you'd like to do.

Never judge a book by it's cover, as the saying goes. And there is much truth in that saying. Some of the best books that I have read have been enclosed in some of the plainest, shabbiest, and (sometimes) downright ugly covers. But lets face it. There is something wonderful about holding a beautiful book in your hands like a work of art (cough*unlike those digital e-readers*cough). It really does add to the experience. Here are some of the most beautiful covers for my favorite books:

:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Cover art by Petra Borner
Part of the White's Books Collection



Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Cover art by Reuben Toledo
Created for Penguin Classics



North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Cover for Vintage Classics



Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Cover for Vintage Classics



Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Cover art by Coralie Bickford-Smith
Created for Penguin Fine Books



The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Created for The Folio Society

William Tell

Hold fast together, then—forever fast!
Let freedom's haunts be one in heart and mind!
Set watches on your mountain-tops, that league
May answer league, when comes the hour to strike.
Be one—be one—be one——

There is perhaps no other playwright who has captured the imagination and heart of the German people like Friedrich Schiller. His plays continue to be world famous and many consider him to be Europe's second greatest playwright behind William Shakespeare. His friendship and collaboration with Goethe helped create the Weimar Classicism movement and established the Weimar Theater, which became the leading theater in Germany. William Tell is based on the life of the legendary Swiss hero, is considered by most to be his best play and has been translated into many languages.

The Plot:

It's the early 14th century, and the Swiss cantons are under the cruel oppression of the Hapsburgs of Austria. When Gessler, the new "ambassador" from Austria arrives, life becomes unbearable for the Swiss people. Local leaders begin to secretly form an alliance between 3 of the cantons to overthrow the Austrian rule. Local archer William Tell, however, is more focused on providing for his family than overthrowing the government. But when he accidentally breaks one Gessler's new "laws", Tell is forced to face the ultimate test that may cost him the one thing in the world he values most: the life of his son.

My Review (Caution-Spoilers):

It has been a long time since I have read a play. In fact, Shakespeare has been about my only exposure to the classics of the stage. So I was going into this kind of blind.

Overall I was fairly pleased with the play. The story is very inspiring, a sort of Robin Hood meets the American Revolution. It is so great to see these downtrodden people band together and overthrow their foreign oppressor. William Tell's defiance led to a rebellion that eventually formed the Swiss Federation, and today he is still regarded as a national hero.

Schiller's writing is at once strong, dark, powerful and beautiful (very German don't you think?). I love how the settings reflect the mood from the turbulent storms to the homey Tell cottage. Schiller makes the legend, though well known, very riveting.

Of course, it is always better to actually see a play versus just reading it. I would love to be able to see this story acted out on stage and let the full force and beauty of Schiller's work come out.

It can be very difficult to find William Tell in book form, but you can read it here for free. It is a great introduction into the tradition of the German theater. I guarantee that you will be inspired by Tell's love for his family and his country.

The Movie:

Though William Tell has never made it to the silver screen, it has appeared in various forms on television all over the world. Probably the most well known are the 1958 series starring Conrad Phillips, the 1987 series "Crossbow" starring Will Lyman, and the 1998 series "The Legend of William Tell" starring Kieren Hutchinson. Haven't seen any of them, but it's a safe bet that they don't follow Schiller's work too closely.

Weekly Geeks 2010-26: Remembering TKAM

July 11th marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, and arguably one of the most influential cultural books of its kind in the U.S.

Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird? When did you first read it? Did it affect the way you think about race and class in the U.S.? Do you agree that it's an influential and/or important book?

If you read the book but don't live in the U.S., how did the novel influence your opinions about race in the U.S.?

Here's a link to one of the many stories about the novel's anniversary. Have you come across any other interesting stories about the book or the author, Harper Lee?

What other novels have you read that have affected the way you view culture, either your own or others?

Like most people throughout the world, I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird in middle school and I wasn't all that impressed. It seemed kind of boring at the time. Then last summer, I read it as part of my summer reading challenge focusing on Southern literature (see my review here). And I was completely blown away. I became so wrapped up in Scout's story that at times I almost cried. Part of me really thinks that this story is forced upon kids way too early. Not to say that isn't a great book (it is), but it is so hard to grasp the shattering of childhood innocence when you are still living in yours.

I think that what I liked most about this book is that it transcends the very issue that everyone brings up when this book is discussed. This isn't simply a book about race, but about being human. It is about seeing beyond a person's exterior circumstances and realizing that they are just as human as we are. Whether a country's problems lie in race, religion, class, caste, or wealth, this is a story that speaks to all of it.

May I express my hearty congratulations to Harper Lee and her amazing work on 50 years of changing how we view each other. Check out this article from Southern Living if you would like to visit Harper Lee's hometown that she based the book on. And please find below one of my favorite parts of the film starring Gregory Peck. The opening credits.

75 and Counting

Smile and wave, boys, because Penguin Books is turning 75. This publishing company began in 1935 when Allen Lane decided that he wanted to help more people gain access to great books:

Allen Lane had the revolutionary idea to offer cheap, quality books through outlets like railway stations and newsagents. He wanted to make good books as accessible and as cheap to procure — six pence! — as purchasing a pack of cigarettes from a kiosk. Lane launched his new line of books with ten inexpensive paperbacks, all of them reprints.

Simply designed with broad bands of color (orange for general fiction, green for crime fiction, dark blue for biographies), and using the font Gill Sans-Serif, the original ten books immediately established themselves within the history of design.

Skeptics dismissed Lane's idea as imprudent and crazy, but by March 1936 — ten months after the company's launch — one million Penguin books had been printed. Within a year Penguin had sold 3 million paperbacks. By April 1938 the first 140 titles had been published, as well as 30 Pelicans, 18 of the Shakespeare series, and one Penguin Special. The skeptics were proved wrong and a new, innovative publishing model was launched into the world.

Today, Penguin Books continues to make many new and classic works available to the general masses and is synonymous with quality literature at affordable prices . It was an essential link in the chain from the time when only the wealthy could own books, to the present where so much of it is only a click away. Happy Birthday Penguin!

Here is the complete list of the first ten books published by Penguin:

Ariel or the Life of Shelley by André Maurois
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Poet's Pub by Eric Linklater
Madame Claire by Susan Ertz
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Twenty-Five by John Beverley Nichols
William by E. H. Young
Gone to Earth by Mary Webb
Carnival by Compton Mackenzie

HT: Austenblog

Weekly Geeks 2010-25: Guess Who

It's a Weekly Geek Flashback this week! [W]e post pictures of authors that answer the questions listed below, but without saying who they were. Then Weekly Geek visitors should guess, by leaving a comment, who they think those authors are.

Photos of your favorite author(s).

Answers- Top Row L-R: Charlotte Bronte, C. S. Lewis, Daphne du Maurier
Bottom Row L-R: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, A. A. Milne

Photo(s) of the author(s) of the book(s) you’re currently reading.

Answer: Thomas Mann

A photo of the author of the book you’ve most recently finished.

Answer: Franz Kafka

Congrats to everyone who guessed. All of you guessed correctly at least once.

The Sorrows off Young Werther

Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness.

Of all the German writers, there is perhaps none so revered as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Poet, playwright, philosopher, literary man, he was involved in many movements of the late 18th and early 19th century from Romanticism to Sturm und Drang. He is even the originator of the idea of "world literature". His novel The Sorrows of Young Werther made him an international celebrity and set the tone of adolescent manhood for years to come.


The Plot:

The novel is told through a series of letters from a sensitive and passionate artist, Werther, to his friend Wilhelm. While staying in the village of Wahlheim, Werther meets Lotte, a young woman who is caring for her siblings after her mother's death. Werther falls head over heels for her, but soon learns that she is engaged to another man, Albert. Against his better judgment, Werther cultivates a friendship with both Lotte and Albert, all the while hoping against hope that Lotte will return his love.

But as time goes on, Werther begins to despair and decides to leave and forget Lotte. An unfortunate incident drives Werther back to Wahlheim only to discover that Lotte and Albert are now married. Werther must now decide if he is capable of living life without her.

My Review (Caution-Spoilers):

The Sorrows of Young Werther was my first taste not only of Goethe, but of German lit itself. I found it at once beautiful, interesting, and frustrating.

First the beautiful. Goethe's writing and description is absolutely gorgeous. He writes like an artist paints, capturing the subtleties of light, color, shadow, and form. His descriptions of the village, the peasants, and the countryside are achingly beautiful. "When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image..." It is no wonder that this novel was able to evoke so many powerful and different emotions in the hearts of its readers.

Which brings me to the interesting. The history of this novel is perhaps more well known than the content itself. It literally set the tone for a generation of young European men. Napoleon himself felt its impact and considered it to be one of the best European novels. An effect known as "Werther Fever" hit the young men of Europe and the began to dress in clothing like that of Werther, to make Wiemar a must-see destination on their European tour, and in many cases, to commit suicide. Today, this affect still lives on in the idea of copycat suicide known as the "Werther Effect". Goethe himself disliked the idea of suicide and he eventually abandoned the Sturm und Drang movement.

Finally, we have the frustrating. I'm sure that there are many people out there who identify with Werther's distress and hopelessness. I don't happen to be one of them. I found Werther to be disgustingly pathetic, and I never got why he pinned his hopes on this rather flirtatious young girl. It is obvious from the get go that Lotte has absolutely no intention of giving up Albert, and it gets rather annoying to hear Werther constantly boost his hopes only to fall down in utter despair two sentences later. William Makepeace Thackery wrote a poem entitled "Sorrows of Werther" that I think accurately sums up the story:

Werther had a love for Charlotte

Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.
Charlotte was a married lady,
And a moral man was Werther,
And for all the wealth of Indies
Would do nothing for to hurt her.
So he sigh’d and pin’d and ogled,
And his passion boil’d and bubbled,
Till he blew his silly brains out,
And no more was by it troubled.
Charlotte, having seen his body
Borne before her on a shutter,
Like a well-conducted person,
Went on cutting bread and butter.

Having said all this, I do think that The Sorrows of Young Werther is something that you should at least give a try. First off, it is a great intro to Goethe whom everyone should have a taste of. Secondly, the writing itself is worth reading, even if you don't care for the story. And finally, if you have any desire to know more about either the Romanticism movement or Sturm und Drang, this is a must. Though I wasn't overly impressed by the story itself, I found the words and many other aspects of it to be completely worth my time. I'm more than ready to add more Goethe to my diet.

Yeah, Right.

I write like

James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Ok, so if you believe this application, I write like James Joyce. Excuse me while I roll on the floor and laugh. Anyways, you simply put a sample of your writing in the box and hit analyze. It then tells you which great author you (supposedly) write like. I did a few different blog posts just to see how it changed. A couple other random authors popped up, but James Joyce came up twice. So, what do you think? Do I really write like James Joyce? Who do you write like?