So, the night before last I had some weird episode and ended up going to bed hours early, and getting 13 hours of sleep. I spent almost all of yesterday sleeping, and laying around, being incapable of really doing anything. Then last night when I was almost asleep my eyes opened wide and I realized I hadn't posted day three of the Eyes Like Stars tour..... so here I am giving excuses and trying to make it up by posting on Thursday.
I believe I promised a review and tour searching tips for today... so, open the curtain:
Bertie has lived in the theater for as long as she can remember. She doesn't know who her parents are, or why she lives in the theater. There are a couple people there who run different departments of the theater( and their squabbles are fun to watch:) ) but other than that there are immortal actors and actresses everywhere. Every character from every play ever written lives in this theater, and they cannot leave- The Book has bound them there.
But Bertie is not one of them. She doesn't really fit in anywhere. She continually seems to get in the way, doing things she shouldn't and pulling pranks. And finally the Theater Manager has had enough. He tells Bertie she must leave the theater forever, or find some way to make herself indispensable.
When I first finished the book I think I had an interesting expression on my face. (Kind of like the time I first tried coffee with french vanilla creamer...) The book had not been at all what I was expecting. For one, I had had no idea that it had romance. Not that that's a bad thing, I just wasn't expecting it. Also, I had had no warning that it was the beginning of a trilogy- so count this as YOUR warning. Its a trilogy and the story will not be wrapped up and finished on page 352 when the text reads 'CURTAIN'. Another thing was that Bertie was not the cookie cutter heroine I had imagined... she smokes, and she swears, and she isn't always that nice... And like many other people in this tour I was confused the first several pages.
But somehow the book grew on me (kind of like the coffee....). There was plenty of good in the book too. (I'm a bad news first kind of person). The fairies had some pretty good lines, and did a pretty good job keeping her balanced. Well, at least they tried to. Anyway, the allusions I caught were good as well. I havn't read much Shakespeare, but Macbeth has been on my mind lately (The Cousins Drama Club starts filming our version in just four days...) I recognized a couple lines from Shakespeare's script in Lisa's novel. The rest of the writing was well written, too. Maybe a couple scenes or paragraphs seemed forced, but other than that I was lost in the world of the Theatre Illuminata.
And now for Tour Searching Tips: (hmm, I'm having a problem with the links, so I just have lists of blogs below. Please look to the upper right column for the actual links....)
Each of these blogs have reviews up:
A Patchwork of Books
Abby the Librarian
Another Book Read
Becky
Dolce Belleza
The Friendly Book Nook
Becky's Book Reviews
Homeschool Buzz
Hyperbole
Never Jam Today
Superfast Reader
Through a Child's Eyes
A Christian Worldview of Fiction and All About Children's Books give their lists of strengths and weaknesses
For a list of the cast you can visit 160 Acre Woods and Homespun Light
For more information on Shakespeare, go to Homeschool Buzz
For some thoughts on a Midsummer's Night Dream, visit Never Jam Today
She also has a book give away open until the 17th.
For a list of other books you may like, visit Through A Child's Eyes.
She also has a list of activities and favorite quotes.
Close Curtain
No comments:
Post a Comment