Emma, A Wrinkle & Impro

Erk. It's been a while.

Not entirely my fault, though. My 2007 finished book list has thus far been nearly nonexistent; I barely have time to shower much less read for pleasure. And for school, I only read passages, whether by assignment or lack of determination. Here are the three I've read this semester.

I should've given this a post of its own earlier, but now that it's passed, there's hardly any need. I have a tradition. Every January, I read a Jane Austen book.

It happen kind of by accident: I read Pride and Prejudice the January of my sophomore year. Twelve months later, I'd picked up Sense and Sensibility, realized it, and decided to make it a habit. Last year, then, I read Persuasion, and for this one I decided on Emma.

I'm not going to try to be contrary and say I didn't enjoy a Jane Austen novel. Nope, I loved it. A+ for me.

Can't really think of anything else to say. I should really get in the habit of posting directly after finishing a book when my opinions are still fresh.

Next, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine D'Engle. I'd bought a copy earlier this year when Meg S. recommended it to me; it was one of those books I'd always heard of as a kid but never read.

I read it on the flight home for spring break. It was engaging (a good airplane book) and very cute. Some parts bored me--and I don't know whether this is because I'm older than its target audience, or because I tend to get bored with extremely science-fiction-y novels, but those were insignificant; some I enjoyed so much I went back to read them over when I was done (just a few minutes before my second plane landed--talk about whew). Overall: A-.

Third, a book for school: Impro by Keith Johnstone. I read this for my Acting

I: Improvisation class, almost entirely over spring break. This is where grading books becomes tricky: while it was nowhere as gripping or satisfying as most of the fiction I blog about here, it was still (in my opinion) very well-written and worthy of a good grade. So, it gets an A... but only if you're interested in the subject, I suppose.

Impro is not only about the improvisation craft and theater in general but I learned a lot about interaction as a whole; its chapter on Status talked about many examples of body language and positioning that convey "high" or "low" statuses; the Spontaneity and Masks chapters discussed putting yourself out there and getting in character; Narratives gave tips on storytelling and plot-developing. It was a worthwhile read, if a little slow and pretty dense at times. I especially liked it because afterwards we began (and continue still) implementing the ideas from the book in the class itself, in our improv games and exercises. It's fun, as always, but definitely a step up from the games we played before break. :)

I'm getting really excited for this summer, and having time to read again. Meg and I are setting up a long-distance book club of sorts; we want to read a few more children's books and maybe a couple of grown-up ones. I have plans of my own as well; other than Harry Potter (which is a given of the most natural sort), I want to read Catch-22 and maybe, if I decide I have enough time, re-try Les Misérables.