tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post3621460815859203616..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: They all fall back to hell - an attempt to get some more people to read When Mystical Creatures AttackAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-70581897693950673022015-04-20T12:49:48.934-05:002015-04-20T12:49:48.934-05:00Wonderful, Jeanne. I was laughing again, just rea...Wonderful, Jeanne. I was laughing again, just reading the <a href="https://necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/when-mystical-creatures-attack/" rel="nofollow">excerpts you had used</a>.<br /><br />I have wondered if this is a book that teachers will surreptitiously pass along to each other. A warning, a cautionary tale. If you are wishing too hard for that phoenix, get out now, before it is too late.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-31884359177212905542015-04-20T09:25:45.712-05:002015-04-20T09:25:45.712-05:00I can't thank you enough for pointing me in th...I can't thank you enough for pointing me in the direction of this book. If there's an ideal audience for almost-despairing teacher humor about idealism and what it means to want the best for young people in the world and how you can pass anything on when you're barely keeping it together yourself, and above all, the importance of reading and responding...well, I'm it.Jeannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975028272143207826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48329205828304033902015-02-04T08:18:45.285-06:002015-02-04T08:18:45.285-06:00There is a medieval line of thinking in which ever...There is a medieval line of thinking in which everything is a Christian allegory. Wait till the humanists get hold of the unicorns; they're even worse.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66333318998114853472015-02-03T23:32:39.777-06:002015-02-03T23:32:39.777-06:00"
"unicorns ... the bloodthirsty beasts ..."<br />"unicorns ... the bloodthirsty beasts of medieval bestiaries "<br /><br />Which mediaeval bestiaries?<br />Not according to T. H. White's translation of A Book of Beasts, the most widely available bestiary now. There the unicorn is depicted as an exemplar of Christ and Christianity.<br />Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-67458957057283786592015-02-03T13:29:48.340-06:002015-02-03T13:29:48.340-06:00Doug, exactly - unicorns are killers! If the book...Doug, exactly - unicorns are killers! If the book were simply as cute as its cover, it would not have showed up here. <br /><br />CB, I think you'd appreciate the book as a novel about teaching. You might appreciate, for example, the happy fact that you teach younger students than the poor teacher in the novel.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-43114468367788669722015-02-03T10:58:38.195-06:002015-02-03T10:58:38.195-06:00The objections to the cover may have more to do wi...The objections to the cover may have more to do with the subject than the artwork. Somehow, unicorns have devolved from the bloodthirsty beasts of medieval bestiaries into My Little Pony. I don't know how that happened, but they do inevitably suggest that the intended audience is little girls, not bitter old men who sit up late sipping scotch and reading Apollinaire (for example).<br /><br />Founds's website indicates she's promoting the book through book clubs. Maybe that's how it's done now. At any rate, good luck to her; she sounds good. Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7840551892089447992015-02-03T10:09:52.333-06:002015-02-03T10:09:52.333-06:00I'll have to look for this on if the rest of t...I'll have to look for this on if the rest of the book is as good as the selections you've printed here. I do agree with Richard about the cover art. Covers matter. I know we claim not to buy books based on their covers but we all do, at least in part. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-55100001207005754092015-02-02T11:29:59.751-06:002015-02-02T11:29:59.751-06:00I have always wondered about the name of that cake...I have always wondered about the name of that cake. Give me the dessert that keeps me alive, please. Yes, Stefanie, try to scrounge this book up - if you liked that joke, you will like lots of the jokes.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-51994844083289646912015-02-02T10:34:04.567-06:002015-02-02T10:34:04.567-06:00I'm going to be laughing over the Valley of th...I'm going to be laughing over the Valley of the Shadow of Death by Chocolate Cake all day. Will have to look out for this one!Stefaniehttp://somanybooksblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-82994684730632335532015-01-31T21:29:06.748-06:002015-01-31T21:29:06.748-06:00Somehow I saw the inside of the book before I saw ...Somehow I saw the inside of the book before I saw the outside. Certainly before I looked at the blurbs. That helped.<br /><br />Those animals on the cover (the title, too) are redeemed within two pages. Students are asked to <i>Write a one-page story in which your favorite mystical creature resolves the greatest sociopolitical problem of our time</i>. One student's is "How the Unicorn Stabbed Danny Ramirez in the Heart Seven Times, Which Is What He Deserves, for Breaking Up with Me Like That"; another's is "How the Giant Squid Made Me Stop Being Pregnant." So any sense of pure cutesy is quickly darkened. There are some parts of this novel that are quite dark, as we say now. I would read something especially brutal and turn to the back to look at the smiling author's photo - <i>you</i> wrote this?<br /><br />The unicorn makes a triumphant reappearance near the end, when it saves some of the characters from a rampaging horde of statues from a Christian wax museum. "Judas crumpled lifelessly to the cement, a gaping hole where his heart should have been."<br /><br />So, a lot like Bely's <i>Petersburg</i>.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61141968182252204892015-01-31T19:37:46.453-06:002015-01-31T19:37:46.453-06:00Although I'm convinced of the potential intere...Although I'm convinced of the potential interest of this work given your post (you had me at hush puppies!), the cover art alone would have indeed been a big turnoff for me had I come across the book in a store (those author blurbs, while <em>somewhat</em> less of a turnoff, wouldn't have swayed me either). Of course, I'll have to try to be more receptive to annoying artwork on a book after having enjoyed Bely's great <em>Petersburg</em> and discovering that the Ableukhovs' coat of arms was of a unicorn goring a knight!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.com