Excellent opening weekend for Les Mis :)
Hard to believe, but opening weekend for Les Miserables has come and gone. It went very well, only a few minor hiccups (it's live theater, it happens), and we got a good response from the audience both nights, especially Friday. Having such fun! I have a feeling the next two weekends are going to fly! Really going to miss this once the show's run is over. Debating whether to audition for the fall show, or the Stow Symphony is doing Messiah. Leaning heavily towards the latter.
Nicodemus has settled in well. He still hasn't really allowed me to pet him but he doesn't seem as shy as my last group. Also, he likes my singing. Last weekend I was singing and he came over, ears up, and just watched me. Even put his little front paws on the cage wires. It was so cute!
Also polished off a couple more books:
29. Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs. An excellent follow-up to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The sequel picks up where Miss Peregrine left off, with Jacob, Emma, Bronwyn, Millard, Olive and the other Peculiar children on the run from their once safe island. Their teacher, Miss Peregrine, is stuck in bird form. The children make their way to London, hoping to find someone who can help their teacher regain her human form, dodging the bombs and air raids of World War II, as well as the hollowgasts and wights hunting them. It's hard to write about this book without giving spoilers, but this book was hard to put down, had a couple interesting twists and leaves the reader with a cliffhanger ending. Obviously, a third book is planned, and there was much rejoicing (by me, anyway). The tone in this book is darker as Jacob and the others confront the duel dangers of the war and the supernatural, as well as the perils of growing up.
30. Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar lee Masters. This is a collection of 244 free-form poems total, the vast majority of which are epitaphs from the deceased residents of the somewhat fictionalized small town of Spoon River. I saw a musical based on these poems ages ago and really liked it. The premise is that the dead speak to the living, the veneer of civility stripped away. They have nothing to hide anymore. Some of the poems are reflective, some are sweet, and show a contented life (Lucinda Matlock, Lois Spears and Fiddler Jones are my favorites in this category). From soldiers who died in battle to children succumbing to disease, from the lower end of society such as Daisy Fraser to banker Thomas Rhodes, there is a varied cross-section of humanity. Several poems reflect bitterness, and more than a few stories -- the Minerva Jones arc and the story of Nellie Clark especially-- are horrifically tragic. In addition to the personal stories, many of which are connected to paint a more complete picture of Spoon River Life, there is The Hill, which begins the anthology, plus The Spooniad and The Epilogue. Didn't care for the epilogue, personally. Just too bizarre after the realistic feel of the rest of the anthology. Also, I noticed most of the poems Masters added in his 1916 expansion tend to be heavily rhetorical and more standalone. All in all, though, using Spoon River Anthology would be a good, accessible way to introduce older grade school readers and teens to poetry.
Currently reading: Stayin' Alive, by Jefferson Cowie, and The Wave, by Susan Casey
Nicodemus has settled in well. He still hasn't really allowed me to pet him but he doesn't seem as shy as my last group. Also, he likes my singing. Last weekend I was singing and he came over, ears up, and just watched me. Even put his little front paws on the cage wires. It was so cute!
Also polished off a couple more books:
29. Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs. An excellent follow-up to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The sequel picks up where Miss Peregrine left off, with Jacob, Emma, Bronwyn, Millard, Olive and the other Peculiar children on the run from their once safe island. Their teacher, Miss Peregrine, is stuck in bird form. The children make their way to London, hoping to find someone who can help their teacher regain her human form, dodging the bombs and air raids of World War II, as well as the hollowgasts and wights hunting them. It's hard to write about this book without giving spoilers, but this book was hard to put down, had a couple interesting twists and leaves the reader with a cliffhanger ending. Obviously, a third book is planned, and there was much rejoicing (by me, anyway). The tone in this book is darker as Jacob and the others confront the duel dangers of the war and the supernatural, as well as the perils of growing up.
30. Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar lee Masters. This is a collection of 244 free-form poems total, the vast majority of which are epitaphs from the deceased residents of the somewhat fictionalized small town of Spoon River. I saw a musical based on these poems ages ago and really liked it. The premise is that the dead speak to the living, the veneer of civility stripped away. They have nothing to hide anymore. Some of the poems are reflective, some are sweet, and show a contented life (Lucinda Matlock, Lois Spears and Fiddler Jones are my favorites in this category). From soldiers who died in battle to children succumbing to disease, from the lower end of society such as Daisy Fraser to banker Thomas Rhodes, there is a varied cross-section of humanity. Several poems reflect bitterness, and more than a few stories -- the Minerva Jones arc and the story of Nellie Clark especially-- are horrifically tragic. In addition to the personal stories, many of which are connected to paint a more complete picture of Spoon River Life, there is The Hill, which begins the anthology, plus The Spooniad and The Epilogue. Didn't care for the epilogue, personally. Just too bizarre after the realistic feel of the rest of the anthology. Also, I noticed most of the poems Masters added in his 1916 expansion tend to be heavily rhetorical and more standalone. All in all, though, using Spoon River Anthology would be a good, accessible way to introduce older grade school readers and teens to poetry.
Currently reading: Stayin' Alive, by Jefferson Cowie, and The Wave, by Susan Casey