Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
Mixture of mystery, puzzles, possibilities, and art. Brainy 12-year-olds Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay attend the University of Chicago Laboratory School where their teacher's unorthodox methods make learning an adventure. When Vermeer's A Lady Writing disappears on its way to exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, the two overcome their adolescent awkwardness and let their friendship bloom, pooling their talents to rescue the masterpiece and expose the thief. Many elements play a role in unraveling the secrets surrounding the crime: Calder's set of pentominoes; his encoded correspondence with his friend Tommy about a missing boy named Frog; and Petra's intuitive communing with the woman in the painting, all augmented by the unusual ideas presented in a strange old book that Petra has found.
Great fun!
Friday, October 01, 2004
Jane Eyre by Charolotte Bronte
Classic Victorian novel of love and being true to one's heart. Told in her own voice, Jane Eyre, tells her own story. The first section of the novel gives her childhood history and then how she came to Thornfield Hall. Jane Eyre becomes a governess in Mr. Rochester's home of Thornfield and falls in love with him before she finds that he has a tragic secret. The second and third sections of the novel are dominated by male figures who symbolize opposing forms of love: Rochester, who stands for physical passion, and St. John, who stands for spiritual passion. At the end of the novel, Rochester, having passed through redemptive fires and having repented of his hubris, can embody the fully integrated masculine self, capable of both physical and spiritual passion.
I listened to this on CD while driving in the car to and from work. I have never really read the entire novel. I was very annoyed at the first half of the book and then became involved in her quandary with what to do with her life. While the ending is a bit melodramatic, it does making a satisfactory one.
Classic Victorian novel of love and being true to one's heart. Told in her own voice, Jane Eyre, tells her own story. The first section of the novel gives her childhood history and then how she came to Thornfield Hall. Jane Eyre becomes a governess in Mr. Rochester's home of Thornfield and falls in love with him before she finds that he has a tragic secret. The second and third sections of the novel are dominated by male figures who symbolize opposing forms of love: Rochester, who stands for physical passion, and St. John, who stands for spiritual passion. At the end of the novel, Rochester, having passed through redemptive fires and having repented of his hubris, can embody the fully integrated masculine self, capable of both physical and spiritual passion.
I listened to this on CD while driving in the car to and from work. I have never really read the entire novel. I was very annoyed at the first half of the book and then became involved in her quandary with what to do with her life. While the ending is a bit melodramatic, it does making a satisfactory one.
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