Americanized for Your Consumption

On Twitter this morning, one of my favorite authors wrote:

Monday: Done USA rewrite of Dragonslayer-1, finishing DS-2 for the UK in November

Which got me thinking...how often are "foreign" books rewritten for American audiences? I'm not talking about translation, which in itself involves a certain about of rewriting so that the meaning and spirit of the words come across rather than the exact translation which, depending on the language, can be very broken.

My concern is with books originally written in English. I don't know if the rewrites for the author above were just to fix errors in the UK version or to clarify issues. BUT if it was to simply Americanize the book so it's easier for us to absorb, I don't agree with that. Even something simple, like changing the first Harry Potter book from The Philosopher's Stone to the The Sorcerer's Stone bothered me. Why was there a need to change it? So it was easier for the kids to immediately understand?

We Americans are very isolated in our culture. Yes, we travel across the US, but there is so much more to the world than the good ol' US of A. Traveling overseas is very expensive though, at least for me it is. It isn't something we can do casually or often. It requires planning and saving.

Some of the best ways to be exposed to different cultures is through literature, and most easily through popular books, books which are set in foreign places written by foreign authors  Let us learn about your society and traditions and customs. We're resourceful enough to figure out what we don't understand (hello wikipedia). Don't Americanize books for our consumption. Don't protect us from the world. Help us experience it and broaden our horizons.

I'll Do Better In April

I'm gradually learning to prioritize writing to my blog (which I've been horrible keeping up with), reading other people's blogs (my ereader backlog is 500+ strong), catching up on twitter (I currently have 929 *favorites* that I want to read but haven't yet), plus read the books in my massive to-read pile while writing reviews on them so I can actually participate in the Book Challenges I've signed up for) and make sure I watch my favorite shows. I think if I have a schedule, I'll be able to squeeze all of these things into my already busy life. I need to prioritize. I promise to do better in April.

Speaking of books, check out this AWESOME stack of books I won from Maggie Stiefvater's blog! I've never won anything like this before, and I'm super excited to get them. About half of them are already on my to-read list. I posted this pic on Facebook, and I already have three people asking to borrow some. (I've found I AM THE LIBRARY for several of my friends.) I need to start keeping a list of who has which books, because I currently have five books lent out, and I'm pretty sure I only know where three (maybe four) of them are. I keep close track of my favorite books, but others just get lost in the shuffle.

10 Classics I've Never Read

2011 To-Read List

1. Rebecca (now reading)

2. 1984

3. The Scarlet Pimpernel

4. The Count of Monte Cristo

5. Oliver Twist

6. The Phantom of the Opera

7. A Wrinkle in Time

8. Little Women

9. The Screwtape Letters

10. The Great Gatsby

What I'm Reading

Tonight when I got home from work, the rest of the family went out go Christmas shopping. I made myself a light dinner, turned off the TV in the living room, and settled down on the love seat to read a book. I stayed there until after 10:00. It was nice to be alone in the quiet, a kitty plopped down on top of me, with a good book to occupy my mind.

I'm reading HOW I KILLED PLUTO AND WHY IT HAD IT COMING by Mike Brown

I'm enjoying it very much. I LOVE science, especially physics, specifically astrophysics and astronomy, so I knew I had to pick up this book when it was released (which was 2 weeks ago). When I brought it home, Sammy looked at the cover and asked "Why is that rocket bullet dying that dot?" Such a simple question with a very complicated answer. 

Sammy used to have planets hanging above his bed, so I used those to explain why Pluto (which he used to pronounce Mooto when he was younger) was a small planet and couldn't be a BIG planet anymore. Of course there were many more factors that contributed to the definitions of planets and dwarf plants, but he's only 3. When I put Sammy's question on twitter, Mike Brown, the author, replied with "the dot had to die." 

I'm half way through (page 135)...I think Eris (the 10th "planet") is about to be discovered, which sends Pluto on the path to it's eventual doom. I've found this book to be very engaging. It includes aspects of the author's personal and professional life and explains the science behind astronomy in a way that a person of average intelligence can understand it.

I've checked this out of the library, but I can tell it's going to be a book I'm going to buy.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Characters in Books I'd Like to Be BFF's with:
This list was harder to complete than I thought it would be. In no particular order:
1. Elizabeth Bennett (I wanted to BE her) -- from Pride & Prejudice -- because she's intelligent, rational, beautiful, confident, and can speak easily to others.
2. Fitzwilliam Darcy -- from Pride & Prejudice -- because he's handsome, rich, willing to recognize his faults and try to change them, loves without regard, kind, generous
3. Ender Wiggins -- from the Ender's Game "trilogy" -- because he's intelligent, clever, wounded, and stalwart
4. Nancy Drew -- from the Nancy Drew series -- because she's awesome
5. Scout Finch -- from To Kill A Mockingbird -- because she's outspoken, unafraid, curious, has a strong moral compass, and has fun
6. Hermione Granger -- from the Harry Potter series -- because she's intelligent (I see a theme, here), loyal, confident, always prepared, and can do magic
7. Thursday Next -- from the Thursday Next series -- because she's willing to learn, admit her faults, believes in true love, has the coolest uncle, and can jump into books 
8. Skeeter Phelan -- from The Help -- because she has a goal and goes after it, is willing to take risks for something that's right that she believes in, and recognizes her worth
9.  Alice Cullen -- from the Twilight series -- because she's loyal, has great taste in clothes, is a best-friend type person
10. Gale Hawthorne -- from the Hunger Games series -- because he's loyal, caring, respects boundaries (even when he doesn't like them), and can take care of me if the world comes to an end.


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Tuesday

My Top 10 Favorite Books (series count as one)
(in no particular order)

1. Harry Potter (series)
2. Ender's Game (series)
3. Hunger Games (series)
4. Pride & Prejudice
5. Thursday Next (series)
6. To Kill a Mockingbird
7. The Help
8. The Davinci Code
9. Atlas Shrugged
10. The Last Lecture

Bedtime Stories

Tonight's bedtime stories were brought to you by:

We just barely made it through GREEN EGGS & HAM. It was a bit too long for a 3 year old with a short attention span. I'll keep trying, though. We've got to read the classics :)

THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK was a favorite tonight. I reread the whole book three times, and the first 3-5 pages I reread a kajillion times (yes, that's an actual number...because I say so.) 

   

When we got to pages 2-3, Sammy would put his finger to his lips and say "Shhhhhhhhhh", then I'd whisper Grover's part. He'd turn the page. I'd exaggerate Grover's reaction, and he'd cackle with laughter. After making "a terrible mess" on a few pages, Sammy'd lean in to Grover and say, "I'm sorry" very sincerely, but then he'd turn the page :)  My favorite words tonight: "Can we read that again."

Another favorite. When I first started reading WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE to him, I'd act out "they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws." Now I have to do that whenever I read it, but Sammy joins in too. It's so funny to see him gnashing his teeth and rolling his eyes.

Yet another favorite. THE POLAR EXPRESS is almost always the first book I'm requested to read at night, and tonight it was also the last. Sammy was into the "polar choo choo" movie big time last Christmas. He know's it inside and out, and tonight he kept asking, "Where's the girl?" (who's in the movie but not the book). But he still loves the book.

We also read THE GIANT JAM SANDWICH, a book I liked as a kid. I think he likes it because when I'm reading, my hand turns into a bee that flies around him. He grabs my hand and says, "I've got your bumble bee". He also points to different people on a page and asks, "What's they saying?" and I have to make up something in a funny voice.

WOW, that's a lot of reading in one night.

ROOM by Emma Donoghue

I saw this trailer for a book called Room. It's getting a lot of early buzz. A couple people I know who've read advanced copies have praised it as a fantastic book. It's release date is September 13.

You can read the first chapter at barnesandnoble.com - just click "See Inside".

There's also another video trailer at Amazon.com