Black Beauty Review

I don't know if I've mentioned it in previous blog posts, but I love animals. Seriously, I take animals over humans any day of the week. That's probably the reason my review of the book is going to be biased.

Black Beauty is the only published novel by writer Anna Sewell. According to Wikipedia (whose information can only be trusted so much), she originally wrote the book for people that work with horses. It's become most famous as a book for children.

I first came in to contact with the book Black Beauty because of a typing program that was on my computer when I was younger. One of the test passages was when Beauty is describing his appearance, starting with "I was now beginning to grow handsome..." that is the only part I had really read up until downloading it. That's not to say that I didn't see it in my elementary school--I did, and I tried to read it a few times but I just never made it past the first few pages. I'm not quite sure why. Anyway, it was downloadable to my Kindle, and I finally made my way through.

The book is a biography of a finely bred horse named Black Beauty, from when he was a foal, all the way through to old age. His life starts off rather charmed, but there were years when it was very hard. He also meets other horses, and learns of their life stories. I have to tell you, this book will give you a mega dose of the feels. I cried a quite a few parts when the horses were describing some of the hardships that they had went through. There were animals, like a particular mare named Ginger, who had grown up without knowing human kindness. It hurts me to think that any animal can have such a hard life, although I know it still happens today (hello, I live in New York City--we still have carriage rides that can be taken) to a lesser extent.

Apparently when the book came out, it brought a lot of awareness to the plight that cab horses in London were going through. Not only that, it also criticized people that did things to their horses for the sake of fashion, like bearing reins. From the (minimal) research that I've done, there are situations where the rein is still used, but for shows, and not to the extreme of making the horse look "proud" and hold their head tall. Horses lean their heads forward when doing things to help disperse the weight evenly.

"Proudly" unable to move their necks

That just looks lovely, doesn't it...? The thing that makes Beauty's story so special is that he doesn't just have cushy homes, he changes hands, and owners, experiencing the full spectrum of humanity. And above all else, he does his best to stay a sweet, kind, gentle horse. Even through the bad times, he doesn't allow it to change his disposition, always taking his mother's advice. Once again, a dose of the feels.

The copy that I had was a digital download from Kindle, for free. It doesn't have any pictures, but it is a very nice text copy, and most of the archaic or European words/phrases have a definition in my dictionary, and the ones that I couldn't look up, or needed a visual reference for, were easily found via web search. Whilst on the subject of vocabulary; this is not at all a difficult book. If you're reading it to a younger audience, you will have to define some of the words, and some picture references will be appropriate, but it should be easily digestible, although some parts will get their emotions going. If this is for a younger audience, and you're reading a paper copy, I do suggest having the internet near by, just for some pictures, especially if the young person isn't equine savvy. If they are, it might not be necessary. If you're older, you still might want to do some research, although if you're anything like me, a little research can lead to an hour of reading about diseases of horse hooves.

I suggest this book to anyone that likes animals, nice descriptions, history, and autobiographies. This is a very lovely book, and I'm happy to have read it.

The Jewels of Aptor Review

I had been told for a few months to check out the work of Samuel Delany, but I hadn't gotten around to it; I had read an interview with him, and I had seen a documentary clip, but I still had not actually read any of his fiction. Now, I can officially say that I've read his work, and that I am a fan.

I bought The Jewels of Aptor for my Kindle, because it was the only book of his that was in my measly price range. It looked interesting, I loved the cover, and I dove right in. From the beginning of the book, my attention was held. I loved the names of the characters, and the journey they were to go on.

I'm not really one to read science fiction, but this definitely has me more interested in the  genre. The basic plot of the story is that our three, later four, protagonists (for the story is really about all of them) on a mission to retrieve the last of a trio of very powerful jewels from an evil island in a dystopian future. I'm not going to pretend that I'm good at figuring out meaning in stories, but one could argue that the entire story is an allegory for the gray area that is good and evil, religion and power. Even I, who can't find the theme of a story, found themes in this one, well worked themes that made even my hardened brows raise.

Unlike most of the books I read, there was no real reason to have to look words up. I think someone with an advanced middle school education could read this without issues. The words that I didn't know were words that the author had created for the story. There were some scientific things that I didn't understand, but the protagonists didn't understand either, so I didn't feel bad. The thing I find craziest about the book is that it is Samuel Delany's first published story.

He wrote this amazing book when he was twenty. 20. I definitely need to up my game.

This is a book that I would recommend to someone who might not usually pick up a science fiction story. It's not something that spends billions of words on the science, it's only used when it serves the plot. One of the things I really enjoyed about the book, is that it didn't leave a bunch of open questions at the end, it wove in all of the plot lines, but ended in a way that makes me wonder what happened when the pages stopped, because the world was that interesting.

At $2.99, this book is an absolute steal, and I definitely think more people should read it.

Black History Month Reading List and Side Note

Usually, I don't really observe and follow months or observances. But, since I'm Black, and a writer, I decided that for this Black History Month, I will exclusively read Black authors.

I've read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and I've read the majority of the work by the amazing Toni Morrison. I've read Langston Hughes, and an essay by Audre Lourde.

But there are many, many, many authors that I haven't read. I remember reading a collection of poems called I am the Darker Brother. I remember reading it, and finding the work beautiful, and only recognizing two of the names in the book. Two names. I felt so stupid, so uninformed, so outside of the world that I considered myself. I still can't name many of them.

Starting off my chocolate author reading list is Frederick Douglass' groundbreaking autobiography My Bondage, My Freedom. Yes, it sounds like something that I would write or enjoy, but it's not that kind of bondage or freedom. I'm 20% through, and there have already been parts that made my cry.

After this, I'm not sure what I will read, because there's a book around my house by Ralph Ellison that in paper, and I want to try and work my way through it.

I'm thinking of expanding my Black History Month reading to include works about the Black experience and perceptions of Black people. My Dad got me another book (before the poetry) called Documents of American Prejudice. This book is amazing, and the ideas and pseudoscience being put forth about my people (I've only gotten as far in as the lengthy Black chapter). This counts as Black History in my book.

I will write my review of Frederick Douglass as soon as I'm done.

I almost forgot to mention: I finished my PG short story. It is currently in the very capable and well moisturized hands of my beta, and being looked at. I know it's rougher than sand paper, but it will be properly put online in due time.

Trying to Read "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

This is the most mis-titled book I have ever come across.

Unlike Frankenstein, which is free for my Kindle, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a book you have to pay for. Granted, it's just under one dollar, but when money is tight, you do your best to save every penny. That's why I downloaded the PDF version of the book. I should probably make an entire blog entry about the Pros and Cons of having PDF files. This is, for sure, not this entry, this is specifically about the book.

I'll start by saying I'm a reader that's somewhat familiar with older English phrasing, reading it, and enjoying it. This book is not only in older English, it also has many Latin phrases, and historical references. This is not a book about Quasimodo. This is not a book about his life, his times or anything like that. This book is quite literally about the the world of Paris surrounding Notre Dame Cathedral. The French name for this book literally translates to "Our Lady of Notre Dame". I don't know who in their right mind decided that a good English translation of the title would center around one of the characters.

Quasimodo doesn't even show up in the book until 50 pages in. This book spends most of its time telling the reader about the world around Notre Dame, the streets, the buildings, the neighborhoods. It does mention some pivotal characters, but the characters lives haven't been as elaborated on as the steeples and bells.

I'm 200 pages in the book, and I've realized that I have to stop being a cheepie peepee and fork over the buck to buy the Kindle version. When reading this book, I feel like I need two things: a map of Paris, and a direct internet connection to look up the many phrases and historical people that are mentioned. Without them, I'm really not going to get all out of it that I want. I refuse to give up on this book; I love Gothic literature, but I never thought it would be this tough.But, for all the tough parts, there is a beauty in the world that Victor Hugo is painting, and a music to the sentences that just isn't found anymore.

I think, after reading it, I'll write a formal review, instead of just a review of how difficult it is. But I know that it's worth the work.