Greetings blog family! I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last post, the past couple weeks have been very hectic. But enough about me, let’s talk about my parents.

My parents just got back from a two week cruise around Europe. They went to Copenhagen, St. Petersberg, Estonia, and a bunch of other places. When they got back they told me they had presents for me (yay presents!), but I was not expecting what they brought home. Their presents to me were 5 different books from all over Europe all about fairy tales. They got me a complete collection of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales completely in Danish, a collection of Pushkin stories, a book of Estonian folktales, and then two tiny Estonian folktales. So that’s what we’re going to talk about – the small ones.

The first thing I should mention is that these Estonian folktales are not written by the same person. There are three authors and four tales. The first collection of stories I read is called Stories About Orphans, and the first tale that I read in that book is called The Orphan’s Hand-millwritten by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald.

The Orphan’s Hand-mill is a story about a girl whose parents are deceased. She gets taken in by a farmer and his wife. The wife was cruel to her, and to the other orphans they “adopted” since they only took them in for help around the fields and house. Now that’s how you raise children. Child labor – there’s nothing better.

Anyway, the young girl has no friends except for a little dog named Krants, and she spends her days grinding grains in a hand-mill to make flour. The farmer’s wife makes her grind grains all day long even when her hands start to bleed, and has learned that if she stops her chores to rest at all, the woman will attack her with a cudgel. In other words, the farmer’s wife is pretty much like a second mom to this girl — very loving and welcoming.

Well, one day she’s working at the hand-mill (starving to death because the farmer’s wife decided not to feed the orphans) when a famous sage, disguised as a beggar so no one would notice him, gave the young orphan a piece of bread from his bag, and asked the girl about her troubles. She told him about her life and the beggar said that he had a solution. He gave the girl a scarf to wear around her head when she sleeps and tells her to say “Sweet dreams, carry me to where I can find a hand-mill which grinds by itself, so that I, a feeble child, need not turn it.”

In her dreams she descends into a hell-like place, but finds the hand-mill that the beggar promised, noting only that she must not open the chest that holds the hand-mill, she must only put the grains in the top and take them out from the bottom. Easy peasy. For years she goes about her milling with no issues, and finally the farmer’s wife decides to see what’s been going on. It seems too easy for this girl to produce such great flour but feel little exhaustion. So she sends the orphan to church one morning, and goes snooping about her sleeping quarters. It’s there that the woman finds a large chest, unsure of what it is, she opens the chest and a huge burst of fire pops out of the mill, killing the farmer’s wife.

When the orphan came home, she heard of what happened to the woman, but when she went to see the chest, it had disappeared back to hellish world it came from. The orphan remained a servant there, but a few years later she was a grown woman and the farmer widower was looking for a wife. They married and retired. The end.

And here’s the point in the story that I said, “what the fuck did I just read?” First of all, that was depressing. Second, not that I’m complaining, but why did no one care that the farmer’s wife had died? They all just went about their business. Granted, she wasn’t a nice person. But you’d think that the people there would at least care about what happened, no? At the very least a part of their home is burned down from some weird thing that disappeared, and now they have extra things to do. You’d think there would be a little side note that said, “and then the orphan servants were pleased that she died, but were pissed that she died, for they had to double their chores for more than a fortnight!”

Lastly, why did the orphan marry the farmer? He obviously didn’t care that she was being beaten and starved to death by his wife for at least 10 years, and now that he’s a widower he gets to just point and choose an orphan he’d like to keep? Does that make sense to anyone? Because I’m baffled.

I will say this though: I’m actually really excited about that story. If for no other reason than apparently it’s a well known story in Estonia, and that makes me feel cultured, which I’m not any other time of the day. If I’m using a rating system to review it, though, on a scale from one to five (one being a crappy book, five being an awesome book) I’d put it at a two. It was nothing special, just weird.

So that’s the first of two Stories about Orphans – the second one we’ll be talking about is called The Keen-willed Orphan. You’ll be getting that review soon!

Until next time,

Rachel

e-mail: rachel@booksandcleverness.com

Alright, alright, alright. So it’s officially been 2 and a half weeks of me reading book 2 in Deborah Harkness’ Shadow of Night. And I just can’t do it. I’ve mentioned before about how life is too short to read bad books. And I refuse to stand by and read a mediocre book simply because I’ve started it.

Here’s the thing: it’s not a bad book! It’s just not what I signed up for. You see in the first book I took the story at face-value. I thought it was wildly entertaining and it was the perfect book for me to read after reading the incredibly powerful, but completely devastating book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

When I started the first novel I thought it was really hard to get into. But with our move to a new apartment and multiple jobs, I was completely devoid of any creativity and any sort of escape route into a different world – something I very much enjoy having in my life. Yay books! So reading A Discovery of Witches in short bursts only made me want to read more, to be in that world just a little longer. The main characters have about a thousand flaws and none of them are endearing, they’re just flaws. But I overlooked it and took the book for what it was: fun.

The ending of that book was perfect, and I’ll give Harkness her due on that one. She ended with an absolutely perfect cliffhanger! So of course I had to go and buy the book and start reading it immediately to find out what happens. Unfortunately, I’m 219 pages in to the book and it’s just so slooooow! I don’t want to give you the wrong impression – it’s not as if the writing is bad, or the story is bad, it’s just all so slow. The back of the book covers more excitement than the first 200 pages combined.

See I’m the kind of person that loves action packed books. Even if every page isn’t action packed, I still like the way that authors can make mundane things exciting. I just don’t feel like Harkness has done that in this case. She did more so in the first book. But so far this book has been predictable and more of a love story than the “spies and subterfuge” they promise on the back cover. Perhaps I’m just looking into this book a bit too much and should take it for what it is, too, but I’m not sure I can do it.

So, as a compromise for myself, I’m going to read more of the book tonight (and soon, before I fall asleep. Note: it’s only 9:38pm and I’m already exhausted after sitting on the couch watching Boardwalk Empire for five hours. Such a hard life) and if I fall asleep tonight thinking that it’s still too slow, I’ll take a leave of absence from this book and maybe pick it up one day when I’m in need of a lighthearted story like before.

Until next time!

Rachel

email: rachel@booksandcleverness.com

Howdy! It’s been quite a hot day here in New Jersey, and it’s gotten me thinking about those first couple of chapters in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling. The book starts out about how its so ungodly hot during the summer and Harry’s laying in his Aunt Petunia’s flower bed just trying to cool off and listen to the news.

When I started thinking about that moment in the first chapter, I realized that I was comparing a normal summer day to Harry Potter’s hot day. So I started thinking about how many other things I do in my every day life that reminds me of Harry Potter. The thought then snowballed into all the things that the characters in the books have said that have really changed my life forever. Not in the same way as this heat – I don’t really think that it being hot out is a specific link to Harry Potter. But there are some things that have been said, one of them being the name of this blog, that have really stuck with me. So here’s a brief list!

1. “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” – Sirius Black, Book 5

Damnit, Rowling, you’ve done it again. You’ve made me look at life as though everything were an observation. Let’s be fair – it is. Nonetheless, this is a very deep comment because it’s so true, and I’ve had many discussions with people where they’re friendly and great, but the second someone they deem inferior speaks to them, it’s like night and day. They become total jerks, and it really says a lot about their character.

2. “Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery.” – Hermione Granger, Book 1.

DON’T YOU DARE, HERMIONE! Books and cleverness is all that matters! Spoken like a true Ravenclaw.

I have nothing more to say except, thank you, Hermione, for giving me the greatest title for my blog.

3.”Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps it’s brain.” – Arthur Weasley, Book 2

A very wise man, Arthur Weasley. I often think of this quote in terms of the internet and phones. I can tell you with no hesitation that my phone is ALWAYS at my side. Even if I don’t look at it for hours on end, it’s right next to me. I am so dependent on this tiny piece of metal that I could easily break with my foot. And yet, it has the hold on me. I wouldn’t dare break it with my foot because then I’d be without it, and OH THE HORROR! But there’s like a mystical world beyond the touch screen that I don’t understand (can someone please explain “the cloud”??), and probably shouldn’t trust with my name and thoughts and things, but I do it anyway. I don’t think Mr. Weasley would agree with my choices…Hmph.

4. “The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure.” – Severus Snape, Book 5

Yep! You got it, Professor! I’m a big advocate of therapy. I think it’s a wonderful thing to be able to have someone separate from your family, that is non-biased, to give you their honest opinion. That said, I’ve been to therapists where they’ve treated me as if they can read my every thought. They summed up my feelings into something easy to deal with and shrug the rest off. But that’s not how the mind works. It’s complex. I mean think of it this way: a song from 1999/2000 came on the radio the other day (Don’t Think I’m Not – Kandi)  and I remembered every single word! The brain is capable of that! The brain is capable of remembering a pretty forgettable pop song from 15 years ago!

I just think that the mind needs to be respected. You can’t be in a successful conversation by assuming you know what the other person is thinking.

5. “Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” – Albus Dumbledore, Book 1

Again, damn, JK Rowling! I have nothing to say. You summed it up.

6. “Happiness can be found even in the darkest times if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Albus Dumbledore, Book 3

Very true. I had a conversation about this with my boyfriend. I told him that ice cream is happiness, and that’s why I eat it so often. Even in the darkest times, I can go to the kitchen and the freezer light will turn on in silent appreciation and say, “hey, girl, here’s the ice cream. Go be happy.”

7. “The truth…It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” – Albus Dumbledore, Book 1

This is why I think so many people have a hard time being honest both to other people and to themselves. Owning up to mistakes, and being honest with yourself and being honest with other people is such a difficult and precious thing. It can be hard to tell the truth and risk hurting someone, or yourself, but it’s the right thing to do. However, I understand what Dumbledore is saying: if you’re delivering bad news to someone, tread lightly. Be respectful. Same goes with people telling you the truth. Be kind. No one should have to believe that they’re the worst in the world for being honest with themselves.

Except Voldemort.

8. “For in dreams, we enter a world that’s entirely our own.” – Albus Dumbledore, Book 3

This is just how I live my life. I’m always off in my own world. Whether it’s reading books and being in that world, writing my own story and being in that world, or sleeping and being in a strange dream concoction of a world, I’m somewhere else. I love to be able to think to myself that last night when I was sleeping I was at a medieval jousting tournament and ended up talking to Shakespeare about Sonnet 116 for hours on end. The mind is a beautiful blessing.

9. “The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – Ginny Weasley, Book 6

This is something I’ve been practicing for quite some time. Trying to open myself up to thinking anything is possible if I put my mind to it. It’s something that is instilled in you as a child… You could be the President of the United States! You could be the next Bill Gates! But as we get older that drive to be anything and anyone is dulled down by people telling you that you need to be realistic. That’s why they teach you woodshop and computer classes in school – because you need to have some skill to take with you into “the real world.” But that’s not true. You can be what you want to be if you put your mind to it. If you don’t get discouraged by a negative review or a bad grade or just a general setback in life, you’ll be okay. Just keep pushing through it. You’ll be alright.

10. “Where’s the fun without a bit of risk?” – Fred Weasley, Book 5

Lastly, where is the fun without risk? I’ve learned this from many books: The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Eat Pray Love, and so much more. People that need to search for happiness and need to feel a sense of adventure, weren’t that happy to begin with. That’s not to say that there aren’t people out there that do adventurous things every day and just want a regular life. But I think if you were to ask any person that has had an adventurous life if they’d rather have had a regular one, they’d say no. And I’d bet that if you ask someone with a normal, non-adventurous life if they wish they’d done something more adventurous, they’d say yes. So mix it up now and then. Life is to be lived.

Thank you for reading about my favorite quotes from the books. I could name dozens more (I didn’t even add any from Luna Lovegood, my favorite character!) but I’ll leave it at this for now. I hope everyone is doing well and is staying out of the heat one way or another (pool, anyone?)!

Until next time!

Rachel

If you have any of your favorite quotes you’d like to add, post them in the comments! I’d love to see what your favorites are! Or if you find a different meaning in any of the quotes I’ve posted, let me know that too! I like hearing your opinions. If you just want to say hi, you can do that too. You can also send me an e-mail at rachel@booksandcleverness.com!