I’m unable to conceive what the poet means to articulate, but I do recognize a quality in the words. They may seem random, yet lack the accidental meanings of complete nonsense.

Fortunately the poems are short, so I will have time to reread everything. That will be required.

Like longer poems with pieces cut away from them?

It’s as if she wants to leave no impression. Inserts the word “and” unsupported, where a concept might otherwise have been carried forward.

Picked this book up for half a dollar today, among several others. Meant to read only the first page, to get a feel for it, but the humor of the book has me hooked. Usually Stein is a bit, um, difficult to comprehend, but this book reads like a charming conversation.

When my mother asked for some books to read, I added this book to the stack. I read it in high school, having picked it from a reading list, and 15 years later I can still remember a few scenes, frozen in place. When you think about it, it’s amazing how quickly it appeared on our high school reading list.

My mother was probably drawn to A Yellow Raft in Blue Water - as I was - by the theme of modern Native American life, something we can identify with. Now that she’s finished, I’m starting to reread the book. The structure of the book reminds me of Lee Smith’s Oral History which appeared a few years earlier. I would be surprised if Dorris had not read Oral History before writing A Yellow Raft… not that it matters to the worth of the book. But I do think they make good companions.

After Pullman’s fame flamed up, his earlier works made that difficult journey across the ocean into the hands of American booksellers. Count Karlstein lacks some of the intense qualities of His Dark Materials, but it deserves to be evaluated on its own, as an excellent comedy, a farce with hints of his genius.

Theatrical in its comings and goings, but not too heavy on dialogue, Pullman paints some excellent scenery which sets up a wonderful illusion of 19th-century Switzerland.

In the short-term the story offers wonderful surprises, but the ending unfolds much as expected. At times while reading I thought, “Shakespeare would have done something like this.” But in other ways it followed the typical patterns of children’s literature.

A fable and a mountebank’s stage production, with memorable characters and inspired moments, Count Karlstein is worth the price of admission.

Philip Pullman is an exceptional writer, with all the little writerly bits you’d expect from an exceptional writer. This tidbit (a short story) should be read after the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I feel the story is incomplete. It needs what came before it, and still needs what will come after. It’s more like the opening chapter to a novel than a complete story. But I’ll take whatever I can get from Pullman.

Story of an exceptional child who has to discipline her villainous parents.

So far I’ve found it worth reading anything Roald Dahl writes. Funny, cute, imaginative and in some ways realistic while being completely fantastic. Even the villains, as much as you loathe them, are a bit lovable.

Took a while for me to realize that the book retells Cinderella. How could I have not noticed? It snuck up on me… ogres, elves, gnomes and mad fairies weren’t in the original tale. Neither the curse… but what was Cinderella’s main fault if not obedience? Fortunately the author keeps most of the familiar bits to the end, adding her own twists.

Yes, a charming tale. The author is a silly man, indeed, and I look forward to reading some of the other books in the series. Must be the masochist in me that likes to read about poor young children under duress and hardship at the hands of an evil uncle. One of those children’s books that acts as propaganda for books and learning, the childrens’ only weapons in their bleak and miserable existence.

Starting to “read” the audiobook. So far, a realistic setting with texture and out-of-the-ordinary edges you can take hold of. Literature drawn from life, not from other books.

A good read, perhaps with a bit too much encyclopedic information (a two-page summary of The Hound of the Baskervilles for example.) Perhaps this reflects the narrator’s autism, or perhaps the author is confused about what makes fiction. I do like the book. I imagine most people would like it. The book doesn’t really say anything profound, but people like puppy dogs, right?