guingel | Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley

oooh, I forgot to mention something yesterday. I've been rereading The Dancing Bear, by Peter Dickinson. I first read it in PAG (. . . program for the academically gifted--the best kids from the schools in the district had a special class at one of the schools twice a week--like, Tuesdays and Fridays I'd go to a different school, and we would do cool things like make books of myths or divide into teams and come up with an ad campaign) when I was 10 or 11, I guess. But it's a fantastic book. I read The Fellowship of the Ring at the same time, and The Dancing Bear is shorter (obviously) and a bit easier--I think it's in the juvenile section of the library, but it's still a great book. It's just as good the second time around, and I recommend it highly (i've spell-checked entry, and found that recommend does indeed have two m's and one c!). I haven't been able to put it down and have been staying up very late reading it (luckily I'm on vacation). I finished it last night, but I think I want to read it once more before I give it back--it's too good to just stop. Silvester is the best :D Peter Dickinson is actually married to Robin McKinley, who wrote Beauty (a retelling of Beauty and the Beast) and one of my favorite books--also discovered in PAG, I believe. All I could remember about The Dancing Bear was that it was by Peter Dickinson and one of the characters was named Ariadne. Reading the book made me really love that name. (luckily my mom works at a library, so I went and did a search on the computers and she was able to interloan it even though they didn't have it where she works)

I went to the Peter Dickinson website--and found out that he and Robin McKinley wrote a book together!!! I have to buy it. And I need a copy of The Dancing Bear for myself. I've gotten greedy with books lately--I want to own them and be able to reread them whenever I want. Man, I bought Spindle's End (I think that's the name), which is a recent book by Robin McKinley and a retelling of Sleeping Beauty :) And I still haven't read it! Shame on me! :( And I still haven't finished Frankenstein, which is for school. But I don't care, I'm rereading The Dancing Bear anyway :) Then maybe I'll get started on Spindle's End.

Here is an excerpt that Mr. Dickinson has from The Dancing Bear on his website: http://www.peterdickinson.com/Excerpts.html#DancingBear
The book goes through a lot of setting changes, so that's just one small part. The four parts (each divided into chapters) are the City, the Trail, the Camp, and the Tower. The excerpt is from the Trail.
I'm going to have to read the rest of the excerpts ^_^

You know, I still haven't finished reading Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown. Oops. :)

So today me and Katie might go to CVS for after-Easter sales. My mom has requested some candy :) I'm thinking we can call Perin and she can come and then maybe we can hang out--I also want to do some reading though (on Physics, not Frankenstein). Also, since Perin lives clear across town, her involvement will involve someone driving and it'll have to be her parents because we're home alone today. So I hope she'll be able to chill with us.

While I was on hiatus from LJ I took a life drawing class at a local college. It was every saturday (four) in March. A local college hosted it and teachers from around the county (i'm not sure how they chose which ones) recommended two students to go. My teacher did it by grades and I'm third in the class. But luckily my friend who is first or second declined, and I got to go! I was far more interested than her, so it worked out nicely. When I used to go to oekaki boards and stuff, someone said that you should really take life drawing classes in college, it's very helpful. :) The class was also taught by someone who works at our school, and who my sister had for Sculpture, and my brother went on this trip to Italy with her (it was this complicated program that I don't feel like explaining) and she's really nice, so it was a great experience. We gave in one of our best pieces for a little gallery thing at the end, and my dad (of course) thought that mine was one of the best 5 there (out of around 30-40, I'd say). Which felt good, because sometimes in class I'd get discouraged (my style was very different from the rest of the class--more sketchy and detailed and lower contrast). It was a great experience though, and I'm really glad I did it--but I'm also happy to have my Saturdays back--I took the morning class.
The pictures are all on 18x24 paper, so I can't really scan them, but I might get Katie to take pictures with her digital camera.

::sniff:: writing journal entries is fun! I've missed it :)