I wanted to choose a Christmas themed book for December but had a hard time coming up with one. Anything I could think of I had already read. I finally settled on E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker. Luckily for me, I had a beautiful copy of this book sitting on my shelf that I had never read. If you have seen the ballet, you will know the general story, although there are some significant differences. I don't really want to make a list of similarities or differences here, so if you want to know more, you'll have to read it for yourself.
It is a fun Christmas read, even though the story is kind of weird and creepy at times. The whole mouse king thing kind of turns me off, and
the fact that he has seven heads in the book doesn't help. Eeeek! The reader does learn more about where the nutcracker came from, why he is so ugly, and why he and the mice can't seem to get along. My copy is beautifully illustrated by Gennady Spirin, but I also checked a popular edition out from the library illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I think I'll be adding that one to my book collection soon just because the illustrations are so much fun to look at.
So there you have it. Twelve classics in twelve months. I have a few ideas floating around in my head for my next reading plan. As "fun" as it was to read the classics, this exercise in reading definitely will not be repeated next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment