TEACHING SAROYAN, READING CASSANDRA CLARE

Teaching Saroyan

I’ve been flustered and terribly emotional these last few days. What’s going on? Is that the “getting older” mood? “I’m going soft in my old age”. This is  a quote, but I can’t remember where I heard it. It was a TV movie or series, can’t tell you more.   OK.  Add "has bad memory" to "gets flustered and emotional". 

These last days I have been giving my last lessons to my last year’s students (doesn't that sound really final?) reading them a couple of chapters from The Human Comedy by William Saroyan,  which I had chosen to say good-bye and wishes good life to them. And what happened?  I just couldn’t avoid it: my voice went broken,  my  eyes filled with tears.  Problem is they were all so silent and so focused on me and some girls had tears in their eyes too. Boys? They must be tough, you know.  But they were not giggling, nor being distracted. They looked, let’s say,  surprised?

This has actually hardly ever happened to me before. Not that it was a bad experience, it was just … weird. That’s all. Here are the “guilty” words:

AT THE CINEMA: THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS CITY OF BONES - SEEN WITH MY KIDS

Note added on Wednesday 5th September 2013: I've seen the movie again at a week's distance. Different theatre, different audience, in my niece's company: second time it was much better! I'd write a different review, honestly. But I won't. I'll only give you this "legenda": the first part was just very good rewatching it (see the "What didn't work" section of present review).  I didn't have the same impression I had the first time. I'd like to re-watch it a third time now  to see what happens but... I'll have to wait for my digital copy when it will be released. I've pre-ordered it. 

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I’ve been looking forward to seeing this film for a while.  I told you how it all started, do  you remember? 

Mission City of Bones accomplished today.  I saw the movie,  I made a new shadowhunter  without needing any mortal instrument - seeing Jamie Campbell Bower on screen was enough for her  (my niece, 16).   I can go to bed  happy and satisfied.

The first film of what is supposed to become a saga has arrived  today here in Italy and I was at the nearest theatre (one hour’s drive)  in time  for the first afternoon screening. The Italian title of the movie is “Shadowhunters - Città di Ossa” , based on Cassandra Clare's series of books, The Mortal Instruments, YA urban fantasy,  which sold 22 millions copies all over the world.

Young people in my family  were at  first puzzled for my sudden, unexpected enthusiasm for a YA series but, teasing me,  they decided they had to discover why The Mortal Instruments had succeeded where the Twilight Saga , Harry Potter , The Lord of The Rings and all the others hadn’t.  Hence, a few of them brought me to the cinema with them or was it more “I brought them to the cinema with me”?

REVIEW: THE INFERNAL DEVICES BY CASSANDRA CLARE - VICTORIAN LONDON & THE SHADOWHUNTERS WORLD

A full immersion in The Shadowhunters Chronicles these days! I've been reading Cassandra Clare's trilogy The Infernal Devices (prequel to The Mortal Instruments), I've been following the huge publicity campaign for the first movie based on the shadowhunters world (TheMortal Instruments City of Bones), and re-reading City of Bones for aread-a-long meant to be a sort of counting down to the movie release .

The shadowhunters in The Mortal Instruments series are half angel half human creatures who  fight demons in present-day New York city. In The Infernal Devices their ancestors have to fulfil the same task in a dark Victorian London setting. The stories of the two series are somehow intertwined,  more so than you might expect. Once back in time and in London,  you find yourself in the same fascinating world you had known with Clary Fray in 21st century NY , a world made of blood, danger, fight, runes, iratzes, great values and deep love.

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES . READ-A-LONG + GIVEAWAY. CHAPTER 10 RECAP & MY REACTION TO THE UPCOMING MOVIE

Welcome to Day 10  of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (*) Read-A-Long hosted by Kayla at Ramblings of a Book Junkie! I'm very excited to be a part of it.  21 days, 23 chapters and a gripping tale to read during August until the official premiere of  The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones the Movie (August 21st).

Chapter 10 Recap - Welcome to the City of Bones!

Clary is in NY Institute where, little by little,  she discovers  he truth about her mother's past and her own identity. 
Hodge, the tutor of the two Lightwood siblings and Jace, reveals that he was a member of the secret group of young shadowhunters called The Circle,  to which Jocelyn, Clary's  mother, belonged too.  Jocelyn was married to Valentine Morgernstern at the time.

Revelation after revelation, Clary is extremely puzzled. She makes up her mind to discover what her mother has tried to hide from her all her life long. She will meet the Silent Brothers, as Jace suggests, and  they will read her mind. Jace and Hodge are sure all the answers are inside Clary's head.

Simon is in the Istitute too, but he is unkindly dismissed by Jace. Isabelle accompanies him to the door. 

Clary is  rather confused and hasn't completely recovered from the demon's poisonous attack.  When Jace wakes her up very early the next morning,  she finds herself in bed, experiencing the strangest dream of herself dancing with Simon first then with Jace. She can't even remember how she got to bed. 

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS CITY OF BONES: READ-A-LONG & GIVEAWAY

My journey to the Shadowhunters' world  has  been one of the most exciting experiences in my recent reading life, so I enthusiastically accepted to be part of this event: a read -a- long to share and discuss book one in the series, City of Bones, waiting for the release of movie 1.


Join us!
If you have read or plan to read City of Bones before the movie comes out on August 21, join us. If you like the idea, grab your copy,  get one as soon as possible and read with us. We will be sharing a chapter recap a day and more: characters analysis, musings, reactions to the movie making, merchenrise, interviews with the cast and  more.

There's also a chance  ( more than one, actually) of winning TMI related e-books! How?  Have a look at the rafflecopter form you'll find below this post and find out.

Here's the list of blogs and bloggers participating in the tour:

UPCOMING COSTUME MOVIES AND INTRIGUING NEW PROJECTS: ROMEO AND JULIET, SUMMER IN FEBRUARY AND THE INFERNAL DEVICES

I won't miss these upcoming movies  and  I really hope they will be good. They are all set in the past and this is something I've always been charmed by. Good stories set in the past... period movies! What's in this post? A new Romeo and Juliet whose set was near my home but  I unfortunately missed, Summer in February starring Dan Stevens and Dominic Cooper,  as well as a fantasy YA saga set in the Victorian Age - Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices - soon to be adapted for the silver screen . 

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES - SHADOWHUNTERS, KILLING DEMONS AND PREJUDICES

“The boy never cried again, and he never forgot what he'd learned: that to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed.” (Cassandra Clare) 

Book synopsis  - Sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is an ordinary teenager, who likes hanging out in Brooklyn with her friends. But everything changes the night she witnesses a murder, committed by a group of teens armed with medieval weaponry. The murderous group are Shadowhunters, secret warriors dedicated to driving demons out of this dimension and back into their own. Drawn inexorably into a terrifying world, Clary slowly begins to learn the truth about her family - and the battle for the fate of the world.

You know,  each time I write about books or movies at FLY HIGH, it is never on a professional level .  I  try to be as honest as I can with you,  but don't ask me to be  objective. I've been and will be,  on the contrary,  totally and personally involved in each of my reviews.

So,   this time too,  I'll  tell you something really personal.