She Treads Softly: James Bond

Friday, November 28, 2008

James Bond

The James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set
Wonder Boy got this
He's slowly working his way through the 21 movies. Sometimes the rest of us watch; sometimes we don't.

4 comments:

just me said...: James Bond- he's good with the ladies. Maybe Wonder Boy will learn a thing or two . . .; November 28, 2008 at 1:55 PM
Lori L said...: Hopefully Wonder Boy won't take too many tips on how to get the ladies interested in him from James Bond. wonder Boy will get verbally assaulted, punched, and slapped if he does.; November 28, 2008 at 2:27 PM
just me said...: Not if he's just like James Bond.; November 28, 2008 at 5:35 PM
Jane said...: Wow. That's a lot of James Bond.
Now I understand the reference Just Me made in her blog about hearing James Bond
LOL; December 1, 2008 at 8:38 PM

John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.