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What Captured My Attention This Week

This article about a ballet star who experienced burn-out, at age 21: “Dance is a real calling . . . because you not only have to be an athlete, of course there’s also the artistry that’s involved. There’s no such thing as perfection. You have to let it devour you.”

This short Academy award nominated movie definitely worth watching: The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore.

Washington Times: Values voters with big families favor Santorum. I favor Santorum. We’ll see how it all goes.

This rumination on awkwardness and its ramifications: “There can be no community without passage through awkwardness, and real community is always worth it.” ~Kirk Bozeman

The Oxford Chronicles by Sarah Clarkson at the Rabbit Room. Color me green with envy.

“I greet you tonight from that Rabbit Room, the one in the Eagle & Child Pub, right in the heart of Oxford. The room where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and a small host of thinkers like them tossed thoughts and growing tales back and forth amidst many pints and much laughter. The room in which the stories that shaped us all had at least a little of their making.”

Book Reviews at Breakpoint

I have two book reviews up at BreakPoint, Chuck Colson’s Christian worldview ministry website:

False Gospel: A Review of Hilary Jordan’s When She Woke.

The Problem With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson.

You can read the reviews there, but the bottom line is that I found significant issues with both books.

Gina Dalfonzo also has a more positive review of Alice Ozma’s The Reading Promise, a book I read but never finished reviewing for this blog. My nascent thoughts on The Reading Promise:

The book isn’t so much about reading and books as it is a tribute to a single father who found a way to connect with his daughter and give her a childhood full of treasured memories. The Reading Promise, or the Streak, as Alice and her called it, is just the framework for those memories and a discipline that brings the dedication of Alice’s dad, Jim Brozina, into focus for Alice and for her readers as she recalls her childhood and adolescence.

“When Alice was in fourth grade, she and her father–a beloved elementary school librarian–made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights.” When they reached that goal, they didn’t want to stop, and so they began what was affectionately called The Streak, a reading promise and regimen that lasted until Alice went away to college about eight years later.

The book has an introduction by Jim Brozina with advice about how to start your own reading streak:

“If you want to start your own reading streak, you should begin by taking your child to your local public library, where the two of you can look through the stacks for books that would fit your reading desires. When either of you find something, show it to the other. Let your child overrule your choices if he or she chooses, but be hesitant about rejecting those your child is excited about. . . When you have accumulated as many books as will serve your purposes for now, check them out and take them home. Your child will be hopping with excitement as he or she anticipates the many good nights of reading ahead.”

Each of the chapters of the book itself is an essay covering various aspects of the reading experience and of the father/daughter relationship. Miss Ozma, a self-confessed “nerdy kid”, writes about reading together after father and daughter have had an argument, helping her father go on his first post-divorce date, buying a prom dress with your dad, living really frugally on a librarian’s income, and dealing with the death of a Franklin the Fish —all illuminated and accompanied by literature.

Miscellaneous Links and Thinks for Sunday Salon

The Sunday Salon.com

I suppose I could “tweet” all of these links or put them on Facebook or even Google+ them, but I sort of like gathering them together here at the old blog. Tweet or facebook or + as you like.

Water lilies in my hometown, San Angelo, Texas. I like stories about self-educated hobbyists who pursue a subject with passion and become experts.

Cindy at Ordo Amoris does Shakespeare with the family. “I always tell new students of the bard that if they do not like Shakespeare that is fine but it is the height of ignorance to conclude that it is the Bard’s fault rather than something lacking within themselves.”

All of the back issues of John Holt’s Growing Without Schooling newsletter (1977-2001) are now available to read online. I have many of the early issues of this pioneering newsletter. I probably subscribed in about 1980 or 81. And the newsletter was inspiring. Before I even had children, I knew that there were all these crazy people out there —leftover hippies, religious types, farm families, suburbanites, and city-dwellers– who were teaching their children at home. Or maybe “letting them learn” at home is a more appropriate designation. Although we ended up with a more structured homeschooling experience than many of the original GWS contributors and readers, I learned a lot from the newsletter about educational possibilities and creative thinking in relation to the way children and adults learn. Along with Melissa, I’m welcoming the appearance of Growing Without Schooling, free, on the web. Thank you to all those who made this gift possible.

Seuss, Sendak, and Silverstein: Children’s Authors Who Broke the Rules. I must admit that all three of these authors are favorites of mine, Seuss and Silverstein more than Sendak, but all three to some extent. I never got the appeal of some of Sendak’s books (In the NIght Kitchen, Outside Over There), but Max the Wild Thing is a classic character and his story is worth sharing with kids.

The Thinking Mother shares a Dystopian Literature reading list that she developed for her fourteen year old boy. Good resource for teen boys who are interested in dystopia and science fiction.

Hollywood Republican: 12 Essential Films for the Moral Formation of Boys. I would add Chariots of Fire, Gettysburg, and The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Sunday Salon: Literary Links and Homeschool Hitches

This week Christian Audio announced that Wendell Berry’s novel Hannah Coulter will be its free download for August. Here’s Russell Moore on why you should read (or listen to) Hannah Coulter.

Unschoolers learn what they want, when they want by Jacque Wilson. I actually like the idea of unschooling, but I’m a chicken and afraid that my children would want to learn: nothing.

Josephine Tey/Gordon Daviot/Elizabeth MacKintosh —whatever her name, she wrote some fine books. My favorites are: Daughter of Time and The Franchise Affair.

Summer camp for bookish kids. Now this is the kind of summer camp I could still enjoy even at my age.

Armchair BEA: Nurturing Relationships

The topic for today at Armchair BEA is nurturing relationships, relationships with publishers, publicists, other bloggers and readers. After reading a few other posts, I decided to tell you all the things I do wrong so that you can benefit from my bad example and so that you can see that a book blog can be “successful” even if you do everything wrong. Confession time:

1. I don’t comment on other people’s blogs enough, and I don’t respond to comments on my blog as often as I should. I do most of my blog reading in Google Reader, and I only click through to the post to comment when I REALLY have something to say. I enjoy reading lots of posts, but I don’t always have anything to add. The same goes for responding to comments here on my own blog. If you made a wonderful and enlightening comment, I may appreciate it very much. In fact, I appreciate the “great post” kind of comments. However, I don’t have much to say in response. I do think this lack of conversational skills on my part is a failing. I’ll work on it.

2. I don’t respond to email pitches for ARC’s that I’m not interested in reading. A polite “no, thank you” would be a much better practice, but I haven’t gotten in the habit yet.

3. I don’t read and review all of the unsolicited books I receive. I sometimes don’t even review the books I agreed to take under consideration for review. I try not to feel guilty about this. I don’t review books that I just didn’t like. I tell myself that authors and publishers would rather I didn’t write a negative review of a book that they sent me for free. But maybe they would rather get some mention instead of silence.

4. I forget to send the publicist or the publisher a link to my reviews. My organizational skills used to be a lot better. My memory used to be a lot better. Now half of the time I can’t remember where I got the book in the first place. So I read a lot and review almost everything I read (unless I hated it). I trust the authors, the readers, and the publicists to find the reviews if they’re interested. I know that it would be more neat and clean if I notified people about my reviews, but this blogging gig isn’t a paying job for me. So I do what I can.

5. I’ve lost my Kindle charger, so I can’t read the Net Galley review copies that I requested until I get a new charger. I wonder if that is making someone somewhere unhappy.

6. I sometimes go around leaving comments, flogging the Saturday Review of Books because I like having all sorts of book bloggers come to my place on Saturday and leave links to their reviews. If this meme-promotion annoys you, I apologize.

So, folks, don’t do as I do. Or do you think any of the above are acceptable habits for bloggers who want to nurture community but just run of of time, memory, and organizational abilities?

Happy Book Blogging to all, and don’t forget to leave a link to your book reviews at the Saturday Review of Books. I’ll (try to) catch you in the comments.

Around the World and Here at Home

In our homeschool this week we started a year-long study of geography and cultures of the world. Our books this week were mostly about maps and globes and comparisons of world cultures and regions. We’ll be starting our travels in the Arctic and the Antarctic next week.

Books we read:
The Seven Continents by Wil Mara. (Rookie Read-about Geography)
Looking at Maps and Globes by Carmen Bredeson. (Rookie Read-about Geography)
Living in Polar Regions by Tea Benduhn. (Weekly Reader Life on the Edge)
The Whole World in Your Hands:Looking at Maps by Melvin and Gilda Berger.
Follow That Map! A First Book of Mapping Skills by Scot Ritchie.

Z-baby liked the last one best, Follow That Map!, probably because it had a story line and because I read it to her instead of having her read it herself. I thought all of them were adequate, information-wise, but not too terribly exciting or enticing. I’ll be working this summer and probably into the fall on a list of the BEST in primary/preschool level geography books and picture books set in countries around the world. What are you favorite around-the-world picture books?

Book links for today and this weekend:

Mother’s Day books your mom will actually like. by Kathleen Massara.

Christy Award nominees for 2011. Honoring and promoting excellence in Christian fiction. I’ve read exactly two of the books on the nomination list, She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell (Semicolon review here) and Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes (Reviewed by Gautami Tripathy). I thought both of those novels were O.K. but not really anything to write home about.

Have you read any of the Christy Award nominees? Are there any that you highly recommend?

Sunday Salon: Fascinations for the Month of February

The Sunday Salon.com


Author Laura Hillenbrand (Seabiscuit and Unbroken) has had her own challenges as she continues to write best-selling nonfiction and deal with a debilitating disease.
A Sudden Illness: How My Life Changed by Laura Hillenbrand.
Laura Hillenbrand releases new book while fighting chronic fatigue syndrome by Monica Hesse.

C.K. Dexter Haven, you are so much more attractive and intelligent than anyone who’s decorating the screen these days. “Cary Grant’s frothy delights leave us pondering the dramatic shift in our understanding of marriage, divorce, vows and the idea of anything being permanent.” Divorce Granted by Joseph Susanka.

John Piper recommends ten books for Black History Month. I happen to think that if they’re good books, they’re good to read any month, not just during February which happens to have been designated Black History Month.

Did you see my article on YA fiction from 2010 at Chuck Colson’s The Point online magazine? I’m rather pleased with the way it turned out and the books I was able to recommend.

Circumscribed by Noel deVries, on living a small but brave life.

I’ve been studying Proverbs, rather sporadically, during the month of February. I printed out this study guide, and it’s been helpful. However, the best thing I’ve done is just to read through the proverbs in the book of Proverbs and check the ones that seem useful and understandable and x the ones that I don’t understand. There are more than a few about which I still lack understanding.

My plan for Lent is to post about Forty Inspirational Classics that I have read and would recommend to others. The posts will start on Ash Wednesday, March 9th, and God willing, end on Easter Sunday, my Resurrection gift to you all.

HAPPY READING!

Houston-Area Book Bloggers Spring Meet-Up

Attention Houston area book bloggers! It’s time to come out of hibernation! Jennifer Donovan who blogs at 5 Minutes for Books and at Snapshot and Sherry Early of Semicolon, are planning a Houston area book bloggers get-together, meet-up, brunch and spring awakening for all Houston area book bloggers.

You’re invited to Jen’s new house in northwest Houston at 10:30 AM on Saturday, March 5th. Bring a brunch-type dish to share and a friendly face and lots of bookish attitude. You’re also welcome to bring ARC’s or review copies of books that you’ve finished and that you would like to pass on to someone else. Email Jen at (5minutesforbooksATgmail.com) for a street address and directions. Please feel free to pass this invitation on to other Houston-area book bloggers or to post the invitation on your blog. We’re going to have a Houston Readers and Bloggers Meet the Springtime gathering so that we can meet and get to know each other and celebrate books and blogging together. We hope you’ll be able to come.

If you’re hoping to come on March 5th or if you can’t make it this time but would be interested in future gatherings, please fill out the form below so that we can get an idea of where people live and who’s blogging books in Houston.

Bloggiesta To-Do List

Today is the beginning of Bloggiesta, but I can’t actually start until this (Friday) evening. Still, I can start my list of things to do to the blog:

1. Look at each of the 105 draft posts I have in my drafts folder and decide what to with them: finish and schedule, throw away, or continue to save for later.
2. I want a map like this one at Book Journey.
3. Write and schedule Poetry Friday posts through April.
4. Consider applying to be on the INSPY Advisory Board.
5. Figure out exactly what the schedule is for the Faith N Fiction Roundtable, and what I’m supposed to do when.
6. Clean up and re-sort my category tags.
7. Make a list of Houston-area book bloggers. If you blog about books and live in or near Houston, Texas, please leave a comment so that I can add you to the list. (I’m planning something special. Shhhh, it’s a secret.)

I may, probably will, add to this list later. See you all later Bloggiesta! Ole!

Friday evening: Worked for about three hours. I wrote one book review post, worked on other draft posts, commented on several blogs for the Comment Challenge, and made a reading map (although the map isn’t exactly what I want it to be). See y’all tomorrow.

Sunday Salon: Flotsam and Jetsam

Mario Vargas Llosa, recent Nobel Prize for Literature winner, gave an acceptance speech entitled “In Praise of Reading and Fiction. The entire speech is worth reading. Although Vargas Llosa still seems to think that religion, all religion, is a divisive and violent force in the world, he has come to see the horror of Marxism. Politically, he calls himself a “liberal,” in the classical sense of the word, supporting free markets and non-authoritarian government.

Good literature erects bridges between different peoples, and by having us enjoy, suffer, or feel surprise, unites us beneath the languages, beliefs, habits, customs, and prejudices that separate us. When the great white whale buries Captain Ahab in the sea, the hearts of readers take fright in exactly the same way in Tokyo, Lima, or Timbuctu.

In my youth, like many writers of my generation, I was a Marxist and believed socialism would be the remedy for the exploitation and social injustices that were becoming more severe in my country, in Latin America, and in the rest of the Third World. My disillusion with statism and collectivism and my transition to the democrat and liberal that I am – that I try to be – was long and difficult and carried out slowly as a consequence of episodes like the conversion of the Cuban Revolution, about which I initially had been enthusiastic, to the authoritarian, vertical model of the Soviet Union; the testimony of dissidents who managed to slip past the barbed wire fences of the Gulag; the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the nations of the Warsaw Pact; and because of thinkers like Raymond Aron, Jean Francois Rével, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper, to whom I owe my reevaluation of democratic culture and open societies. Those masters were an example of lucidity and gallant courage when the intelligentsia of the West, as a result of frivolity or opportunism, appeared to have succumbed to the spell of Soviet socialism or, even worse, to the bloody witches’ Sabbath of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Have any of you read any of Vargas Llosa’s novels?

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I find these attacks on children and families very disturbing. God forgive us and heal us.
When Is Twins Too Many? by Tom Blackwell Is this where abortion-on-demand leads?

Is this vignette of the situation in France an indication of where the institution of marriage is headed in the U.S.? Christians need to making the biblical case for marriage now to young Christians because I don’t think it’s at all obvious to them anymore.

The Scandal of Gendercide—War on Baby Girls And this tragedy in the making is yet another result of our abortion-hardened culture.

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Where do you find the time (to read)? by Jessica Frances Kane I love this brief meditation on time. HT: Girl Detective. “Don’t get a dog. Decorate minimally, including holidays. Maintain no position on Halloween costumes or children’s birthday parties. Use gift bags. Shop rarely.”

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Marilynne Robinson: “I’m kind of a solitary. This would not satisfy everyone’s hopes, but for me it’s a lovely thing. I recognize the satisfactions of a more socially enmeshed existence than I cultivate, but I go days without hearing another human voice and never notice it. I never fear it. The only thing I fear is the intensity of my attachment to it. It’s a predisposition in my family. My brother is a solitary. My mother is a solitary. I grew up with the confidence that the greatest privilege was to be alone and have all the time you wanted. That was the cream of existence. I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone. It’s a good predisposition in a writer. And books are good company. Nothing is more human than a book.” HT: Anecdotal Evidence