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Archive | February 2006
Directed Reading
Author Tayari Jones suggests a plan for “directed reading,” reading not just more books but more of a variety of books. Here are her suggestions and what I did last year in relation to her list:
TWO BOOKS by international authors, written in English, NOT set in the U.S.A.
If books by British authors count, I’m fine for this one. If not, I’m in trouble. I did read books set in Indonesia, Botswana, Antarctica, Norway, India, China, Afghanistan, Sudan, Scotland, and England. Oh, how about Nectar in a Sieve by Markandaya?
ONE BOOK that is translated into English
Not a one on my list. Probably this would be a good idea. Any suggestions?
THREE BOOKS from small presses
Other than maybe the ones I reviewed for Mind and Media, I doubt if any of my books from last year fall into this category. Again any suggestions?
TWO BOOKS of non-fiction (excluding memoir)
I read several non-fiction books. No problem.
ONE Over-hyped book by an author whose success I resent
I’m NOT reading The DaVinci Code no matter how many copies it sells. Nor am I interested in Left Behind. Any other suggestions? I’m not sure I need this category. Maybe if I were a writer like Jones, I’d want to analyze and see what made those books so popular.
TWO of the “classics” that I never got around to reading
I re-read some classics last year, but didn’t read any for the first time. I want to read Kristin Lavransdattir this year.
ONE BOOK that receives a TERRIBLE review in a major publication
I don’t read enough reviews in major publications to know if anything I’ve read got slammed.
TWO BOOKS of poetry by people I don’t know.
Ouch, I don’t usually read books of poetry. I read poems, but not books of poetry.
ONE avant-garde or experimental title.
Nope. I’m not an experimental or avant-garde girl. Maybe I’ll read some manga this year. Is that cutting-edge or just juvenile?
TWO short-story collections
I must admit that I don’t care for short stories. I never have. They’re too short. Kate, however, likes short stories. Don’t go by me; listen to her. Maybe I’ll try again.
ONE novel set at least two-hundred years ago
The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood, Pagan’s Crusade by Catherine Jinks, Blood and Judgment by Lars Walker, Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett, and several more.
ONE novel set at least two-hundred years in the future
Children of Men by PD James and Airborn by Kenneth Oppel are both set in the future, but not 200 years into the future.
ONE novel written at least two-hundred years ago
Gulliver’s Travels is surprisingly the only book I read last year that was written that long ago. (That would be before 1805.)
TWO plays
Yes, I did read some plays for the American Literature discussion group I was teaching last year, but I didn’t put them on my list.
ONE offering by the most recent Nobel Laureate
Nobel Prize for Literature 2004: Elfriede Jelinek
Nobel Prize for Literature 2005: Harold Pinter
I have read a couple of plays by Pinter, courtesy of a modern theater class I took in college. I don’t think I’ll revisit Mr. Pinter’s world anytime soon.
ONE Young Adult Novel
No problem. I like YA novels. At least, I like the ones I like. Best YA novel I read last year: The Flame Tree by Richard Lewis.
ONE book on craft.
I assume this means a book on writing since Ms. Jones is a writer. I’ve got that covered, too. I read Invisible Child by Katherine Paterson and Blog by Hugh Hewitt. So I read about my craft and hers.
Edward Champion has a 75 book challenge and some added category suggestions: “I would add the following ideals: a mystery book, a science fiction book, a “chick lit” book, a book written for popular audiences (We don’t have to be literary snobs all the time, do we? Besides it helps to know what everyday people are reading from time to time.), a book that is at least 800 pages, a book that is less than 100 pages, a children’s book, a substantial percentage of books written by women and minorities, a memoir written by or about a truly whacked out individual, a lengthy nonfiction book about a subject I know absolutely nothing about, a microhistory, et al.]”
Any other ideas? How do you go about trying to broaden your reading horizons? Or do you? I think that I need to read more old stuff, a la the old CS Lewis suggestion:
“It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones.
Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”
Read Lewis’s entire essay, Introduction to Athanasius on the Incarnation, courtesy of Jollyblogger
I was led into this discussion by Dani at A Work in Progress and Susan at Pages Turned. Blame them.
It’s About a Monkey
But the challenges of adapting Curious George are in fact a bit more complex. Earnest literary types have interpreted the first book as a barely disguised slave narrative. Have you considered that the man’s weird outfit could be a send-up of a colonial officer’s uniform? Or that George is brown and lacks a tail? (Lots of monkeys are brown and most species have visible tails.) Or that he is abducted against his will from Africa and brought across the sea to a foreign land where he engages in high jinks when the master is away?
This interpretation–surely the subject of many half-baked teacher-college lectures–was not on the mind of the Reys as they fled from the Nazis. Perhaps it is helpful to remember something that Margret once said of her books: “I don’t like messages. . . . These are just stories.” Curious George Goes to Hollywood by John J. Miller
OK, that’s it. I am declaring a moratorium on listening to any adults who presume to read adult meanings and prejudices into picture books. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton is NOT an agrarian tract. Drummer Hoff by Barbara Emberly does NOT teach children to glorify war. And Curious George is a book about a curious monkey and his friend, not about a slave and his master. George is a monkey, and the theme of the books, if there is one, is curiosity and how too much of it sometimes leads to trouble. If you see subversive plot elements or themes in this or other commonly enjoyed picture books, you probably brought them with you. And the children won’t pick up on any of these “half-baked teacher college” ideas, or if they do, if ill intent or preaching outweighs the fun of the story, the children will quit listening. Good, popular picture books have good pictures (Duh!) and tell good stories.
Keep your re-interpreting hands off my picture books.
Friday’s Center of the Blogosphere
George Grant writes about bumping into Francis Schaeffer—in a bookstore of all places. This post was in honor of Mr. Schaeffer’s birthday on January 30th.
LaShawn Barber on Coretta Scott King, who died on Tuesday at the age of 78.
I’m reading A Tale of Two Cities, as I mentioned a few days ago. In it Dickens notes:
A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imagin-ings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this.
Julana of Numbering Our Days tells a sad, true story that illustrates Dickens’ observation.
Advice from an editor about spacing between sentences. Unfortunately, I have the habit of leaving two spaces, just as I double click to open programs on my computer even though one click is usually enough.
To Die Is Gain
Wow! .Read the full letter from Marine Staff Sergeant Dan Clay to his family to be read in case of his death in Iraq. President Bush read a snippet from the letter in his State of the Union address last night, but he missed the best parts.
Homeschool Plans for February
February 1: It looks as if it’s going to be a musical month with birthdays for John Williams, George Frederic Handel, and Gioacchino Rossini and also a special day for George Gershwin, the anniversary of the debut of one of his most famous compositions. We’re also participating in the Journey North Mystery Class Investigation. (Thanks to Melissa of the Bonny Glen for the tip.) It’s Friendship Month, American Heart Month, Library Lovers’ Month, National Bird Feeding Month, National Cherry Month, and National Hot Breakfast Month.
February 2: Groundhog Day. Maybe we’ll wait until tomorrow (Friday is our movie night), but we’re going to watch Groundhog Day because Barbara likes it.
February 5: Lord’s Day and then Super Bowl. Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, Kick-off is at 6:25 PM EST.
February 7: It’s always fun to see that Laura Ingalls Wilder and Charles Dickens, two of my favorite writers, share a birthday. I think we’ll read some Little House today and maybe we’ll try something with the little ones that I did long ago with the older urchins: make a churn out of a coffee can and make butter. I think I used Tinkertoys for the dasher, but we don’t have any of those, so I’ll have to come up with something else.
February 8: On this date in 1932, John Williams, American composer and conductor, was born in Flushing, New York. I still enjoy the music from Star Wars although I have grown weary of the saga. Play it and remember, if you can, the first time you saw a Star Wars movie.
February 10: February is Friendship Month. Send a friend a letter or a card or a valentine. Renew an old friendship or make an effort to start a new friendship.
February 11: Thomas Alva Edison’s Birthday. On February 19, 1878, he patented the phonograph. Draw an invention that you would like to build. Name ten machines or inventions that are no longer in common use. (Actually, Computer Guru Son prefers phonograph records. Who knew they’d become popular among the musical snobs?)
February 12: On this date in 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premiered in New York City. Play it and draw a picture of the city that Gershwin put into music.
February 13: Betsy-Bee will be seven years old today.
February 14: Valentine’s Day. We’ll be giving out valentines to all our friends and neighbors with these verses printed on them: “Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.” I John 4:7-8
February 15: In 1874, Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, was born. Of course, he wasn’t a “sir” when he was born.
February 18: On this date in 1885, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published. Some people say Huck Finn is the Great American Novel. What novel do you think best epitomizes the American experience?
February 19: Did you know that February 19-25 is National Engineers Week? Celebrate your favorite engineer. You can find lots of good, cheap educational material on engineering here.
February 20: President’s Day. Since February is National Cherry Month, and George Washington may have cut down that cherry tree, and my Engineer Husband likes cherry pie and we’re still celebrating National Engineers Week, I declare today Cherry Pie Day. “Can you bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?” I’ll let you know how the pies come out.
Memorize the names of all the presidents of the US in order.
February 22: On this date in 1620, the Indians introduced popcorn to the Pilgrims in Massachusetts. That fact sounds like a good excuse to enjoy some popcorn, the homeschool snack.
February 23: Handel’s Birthday. Listen to some Handel today. The Messiah is great, but be adventurous and try something else.
February 26: in 1932, Johnny Cash was born. Can I go see Walk the Line? It’s on my movies-to-see list.
February 27: Birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Evangeline? Hiawatha? I love this book illustrated by Susan Jeffers.
Also born on this date was Gioacchino Rossini who said, “Give me a laundry-list and I’ll set it to music.” What a challenge! Can you and your children set some words to music today? Perhaps something more significant than a laundry-list—a Bible verse or a poem?
February 28: Shrove Tuesday, also called Pancake Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Greasy Tuesday). On the day before Ash Wednesday, you were supposed to use up all the butter and cream in the larder before the Lenten fast. Tomorrow, March 1, is Ash Wednesday. Read about Shrove Tuesday in England.