Archive | 12/17/2009

The Book of Nonsense by David Michael Slater

Dec17

Mr. Slater’s book was one of the Cybils nominees last year, and I started reading it. But I couldn’t really get too interested, for some reason. And I never got far enough along in the book to pick up on the “Biblical themes” that this article in Publisher’s Weekly references.

It seems that in the sequel to The Book of Nonsense, The Book of Knowledge, published this year, the twin protagonists “follow clues to the original Garden of Eden and discover that the record of primordial events recorded in Genesis may not tell the whole story.” And this re-writing of Genesis has stirred up a sort of tempest in teapot, with some bloggers and journalists drawing attention to the (bad) theology presented in the books, at least according to Publisher’s Weekly, although no links are provided to any blog furor.

Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me.

Presenting Lenore: “The Book of Nonsense pulsates with action, intrigue and magic, but also offers quieter scenes that give insight into the twins’ characters and motivations.”

Word for Teens: “The name of this book is The Book of Nonsense, and that’s exactly what it is: nonsense! There were so many point of view changes that I got whiplash trying to keep up! In addition, the first half of the book made about no sense until the last three chapters of the book. Towards the end, the book does start to get interesting, but this is definitely not one of my favorites.”

A Bookworm’s World: “This tale has all the necessary elements to capture and hold a child’s attention. A battle between good and evil, danger, mysteries and lots of questions to keep them guessing until the end. The only thing I took exception to was the reference to God in regards to a mysterious book detailing a language called the First Tongue.”

There you have it. Varying opinions, but the controversy aspect highlighted in the Publisher’s Weekly article seems overblown and may even be an attempt to stir up up some kind of brouhaha in order to increase sales.

Christmas at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1903

Dec17

Western Union telegram, December 17, 1903, sent to Bishop Milton Wright in Ohio:

Success four flights thursday morning
all against twenty one mile wind started from Level with engine power alone
average speed through air thirty one miles
longest 57 seconds
inform Press
home Christmas.
Orevelle Wright

“This historic telegram was sent from the Kitty Hawk weather station to the weather station at Norfolk, Virginia, then relayed by telephone to the local Western Union office. During transmission, two errors were made: 59 seconds became 57 seconds, and Orville’s name was misspelled.”
~From The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman.

Christmas in Nebraska, 1893

Dec17

“Up in the Negro church one Christmas the congregation were singing the “Peace on Earth.” When the plaintive music stopped an old gray-haired Negro in a frock coat and wearing two pairs of glasses arose and began reading the old, old story of the men who were watching their flocks by night and of the babe who was born in the city of David. He became very excited as he read, and his voice trembled and he unconsciously put the words to measure and chanted them slowly. When he finished he looked up at the ceiling with eager misty eyes as though he could see the light of the heavenly messenger shining in upon him. It is a beautiful story, this of the holiest and purest childhood on earth, beautiful even to those who cannot understand it, as dreams are sweet to men without hope. After all, if we cannot hear the carol and see the heavenly messenger, it is because our ears are deaf and our eyes are blind, not that we turn willfully away from love or beauty. No one is antagonistic by preference. Almost any of us who doubt would give the little we know or hope to know to go down upon our knees among the lowly and experience a great faith or a great conviction.”
~WIlla Cather in The Nebraska State Journal, December 17, 1893.