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Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean

Jun19

Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean. Recommended at Chasing Ray. (Read her review for a much better understanding of the book than I got.)

This book is the sort of story that you read straight through to the end, then shake your head, and think, “I must have missed something.” Then you try to decide whether to go back and re-read, and if you’re me, you don’t.

Gentian is a precocious, gifted, astronomy-loving, fourteen/fifteen year old middle sister. Her parents are involved, but hip and hands-off, allowing the three girls to explore and make their own decisions. Therefore Gentian, and to a lesser extent her sisters, come under the spell of Dominic, the new boy next door. I couldn’t figure out whether Dominic was a vampire, since he only seems to come out at night, or a warlock, since he casts a spell over Gentian that makes her forget her friends and family, or something else, something faery.

I wish someone else would read this one and explain it to me. I liked the characters enough to want to know what was going on, but I didn’t think I would gain any understanding by taking a second tour through the book. In fact, the characters, Gentian, her sisters, her family, and her friends, reminded me of Madeleine L’Engle’s characters, and that was enough to keep me reading. Maybe I just don’t know enough about the occult because it definitely felt occult-ish with all the star-gazing and pagan philosophy and magick, with a k.

Celebrate the Day: June 19, 2008

Jun19

Born on this date:

Blaise Pascal, b.1623. Thoughts on Peter Kreeft’s commentary on Pascal’s Pensees:
Semicolon interacts with Pascal on Order.
Sinners Need Silence, and Ultimately A Savior
Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me.
Animal or Angel?
Vanity, Vanity, All Is Vanity
Every Day in Every Way
Hobgoblins or Habits
I need to finish this series. I need to finish the book.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Prince of Preachers, b. 1834.

Some Texans celebrate Juneteenth on June 19th each year. It’s a celebration of the end of slavery, and a typical Juneteenth celebration usually involves picnics, parades, prayer services, barbecue, watermelon, and red soda pop. For a fictional take on this holiday, see Ann Rinaldi’s young adult novel Come Juneteenth.

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

Jun18

Jan Zabinski was the Polish director of the Warsaw Zoo in 1939 when the Nazis invaded and subjugated Poland. His wife, Antonina, was his helpmate in runing the zoo and the mother of a young son. During the German occupation, she gave birth to a daughter as well.

This nonfiction book tells the story of how Jan and Antonina worked with the Polish Underground to hide Jews, stockpile arms and ammunition, eventually participate in the doomed Uprising of August 1944 when the Russians halted outside Warsaw and allowed the Germans to destroy the Polish Underground that had come out of hiding to support the Allies in re-taking Poland and driving the Nazis out. A lot of the story tells about the animals in the zoo and what happened to them and how Antonina survived pregnancy-related illnesses, inadequate rations, and providing secret hospitality for fifty to seventy people at any given time throughout the course of the war and the German occupation.

Something about the way the story was told made me admire these people, but not like them very much. I’m not sure what I didn’t like, but I felt uncomfortable in their company. Jan seemed very controlling, and Antonina like a wife making excuses for an authoritarian husband. Maybe that’s not the way it was at all since Ms. Ackerman derives her story from written accounts, Antonina’s diary mostly, and from interviews with people who knew the Zabinskis during the war. Both Jan and Antonina Zabinski died before this book was conceived. Their son, Rys, did contribute his memories of a childhood filled with animals and with war.

I don’t know. I’m ambivalent. If you like nonfiction about animals and and about World War II, you should try it out.

Engineer Husband’s Summer Reading List: 2008

Jun13

I am asking my children —and my husband— to read at least ten of the books on their individualized list before August 18, 2008. I also want each of them to memorize two poems this summer and present them for the family. I will take each family member who does so out to eat to the restaurant of his choice, and I will also buy a book for each one who finishes the challenge. This list is for Engineer Husband. It’s my sneaky way of recommending books that I’d like for him to read and think he would enjoy.

Just in time for Father’s Day:

1. Romans from The Bible.

2. I Samuel from The Bible.

3. 1984 by George Orwell. Classic, futuristic fiction, in spite of the dated title, it’s also on Computer Guru Son’s Summer Reading List.

4. Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins. Because Engineer Husband needs some adventure in his life.

5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. He’s been planning to read this one since the kids became fanatics several years ago. I refuse to read the series out of pure perversity.

6. The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios.

7. E=Mc Squared by David Bodanis.

8. Ask Me Anything by J. Budziszewski. Professor Theophilus gives provocative answers to college students’ questions. The book is written by a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. It’s also on Computer Guru Son’s Summer Reading List.

9. The Periodic Table: Elements with Style by Adrian Dingle. For sixty-four of the elements, each has its own ‘home-page’ in this introduction to the periodic table. Also on Karate Kid’s Summer Reading List, perhaps the two of them should enjoy an element together every evening.

10. How Math Explains the World: A Guide to the Power of Numbers, from Car Repair to Modern Physics by James D. Stein. I chose this one not because I’ve read it or intend to do so, but because it sounds like something Engineer Husband would like.

Poetry and Fine Art Friday: Caedmon

Jun13

Caedmon was a servant at the monastery of Whitby Abbey in the seventh century and is the first English poet whose name is known. Bede wrote of him:

Then he did this on a certain occasion, that he left the banquet-hall and he was going out to the animal stables, which herd had been assigned to him that night. When he there at a suitable time set his limbs at rest and fell asleep, then some man stood by him in his dream and hailed and greeted him and addressed him by his name: ‘Caedmon, sing me something.’ Then he answered and said: ‘I do not know how to sing and for that reason I went out from this feast and went hither, because I did not know how to sing at all.’ Again he said, he who was speaking with him: ‘Nevertheless, you must sing.’ Then he said: ‘What must I sing?’ Said he: ‘Sing to me of the first Creation.’ When he received this answer, then he began immediately to sing in praise of God the Creator verses and words which he had never heard, whose order is this:

Now [we] must honour the Guardian of Heaven,
the might of the Architect, and His purpose,
the work of the Father of Glory
— as He, the Eternal Lord, established the beginning of wonders.
He, the holy Creator,
first created heaven as a roof for the children of men.
Then the Guardian of mankind, the Eternal Lord,
the Lord Almighty, afterwards appointed the middle earth,
the lands, for men.

Saint Hilda of Whitby Anglo-Saxon Abbess Receiving a Visit from Caedmon




Saint Hilda of Whitby Anglo-Saxon Abbess Receiving a Visit from Caedmon

Giclee Print

Reid, Stephen


Buy at AllPosters.com

This poem fragment (translated from Old English) is the only one of Caedmon’s poems extant. If you want to try your hand at reading seventh century English, you can find Bede’s account of Caedmon here.

Cloudscome has the Poetry Friday Roundup at A Wrung Sponge this week.

Crises, Major and Minor

Jun12

Well, it’s already been a long week here at Semicolon Family Home in Major Suburbia. On Saturday I had to abort my participation in Mother Reader 48 Hour Book Challenge at about the 28 hour mark because of a minor kerfuffle which didn’t feel minor at the time. Bluntly, I had an argument with one of the urchins. It was a full-blown altercation, hormones were flying, and no one wanted or felt the need to apologize. (I’m telling about this here just in case anyone got the idea that all we ever do here in Semicolon Country is sit around and read books and discuss their literary merits. I wish.)

Then, on Sunday, I had to take one of the urchins to the Emergency Room. She’s having seizures, and no one really knows why or what to do. The test results were confusing, to say the least, and we’re all bamboozled, bumfuzzled, and concerned. She’s home, taking medications, and we’re hoping to be able to figure what’s wrong and how to fix it.

Then, while I was at the hospital on Monday, my blog went crazy and started showing a lot of code instead of the content. So, Computer Guru Son switched it back to an old (blah) template, and I reinstalled the sitemeter. And my hits went down to next to nothing. Right now the sitemeter is showing that hardly anyone is stopping by, but since I’m not providing much content, I guess that’s OK.

If you all are out there, please pray for us. And leave a comment. It would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and tomorrow is Poetry Friday, and I think I’m the hostess. Come back tomorrow and link to a poetry post at your blog, and we’ll see if the sitemeter goes bonkers or not.

Oops, Poetry Friday this week is hosted at A Wrung Sponge. Next Friday, June 20th, come to Semicolon to link to your Poetry Friday posts.

Small Groups

Jun10

My church has decided to go to a small group format for the summer for the Sunday School/Bible study time on Sunday morning rather than age-graded Sunday School. The small groups would be made up of two or three families along with some single adults. Families, ages four or five to adult, would go together to one small group and spend about an hour in Bible study and prayer. The stated goal of this experiment in small group fellowship and study, as stated by one of the initiators of the idea, is:

. . . to build depth of relationship. It is very hard to come alongside each other in our walks, encouraging each other to grow and mature, until we know one another better and build trust. That kind of trust is what we hope to build over time through these groups. ‘Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.’ (1 Peter 4:8). As we have the opportunity to love each other more deeply, we will be better prepared to bear with one another’s weaknesses and struggles, praying for and encouraging one another. I know I have plenty of weaknesses and blind spots in my life—I need brothers and sisters in Christ who will love me in spite, actually in the midst, of them and pray for the Holy Spirit to do His sanctifying work in opening my eyes to them. I think we all have this need—as a church, we need to ensure we are meeting this need for everyone in the body.”

Even though I agree with these goals in principle, the whole concept makes me feel uncomfortable and uneasy and reluctant to attend anything other than the worship service on Sunday mornings. I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m so resistant, and I think I’ve come up with a couple of reasons, not necessarily good reasons, but reasons:

1. I’m an introvert. I don’t gain energy from relating to groups of people, even small groups of people, but instead I lose energy as I struggle to relate and to be both vulnerable to and accepting of others. As an introvert, I usually get and give encouragement either one-on-one or in a large group where I am not singled out and not trying to relate to an entire group of people. The latter is emotionally exhausting and difficult for me. Therefore, participating in a small group on Sunday mornings would not be a ministry TO me, but it would require me to give and to expend emotional energy, which might be a good thing even though it’s hard.

2. I’m concerned about the make-up of the groups and how that is going to be handled. I don’t know how families and others are going to be assigned to groups, but (being honest here) I do know that there are people in our church with whom I could easily build close, supportive relationships and others that I tolerate and love as best I can. I’m sure there are people in the church who feel both ways about me, too. Maybe I would learn to love and be more Christ-like if I were thrown together with some of those people that I only “love from a distance” right now, but maybe we would all be sorry that we tried such an experiment.

3. The wide age range that is an inherent part of this plan is problematic. Either we’re going to “dumb down” the study and the prayer time to cater to the youngest children in our group, or we’re going to communicate and relate on an adult level and send the children to the corner with a picture page and a package of crayons. I know family, age-integrated Bible study has been done in other groups, and I used to be a advocate of mixed age groups until I saw some attempts firsthand. Now I think you can mix adults and teens successfully, but children are just not mature enough to handle adult topics that need to be discussed and taught in adult Bible studies and prayer groups.

4. Leadership is going to be a problem, as it always is. If the Lord wants us to have these small groups, He will provide the leadership. However, it’s going to take more prayer and thoughtful consideration and planning than just asking for volunteers or putting out a sign-up sheet.

With all those caveats and questions, I’m prayerfully willing to try this plan and see how it goes. I would like to be positive and supportive of the leaders in our church who have conceived this experiment, and I plan to make myself attend in spite of my misgivings. So can anyone tell me, either from experience or from wisdom gained, how well such a plan would work and what things should we be concerned about as we begin this new approach to Bible study?

You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn

Jun7


Book #5 in Mother Reader’s 48 Hour Book Challenge.

In the wake of her druggie cousin Laura’s suicide, overweight, depressed, liberal, sarcastic, under-achiever, seventeen year old Miles loses herself in drugs and self-pity. It’s not a pretty ride, but after 189 pages of self-indulgent pity party, Miles goes into rehab counseling and becomes the editor of the school newspaper. All’s well that ends well.

Note to self: Do not read anymore books by Rachel Cohn. In my defense, I had forgotten when I picked this book out that Ms. Cohn also co-wrote Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, one of my least favorite books of all time.

If you hate Jane Austen, prefer to “absorb the bleakness of Burroughs or Bukowski, or even the sophisticated, mean-spirited wit of Dorothy Parker, rather than choke down the false promises of Austen and her descendants,” then You Know Where To Find Me is the book for you. You know where to find it.

The Missing: Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Jun7


Book #4 for Mother Reader’s 48 Hour Book Challenge.

Wow! This first book in a new series by best-selling author Margaret Peterson Haddix is a page-turner. If you’re a fan of Haddix’s other books, either the Shadow children series or her stand alone novels such as Leaving Fishers or Double Identity, you’ll love this new book and be longing for the others in the series to hurry up and get published. If you like Caroline Cooney’s Janie series or her Time series, as I did, you should also enjoy Found and, eventually, its sequels. Ms. Haddix has written another imaginative and compelling novel that combines realistic YA fiction with elements of supernatural sci-fi.

And that’s all you need to know if you haven’t yet read the book. WARNING: Hereafter there be spoilers. Do not enter if you want to read the book without preconceptions and fore-knowledge.

The Missing: Found starts out like a book about adoption. Jonah is adopted, but to him it’s no big deal. His parents have been excruciatingly honest with him, retelling his adoption story ad nauseum until Jonah is so comfortable with his origins that he’s a bit embarrassed about how very open and psychologically correct his parents have been. However, almost before the reader realizes the book has changed from a book about adoption to a book about time travel and the danger that lie therein. Or maybe it’s a book about trust and about whom you can trust and about betrayal of trust.

I liked way Ms. Haddix put a twist to time travel and the inherent problems that such travel entails. I liked Ms. Haddix’s characters, typical adolescents thrown into a very atypical situation. I liked the fact that although I saw some plot developments coming, others were a complete surprise. In fact, I had only two minor problems with The Missing: Found: the title, combined as it is with the series title, is awkward, and the sequels aren’t due out until ???

I seriously can’t wait.

The Golllywhopper Games by Jody Feldman

Jun7


Book #3 for Mother Reader’s 48 Hour Book Challenge.
Recommended by Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews.

I thought while reading it that this book was reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl or last year’s Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart. It turns out that there’s a reason for that deja vu feeling. In the acknowledgments, Ms. Feldman thanks “the student who returned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the school library on day when I was volunteering. He asked the librarian for another story like it, but neither she nor his teacher could find a title to satisfy him. It was at that moment that I decided to write a book for that ten-year-old boy.”

So The Gollywhopper Games was born. Gil Goodson, a good son indeed, has made it his ambition to restore his family’s fortunes and vindicate his dad’s reputation by winning the Golly Toy and Game Company’s Gollywhopper Games, a huge publicity stunt in which several thousand kids compete for the grand prize: a college scholarship, a cash prize of several thousand dollars, a set of all the toys and games ever made by Golly Toy and Game Company, and other unnamed prizes. Gil wants to win because his father was fired by the company over a year before for allegedly embezzling money from the company. Gil’s father is, of course, innocent.

Ms Feldman doesn’t quite have Dahl’s almost macabre and earthy sense of humor, but she does have a great story, intriguing puzzles, and caricatured characters that still seem somehow real and approachable. And if the puzzles are not as multi-layered and tricky as those in Mysterious Benedict Society, the kids are more normal, not geniuses or super-heroes, but rather just regular kids. That ten-year-old boy Ms. Feldman was writing for would be able to picture himself participating in the Gollywhopper Games and maybe even winning.

The Gollywhopper Games is Jody Feldman’s first book for children. May she write many more. My eleven year old Karate Kid loved The Gollywhopper Games. I daresay the kid in your life will, too.

The Gollywhopper Games has already (on the first day) been nominated for a Cybil Award in the Middle Grade Fiction category. Nominate your favorite children’s and YA books of 2008 in nine categories at the Cybils blog.