1925: Books and Literature

Oct16

Among the bestsellers and critically acclaimed books of 1925:
Gene Stratton Porter, The Keeper of the Bees
Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
Anne Parrish, The Perennial Bachelor I assume this is the same Anne Parrish who had a Newbery Honor book in 1925 (see below). Her books won Newbery Honors twice more, in 1930 and in 1950. Yet, I’ve never seen anything by Ms. Parrish.

In the 1920s, Anne and her husband were browsing in a bookstore in Paris when she came upon a special children’s book. It was a well-worn edition of Jack Frost and Other Stories. She immediately showed it to her husband, remarking that the story had been one of her favorites as a little girl. Her husband opened the book and was stunned to read the inscription inside: “Anne Parrish, 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado.”

Fannie Farmer, ed., The Boston Cooking School Cook Book. First published in 1896, Fannie Farmer’s Cookbook became an American classic. It eventually contained 1,849 recipes.

“It is my wish that it may not only be looked upon as a compilation of tried and tested recipes, but that it may awaken an interest through its condensed scientific knowledge which will lead to deeper thought and broader study of what to eat.”

A. A. Milne, When We Were Very Young
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby My history and literature students are finishing up Mr. Fitzgerald’s story of the enigmatic Mr. Gatsby this week. Here’s a rather indicative conversation from the book:

Nick: “You’re a rotten driver. Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn’t to drive at all.”
Jordan: “I am careful.”
Nick: “No, you’re not.”
Jordan: “Well, other people are.”
Nick: “What’s that got to do with it?”
Jordan:”They’ll keep out of my way. It takes two to make an accident.”
Nick: “Suppose you meet someone just as careless as yourself?”
Jordan: “I hope I never will. I hate careless people. That’s why I like you.”

I wrote more about the deeply spiritual carelessness of Daisy and Tom and Jordan here.

Prosper Buranelli et al., The Cross Word Puzzle Books
Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925 went to playwright George Bernard Shaw.

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel: So Big by Edna Ferber.
I’ve read So Big, and it’s a decent story. But I’m not sure it’s Pulitzer Prize material, anymore than Ferber’s fun, but highly inaccurate, novel of Texas, Giant. Giant was made into a 1956 movie starring Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson.

1925 Newbery Medal Winner:
Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger. (Doubleday, 1925) I’ve tried to read this book, but honestly the “tales” from South America are rather dry and not too exciting.
Honor Books: (I wish I could find copies of these two. It would be fun to see what librarians in 1925 thought were “honor books.”)
Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story by Annie Carroll Moore (Putnam)
The Dream Coach by Anne Parrish (Macmillan)

Nonfiction set in 1925:
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic by Gay Salisbury & Laney Salisbury. Recommended by Heather J. at Age 30+ A Lifetime of Books.

Fiction set in 1925:
Greenery Street by Denis Mckail. Re-published in 2002 by Persephone Books. Recommended by Dani Torres at A Work in Progress.

1924: Arts and Entertainment

Oct16

On February 24, 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premieres at An Experiment In Modern Music concert at Aeolian Hall, New York.

The 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris featured track and field athletes from all over the world such as Harold Abrahams of the UK, Eric Liddell from Scotland, Jackson Scholz from the United States, and Paavo Nurmi of Finland. The 1924 Olympics is the setting for the 1981 Academy Award-winning film, Chariots of Fire.

Sunday Salon: Love and Marriage

Oct16

The Sunday Salon.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — If leaders of Mexico City’s socialist democrat Party of the Democratic Revolution have their way, the city’s 2009 law legalizing gay “marriage” will be followed this year with temporary marriage licenses.

The minimum marriage contract would be for two years and could be renewed if the couple is happy, the bill’s co-author, Leonel Luna, told the Guardian newspaper. The licenses would include a pre-divorce agreement on the disposition of children and property if the couple decides to terminate the marriage.

“The proposal is, when the two-year period is up, if the relationship is not stable or harmonious, the contract simply ends,” Luna told the Guardian. “You wouldn’t have to go through the tortuous process of divorce.”

I wonder if one could write a dystopian/utopian novel about a society in which this kind of contract was the norm. What would a practice of moving every two years or so from one relationship to the next, always in search of that elusive “happiness”, do to people and families and societal stability? Would it be so very different from the society we’re living in now?

Why young Christians aren’t waiting anymore by Joe Blake.

“The article in Relevant magazine, entitled “(Almost) Everyone’s Doing It,” cited several studies examining the sexual activity of single Christians. One of the biggest surprises was a December 2009 study, conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, which included information on sexual activity.

While the study’s primary report did not explore religion, some additional analysis focusing on sexual activity and religious identification yielded this result: 80 percent of unmarried evangelical young adults (18 to 29) said that they have had sex – slightly less than 88 percent of unmarried adults, according to the teen pregnancy prevention organization.”

So how is our culture very different from the Mexican socialist proposal that we legitimize short-term relationships and go on from there?

I still believe in marriage, life-long and for one man and one woman. However, if our culture has reached the point that this ideal is no longer practiced, even among a majority of professing Christians, what can we do to get the culture moving in a different direction?

Sociologically speaking, the one big difference – and it’s monstrous – between the biblical teaching and our culture is the arranged marriages of very young people. If you get married when you’re 13, you don’t have 15 years of temptation. ~Scott McKnight

I’m not suggesting, and neither is Mr. McKnight, that 13 year olds should be marrying. But what about seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen year olds? Why is it that eighteen year olds are old enough to join the army and old enough to vote, old enough to have sex, but not old enough to marry, according to cultural expectations?

We need stories, historical fiction, dystopian fiction and others, that explore the ramifications of these and other questions about marriage. If you are a writer, you have the power to move the conversation in our nation, not in a propagandistic way, but as a powerful by-product of the stories you choose to tell.

1924: Events and Inventions

Oct15

January 21, 1924. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the Soviet Union, dies at the age of 54. His death leaves the Soviet government with a power struggle: possible leaders include Leon Trotsky, general of the Red Army and Josef Stalin, general secretary of the COmmunist Party. Stalin immediately begins to purge (kill) his rivals to clear the way for his leadership.

April 6, 1924. Fascists win the elections in Italy with a â…” majority.

April 6-September 28, 1924. The first aerial circumnavigation of the world is conducted by a team of aviators of the United States Army Air Service. The trip takes 175 days, covering 27,340 miles, without crossing the equator into the southern hemisphere. Four planes left Seattle in April, and two of the four returned to Seattle in September to complete the trip.

'Mount Everest from base camp one' photo (c) 2007, Rupert Taylor-Price - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

June, 1924. During the 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition, George Mallory and his climbing partner Sandy Irvine both disappear somewhere high on the North-East ridge during their attempt to make the first ascent of the world’s highest mountain. Mallory is famously quoted as having replied to the question “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” with the retort “Because it’s there!”. Whether Mallory and Irvine reached Everest’s summit is unknown.

August, 1924. France and Belgium agree to withdraw their troops from the Ruhr within a year, and Germany promises to pay off the war debts it owes mostly to those two countries.

August 28, 1924. Georgia rises against the Soviet Union in a rebellion, in which several thousands die. The rebellion is unsuccessful.

September, 1924. Indian nationalist Mohandas Gandhi goes on a hunger strike to protest fighting between Hindus and Muslims in British India.

December, 1924. People in the United States can now use disposable paper tissues made by Kleenex to catch those winter sneezes.

'M31 - Andromeda Galaxy' photo (c) 2008, Jyrki Kymäläinen - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

December 30, 1924. Astronomer Edwin Hubble announces that Andromeda, previously believed to be a nebula, is actually another galaxy, and that the Milky Way is only one of many such galaxies in the universe.

1924: Books and Literature

Oct15

In 1924, E.M. Forster publishes A Passage to India, a book I’m supposed to be reading for the Faith ‘n Fiction Rounndtable. However, I haven’t yet obtained a copy. I remember trying to read the book once before, but I didn’t get very far. Maybe this time will be different. E.M Forster went to India twice before writing his novel, and he had become an opponent of British imperialism in India.

Herman Melville’s Billy Budd is published posthumously in 1924. Melville died in 1891. Billy Budd, a novella about a Christ-like sailor, was discovered in manuscript form among Melville’s papers by his biographer.

Robert Frost wins the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1924.

'SF Chronicle, Tuesday February 26th, 2008' photo (c) 2008, Aaron Muszalski - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/And in April 1924 crossword mania hits the U.S. after publisher Simon and Schuster publishes the first book of crossword puzzles, “”this odd-looking book with a pencil attached to it.” The New York Times complains of the “sinful waste in the utterly futile finding of words the letters of which will fit into a prearranged pattern, more or less complex. This is not a game at all, and it hardly can be called a sport.” More history and information at Wikipedia.

Nonfiction set in 1924:
Baatz, Simon. For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago. (Harper). Recommended by Albert Mohler. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two nineteen year old boys from millionaire families who confessed to murdering a fourteen year old neighbor boy for “thrills”. The case shocked the nation.

Yay for Cybils!

Oct14

The Cybils Awards are given each year to children’s and Young Adult books recognized as having the highest literary merit and “kid appeal” by the book blogging community.

6a00d83451b06869e2014e8c27b44e970d-800wiAnyone can nominate a book. There are multiple categories: Picture Book, Middle-Grade, YA Fiction, Poetry, YA and MG Nonfiction, Picture Book Nonfiction, Fantasy and Science Fiction and Graphic Novels. This year they added a new category Ebook Apps. Nominations are open from Oct 1st – Oct 15th.

This year I get to be a Round One panelist for the Early Reader/Chapter Books category with a great group of fellow bloggers. Last year there were almost 60 books nominated in this category, and I get to read and evaluate them all.

Do you have a favorite young adult or children’s book published in the last year? If so, leave a comment, but also be sure to nominate your favorite(s) for a Cybils Award today. Nominations close tomorrow.

Dixie by Grace Gilman

Oct14

Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by Bigfoot at Bigfoot Reads.

Emma is really excited about her part as Dorothy in the school play, The Wizard of Oz. And Emma’s dog, Dixie, gets to play Toto. But will Emma be able to learn her part with Dixie distracting her and begging her to play?

Cute. The illustrations by Sarah McConnell are whimsical watercolors, and Emma looks just like my imaginary picture of Dorothy with her red pigtails and freckled face. The story itself has a bit of gentle suspense (will Emma do well in the play?), and of course, everything turns out O.K. for both Emma and Dixie.

Pet stories and pet characters seem to be quite popular for this age group, maybe because early elementary is a good age to get your first pet. I know that Z-baby, age 10, has been wanting a pet, preferably a cat, since she was about five or six years old. And she finally got a cat a few months ago. Said cat, by the way, whose name is Monica, has taken over my previously cat-free house, and she is now lying on my bed, making herself at home.

Z-baby: “I liked this dog story better than the other one. It was good for little kids, too.”

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

Ruby’s New Home by Tony and Lauren Dungy

Oct14

Cybils nominee: Easy Readers. Nominated by The HappyNappyBookseller.

Ruby is the new puppy, and Jade, Jordan, and Justin must learn to share. This easy reader (level two) reads like a Sunday School story without the God-talk. All the kids in the family learn to share the new puppy, Ruby.

Tony Dungy is a name even I recognize. He was the head football coach for the 2006 Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts, and he’s known to be an evangelical Christian. Maybe that’s why the book reminded me of Sunday School. Coach Dungy and his wife Lauren have two daughters and five sons, another reason for me to like this writing team. There’s also an advertisement inside the back cover for Mr. Dungy’s fatherhood encouragement program, All Pro Dad’s Day and the matching program for women called iMom Mornings. There are currently 931 “All Pro Dad’s Day” chapters at public schools in 48 states in nine countries, where more than 40,000 fathers and their kids gather.

So, the story is slight but fun, and the intent and purpose is good. The family in the book is a happy, puppy-loving, African American family, and I think that’s a plus.

Z-baby: “It would be good for really little kids like five or six year olds.”

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

Dodsworth in Rome by Tim Egan

Oct13

Cybils nominee: Easy Readers Nominated by Sondra Eklund at SonderBooks.

Dodsworth and the duck have been to New York, Paris, and London in previous books in this series about a mole?/badger?/some kind of animal with a pointy nose named Dodsworth and his sidekick, simply known as “the duck.” In this book Dodsworth and the duck are on vacation in Rome.

In this book the pair tour Rome, at first from the seat of a scooter, and then on foot. They visit the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Sistine Chapel. They eat gelato, and then, when they come into some unexpected funds, lots of other very Italian dishes at nice Italian restaurants. The duck tries his hand at throwing pizzas, and Dodsworth tries to keep the duck and himself out of trouble.

I think kids would like this series with its simple jokes and wordplay. Dodsworth and the duck are like a comedy team, with Dodsworth as the straight man and the crazy duck as the jokester. As they explore Rome, kids get a fun introduction to that city and a chuckle or two. The funny parts reminded me of the classic Amelia Bedelia because the duck tends to take comments rather literally with comedic results.

Z-baby: Wow! I never knew that Italy was in Rome!
Me: No, Rome is in Italy. Rome is the city, and it’s in the country of Italy.
Z-baby: Oh, now I get it.

*This book is nominated for a Cybils Award, and I am a judge for the first round thereof. However, no one paid me any money, and nobody knows which books will get to be finalists or which ones will get the awards. In other words, this review reflects my opinion and Z-baby’s and nothing else.

1923: Events and Inventions

Oct13

January 11, 1923. Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to pay its reparation payments. Hyperinflation in Germany means that 17,000 marks are now needed to buy an American dollar. The Germans couldn’t pay the reparations if they wanted to.

June 18, 1923. Mount Etna erupts in Italy, making 60,000 homeless.

July, 1923. The USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, officially comes into being, consisting of Russia, Ukraine, White Russia, and Transcausia.

August 2, 1923. Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, dies in office and is succeeded by his vice-president Calvin Coolidge.

September 1, 1923. The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing an estimated 140,000 people.

October 29, 1923. Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Kemal Atatürk is elected as the president.

'GERMANY, 1923 ---500 MARKS, RAPID INFLATION PERIOD a' photo (c) 2010, Jerry November 8, 1923. Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government. Hitler and his supporters burst inot a beer hall, armed and declaring that “the national revolution has begun.!” Police and troops crush the “revolution” the next day. On November 12 the fugitive Hitler is arrested.

November 15, 1923. The hyperinflation in Germany reaches its height. One United States dollar is worth 4,200,000,000,000 Papiermark (4.2 trillion). Chancellor Gustav Stresemann abolishes the old currency, and begins again with a new currency, the Rentenmark. 1923 will be called “the year of crises” in Germany.