Join in the round and knit two, purl three - Nittnut's 75 in 2011

Previous thread http://www.librarything.com/topic/105934#2614407

Checking in, am I first?

I'm finally starting to get over my virus--it's been over a week and it hit me hard. No crafts or sewing in the meantime, just reading.

Hi! That is a bad virus. But lots of reading is good. I'm glad you're feeling better. Heading over to see what you've been reading.

Hi Jenn. Love hearing about all your craft projects.

Hi Jenn, found you and thanks for the comment on the book art. I've been enjoying other people's pictures so much I thought I'd add one of my own.

Found you again! Nice new thread for me to be able to keep up with you from here on out.

Book #42
Cleopatra's Daughter

I kind of wish I hadn't read this fictional account before I finished Cleopatra: A Life. That said, I really enjoyed the book. The story begins with Octavius conquering Egypt and the death of Cleopatra. The surviving children of Antony and Cleopatra (twins Selene and Alexander and little brother Ptolemy, who dies on the way) are taken to Rome and placed in the household of Octavia, Octavius' sister. There, the twins learn about Roman society and politics and study with the heirs of Octavius and other family members until they are 15 years old. Then, Alexander is killed to prevent his becoming a threat to Octavian and Selene is married to one of Octavian's trusted men. The most interesting thing about this story was the fairly accurate descriptions of Rome and the challenges resulting from a hedonistic lifestyle on the part of the rich and the growing threat of slave revolts.

Book #43
Crossing to Safety

Definitely my favorite Stegner so far. Supposedly this is a sort of autobiographical account. The story is about a close friendship between two couples that survives years and distance. It is a slow moving story, full of everyday life and relationships. It would be a great book club book just for the discussion about personalities, relationships, marriages. I liked that the two women in the story remained friends in spite of differences in personality and character, and that the men remained friends in spite of one having all the success that the other wished for. What I loved about the book was the honesty. There was nothing hidden about the relationships between friends or spouses. Rather, the everyday quality of the faithfulness of the men to their women and the women to their men and the love that overcame every difficulty made the book beautiful. I have heard it referred to as a quintessentially "American" book, and I think that is true. It is as familiar as apple pie and my grandparents.

Hi Jenn! I loved Crossing to Safety. Glad you did, too.

Nice new thread, and you can add me to the line of *CtoS* fans.

Crossing to Safety remains my favorite Stegner. I agree with you about the honesty. In my course, the teacher talked about how he made sure to get the permission of the children of Peg and Phil Gray (the Langs in the book) before he published it. (Peg and Phil had already passed away.) One of the daughters actually thought Stegner was too kind to her mother in the book! As difficult as she could be as a friend and wife in the book it must have been really hard to be her child.

I got Cleopatra: A Life for myself for Christmas so I'll be interested in what you think of it.

I plan on reading Crossing to Safety this summer, Jenn, in an attempt to read more off the shelf. Glad to see you liked it!

I have Cleopatra's Daughter sitting here somewhere and I think I will still read it although maybe not from the top of the pile.

I love Crossing to Safety too, Jenn. Glad to see the book has another fan!

Hi Jenn. It was fun reading with you on the readathon yesterday. I commented over there about my reading journal in answer to Lucy's question. In case you missed it, Crossing to Safety was the first book I wrote about in my written reading journal back on 10/21/97 - during a Colorado blizzard. I gave it an A+!

Hi Pat - I agree, being Charity's child would have been much more difficult than being her friend. I have spent the weekend thinking about the ending. I think it's wonderful. Charity heads off to the hospital after a painful scene with her husband and he then disappears. Larry has an awful day searching for him and speculating about whether Sid can survive Charity's death. Then, just as the day ends and Larry is anticipating a scene with Sid and Charity's family in which he has to explain why he hasn't sent out a search party, Sid appears. The end. We don't have to rehash any of the things we already know (Charity will die and it will be hard on everyone) we just feel this incredible relief that Sid is OK and the book is over. Wow.

Hi Joanne - pretty morning isn't it? I hope you enjoy Crossing to Safety. I hope we haven't spoiled it for you. :)

Hi Leonie - I hope you enjoy Cleopatra's Daughter. I really liked the author's notes at the end too. I will watch for it - interested to see what you think.

Hi Stasia!!

Hi Donna, yes I saw your comment. You have an impressive reading journal. A perfect read for a day stuck inside. I enjoyed participating in the readathon. It was fun to see what everyone was eating.
We didn't exactly have a blizzard yesterday, but we did get 3 inches of snow. A funny follow-up to Saturday when I got a little sunburn watching my daughter's soccer game in 80 degree weather.

Just checking in on your new thread...

Stopping by because I've recently become a craft fiend - knitting and crochet. The knitting isn't so great, I can't figure out how to knit in the round, but I'm full steam ahead on the crochet!

So I'm hoping some of your ability rubs off on me ;)

Waving Hi to Angela! Thanks for stopping by!

Hi Jenny! Hooray for the crocheting and knitting! Are you wishing to use double pointed needles or circular? The trickiest part is not twisting your stitches, and in the case of dpn's, not dropping one before you get a good start on the knitting. It mostly takes practice and a little grinding of teeth. However, once you get it, you'll never look back. I LOVE not having to seam socks and hats. Love it.

Here are a couple of links I think are pretty good. Don't know if you're visual or not, so take it or leave it :). I need pictures. I have a hard time visualizing things.

http://www.stitchdiva.com/custom.aspx?id=104
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNn2ph4HDc

I'll go PM this info to you too - just in case you don't drop by for a while.

HI Jen

I'm stopping by to thank you for your recommendation of Esperanza Rising. I finished this book today and enjoyed it tremendously.

I'm adding Crossing to Safety to the tbr pile.

#18

Thanks for the PM, and the info. I can knit on circular, just about, though I can't get the join tight enough. It's dpn I really can't do. I get in a confused muddle! And always too tight tension. I think it's because I'm trying to learn from the internet, with no person beside me to show me or answer questions, deal with problems etc. What I wouldn't give for someone around me who I could go to!

Hi Linda! I am so glad you liked Esperanza Rising. I really liked it. It was especially meaningful to me as many of my friends in middle school and high school were the children of migrant workers.

Jenny! Stop whatever you are doing and go straight to your local yarn shop. They will be thrilled to see you and will help you with whatever you need. Not to mention the fun of just being in the company of those who love knitting and fiber. Just try not to buy yarn for projects you don't have time to start...
I believe everyone who is learning how to knit has very tight tension. I still do :) One trick I have learned is to pull the stitch after the join, or on dpns, the stitch after the first one on the new needle just a bit, and it tightens the stitch before it. Does that make sense? But that all has to come with practice. By the time you've made 3 or 4 hats or a couple pairs of socks, you'll have it.
Last winter I was working through a knitting book by Elizabeth Zimmerman. She has a pattern for mitered mittens that starts out with 4 dpns, each with 2 stitches on. Then you're meant to increase by two on each needle every round.. My needles kept falling out and I would lose them in the couch cushions and I couldn't figure out how to hold them all and keep the tension even. It was awful. But, by the time I made my fourth mitten there was less cursing and dropping of needles. :)

Hi Jenn! Just stopping by to check out your new thread. I definitely have to get to Crossing to Safety soon! It sounds like a good one.

What frustrated me about Cleopatra's Daughter was that level of detail about ancient Rome, which sometimes made it feel like a Baedeker guide. That and the fact that it was a YA novel, in essence, made it less fun than her first two books. As Michelle is a friend, that made it not poss. for me to review on Amazon -- I have a policy of reviewing friends' books only when I can say unmitigatedly nice things about them. Check out her new book about Madame Tussaud, though -- it's v. fun.

I've signed up for an advanced beginners knitting class, now that I've learned to knit and purl, made a scarf and am nearly finished a baby blanket. I realize at some point I will want to make something that isn't flat and square...

Hi Suzanne. I will agree that it's probably a good policy not to review friends' books unless you like them. I reviewed a first novel for an acquaintance once - it was absolutely terrible and I tried to tell him nicely. He never spoke to me again. Of course, neither did the book get published unless he used a pseudonym.
Hooray for the knitting! Go for a baby hat, knit in the round. Easy and fun. Now that you know how to knit and purl, you pretty much know everything!

I am out of town, and will review more thoroughly later, but I just finished listening to True Grit on my trip. It was fabulous. I can't believe I have gone my whole life without reading it before.
I also finished A Moveable Feast and really, really liked it. Two really good reads in a row!

It sounds like you are on a roll for good books, Jenn. I hope you are enjoying your trip - wherever you are. I have A Moveable Feast up next on the April pile. Who knows, it might even inspire me to give Hemingway another try especially since the last time I read a book by him was over 40 years ago!

I can knit scarfs on the big needles, basic stockinette stitch, but am not at all proficient on anything else. Crochet is what comes naturally to me. But I love the texture of knits.

Must get round to that True Grit book, all the reviews I've seen keep being very positive.

I already have True Grit in the BlackHole. Sounds like I need to bump it up some.

Safe travels, Jenn!

Book #44
A Moveable Feast

This is the absolutely most charming thing I have ever read by Ernest Hemingway. We visit Paris in the early 1920's, where he is living and attempting to make a living as a writer. He is married to his first wife and their first child has been born. He is young, happy, productive (most of the time) charming and witty. He lunches, dines and has drinks with Gertrude Stein, Ford Maddox Ford and James Joyce and takes a road trip with F. Scott Fitzgerald. The collection of anecdotes about these well known authors and his experiences with them add so much to the book.
We are getting to know Hemingway, but through him, a different side of other well known authors of the time. I wished it were longer, but I think the stories become sad and for that, we have The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, do we not?

Quotes:

It was a very Corsican wine and you could dilute it by half with water and still receive its message.

If a man liked his friends' painting or writing, I thought it was probably like those people who like their families, and it was not polite to criticize them.

In Dostoyevsky there were things believable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as you read them; frailty and madness, wickedness and saintliness, and the insanity of gambling were there to know as you knew the landscape and the roads in Turgenev, and the movement of troops, the terrain and the officers and the men and the fighting in Tolstoi.

Book #45
True Grit

I am sure that this will make my memorable reads list this year. I listened to the audio, narrated by Donna Tartt. She does a fabulous job. It is a true western; the voices and situations read true and the characters are believable. The main character, narrating her own story, is Mattie Ross. She relates her experiences as a 14 year old girl determined to see her father's murderer brought to justice. She is a bright and confident young girl, well educated and determined. She hires Rooster Cogburn to aid her in apprehending the murderer, they acquire a Texas Ranger, rather against Mattie's will, and set off into Indian territory. She chose Rooster Cogburn because he was "said to have true grit." He did, but in the end, Mattie is the one who is truly the grittiest. The story is so matter of fact that in parts it is laugh out loud funny, and in others (such as the lengthy description of the unraveling ball of hibernating rattle snakes) skin crawlingly realistic. Several times I wished I owned a copy of the book so I could mark passages. One place where I laughed out loud was when Mattie is talking about whether animals are evil or not and she says, "I have known some horses and many more pigs who I believe harbored evil intent in their hearts." That cracked me up. My dad had the sole of his shoe bitten off by a sow on their farm when he was a boy. He said he'd rather meet a rattle snake than an angry pig. I don't know. I think I would prefer not to meet with either one. There was another bit about Methodists and Presbyterians and "election" that I wish I could write out here because it was just priceless. I am going to have to buy that book.

You've had some great reads lately! Great reviews, too. I think both of those books are on my wishlist. Have a great week, Jenn!

I'll be looking for the audio of True Grit, Jenn. Thanks for the rec!

Excellent reviews, I want to read them both.

Glad to see you are safely back home, Jenn!

I am hoping to get to True Grit soon. I have already read A Moveable Feast so I can dodge that BB :)

Book #46
Queen of the Night

A pretty good mystery, although predictable. It is a continuation of the stories of characters from a couple of earlier books - the Walker family. Familiar characters, murder and gore, cold cases and a little romance make for an entertaining read.

Book #47
The Weird Sisters

Three sisters, daughters of a Shakespearean professor are together again in their childhood home. Their mother has cancer and they use that excuse to return home, but all of them are nursing wounds of different kinds. Over time, they eventually share their secrets and fears and heal each other as only sisters can. Not always gently, but with love. The voice of the narrator was the most interesting thing to me - it was almost like a fourth sister was the omniscient narrator. Toward the end of the book, the f-word became rather prevalent, which hurt the narrative for me. It interrupted the lovely flow of the story in a jarring way. I liked this book more than I thought I would.

>37 nittnut: nice review, Jenn! I've heard so many good things about that book -- I'll need to look for it.

Book #48
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs

This has been in my pile for a long time. I am so glad I read it! I think it would be a fun read-aloud with the kids. Eben McAllister can't wait to leave Sassafras Springs. He wants to travel, to see the wonders of the world. His father challenges him to find seven wonders there at home. Full of folk tales and wonderful characters, this story will charm you and inspire you to look for wonders at home too.

Hi Anne! How are you? The Weird Sisters was a book club read and I think it will generate a really good discussion.

I am reading The Paris Wife now and really liking it. It is a great companion read to A Moveable Feast which I liked very much.

Hi Jenn,
I read The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs aloud last year, and it wasn't as successful as I'd hoped. It turned out to be an awkward read aloud, though that could easily have been me, and in general, the book seemed to be trying too hard. We recently finished Because of Winn-Dixie, which I felt was what Sassafras Springs could have been. Still, I read that Sassafras is used frequently by teachers, and leads to community projects and investigations.

Hi Jenn, I really enjoyed The Weird Sisters. Glad to see you did too.

I've been very quiet for a few days - computer virus. Bleh. It's all better now.

Book #49
The Paris Wife

This is a novel, well researched and well written. Having just finished A Moveable Feast, I felt like it was hard to remember I was reading a novel. I loved Hadley's story, her devotion and her constant support. I was fascinated by the expat social scene and the wild lives they all lived. It was also very interesting to see how Hemingway used many of his experiences and people he knew in his books. I have to say that I liked A Moveable Feast better, maybe because it ended before the marriage fell apart. That was painful to read and actually upset me. I am not sure why. I guess I really identified with Hadley on some level. I think she was a lovely person and Hemingway was a fool to leave her. On the other hand, she was likely better off.

Book #50
Maximum Ride

Just the first in a large stack of books my son wants to read. I'm checking them out first. It's interesting enough, but I don't like the style of writing - very casual and loose. I know that's how a lot of teens are talking, but I don't enjoy reading it. Harmless, action packed, not my cup of tea.

Book #51
The Three Willows

Very similar to the Sisterhood books, but not quite as good. A quick read.

Hi Jenn. It's interesting how I feel about books based on the order I read them. The first thing I read of Hemingway's was For Whom the Bell Tolls and I didn't like it that much because of the writing. Next I read The Paris Wife, which I loved (I gave it 5 stars), partly because of the romance of Hemingway's life at that time. I read A Moveable Feast after that and ended up giving it 4 1/2 stars because some of the writing I didn't follow. I wonder what I would have thought if I'd read the books in the opposite order. Maybe if I had more appreciation for Hemingway as a person and what he was trying to do with his writing, I might have liked For Whom the Bell Tolls better.

I know what you mean about the ending of Hemingway's marriage in The Paris Wife. It seemed insane that all three of them would live together and while I can see why Hemingway might want to do it I can't believe either woman liked the arrangement.

Hi Jenn! It has been so long that I didn't even realize that you started a new thread. Just stopping by to say HI and hope things are going well and you are reading some great books. :)

I know what you mean about the Maximum Ride books. We started listening to the first one over the weekend and the tone of the characters was quite annoying to me as well. the kids really enjoyed it though.

Have to confess that I was underwhelmed by The Paris Wife but loved A Moveable Feast -- it is far and away my fave Hemingway.

#46 -- just musing -- do you folks subscribe to the opinion that "whatever gets kids reading is good", or are there books that you would rather they didn't read/didn't enjoy because they are so bad?? Is ANY reading good reading if the alternative is not reading?? Even if that reading never leads to an interest in better books??

Hi Valerie! Thanks for stopping by.

Hey Leonie, does it mean we've turned into our mothers?

Suzanne, I agree - A Moveable Feast is also by far my favorite Hemingway.

You and your controversial questions...I do not believe that ANY reading is good reading - I think that there are great books out there that are also interesting to kids, and there's no need to feed them trash to get them to love reading. That said, I let my kids read some things that others might not let theirs read. Just because it's not my favorite doesn't mean they won't get to read it. I tend to allow the goofy (as in Diary of a Wimpy Kid), but not the graphic (as in violence and sex). We are just now heading into uncharted territory with the precocious 12 year old. I have a stack of about 12 books to preview for him. For example: Maximum Ride yes, Marcello in the Real World not yet. I am a pretty conservative person, and I truly believe that we learn a lot about who we are and who we want to be through books we read. They can make us better, or they can lure us into paths we should avoid. The trick is in the choice.

A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the notion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber; for nothing on earth is solitary but every thing hath affinities infinite. Ralph Waldo Emerson

As usual, being a typical Libra, I am of two minds about kids' reading. I don't worry much about a kid reading an adult book because I did, and what my mama would have been concerned about flew right over my head. In Gone with the Wind, for example, I didn't bother with Scarlett's wantonness because I recognized on other levels that she wasn't a nice person. I really had no idea what was Wrong about Belle Watts (Was that her name?) On the other hand, I cringe when they read trash that they can understand. I was reassured somewhat when some of my high school students years ago read Terry McMillan and decided that she was a waste of time. On the third hand, many of them consumed real junk for kids, and I never saw them reach for anything better. They might one day and they probably never would if they hadn't grown accustomed to picking up a book anticipating pleasure. (All of this, you understand, was years ago when kids read. In my last years they didn't even read Stephen King.) My #1 motivation for teaching English was "to establish a permanent reading habit." So I guess I'm plunking myself down on the permissive side of the fence after all. I'm not particularly happy there though.

Peggy - I don't think you're any more on the permissive side of the fence than I am. I cringe when they read trash that they can understand. This is the heart of what is bugging me with the YA books I am previewing for my son. MUST WE SPELL IT OUT? Leave something to the imagination, for heavens sake.
IMHO Gone With the Wind is well written, historically accurate and an amazing read even the third time. I read Gone With the Wind for the first time when I was maybe 12? I too had no idea what was Wrong about Belle Watts, and I also knew that Scarlett was rotten to the core, if not why. I think it's a great example of a book to give a kid to entice them into reading more. My mother gave it to me after finding me reading Clan of the Cave Bear and totally freaking out. After reading it as an adult, I completely see why, but looking back, I am impressed with what she substituted.

Book #52
Marcello in the Real World

While I am uncertain as to YA being the appropriate category for this book (see above discussion) I thought it was an amazing story. Marcello is a young man with Asperger's Syndrome, or, as he describes himself, a "person with some aspects of Asperger's Syndrome." He enjoys working with the ponies at his private school, but instead of working with them all summer as he had hoped, his father asks him to spend some time in "the real world" and gives him a job at his law firm in the city. The story is beautifully written and there are some real gems in the narrative. In the end, an incredible amount of learning takes place for Marcello. He makes truly difficult decisions risking his relationships, but discovers that doing the right thing brings him peace.

"Be in the world but not of the world." The words are from Jesus. But I have not the slightest idea how to accomplish that or even if it's possible. The world will always poke you in the chest with its index finger.

You reassure me, Jen. Now I'm wondering whether anybody here is acquainted with Omar Tyree. For the last few years I taught, my black girls were devouring his books. I could never bring myself to read one (bad teacher! Sorry), but they swore that they had redeeming social value. I wonder - but still not enough to read one.

Hi Jenn. Great review! I will have to add that to my wishlist since you are the second person in the recent while that I've seen who has really enjoyed this one.

I'm a newcomer here, but I was really intrigued by the mention in another thread of your permissive/proscriptive debate.

I suppose I'm very permissive, because my first priority is that people read. Read magazines, read bestsellers, read thick Russian novels, read cereal boxes, but if you read, you become more literate, you take part in our society in a larger way, and it makes all those connections in your lovely plastic brain. If you learn that reading can solace you, educate you, pass your time and put you in another humans' mind, then that's valuable in and of itself.

I love it when people read widely and adventurously, but if a student of mine who has never liked "books" develops a passion for zombie comic books, I'm dancing in the streets. Maybe he'll work his way 'up' to Margaret Atwood, but if not, he can still be a reader. Anyway, no-one ever make a kid a reader by denigrating a book the kid loved (not that I'm saying anyone here would do that).

As a culture, we're also not so great at identifying the deathless literature from the dreck. I was really surprised when I looked at the list of early Pulitzer winners for literature - very few of them are read anymore. And, as most people here probably know, some trashy pop authors (like Doyle, Dickens, and Shakespeare) end up outlasting dozens of their contemporaries.

(Climbs down from soapbox. Sorry, this is a hobby-horse of mine!)

>52 LizzieD: I work in a high school library and I try to read a variety of books here, some the students love (I don't think I'll ever need to read another zombie book) and some I think they just need a nudge to discover. Some authors I have been just delighted to discover, like Brian Jacques, Deb Coletti, Kenneth Oppel, and Anthony Horowitz, and some I'd just as soon forget.

Great discussion, I don't think I'm turning into my mother.. at least not yet!!

My girls read whatever they feel like and we've never struck a book where there is too much of something that I would worry about them reading anyway. I really liked Cynara's comments though, let them read it all, especially if it gives them the reading bug.

I think my biggest problem with the Maximum Ride book was that we listened to an audio format for our trip away and the readers voice got really annoying. She also put all the whine into the kids voices so that became another beast altogether and not my idea of reading for enjoyment. We actually have this book so I will try to finish it the old school way and probably give up audio books for good, I am definitely not a convert.

I generally let my son read things that interest him. That said, there are definitely things I don't want him reading. Explicit sex, for one. He's 12, his reading level/ability is that of a college freshman. It's challenging to find the books that will challenge and interest him while still being age appropriate. So, maybe that's a different discussion. While he was book shopping in the children's section of the library, I didn't often have a hard time just letting him choose books. Because I feel that a lot of the offerings in YA are more adult than young, I want to know what's in them before he reads.
I didn't have to listen to the Maximum Ride book to hear the whine. Blech. I am not a fan either, but I don't mind if my son reads it.

Book #53
The House of Many Ways

A very enjoyable read, but not up to the standard of Howl's Moving Castle, in my opinion. It sort of dragged about for a while, than finished up in a great big rush.

Hey Jenn! Wow! Your son reads at a college freshman level?? That is mighty impressive seeing how some college freshmen probably don't read at that level. . I agree with you comment about YA books being age appropriate. There are many books that I've read that I think to myself afterwards, how is this okay for kids to read? Either I am way out of date on what kids know nowadays or the publishers are way off base. I think it's more likely that I'm out of touch with how "mature" the youth are now.

I recently completed a library internship in a high school. I was torn between wanting to figure out a way to get locked into the library overnight so that I could read to my heart's content, and wanting to pull a blanket over my head at some of the YA selections that are hot now (15-year old pregnant, homeless heroin addict Abby and her best friend, HIV-positive male prostitute Ben are reeling after witnessing the suicide of...) ack! My own daughter is 12, and a precocious, voracious reader. The YA world is like a whole new planet, although there are truly wonderful titles, too. I've never been uncomfortable about her reading choices... yet. I've had friends who have forbidden their kids to read certain books, which pretty much guarantees the kids read said books ASAP some way, somehow. I might dissuade, but I don't see myself outright forbidding.

Valerie and Anne, HI!

Yeah - the opposite challenge right? The voracious, insatiable pre-teen reader. Who knew they still existed? The thing is, IMO, kids aren't more mature than they ever were. It's just that they are exposed to more at an earlier age. I may be in the minority, but I don't think it's OK to make kids grow up faster. I think they need to be safe. Not "sheltered" but safe. Sadly, lots of kids aren't sheltered or safe.

Anne, I feel just the same about the YA section. There are so many gems and then there are the ones like you mentioned. Oh my goodness.

I just read a book that I really liked called Graceling. I was at the library, browsing through the YA stacks with one of the librarians and saw it. I mentioned to her that I had just read it and that personally, I would put it in adult books. She seemed surprised, which kind of surprised me. I really feel like it is my responsibility to monitor what my kids read, not the library's responsibility. I believe that people have the right to write books that may offend my personal standards. Not in favor of book banning at all. That said, if you made a movie of that book, it would probably be rated R. So if a kid has to be 17 to see an R rated movie, why is the book in the YA section which is frequented by kids much younger than 17? It's just one of those questions I have now and again.

I don't "forbid" because, as you say, Anne, a guaranteed sneak read. Usually I tell my kid an edited bit of what's in it. For example:

Me: "Oh, you want to read Twilight? Why?"
son: "I am interested in werewolves and vampires."
Me: "OK, well, there are werewolves and vampires in the book, but mostly they are all obsessed with this one girl and there's lots of kissing and teenage desperation. Do you want to read about that?
son: "Not really."
me: "OK. How about we look for other books that are just more about werewolves and vampires?"
son:" OK."

It sounds like I'm really calm as I type this, but inside I am thinking "Ack! how can we avoid this book for another year or so", and "werewolves and vampires? Really?" But I took a lesson from the time he came home on the bus from kindergarten and used the f-word in a sentence as just a regular adjective while I was chopping veggies for dinner but I managed to not freak out or cut off a finger and we talked about the word and what it means (sort of) and he's never used it again (to my knowledge). And because we have been having these conversations forever, it works most of the time. He will tend to bring me a book and ask me to read it if he's not sure, for which I am ever so grateful. One of these days, it will all be over and he'll stop sharing what he's reading with me. Hopefully by then, he will be able to recognize good and bad literature for himself most of the time - just like me (LOL).

Jenn, I've never had children so I've never had to think about these issues but you sound like a wonderful mother.

Jenn, I really appreciated your thoughts about parenting. Especially the part about kids being exposed to more when they are younger. This is certainly something I foresee my wife and I dealing with as our son (and hopefully future kids) grow up.

>61 AMQS: Welcome to my world! Sometimes the angst is so thick in books it's hard to turn the pages because they are gooey and leaden! The kids eat this stuff up. Annually, our most popular book is A Child Called "It", an autobiographical story about child abuse. I love it when all the copies are checked out and I can steer the student to something else.

I read the Twilight books when my daughter was in the 4th grade. She said, "oh, Twilight! I know some friends who are reading that!" I asked her if she was interested in reading them, and to my relief she said she wasn't. It came up again recently, and she said the over-the-top silliness of the girls who talk non-stop about the movies is enough to turn her off them.

>65 mamzel: mamzel, I told my supervising librarian that she must be made of strong stuff to be able to read as many of the titles as she does. She's also on the secondary select book committee, so she has to read and review them. She said that she personally needs to read light and uplifting books to counteract the truly gruesome or depressing. Kids do love them, though.

Yes, I'm so Fricking late...but here is a link that your Knitting Soul might like..pricey, to be sure:

http://www.amazon.com/Meg-Swansens-Knitting-Designs-Hand/dp/1883010586/ref=wl_it...

;-P

Pat! Thank you. Those are words I need to hear after the week I've had. I often remind myself of something a friend once told me - that if you go to bed at night and worry about whether you've been a good mother during the day, you probably were. LOL. I worry every night.

Anne - I agree. I would have to be made of strong stuff to read all the YA books for library selection. Is it the overwhelming desire of the average teen to dive headfirst into a life much worse than their own? So many of the books seem that way. Like an Oprah book club.

What are you late for Jude? Love the knitting book. Meg Swansen is the daughter of knitting guru Elizabeth Zimmerman and has wonderful designs - but perhaps you know that :)

Thats such a hard line to walk tho eh? On the one hand you are ecstatic that they even want to read in the first place and on the other hand you want to be careful about what kind of stuff they are reading. I remember way back when the Potter series first came out, there was an outcry among some parents about the content in the book (sorcery, dark magic..etc) that caused some concern, although really compared to some other books, I think Potter is nothing...
I really like what you said about not restricting because we all know the first thing a kid is going to do is the very thing their parents said NO to. The bigger the NO, the bigger the desire to dive head first into it. At least I remember thats how I was..hehe :)
I think I'd rather my kid read something "inappropriate" and then we have a conversation about it rather than dictating for them. I'd rather they learn to make informed choices on their own instead of me being the voice of right and wrong in their heads.

Not to be terribly stinky, but the way your kids learn right from wrong is because you are the voice of right and wrong in their heads, at least to start out. Otherwise, who is going to tell them?

Of course that is a valid point. :)
I guess my hope is that my voice will one day be replaced by their own when they are old enough to make those kind of choices.

No kidding. The fondest hope of every parent. And it's hard to watch them follow their own choices sometimes - even though it is one of the best ways to learn.

I'm finding the hardest thing to do is just to let them go...

Hi Joanne. Ouch. I don't really want to think about that. My son informed me the other day that he's gone in 6 years. I was thinking, wow. I remember 6 years ago. Seems like yesterday...

Yeah, a blink of the eye...

Have a good weekend, Jenn. I thought it was supposed to be raining today, instead sunshine and a layer of snow!

I know, snow! and we had soccer anyway. We have a good field this spring, drains well. I like the rain though, and it looks like we'll have a bit of rain this week.

Book #54
Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakely-Cartwright

I am pretty sure that this is the first book I have ever read that was adapted from a screenplay. It was obvious. There is some great potential here for an interesting series. However, the characters are underdeveloped, the plot is thin, the prose is inconsistent and the ending turns out to be online on a site dedicated to promoting the film. A disappointment.

Reading summary - April

Non-Fiction

A Moveable Feast - mine
Taking Charge of ADHD mine

Fiction

Cleopatra's Daughter mine
Crossing to Safety mine
True Grit library
Queen of the Night library
The Weird Sisters Kobo
Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs mine
The Paris Wife mine
Three Willows library
Maximum Ride library
Marcello in the Real World library
House of Many Ways mine
Pride and Prejudice mine - re-read
Red Riding Hood Kobo

Great April summary and quite a few off your own shelf which is great.

Had to comment on the Twilight thing. My eldest read them all when she was 13 and I had concerns about the last book, especially the honeymoon part, but she found it boring and skimmed it. The general consensus amongst her and all her friends is that the characters were very silly, whiny etc. although the vampire and werewolf stuff was kinda cool. I was a bit worried but she came through it with a pretty mature opinion of the books and doesn't want to reread them which is a sign that they're not highly rated in her world.

It got me thinking what I read as a teenager and the Flowers in the Attic series and the Clan of the Cave Bear series spring to mind. I was probably about 15 at the time but these would make me cringe now if my daughters wanted to read them, in fact I think I would draw the line for them at these ones for a few more years.

Ack! I forgot about Flowers in the Attic. I remember reading the first one as a teen and being pretty disgusted and also intrigued at the same time. I definitely hid that one from my mom...

I read that one as a teenager as well! That is definitely one that I don't want to discussing with my kids about. I can't even begin to imagine how to explain that one...
When I think about it, most of her books are all about those kind of taboo subjects.

Book #55
Taking Charge of ADHD

A detailed and comprehensive guide to parenting a child with ADHD. I found that there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding ADHD, much of which I believed myself. Well written, clear and positive, it covers everything from scientific studies of the brain, traits of the disorder and parenting tips to teacher helps and a guide to available medications. If you have a kid or know a kid with ADHD, I highly recommend this book.

edited - got to keep the books in order :)

The book that was going around when I was a teen was Sybil which had some pretty horrid abuse which resulted in multiple personalities. I guess it's a teen thing.

Book #56
A Wall of White

This is the story of a huge avalanche at Alpine Meadows near Lake Tahoe that occurred in 1982. I really like stories of disasters and survival and courage. This was a very good one. I especially enjoyed the detailed information about snow and avalanche control. While I appreciate knowing the back stories of the people involved, I think maybe a little too much time was spent there. Overall, it was a good read.

ETA details, details

Hi Jenn, which avalanche disaster did the book cover, or was it covering many incidents?

Oh, that might have been good to mention. I will edit.
It was a huge avalanche at Alpine Meadows - near Lake Tahoe. It happened in 1982.

Book #57
Dark Life YA

A post apocalyptic tale of people who live on the sea floor. There is conflict between the interests of the land dwellers and the ocean dwellers as well as the hint of special skills or gifts that the ocean dwelling children are born with. I liked the characters and the action.

Book #58
Climbing the Stairs

Vidya is a young girl growing up in India during WWII. Her family is Brahmin, but her father is less traditional than the rest of his family. When her father is injured, her family goes to live with her father's family. Life is difficult there and she is expected to work hard and serve the rest of the family. She perseveres,and even finds love. Some historical context intermixed, WWII and Ghandi.
The book was just OK for me. The writing was fine, the characters likeable, but I just didn't really get into it.

Two more YA books to go in the pile of previews. Next up, something about a teenage vampire...

>87 nittnut: something about a teenage vampire - That could be a really hard search. Good luck finding something. ;-)

>88 mamzel: Right. LOL. Actually though, I didn't find this one, my son did. I am previewing it...

Book #59
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod

Not the worst book I've ever read. A little gruesome, which is to be expected. Also a little slapstick. I thought it was pretty dumb, but clever in spots. The child born of human/vampire parents but raised away from vampire folk and possibly destined to fulfill some vaguely referenced prophecy is not a bad angle. Not being a fan of vampire lit - I didn't really care for it. Probably a harmless read for its intended audience. If my son reads it, I'll have him post his review.

Book #60
The Amaranth Enchantment

A sweet little romance novel with hints of several fairy tales. Recommended to me by a friend of my son's - Julie Berry is her new favorite author. I enjoyed it. Some aspects were a bit predictable, others surprising. Lucinda lives with her Aunt and Uncle, works in their jewelry shop and is badly treated. One of my favorite characters is a boy named Peter, who starts all the trouble by stealing a jewel from Lucinda. The jewel belongs to Beryl, a sort of good witch/fairy godmother figure who fell through a well in her lands and ended up in Lucinda's land. The jewel has to be recovered in order for Lucinda to return to her family home and live independently. I would have liked more character development, and I thought there were a few scenes missing, but I don't want to spoil. A quick and fun read.

Gotta love it when a review starts off with "Not the worst book I've ever read." Lol...

I have to admit I thought the exact same thing!

It's better than starting a review "This is the worst book I've ever read."

Somewhat akin to starting it "Eh". Or "Eh" being the entire review.

LOL. I have read a few "Eh" books.

I am well into my second Julie Berry novel and liking it much better than the first one.

Hi Jenn, it's fun to follow the variety of books you're reading these days. The disaster book sounds really good. I don't remember that one at all.

I'm saving The Children's Blizzard for some summertime reading. Nothing like a blizzard book when the temps and humidity are both nearing 100! Maybe I'll add an avalanche book if it gets really hot. ;-)

Your last two reads are complete opposites of each other. :)

That is so funny Valerie. I hadn't even thought of it. :P

Going back to the discussion of children & reading, I have to admit that my parents never really attempted to censor or supervise my reading at all after the age of 11 or so, although I was free to buy whatever I wanted with my pocket money (or at least, whatever the bookseller would let me buy) at Harrod's down the street, or at John Menzies a few blocks away on Sloane Street. I'd buy everything from books by Enid Blyton to The King's Peace by C.V. Wedgwood! Until then, we lived in London, where my mother always went with me to the library and where I was restricted to the children's section, however. When we moved back to Canada, right around my 12th birthday, I got a library card with access to the adult section. There were certainly some books that I skimmed in the library and didn't take home, but I read 'em. And others that were certainly crap that my grandmother gasped in horror about, like Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. Read the "Angelique" books at 14, for instance -- hardly great literature and definitely raunchy in parts! I readily admit that I learned a lot of the facts of life through what I read but I quickly grew bored with books that had nothing else to offer, and I don't think it did me any damage at all -- certainly I really appreciated my parents' trust and was probably less likely to violate that on the big things that really mattered -- curfews, behavior, etc. I think my mother probably had a good sense of what interested me, and that I wasn't going to be damaged in any way by reading about what other people in novels did -- and she was definitely right. I didn't run wild as a kid, didn't become a teenage mother or a drug addict, and while I probably was precocious, that had a heck of a lot more to do with my general interests than my reading habits, and certainly contributed to academic performance.

A parallel might be the way my parents viewed alcohol. By the time I was 14, we were living back in Europe (Belgium) where there were absolutely no restrictions on what teenagers could buy or order (at least in fact, if not in law.) Every party I held at my house in those years featured wine, beer, sangria (a fave!) and a tiny bit of hard liquor sometimes. It also featured my parents as de facto background chaperones (tucked away in the small TV room/study). I can't remember anyone ever drinking so much as to get sick; we usually quit at tipsy. On the other hand, my parents didn't want me going out every Friday night to the pub downtown where most of the school headed just in order to drink. They didn't care if I went to a movie and dinner and had wine with dinner; they didn't want social events that revolved around drink. I internalized that attitude and grew up rather disdainful of kids for whom drinking was forbidden fruit to be seized on as soon as they left home and who weren't able to judge how much was enough -- much less tell the difference between good wine/beer and stuff whose only virtue was a high alcohol content. I've ended up drinking much less and more responsibly as an adult as a result, I think, and I've ended up as a very discriminating reader. I think, had my mother tried to talk me out of reading a book at the age of 12, I would have been very scornful and annoyed at being patronized; on the other hand, while she never did that, what she did do was to draw my attention to other books that she thought would both interest me and be "better". For instance, the year I asked for The Far Pavilions for Christmas, I got it -- but I also got The File on the Tsar and The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey, as well as some books by Daphne du Maurier that I hadn't yet read.

Well Suzanne, I think it's pretty obvious that you were an exceptionally well behaved child who turned into a well behaved adult... :)

I was free to buy whatever I wanted with my pocket money (or at least, whatever the bookseller would let me buy)

I am dying to know - did the book seller refuse to sell you something? What? I can remember occasionally the librarian at our local library asking me if my mother knew what I was checking out. Maybe she was disconcerted by a pre-teen reading things like Daphne du Maurier.

Book #61
Secondhand Charm

Julie Berry is a recent discovery for me. This is the second book I have read by her. While I wasn't overwhelmed by the first one, Secondhand Charm was delightful. A fairy tale blended with fantasy and the question of whether it is luck and charm, or skill that lead to success.

A young girl named Evie lives in the country with her grandfather. All she knows about her parents is that her father was a physician and her parents died during an influenza epidemic. She does well in school and has some skill with healing. She wants to go to college to become a physician like her father. The king awards her a scholarship, and she leaves home to journey to the capitol city. This is where things get really interesting. On her journey, various mishaps occur, including being shipwrecked. She is rescued from the sea by a leviathan who informs her that he is her leviathan and has been waiting years for her. Naturally, this comes as a bit of a shock. The rest of the book involves her learning to accept and understand who she is - while falling in love and saving the kingdom and other more usual fairy tale events.

While I am still hoping for more character development from this author, I thought this second book was much better than the first.

Hi Jenn - hope you had a great Mother's Day!

I am way behind on threads again, Jenn, but I do hope you had an enjoyable Mother's Day.

I will have to look for Secondhand Charm. Thanks for the recommendation!

Hi Joanne and Stasia! I am behind on threads too. I had a nice Mother's Day. I hope you did too.

I am super busy with getting ready for my daughter's birthday party and finishing up her bedroom re-do. We painted her room lavender and I am working on her new bedspread and dust ruffle. I'll post pictures when I'm done. Long story short - not a lot of reading or LT-ing this week for me.

good grief! I totally lost you :( sorry..

I look forward to the pictures..

Ooh, I look forward to pictures, too. My daughter wants to do her room in lavender as well.

Book #62
The Red Pyramid

A fast moving adventure - in fact - it never stops. Like the Percy Jackson series, children are imbued with special powers and they have to come to terms with this, all while saving the world. What was different was that the mythology is Egyptian and the children are mortals who occasionally play host to Egyptian gods. It was entertaining and jam packed with references to Egyptian mythology. I didn't like it as well as Percy Jackson, but it was pretty good.

>105 nittnut: we liked that one, too. I've agreed to get the second book as their end-of-school-year gift.

Not liking it as much as Percy Jackson seems to be a common sentiment from other people on LT as well.

How is the room makeover going?

Hi Anne! I just bought #2 for my son today. We'll see how he likes it. He'll probably have it read by tomorrow night.

Hi Valerie! For me, I couldn't decide if it was the way the book was written, back and forth between pov, or if it's because I am not as well versed in Egyptian mythology as I am in Greek, or because it just wasn't as good?

Hey Kathleen! The room makeover is coming along. Walls are painted, pictures are hung, stuff is getting put away, dust ruffle is made. I just need to make the bedspread and valance. However, she doesn't want the valance yet. She likes her purple curtain thing, so I might just leave it alone for a while. I am still trying to decide what style of bedspread. Thanks for asking!

That sounds about right. I've heard a lot of people say it's because the Egyptian side of the things wasn't as interesting to them. I am still debating whether I will read the series or not. I like the Percy Jackson stuff but the first book was only okay for me and it took a bit for the series to pick up for me.

I am on the opposite side of The Red Pyramid, mainly because I love Ancient Egypt :)

I have read all of the Percy Jackson series, both books in the Kane Chronicles and The Lost Hero (the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series). While I thoroughly enjoyed Percy Jackson, The Lost Hero is currently my favorite of all the books. I feel like in that book Riordan really took the time to develop the characters. The Lost Hero switches points-of-view between three characters and I think he does a good job of it.

While I enjoyed the Kane Chronicles, they were not my favorite. They were great fun, but non-stop adventure. The Egyptian mythology was interesting, but I am much more interested in Greek and Roman history. I also felt that the Kane Chronicles was written for a younger age set than The Lost Hero.

I finished The Throne of Fire last week (I think?), and it was good, but it felt like one long sprint. Just my thoughts. . . all in all, good fun books!

You've got me very interested to see how I'll like The Red Pyramid now, considering I love Egyptian mythology as well. Still need to finish those pesky Percy Jackson books though..

>112 weejane: - I agree with you about The Lost Hero. I really liked it. I think the transitions between characters was better. Also, there may have been less sass mouth to it. I found the neener neener back and forth between the siblings in The Red Pyramid a bit distracting.

Book #63
The Uncommon Reader

A very quick read and lots of fun. The Queen of England discovers a Bookmobile by her kitchen and decides to check out a book. This leads to more reading and then even more reading. Her staff begins to think she is losing her edge and they try various things to attempt to get her to stop reading. I kind of wish it were a true story.

Jen

I'm sorry to be late in checking your thread. Hello to you!

The Uncommon Reader sounds like an interesting book. Any book that talk about the love of books is a good book to me. :) Will be adding this to my list. Thanks Jen!

Glad you liked The Uncommon Reader. I read that last year and loved it. It holds a firm place in my "Good Quick Reads" collection.

Just speaking, Jen. I'm glad to check up on the kids' reading discussion. It occurred to me that even if what they're reading about is drugs, abuse, sex, voodoo, etc. (the Omar Tyree books), they're reading and not out experimenting - well, not with voodoo anyway. (And I am speaking about my high school students and not anybody's 12 year-old son.) I was going to mention my high school reading, but Suzanne already did: Forever Amber, Angelique, Katherine, but also Hardy and Maughm, for example.

I love The Uncommon Reader! Glad to see you enjoyed it, Jenn.

Hi Jenn! I liked The Red Pyramid too, and I'm looking forward to reading the new one in that series. I also have The Lost Hero on my shelf - will get to it this summer, I think. And I just re-read The Uncommon Reader - love that one! There is always good reading going on over here!

Hi Linda! Nice to see you here.

Valerie, I think you will enjoy The Uncommon Reader. I laughed out loud a few times.

Hi Pat! Now get back to Jane Eyre :)

Hi Peggy! Isn't it fun to see all the edgy reads we did in high school? I had an AP English teacher who really helped us push our limits. Hardy, Maugham, Conrad, Joyce were all on her reading list along with the more standard fare of Dickens, Austen, Bronte, Shakespeare and Twain. I can't say I loved them all, but they were worth reading.

Hi Stasia! Didn't it make you want to sit down with Her Majesty and talk about books?

Thanks Amy, I think the same of your place. I especially love seeing what you're reading to your early readers. We've found some fun new favorites that way.

I have been reading Cleopatra: A Life and I like it, but I have decided to put it down for a bit. I keep getting interrupted, and I've decided I can't be interrupted in this book. When school gets out in a week I will go back to it.

Instead, I am reading The Red Garden and A World Undone and listening to Bury Your Dead in the car *sigh* I really love Ralph Cosham's voice. I also have Wicked in the CD player in my studio. I'm struggling with it a bit. I just get so I'm enjoying the story and then it goes "past the line of what is pleasing" to borrow a line from dear Jane. I could use a cozy couch weekend with a book or two or three.

Book #64
The Red Garden

Such an interesting way to tell a story. It was like reading the history of the town through the lives and point of view of different generations of people who lived there. I loved how real people from history (Emily Dickinson, Johnny Appleseed) were made part of the story. I am not sure I have read Alice Hoffman before, but I will be interested in her other books.

#121: Yes, it did!

#122: Already in the BlackHole. I am glad to see you enjoyed the book, Jenn.

Book # 65
Bury Your Dead

I finally got the audio from the library and I listened this week as I drove here and there. I think this is my favorite so far. So many things... I was extremely happy to have Olivier's situation resolved. I liked how Gamache was more vulnerable and had to deal with his fallibility. I really liked Beauvoir - how he and Ruth needed each other and how he softened and was able to make friends in Three Pines even while working on Olivier's case. As always, I love the relationship between Gamache and his wife. I even got to find out what had happened to Yvette Nicole. A very enjoyable listen - narrated by Ralph Cosham - how could it not be? Right now, even though I hear there is a new book in the works, I feel like this one makes a natural pause in the story.

Nice review, Jenn. I probably read too much (I've only just finished The Cruelest Month), but I love knowing there's good things in my future! Hope you have a great weekend. What's on the horizon for you? Will you have summer break? Will you continue home schooling next year?

Hi Anne - I know - I was trying to not spoil things too much. I hope I didn't give anything away. Actually, there were some real shockers in this one.

We are having a quiet weekend. My boys were supposed to go camping but there is a foot of snow in the campground. I am hoping for a clean garage :).

We get out of school next Friday, and we should have a nice summer. We are taking a break from the competitive swim team so that we can take some family vacations and send the big one to Boy Scout camp. It feels good to relax a little bit there. He will swim with the summer league, which is lots of fun. I am not planning to home school next year. He wants to go to the local middle school. I am a little nervous for him, but I feel like he needs to try. I think I will miss him a little. On the selfish side, if he is in school then I will have a little more free time. My 4 yr old starts preschool this fall. I could have three mornings a week to myself. Imagine! Probably just means a cleaner house and better dinners...

What are your summer plans?

#124: I am glad to see you enjoyed Bury Your Dead, Jenn! It is definitely my favorite in the series thus far.

I don't think you spoiled things too much -- I'll be reading more soon!

I imagined having all sorts of time when my youngest went to school, but it didn't work out that way. If anything, I was busier -- always calculating how much time I had before I had to either take someone somewhere or pick someone up. Good luck to your son. Middle school is tricky. My daughter will start middle school next year, too. I have declared that there will be no classes of any kind this summer -- not even swim lessons! My daughter and I will go to Vail with the Tour Choir of the Colorado Children's Chorale for a week in June. It's our annual training residency, where the kids will learn all of next year's repertoire and staging. We also have 14 kids in Carmen and 2 kids in Gianni Schicchi with Central City Opera, so I will be busy with lots of rehearsals. But the highlight of our summer will be our trip to Munich to see my mom and Cyprus to see Stelios's family. We're very excited:)

I loved Red Garden.. and I suspect that you will find other Hoffman's that you will like as well.

I'm so glad you liked the latest Three Pines book! :)

Hi Stasia!

Wow Anne! A very exciting and busy summer.

Kathleen, what Hoffman would you recommend?

Hi Angela. I really did, and it took so long to get it that my anticipation was very high. Lucky for me, Gamache always meets expectations. :)

>122 nittnut:: Alice Hoffman is a hit-and-miss author for me, but I enjoyed The Red Garden. Blackbird House is another one of hers that has a similar structure. I may have to go back and read that one, however, as I have no memory of it whatsoever.

>126 nittnut:: Your summer sounds low-key and relaxing...for a family of five. I am always amazed at how much young mothers get done these days. I suppose I somehow did it, too, but it is all (thankfully) a blur now. I'm hoping to get out your way in early August. It would be great if we could do another meet-up.

Ooh yes Donna! That would be great. Let us know.

I liked your write-up of The Red Garden and have added it to my list. I've not read any Alice Hoffman yet but it looks good, as does Blackbird House. Dangerous wee thread here, my TBR list is running perilously long now.

Hi Leonie, Thanks! Yours is not so good for me either, or rather, it is. Seeing as how I plan on reading for years yet...

Book #66
Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie

Very enjoyable biography with very interesting artwork. One thing I really liked was the intermixing of stories about scientific and technological advances that have resulted from the Curie's work.
Funny story - I went downstairs late at night to get a glass of water and was quite startled to see something glowing on the couch in the family room. Turns out that Radioactive glows in the dark. Anyone else notice this?

Book #67
Blood Memory - book club

I would call this a "cozy" mystery. It was pretty good, although somewhat predictable. I am not sure I have ever read a mystery that was taking place somewhere I live, but it was a little disconcerting to know exactly where I was in the story - no imagination - no guesswork as far as setting. The historical references to Sand Creek and other issues relating to U.S./American Indian relations were a nice addition.

Hi Jenn, I'm glad to see you enjoyed The Red Garden. As Donna mentioned, Blackbird House has a similar structure is is a very good read, too. Practical Magic is good and one of my Hoffman favorites is Turtle Moon.

Everyone seems to love Radioactive. I'm going to have to find a copy. And it glows - cool!

Glad to see you're a fan of Radioactive: A Tale of Love and Fallout too, Jenn.

Joanne, I think Claudia also said her book glowed in the dark. I haven't noticed that yet with my copy.

ETA: I finished Jane Eyre last night and loved it! Thanks for all the encouragement.

Turtle Moon was my first Hoffman, and my favorite, but Red Gardenis definitely next. Practical Magic was lots of fun, too :)

I made a tactical error today. I entered the library "book sale" room. $9.35 later, I came out with:

Range of Motion
Gap Creek
Trail of Crumbs
Bread Alone
Tortilla Flat
More Than You Know
Gourmet Rhapsody
and
Knitting Lessons

I'm feeling pretty good about it, aside from a niggling thing about the already towering pile of books that don't fit in the book case that I bought last fall because it's full.

The thing I'm not feeling good about is this new format. I'm sure I'll adjust in time. It's not like I have a choice.

#98 -- sorry, lost your thread for a while! (i'm not completely nuts about the new format -- I miss the "jump to the top of the thread" feature, for starters...)

Going back to the discussion re books -- I definitely was NOT a well-behaved child, but books were guaranteed to help me behave better. I don't think a store clerk ever refused to sell me anything, but there certainly were some raised eyebrows. I imagine had I tried to buy DH Lawrence at that age (vs reading him for school as a teenager) the "no" response would have been triggered. But it never crossed my mind to be interested in that. I was reading adult historical fiction, like Anya Seton's Katherine, which wasn't explicit, but certainly wasn't reading for children, and then combining it with books like Swallows and Amazons. I expect they didn't know quite what to make of me -- something that has endured to this day...

#141 At the right of each post there is an up arrow with a line above it. Click on that to go to the top of the thread.

Congrats on the haul, Jenn! I am going to be reading Gap Creek in the next couple of weeks.

Book #68
The Kite Runner

This is a re-read for one of my book groups. I wasn't going to read it again because I only had a few days. I am so glad I went ahead and read it. The thing that really strikes me about this story is the way that betrayal, cowardice and lies perpetuate to the next generation unless an atonement is made. Amir ends up atoning for both himself and his father. In doing so, he learns that he is stronger than he thought. He learns to forgive his father and he learns to forgive himself.
On a personal note; since reading this book for the first time, I have become friends with a woman from Afghanistan, who also happens to be Hazara. Knowing her experiences growing up in Afghanistan, and knowing her children, made this story a much more personal read for me this time around.

Hi Suzanne, glad you found me again. I relate - books definitely helped me be better behaved too. In fact, they still do. I'd always be in trouble if not for books and knitting.

Hi Stasia, I might be too - and I will look forward to hearing what you think of it.

I read A Thousand Splendid Suns last year and really enjoyed it and managed to snag a copy of The Kite Runner at the same time but it just hasn't gotten to the top of the pile yet. I'm thinking I definitely have to change that now.

Leonie, I really liked A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was absolutely stunned by the ending. I think you will like The Kite Runner. There was a point this morning, when I really needed to be doing something else (read Home Schooling my 6th grader) but was completely wrapped up in the last 150 pp of that book.

Hi Jenn! I read A Thousand Splendid Suns earlier this year and must say it was one of the most powerful books that I've read just because I really don't know what life is on that side of the world. Brutal but so beautiful at the same time. I have yet to read The Kite Runner but I've heard that it is equally moving as well.

I remember loving The Kite Runner, but my wife told me that A Thousand Splended Suns was just too sad and she didn't think I would like it.

Hi Valerie - I am pretty sure you will enjoy it - whenever you get to it. I was surprised how gripping it was even the second time around.

Hi Brit - I didn't think that Kite Runner was less sad than A Thousand Splendid Suns . However, reading about the abuse that many women suffer, and the acceptance of it, in that part of the world, was very difficult. Despite that, and how sad it really was, the ending was powerful and empowering - I thought.

#150 - thanks for the insights. (slinks off to add book to ever-expanding TBR list)

Book #67
Alanna: The First Adventure YA

I really enjoyed this first book in the series about a girl who wants to become a knight. It's a quick read and pretty basic YA fantasy, but fun.

#152: I am glad to hear you liked the book, Jenn. The rest of the series is pretty good too.

Book #68
Caleb's Crossing

I like Geraldine Brooks. She manages to cover a lot of territory in her books. All of them are distinctly different.
This one is about an Indian boy who befriends an English girl - both are growing up on what is now Martha's Vineyard. She teaches him and he teaches her. Maybe it's about the long term consequences of small choices. Or about the perils of being the first person to do a thing, like an Indian seeking a Harvard education. I would have left Massachusetts Bay colony myself. I am always stunned by the rigidity of their lives and the sheer number of ways to commit sin. I'm really still processing a lot of it, but I liked it. A lot.

More:
A beautifully written story of friendship between a Wampanoag boy and an English girl. The girl, Bethia, tells the story looking back from three different points in her life, remembering. I thought the characters were well developed and very believable. The only thing maybe not so well developed was the relationship between Bethia and her future husband. Given Bethia's obedience to God's law and compared to the development of Bethia's relationships with many other characters, the events that unfolded in the library when they were alone together seemed out of character for her. Of course, many of us could be overwhelmed by a room full of books...

#154: I had not heard of that one by Brooks before. I will have to see if my local library has a copy. Thanks, Jenn!

I just started it myself. I love Geraldine Brooks.

Book #69
In the Hand of the Goddess
Book #70
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
Book #71
Lioness Rampant

A mostly enjoyable series as Alanna continues to progress as a knight. You know how I get annoyed by sex in YA books, so I'll just leave it at that.

You're about the third person recently who's recommended Caleb's Crossing. I've only read March by Geraldine Brooks and I liked it. I think I'll put this new one on my library list. Thanks for the recommendation.

Hi Jenn! I've gotten terribly behind on threads but am trying to catch up. To go back to a book you read in April, isn't A Moveable Feast wonderful? I like your story about your son wanting to read Twilight!

#157: I know exactly what you mean about the sex in that particular series, Jenn. It was one of my pet peeves with the series too.

Caleb's Crossing has pooped onto my radar too, lately..
your review is a good one. I may have to try it ..

I hope you like it Pat!

Hi Carly - don't feel bad - I'm very behind on yours too. I loved A Moveable Feast.

Hi Stasia, glad to not be the only one.

Hi Kathleen! Let me know what you think if you read it.

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day. My son got up early - his scout troop puts flags up around town on the patriotic holidays. Then, we drove to Pikes Peak, got up to the summit, were met by 100 mph wind gusts and lost the left rear window on our van. Some blowing rocks hit it just right and kaboom! Thank goodness for safety glass. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow? LOL. None of the kids were hurt, we got our photo at the summit and left before we got blown off. Wild.

Glad to hear that none of the kids (or you, for that matter!) were hurt, Jenn.

That sounds pretty dramatic, Jenn. I'm glad no one was hurt. I remember being up there in July one time and was shocked that it was 35 degrees and windy but not that windy. Being from the East at the time that was my first introduction to differences in altitude.

>162 nittnut:: WOW, those were some wild winds on Pike's Peak. I never looked forward to the requisite trip to the top of PP when we had visitors in Colorado Springs. I like the view looking up at the mountain so much better than the bleakness (and crazy weather) at the top.

I'm grateful for another nudge about Caleb's Crossing. Not that I needed it. I've read most of her books and, like you said, enjoy the uniqueness of each one. I may have to break down and buy this one. I miss my Borders store and have been suffering bookstore withdrawal since it closed.

Wow, glad the family is ok, that is some strong windy stuff you have there.

Thanks everyone - we are very grateful that nobody was sitting in that seat. I've never been in winds that high before. I have heard it can be very windy up there - 14115 ft. - but I've never heard that windy. It felt like what it looks like on TV when they are reporting hurricanes. We were only out of our car for 3 minutes and our hair was full of gravel. My husband was wearing shorts - silly man - and got a pretty big scrape down his calf from some gravel. It was hard to stand up. We didn't let the little kids walk around up there - afraid they would blow away. The kids all say they are never, ever going up there again. I got my window fixed today, so all is back in order.

Book #72
Bread Alone

I needed a relaxing read, and this was pretty good. It's one of the books I picked up at the library the other day. It's about a woman whose husband cheats on her and how she deals with the pain and heals - by baking bread. The best part of the book is that the author included recipes! It's a beach book, but I mostly enjoyed it.

Yikes Jenn! How very scary. Thank goodness no one was hurt. It was VERY windy yesterday afternoon down here, too.

Wow, Jenn -- glad you're all okay.

That's some crazy wind! Glad to hear everyone is okay. :)

Hi Joanne!

Hi Anne, we LOVED the sandwiches!

Hi Valerie!

Book #73
Gap Creek

Set in South Carolina (roughly) near the end of the 1800's, this is the story of Julie, narrated by Julie. By the time she is 16 or 17, she has seen a lot of suffering and worked very hard. She falls in love with Hank, and they get married. They are both very young, and the first year of their marriage is difficult. The book is really about the marriage, as seen through Julie's eyes.

There were times (when Hank gets angry and smacks her) when I was really frustrated and wanted her to just leave the marriage, but then I reflected that a man writing a book set in the late 1800's is not likely to have his heroine ponce off home to her mother in a feminist huff. Once I adjusted my frame of reference, I thought it was an amazing story. It could have been about my great-great grandparents who settled in Eastern Utah about the same time period - minus the flooding. In my Great great grandmother's memoir, she writes about having almost nothing and making shoes for her son out of old boots of her husbands' and not being able to see the stitching because she was crying so hard.

As they struggle with life, hardship and sorrow together, both Julie and Hank grow up a lot and learn about how to make their marriage work. While the ending is not a "perfect" happy ending, it is happy and beautifully done.

Wonderful review! I always think that books that we can draw back to our own experiences or can relate to our personal lives are the most powerful. :)

Okay for a second there I read that for real your great great grandmother wrote a memoir...haha

Hi Valerie - my g-g grandmother actually did write a memoir :). It's about 25 pages long, and it is typed on 11x17 paper. It's one of my treasures. She wrote it when she was quite elderly and bed ridden. Sometimes I dream about writing a novel based on her story. She emigrated from Denmark when she was 3 or 4 years old, then grew up and became a pioneer.

Okay I am so silly. When I first wrote that message I had wrote how cool it was that you have a memoir from your great great grandmother and that it would be such a treasure to pass on to your kids. But then I reread what you wrote and then reread it wrong of course. ;)
Anyways I stick to my original thought about just how COOL that is! You should totally write something based on her memoirs.

Quick summary of what I read in May - lots of YA - lots from the library

Non-Fiction

A Wall of White - library

Fiction - YA

Dark Life - library
Climbing the Stairs - library
The Amaranth Enchantment - library
Eighth Grade Bites - library
Secondhand Charm - library
The Red Pyramid - mine
Alanna: The First Adventure - library
In the Hand of the Goddess - library
The Woman who Rides Like a Man - library
Lioness Rampant - library

Fiction - Adult

The Uncommon Reader - library
The Red Garden - library
Bury Your Dead - library
Blood Memory - library
The Kite Runner - mine
Caleb's Crossing - mine
Bread Alone: A Novel - mine (but I bought it at the library book sale)

Graphic

Radioactive: - library

Valerie - LOL - you make me laugh.

I would love to write something. I am not a writer though. I guess I could always try. Not for a couple more years though. Got to get the 4 year old in school all day...

Skipping your review of Gap Creek for now, Jenn :)

Nice summary for May!

Yay! Glad you enjoyed the sandwiches. They taste like summer, don't they?

Great review of Gap Creek which is a book I definitely plan on reading. Having your Great-great-grandmother's memoir is priceless!

I loved the conversation about your great-great-grandmother's memoir. That's such a neat thing to have. I have bits and pieces of my family's history but nothing where anyone wrote something comprehensive. Do you do any of the geneaology (sp?) websites. I sometimes thing of joining Ancestry.com but I already spend too much time on LT.

Ancestry.com has some pros and cons. The interface for digging up records (census data, etc) is pretty good, as is the mechanism for adding info from someone else's tree to yours. On the con side, other parts of the interface are a bit clunky, and it ain't cheap at all. Access to local records isn't that bad, but worldwide access is expensive. Still, I found it quite addictive for a while, and I do plan to go back to it.

Thanks for the information about Ancestry.com, Cynara. I think the "addictive" part is what's keeping me from trying it. I can see where it would be endless trying to find information.

Well, it is and it isn't. There's usually only so much they have on record for a particular area, so if you want to follow, say, your father's line back and leave the cadet branches and mothers alone, that's a nice definable goal. I imagine it's made easier or more difficult by the rarity of your last name. It can be endless if, like me, you follow any branch back that takes your fancy.

Hi Jenn, love the story about your grandmother and it must be fantastic to have that written memoir to pass down the generations.

Hi Pat and Cynara - my mom is the genealogist right now. She mainly uses familysearch.org. I'm sure at some point the bug will bite. My mom is third generation genealogy nut. She has some great stories too. My favorite is the one where she contacted a distant cousin of her grandfather's in Arkansas. They e-mailed back and forth for a while, comparing notes and genealogy. One day she got a very short e-mail. "Are y'all that branch of the family that went off with the Mormons and was never heard from again?"
That's us. Still cracks me up.
For anyone really interested in genealogy, I recommend checking out familysearch.org. You don't have to be LDS to use it, and it probably has one of the most comprehensive collection of records in the world. Genealogy is a pretty big deal in my church, and people all over the world are indexing and cataloging and adding things all the time. Best of all - it's free!
If you want to, go to one of the LDS family history centers. They are usually in one of the local church buildings. Also, if you go there, you'll have a bunch of genealogy mad people super excited to help you.

Hi Leonie!

Book #74
Wicked: The Life and Times...

Huh. Hm. Well...I liked it and I didn't.

If you believe that The Wizard of Oz was a political allegory, disguised as a children's fairy tale/fantasy story, then this is the book for you. This is an adult version of The Wizard of Oz, full of dark humor, satire and political intrigue. It paints the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) in a very sympathetic light, giving her background - childhood and school years - as formative for what she eventually becomes. On another level; souls, sin, betrayal, forgiveness are integrated as a descriptive aspect of the personality of each character. Most of the characters are well developed and circle in and out of the story, occasionally unexpectedly. I liked Elphaba. I was surprised to like her. I sympathized with her quite a bit. She believed strongly in what she believed, and she was willing to commit herself completely to what she believed. She wasn't sure she had a soul, but she tried to do what she thought was right. She resisted becoming a pawn of anyone, even if she was an unwitting pawn in the end.

In the end, however, I didn't like the book. The writing was OK, but not great. There were also some undeniable areas of discomfort for me. I am not a fan of detailed descriptions of sexual escapades, and there are a few places in the story where my lines were well and truly crossed. I also did not like how Elphaba was portrayed in the end of the story. It could be argued that she had taken all she could, she was tired, her familiars were being killed, etc. but I didn't like how she kind of went nuts on Dorothy. I guess by then I was liking her enough that I wanted to avoid her inevitable death at the hands of Dorothy. I also felt badly that she never told Leer who his father was. I would have to read the next book to find out more about him, and I am sure I won't be investing any more time here.

#185 Thanks for the information on familysearch.org, Jenn. In 1994, we were in SLC and visited the genealogy center across from the LDS Temple. They had numerous computers you could use to research your family history and I remember it being easy to find the information. I'll have to check out the website.

Good review.. I couldn't read Wicked.. just wouldn't work for me.. so I gave it to
my sister, because she wanted to read it. Three fals starts and out for her, too.
Yours is a very thoughtful and descriptive review.. and now I am satisfied with not
having read it.. no second thoughts left..
thank you !

I read Wicked a couple of years ago and it was totally not what I had expected it to be. There were certain parts of the book that were just plain weird. The odd thing is I've heard RAVE reviews about the broadway show based on the book. But I keep thinking how could the show be good if the book was so weird. I have a couple other Maguire books on my shelf but am hesitant to read it for the fear that all his books have that same kind of off kilter style.

Ja, it didn't work for me either. (http://www.librarything.com/work/837/reviews/56902113)

I think I will skip Wicked. It does not sound like a book for me.

Nice reviews of Wicked, Jenn and Cynara. I've had the book on my shelf for a long time, but have never made it past 20 pages or so.

I've loved the genealogy conversations here. My family has had a couple of amateur genealogists on both sides, and it's been so fun to read through their findings. I had to laugh, though, when for several years we would get mail solicitations from a genealogy service offering to research the history and immigrant experience of my husband's family name, including the details of very first member of his family to come to America! My husband would say, "it was me, and it was United flight no. 63 in 1988..."

Cynara - wish I'd read your review before I tackled Wicked. Would have saved me some time and blushes.

Anne - funny story. You should write that down for future generations to enjoy!

Hi Jenn, we did Wicked! last year for our bookclub and only one member managed to finish the book, the rest of us gave up. I couldn't even get hold of a copy so I read Son of a Witch instead and was frustrated for most of the book, hated the style of writing, and the way the author simply dropped you into his world without explaining the what/who/where to any degree. Afterwards, I finally found a copy of Wicked! and read the first few pages and gave up, I thought it was terrible. I have so much respect for you for finishing it. He is a hard author to like I think.

If you're interested, Leer in the second book was likeable at times and at other times he wasn't. His father was hinted at but never confirmed (if I remember correctly), but there were really no other possibilities, so reading the sequel will not confirm who his father was. The story itself was interesting and other times frustrating so you sort of end up liking it and hating it, just like you said about Wicked!.

Hi Leonie. I was listening to Wicked while working, maybe that helped me not be so frustrated. It's made clear in Wicked that Leer is the son of Fiero (sp?) - everyone pretty much knows but him, I think. I had started it about 10 years ago and dropped it after a chapter. Don't know why I tried again. Maybe the show - everyone loves it. After hearing the whole story, I'm not that inclined to go see it myself.

Thanks, Jenn. I don't think I would have finished it if a friend hadn't loaned it to me. Wild horses could not drag me towards Son of a Witch. On the other hand, I hear the Wicked musical is great.

I have been reading another series by Tamora Pierce. Nothing too exciting, but good pool side reading. One or another of my kids is at the pool daily starting at about 730 am, so I am doing a lot of pool side reading.

Book #75
Wild Magic
Book #76
Wolf Speaker
Book #77
Emperor Mage

I have also read a few other books by Judith R. Hendricks. I liked some of them, others were just OK. Her books take place mainly in either New Mexico/Colorado and/or Seattle/PNW. Since I have lived both places, it's kind of fun.

Book #78
The Baker's Apprentice - meh. It's a continuation of Bread Alone, and it wasn't too impressive. Maybe I just don't like the main character.

Book #79
Isabel's Daughter - This one I liked. It has a bit of a mystery going on, a search for family and identity, and it was pretty good.

Book #80
The Laws of Harmony
I really liked this one. It was nothing earth shattering, but I liked the characters and I liked the switch between New Mexico and Seattle.

I have been told by several people that I would like Tamora Pierce's books.

Wow! 7:30am and up reading. That is impressive. I think I would end up dozing by the poolside or at least trying really hard not to fall asleep that early in the morning. :)

Hi Brit. I don't know - they are YA, easy reads, some fun fantasy. Some I like and some I don't. Try one! :)

Well Valerie, I would doze, but it's not recommended with a 4 year old near the pool...

Looks like my local library has The Laws of Harmony, but not the other Hendricks book. Too bad about that. Thanks for the recommendations, Jenn!

Finishing up two more Tamora Pierce books.

Book #81
Trickster's Choice
Book #82
Trickster's Queen

The main character (Aly) is the daughter of Alanna (Song of the Lioness). She is kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave in an island nation. She is then chosen by the god of that land to assist him in overthrowing the King and so on. Aly is probably my favorite female character out of the three series I have read. She knows what she wants to do, she's good at it, but at home, she can't make it happen. When placed in a situation where she can use her talents, she doesn't hold back.

Book #83
Breath, Eyes, Memory

This one will be on my memorable books list for this year. It is beautifully written. This is a story of Haiti, especially the women of Haiti. It is sweet and tender, and heartbreaking. It asks how a woman can be healed after unthinkable things have happened to her. How she can help passing her pain and sorrow on to her daughters, how she can be free.

Quotes:

There is a difference between what a person wants and what is good for them.

"Do you see that light moving yonder?" she asked, pointing to the traveling lantern. "Do you know why it goes to and fro like that?" She was concentrating on the shift, her pupils traveling with each movement. "It is a baby," she said, "a baby is being born. The midwife is taking trips from the shack to the yard where a pot is boiling. Soon we will know whether it is a boy or a girl."
"How will we know that?"
"If it is a boy, the lantern will be put outside the shack. If there is a man, he will stay awake all night with the new child."
"What if it is a girl?"
"If it is a girl, the midwife will cut the child's cord and go home. Only the mother will be left in the darkness to hold her child. There will be no lamps, no candles, no more light."
We waited. The light went out in the house about an hour later. By that time my grandmother had dozed off. Another little girl had come into the world.

I come from a place where breath, eyes, and memory are one, a place from which you carry your past like the hair on your head."

Jenn, the passage and quote from your last read is beautifully written. Is this book fiction or non-fiction?

Hi Valerie. It is fiction. I would be interested to know if it is somewhat biographical. It feels so personal to read.

Thanks for posting that quote Jenn. I believe Darryl recently recommended this book too. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I find some of the most powerful fiction that I've read almost reads like a biography because the people become so real and their experiences ebb and flow like real life. Your review makes the above reviewed book a definite one to add to my list! :)

Hi Jenn

Your review of Breath, Eyes, Memory tugged at my heart! It sounds like an incredible book.

Congratulations on reading so many books thus far this year!

Hi Jenn! re: your Wicked discussion: this year we're sing For Good from the musical. The kids sing it beautifully. The staff was in tears, though, by the end of page 1 in rehearsal... for the right reasons! Now I really want to see the show, even though I'm still not too inspired to pick up the book.

I really need to get to more Danticat. Her book Brother I'm Dying was excellent. Thanks for the reminder, Jenn!

Thanks Valerie and Linda!

Hi Anne - maybe I'll skip Wicked and come see your kiddos instead.

Thanks Stasia - another book to add to my list :)

Jenn, the haiti book looks very good and the excerpt you included was beautifully sad to read. Another one for me..

After reading your review (and giving it a "thumbs up), and hearing so many good things about it, Breath, Eyes, Memory goes on my read-sooner-rather-than-later list! Thanks.

Karen O.

Whew.... I lost you for a long spell, Jenn! :-( Finally found your thread again. Missed you.

me too caro.. thanks for finding her for me :)

hello!

I hope you enjoy the book Leonie. It was sad and also hopeful, I thought.

Hi Karen - nice of you to stop by! I'd love to hear what you think of the book.

I missed you too Caro! Welcome back. I've been lurking on yours - I'll say hi next time.

Hi Kathleen! I need the link to your thread. I can't find you either...

*waves at Jenn*

The kitchen thread changed so I came over here to compliment you on the chalkboard. What a wonderful idea and perfect for a young girl with some creativity and changing tastes!

Hi Stasia!

Thanks Joanne! It has been fun, and I think she'll be able to use it for a long time.

I've had my sister in town, so I haven't been reading much. I'm still working my way through A World Undone and liking it very much.

Book #84
Happenstance Found YA

My son gave me this to read. The first in a series - not totally clear on what they are about yet. Set in a world that is magical, with a steam punk flavor to it. An oddly assorted group of people are brought together, maybe to save Earth from global disaster. At least, that's the impression I get. In this first book, though, they are not on Earth. I am intrigued enough to read book two.

I loved the fact that it was your son who gave you the book to read. :)

It looks as though my local library has the Books of Umber series, so I will give Happenstance Found a try. Thanks for the mention, Jenn!

I hope you have a wonderful visit with your sister!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/118852 is where I am these days..

*waves*

I love that your son chose that book for you. So sweet and even better that you liked it.

Just saying Hi, Jenn!

Hi Valerie, I know, it's really fun to get books recommended to me by my son. I love that he's a reader.

Hi Stasia! I hope you enjoy it.

I had a great time with my sister - 6 kids running around the house was a little chaotic - no a lot chaotic. We had kids age 12, 8, 7, 5, 4 and 2. I'm just going to say that the 2 year old is very, very spoiled, and plays the baby card with abandon. We went swimming, to the park, and tried to do a couple of projects. Mostly we fed kids and cleaned up, but it was fun. Nice for the kids to play together.

Kathleen! Thank you, I'm off to stake a claim.
Hi Leonie!
Hey Angela, long time no see! How are you?

We're off to swim lessons (in the pouring rain) and other stuff. I have a book or two to post later.

Book #85
World War I: The Rest of the Story YA

I have been reading this with my son for our summer non-fiction. It is a cause and effect history of the origins of World War I, ten deadly ideas that lead to war, and how the involvement of the United States in World War I still affects the world today. I thought it was excellent. I even learned some things I had previously not known - for example - that the USA invaded Russia in 1918. Totally missed that lecture in history class. My favorite chapter was about Switzerland, and how their "citizen-soldiers" helped them maintain independence and neutrality during both WWI and WWII. The dedication page says:
To the independent thinkers who refuse to march off to war until they fully understand the opponent's point of view, and only after they have seen a mountain of evidence that the war is for an extremely good reason.

Oh, definitely have to read that, and I note there is a book on World War 2 as well. I also never knew that USA invaded Russia. What part of Russia? I'm thinking the invasion can't have been for very long or it would be more well-known history.

Apparently, it was a sort of pre- UN action. The US, France, Japan, England and Italy all decided that the Bolsheviks should be stopped and sent troops to fight them. In time honored tradition, they marched around the frozen countryside and eventually failed to do anything besides create a deep mistrust among the Russian people. US troops were out by 1920, and of course, the Bolsheviks were in.

Book #86
Zipporah, Wife of Moses

A fictionalized account of Zipporah's life. For me, it was just OK. I knew it was fiction, but it still bothered me when the author took liberties with Biblical (read historical) text. In terms of imagining what life would have been like for these nomadic people, it was fairly interesting. The writing was a bit awkward, and very repetitive. For instance, after the author establishes that Zipporah is a Cushite woman, and black, I think it would be OK for it to be assumed and not brought up nearly every time Zipporah is mentioned. After all, that's sure to be a lot in this story.

Book #87
A Grief Observed

This was a lovely book. I confess that it's been on my reading list for a long time and made it to the top of the list due to the fact that I found an audio narrated by Ralph Cosham at the library. True. It isn't very long, but it has a big impact. I also enjoyed the notes at the beginning, especially the one from Douglas Gresham (stepson). I am especially amazed at the eloquence he achieves, even in the depths of grieving for his wife.

That sounds like a really informative book and sounds like it would be a great platform for discussions with your son, given the subject matter. :)

Hi Valerie! We chose it because he was interested in WW I. It's been very informative for me too!

You know I wanted to study WW1 History in university as I was going for a history major but I looked at all the courses and they were always so hard to get into because of course European history was most popular with the masses, so I settled for Canadian history, pelts, fur-trading Indians, and all. ;)

I'm currently reading Eyes, Breath, Memory and loving it. Thank you so much for the recommendation!

Karen O.

Jenn, I'm surprised that you are able to read as many book as you do with your busy schedule. It makes me want to spend so much time at the swimming pool. I miss those days. It certainly is giving you some reading time.

I love the dedication to World War I: The Rest of the Story. I also think it's neat that you and your son are sharing books. I gave my copy of Waiting for Snow in Havana to my son when he was here, but he's 35 now so it's probably not the same kind of connection for us!

Valerie, what a cool thing to learn about you. Did you love it?

Karen, I am so glad you're enjoying it! I'd love to hear what you think of the end.

Hi Donna! I think it is the same kind of connection. Mothers never stop teaching their kids, and it's great to have things to talk about and enjoy together. I look forward to sharing books with my son when he's an adult too.

Friday we're off on vacation. We have a family reunion thing Saturday and Monday, then we're going to Arches, Canyonlands and Mesa Verde. We're also going to stop in a tiny town on the Ute Indian Reservation - Red Mesa, CO - and see where my Grandma was born. Should be fun, with the possible exception of the family reunion...
I'll be missing you all. See you on the other side of July4!

Wow -- what a great trip, and some of my favorite places:) Safe travels.

Have a great time Jenn and take lots of pictures!

I love Mesa Verde. I hope it's not too hot when you visit. I remember doing lots of walking... and gawking. Have a great time. Am I weird because I actually love family reunions? Maybe it depends on the family. ;-)

I just love the way it sounds when you say it out loud - Mesa Verde! Have a great time.

hmmmm still not caught up from my trip.. so I am just going to have to move on from here.. :)

A road trip! Mesa Verde is so interesting. The last (and only) time we went to Arches and Canyonlands it was so hot I could hardly get more than 20 yards from the car before I started to melt. Hope it's cooler for you! Have fun!

*Wave*

Yes, the "Allies" sided with the "Whites" in Russia's civil war once it became clear that Lenin planned to make a separate peace with Germany/Austria-Hungary, as the time frame (early 1918) was very critical. Indeed, some of the final German offensives were launched in that summer. So, the motivation was to overthrow Lenin's still-new regime and if not reinstate the Tsar then at least return to the Kerensky regime.

I worked as a tour guide at a WW1 battlefield in N. France for two summers, and have read a lot about the war. Am not at all sure that there was ever a mountain of evidence in favor of anyone getting involved it at all -- even if they got involved for the wrong reasons, that there was somehow a "good" goal. (Eg, the US Civil War started over states' rights, not slavery; WW2 over German territorial expansion, not the Holocaust or the nastiness of the fascist regime, but both ended up with noble goals as part of the battle.) WW1 was an unmitigated disaster, a war that should never have happened at all, and one that simply paved the way for a catastrophic 20th century.

*climbing down from soapbox* Isn't it nice to have me visit??? *grin*

I don't know if I would say that I loved it but the advantage was that there really wasn't enough material to offer like 10 courses which is what you would need to complete the degree so after taking a course or two, I realized that all the material was pretty much the same, just worded differently...so the exams pretty much asked the same questions! In the end it saved me a lot of time in terms of studying so I won't complain about that. :)

Hi Jenn, I'm just catching up on your thread again! I think it's neat that you and your son are reading together. My mom used to read to me when I was a kid--not just before I could read, but even after that--and she and I still share books and talk about them together. I just emailed her this morning about a book I finished that I think she would like. It's a nice bond to have!

I'm back!
We did Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Dead Horse Point (state park), Natural Bridges (monument - my personal favorite), Four Corners (lame), Mesa Verde and Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. It was only really hot the first day we were at Arches (104). Then we had rain, which helped a lot. We did get to see someone pass out on a trail our last day at Mesa Verde. Not just pass out, but totally pass out. It was fascinating to see how humans like to stand around and watch train wrecks. No wonder in 1st Aid the first thing they teach you is to choose a person to send for help...so I went for help. Don't even get me started on people who come from low elevations, don't follow the often repeated instructions to hydrate, don't heed the signs of altitude sickness/dehydration and then pass out, and then they (read companions) don't want help. All I have to say (speaking from personal experience) is that you do not want to put a person with altitude sickness in your car and drive away unless you have a barf bucket with you. That's all I have to say. :)

Anne, Pat, Kathleen, Joanne, Suzanne, Valerie, Carly! Thanks for keeping the thread warm while I was gone.

I always love your visits Suzanne :) I totally agree with your summary of WWI, and so does the book I'm reading right now. Talk about train wrecks.

Carly, I have similar memories of reading with my mother growing up. We still share books, although a couple years ago, she sent me a book she really liked - The Magic of Ordinary Days - and she had edited out the "sex scene" for me. It really cracked me up. Apparently, even when you're all grown up, your mom is still your mom. It reminded me to be very careful about what I recommended to her. LOL.

So, summary of June:

Fiction
Zipporah: Wife of Moses library
Happenstance Found library
Trickster's Queen library
Breath, Eyes, Memory mine
Trickster's Choice library
Emperor Mage library
The Laws of Harmony library
The Baker's Apprentice library
Isabel's Daughter library
Wild Magic library
Wolf Speaker library
Wicked: the life and times library
Gap Creek mine

Non-fiction
A Grief Observed - audio/library
World War I: the rest of the story mine

Highlights this month: Gap Creek and World War I: the rest of the story. The rest, well, let's just say I've spent a lot of time at the pool.

Wow, what a trip! I bet you have some great photos.

I have to say, it is a little awkward to send my mom a book with something sex-related in it, but what's worse is sitting through a TV show or movie with my DAD when the show or movie has a sex scene. It's just awkward silence all around.

Yeah. Awkward.

Book #88
The Space Between Us

This was a beautifully written story of two women. On the surface, they appear to be friends, although one, Sera, is the middle class employer of Bhima, who lives in a slum. In theme, it reminded me of The Help: the idea that someone could work in your home, care for your children, wash your clothes and prepare your food, that you could treat them well, but still consider them as less than you in some way. Bhima works for Sera for years. She knows the most intimate details of Sera's life. She loves Sera's child like her own. Bhima has to leave her own children at home, even when they are ill, to go care for Sera's family. In return, Sera is kind to Bhima, gossips with her, trusts her with money and other personal details, but when she has an opportunity to defend Bhima against an unfair accusation, class distinction rears its ugly head. There is much more to this story, but I am trying to avoid spoilers. It would make an excellent discussion - anyone interested?
While most of this story is sad, it is beautifully written and ends with a sense of hope rather than despair. I didn't want it to end.

Great review, Jenn. Let me know when you post it so I can give it a thumb. To my surprise, when I went to wishlist it, I found I already own it so now I just have to find out where it is in my house.

Your vacation sounds very active! I hope you post some pictures. I've never been to any of those places and Utah is only a state away.

Jenn, what did you think of Wicked? It seems to be a real love-it-or-hate-it book. I'm in the 'blech' camp, but some of my best friends just loved it. Gap Creek looks interesting, as well; I've added it to my wishlist.

I'm glad you had a great time out "west." I remember bits and pieces of The Space Between Us but not enough to discuss it other than to say I gave it 4 stars five years ago. Good call on comparing it to The Help. I hadn't thought of that but you are so right.

Hi Pat! It was very active. Excellent description. I will post pictures on my blog later tonight. www.mylavenderave.blogspot.com. I don't know how great my review is, but it is certainly more informative than any of the others that are there. It's so rare to check other reviews and see only a sentence or two in each one. I'll be busy posting review and blog after dinner. :)

Hi Julia. I was also in the Blech camp.

Hi Donna! How are you?

Here's something I really liked - we saw it at the BYU Museum of Art. It is very impressive in person.



With the help of museum assistants, building the 14-foot tall, 83,000-pound sculpture took about 600 hours. The books were carefully stacked and are held by gravity only; something Bateman said is only possible through following strict parameters of stacking and using plenty of experimentation and faith.

Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/article_a3551e85-e9a5-...

new thread time!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/120091

Forget the html.

ETA - now that I've cursed at it, it's working.