Monthly Archives: January 2009

Saved by the Language

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So after reading this post I remembered how every reminder (vague or specific) of the Arthurian stories makes me less interested in reading them.

I had three books from this lay on my shelf, and I picked up the first to briefly peruse before setting it on the “leaving” shelf in the garage.  Here’s what I read:

Some people there are who, being grown, forget the horrible task of learning to read.  It is perhaps the greatest single effort that the human spirit undertakes, and he must do it as a child.

Those were the first words I’ve ever read of John Steinbeck’s.

I opened to the middle and realized at once why people will spend time in the depression with this man, or listen to a story that they know will end badly.   As much as I despised the tale, even as I was reading it, I knew I could keep reading– and go back to the beginning, even; simply because it was so well written.

It really makes all the difference.   This one is still sitting on my shelf.

Explaining Boycott to Children

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I will leave names out, but a while back my husband suggested we join the boycott of a particular business because of some issues they were supporting.

The next time my girls asked to visit the place, I told them we wouldn’t be going for a while.  They of course asked why, and this was what I came up with.

When you spend money some place, that is how the business earns the money they use.  Some of it is used to keep the business running, and some is used for whatever the owner wants to use it for.

If we give our money to (Business), the owners are going to use our money to support things we disagree with.  Things we believe are wrong.  Mother and Dad won’t use our money to support those choices, so we can’t give our money to the people who will use it in that way.

Not giving them our money, choosing to spend it elsewhere, is our way of saying we disagree.

No, I don’t know if the 4- and 5-year-old got it.  But they did start asking different questions.

Instead of saying “Can we go (there)” they’d ask, “Are they still using their money wrong?”

Natasha said more than once, “It makes me sad they use their money that way.”

Melody asked, “Can we stop and tell the people there to stop spending their money wrong?”  Which led to other talk about how the local employees shouldn’t be scolded for decisions they don’t make.

When the word came that the boycott was ended, Jay e-mailed the news from work and I mentioned it the next time we were out.

Nearly effervescing in their excitement, the girls jumped at my suggestion to go, and Natasha said, “We really should spend our money there now, because there will be other people who won’t be happy (the business) changed how they used their money, and now they won’t go there.

That convinced me she, at least, understood the concept, because she was able to turn it back around and reapply it.

Of course, it could also be a sly bid for more visits, but it was also well-reasoned, and worth admiring.

YA Waiting to be Read

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Over the last year and a half I have been collecting books written for “young adults.”

This is the year I am spending a lot of effort working through as many of them as possible.  In some cases I was able to pick up several early books in a series, in other cases just the first, but I hope to read as many first books (*) as possible, because I’m trying to decide how I feel about series.

(And because I’d love to find new favorites for myself…)

On my shelf:

  1. The Book of Three* (Alexander)
  2. The Black Caldron (Alexander)
  3. The Castle of Llyr (Alexander)
  4. The Coming of Dragons* (Lake)
  5. The Wreckers* (Lawrence)
  6. Beyond the Deep Woods* (Stewart/Riddell)– along with the next three The Edge Chronicles
  7. The Revenge of the Shadow King* (Benz/Lewis)
  8. 3 more Charlie Bones books.
  9. The Jaguar Princess (Bell)
  10. Fire Arrow (Pattou)
  11. The Unhandsome Prince (Moore)
  12. The Privilege of the Sword (Kushner)
  13. Briar Rose (Yolen)
  14. Sang Spell (Naylor)
  15. The Healer’s Keep (Hanley)
  16. Suitor’s Duel (Niles)
  17. Fairest (Levine)
  18. Fly by Night (Harding)
  19. Ogre, Ogre (Anthony)
  20. The Sight (Clement-Davis)
  21. Fire-Bringer (Clement-Davis)
  22. The Fairy Tale Detectives* (The Sisters Grimm)
  23. Children of the Lamp The Akhenaten Adventure*
  24. Children of the Lamp The Blue Djinn of Babylon
  25. Dragon’s Blood (Yolen)
  26. Peter and the Starcatchers* (Barry/Pearson)
  27. The Keepers A Wizard Named Nell*

My “high goal” and aspiration is to shift into a sort of reading zone while working through this.  Not only for the sake of speed, but with that confirmed speed I’ll be more willing to pick up books (like #26) that appear to be a cliche of poor, brave/feisty little girl shows all those stupid, mentally confined adults/males that she’s just as good (or better!!!) doggone it! And give it an actual chance to be better than its cover-copy.

Soapbox:

I’ve never understood why so many women who want to prove women can do *anything* do it by trying to be like men.

Lets go for a little more originality here, ladies!

And, for the record, just being “better” is not that original; any more than blue becoming dark green is much different than becoming medium green.  Can we have more purple in our world?  Or what’s wrong with blue, anyway?  I *like* blue…

This is the kind of “girl power” I most enjoy reading (and find the most believable, even).

Books I Read (Finished) in 2008

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I stopped writing reviews pretty early, and I don’t know if I’ll remember everything, but this is what I can think of now. In the order I pulled them off the shelves– not necessarily the order in which I read them.

At least some are re-reads: (R), and I refrained from listing the (probably numerable, but only with too much work) children’s picture books I read.

  • A Mom Just Like You
  • Homeschooling: Take a Deep Breath— You Can Do This!
  • Home by Choice
  • Fire-Hunter (R)
  • Coraline (Gaiman)
  • Sport (Fitzhugh) (R)
  • Perilous Gard (Pope) (R)
  • On Writing (Stephen King)
  • Stein on Writing (Sol Stein)
  • Becoming a Writer (Brande)
  • The Bridge (Massi) (R)
  • Swan Sister (ed. Datlow/Windling)
  • The Princess and the Hound (Harrison)
  • East (Pattou)
  • A Well-Timed Enchantment (Velde)
  • Russian Tales of Fabulous Beasts and Marvels (Wyndham)
  • Cinderellis and the Glass Hill (Levine)
  • Dream or Destiny (Ammann)
  • The Book of Dragons (Hague)
  • The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (R) to the kids
  • The Horse and His Boy (R) to the kids
    • I started a number of other chapter books, and while the kids will sit and listen, they never really got into any of these.  I’ve mostly stopped attempts for now, realizing I could run out of good reads too early if I start them too young.  There are too many *excellent* picture books (requiring more of their readers) to urge them quickly into chapter books.

I was going to do a short series on reading, but ended up making a 2009 Books page instead.  With my decision to stop buying (which I hope to better on this year than last) I descided to try my first reading challenge and am looking at my un-read collection with anticipation.