Ok, so it's been awhile since I posted about a book and I really don't have a good excuse, but here's a couple.
First, I've been trying to read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolfe. I got it at Borders and thought I'd try a classic. Not a good idea apparently! I just can't seem to get into it or through it and it's not a very long book. I think I'm just going to abandon it for the time being because I have only a few days left of my vacation. I really want to read more before I go back to work and am not able to.
The second excuse is because I found out I'm pregnant! It's been super exciting, but I just haven't been really motivated to do anything, except maybe clean my house, but even then... It's going to kill me to wait until 20 weeks to find out the sex. Oh well! The official due date is March 25th. Don't worry, I won't abandon my blog about books even after I have kids. Maybe I'll just have to do a different one!
So, when I actually do finish a book, I promise to put the post up ASAP. Thanks for your patience!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Feel Good Books by Mitch Albom
My sister, Jennifer, was over at my house with her kids (pictured in my profile picture) today. She asked me for a book to read. My favorite question to answer! I was asking her, what kind do you want? Inspirational? Easy Read? Fantasy? She decided on the inspirational, and I sent her home with 2 of Mitch Albom's books.
The first, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", we read in book club the first year it began. It was a great book for book club and we had a great discussion about it. To my knowledge, all of Mitch Albom's books are very short and easy to read. At book club we also watched the movie staring Jon Voight. I highly recommend watching it. If you're not a reader, you need to put this book in your Netflix queue! I felt like it was very inspirational, and I read it shortly after my niece London died. I just really put into perspective what our life is all about.
The other book I gave Jel was "For One More Day", Albom's latest book. This was the other book I read while in Cabo that I couldn't remember. Again, it's a quick read, but carries a very powerful message. These two books are fiction, but you really feel like the characters are real and what happened could happen. If you are needing a pick me up, check them out! WARNING: Unless you are very hard-hearted, you will cry!
I've also read "Tuesdays With Morrie", Albom's first book. This is a non-fiction, and describes the last days of one of Albom's college professors. Morrie got Lou Gehrig's disease, and Albom goes to visit him once a week as he's dying. I love Morrie's outlook on life and how he accepted his impending death. This book I definitely cried in more than the others, but is one that everyone should read about once a year, just to keep a perspective on things. One thing that I really liked that Morrie did was have his funeral BEFORE he died. It was a party, a celebration, that he actually got to hear all the nice things about himself! (Of course, I believe that our spirits can participate in the funeral anyway, but I suppose it's not the same!)
I'm trying to make these entries shorter, but it just doesn't seem to be happening! Those of you who know me are not surprised by this as I tend to be quite the talker! Sorry!
The first, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", we read in book club the first year it began. It was a great book for book club and we had a great discussion about it. To my knowledge, all of Mitch Albom's books are very short and easy to read. At book club we also watched the movie staring Jon Voight. I highly recommend watching it. If you're not a reader, you need to put this book in your Netflix queue! I felt like it was very inspirational, and I read it shortly after my niece London died. I just really put into perspective what our life is all about.
The other book I gave Jel was "For One More Day", Albom's latest book. This was the other book I read while in Cabo that I couldn't remember. Again, it's a quick read, but carries a very powerful message. These two books are fiction, but you really feel like the characters are real and what happened could happen. If you are needing a pick me up, check them out! WARNING: Unless you are very hard-hearted, you will cry!
I've also read "Tuesdays With Morrie", Albom's first book. This is a non-fiction, and describes the last days of one of Albom's college professors. Morrie got Lou Gehrig's disease, and Albom goes to visit him once a week as he's dying. I love Morrie's outlook on life and how he accepted his impending death. This book I definitely cried in more than the others, but is one that everyone should read about once a year, just to keep a perspective on things. One thing that I really liked that Morrie did was have his funeral BEFORE he died. It was a party, a celebration, that he actually got to hear all the nice things about himself! (Of course, I believe that our spirits can participate in the funeral anyway, but I suppose it's not the same!)I'm trying to make these entries shorter, but it just doesn't seem to be happening! Those of you who know me are not surprised by this as I tend to be quite the talker! Sorry!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Children's Book--Chasing Vermeer
This kids book by Blue Balliett is a mystery story. It takes place in Chicago, at a University School. Two kids, Petra and Calder, get involved in trying to solve a mystery when a priceless Vermeer painting is stolen on it's way to a Chicago Gallery. They use all sorts of different methods to link incredible coincidences and come to a conclusion.
I was a little disappointed in this book. For one, I felt like the author was making too many connections between events and people in the book. It was just a little too far fetched for me. Kids, on the other hand, might really appreciate this, I'm not sure. The other thing that really bothered me was the classroom scenes. Blue Balliett herself was a teacher at a laboratory school in Chicago. I suppose a laboratory school means that they weren't directed by state standards, because the classroom in this book was so unrealistic to me. The teacher was the kind of teacher that didn't have a curriculum. She just would think of a topic of interest, ask the kids questions about it and let them research it. Call me cynical, but I just don't see this working in a typical classroom. Maybe it was a classroom of gifted kids, but in a normal classroom, not every student would be engaged and administrators would not be ok with nebulous ideas and no real structure.
I see this alot in children's books I read. I feel like writers think that this kind of classroom is ideal. Maybe for a writer it is, but it's not likely to work for everyone, and certainly not in our current system of No Child Left Behind, high stakes testing, merit pay, etc. Perhaps this method would be the best way of teaching, but they're certainly not teaching teachers to teach this way nor creating an environment where it is possible. I guess I just get frustrated when kids read stuff like this and think "How come my teacher isn't like this? or I wish my teacher did stuff like this." , when it's not something we have complete control over anymore.
The one thing that was nice with this book was the illustrations. Brett Helquist is an LDS illustrator, famous for his illustrations in the Lemony Snicket "Series of Unfortunate Events". They were a pleasure to look at and added a lot to the story.
There is a sequel to the book called The Wright 3, but I don't think I'm going to rush to read it anytime soon. I just wasn't that impressed.
I was a little disappointed in this book. For one, I felt like the author was making too many connections between events and people in the book. It was just a little too far fetched for me. Kids, on the other hand, might really appreciate this, I'm not sure. The other thing that really bothered me was the classroom scenes. Blue Balliett herself was a teacher at a laboratory school in Chicago. I suppose a laboratory school means that they weren't directed by state standards, because the classroom in this book was so unrealistic to me. The teacher was the kind of teacher that didn't have a curriculum. She just would think of a topic of interest, ask the kids questions about it and let them research it. Call me cynical, but I just don't see this working in a typical classroom. Maybe it was a classroom of gifted kids, but in a normal classroom, not every student would be engaged and administrators would not be ok with nebulous ideas and no real structure.
I see this alot in children's books I read. I feel like writers think that this kind of classroom is ideal. Maybe for a writer it is, but it's not likely to work for everyone, and certainly not in our current system of No Child Left Behind, high stakes testing, merit pay, etc. Perhaps this method would be the best way of teaching, but they're certainly not teaching teachers to teach this way nor creating an environment where it is possible. I guess I just get frustrated when kids read stuff like this and think "How come my teacher isn't like this? or I wish my teacher did stuff like this." , when it's not something we have complete control over anymore.
The one thing that was nice with this book was the illustrations. Brett Helquist is an LDS illustrator, famous for his illustrations in the Lemony Snicket "Series of Unfortunate Events". They were a pleasure to look at and added a lot to the story.
There is a sequel to the book called The Wright 3, but I don't think I'm going to rush to read it anytime soon. I just wasn't that impressed.
Monday, July 14, 2008
BOOKS I READ IN CABO
In May, Rusty and I went to Cabo San Lucas for a week's vacation. It was much needed at the end of the year and enabled me tons of time to read! We spent most of the week sitting on the beach or by the pool just reading! I thought I'd share some of the books I read while I was down there.
Here we are on Lover's Beach at the tip of the Baja California.
Marley and Me
This book by John Grogan is a must read for dog lovers! Even if you aren't a dog lover, you will enjoy this book. It's the first one I read on my trip and it's a very quick read. Grogan puts together a collection of vignettes about his crazy dog Marley. The subtitle of the book is "life and love with the world's worst dog". I can totally relate to him, having many trials with our dog Sandy. She is definitely like Marley in many ways, mostly in the way she won our hearts. At the end of the book Grogan talks about Marley's health declining and all the money they spent on helping him. Although Sandy's not old, we just spent a good chunk of change having her knee rebuilt. The things we do for our dogs! Be prepared though, it's a tear jerker. I was sitting by the pool next to Rusty while reading the saddest part of the book. I kept trying to wipe my eyes behind my sunglasses in an inconspicuous way, as to not draw attention to the fact I was crying! And some of you may have heard, this book is being made into a movie with Owen Wilson as John and Jennifer Anniston as his wife. It should be pretty funny!
Our Marley, Sandy on Christmas of last year.
Neverwhere
I picked this book up at the public library for $.50--I love the "Friends of the Library" where you can get used books really cheap! Anyway, it looked interesting to me and I had heard of the author, Neil Gaiman, because he wrote a children's book a few years ago called Coraline. I started reading Coraline but never finished it for some reason. Anyway, he is a science fiction/fantasy writer (right up my alley!). He's also British and the story is set in the underground of London (another plus! I actually had been to some of the places he talks about in the book). This is a very strange book. I really enjoyed it, but if there were one word to describe it it would be "dark". The protagonist, Richard, is just a normal guy, engaged to be married. While going on a date with his fiancee, he runs into a girl who appears to be hurt on the sidewalk. He takes her home and cares for her. This random act of kindness connects him to a different world that exists in the underground passages of London. The girl ends up being from a kind of royal family in this world and there are people trying to kill her. There's a lot more to the story, but you'll have to read it to see if Richard stays living in this "otherworld" or comes back to his normal life above ground! I thought it was very interesting and unlike any fantasy I had read before.
The Lightning Thief
This is a kid's book (young adult, actually). Written by Rick Riordan, it is the first in a series called "Percy Jackson The Olympians" series. I had heard about it from a colleague of mine because it deals with Greek mythology and that's part of the sixth grade curriculum. It's a very good book, and I would recommend it to kids who like fantasy. Rusty hates it when I read kids books, but I'm sorry, I think they're just as good as adult books sometimes! Riordan does a great job building believable characters in a somewhat believable world. It was written in 2005, and I can't help but wonder if he was inspired by J.K. Rowling in that way. Percy Jackson is a half-god (his father was a Greek god--I won't tell you who and spoil it). He doesn't know he is until he's about 12. Then he goes to a camp for half-gods like himself. They're trained by Chiron (the guy who trained Hercules). There's a lot of adventure in the book, even getting him to the camp is an ordeal. Because the setting is contemporary, you almost think that Percy could be a real person and you might have half-gods and characters from Greek mythology around you and you just don't recognize them!
I haven't read the other books in the series because I bought the 3rd book at our school's book fair, but I don't have the 2nd one yet! (And I cannot read a series out of order!)
I read another book, but I can't remember which and I need to go, so maybe later!
Another Fantasy Series...
A couple weeks ago it was our anniversary. We went to Chipotle for dinner and then, of course, the bookstore afterwards! It was a used bookstore and I found lots of neat things there. One that really excited me was the last book in a series about King Arthur. I had read the first 3 books when I was either in high school or college. At the time, I had to go to used bookstores to find them because they were not easily found and as far as I knew there was no Amazon.com yet! I really enjoyed reading the first 3 and thought that there were only 3 books in the series. I never gave it another thought until I found this one.
The book is titled "The Wicked Day" by Mary Stewart. Mary Stewart is a Scottish author and wrote this book in 1983. The first book in the series "The Crystal Cave" was written in 1970. The second and third are "The Hollow Hills" and "The Last Enchantment". Not all of the books are about King Arthur. In fact, the first one is all about Merlin: how he was born, how he got his powers, etc. I really don't remember a lot of details about the first 3 books because I read them so long ago. I was tempted to read them over before reading the 4th, but decided I had too many other books I hadn't read yet this summer, so I didn't want to waste time reading ones I already had. It worked out ok--I don't think I needed to in order to understand the story.
This story (The Wicked Day) is mostly about King Arthur's illegitimate child, Mordred. He was conceived when Arthur's half sister Morgause tempted Arthur to sleep with her (he didn't know he was related to her at the time). The baby was raised by foster parents and doesn't come to Morgause's court until he's 10. The illegitimate kid wouldn't have been that big of a deal except that Guenivere, Arthur's wife, was barren and didn't give him any heirs. There's tons more to the story, but in the end Arthur and Mordred fight for the title of High King. I won't ruin the end for you.
Mary Stewart obviously used some factual information to give basis to her story, but most of it is literary license. It doesn't really matter to me because no one really knows much about King Arthur anyway. It's a typical medieval story: incest, adultery, murder, greed, magic, you know! This series is by far the best Arthur story I've read. There are lots out there, but these just have fantastic plots, great descriptive language and interesting characters. It's definitely no "Sword and the Stone" (one of my favorite Disney movies).
Unlike the Narnia series, this is not for kids! But if you're interested in fantasy and a little historical fiction, I highly recommend this series. If you don't want to read the entire 4 books, read the first one "The Crystal Cave". It's excellent. Thanks Mom for the suggestion so many years ago that is entertaining me still!
The book is titled "The Wicked Day" by Mary Stewart. Mary Stewart is a Scottish author and wrote this book in 1983. The first book in the series "The Crystal Cave" was written in 1970. The second and third are "The Hollow Hills" and "The Last Enchantment". Not all of the books are about King Arthur. In fact, the first one is all about Merlin: how he was born, how he got his powers, etc. I really don't remember a lot of details about the first 3 books because I read them so long ago. I was tempted to read them over before reading the 4th, but decided I had too many other books I hadn't read yet this summer, so I didn't want to waste time reading ones I already had. It worked out ok--I don't think I needed to in order to understand the story.
This story (The Wicked Day) is mostly about King Arthur's illegitimate child, Mordred. He was conceived when Arthur's half sister Morgause tempted Arthur to sleep with her (he didn't know he was related to her at the time). The baby was raised by foster parents and doesn't come to Morgause's court until he's 10. The illegitimate kid wouldn't have been that big of a deal except that Guenivere, Arthur's wife, was barren and didn't give him any heirs. There's tons more to the story, but in the end Arthur and Mordred fight for the title of High King. I won't ruin the end for you.
Mary Stewart obviously used some factual information to give basis to her story, but most of it is literary license. It doesn't really matter to me because no one really knows much about King Arthur anyway. It's a typical medieval story: incest, adultery, murder, greed, magic, you know! This series is by far the best Arthur story I've read. There are lots out there, but these just have fantastic plots, great descriptive language and interesting characters. It's definitely no "Sword and the Stone" (one of my favorite Disney movies).
Unlike the Narnia series, this is not for kids! But if you're interested in fantasy and a little historical fiction, I highly recommend this series. If you don't want to read the entire 4 books, read the first one "The Crystal Cave". It's excellent. Thanks Mom for the suggestion so many years ago that is entertaining me still!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
My Latest Read: The Chronicles of Narnia
A few weeks ago, I took my niece Hannah to see Prince Caspian. (Rusty didn't want to see it). It was a great movie and I thought they did an excellent job with it. I had seen the first one (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) when it came out with my class at the time. I had read the book to my students during school and then arranged to meet them at the movie theaters to see it together. Amazingly, before that year, I had never read any of the Narnia books. I know, who goes through childhood not having read them? Especially the kind of reader I was. I know we had the books at home, but for some reason they just didn't appeal to me.
So after seeing Prince Caspian with Hannah, I thought, "I should read the whole series". So I began! I read The Magician's Nephew, which describes how Narnia becomes connected with our world in the first place. (The magician's nephew is the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). The Professor actually brings the White Witch accidentally with him to Narnia. He, and the people traveling with him, witness the birth of Narnia.
This series was written by a Christian author who disguises Christian idealogy in his stories. The first book is about the Creation. The second is about Christ's sacrifice. The third book (The Horse and His Boy) is about a journey home, life I guess? The fourth, Prince Caspian, is another about good vs. evil. And the fifth, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about finding where God lives. I haven't read the last two yet.
Ok, here's my opinion. I think they are great kids books. And the Christian ideology is not obvious. I had to point out the connection to Hannah because she didn't get it on her own. They're good stories with a good message in each of them. I don't know if it's because I'm reading them as an adult or what, but I found the language to be lacking. I don't think C.S. Lewis was all that great in his descriptions of characters, setting or plot. They're very simply written. For kids, this is a good thing! It's also a good thing for the movie makers, because they can imbellish the story and make it even better. (For example, I thought Prince Caspian the movie was better than the book. And I never think the movie is better than the book!)
All in all, I'd recommend the series as one kids should read, and maybe families should read together. There are a lot of discussion abilities in each book. For example, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a character gets turned into a dragon by mistake. The dragon has to shed his skin, and Eustace doesn't know how to do it, so he gently takes off a layer. Aslan (God) tells him to do it again. He does it about 5 times before Aslan finally goes to Eustace and does it for him. He digs his lion claws deep into the skin and pulls it off. It's painful at first, but Eustace feels so much better afterwards. So, what do you think this is referring to? What was C.S. Lewis trying to share by this scene? I won't give it away, but I'll let you think about it!
Let me know if you've read these books and your thoughts! Thanks for reading!
Nancy
So after seeing Prince Caspian with Hannah, I thought, "I should read the whole series". So I began! I read The Magician's Nephew, which describes how Narnia becomes connected with our world in the first place. (The magician's nephew is the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). The Professor actually brings the White Witch accidentally with him to Narnia. He, and the people traveling with him, witness the birth of Narnia.
This series was written by a Christian author who disguises Christian idealogy in his stories. The first book is about the Creation. The second is about Christ's sacrifice. The third book (The Horse and His Boy) is about a journey home, life I guess? The fourth, Prince Caspian, is another about good vs. evil. And the fifth, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about finding where God lives. I haven't read the last two yet.
Ok, here's my opinion. I think they are great kids books. And the Christian ideology is not obvious. I had to point out the connection to Hannah because she didn't get it on her own. They're good stories with a good message in each of them. I don't know if it's because I'm reading them as an adult or what, but I found the language to be lacking. I don't think C.S. Lewis was all that great in his descriptions of characters, setting or plot. They're very simply written. For kids, this is a good thing! It's also a good thing for the movie makers, because they can imbellish the story and make it even better. (For example, I thought Prince Caspian the movie was better than the book. And I never think the movie is better than the book!)
All in all, I'd recommend the series as one kids should read, and maybe families should read together. There are a lot of discussion abilities in each book. For example, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a character gets turned into a dragon by mistake. The dragon has to shed his skin, and Eustace doesn't know how to do it, so he gently takes off a layer. Aslan (God) tells him to do it again. He does it about 5 times before Aslan finally goes to Eustace and does it for him. He digs his lion claws deep into the skin and pulls it off. It's painful at first, but Eustace feels so much better afterwards. So, what do you think this is referring to? What was C.S. Lewis trying to share by this scene? I won't give it away, but I'll let you think about it!
Let me know if you've read these books and your thoughts! Thanks for reading!
Nancy
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