The original intention of my blog was to read MY books. I have hundreds that I have not yet read, all of which I specifically chose to own for a reason. A reason like "I want to read that".
The problem, or blessing perhaps, is that my children love to read as much if not more than myself and my husband. I truly believe in building a home library, but this should consist of things that last, including classic story books and small kids' books.
A lot of books that they take out each week or two as we visit our local library branch are things we don't need to keep timelessly in the house - graphic novels and comic books, leveled readers, endless numbers of Geronimo Stiltons and Percy Jackson novels. I certainly couldn't afford to buy them all, and they play such an enriching role in my kids' lives. So for that reason, I love that we can take 20 books a week out and take them home at no cost whatsoever to us. (I do pay my taxes, though!)
On the flipside, I also love books, and me in a library is like a very cliche bull in a china shop. I can't get out of there without a book, no matter how hard I try to resist. My current reading segway into young adult fiction and classic kids' books is due to browsing the shelves as my kids do the same in the kids' section. The Borrowers. Tuck Everlasting. Currently reading The Phantom Tollbooth. I have A Wrinkle in Time and Fortunately, the Milk on my library shelf waiting for me. Picked up the Alan Doyle biography OFF THE RETURNS TABLE even ("Sorry, is that being returned? Can I take it out, in that case?"). UGH.
At this rate I will never even begin many of my books... Perhaps the hubby needs to take the kids to the library instead of me...!
But in the long run I can't complain. I'm reading good books, aren't I?
Monday, 16 February 2015
Sunday, 8 February 2015
Completed: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (*spoilers again!*)
The large number of posts of late has more to do with the fact that I had stockpiled completed books, even renewing some from the library to hold onto until I got to write about them (rather than me all of a sudden reading a tremendous number of books...!)
It wasn't a lack of time to write; it was a lack of will. I go through phases where I don't feel like it - for weeks or even months at a time. But now and again I just get on a roll and enjoy it so much. Even working on my other writing - sometimes by hand, as I feel I just never get a chance to write with a pen much anymore, apart from list after list of to-dos. It's nice to write with a pen for fun, it reminds me of my diary in high school, only much less dramatic now.
Along with The Borrowers, and now Tuck Everlasting, I feel like I'm catching up on some of the classics that I never read in school. And much like The Borrowers, I was sadly disappointed with the ending to Tuck Everlasting. But I'll get to that in a moment.
First I'll share my favorite, very poignant, part. It's when Tuck is sharing, teaching Winnie about why their life is not a life at all. "...[D]ying's part of the wheel, right there next to being born. You can't pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that's the blessing. But it's passing us by, us Tucks." (p. 63). It's a heartbreaking moment, when Tuck shares their pain with someone for the first time in such a long time. And Winnie, a child, can only process it so far.
Perhaps it is her naivete that causes her to do what she does - give the spring water to the toad. I just... the romantic in me wanted her to run away with Jesse. But I suppose it was the teen in Jesse that wanted Winnie to come, the youthful idealism. And Winnie would have been just as miserable as the Tucks. But I just - that's where I wanted the story to end - a teen Winnie off into the night, into the world, with Jesse.
I still don't understand the toad. But would definitely recommend you read it!
Title: The Borrowers
Author: Natalie Babbitt
Published: 1975 (originally), 2007 (my copy)
Publisher: Square Fish
Pages: 139
Total Books Blogged: 18
Total Pages: 5514
It wasn't a lack of time to write; it was a lack of will. I go through phases where I don't feel like it - for weeks or even months at a time. But now and again I just get on a roll and enjoy it so much. Even working on my other writing - sometimes by hand, as I feel I just never get a chance to write with a pen much anymore, apart from list after list of to-dos. It's nice to write with a pen for fun, it reminds me of my diary in high school, only much less dramatic now.
Along with The Borrowers, and now Tuck Everlasting, I feel like I'm catching up on some of the classics that I never read in school. And much like The Borrowers, I was sadly disappointed with the ending to Tuck Everlasting. But I'll get to that in a moment.
First I'll share my favorite, very poignant, part. It's when Tuck is sharing, teaching Winnie about why their life is not a life at all. "...[D]ying's part of the wheel, right there next to being born. You can't pick out the pieces you like and leave the rest. Being part of the whole thing, that's the blessing. But it's passing us by, us Tucks." (p. 63). It's a heartbreaking moment, when Tuck shares their pain with someone for the first time in such a long time. And Winnie, a child, can only process it so far.
Perhaps it is her naivete that causes her to do what she does - give the spring water to the toad. I just... the romantic in me wanted her to run away with Jesse. But I suppose it was the teen in Jesse that wanted Winnie to come, the youthful idealism. And Winnie would have been just as miserable as the Tucks. But I just - that's where I wanted the story to end - a teen Winnie off into the night, into the world, with Jesse.
I still don't understand the toad. But would definitely recommend you read it!
Title: The Borrowers
Author: Natalie Babbitt
Published: 1975 (originally), 2007 (my copy)
Publisher: Square Fish
Pages: 139
Total Books Blogged: 18
Total Pages: 5514
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Completed: The Borrowers by Mary Norton (*spoilers*)
I try to not to give away the punchline of books in my blog, as I am not a spoiler of good books (although I've certainly accidentally spoiled enough hockey games for a friend of mine at work - blessings of PVR).
But I can't talk about this book without talking about the ending! So look away, readers, if you haven't yet read this book.
I loved the Borrowers. I'm loving the young adult fiction genre lately, and this was no exception. The interesting world of the little family beneath the floor was a joy, and also an interesting perspective on the world. Not knowing that the sky is blue, constant fear of discovery. Arrietty's constant adventurousness, curiosity, and naivete.
But the ending nearly ruined it all for me. I've found this with several books over time - most notably Life of Pi. But goodness - Mrs. May's brother had the same writing? They were just a story from his imagination? No! I wanted them to be lost to the storyteller - that the items disappeared, were taken by the Clocks, and that they were never seen again. Not to find out in the end that he was, in fact, Arrietty. I mean, what a wonderful story to create, but I really didn't, within the context of the fiction, want them to be imaginary. I wanted them to be real. And so I was so sorely disappointed at the end. Utterly crushed.
I suppose, though, that speaks to the book's quality. Mediocre books don't inspire that kind of emotion. So I supposed it's a great book that I don't like the ending of at all. At all at all.
Title: The Borrowers
Published: 1981? (Originally 1953)
Pages: 180
Total Books Blogged: 17
Total Pages: 5375
But I can't talk about this book without talking about the ending! So look away, readers, if you haven't yet read this book.
I loved the Borrowers. I'm loving the young adult fiction genre lately, and this was no exception. The interesting world of the little family beneath the floor was a joy, and also an interesting perspective on the world. Not knowing that the sky is blue, constant fear of discovery. Arrietty's constant adventurousness, curiosity, and naivete.
But the ending nearly ruined it all for me. I've found this with several books over time - most notably Life of Pi. But goodness - Mrs. May's brother had the same writing? They were just a story from his imagination? No! I wanted them to be lost to the storyteller - that the items disappeared, were taken by the Clocks, and that they were never seen again. Not to find out in the end that he was, in fact, Arrietty. I mean, what a wonderful story to create, but I really didn't, within the context of the fiction, want them to be imaginary. I wanted them to be real. And so I was so sorely disappointed at the end. Utterly crushed.
I suppose, though, that speaks to the book's quality. Mediocre books don't inspire that kind of emotion. So I supposed it's a great book that I don't like the ending of at all. At all at all.
Title: The Borrowers
Published: 1981? (Originally 1953)
Pages: 180
Total Books Blogged: 17
Total Pages: 5375
Monday, 2 February 2015
Completed: The Confederados - Old South Immigrants in Brazil, edited by Cyrus B. Dawsey and James M. Dawsey
I started this book forever ago, and this is not one of the ones that sat around awhile waiting to be blogged - I only just finished it a week or so ago.
I first heard about the subjects of this book on Imgur (www.imgur.com - check it out if you need an awesome place to waste time but also hear about cool things like the subject of this book). Someone put up a post about southern American (as in from the south of the USA) emigrants who moved to Brazil following the end of the Civil War. They moved to avoid a Yankee government, to avoid the poverty and lawlessness of the South following the war, to evangelize.
"Never was there greater nakedness and desolation in a civilized society" - this is how one southerner described life in South Carolina following the war. They went to escape this, if they could afford to go. Although Brazil still practiced slavery at this time, it doesn't appear to have been a primary impetus for the move. It is amazing to think of some elderly folks in Brazil whose first language is English, with a pure southern sound from a century ago (the linguistics of which is fascinating - see chapter 10), who get together to reminisce about the past and to speak fondly and protectively of their adventurous grandparents.
I think my favorite anecdote was the final one of the text. It discussed Jimmy Carter, prior to his presidency, along with his wife Rosalynn and press secretary Jodie Powell, visiting the Southern settlement now known as Americana in Brazil. Ms. Powell later reflected on the visit, admitting that all three of them became quite emotional when speaking to a crowd at a commemorative monument in Americana. She wrote that "[n]one of us could explain exactly why Americana touched us so deeply. Part of it was the feeling that we had discovered a part of ourselves that we hardly knew existed." (p. 210). I think I would feel similar emotions if I learned of a small group of Canadians who had moved to somewhere far away and maintained language and traditions from a century ago. A group that history had mainly forgotten - it's amazing to think.
Title: The Confederados - Old South Immigrants in Brazil
Published: 1995
Pages: 210
Total Books Blogged: 16
Total Pages: 5195
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Completed: The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
I am contemplating embarking on another undergraduate degree, focusing on North American history. I grew up away from my home continent. I studied mainly European history. And I enjoyed it. However, I feel like I don't know my own continent very well.
Tuchman's book, though not in North America, was a very enlightening history of the beginning of World War I. I found it fascinating; it was written in a way that read like a novel, with character sketches, humour, and sarcasm. And yet it is a record, a history, of the events and happenings of those first few months (primarily the first month). It was a readable history. So much of the history we all get to read is written to be so dry. Tuchman actually made an engrossing history book.
I think the invasion of Belgium, and the needless political puffery that caused the war in the first place, were the parts that impacted me the most. The arrogance of the politicians in feeling that war would somehow be a noble resolution of their differences. The slow, creeping realization that the war would not be over quickly.
My blogging of this book comes on the tail end of reading a National Geographic article about the underground 'cities' of the front line in World War I - the quarries excavated out behind the trenches, with soldiers living underground for weeks at a time in damp conditions, listening for tunneling soldiers from the other side set to bomb their enemies. Carving their lives into the soft chalk. It was the life of so many millions of soldiers for so many years.
Tuchman's book gave me a better understanding of the political personalities, military tactics and decisions that led to the horrid near-stalemate that was much of the first World War. National Geographic added the humanity of the soldiers to this picture. The two reads complimented each other. In the vast numbers of casualties and wounded that one sees when studying WWI, we must always remember that each one of those millions was a person of their own, with a family, parents, children perhaps, a wife maybe. A dream.
Title: The Guns of August
Published: 1962 (my copy is a crap 1980s paperback)
Pages: 489
Total books blogged: 16
Total pages: 5474
Tuchman's book, though not in North America, was a very enlightening history of the beginning of World War I. I found it fascinating; it was written in a way that read like a novel, with character sketches, humour, and sarcasm. And yet it is a record, a history, of the events and happenings of those first few months (primarily the first month). It was a readable history. So much of the history we all get to read is written to be so dry. Tuchman actually made an engrossing history book.
I think the invasion of Belgium, and the needless political puffery that caused the war in the first place, were the parts that impacted me the most. The arrogance of the politicians in feeling that war would somehow be a noble resolution of their differences. The slow, creeping realization that the war would not be over quickly.
My blogging of this book comes on the tail end of reading a National Geographic article about the underground 'cities' of the front line in World War I - the quarries excavated out behind the trenches, with soldiers living underground for weeks at a time in damp conditions, listening for tunneling soldiers from the other side set to bomb their enemies. Carving their lives into the soft chalk. It was the life of so many millions of soldiers for so many years.
Tuchman's book gave me a better understanding of the political personalities, military tactics and decisions that led to the horrid near-stalemate that was much of the first World War. National Geographic added the humanity of the soldiers to this picture. The two reads complimented each other. In the vast numbers of casualties and wounded that one sees when studying WWI, we must always remember that each one of those millions was a person of their own, with a family, parents, children perhaps, a wife maybe. A dream.
Title: The Guns of August
Published: 1962 (my copy is a crap 1980s paperback)
Pages: 489
Total books blogged: 16
Total pages: 5474
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Sitting at a new desk
Quite some time ago now, I shared my now-not-so-new reading nook with you, and today I can share that I am sitting at my new desk. We have completely shuffled our three bedrooms so that G and J are happily split into each having their own rooms. This necessitated removing our large but unwieldy and tremendously heavy desk from the 'office', as it is now a bedroom. We now have a cute little computer desk in our own bedroom, set up just for me to work at.
"What is this, a desk for ants?" ~my interpretation of my husband's reaction to my tiny work nook
Tonight I caught up on paperwork. Next I will catch up on books - I have four to blog! And am more than halfway through a fifth. I have done more reading than I expected to get done in the past few months, but haven't had the urge to write until recently, when I have found myself inspired by someone I barely know.
A friend of a friend, a sweet and kind heart, has recently left her day job to pursue writing full-time. I admire her tenacity and courage (though she has asked that people stop calling her brave!). I truly admire those who throw themselves headlong at their passion and make it happen despite obstacles, or fear of the unknown. My quest is much more humble, but I am in the process of trying to carve out a bit more 'me' time in my life, and it feels wonderful to sit here today and finally update this page. There are many things that I enjoy, and this blog is one. I shall make some time for me. A Mom who takes time for herself is, I truly believe, a more balanced person and thereby a better Mom. This new year I will find a better balance.
"What is this, a desk for ants?" ~my interpretation of my husband's reaction to my tiny work nook
Tonight I caught up on paperwork. Next I will catch up on books - I have four to blog! And am more than halfway through a fifth. I have done more reading than I expected to get done in the past few months, but haven't had the urge to write until recently, when I have found myself inspired by someone I barely know.
A friend of a friend, a sweet and kind heart, has recently left her day job to pursue writing full-time. I admire her tenacity and courage (though she has asked that people stop calling her brave!). I truly admire those who throw themselves headlong at their passion and make it happen despite obstacles, or fear of the unknown. My quest is much more humble, but I am in the process of trying to carve out a bit more 'me' time in my life, and it feels wonderful to sit here today and finally update this page. There are many things that I enjoy, and this blog is one. I shall make some time for me. A Mom who takes time for herself is, I truly believe, a more balanced person and thereby a better Mom. This new year I will find a better balance.
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Ch-ch-ch-chANGES! Also, Completed: The Untold History of the Potato by John Reader
My life has changed. I can't go into details, but as of April, my life changed entirely in big, beautiful ways. Along with these changes came much, much increased busy-ness. In all actuality, I finished this book well before that big change, I just never got to blogging it.
BUT I have started reshuffling life, and have started doing early mornings in order to get a bit of 'me' time in before everyone wakes up. This will get me back to exercising, cooking, and... blogging!
I'm reading, I promise. I've actually taken out a bunch of young adult books, as the boys are exploring more, and there are many books in that genre I never read. Right now I'm reading Tuck Everlasting. I'm also reading The Guns of August (less young adult, more history classic).
In terms of finished products, the only book I've completed that I have not blogged is The Untold History of the Potato by John Reader. I am too lazy to post a picture of it this evening, but the cover shows a predictable photo of a large, red spud!
It was an interesting history. It's very easy for a history that is focused on a more mundane product can miss the mark, most often due to a lack of research (the first few chapters of A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Mark Standage were quite painful). However, centering a history on the humble potato was quite a pleasant journey, from the archaeology to the history to the present. To be honest, I finished the read long enough ago that there are no specifics to point at and pick at. I think the most painful thing to read was that, prior to the Irish Potato Famine, they had already figured out how to deal with blight - it just wasn't acted on and publicized in time to help. Imagine how different the world, particularly North America, would be, if so many Irish had not left to escape the famine. Harry Turtledove needs to have a moment with that one!
Title: The Untold History of the Potato
Published: 2008
Pages: 278
Total books blogged: 15
Total pages: 4985
BUT I have started reshuffling life, and have started doing early mornings in order to get a bit of 'me' time in before everyone wakes up. This will get me back to exercising, cooking, and... blogging!
I'm reading, I promise. I've actually taken out a bunch of young adult books, as the boys are exploring more, and there are many books in that genre I never read. Right now I'm reading Tuck Everlasting. I'm also reading The Guns of August (less young adult, more history classic).
In terms of finished products, the only book I've completed that I have not blogged is The Untold History of the Potato by John Reader. I am too lazy to post a picture of it this evening, but the cover shows a predictable photo of a large, red spud!
It was an interesting history. It's very easy for a history that is focused on a more mundane product can miss the mark, most often due to a lack of research (the first few chapters of A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Mark Standage were quite painful). However, centering a history on the humble potato was quite a pleasant journey, from the archaeology to the history to the present. To be honest, I finished the read long enough ago that there are no specifics to point at and pick at. I think the most painful thing to read was that, prior to the Irish Potato Famine, they had already figured out how to deal with blight - it just wasn't acted on and publicized in time to help. Imagine how different the world, particularly North America, would be, if so many Irish had not left to escape the famine. Harry Turtledove needs to have a moment with that one!
Title: The Untold History of the Potato
Published: 2008
Pages: 278
Total books blogged: 15
Total pages: 4985
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)