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Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
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7:47 pm - Reading Update
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Since my last update, I have read the following books:
- The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
- The Color of Water by James McBride
- James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
- Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary
- Red River by Lalita Tademy
- Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
- Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson
- My Antonia by Willa Cather
- Remember Me: Women and Their Friendship Quilts by Linda Otto Lipsett
- The Solstice Evergreen: The History, Folklore and Origins of the Christmas Tree by Sheryl Ann Karas
Summer Sisters and Sundays at Tiffany's are good beach or poolside books. I read My Antonia in high school, but got more out of it this time. It really is a good story. I learned a lot from the last two titles, especially the book about Christmas trees.
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| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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11:08 pm - Eight Things Meme
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8 things I am looking forward to:
sunshine later in the week
picking fresh strawberries
sewing later tonight
homegrown tomatoes
listening to the new Pete Yorn CD
Independence Day
seeing my grandparents
a new roof
8 things I did yesterday:
ate leftovers
vacuumed
went to Target
checked Facebook
read a magazine
experimented with interfacing
drank gingerale
fell asleep with my son
8 things I wish I could do:
rollerblade well
move back to Las Vegas
read the Hunchback of Notre Dame
empty my email inboxes
learn a computer language
learn how to use an SLR
satisfy my baby lust
sew a hand-quilted king-size quilt
8 favorite fruits:
blackberries
pineapple
bananas
clementines
nectarines
strawberries
cherry tomatoes
black grapes
8 places I would like to travel:
Switzerland, to see the Alps
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah
Canadian Rockies
Quoddy Head State Park, Maine
Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota
Redwood National Park, California
Santa's Village, New Hampshire (with the kids)
Australia
8 places I have lived:
Childhood home in Maine
Oxford Hall, University of Maine
University Park, Old Town, Maine
Penacook, New Hampshire
Lowell, Massachusetts
Henderson, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Current home in New Hampshire
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| Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
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11:09 am - April Reads
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I gave up on Marie Antoinette after about 70 pages. I just couldn't focus enough to keep track of all the names and complicated relationships of the European monarchies.
Despite my false start, I read at least six books in April, including:
- The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
- The Known World by Edward P. Jones
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr
- Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
- The Magician's Wife by Brian Moore
I also started reading The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve, but my husband picked it up and started reading it. I don't like sharing books, so I let him finish it. I suppose I'll get back to it this month, after I finish The Color of Water by James McBride.
In the first four months of 2009, I've read 17 books! My goal for the year is 19, without repeats. Because I had already read On the Road, I've only read 16 that count towards the 19. I'm pleased that I'll have no problem reaching my goal.
For the first time, I got reading glasses in April and have been wearing them in the evenings when I read and sew. They make me feel old! The frames are teal and I feel a bit eccentric wearing them. My wardrobe is so boring that it's good to have something a bit quirky.
Of all the titles I have read so far this year, I think that The Other Boleyn Girl (I also watched the movie) and Girl with a Pearl Earring are my favorites.
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| Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
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11:05 pm - Can't Stop
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Lately, I cannot stop reading. It took me a long time to finish On the Road by Jack Kerouac, but once I did, I plowed ahead onto several new titles. I read Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates in about 24 hours, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Kaye Gibbons in about two days and Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms in less than two days.
The contrast of Kerouac's Beat Generation in On the Road to the suburban life of the Wheelers in Revolutionary Road is one that I have been pondering. Both books spoke to me, as I am currently struggling to accept the new lifestyle my husband and I chose. For the first time in my adult life, I am in a place where society says that I should be putting down roots for myself and my children. We purchased a home and plan to be here for a decade or two, at least. I keep contemplating whether or not settling down is really necessary.
All four of the novels I listed above were written in during or after wars. I wonder how much notable fiction will emerge from American soldiers currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now I am reading Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser. It is non-fiction and is a lot more challenging to read.
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| Friday, March 20th, 2009
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12:39 pm - Historical Fiction
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I read The Color of Fire by Ann Rinaldli a few weeks ago. It was a very quick read, as it is juvenile fiction. It wasn't a very good story, but I did learn about an event in American history that I had never heard of before. In 1741, colonists of New York City executed over 30 people that they believed were involved in a plan to burn down the city and possibly stage a slave revolt. The executions included 13 people being burned at the stake. Here is more factual information about the incident.
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| Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
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8:27 am - Stack
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| Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
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10:14 pm - Orwell
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I finished reading 1984 by George Orwell earlier this week. Today, I saw a bumper sticker that said something like "When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power, the World Will Know Peace." With the book fresh in my mind, I immediately wondered if anything will ever conquer the quest for power. The book is also clouding the way I think about people's actions and motives.
While reading, I often had to stop and re-read sections and paragraphs, especially when Orwell was explaining things like doublethink. It has been years since I had to think critically about a novel. Most of the reading I do is purely for entertainment.
I would like to read the book again in an academic manner. I'd like to be critical of it and possibly work on some discussion questions for each chapter. I need to challenge my brain and I feel like dissecting literature would be a great way to shake out the cobwebs (as opposed to doing calculus or physics!).
1984 has peaked my interest in utopian and dystopian literature. I've added Fahrenheit 451 and The Iron Heel (written by Jack London before World War I) to my list of books that I would like to read.
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| Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
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6:38 pm - Oodles of Reading!
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I finished the Narnia Chronicles early in February. The last volume, The Last Battle, gave me a lot to think about; much more than the others, though the religious symbolism is present in all of the stories. Of all of the stories, I think that I like The Lion, the Witch and the the Wardrobe best. Since then, I have read:
- Sula by Toni Morrison
- Gap Creek by Robert Morgan
- Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier (author of Cold Mountain)
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
I ought to read Sula again and think on it more; it would be a good book for a book club discussion. While I found Gap Creek interesting, I didn't find it believable. Plus, it lacks a plot; it is really more of a diary of a young wife at the end of the 19th century in rural Appalachia. It is told in the first person and the vocabulary is quite limited.
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| Thursday, January 8th, 2009
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4:21 pm - The Magician's Nephew
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It took me two days (evenings actually) to read The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis. I love the writing style! It is straightforward and not overly descriptive; just enough to encourage the imagination to run wild. I don't know why I didn't read it sooner (like 20 years ago!). I do wish, however, that I hadn't seen parts of the first Narnia movie. I am a third of the way through the next story and I keep seeing the actors in my head. I would rather have dreamed them up myself. The entire volume that contains the Chronicles is less than 700 pages. I would read the entire thing in a week if we weren't in the middle of moving!
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| Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
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3:55 pm - White Elephant Giveaway
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| Thursday, January 1st, 2009
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7:45 pm - 2008 Book List
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Here are the books I read this year:
* Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
* Animal Farm by George Orwell
* The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
* Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
* The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
* The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
* The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
* A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
* A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
* Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
* Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
* Flying Changes by Sara Gruen
* Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
* The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
* Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
* The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Since I started keeping the list (in 2005), I've read 81 books, which includes young adult fiction. That is an average of 1.7 books per month over the past four years. My goal for this coming year is to reach 100 books (i.e. read 19 in 2009) with no repeats. I plan to count the Chronicles of Narnia as one book.
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| Sunday, December 28th, 2008
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9:38 pm - Trilogy
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In November, I read the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). Most of my books are now packed, so I can't recall what I read in September and October.
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| Thursday, November 27th, 2008
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11:15 am - Happy Thanksgiving
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Have a wonderful day, everyone.
We celebrated yesterday and are taking DH to the airport today, so I'm doing laundry and all the usual stuff.
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| Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
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1:18 pm - Marriage
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Copy this sentence into your LiveJournal or blog if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by people who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.
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| Monday, October 6th, 2008
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9:47 pm - End of Summer Reading
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith -- Fabulous! There are a lot of reasons why this book has endured.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez -- It took me six weeks to read this book. Most novels take a week or less. It was a good story and I liked the ending, but it was a lot of work to get there.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali -- This book is a thought-provoking page-turner. I am glad that it was chosen by my book club, because it really made me think.
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| Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
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4:52 pm - Irene Nemirovsky
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Earlier this summer, I read Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. I saw a review of it in the weekend edition of the local newspaper and thought it sounded interesting. It was definitely a good book, but because Nemirovsky was murdered in Auschwitz, the novel is unfinished. The existing book introduces many interesting characters in wartime France and I wish that we were able to find out what happens to them later in the war and its aftermath.
The book is set in France, mainly around Paris, and I learned a lot about the German occupation of France during World War II. I hope to read more of her works.
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| Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
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1:47 am - Four More Books
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Over the past week or so, I read three relatively short books: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Animal Farm by George Orwell and The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. Only the last book was new to me; I read the other two when I was 14 or 15.
I am thinking of incorporating all three into my teenager's curriculum next year. I'd like to do American Literature for English, so Steinbeck and Wharton would fit there. Animal Farm could be integrated into World History & Geography. She is very interested in geography, but I want her to have an appreciation for the way political boundaries and names change over time.
I also read Flying Changes by Sara Gruen, the author of Water for Elephants, back in May. I was very disappointed. The story line was too implausible to believe.
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| Monday, June 9th, 2008
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1:20 am - What a Hoot!
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| Saturday, May 17th, 2008
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12:33 am - Green IQ
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| Friday, May 16th, 2008
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12:55 am - Discovery
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I discovered something quite wonderful yesterday:
my children will allow me to read grown-up books while they play.
Our morning began with eating breakfast, dancing, singing, making the beds and doing a load of laundry together. When they had finally had their fill of Ring Around the Rosie, I grabbed my book and plopped down for a break. They continued to play, quite happily, while I devoured several chapters. I read a few more chapters while they watched "Signing Time" on PBS. I am thrilled beyond words at this new development, because I have missed reading! My wrists have been bothering me too much to crochet, which is how I previously kept myself busy when they were in the mood for solo play.
Thanks to this newfound freedom, I read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen from cover to cover in the past 36 hours. It is an amazing book and I highly recommend it. I learned a lot about Depression-era circuses and the book opened up a new understanding of that time period in the United States. The plot was exciting enough to keep me turning the pages and the rich details made the setting and events jump off of the page.
I just read over the discussion questions in the back of the book. They've given me more to think about and I'm looking forward to discussing them with my book club friends at the end of the month.
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