Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Top Ten Christmas Books

Now that we've finally entered my absolute favorite season, I've pulled out all our Christmas books (a collection that's ever expanding). I'm always looking for more titles to add (and I have added a few new ones this year), but I also have several stand-bys that I don't think I could ever not read during the Christmas season. So, below, are our Top Ten Christmas Titles (and please feel free to leave a comment recommending a new one for us to try!):

In no particular order...
1. The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden, Illustrations by Barbara Cooney
This is one of my all time favorite stories, regardless of the holiday--it never fails to make me ball and then feel all gooey and happy with the world. The story is particularly resonent if you were one of those little girls who had a doll who you truly loved and saw not just as a toy, but a friend. Now, to some who never had that, that might sound a bit creepy, but for those of us who had that sort of attachment, this story will totally touch your heart.

2. The Polar Express written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
This is a true Christmas classic that I have adored since I was a little girl. It's one of those books that is written so well, illustrated so beautifully, that it reaffirms, very easily, your love for illustrated storybooks. This biggest appeal for me in this story is the idea of always believing Santa Claus and never letting your faith in him waiver, even when everyone around you let's go of their own.

3. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story by Gloria Houston, Illustrated by Barbara Cooney
There is something beautifully simple about Barbara Cooney's illustrations in this book that make the words by Ms. Houston all the more poignant and perfectly sweet. This book never failed to make my mom cry as she read it to me every year, and now, as I read it to my little girl, I shed my own set of tears. While the book is obviously meant for children, there is an undertone in the story about the sacrifices parents make for their children and for each other, and it is those sacrifices that showcase the love and truest meanings behind Christmas.

4. The Wild Christmas Reindeer written and illustrated by Jan Brett
Jan Brett is the queen of Christmas stories and this is my absolute favorite of hers. It's a story about perseverance and friendship, and also tells a good story about how one should approach people (or reindeer) in a cooperative situation. I thought of this story all throughout my student teaching (especially when I was at the high school level) and tried to use it as a metaphor for how I needed to work with my students. On another note, the illustrations are awesome, especially the little side panels that help track the days until Christmas and show off all the hard work Santa's elves are putting in.

5. A Little House Christmas by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Illustrated by Garth Williams
In this little mini-collection you have three stories from three different "Little House" books. It's lovely to capture those sweet moments, when times were simpler, the pleasures somehow smaller but bigger at the same time. These stories bring you to a different place and time, and that is so much fun!

6. Robert Sabuda Pop-Up Books
There is something incredibly whimsical about a pop-up book, and Robert Sabuda's Christmas books are simply amazing. We have three of these and truly enjoy reading them and playing with the very interactive pictures.

7. The Tiny Star, by Arthur Ginolfi, Illustrated by Pat Schories
This is one of the first Christmas books I remember reading as a little girl and my favorite "reason for the season" type books. It's about a tiny star that gets her glow after warming a new born baby in a stable (we can all guess who that baby is, right?). It's so sweet and very subtle in it's message (something I can admire in any form of literature).

8. Santa's Secret Helper, by Andrew Clements, Illustrated by Debrah Santini
I think this book was one of my mom's favorites to read to me (and I enjoyed it, too!). Have you ever wondered how Santa could possibly get to all those houses all over the world in one night? This book has the answer, which it reveals in an ever charming guessing game of who the secret helper could possibly be.

9. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, Illustrated by Judith Gwyn Brown
So, while it's a chapter book (a book I plan reading over time with Lizzie when she gets a bit older), it's one of the best books ever because it combines all of my favorite things about childhood literature: fun characters, an interesting plot, and a good, wholesome message (there is not a ton that is terribly wholesome in the world any more, and kids' books, especially Christmas books, are one of those wholesome things that remain).

10. The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell, Illustrated by Paul Micich
Are you ready to ball your eyes out, but to feel so incredibly uplifted afterward? This book is...amazing, but it can be so hard to read. The idea is that a little angel boy, who just can't seem to get anything right, is trying to decide what to give the Christ child when he is born. The story is short, but so rich with detail in both the writing and the illustrations, and when you read it (something to read only once a year, on a special night for your family, I think), you will be blown away and filled with such love and appreciation for why we are truly celebrating Christmas.


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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I'm Thankful For Books

So, I've read a few more of these books. And a quick note on Wide Sargasso Sea--if you've read Jane Eyre and liked Roderick, chances are, you're not going to like this book.
  1. Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson
  2. The Joke – Milan Kundera
  3. No Laughing Matter – Angus Wilson
  4. The Third Policeman – Flann O’Brien
  5. A Man Asleep – Georges Perec
  6. The Birds Fall Down – Rebecca West
  7. Trawl – B.S. Johnson
  8. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
  9. The Magus – John Fowles
  10. The Vice-Consul – Marguerite Duras
  11. Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys I thought this book SUCKED
  12. Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth
  13. The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
  14. Things – Georges Perec
  15. The River Between – Ngugi wa Thiong’o
  16. August is a Wicked Month – Edna O’Brien
  17. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
  18. Everything That Rises Must Converge – Flannery O’Connor
  19. The Passion According to G.H. – Clarice Lispector
  20. Sometimes a Great Notion – Ken Kesey
  21. Come Back, Dr. Caligari – Donald Bartholme
  22. Albert Angelo – B.S. Johnson
  23. Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe
  24. The Ravishing of Lol V. Stein – Marguerite Duras
  25. Herzog – Saul Bellow
  26. V. – Thomas Pynchon
  27. Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
  28. The Graduate – Charles Webb
  29. Manon des Sources – Marcel Pagnol
  30. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré
  31. The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark
  32. Inside Mr. Enderby – Anthony Burgess
  33. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
  34. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
  35. The Collector – John Fowles
  36. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
  37. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
  38. Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
  39. The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard
  40. The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
  41. Labyrinths – Jorg Luis Borges
  42. Girl With Green Eyes – Edna O’Brien
  43. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Giorgio Bassani
  44. Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
  45. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
  46. A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
  47. Faces in the Water – Janet Frame
  48. Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
  49. Cat and Mouse – Günter Grass
  50. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
  51. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller I kept a notebook filled with my favorite lines from this book
  52. The Violent Bear it Away – Flannery O’Connor
  53. How It Is – Samuel Beckett
  54. Our Ancestors – Italo Calvino
  55. The Country Girls – Edna O’Brien
  56. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee Another book I hated in high school, but I think it had more to do with the teacher
  57. Rabbit, Run – John Updike
  58. Promise at Dawn – Romain Gary
  59. Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
  60. Billy Liar – Keith Waterhouse
  61. Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
  62. The Tin Drum – Günter Grass
  63. Absolute Beginners – Colin MacInnes
  64. Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow
  65. Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
  66. Billiards at Half-Past Nine – Heinrich Böll
  67. Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
  68. The Leopard – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
  69. Pluck the Bud and Destroy the Offspring – Kenzaburo Oe
  70. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
  71. The Bitter Glass – Eilís Dillon
  72. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe So good!
  73. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – Alan Sillitoe
  74. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico
  75. Borstal Boy – Brendan Behan
  76. The End of the Road – John Barth
  77. The Once and Future King – T.H. White I've read most of it....
  78. The Bell – Iris Murdoch
  79. Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet
  80. Voss – Patrick White
  81. The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
  82. Blue Noon – Georges Bataille
  83. Homo Faber – Max Frisch
  84. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
  85. Pnin – Vladimir Nabokov
  86. Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
  87. The Wonderful “O” – James Thurber
  88. Justine – Lawrence Durrell
  89. Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
  90. The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon
  91. The Roots of Heaven – Romain Gary
  92. Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
  93. The Floating Opera – John Barth
  94. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien Love forever. 
  95. The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith A trip. 
  96. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
  97. A World of Love – Elizabeth Bowen
  98. The Trusting and the Maimed – James Plunkett
  99. The Quiet American – Graham Greene
  100. The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis
  101. The Recognitions – William Gaddis
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Sunday, November 20, 2011

A Good Read(s)

Here's the next set of books (I haven't read). A lot of these are books or authors I've heard of or have read (Douglas Adams, J. M. Coetzee, Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison), but, I dunno, between required college texts (which seemed to include a lot of pre-Victorian literature) and my own personal love for prolific and slightly epic fantasy series, I haven't gotten around to a lot of the "modern classics." But I have read some of these. Surprisingly.
  1. The Beautiful Room is Empty – Edmund White
  2. Wittgenstein’s Mistress – David Markson
  3. The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
  4. The Swimming-Pool Library – Alan Hollinghurst
  5. Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
  6. Libra – Don DeLillo
  7. The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
  8. Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
  9. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
  10. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
  11. The Radiant Way – Margaret Drabble
  12. The Afternoon of a Writer – Peter Handke
  13. The Black Dahlia – James Ellroy
  14. The Passion – Jeanette Winterson
  15. The Pigeon – Patrick Süskind
  16. The Child in Time – Ian McEwan
  17. Cigarettes – Harry Mathews
  18. The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe
  19. The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster
  20. World’s End – T. Coraghessan Boyle
  21. Enigma of Arrival – V.S. Naipaul
  22. The Taebek Mountains – Jo Jung-rae
  23. Beloved – Toni Morrison
  24. Anagrams – Lorrie Moore
  25. Matigari – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
  26. Marya – Joyce Carol Oates
  27. Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
  28. The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
  29. Lost Language of Cranes – David Leavitt
  30. An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
  31. Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
  32. Foe – J.M. Coetzee
  33. The Drowned and the Saved – Primo Levi
  34. Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel
  35. The Parable of the Blind – Gert Hofmann
  36. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez Good, but weird. The whole May/December relationship between second cousins sort of did me in. 
  37. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
  38. The Cider House Rules – John Irving
  39. A Maggot – John Fowles
  40. Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
  41. Contact – Carl Sagan
  42. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood Love. It. Also loved Oryx and Crake. 
  43. Perfume – Patrick Süskind
  44. Old Masters – Thomas Bernhard
  45. White Noise – Don DeLillo Very strange. Probably not a book I would have read on my own had it not been assigned my Freshman year of college. 
  46. Queer – William Burroughs
  47. Hawksmoor – Peter Ackroyd
  48. Legend – David Gemmell
  49. Dictionary of the Khazars – Milorad Pavi?
  50. The Bus Conductor Hines – James Kelman
  51. The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis – José Saramago
  52. The Lover – Marguerite Duras
  53. Empire of the Sun – J.G. Ballard
  54. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
  55. Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
  56. The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
  57. Blood and Guts in High School – Kathy Acker
  58. Neuromancer – William Gibson
  59. Flaubert’s Parrot – Julian Barnes
  60. Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis
  61. Shame – Salman Rushdie
  62. Worstward Ho – Samuel Beckett
  63. Fools of Fortune – William Trevor
  64. La Brava – Elmore Leonard
  65. Waterland – Graham Swift
  66. The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
  67. The Diary of Jane Somers – Doris Lessing
  68. The Piano Teacher – Elfriede Jelinek
  69. The Sorrow of Belgium – Hugo Claus
  70. If Not Now, When? – Primo Levi
  71. A Boy’s Own Story – Edmund White
  72. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
  73. Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard
  74. A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro
  75. Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally
  76. The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
  77. The Newton Letter – John Banville
  78. On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin
  79. Concrete – Thomas Bernhard
  80. The Names – Don DeLillo
  81. Rabbit is Rich – John Updike
  82. Lanark: A Life in Four Books – Alasdair Gray
  83. The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
  84. July’s People – Nadine Gordimer
  85. Summer in Baden-Baden – Leonid Tsypkin
  86. Broken April – Ismail Kadare
  87. Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee My first introduction to Coetzee in AP English. We also read Disgraced, which I rushed. 
  88. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
  89. Rites of Passage – William Golding
  90. Rituals – Cees Nooteboom
  91. Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
  92. City Primeval – Elmore Leonard
  93. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
  94. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting – Milan Kundera
  95. Smiley’s People – John Le Carré
  96. Shikasta – Doris Lessing
  97. A Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul
  98. Burger’s Daughter - Nadine Gordimer
  99. The Safety Net – Heinrich Böll
  100. If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
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Monday, November 14, 2011

Maybe It's Time to Take Care of those Library Fees...

Agh! Just one book! And I feel like such a loser for not having read Hitchhiker.
  1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
  2. The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan
  3. The World According to Garp – John Irving
  4. Life: A User’s Manual – Georges Perec
  5. The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
  6. The Singapore Grip – J.G. Farrell
  7. Yes – Thomas Bernhard
  8. The Virgin in the Garden – A.S. Byatt
  9. In the Heart of the Country – J.M. Coetzee
  10. The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter
  11. Delta of Venus – Anaïs Nin
  12. The Shining – Stephen King
  13. Dispatches – Michael Herr
  14. Petals of Blood – Ngugi Wa Thiong’o
  15. Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
  16. The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector
  17. The Left-Handed Woman – Peter Handke
  18. Ratner’s Star – Don DeLillo
  19. The Public Burning – Robert Coover
  20. Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice
  21. Cutter and Bone – Newton Thornburg
  22. Amateurs – Donald Barthelme
  23. Patterns of Childhood – Christa Wolf
  24. Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez
  25. W, or the Memory of Childhood – Georges Perec
  26. A Dance to the Music of Time – Anthony Powell
  27. Grimus – Salman Rushdie
  28. The Dead Father – Donald Barthelme
  29. Fateless – Imre Kertész
  30. Willard and His Bowling Trophies – Richard Brautigan
  31. High Rise – J.G. Ballard
  32. Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow
  33. Dead Babies – Martin Amis
  34. Correction – Thomas Bernhard
  35. Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow
  36. The Fan Man – William Kotzwinkle
  37. Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee
  38. The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum – Heinrich Böll
  39. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carré
  40. Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  41. Fear of Flying – Erica Jong
  42. A Question of Power – Bessie Head
  43. The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell
  44. The Castle of Crossed Destinies – Italo Calvino
  45. Crash – J.G. Ballard
  46. The Honorary Consul – Graham Greene
  47. Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon
  48. The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch
  49. Sula – Toni Morrison
  50. Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
  51. The Breast – Philip Roth
  52. The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
  53. G – John Berger
  54. Surfacing – Margaret Atwood
  55. House Mother Normal – B.S. Johnson
  56. In A Free State – V.S. Naipaul
  57. The Book of Daniel – E.L. Doctorow
  58. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
  59. Group Portrait With Lady – Heinrich Böll
  60. The Wild Boys – William Burroughs
  61. Rabbit Redux – John Updike
  62. The Sea of Fertility – Yukio Mishima
  63. The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark
  64. The Ogre – Michael Tournier
  65. The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
  66. Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke
  67. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
  68. Mercier et Camier – Samuel Beckett
  69. Troubles – J.G. Farrell
  70. Jahrestage – Uwe Johnson
  71. The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard
  72. Tent of Miracles – Jorge Amado
  73. Pricksongs and Descants – Robert Coover
  74. Blind Man With a Pistol – Chester Hines
  75. Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. There was an awesome inside joke in my AP English class regarding this book.
  76. The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John Fowles
  77. The Green Man – Kingsley Amis
  78. Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth
  79. The Godfather – Mario Puzo
  80. Ada – Vladimir Nabokov
  81. Them – Joyce Carol Oates
  82. A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec
  83. Eva Trout – Elizabeth Bowen
  84. Myra Breckinridge – Gore Vidal
  85. The Nice and the Good – Iris Murdoch
  86. Belle du Seigneur – Albert Cohen
  87. Cancer Ward – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
  88. The First Circle – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
  89. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
  90. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
  91. Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid – Malcolm Lowry
  92. The German Lesson – Siegfried Lenz
  93. In Watermelon Sugar – Richard Brautigan
  94. A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines
  95. The Quest for Christa T. – Christa Wolf
  96. Chocky – John Wyndham
  97. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe
  98. The Cubs and Other Stories – Mario Vargas Llosa
  99. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
  100. The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
  101. Pilgrimage – Dorothy Richardson
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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Why A Kindle Might Be a Good Investment


Here is the next hundred book segment from the list of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die". I'm really embarrassed to say I haven't read ANY of the books on this list. I've read quite a bit of Margaret Atwood's books, the same with Ian McEwan, but I haven't gotten to the novels listed here. I also own Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, but I haven't gotten around to cracking it open. 
  1. Silk – Alessandro Baricco
  2. Cocaine Nights – J.G. Ballard
  3. Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker
  4. Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
  5. The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
  6. Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse
  7. Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
  8. The Clay Machine-Gun – Victor Pelevin
  9. Alias Grace – Margaret Atwood
  10. The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
  11. Morvern Callar – Alan Warner
  12. The Information – Martin Amis
  13. The Moor’s Last Sigh – Salman Rushdie
  14. Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth
  15. The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald
  16. The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
  17. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
  18. Love’s Work – Gillian Rose
  19. The End of the Story – Lydia Davis
  20. Mr. Vertigo – Paul Auster
  21. The Folding Star – Alan Hollinghurst
  22. Whatever – Michel Houellebecq
  23. Land – Park Kyong-ni
  24. The Master of Petersburg – J.M. Coetzee
  25. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
  26. Pereira Declares: A Testimony – Antonio Tabucchi
  27. City Sister Silver – Jàchym Topol
  28. How Late It Was, How Late – James Kelman
  29. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres
  30. Felicia’s Journey – William Trevor
  31. Disappearance – David Dabydeen
  32. The Invention of Curried Sausage – Uwe Timm
  33. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
  34. Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh
  35. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
  36. Looking for the Possible Dance – A.L. Kennedy
  37. Operation Shylock – Philip Roth
  38. Complicity – Iain Banks
  39. On Love – Alain de Botton
  40. What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe
  41. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
  42. The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields
  43. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
  44. The House of Doctor Dee – Peter Ackroyd
  45. The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
  46. The Emigrants – W.G. Sebald
  47. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
  48. Life is a Caravanserai – Emine Özdamar
  49. The Discovery of Heaven – Harry Mulisch
  50. A Heart So White – Javier Marias
  51. Possessing the Secret of Joy – Alice Walker
  52. Indigo – Marina Warner
  53. The Crow Road – Iain Banks
  54. Written on the Body – Jeanette Winterson
  55. Jazz – Toni Morrison
  56. The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
  57. Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg
  58. The Butcher Boy – Patrick McCabe
  59. Black Water – Joyce Carol Oates
  60. The Heather Blazing – Colm Tóibín
  61. Asphodel – H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
  62. Black Dogs – Ian McEwan
  63. Hideous Kinky – Esther Freud
  64. Arcadia – Jim Crace
  65. Wild Swans – Jung Chang
  66. American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
  67. Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis
  68. Mao II – Don DeLillo
  69. Typical – Padgett Powell
  70. Regeneration – Pat Barker
  71. Downriver – Iain Sinclair
  72. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres
  73. Wise Children – Angela Carter
  74. Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
  75. Amongst Women – John McGahern
  76. Vineland – Thomas Pynchon
  77. Vertigo – W.G. Sebald
  78. Stone Junction – Jim Dodge
  79. The Music of Chance – Paul Auster
  80. The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
  81. A Home at the End of the World – Michael Cunningham
  82. Like Life – Lorrie Moore
  83. Possession – A.S. Byatt
  84. The Buddha of Suburbia – Hanif Kureishi
  85. The Midnight Examiner – William Kotzwinkle
  86. A Disaffection – James Kelman
  87. Sexing the Cherry – Jeanette Winterson
  88. Moon Palace – Paul Auster
  89. Billy Bathgate – E.L. Doctorow
  90. Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
  91. The Melancholy of Resistance – László Krasznahorkai
  92. The Temple of My Familiar – Alice Walker
  93. The Trick is to Keep Breathing – Janice Galloway
  94. The History of the Siege of Lisbon – José Saramago
  95. Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
  96. A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
  97. London Fields – Martin Amis
  98. The Book of Evidence – John Banville
  99. Cat’s Eye – Margaret Atwood
  100. Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

All I Wanna Read is You

On Pinterest I found a link to a list of 1001 books you must read before you die. I have no real idea who started the list and whether or not they have any authority in saying what are must reads, but the books that are the list (or what I've read of the list thus far) that I'm familiar with are all pretty amazing books. Anyway, I've decided to go through the list in segments, see what I've read, and then maybe add some more books to my list of "Wanna Reads" (as if I need any more). Finally a simple and fun project that can be quickly/easily accomplished (you'll notice I've offed my other two projects--there's just no time to record everything I'm doing in those two areas!). 


Here is the first 100: 
  1. 2000s
  2. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
  3. Saturday – Ian McEwan One of my fave McEwan novels
  4. On Beauty – Zadie Smith
  5. Slow Man – J.M. Coetzee
  6. Adjunct: An Undigest – Peter Manson
  7. The Sea – John Banville
  8. The Red Queen – Margaret Drabble
  9. The Plot Against America – Philip Roth Fascinating
  10. The Master – Colm Tóibín
  11. Vanishing Point – David Markson
  12. The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
  13. Dining on Stones – Iain Sinclair
  14. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
  15. Drop City – T. Coraghessan Boyle
  16. The Colour – Rose Tremain
  17. Thursbitch – Alan Garner
  18. The Light of Day – Graham Swift
  19. What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt
  20. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon If you know anyone on "The Spectrum", this is a great read.
  21. Islands – Dan Sleigh
  22. Elizabeth Costello – J.M. Coetzee
  23. London Orbital – Iain Sinclair
  24. Family Matters – Rohinton Mistry
  25. Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
  26. The Double – José Saramago
  27. Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
  28. Unless – Carol Shields
  29. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
  30. The Story of Lucy Gault – William Trevor
  31. That They May Face the Rising Sun – John McGahern
  32. In the Forest – Edna O’Brien
  33. Shroud – John Banville
  34. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
  35. Youth – J.M. Coetzee
  36. Dead Air – Iain Banks
  37. Nowhere Man – Aleksandar Hemon
  38. The Book of Illusions – Paul Auster
  39. Gabriel’s Gift – Hanif Kureishi
  40. Austerlitz – W.G. Sebald
  41. Platform – Michael Houellebecq
  42. Schooling – Heather McGowan
  43. Atonement – Ian McEwan The end made me ball my eyes out
  44. The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
  45. Don’t Move – Margaret Mazzantini
  46. The Body Artist – Don DeLillo
  47. Fury – Salman Rushdie
  48. At Swim, Two Boys – Jamie O’Neill
  49. Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
  50. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
  51. The Feast of the Goat – Mario Vargos Llosa
  52. An Obedient Father – Akhil Sharma
  53. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
  54. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost – Ismail Kadare
  55. White Teeth – Zadie Smith
  56. The Heart of Redness – Zakes Mda
  57. Under the Skin – Michel Faber
  58. Ignorance – Milan Kundera
  59. Nineteen Seventy Seven – David Peace
  60. Celestial Harmonies – Péter Esterházy
  61. City of God – E.L. Doctorow
  62. How the Dead Live – Will Self
  63. The Human Stain – Philip Roth
  64. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood Margaret Atwood is my hero, and this book rocks my socks
  65. After the Quake – Haruki Murakami
  66. Small Remedies – Shashi Deshpande
  67. Super-Cannes – J.G. Ballard
  68. House of Leaves – Mark Z. Danielewski
  69. Blonde – Joyce Carol Oates
  70. Pastoralia – George Saunders
  72. 1900s
  73. Timbuktu – Paul Auster
  74. The Romantics – Pankaj Mishra
  75. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
  76. As If I Am Not There – Slavenka Drakuli?
  77. Everything You Need – A.L. Kennedy
  78. Fear and Trembling – Amélie Nothomb
  79. The Ground Beneath Her Feet – Salman Rushdie
  80. Disgrace – J.M. Coetzee I loved this book
  81. Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami
  82. Elementary Particles – Michel Houellebecq
  83. Intimacy – Hanif Kureishi
  84. Amsterdam – Ian McEwan
  85. Cloudsplitter – Russell Banks
  86. All Souls Day – Cees Nooteboom
  87. The Talk of the Town – Ardal O’Hanlon
  88. Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
  89. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
  90. Glamorama – Bret Easton Ellis
  91. Another World – Pat Barker
  92. The Hours – Michael Cunningham
  93. Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho
  94. Mason & Dixon – Thomas Pynchon
  95. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
  96. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
  97. Great Apes – Will Self
  98. Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
  99. Underworld – Don DeLillo
  100. Jack Maggs – Peter Carey
  101. The Life of Insects – Victor Pelevin
  102. American Pastoral – Philip Roth
  103. The Untouchable – John Banville
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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Food Crush

There is an episode of South Park that I'd love to post on here (along with a title change) that totally describes my love for food, cooking, and a particular celebrity chef, but it's completely inappropriate. So the following words will have to suffice.

I.

LOVE.

Nigella Lawson.

I've gone through two of her cookbooks, used a few of her recipes, watched her on YouTube and I'm pretty much beyond infatuated impressed with both her presentation and her delicious food.

Her deal seems to be this: Cooking for others and yourself is one of the greatest, most nurturing things you can do. I tend to agree. I grew up in a household where meals were, if not prepared with a lot of care and love, at least had that essence of "I'm making this for my family and I love them." I know my mom would probably laugh at this, because she has been pretty frank in the past that she's not always thrilled to have the responsiblity of cooking dinner, but every meal she served us always had that dash of "I love you" in it.

Nigella Lawson fully and completely represents that sort of cooking.

I also love that her recipes, for the most part, are not these ridiculous and unattainable dishes (both in ability needed and checkbook needed). Many have just a few ingredients that you're likely to have kicking around or can pick up rather inexpensively at the grocery store or local market. And while she's a proponent of fresh and organic ingredients, her books are not obnoxious or preachy about it. I've followed other celeb chef/cook recipes before (example: I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family last year using only Martha Stewart recipes--a expensive, though delicious, nightmare), and none compare to the taste and ease of what Nigella offers.

Plus, she makes cooking seem sexy:

And, in addition to all that, her cookbooks are actually really fun to read. Her literar voice is very strong and conversational, so you feel like you're reading more of a food diary or commentary rather than a super-informative text-booky kind of thing. It's like having a friend teach you how to cook something (and I really want to be Nigella's friend...).

Here are a few recipes I've tried and LOVED and have made again and again:
Toad in the Hole (WAY tastier than it sounds and no real toads, only tastey sausage)
Crustless Pizza (Two things here. One, you can totally use lower fat ingredients in this--it still tastes great. And two, really not a crustless pizza, but more like a sauceless one. Lizzie and I have started calling it Cheddar cheese pie after the favorite food of Angelina Ballerina.)
Chocolate Banana Muffins (SO good, even after they've been sitting around for a bit)
Apple and Cinnamon Muffins (Another really good one. I made these, the chocolate banana ones and some blueberry corn muffins--can't find the recipe for that one online--and could have eaten all of them by myself. The best.)

One of my goals on my "Ultimate To Do List" (see above) is to use a new recipe each week. While I haven't quite lived up to that goal quite yet, I've started to come closer by reading not only Nigella's cookbooks, but others as well (though hers are my favorite). Besides wanting to be more adventurous in the kitchen, reading her books and attempting to try something new more often has made me more aware of what I feed myself and my family. It's been hard these past few years to always give everyone wholesome meals. Sometimes I'm too tired or we lacked the funds to get the ingredients I really wanted, but things are changing. I'm hoping with out new job situation (i.e. me having one), I'll be able to cook up the good stuff more often (though, where I'll find the energy, I'm not sure!).

If anything, Nigella gets me salivating and gives me the ambition and creativity I need to get cooking (literally) when the moment calls, even if it's just plain old spaghetti.
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Bookin' It

So, during my unintentional blogging hiatus last week I took on a small project (well, I had planned on it being a small project--it turned out to be a bit more than I had intended).

You see, I have quite a collection of books. It's not, you know, library large, but it's pretty expansive. Many of my books are sitting in boxes in my parents' attack, but some have been traveling from apartment to apartment with me for the past few years. While I had a semi-servicable bookshelf that held, maybe, a third of my books, it obviously was not doing it for me. At our previous apartment, I had stacks of books three feet high surrounding the shelf, sort of defeating the purpose of having the books out, because you could never find what you needed!

Now that we're at the house we've been able to pull some key pieces of furniture out of storage, the big one being the fairly large bookshelf from my grandparents' house. We moved it into our upstairs hallway and I made it my job to take all my books and arrange them on the bookshelf.

However, being the bibliophile that I am, I could hardly just throw the books on the shelves and call it good, especially after going all that time having to search and search for the book I wanted. I decided to sort through the books by genre or subject (the rule being that if four or more books fit a subject area, they got their own section).

What's more, I took it a step further and created labels.

Yep. Labels.
The text is a bit clearer in real life and they are, in my opinion, seriously adorable. And making them was super, duper easy.

1. I went to shabbyblogs.com and checked out their headers. I chose the one above, but there were plenty more.
2. I downloaded the header into my computer and saved the file. I then uploaded the header into a picture editing program (I used Picnik, but any editor that has a text option would work).
3. Then I found the part of the program that allowed me to add text to the picture. I picked a font, centered the text box and added the genre or subject to each picture.
4. Then I resaved the picture with the new text to my laptop, then printed it.
5. After I printed each labe, I mounted them on a stiff paper, leaving just enough paper over the top so I could fold it down and set the labels to rest on the bookshelf.

So, after a few hours for a couple of nights organizing the books (it took me that long because I had to readjust shelf sizes a few time and had to switch up how I was going to organize the books), and then another couple of evenings making the labels, I was able to through everything together.
Okay, so the coolest things on this bookshelf (besides my extensive fantasy collection)? My Havard Classics Collection, which we found here at the new house when we moved in. They were stacked up behind the door of the laundry room.

Here is just a small sampling of what we found. There's everything from Homer to Grimm's fairy tales. I'm pumped.

What's almost as cool as this part of the find are these:
Now, I'm part of the Sparknotes generation--I could hop on my laptop and find endless fodder for analytical essays for books and plays I never got around to reading fully digesting...Not that I ever actually used Sparknotes... However, I remember one of my education professors talking about Masterplots, a series of books she could find at her university library when she was working on her undergrad degree that served a similar purpose to Sparknotes (not that she ever used them, of course...). I thought it was totally hilarious that I, the girl who never, ever would use Sparknotes or anything like it, and a recently graduated Education major, would have a small stack of books choc full of plot giveaways.

Okay, maybe it's only me who thinks this is wicked cool/wicked funny, but I thought I'd share.

So, with all this said and done, and with all the recent book posts I've had up (the top tens, this, a few book reviews in the past), I've sort of decided I might reserect my book blog, So, What Are You Reading? The link is here, but I'm not sure when I'll get anything up there. I've got a few entries on here that I want to do (I'm feeling a little backed up since I didn't write anything for so long!), and then we'll see about the other blog.

Now, if only I could get more readers... :-)
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Monday, August 8, 2011

A Top Ten: The Books Lizzie Loves to Read

So, a couple of weeks ago, I did a post on the top ten books I can't wait to read to Lizzie when she's a bit older. This week, I thought it might fun to talk a bit about the books we love to read now.

Here are our favorite titles (in no particular order):

1. Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen. This book is a fun book celebrating books and how they can make any part of the day an adventure. The whole story is told in rhyme and is loads of fun to read aloud (one of my big prerequisites for a book that I'll read repeatedly). Plus, the illustrations are adorable AND the illustrator is a Mainer (always a plus).

2. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. Mo Willems is a freaking super star in my house. This particular book and it's companion, Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog (I think there might be a third pigeon book, but I'm not sure) are hilarious. They are so much fun to read and the way the words and illustrations work together it's almost like a little T.V. show rather than a book (which makes sense, since the author wrote for Sesame Street and animated a couple T.V. shows I know my brother would be familiar with). Also, from a teacher's standpoint, I know if I ever teach a unit on the art of rhetoric (logos, pathos, and ethos) there are plenty of fun examples in this book.

3. The Arthur books by Marc Brown. I grew up with these books, watched the T.V. show as a kid (and I'll sit down and watch them now--they're good!), and just recently started picking up some of the books at the library for Lizzie. She really likes them! While they're definitely geared towards an older set of kids and the stories can seem like they might be a bit long for a three year old, Lizzie will sit through them and loves D.W., Arthur's precocious little sister.

4. The Knuffle Bunny Books by Mo Willems. The Knuffle Bunny Books (there are three) were essentially written for Lizzie. They focus on a little girl who's around three (though, in the first book she's an infant/young toddler) and her lovie, Knuffle Bunny. The language, pictures, and content speak to little kids and are such a joy to read aloud. They sort of are like a comic book, which I think is neat, and I love how the illustrations mix hand drawn pictures and photographs taken in real places (like New York City).

5. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. This is such a classic little girls book and Lizzie really loves listening to it. I love the rhyming (reading anything with a rhyme is fun) and Lizzie loves a story about a little girl. We particularly enjoy the part when she has to be rushed to the hospital to have her appendix taken out. The drama!! It's also a fun time to practice my French accent.

6. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. This was one of my favorite books to have read to me when I was a little girl, and now I get to take my copy and read it to Lizzie. We like talking about the book after we're done reading, discussing just what was it that made Alexander's day so horrible. Lizzie like the repeat of the whole "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" (probably because I put a lot of emphasis on this). What's made me love this book even more, reading it aloud to Lizzie aside, is the fact that I got to write a really fun little blog post for a literature class last fall. Very esoteric and academic, yet so much fun.

7. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Okay, first of all, Jon Scieszka made my childhood awesome. Between this book, The Stinky Cheeseman, Squids Will Be Squids, and his time travel series, I spent hours in stitches. These books are so funny! And The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is such an awesome retelling of the classic Three Little Pigs story. Lizzie thinks it's a fun read now, but I think she'll appreciate it even more once she's heard the original story a few times. I can see an older preschooler or kindergartener really getting a kick out of this story.

8. The Balloon Tree by Phoebe Gilman. I was given this book as a little girl by a friend of my mother who is an artist and interior designer. She has an eye for beautiful illustrations and I think that was the major thing that drew her to this book. The illustrations are enchanting. Seriously. They're detailed and colorful and rich. And the story ain't half bad either. It's about a princess who grows a balloon tree as a way to summon her father home when her kingdom is in trouble. It's an adorable story premise with equally adorable illustrations.

9. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I think almost every new mother or mother-to-be gets this book. It was actually the first book I was given for Lizzie when I was in the early stages of my pregnancy from my second grade teacher aunt. I read it every night to Lizzie during my pregnancy and I still bring it out every once in a while to read to her. She'll say goodnight to the all the little things in the room right along with me and tell me different things about the kittens and old lady whsipering hush. She also likes this rendition, which is one of my absolute favorite parodies.

10. Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Early on in our relationship, I dragged my husband down to a local book store, sat him down on a couch and read this book to him. I explained, "This is going to be one of the first books I read to our kids." And then I made him buy the book. Instead of running away (like he probably should have), a few months later he asked me to marry him. And we still have the book, and it was one of the first books I read to Lizzie. We love quacking away as Mother duck and her ducklings holler at passing cars and bikes to stop. We love Michael the policeman who calls Clancy and the station and saves the day. It's another one of those classic kids books that we eagerly enjoy over and over again. I also think I'd love to use it as a fun little travel guide on a family trip to Boston. Lizzie still doesn't believe me that there are giant swan boats!
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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Top Ten: Books I Cannot WAIT to Read with Lizzie

I was a reader out of the womb. I love reading (and not just books, but articles, blogs, magazines, newspapers, etc.) with a passion that I think is largely due to the fact that both my parents read to me every night from an early age. They instilled in me a quiet passion for the written word that I could not have gotten anywhere else. This is something I want to give to Lizzie. In my opinion, it is the greatest thing I could give her.

We read every night (one or two books) and we frequent the library to constantly restock our reading materials, all of which are things I enjoy, but I'm going to admit to looking forward to a few years from now when I can break out some of my fave books from my childhood (or from right now). So, here are my top ten books I can't wait to read with the Liz.

1. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White - I know this is a childhood given, but it is one of my all time favorite books and I think every parent should read it with his child. (Ages: 4/5-8)

2. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field - This, in my mind, is one of the ultimate little girl books out there. It follows the life of a little doll made for a little girl who lived in the wilderness of Maine (woot, Maine shout out), and the doll, Hitty, has many adventures there after, including, but not limited to, being swallowed by a whale and has her portrait painted. (Ages: 7-12)

3. The Witches, The BFG, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach all by Roald Dahl - Roald Dahl made my childhood. I slurped up his quirky books with sheer delight and they were my first introduction to fantasy novels. These books, and others by Dahl, are just more examples of literature every kid should have exposure to. (Ages: 8-10)

4. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - These books are the gateway drugs to wonderfully good fantasy. They are enchanting, well-meaning, solid books that read like fairy tales, but present such challenging subjects. They are also so much fun to read aloud! (And you MUST read them in the original order as seen in the picture.) (Ages: 7-12/13)

5. The Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Every little girl needs to read these books. While the message can seem a little overly wholesome and outdated to a jaded reader (like I can be sometimes), they are really the perfect message for a young child. And the stories are so well written and cute. I remember being fascinated by the Christmas stories the most--somehow getting a pair of homemade mittens, a piece of candy, and a your own tin cup seemed just as great as getting those five new Barbies, Easy Bake Oven, and stocking full of treats. (Ages: 6-12)
6. The Princess Bride by William Goldman - If you've only seen the film (which is quite good), you're doing yourself an injustice, never mind not reading it to your kiddo. While I would wait to read this with Liz, I hope that we'll be reading together for quite a while. It's such a fun story with so many strange twists and turns it's the perfect book to share with someone. (Ages: 10-Teen)

7. The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter (as seen in this post) shaped my childhood in many ways. I plan on reading a Harry Potter book to Lizzie once a year (maybe twice, depending on her level of enthusiasm) and I simply cannot wait. These stories are absolutely timeless, filled with magic, real and figurative, and I truly believe that Harry will become a key figure in the children's literature cannon, right along side Charlotte and Wilbur, James (and the Giant Peach), and Laura Ingalls. (Ages: 8-Teen)

8. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle - Another childhood classic that insites imagination and thinking about the world (and universe) in a wider way. I can imagine the sorts of conversations a parent can have with her kids after reading this book. It offers a safe way to approach different issues in philosophy and brings both your child's and your own thinking to such a high level, which gets your kiddo's brain cranking, making it stronger and prepping it for future endeavors in and out of the classroom. I know it sounds ridiculous to claim that reading a simple book and then talking about it could do much for your kid's cognitive skills, but it's so true. (Ages: 10-Teen)

9. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien - I don't know if I'll be able to get Lizzie to read with me long enough to get to these, or at least to get to LOTR, but I'd love to read these with her. All of the fantasy books I mentioned previously on this list are just introductions to these books, priming Lizzie's brain to take on the awesomeness that is Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, elves, dwarves, wizards, and powerful men. These books are truly epic (in every sense of the word), and I want so badly for Lizzie to enjoy them as much as I did. However, I do get (as I do with all these books) that she might not be as into them as I was. I can dream, right? (Ages: 12 and up)

10. There isn't a specific book to list here. The top thing I am looking forward to reading with Lizzie as she gets older is whatever it is she is excited about reading. As I mentioned with #9, I know she may not be as excited about these books as I was/am. We may never get to any of these books. But I know we'll read, and read lots, and I can't wait to see what she picks, what new books and authors she introduces me to, who her Harry Potter is. I am so excited for the adventures we'll go on together with each new book Lizzie finds. (Ages: Timeless)
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Friday, July 15, 2011

We Love You Harry Potter

When I was ten years old, my grandmother and aunt took me to a bookstore. My family always encouraged my voracious reading, and I frequently manipulated that encouragement into free books. As we walked up and down the ailse of a Borders, we came to a pile of Harry Potter books on display. At this point, only the first two had come out, but were already beginning to gain traction in popular culture. A few of my friends had read and praised the books, but I had not interest in reading them. Not because I didn't think I'd like them (I'd always loved fantasy), but because I didn't like to read things just because "everyone else is doing it." (Which is exactly what my aunt and grandmother said to me.)

They forced me to get the books. My aunt had said. (Coincidentally, it was my father--the son and brother to my grandma and aunt--who "forced" me to read The Hobbit, one of my all-time favorite books).

Not to be one to let books go to waste, even if I didn't want to read them, I decided to give this Potter guy a try.

I devoured those books in two days.

When the third book was due to be released not too long after, I pre-ordered it through Amazon.

I coveted the moment the local library recieved an early shipment of the the fourth book and book to sneak a peak early (Mrs. Jackson was the best librarian ever).

One of my best friends in high school got a copy of the fifth book before me and I had her read the first couple of chapters to me over the phone.

The sixth book nearly got me fired from my summer job because I wouldn't stop reading it.

The seventh book was the only thing that kept my mother from killing her 19-year-old college student who came home for the weekend to tell her she was pregnant.

In between all these book releases, there were the movies, too. And for all my complaints about the movies (a lover of a book will always, I think, have a hard time watching the film version), I loved those as well.

And throughout all of this, I've been listening to the books on tape every night as I fall asleep, even after I moved in with my husband (much to his chagrin).

For over half my life, Harry Potter and his friends and his world have been a part of my life and I have made them a part of my world. I have revisted the books through reading, listening, and watching hundreds and hundreds of times. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine have been there for me through thick and thin, have grown up with me (truly), and have provided endless entertainment in reading and playing.

I went to the midnight showing of the last movie last night (loved it!) and could not find a better way to describe my feelings than as a friend of mine (the one who read the opening chapters of the fifth book to me over the phone) put it: "I laughed. I cried. And now it's over. And I could say, so is my childhood. But personally, I plan on remaining a bit of a child forever. Which of course means that when I have kids someday I get to re-live the whole thing with just as much enthusiasm :-)"

These are my sentiments almost to a tee, other than I already have a kiddo running around, but I am already so looking forward to when she's old enough (8? 9?) for me to beginning reading the books to her, and experiencing Harry's world once more though her eyes.

Thank you, Harry, for everything you've done for me.
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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Delicious Reading

As you may have noticed on my "Currently Reading" sidebar thingy, I'm indulging in a cookery text by Nigella Lawson (Nigella Kitchen).

I've never actually read a cookbook before, like approached it like it was a novel or something, and I suppose not every cookbook would really lend itself well to such a strategy, but this particular cookbook does.

When I finish the book (which may be a bit, because I've just started The Help and it's totally captivating, so it's taking up a bit of my reading time), I'll do a full review, but for now, I wanted to say something a bit more broadly on the topic of actually reading a cookbook.

If you're interested in really knowing about someone's approach to cooking (like a Nigella Lawson or Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart), then I would argue the best way to figure that out is to read the cookbook. The descriptions of "required" materials, the instructions on how to cook a particular dish, the introduction (if any) to recipes all tell you something about the person who has chosen or crafted the recipes you are trying to follow.

If you're a confident cook, can crack open any cookbook, follow the recipe (or maybe you don't even boher with a recipe), then maybe reading a cookbook wouldn't offer you anything, or perhaps it would offer something different. But for me, a learning cook, it's important for me to know the place these recipes are coming from. For example, you read a Martha recipe, either from a cookbook, magazine article, or off her website, and however "simple" it's supposed to be, it's far, far more complicated. With Nigella Lawson, at least so far, while some recipes might call for unusual or somewhat expensive ingredients, the recipes are simple and straightforward. (However, I still love Martha.) And to go along with those uncomplicated or complicated recipes, you have to look at the context. Is the cook describing a casual, relaxed setting along with a casual, relaxed cooking style? Or is it formal and requires a more complex attention to detail?

Regardless of the celebrity chef you pledge alligence to (if any), or the cooking style you find yourself most drawn to, reading a cookbook can be fun and give you a little insight into the culinary world.
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Quickie Book Reviews

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vezzini

Being a secondary education major (i.e. professional torturer of teenagers), I'm a bit of a young adult (YA) lit. junkie. I love me a good story about angsty teens and this one takes the cake. It's Kind of a Funny Story is a kind of funny story about a teenage boy with depression, his contemplation of suicide, and his eventual (and fairly hilarious) stay at a hospital psych ward.

While the story is light, the subject is not, and the book repsects that. Having dealt with depression/anxiety myself as a teenager, I feel that the story that's told is accurate and fair, and respects the very individual, though not uncommon experiences of those with depression. And while we don't want kids to think it's "cool" to be depressed or suicidal, the book takes away some of the negative stigma that might be associated with depression while showing how serious things may be for those suffering. And it still manages to be wicked funny.

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle

This is an old favorite of mine, a book that inspired me to look at the universe in an entirely different way. While my reading of the book is far different than it was when I was 12 (totally an anti-Communist message behind a lot of what is being written), it's still a thoroughly enjoyable read. For anyone who has a love for the underdog or can relate to the "outcast" and needs a quick escape to a whole other universe (literally), then this is a great read.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

I love me some Dan Brown. I've read many of his books and he is one of the few authors who I happily race through and will reread over and over (the other books include Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, which I'm probably in love with and the Harry Potter books). If you've read the other two Robert Langdon books (including The Da Vinci Code), you're looking at the same kind of deal: Robert Langdon finds himself in a history-rich location (in this case, D.C.) and craziness ensues. Here, you have a disembodied hand showing up, followed by a race against time all over D.C. (similar to the races against time in Rome, France, and London in his previous books). It's all very formulaic (if you've read the other two, you'll most definitely see a pattern), but, in my opinion, it's a damn good formula. Also, if you have a small conspiracy theorist/history buff living inside you that you like to indulge, this is a great read (Freemasons, hidden government power circles, the CIA...all the good stuff).

Happy reading!!
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Friday, June 3, 2011

Three Fast Book Review

A Whole New Mind:

Amazing book, especially if you're in any sort of career field that is constantly changing things up or looking for a new way to approach your product or service (like, say, in education). It focuses on several different areas where people will need to be able to excel in a new global job market. Super interesting.

The Graveyard Book:

A young adult novel about a boy who is raised in a graveyard by ghosts and other supernatural beings. It's by Neil Gaiman who wrote Stardust and Coraline, both of which have been made into movies. The beginning is super depressing (especially if you're a parent), but the story is well written and interesting. I'm also fairly certain there will be a sequel.

Dead Until Dark:

If you've watched True Blood on HBO and loved it then you'll probably love this book. It's the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series (so, True Blood is based on these books, and Dead Until Dawn is basically the first season of the T.V. show in book form) and while I wasn't so sure about the writing at first, I was completely won over. Even if you haven't seen the show, if you're looking for a good vampire/romance book to take to the beach this summer, and you're not a Twilight loser fan, then this would be the book to grab.

Happy reading!
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Remember that little poetry project I mentioned last week? I had a bit of a delay, but I've finally started. The first poem I read is an oldy but a goody and one of my favorites (I've read it several times for school and loved it)--"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love":

COME live with me and be my Love, 
And we will all the pleasures prove 
That hills and valleys, dales and fields, 
Or woods or steepy mountain yields. 
 
And we will sit upon the rocks,         5
And see the shepherds feed their flocks 
By shallow rivers, to whose falls 
Melodious birds sing madrigals. 
 
And I will make thee beds of roses 
And a thousand fragrant posies;  10
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle 
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle. 
 
A gown made of the finest wool 
Which from our pretty lambs we pull; 
Fair-linèd slippers for the cold,  15
With buckles of the purest gold. 
 
A belt of straw and ivy-buds 
With coral clasps and amber studs: 
And if these pleasures may thee move, 
Come live with me and be my Love.  20
 
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing 
For thy delight each May morning: 
If these delights thy mind may move, 
Then live with me and be my Love.


COME live with me and be my Love, 
And we will all the pleasures prove 
That hills and valleys, dales and fields, 
Or woods or steepy mountain yields. 
 
And we will sit upon the rocks,         5
And see the shepherds feed their flocks 
By shallow rivers, to whose falls 
Melodious birds sing madrigals. 
 
And I will make thee beds of roses 
And a thousand fragrant posies;  10
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle 
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle. 
 
A gown made of the finest wool 
Which from our pretty lambs we pull; 
Fair-linèd slippers for the cold,  15
With buckles of the purest gold. 
 
A belt of straw and ivy-buds 
With coral clasps and amber studs: 
And if these pleasures may thee move, 
Come live with me and be my Love.  20
 
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing 
For thy delight each May morning: 
If these delights thy mind may move, 
Then live with me and be my Love.


Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant poises,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

Christopher Marlowe
1599


So, if you read this poem, it's sort of a given that you'll read Sir Walter Raleigh's response (yes, that Raleigh, the discoverer who Queen Elizabeth I supposedly had a relationship with, but then, subsequently, had imprisoned in the Tower of London...if you know your Renaissance literature and history). Here's Raleigh's response to the poem, writing as the shepherd's "love":

If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.
Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complain of cares to come.
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy bed of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.
But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Basically, the point is, all those material objects are great for the short term, but in order for real love, you need something that will last forever, and material objects do not. I think they're two very interesting looks at love, and particularly, women and what men think women want. Personally, I think Sir Walter had the right idea (even if Queen Elizabeth thought he needed some time in the Tower), and what Marlowe had to say was just a wee bit cynical, thinking he could convince a woman to go off with him by offering all these lovely objects.

I probably won't do too much poetry analysis here, but I love these poems so much and I thought I'd share them as well as a few quick thoughts. At the very least, I hope this motivates you to go out and check out some poetry on your own!
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Making Improvements

With school done I've decided I need to find a way to stay on the ball when it comes to my subject area (English). One of my weakest areas is poetry. I like some poetry, but it's not exactly something I'll go and just read. When I was in school and taking literature courses, poetry was frequently and prominently featured (we actually did a whole project on writing, teaching, and reading poetry in my English methods course). So this is where I got a big dose of poetry. But I am horribly underread in that area. I have a smattering of contemporary poets who I've sort of vaguely heard of and read and lots of much less contemporary poets who I am more than familiar with, but don't have an appreciation for them because I has forced to read and interpret their work like a machine crunching numbers. I haven't read poetry with any real pleasure for many, many years, and I'd like to be able to.

So here is one of my (many) summer goals: Read a poem a day. I don't know what I'll do with all this read poetry (if anything--it really just needs to something I do with no real purpose other than to enjoy it), but I feel like it will be good for me on a variety of levels. Poetry, to me, is like exercise. I don't necessarily look forward to doing it, but I'm always glad I did, plus it's good for me. This, along with reading as many books as I possibly can over the summer and along with some professional books I feel better prepared to be in my own classroom (hopefully) next fall.

I think, since I'm writing about this here, I'll at least have some sort of little blurb about what poem I'm reading each day, or maybe a favorite poem for that week? We'll see...we shall see...
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