22 posts tagged “books”
Reading during the school year is tricky. I don't have as much free time and when I start reading, I don't stay with a book that long of it doesn't catch my interest. I abandoned Maynard & Jennica because after 100 pages I really didn't care why Maynard was in prison for attempted murder. On the otherhand, I did care what happened to Ambrose and Zipper in The End of the Alphabet. This slim book is a quick read. I have a bit of an infatuation with the alphabet and too often I'm left wanting with alpha-based novels, but this was sweet and poignant.
Sorry about not keeping my promise of regular posting. But it seems no one's out there anyway! I'm just writing for myself I guess. If you happen to wander along for a peep, leave a comment. Comments always welcome.
Reading:
Last week I finished The Shack and
The Abstinence Teacher two very different books both about the role religion plays on our lives/communities. I liked them both but I'm not sure what to think about The Shack. While I found the "characters" of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit original (for a book I purchased at a Christian bookstore!), I was left wondering just what I was supposed to get out of it. I definitely am not angry after reading it like some customers at the store where I bought it. I found it to be an interesting look at one man's struggle to come to terms with his daughter's disappearance. I didn't really disagree with the characterization of God or Jesus and the characterization of the Holy Spirit was a pleasant surprise. I just wasn't sure what I was supposed to take from it. Any insight? As for The Abstinence Teacher, I was interested because A) I'm a teacher and concerned with teachers being confronted by a community and B) I really enjoyed Tom Perrota's Little Children and Election. This was a good book but not as good as his others. I enjoyed the characters but felt like the ending left me wanting more. It's a quick read, but maybe too quick.
Listening To:
Watching:
I Want to Work for Diddy- I LOVE Laverne and think she should win! She's smarter and more put together than all of the other contestants. I will admit to enjoying Boris. He always seems to pull it out when you think he will be of no help whatsoever.
The Cho Show- I've always found Margaret to be hilarious and her show is too. The beauty contest ep was great. "We're ALL Winners!"
Project Runway- All hail Tim Gunn! He is the coolest guy on TV. I'm not sure who I like best yet...there are a few but Blayne and Suede are sort of wearing thin.
Doing:
I've taken up knitting again. But I'm wondering if I should be! I frog more than I keep. Here's a pic of Luke with Otto and his babushka. This is about the extent of my knitting success lately.
Last week when I went to the library, I happened to pick up this book from the new release shelf. I have a passing interest in the alphabet and cover the history of numbers and letters with my students. The idea that a man driven by grief would become obssesed with discovering why the letters of the alphabet are in that particular order seemed promising. But the book just sucked. I didn't even finish it.
Unfortunately, while hub did and excellend job of packing for my adventure, this was the book that was included in my bag. So I tried to plod through it. I even placed scraps of paper to mark two pages that I thought held interesting ideas about collections and being different that I thought I'd want to remember. But today when I went back to reread and post the quotes here...I couldn't find them. That's pretty bad.
Skip it.
How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum
I love that the cover actually says Portable Art Life Museum. Look inside and see what it looks like.
Artists and scientists analyze the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analyzing, and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists.
The mission Smith proposes? “To document and observe the world around you. As if you’ve never seen it before. Take notes. Collect things you find on your travels. Document findings. Notice patterns. Copy. Trace. Focus on one thing at a time. Record what you are drawn to.”
With a series of interactive prompts and a beautifully hand-illustrated two-color package, readers will enjoy exploring and discovering the world through this gorgeous book.
Oooo. I can't wait!
How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum
I love that the cover actually says Portable Art Life Museum. Look inside and see what it looks like.
Artists and scientists analyze the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analyzing, and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists.
The mission Smith proposes? “To document and observe the world around you. As if you’ve never seen it before. Take notes. Collect things you find on your travels. Document findings. Notice patterns. Copy. Trace. Focus on one thing at a time. Record what you are drawn to.”
With a series of interactive prompts and a beautifully hand-illustrated two-color package, readers will enjoy exploring and discovering the world through this gorgeous book.
Oooo. I can't wait!
I'm finished with my classes (A's in both...thank-you-very-much) and so I've been trying to catch up on my pleasure reading the last week. I have read these three books in the last week:
I have enjoyed the Fowl series and this one was good. It wasn't great and I sort of hate how Colfer just sort of dropped the female character from the last book in order to probe something else in this one. There was definitely a greater environmental message in this one even thought the fairies have long been sharing how we humans have wreaked havoc with the planet.
I liked it and would recommend reading it if you've read the others.
The second book I read last week was The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by the awesome Joshilyn Jackson. I really enjoyed this mystery. I have enjoyed all her books but I think Between, Georgia has been my favorite. She's an easy read with entertaining characters. I highly recommend all her books if you haven't read them.
Yesterday, I finished Alice Hoffman's The Third Angel which was good but not my favorite Alice book. This had only a bit of magic and I like when her stories delve deeper into the fantastic.
Read anything good lately?
I am waiting for our copy of Breaking Dawn but I'll have to wait briefly while Lydia reads it; then it's mine. I thought I was going to beat the system by getting it from Amazon a month ago but it still isn't here :(
It was okay.
It took me longer than it should have to read. I think it was about 150 pages too long. And I wonder what audience she was trying to reach. While the alien souls are interesting and she's created a lovely history for them, I can't imagine this book would be meaty anough for true sci-fi fans- of which I am admittedly not! I also think she's sort of stuck in teen mode with the romances in the book. I can't understand why this was released as an adult selection rather than young adult. I kept thinking it might get more bloody or gory as I got further in but it didn't. This book remained in the same tenor as her Twilight series.
I read a review on Amazon that addressed the adult vs YA release and that reader seemed to think it's not because of the content but rather the long, talky delivery and slow pace. I don't know. I don't buy the length argument anymore since students will easily gobble up 600+ pages of Harry Potter. I saw absolutely no reason why this was released as an adult novel rather than YA. Did the publishers think she'd reach a wider audience? Perhaps, but the new readers may not be so impressed. IMO- it would have been better to release it as YA and realize that her adult readers would come right along as we did with the Twilight series.
The book was a "gift" from my daughter for Mothers' Day. She knew full well that once I read it, it would be passed on to her. I had told her I wanted to read it before she did to make sure it was appropriate as it is technically an adult novel. No worries there! I would not recommend shelling out the cash to buy this in hardcover. Get it from the library or second-hand. If you liked the Twilight series, you'll like this too, but I don't think she's going to reach any new fans.
Reading
A curious book about the imaginary country of Nollop located off the southeastern coast of the US. Nollopians honor the creator of the famous sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." When letter tiles start falling off the town hall. the council decides it's an edict from Nollop that they should stop using the fallen letters. It's a very interesting read as it is told in letters to and from the island's inhabitants and as the book progresses more and more letters are verboten and the letter writers must adhere or be punished. I found this book in a box of books after we moved.
While visiting the home of a friend from church for the first time, I noticed her collection of Stephen King books. Turns out she collects first editions. She let me borrow her copy of My Pretty Pony which is a short story first published in 1988 as a limited edition with lithographs by Barbara Kruger created for the Whitney Museum's Library Fellows Program. It was cool to see something I'd never seen before. Also cool to find another King fan.
Listening To
Last FM radio courtesy of my favorite author online Neil LOVE HIM! Last FM is sort of like Pandora but it's more community based. The aforementioned Neil is my only friend. sigh But if you have a LastFM account, I'll be your friend.
Watching
I took Luke to see The Spiderwick Chronicles yesterday. We both rather enjoyed it. He and I have been reading through the series and just finished book 3. We are going to continue to read them. The movie seems to cover many of the books as there were some things in the movie we hadn't yet read about. I am a firm believer in reading the book before the movie. It worked out well for us.
I'm loving this new season of Lost. Sayid looked delicious in this last ep! I'm also enjoying a bevy of reality shows- Big Brother, Project Runway, and Survivor. I look forward to the new season of America's Next Top Model. My friend Mary says reality shows have lead us down the slippery slope to Hell, but I'm enjoying the ride and there weren't a lot of other choices with the writers' strike.
I am an elementary teacher and I enjoy reading a fair amount of children's literature but my exposure to the Artemis Fowl series did not come from school. Last summer, we knew we'd be spending a fair amount of time in the car with traveling to Indiana and back (24 hours) and to the Jersey shore and back (another 6 hours) and so it was up to me to find something to listen to that the whole family could enjoy.
Luke was six. Lydia was twelve. I was worried I wouldn't be able to find something they'd both enjoy that we adults could also enjoy. I found it with the Artemis series. We listened to 4 of the audiobooks last summer during various drives and we all enjoyed them. The reader Nathaniel Parker was awesome. He does different voices and his accent is perfect.
Hub brought home the one book I hadn't yet read and I just finished it. I loved it! I so enjoy the characters and the witty banter. The story is very clever and Eoin Colfer has created a great world. I hope there are more Fowl books soon.
If you are looking rfor something to read with your children, give it a try.
Last month my one refuge was reading. In between unpacking, trying to keep the new house clean, work, and taking care of the kids, I managed some reading.
In one of the boxes I unpacked, I found The Red Tent which I had never read. I thought it was a well written, quick read. It made me go into my bible to read the backstory. It would be great if more bible stories were extended and made compelling like this one.
Next I read two nonfiction selections: Alligators, Old Mink, and New Money and House Lust.
Alligators is a story of a vintage store in Brooklyn opened by a former model. I love looking at vintage and have found a lot of lost treasures while unpacking. When I was in college, my wardrobe consisted mainly of retro and vintage. This was an interesting look at opening and running a successful vintage store- Hooti Couture. I thought the name was supposed to be a play on haute couture but instead you learn it is her grandmother's prefered pronunciation for their last name.
House Lust was about exactly what you'd think it would be about! It was a look at America's obsession with homes and who has what and wanting bigger and more and how the housing bubble and subsequent bust has affected all of this.
All in all- a good month of reading. Up next, the fifth Artemis Fowl book.
