Sometimes I have so much to say about what I'm reading that I'm intimidated by the thought of writing it all down on my blog, so I do nothing. Well, that's not why I started this!
I just finished reading Charlotte's Web to Maria and five other 2nd and 3rd graders. We've met for six weeks this summer to read chunks of the book and have them copy paragraphs from it (I'm a great believer in "copywork" as a means of learning how to write decent sentences, paragraphs, essays, reports, etc.). Last night, I read the last chapters to the group: The Egg Sac, The Hour of Triumph, Last Day, and A Warm Wind. It's such a sweet and sad little story. Perfect for summer. Perfect for 7- and 8-year-olds. Maria and I both cried.
Last night was also the last class for my older reading group this summer, six 10- and 11-year-old girls. I read them Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer, very good historical fiction and one of four in the Young Royals series. The girls and I had to look up a number of words over the last weeks ("catarrh" and the correct pronunciation of "Calais") and got grossed out over descriptions of beheadings and burnings. I think they all have a new appreciation of what the young Elizabeth might have felt during her years of imprisonment by her half-sister, Queen Mary. Being a princess wasn't all safe and cozy for Elizabeth Tudor.
I am still reading The Big House, which is about a Boston family's summer home on Cape Cod. It gives great descriptions of the house, the land, the water, and the extended family that has lived there for over a hundred years. It is memoir and travel writing at its best.
Reading The Big House has done its job of kicking me back into Moby Dick, which opens in New Bedford, Massachusetts, very near Cape Cod. The first chapters of Moby Dick are funny! Queequeg is funny in his immediate love for and protection over Ishmael. Here is this hulking, tattooed "savage" cuddling up with Ishmael in their shared bed at the inn and politely taking his meat from a platter at the communal table with his sharp harpoon. I love the stuff out at sea, but the humor and warmth of these early chapters is great, too. And I've got the part in the sailor's chapel with the sermon about Jonah and the Whale coming up.
How's your summer reading?
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10 comments:
Missed you, Christine!
I loved Charlotte's Web! I remember volunteering to read in school when my kids were in 1st-3rd grade. It's such a joy to share my love of reading with kids, mine & others. I think that's why I always loved reading at storytime at B&N.
Hello everyone! I just finished reading The Alchemist, which follows an Andalusian shepherd's journey to Egypt in search of treasure. It's an enchanting story and a fairly easy read, and I enjoyed it for the most part. I may be a little cynical for it though, because I shut down a bit during some parts due to the similarity between the language in the book and that of faddish New Age musings like The Secret. Also, although it was ostensibly very deep and wise, parts of it were too rambling and circular for me, and one part I recall being downright stupid. He says something like, "There's an old Arabic saying: 'If something happens once, it will never happen again. But if something happens twice, it will happen over and over again.'" I don't have the quote verbatim but it's something like that. I probably don't have to explain why that's kinda stupid. Despite minor shortcomings, overall I really did like the book, and it's actually making me more excited about my trip to Spain.
I'm currently reading Don's recommendation, Sunnyside, by Glen David Gold (Alice Sebold's husband). It's very good, but very dense--full of specific imagery, lots of characters, and many cultural, literary, and historical references. It's taking me a long time to get through it, but I'm determined to keep going because there are a lot of intense moments that keep sucking me in.
~Lisa
Thanks for the detailed response, Lisa! I've been interested in The Alchemist. Your review has helped me decide to keep it on my list. And I didn't know that Sebold and Gold were married. Interesting!
I have fond memories of the Young Royals series. I'm glad Oliv and co. enjoyed it, too.
I'm sitting here avoiding my school reading, which is very good but I hate the time limits and due dates. I'm currently about halfway through The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin for the sci fi class. I love her writing; it sucks you in, like Lisa says. Christine, have you ever read anything of hers? I think you'd like her style.
Only the short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (sp?) and her Catwings books for kids. What of hers would you suggest for me, Danika? Also, what did you think of Lord Jim? Sophia's dad just read it.
I've put down and permanently given up on "Gone with the Windsors" as it got more tedious by the page.
While waiting for my inter-library loans to arrive I picked up "A Breath of Air" by Rumer Godden from a sale. It is based on "The Tempest" by Shakespeare. OK so far, very focused on character interaction.
Last night I just started "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah.
Love The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Maybe try her Earthsea trilogy. They're really good.
Lord Jim. Where do I start. It was sort of like reading a book in which the narrator who was supposedly telling the story was actually NOT trying to tell the story, he was trying to tell about how everybody felt and what things look like without actually relating any ACTIONS, so you spend the whole time guessing what's going on, and the emotions which the narrator does reveal are annoying or inexplicably intense. I abhorred every second of the reading, and would never, ever, ever pick up the book again (or probably anything by him), but looking back on it, remembering the story he tried so hard not to tell and forgetting the style in which it was "communicated," I actually think there were some interesting things happening. He just did his best to hide it.
*steps down off soapbox and bows out*
Thank you, dear.
I'm reading "Blood and Iron" by Elizabeth Bear, which I picked up because we read her sci-fi novel "Dust" in the book group, and it was amazing.
This one? Not so much. I just can't bring myself to care about the characters or what's happening to them, and Bear doesn't bother to show why this "war" between the wizards and Fae is so super-important. Everything is cast as dramatic, and yet nothing is at stake.
Good to have you back, Erin! Thanks for the sci-fi update.
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