1. Thank you Kate for the picture on the left. It's made my week.
2. You can watch my dad on TV! Episode 2808, Lumberjack Fan Carving. In my entirely biased and correct opinion, his work is pretty cool.
3. I'm sorta geeked over the announcements of the 2009 Caldecott and Newbery Award winners. New books to get for--my kids. Right. They're for the kids.
4. If I had time and energy to kill on post-graduate studies, one of the master's theses that I'd like to write is the argument that much of the best literature these days is being published in the YA category. I think that one of the reasons that this is so is because there is still pressure to keep literature aimed at 10-13 year olds clear of "adult themes" and "adult content." In other words, an author can't write voyeuristic, profanity strewn, pulp and have it sell just on that basis. YA writers actually have to write good stories.
5. Barna Study: 1 in 3 "Christians" say Jesus sinned. Um . . . do they not even understand that that defeats the point? Theology, people, theology!
6. English departments all across the U.S. would be better off if they just admitted that modern lit-fic is just another genre, and not morally superior to all the genres out there.
7. my children are home today on yet another snow day, and I'm completely baffled. We had no new snow the other night. It's not warm, exactly, out there, but 10 degrees now with a high of 18 this afternoon and a 30% chance of snow hardly seems to warrant cancelling--and the roads were fine when I was out on them last night. I especially wish that if there was going to be a cancellation that I could have found out about it when I still had a chance to go back to sleep, and hadn't gotten up, had 2 cups of coffee, fed my daughter breakfast and had her getting ready to go while I called to check on her car pool before I found out about it.
UPDATE: My kind husband pointed out that my take #6 had the exact same link as #5 . . . that it did not, in fact, pull up the fascinating article by Julian Gough that I intended to reference. That's now been fixed.
7 comments:
I like these quick takes. Do you just sum up some random thoughts of the week? I like random.
Re #4 - good point. My eldest daughter is 11 and is enjoying reading so I'm always looking for books to direct to her. Any suggestions?
What is your take on the Twightlight and InkDeath books? She's reading Twilight and I'm a little worried about the vampire thing. But it's good to see her so absorbed in a book.
pearlsoftruth--I'm saddened by this study, but really not all that surprised. it's all one with the more and more typical american attitude of "I'm going to be whatever I want, defined however I want."
Ruth--yep, the quick takes are a bunch of randomness. :) I generally don't have a problem micro-posting, but the idea here is "don't worry about turning it into a magazine article or essay."
I can't speak much to the Twilight books. I haven't read them, or much else in the way of vampire fic. What I've heard is that by the standard of the genre, they're not very vampire-y, more like a typical teen romance with a dash of vampire thrown in. So the question becomes, "what do you think of teen romance novels?" My taste in pulp escapism runs more to sword-and-sorcery, so . . .
in regards to Inkdeath, I thought that the first of that trilogy, Inkheart, was one of the most original and well written fantasies that I had seen in years. I read it when it was new in our library and then forgot about it and haven't read the next two. From the reviews it looks like the trilogy is another example of a series that doesn't end as strong as it starts, but is still worth reading.
In regards to specific recommendations, what sort of thing is she into?
Thanks Sara for the input. That was my take on Twilight. I plan to read it myself.
My daughter seems to like books about people and relationships rather than fantasy. She likes humorous quirky characters. She really loved "The Breadwinner" if you know that book about a girl's life in Afganistan.
Let me know if you can think of any good books or series for her.
I think I will try Friday quick takes. Maybe even today if I get to it. It's still early here.
Have a great weekend!
Really they think Jesus sinned? really? that's just wrong. I found you through Conversion Diary -- thanks for sharing - I'm looking forward to reading more!
well, in terms of people books, I've never found much to beat L.M. Montgomery's 8 "Anne of Green Gables" books. I go back and read 2 or 3 of them every year, rotating through. She might also enjoy this series . The story is made up of letters exchanged between two cousins, young women, who are definitely quirky, humorous and interesting! It's set in an alternative 1820's.
Sara your dad is an absolute artist! I was amazed.
As far as reading material is concerned. I have read the Twilight series and loved it as did my daughters (but they are older). I don't know what your daughter likes to read but one of the best (and absolutely funniest) Newbery Medal books is "A Year Down Yonder" by Richard Peck. I read this every year and the audio version of it makes me laugh so hard that I cry.
Thanks for the book ideas ladies and the feedback about Twilight.
I love the Ann of Green Gables books. I tried reading them to my girls but they were lost on the long descriptions. I did find a small version of Green Gables that was condensed with simpler language. My girls loved it.
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