Again, from A peaceful day, a list of the top 100 Banned or Challenged Books in 2000-2007 in the USA. There are certainly some surprises. (Junie B. Jones???) See how many you've read of this list!
1 Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
2 Alice series - Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier
4 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
5 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
6 Scary Stories - Alvin Schwartz
7 Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Myers
8 It’s Perfectly Normal - Robie Harris
9 And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
10 Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey
Total: 2 read
11The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
12 The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
13 Forever - Judy Blume
14 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
15 The Perks of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
16 Killing Mr. Griffin -Lois Duncan
17 Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
18 King and King - Linda de Haan
19 Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
20 Bridge to Terabithia -Katherine Paterson
Total: 2 read
21 The Giver - Lois Lowry
22 We All Fall Down - Robert Cormier
23 To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
24 Beloved - Toni Morrison
25 The Face on the Milk Carton - Caroline Cooney
26 Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
27 My Brother Sam Is Dead - James Lincoln Collier
28 In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak
29 His Dark Materials series - Philip Pullman
30 Gossip Girl series - Cecily von Ziegesar
Total: 3 read
31 What My Mother Doesn’t Know - Sonya Sones
32 Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison
33 It’s So Amazing - Robie Harris
34 Arming America - Michael Bellasiles
35 Kaffir Boy - Mark Mathabane
36 Blubber - Judy Blume
37 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
38 Athletic Shorts - Chris Crutcher
39 Bless Me, Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya
40 Life is Funny - E.R. Frank
Total: 0 read
41Daughters of Eve - Lois Duncan
42 Crazy Lady - Jane Leslie Conly
43 The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Paterson
44 You Hear Me - Betsy Franco
45 Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
46 Whale Talk - Chris Crutcher
47 The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby - Dav Pilkey
48 The Facts Speak for Themselves - Brock Cole
49 The Terrorist - Caroline Cooney
50 Mick Harte Was Here - Barbara Park
Total: 1 read
51 Summer of My German Soldier - Bette Green
52 The Upstairs Room - Johanna Reiss
53 When Dad Killed Mom - Julius Lester
54 Blood and Chocolate -Annette Curtis Klause
55 The Fighting Ground -Avi
56 The Things They Carried -Tim O'Brien
57 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor
58 Fat Kid Rules the World - K.L. Going
59 The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things - Carolyn Mackler
60 A Time To Kill - John Grisham
Total: 2 read
61 Rainbow Boys - Alex Sanchez
62 Olive’s Ocean - Kevin Henkes
63 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Ken Kesey
64 A Day No Pigs Would Die - Robert Newton Peck
65 Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
66 Always Running - Luis Rodriguez
67 Black Boy - Richard Wright
68 Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George
69 Deal With It! - Esther Drill
70 Detour for Emmy - Marilyn Reynolds
Total: 3 read
71 Draw Me A Star - Eric Carle
72 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
73 Harris and Me - Gary Paulsen
74 Junie B. Jones series - Barbara Park
75 So Far From the Bamboo Grove - Yoko Watkins
76 Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
77 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes - Chris Crutcher
78 What’s Happening to My Body Book - Lynda Madaras
79 The Boy Who Lost His Face - Louis Sachar
80 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Total: 1 read
81 Anastasia Again! - Lois Lowry
82 Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
83 Bumps In the Night - Harry Allard
84 Goosebumps series - R.L. Stine
85 Shade’s Children - Garth Nix
86 Cut - Patricia McCormick
87 Grendel - John Gardner
88 The House of Spirits - Isabel Allende
89 I Saw Esau - Iona Opie
90 Ironman - Chris Crutcher
Total: 2 read
91 The Stupids series - Harry Allard
92 Taming the Star Runner - S.E. Hinton
93 Then Again, Maybe I Won’t - Judy Blume
94 Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume
95 Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
96 Nathan’s Run - John Gilstrap
97 Pinkerton, Behave! - Steven Kellog
98 Freaky Friday - Mary Rodgers
99 Halloween ABC - Eve Merriam
100 Heather Has Two Mommies - Leslea Newman
Total: 2 read
Grand Total: 17 read
More great ideas for future book reads!!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
100 Books
According to A peaceful day, The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Look at the list and highlight those you have read.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Total: 6 read
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Total: 4 read
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Total: 6 read
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Total: 6 read
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Total: 1 read
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Total: 2 read
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Total: 3 read
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
Total 3 read
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Total: 3 read
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Total: 5 read
Grand Total: 39 read.
Some of these I read years ago so it was fun to think about them again, and now I have lots more ideas for future reads.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Total: 6 read
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
Total: 4 read
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Total: 6 read
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Total: 6 read
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
Total: 1 read
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Total: 2 read
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Total: 3 read
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
Total 3 read
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Total: 3 read
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Total: 5 read
Grand Total: 39 read.
Some of these I read years ago so it was fun to think about them again, and now I have lots more ideas for future reads.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Sunday Morning Reading
From the April 2009 General Conference talk "Unselfish Service" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks:
Elder Oaks is quoting C. S. Lewis, who said:
“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first—wanting to be the centre—wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake. . . . What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come . . . the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1980), 49; emphasis added)
Elder Oaks is quoting C. S. Lewis, who said:
“The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first—wanting to be the centre—wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake. . . . What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come . . . the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1980), 49; emphasis added)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Baby by Patricia MacLachlan
I read a beautiful book tonight . . . sad, but in a healthy, lovely sort of way. This book is filled with beautiful words, Patricia MacLachlan's, as well as others.
"It was quiet outside, warm and peaceful. No clouds cluttered up the sky. Lalo and I sat in the grass with Sophie, playing patty-cake.
'She knows how,' said Lalo with an amazed smile.
'All babies know how,' said Byrd. She looked at me. 'Someone who loves them always teaches them.' (pg. 24)"
"Most of all she remembered the man. His hands, strong, brown. She could feel the rumble in his chest when he held her, the sound of song coming up through him and surrounding her, making her smile. Even now she smiled at the thought of it. Sometimes in a crowd of people she would hear a voice, turn, look for him. It was not so much his face she looked for. it was his hands she remembered. (pg. 33)"
"All the world can be found in poetry. All you need to see and hear. All the moments, good and bad, joyous and sad. (pg. 61)"
" 'Poetry is just words,' I said.
'That's all we've got,' said Lalo.
I stared at Lalo. The rain came harder.
And when I left Lalo and ran up through the wind and ran to my house and opened the door, Mama and Sophie were at the kitchen table, Sophie covered with finger paint, her fingers squishing the red on the white paper. My mother turned, and on her face were tiny finger marks where Sophie had touched her. They had dried there as if she had left her marks on Mama forever. They both smiled at me, and Sophie reached out her hands to touch me too.
Ms. Minifred's wrong, I thought, as I left my slicker dripping in the hallway and went to join them. There are no words for this. (pg. 62-63)"
"They read books, Sophie talking and turning the pages and pointing. Byrd's voice was smooth, like the velvet of her hat.
'so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white chickens.'
'That's William Carlos Williams,' Byrd said to Sophie.
'She doesn't understand,' I said.
'She doesn't need to understand, dear,' said Byrd. 'She likes the way the words sound.' (pg. 80-81)"
" ' I love you Lark,' said Papa. 'I love you.'
'Love,' said Sophie, touching Papa's mouth.
I thought about that word, love, with Papa's arms around me. That word with a life of its own, traveling out over the town, over the water, out into the world, flying above all of us like the birds.
Love. (pg. 97)"
I have loved all the books I have read by Patricia MacLachlan. She has a powerful way with words. I love how this book has so many references to poetry of different time periods (How do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barret Browning to Fog by Carl Sandburg), as well as several songs that fit the story wonderfully. It has reminded me how much I love poetry.
"It was quiet outside, warm and peaceful. No clouds cluttered up the sky. Lalo and I sat in the grass with Sophie, playing patty-cake.
'She knows how,' said Lalo with an amazed smile.
'All babies know how,' said Byrd. She looked at me. 'Someone who loves them always teaches them.' (pg. 24)"
"Most of all she remembered the man. His hands, strong, brown. She could feel the rumble in his chest when he held her, the sound of song coming up through him and surrounding her, making her smile. Even now she smiled at the thought of it. Sometimes in a crowd of people she would hear a voice, turn, look for him. It was not so much his face she looked for. it was his hands she remembered. (pg. 33)"
"All the world can be found in poetry. All you need to see and hear. All the moments, good and bad, joyous and sad. (pg. 61)"
" 'Poetry is just words,' I said.
'That's all we've got,' said Lalo.
I stared at Lalo. The rain came harder.
And when I left Lalo and ran up through the wind and ran to my house and opened the door, Mama and Sophie were at the kitchen table, Sophie covered with finger paint, her fingers squishing the red on the white paper. My mother turned, and on her face were tiny finger marks where Sophie had touched her. They had dried there as if she had left her marks on Mama forever. They both smiled at me, and Sophie reached out her hands to touch me too.
Ms. Minifred's wrong, I thought, as I left my slicker dripping in the hallway and went to join them. There are no words for this. (pg. 62-63)"
"They read books, Sophie talking and turning the pages and pointing. Byrd's voice was smooth, like the velvet of her hat.
'so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white chickens.'
'That's William Carlos Williams,' Byrd said to Sophie.
'She doesn't understand,' I said.
'She doesn't need to understand, dear,' said Byrd. 'She likes the way the words sound.' (pg. 80-81)"
" ' I love you Lark,' said Papa. 'I love you.'
'Love,' said Sophie, touching Papa's mouth.
I thought about that word, love, with Papa's arms around me. That word with a life of its own, traveling out over the town, over the water, out into the world, flying above all of us like the birds.
Love. (pg. 97)"
I have loved all the books I have read by Patricia MacLachlan. She has a powerful way with words. I love how this book has so many references to poetry of different time periods (How do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barret Browning to Fog by Carl Sandburg), as well as several songs that fit the story wonderfully. It has reminded me how much I love poetry.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Recent Reads
Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones- sequels to Howl's Moving Castle. These were fun and entertaining overall. I was disappointed Howl and Sophie weren't the main characters and only featured in these tales, but you do still find out more about their lives together, and the books were good. Thumbs UP.
Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith- About a brother and sister who promise their dying father they will do all they can to overthrow the king, protect their lands from being taken or destroyed by the king, and one of them then ruling the country. These are told from the perspective of the sister. Okay stories. These don't fall into the predictable story mold of either of them becoming king or queen, but I can't decide if it was intentional or the story ran away from the author. But I did enjoy them. Thumbs UP.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (greek gods not athletes) 5 book series by Rick Riordan-- Because I'm #230 something for the last book I'll go ahead and review this series without knowing how everything turns out. Percy thinks he's a normal boy until he discovers his father is really Poseidon. Then he has to go to demi-god camp to learn about the new world that he must now join to protect himself. In each book he either goes on a quest or helps a friend with a quest to save the world from Kronos, the father of Zeus and the other gods, who was banished by Zeus long ago, but is now trying to take over again. Not being very familiar with greek gods didn't stop my enjoyment of these books, but I suspect more knowledge would help a reader pick up foreshadowing, etc. And there is an overall prohpecy involving Percy and other kids who are illegitimate children of the 3 big gods, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, that ties all the books together. The whole "illegitimate children" thing isn't "in your face," though Percy does deal with emotional issues about being abandoned by his dad, and not seeing or getting to talk with his dad much. Thmubs UP
Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde- love these and will probably blog more about them in future, but must now rescue Jolie from "crib of death" or so she probably thinks it is.
Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith- About a brother and sister who promise their dying father they will do all they can to overthrow the king, protect their lands from being taken or destroyed by the king, and one of them then ruling the country. These are told from the perspective of the sister. Okay stories. These don't fall into the predictable story mold of either of them becoming king or queen, but I can't decide if it was intentional or the story ran away from the author. But I did enjoy them. Thumbs UP.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (greek gods not athletes) 5 book series by Rick Riordan-- Because I'm #230 something for the last book I'll go ahead and review this series without knowing how everything turns out. Percy thinks he's a normal boy until he discovers his father is really Poseidon. Then he has to go to demi-god camp to learn about the new world that he must now join to protect himself. In each book he either goes on a quest or helps a friend with a quest to save the world from Kronos, the father of Zeus and the other gods, who was banished by Zeus long ago, but is now trying to take over again. Not being very familiar with greek gods didn't stop my enjoyment of these books, but I suspect more knowledge would help a reader pick up foreshadowing, etc. And there is an overall prohpecy involving Percy and other kids who are illegitimate children of the 3 big gods, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, that ties all the books together. The whole "illegitimate children" thing isn't "in your face," though Percy does deal with emotional issues about being abandoned by his dad, and not seeing or getting to talk with his dad much. Thmubs UP
Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde- love these and will probably blog more about them in future, but must now rescue Jolie from "crib of death" or so she probably thinks it is.
Friday, July 24, 2009
My Guilty Pleasures
. . . in the book world, that is.
I have been enjoying a NPR series this summer called My Guilty Pleasure- authors confess their literary (or not so literary) book loves. So I was thinking about myself, and what books would be my guilty pleasure, and I realized I'm addicted to Young Adult and Juvenile literature. Sometimes these books are Newberry books or they have won some other book award, but a lot of the time its just something I pick up that looks interesting. They are books I can read in a couple hours, enjoy for that time, and then move on. I don't plan on using these books for our home school, or even recommending them to other people, but I like them while I read them and then I'm done with them. A lot of the time these are like adult books, but with a PG or PG-13 raiting- romance novels without the sex scenes, adventure/war novels without the graphic violence, controversial themes without being personal, very little swearing, and so on. However, all this also makes these hard to review for this blog. I don't have a lot to say about them.
Recent reads:
Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman- Newberry Honor book, other books by Cushman that I have liked- The Midwife's Apprentice (Newberry Medal in 1996) and Matilda Bone. Rodzina also looks interesting.
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan- this book is about a homeschool family and I've read it over and over. Its also a Newberry Honor book.
And some other favorites that I read over and over because I love them so much, not because some stranger out there has declared they are of great literary value--
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books by JRR Tolkien
Chronicles of Narnia books by CS Lewis
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
Jane Austen's novels- Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Lady Susan.
Modern remakes of Jane Austen's novels- Pride, Prejudice & Jasmine Fields byMelissa Nathan is one I have and reread all the time. I just noticed Nathan has also written one call Persuading Annie which I'd like to read, as well as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies recommended by Jesse. Be careful with these modern remakes because some are R-rated or soft porn. Its a scary book world out there sometimes, and I don't mean the zombies.
So, what are your guilty pleasures?
I have been enjoying a NPR series this summer called My Guilty Pleasure- authors confess their literary (or not so literary) book loves. So I was thinking about myself, and what books would be my guilty pleasure, and I realized I'm addicted to Young Adult and Juvenile literature. Sometimes these books are Newberry books or they have won some other book award, but a lot of the time its just something I pick up that looks interesting. They are books I can read in a couple hours, enjoy for that time, and then move on. I don't plan on using these books for our home school, or even recommending them to other people, but I like them while I read them and then I'm done with them. A lot of the time these are like adult books, but with a PG or PG-13 raiting- romance novels without the sex scenes, adventure/war novels without the graphic violence, controversial themes without being personal, very little swearing, and so on. However, all this also makes these hard to review for this blog. I don't have a lot to say about them.
Recent reads:
Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman- Newberry Honor book, other books by Cushman that I have liked- The Midwife's Apprentice (Newberry Medal in 1996) and Matilda Bone. Rodzina also looks interesting.
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan- this book is about a homeschool family and I've read it over and over. Its also a Newberry Honor book.
And some other favorites that I read over and over because I love them so much, not because some stranger out there has declared they are of great literary value--
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books by JRR Tolkien
Chronicles of Narnia books by CS Lewis
Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
Jane Austen's novels- Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Lady Susan.
Modern remakes of Jane Austen's novels- Pride, Prejudice & Jasmine Fields byMelissa Nathan is one I have and reread all the time. I just noticed Nathan has also written one call Persuading Annie which I'd like to read, as well as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies recommended by Jesse. Be careful with these modern remakes because some are R-rated or soft porn. Its a scary book world out there sometimes, and I don't mean the zombies.
So, what are your guilty pleasures?
Saturday, July 18, 2009
More on Howl's Moving Castle
I stumbled upon the Wikipedia page for this book, and thought it was very interesting. I liked the section on hints given to Sophie about Calcifer and Howl's curse, as well as the section on the characters and timeline.
Wikipedia- Howl's Moving Castle (book)
I was hoping to find that there were more Howl books out there, but I guess House of Many Ways came out just last year. I guess I'll give some of Diana Wynne Jones' other books a try.
Wikipedia- Howl's Moving Castle (book)
I was hoping to find that there were more Howl books out there, but I guess House of Many Ways came out just last year. I guess I'll give some of Diana Wynne Jones' other books a try.
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