Stories by Guy de Maupassant (Favorites)

As I mentioned, Maupassant was a best-seller in his day. What makes his stories resonate with the modern reader is the attention to our own natural wants. Continue reading »

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

In the best-seller Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ, Daniel Goleman explores emotions and the cause of emotions from the perspective of physiology, psychology, and human and child development. While Emotional Intelligence helped me reconsider my default reactions and emotions in various situations, I can’t really say I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. As I listened, I often felt annoyed and/or bored by Goleman’s projections, explanations, and descriptions. Continue reading »

I’m Back and Book Miscellany

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown

I’m back from New Zealand! We had a wonderful time, enjoying the scenery of Fiordlands and Queenstown. Our 10-month-old loved the baby-unsafe hotel rooms, and he has been thoroughly spoiled with extra Binkie time and overall parental indulgence.

Thursday I had a few moments, so I logged in to Google Reader: more than 500 posts awaited me. I deleted some posts, bringing it down to 350. Yesterday I logged in again, only to find 520. Again, I deleted some and went to bed. This morning, there are again more than 500. I guess I don’t get any time off! Continue reading »

The Jungle Book(s) by Rudyard Kipling

The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling contain much more than the story of the adopted wolf-boy, Mowgli, who is probably the most familiar of Kipling’s characters.

Kipling’s Jungle Books are collections of stories about animals and people from around the world. Each story seems to be rooted in traditional facts about the animals and/or traditions, so they make for an interesting read. Some stories have fantastic, speaking animals; others are about people and superstition. Some stories take place in the Indian Jungle; others are in Eskimo North America or the deep seas of the Atlantic Ocean. As with his Just So Stories, Kipling has interspersed a poem or two before or after each story. Continue reading »

The What? When? Where? Why? and How? of Challenges

I’ve been thinking a lot about challenges in the book blogging community.  At some point, I may want to host a challenge, so I’m curious about preferences in the book blogging community when it comes to challenges. Continue reading »

Poetry Friday: If by Rudyard Kipling

I really like the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. It is an inspiration for all of us to be mature. It’s especially timely for me right now because I’m currently listening to the nonfiction audiobook Emotional Intelligence (by Daniel Goleman). More about that later… Continue reading »

Bookworms Carnival: You Are Never Too Old

The August Bookworms Carnival is up at The 3 R’s. This month’s theme is “You Are Never Too Old.”

I submitted my review of The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne.  I love Winnie-the-Pooh, and I look forward to rereading it many times with my son!

I also wrote a post recently about the picture book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I love that picture book!

I have also reviewed number of other children’s books and stories, but not all of them are books that I enjoy as an adult. View summaries of all of the children’s books I’ve reviewed on Rebecca Reads in the Child/Young Adult category.

I’m going to New Zealand for nine days! If all goes well, I have a couple of posts scheduled to appear. I probably won’t be visiting your blogs or responding to comments in the next few days. I’ll try to make up for it when I return!

Stories by Guy de Maupassant (Introductory Thoughts)

Image via Wikipedia

If Guy de Maupassant lived and wrote stories or novels today, his name would appear on The New York Times best-seller lists many weeks out of a year.

As it was, in the late 1800s, his stories were best-sellers from the time the first one, “Boule de Suif,” appeared in a collection with five other previously unknown authors, until he died, mentally ill, at the young age of 42 in 1893.

But don’t let the best-seller title sway you from reading Maupassant. I tend to avoid modern-day best-sellers because, in my mind, they are (stereotypically) not written very well. But that’s not the case with Guy de Maupassant’s stories: he writes incredibly well. Continue reading »

To Kill a Mockingbird, The Movie

Making a movie of To Kill a Mockingbird (reviewed here) was like killing a mockingbird: a sin.

In the beginning, I thought “Wow, this is bad; they should do a remake.” By the end, I decided that no remake could capture the beauty of the novel: any film is bound to fail. A picture is not worth a thousand words. Continue reading »

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

I was dressing my 10-month-old son on his bedroom floor the other evening when he started reaching up. I saw his fingers brush the edge of the orange cover of Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, which was on the edge of the second-lowest shelf. Once he was fully clothed in pajamas, I sat him up and pulled the book off the shelf.

“In the great green room,” I began, setting him on my knee.

He stopped squirming and clapped his hands together, ready for his story. Continue reading »