There are so many books tempting me, and I’ve decided to say “NO” to most of them. My reading is for me, and these are some things to make 2010 a rewarding reading experience. That said, there are a number of things I’m saying “Yes” to in 2010.

Monthly Project Books. Each month, I will have a “project” book to focus on. This will probably be a longer non-fiction book that I have been wanting to read for a long time and yet have always been intimidated by. It will probably be something I own, but it can be a library book. The subject and/or title of the project book will be decided the month before. There are to be no lists to choose from, because this is a project of “whatever I feel like reading this month.” I have plenty of such intimidating books taunting me from my stacks!

A Year of Classics. I want to focus on reading the classics. While there is of course a place for modern fiction and modern classics in my reading, I want to gain a better grounding in the Western classics in the coming twelve months. English and American literature is a key interest for me (and may form the basis of my “classics” reading), but European classics also tempt me and I’m completely unfamiliar with them. This year, I also want to have some experiences with a few non-Western classics. I’ll focus on classics both through my work with The Classics Circuit and with my monthly classics book group at the local library.

Forget-Me-Not (Forgotten-No-More) Genres. I want to remember the “forgotten genres”: short stories, poetry, and drama. My focus in the coming months will be poetry, as I reinstate my enthusiasm for reading through the HTR&W poetry list. However, I also want to try to reintroduce short stories into my regular reading, and get some drama read each quarter (especially at least one Shakespeare play each quarter).

No More Guilt. I will not feel guilty for not reading a modern novels, YA, or other “must read” books. I will not feel guilty for not commenting on blogs and/or reviewing my books in a timely manner. That said, I do hope to read an out-of-my comfort zone book each month, with at least one graphic novel a quarter. And I do hope to continue to find a balance between blogging and my daily life as a stay-at-home mom. Although I have been saying I’ve found “balance” for the last few months, it was only in the last few weeks, when I have blogging the bare minimum, that I realized how much I would like to continue to remain backed away from the web. I love blogging, I love the community, and I love writing about my reading. However, as a full-time mom, I have to make sure my little son is my priority. He’s getting so old so fast!

The Classics Circuit

I am completely delighted with the enthusiasm for The Classics Circuit. In 2010, it will continue to be a priority to me: before writing on my blog, before finishing challenges and/or read-a-longs, and before reading other blogs, I will be helping to coordinate the Classics Circuit. The idea is to get people reading and promoting classic authors. I love the “research” I find myself doing for this project, and I look forward to seeing where we go next. I hope to be a participant in the Circuit each month that we do it.

Readalongs

Woolf in Winter (January and/or February). Although the group is reading four Woolf novels, one every two weeks, I’m only committing to the first two right now. I’ve started Mrs. Dalloway (hosted by Sarah) and I’m not sure what I think yet. Next up: To the Lighthouse at the end of the month (hosted by Emily).

The Japanese Literature Book Group. While I am probably not going to be a full participant in this book group, the first read is The Housekeeper and the Professor on January 25. Since I want to read that book, I think I may try to slip it in this month!

Classic Reads: East of Eden (January and February). Two years ago, in January and February, I read East of Eden. I loved it and wanted to discuss it with other readers. Alas, no one I knew wanted to discuss it! By May, I’d decided to start a book blog so I could discuss any future reads. It seems appropriate that I revisit East of Eden now that I can discuss it with a group of fellow readers!

Lord of the Rings (February, March, April). I read the first volume of The Lord of the Rings while in college and I hated it with a passion. I’ll try it again in February and if I can stand it, I’ll continue for March and April. I did enjoy The Silmarillion in 2008, so maybe I just wasn’t ready for LotR at age 18. I didn’t like The Hobbit when I read it the first time in 2009, so I won’t be joining in for that in January (hosted at A Striped Armchair). February is The Fellowship of the Ring at The Literary Omnivore; March is The Two Towers at Shelf Love; and April is The Return of the King at Just Add Books.

Challenges

The Japanese Literature Challenge [ends 30/01/10]. 0/1. This ends at the end of January. I’ve been reading The Pillow Book and enjoying it, but it is a slow read. I also intend to read The Housekeeper and the Professor for the read-a-long mentioned above.

Really Old Classics Challenge [ends 28/02/10]. 2/4 + 0/1 retelling (In progress: The Pillow Book). This is my own challenge. Upcoming possibilities for the next two months:

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Beowulf
• The Aeneid
• War Songs by Christopher Logue (a retelling of The Iliad)

Women Unbound [ends 30/11/10]. 2/8. I’ve read two books for this already, and I’m kind of intending to just play it by ear and see which books I read fit it. That said, here are some books that have caught my eye.
Nonfiction:

• I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron.
• Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Hollaway.
• Wild Swans by Jing Chang. I’ve read this before, but I can’t recall the details. I remember really enjoying it!
• Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent.
• Woman: an Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier.
• Birth by Tina Cassidy.
• A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.

Fiction:

• Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I listened to the audio years ago but would love to revisit it.
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

Black Classics Challenge [ends 31/12/10]. 0/3 Although in my December in Review post the other day I’d indicated I would be reading seven books for this challenge, I’ve decided to back down and commit to 3. I don’t want to be over-committed with challenges this year. There are lots of works I’d love to read, though, so I’m looking forward to this project. Some options:

• Complete Writings by Phyllis Wheatley
• Collected Poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar
• Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
• My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglas
• The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. DuBois
• The Conjure Woman by Charles W. Chesnutt
• The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt

Graphic Novels Challenge [ends 31/12/10]. 0/4. This is another challenge that I just want to play by ear. Although the Intermediate level is 3-10 books, I’m aiming for one a quarter. Chances are great that I’ll stick to nonfiction. There are tons that stick out to me, such as the following two:

• Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species – a Graphic Adaptation by Michael Keller and Nicolle Rager Fuller (link goes to Nymeth’s review).
• The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Didier Lefevre & Emmanuel Guilbert

Our Mutual Read [ends 31/12/10]. 0/8. I have loved the Victorian novels I’ve read recently, for the most part. So I’m eager to get more of them read in the coming year. Here are some books I’d enjoy reading in the coming months, although I’ll may read different books besides these ones. Note that while the challenge is for an author of any nationality writing between 1837-1901, I want to stay with English literature for this challenge. (I’ll certainly have more to add to this list!)

• The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
• The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.
• The Way Things Were by Anthony Trollope.
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte.
• Silas Marner by George Eliot.
• The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot.
• Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
• Armadale by Wilkie Collins.

Nonfiction:

• Reader, I Married Him by Patricia Beer
• Victorian London by Liza Picard
• any other suggestions for books about the era?

Scottish Literature Challenge. 0/1. I don’t know yet what I’ll read. I’m waiting for Amateur Reader to post his list of ideas!

Personal Projects

My personal projects will be more of a priority to me in the coming year, particularly the HTR&W poetry project and novel project. It’s pathetic how I dropped it so easily. While I have been cured of thinking highly of Harold Bloom’s opinions, it still is my personal challenge to read the works on his list. I’m going to keep doing so, and this is my rededication to the project!

Further, I want to read more Nobel authors and a few Pulitzer novels. When I’m ready to read classics, my next read should more often than not come from the 101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers list, of which I still lack many works!

I’ve not been very dedicated to reading about the U.S. Presidents, so I plan on finished some more Abraham Lincoln books and maybe reading a few things by or about Obama. Also, I want to make some progress on reading about the presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In terms of children’s literature, I’m making good personal progress at reading the Caldecott Medal winners, but Newbery winners will probably be neglected for another year, as my son isn’t at that reading level yet and I’m just not interested right now. I hope to make actual progress at reading some of the historical literature as part of my My History of Children’s Literature Project. In the mean time, I hope to read my way through some of the active literature suggested in the ABCs of Literacy, which I finished reading recently and loved to pieces.

Is that enough of a deliberate plan for the coming year? I think so.

What are you planning, or are you reading through 2010 as it comes?

• January in Review: A Good Start to 2010
• February in Review and March Reading Journal
• November in Review + Reading Journal (2 Dec)
• Reading Journal (20 January): Distracted
• Reading Journal (27 January): Addicted
• Reading Journal (11 Nov): I Am a Quitter
• December in Review
• February in Review
• Reading Journal (18 Nov): Planning for a Quiet December
• Reading Journal (25 November): Unplugged Edition

“I think that would be a great book for you,” she said. (She, an English post-grad student, knew the book.)

I read it. Yes, there was a troubling scene in it. But the overall message of that book, and the overall impression I received after I closed it, was one that I still haven’t forgotten. I remember feeling strongly that others should read the book to get a sense of what it means to be discriminated against. Besides all that, I left feeling amazed at the power of a life where, even while she feels caged, even when she has been abused, Maya Angelou felt she had a reason to sing. I loved the book.

A few years later, as a junior, my English teacher explained that our next book would be The Catcher in the Rye, but if anyone wanted to select a different book, it would be fine. The mother of one of my friends (incidentally from my church group) told her daughter (whom I’ll call Jane) to read one of the other books. My mom, who literally hates Catcher, told me it was my choice. I read the book, and I loved it. I felt I had a friend in Holden Caulfield. (P.S. I just started rereading it and, um, I am not liking it so much I want to cry! What happened to my friend?)

When I was in high school, I did ban myself from media on one occasion. One of my history classes (I don’t recall which year) watched Schindler’s List and I felt very uncomfortable with it, so I sat in a different room during the three days of history class when they watched it. I don’t think anyone else sat out with me.

Did Jane miss out? Whatever book Jane read was probably good too. Sitting in a different class while we discussed Catcher probably wasn’t fun for her, but in the long run, it probably didn’t matter that her mother chose which book she should read. But then again, I don’t know Jane, so who knows if Holden would have been her friend, too?

Did I miss out on Schindler’s List?, I know I am personally most disturbed by graphics, movies, and anything visual. I never forget them. I suspect my 14- or 15-year-old self would have been quite disturbed. While I know Schindler’s List was probably a very memorable, touching movie to end our unit on the Holocaust, I don’t think I missed anything that I needed at that age.

And then the other question: Was I sidetracked from my conservative upbringing by reading books with “issues”? No. Really, reading Caged Bird was important in my understanding of the world. And I wasn’t going to start smoking and cussing because Holden did. I just related to his teenage angst because I apparently had plenty of my own angst. (P.S. I think this angst is why I dislike him so much now!)

What I loved is the fact that my teachers, while wanting us to read the books, still gave us the ultimate choice. What I love is the fact that my mom, knowing me, allowed me to choose for myself. What I love is that me, knowing me, chose not to watch that movie. It’s all about choice. Even though my mother hated Catcher and thought it be disgusting and pointless (and a little bit without morals), she still let me choose.

Incidentally, my mother is one that challenges books, but maybe not in the way you expect. One year, my brother came home with the following books on his reading list for the year: Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace, and The Catcher in the Rye. My mother was furious and went to school to complain. Her complaint? Every single book is written by a white male, about disturbed white teenage boys. Certainly, world literature can provide some more variety!

I personally don’t think it’s wrong to “challenge” book choice, especially those that are a part of the curriculum. Why, exactly, are these particular books required out of all that we have to choose from? Let’s question. But in the end, let’s allow teachers and teenagers to choose which books they will ultimately read. What was okay for me may have been disturbing for Jane.

I guess my Banned Book Week bottom line is that I will be forever grateful to my mother for letting me make my own choices. I personally feel sad to think that some moms are saying “no” to letting their high school-aged kids exercise their own gift of choice. At some point, mothers have to let go.

Of course, as a mom to a toddler, my “letting go” is a little different. This week, I’m realizing that yes, he really does want to read The Little Red Caboose five times every single night.

If I hide it on the top shelf for a few days, would that be banning it? Yes?

Ah, well, I’m starting small. OK, son, let’s go read it again.

Abandoned Books/Finished Reading

Each week, I mention the books I finish or abandon. I may finish Catcher this week!

• Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (215 pages; nonfiction in comic format). FINISHED! Also was new Library Loot.
• Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (187 pages; fiction). FINISHED! For Heather J.’s October read-along.
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (librivox.org audiobook, 27 segments, about 16 hours total; fiction). FINISHED! For the RIP IV Challenge.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (audio CD, 7 disks, about 7.5 hours total; children’s fiction). Returned. I was so excited to listen to this. Within about ten seconds after I started, the disk was all garbled and I couldn’t understand it. I decided I don’t have patience to listen to this book, considering Dracula took me over a month to listen to!

Currently Reading

Each week, I list my progress so I can see how my reading compares week to week.

My Books

These are the books I own that I chose to read this week.

• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (130 read of 190; children’s fiction). I am reading this aloud to my son at a very slow rate.
• The Stories of John Cheever (21 of 61 stories, 820 pages total; fiction/short stories). Part of my Pulitzer Challenge. I read one story this week.
• Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and Their Messages by Karen Lynn Davidson (70 read of 350/455 pages; nonfiction). So far, I’ve read the stories of 40 hymns.
• Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter by Seth Lerer (208 read of 330 pages; nonfiction). I read one chapter this week.
• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (75 read of 220 pages; fiction). For the Banned Books Challenge.

New Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

In addition to Understanding Classics, which I’ve already finished, I also got a few other books.

• Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda (324 pages; nonfiction). I picked this up to get ideas for The Classics Circuit. Make sure you submit your own ideas for future tours!
• Norton Critical Editions: Oliver Twist (fiction/nonfiction). This edition of Oliver Twist has analysis and criticism at the back of it.
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (25 read of 310 pages; children’s fiction). For the RIP IV Challenge. (See note about about garbled audio version.
• The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White (250 pages; children’s fiction).

Noteworthy Notes

I’ve been horrible at making notes of which books you’ve added to my list. So many more books have caught my eye than have been noted. I’m also still a day behind in my Reader.

Fiction

• Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris. Eva at A Striped Armchair liked this, although she thought there were some drawbacks.
• A Time of Angels by Patricia Schonstein. Eva at A Striped Armchair says, “It’s a fable-like story of Jewish emigres and their children in Cape Town post-World War Two.”
• Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. This week, both Eva at A Striped Armchair and Claire at kiss a cloud enjoyed this book.
• The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphey. Nymeth’s review got my attention.
• The Listeners by Gloria Whelan. 5 Minutes for Books and She Is Too Fond of Books both reviewed this picture book about the emancipation proclamation. Sounds great!

Nonfiction

• The London Scene, five essays by Virginia Woolf.  Eva at A Striped Armchair says, “Basically, Woolf walks around various parts of London and writes her impressions. It’s beautiful.”
• Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. Jenny at Shelf Love and Tara at Books and Cooks both reviewed this cooking memoir this week!
• Creating a World Without Poverty by Muhummad Yunus. Eva at A Striped Armchair recommends it. I still need a few more books for the World Citizen Challenge.
• A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong. Eva at A Striped Armchair liked it. I like myths, so it made the list.

• Reading Journal (23 Sept): The Classics Circuit
• Reading Journal (7 Oct): Books for Every Season
• Reading Journal (28 October): Thoughts on Read-a-thons and Eye Strain
• Reading Journal (July 8): The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Blogging
• Reading Journal (25 November): Unplugged Edition
• Reading Journal (July 1): Summer Reading
• Reading Journal (21 Oct): Victorian Second Helpings + Giveaway of an Abandoned Book
• Reading Journal (22 July): Reading as a Priority
• Reading Journal (10 Feb): The Joy of Reading Slowly
• Reading Journal (4 Nov): Reading Progress and Library Loot

I wrote it in response to Amy’s query on Twitter for what parts of book blogging are underrepresented. I said without hesitation, “Classics,” and I’ve been pondering that thought ever since. (This post is, therefore, rather long.)

The more I think of it, the more I believe classics are underrepresented on the web. My thoughts are these: For every classic reviewed on blogs, there are (at least) 10 ARCs reviewed. After all, those ARCs were free books, and the blogger has a schedule to meet in reviewing it.

I have strong feelings for how important classics are in our continued reading. True, some people just don’t like them, and I wouldn’t want to force the classics on someone. However, there is a reason they are still on our radar after 200 years: they’re usually pretty good, both in terms of how they are written and in how we can all relate to the stories. I don’t think people know what they are missing, now that they aren’t in school being encouraged to give something more challenging a try. Classics can be very rewarding.

ARCs and Blog Tours

Last week, I wrote about the history of my blog and what I’m hoping for. I mentioned ARCs and why I don’t read them. I said,

For me, reading is about the book’s impact on me. I don’t accept any ARCs because I am not interested in meeting someone else’s schedule or reading plan. Besides, Jane Austen and Mark Twain and company aren’t writing much these days.

I realize now that’s not true. It’s not “not wanting to meet a schedule.” Rather, I don’t accept ARCs because I don’t want to read the books that are offered on a schedule. That’s not the say the books are “bad,” and I don’t think blog tours are wrong. A blog tour is a great marketing chance for the lesser-known authors. Besides, those who read ARCs typically have great things to say about the books. They often love the ARC books they read. I personally am not interested. But blog tours get the books into the hands of those who want to read them, and get the word out to other, similarly minded people.

I personally don’t read a lot of modern fiction, and then I only read it when I really want to. All fiction ARCs (correct me if I’m wrong) are modern. If Victorian literature were being offered via the ARC method, I’d probably jump on the band wagon and read to meet a schedule.

So then the following comments came to my post:

Chris@bookarama: A blog tour for Jane Austen would be fun but yeah, not much new there. Plus I don’t think she needs any help.

Me: Chris, that’s such a great idea! We should start a “dead people’s blog tour” where we take a book (say Jane Austen’s S&S or something) and each do an author interview and review the book on a schedule…..sigh. Sounds complicated, and I couldn’t send you a free book. If only…

Eva: I LOVE the idea of blog tours for classic books Chris and Rebecca! If you ever start something like that, I’m completely in on it.

I don’t know how serious I was when I mentioned this idea, but the encouragement from Chris and Eva got me thinking. I’ve wished for something like this for a long time. But I don’t have a budget for buying myself books, let alone buying other people books. Besides, buying someone a book promotes a publisher, and a dead author blog tour would be about the words a dead person wrote, not about marketing a particular publisher’s publication of a book.

But the classics are easily accessible. Project Gutenberg has the etext for thousands of classics. And if someone doesn’t want to read an etext, local libraries normally contain at least one copy of a classic work.

Why NOT start a dead author blog tour?

It’s true that Jane Austen and the others probably don’t need our publicity. There are plenty of people out there reading the classics. But are they blogging about them?

Sometimes I wish that I saw “Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen” or “A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens” or something else (probably that I haven’t heard of) a bit more frequently on the Google Reader subject line in addition to these other, also wonderful, modern literature books.

Jane Austen does not have any new books this year, that’s true. But how many of us have read the classics and would love to share that love on our blog? How many of us really didn’t like a particular classic and want to explain why it should be taken out of the school classroom? Please note that I’m not saying a dead author blog tour needs to be full of only positive reviews. I, obviously, have a love for the classics, but my point is to get the titles out there. We could critique the classics just as we critique modern fiction.

The more I thought about a concept like this, the more I wished there was a way to promote the classics just as modern authors promote their books. These dead authors didn’t and can’t pay an internet promotion company to promote their books today. But I personally would love to be their advocate. And anyone who loves a classic by a dead author could nominate it for inclusion in a blog tour. You could be their advocate too!

The purpose of a dead author blog tour would be a little different than that of a “regular” blog tour. A dead author tour would highlight a classic text for other, similarly minded people. It would not be to help sell a book or promote a publisher. It would not provide the blogger with a free book for their shelf. The only reward a participant would have is an experience with classic literature, and a chance to be a part of a group of other classics readers.

How would it work?

There are lots of logistical problems with this concept. First of all, I’ve never been a part of a blog tour, so I have no idea how the “real” ones work. Second, would readers be motivated to post on a certain day without a free book to remind them?

One potentially good thing about a dead author blog tour (or a “classics blog tour,” whatever we want to call it) is that people may have already read the books. I think it would be fun to have such a “tour” open to all kinds of posts, including some of these things:

• For those reading it for the first time, general reviews of a book
• For those who have read it before, reflections on a first reading of a book
• Also for those who have read it before, comparisons of the book to the movie of a classic book
• Fake “author interviews” or “character interviews” where a blogger recreates what they think the author or character would say to questions
• Debates about the reasons a certain book is a school text or not
• Comparisons of a classic book to other favorites, new and old
• Anything else that celebrates a classic or otherwise advertises it for bloggers today

What I would love would be for a few people to take responsibility for a book. We’d “assign” a different day (or maybe a certain week) for each of those bloggers to post their thoughts about the particular book, whether that would be thoughts about their first read or other things about the book, as mentioned above. At the bottom of each post, we’d see a list of where the book is going in future “tour” days.

My dream is that this would allow bloggers to follow a chain of discussion through the blogosphere. Also, classic books will show up on Google Reader radar over a certain period of time, and classic authors will be celebrated more frequently on blogs along with the new books. Bloggers could be a part of an on-going discussion group about classic books.

Note: I’m currently (in this post) considering this as an idea for “dead authors” simply because there is no clear way to define “classics.” Anything written can be considered “classic!” “Dead” just seems to put a more reasonable limit on the idea. Besides, if an author is alive, they technically could pay for their own publicity. I’m talking about the dead people who may need a little help from beyond the grave to get on the web more frequently.

But I’m open to suggestions, and I could be persuaded in any direction. What do you think? How should “classics” be celebrated on the web? Would you ever participate? What books would you love to see promoted via such a tour?

And what would you call it? “Dead author blog tour” is a bit dense (a little morbid sounding).

P.S. Sorry for the double post today; I’m going to try to limit my posts as well as I can this week, but today I’d really like to get this out there.

• Why ARCs?
• If You Are Looking for Georgette Heyer….
• Reading Journal (23 Sept): The Classics Circuit
• Sick Day and Author Weekly Geeks
• A Ruined Author?
• September in Review
• Google Reader Overload! + Blog Thoughts + Memelet
• The Touchstone by Edith Wharton
• Reading Journal (20 January): Distracted
• Reading Journal (23 December): Holiday Reading

I spent a few nights just concentrating on architecture. First, I finished the last 60 pages (which took longer to read than I’d like to admit) of the book about the Chicago school, and then I started another book about architecture. I really like to look at a picture of a building and learn what it is about it that makes it so majestic or useful or beautiful. I like learning the technical terms.

And then I focused on John Donne. I’m still not done with Donne, even though I’ve finished the slim Barnes and Noble volume. I was all prepared to hate his poetry, especially after I found myself confused so often. I had to keep rereading a poem because my brain had just kind of glossed over it. And then I read the Divine Sonnets. Oh, I love that poet! I’m going to go back and read those sonnets again. Now I know what Helene Hanff (in The Duchess of Bloomsbury) was so interested in John Donne and his sermons. I loved the personal struggles he writes about as he tries to reconcile himself, a sinner, to God. I can relate. Those sonnets are so well done.

I finished a number of other books, but they weren’t intense books; I’ve been reading/listening a little every week. In the coming week, I look forward to finishing Gulliver’s Travels, which hasn’t been too bad stretched out, and starting Beloved, which is one of my favorite books. I’m feeling like focusing on fiction for a few weeks!

Do you focus your reading? What are you focusing on now?

I’m going out of town for Labor Day, and I don’t want to have posts going up when I’m not able to moderate comments and what not. Do you mind double posts in one day? I try to avoid them, but I’m afraid I’m going to have a book review backup during BBAW; I don’t want to clog your Google Reader that week! It may be a non-issue since I’m not sure I have time to post more than one post each day; I’m just curious what you think about double posts from the same blogger.

Finished Reading

See my notes by each book below.

• The Duchess of Bloomsbury by Helene Hanff (145 pages; nonfiction). FINISHED! The sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road.
• The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925 by Carl W. Condit (220 pages; nonfiction). FINISHED! I am seriously excited to go to downtown so I can see these buildings in person.
• The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (trans. Ivan Morris) (265 pages, plus 140 pages end matter; fiction). Returned unread. For The Japanese Literature Challenge. It’s with heavy heart that I return it unread. I really do want to read it, but I haven’t started in three weeks. I’ll have to request it in a few more weeks when I’m sure I’ll get to it! I will read it by the end of January, just not this month.
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (about 11 hours total, audiobook; fiction). FINISHED! For the Take a Chance Challenge, chance number 1, random book selection. My requirements: fiction audiobook section, second aisle, third column form the right, third shelf down, tenth book in from right.
• An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward (210 pages; nonfiction/reference). FINISHED! For The Spice of Life Challenge. I’ll review the book once I use it to help me sharpen my knives. Unfortunately, reading about sharpening knives is still pretty over my head. I’m still intimidated.
• The [Barnes and Noble] Poetry Library: John Donne (98 pages; poetry). FINISHED! My current poet. Still studying a little more, even though I finished this volume.

My Books

I’m excited to get in to Beloved this week.

• The Stories of John Cheever (20 of 61 stories, 820 pages total; fiction/short stories). Part of my Pulitzer Challenge. On hold for the next week.
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift (290 read of 355 pages; fiction). For My Children’s Literature Project. I’m aiming to finish the book this week.
• Beloved by Toni Morrison (25 read of 275 pages; fiction). For the Beowulf on the Beach Challenge, the Summer Lovin’ Challenge, and The RIP IV Challenge. I started this book last night and I am so excited to read it again! I love this book.
• Dracula by Bram Stoker (librivox.org audiobook, 27 segments, about 16 hours total; fiction). For the RIP IV Challenge. I just downloaded this yesterday, and I’m excited to start listening! Post on that challenge to come soon.
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (8 read of 190; children’s fiction). I just started reading this to my son.

Old Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

• Bloom’s Major Poets: John Donne (15 skimmed of 110 pages; nonfiction/critical analysis). To help me make sense of Donne’s poetry.
• The Soul of Wit: A Study of John Donne by Murray Roston (220 pages; nonfiction/critical analysis). To help me make sense of Donne’s poetry. Not begun.

New Library Loot

I got a few new books this week.

• Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning by Mark Hamilton (50 read of 140 pages, plus 50 pages of notes; nonfiction).  As I read about Chicago architecture, I felt a curiosity to learn about early Mormon architecture (like the style of the Salt Lake Temple). I skimmed some of the early material on city planning, but the architecture info is fascinating to me.
• Gulliver’s Travels: The Politics of Satire by Ronald Knowles (150 pages; nonfiction/literary criticism). To help me in my reading of Swift.
• Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels: Modern Critical Interpretations edited by Harold Bloom (195 pages; nonfiction/literary criticism). To help me in my reading of Swift.
• Twentieth Century Interpretations of Gulliver’s Travels edited by Frank Brady (115 pages; nonfiction/literary criticism). To help me in my reading of Swift.
• Bloom’s How to Write about Toni Morrison (200 pages; nonfiction/literary criticism). I may skim the section on Beloved.

Fantastic Finds

In addition to the books I mention below, I’m working on my RIP list. I’ll share soon. Most of the nonfiction came below from various searches for specific books.

Fiction

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. Life is a Patchwork Quilt read this and compared it to the movie. I liked the movie, and she liked the book better than it, so I should give it a try.
• if nobody speaks of remarkable things by Jon McGregor. Julia at Echoes of Narcissus says it is “simply beautiful — it makes you think in poetry.”
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. book I done read thinks her younger self would have loved it even more.
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. Nymeth’s new favorite Atwood.
• After by Amy Efaw. Amanda at the Zen Leaf could just keep gushing about this YA novel about a pregnant teen.
• Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Lezlie at Books N Border Collies found this classic easily accessible

Nonfiction

• The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby. Lezlie says it’s an interesting book about “the reading life, what it’s like to be a dedicated reader.”
• Writing Chicago: modernism, ethnography, and the novel by Carla Cappetti. Found on LibraryThing search.
• Encyclopedia of the Chicago Literary Renaissance by Jan Pinkerton. Found on LibraryThing search.
• Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City by Tristram Hunt. Recommended by Jason of 5-Squared.
• The Great Equations: Breakthroughs in Science from Pythagoras to Heisenberg by Robert P. Crease. I saw this on a library shelf and don’t want to forget about it. I don’t know much about math, and this looks like it’s at my level.

• Reading Journal (2 Sep): Vacation Prep
• Reading Journal (19 Aug): Miscellany
• Reading Journal (July 1): Summer Reading
• Reading Journal (June 10): Book Clubs
• Reading Journal (29 July): Summer Mode to Blog Reading
• Reading Journal (12 Aug): You Know You Have Been Reading Too Much When…
• Reading Journal (16 Sep): What is Rebecca Reading?
• Reading Journal (5 August): Library Loot
• Reading Journal (22 July): Reading as a Priority
• Reading Journal (June 17): Reinforcements

And yet, there are so many things I want to talk about.

I want to talk about how I finally caved in. I joined twitter. Do I really need to be online any more than I already am?! Is this really necessary?

I want to talk about how I got all warm and happy when I saw that I’ve been nominated for several BBAW awards. I felt like all the hard work is worth it! I know I am one of many, but I still feel all good inside: someone likes my blog! Enough to nominate me! Me! Thank you so much. It has given me such a feeling of confidence to know that my blog isn’t silly.

I want to talk about how reading everyone’s posts about classics for the Really Old Classics Bookworms Carnival I hosted yesterday was so much fun because it reminded me that there are people who still read the classics and like them! All those books I talked about yesterday? I want to read them. Now. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be so widely read? But not only that: I want to be able to converse about them. I want to be a deep reader too. I want to sit down with John Donne and the commentary about his poetry and I want to understand.

I want to talk about experiencing classics over the course of a few weeks, rather than hours.  While I enjoyed my July filled with modern fiction, I’m getting back into a classics mood. I spent almost a month listening to The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, and it was fun to have that complicated mystery to look forward to. It was a pleasure. Now I’m reading Gulliver’s Travels at about the same pace (although it’s shorter, so I read less every week). While Swift is definitely not as fun, it’s still a relief. I can’t describe why reading a classic feels like a relief, it just does. It’s great, and stretching it out makes it real and physical, rather than a by-passed pleasure. I’m not reading to turn pages. I’m reading to read.

I want to talk about how much fun it is to read nonfiction. The knife book I’m reading is giving me all sorts of great pointers for kitchen skills and safety, and the architecture book I’m reading is, while it may be over-my-head in many points, absolutely fascinating. I find myself browsing the web for additional pictures of these old buildings that are just gorgeous, even more so now that I know how revolutionary their building was 120 years ago.

I want to talk about how I cried when we said good-bye to Pooh again this week, and how when I put down the book and wiped away my tears, my son looked up at me and said, “More? Pooh?”

So I guess what I’m saying is, I want to focus on what I’m reading in these Reading Journals. That means I guess I’ll have to do the other stuff – memes and what not – in separate posts. I love my reading.

What do you want to talk about this week? What are you reading? Do you twitter?

Finished Reading

See my notes by each book below.

• 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (95 pages; nonfiction). FINISHED! I also watched the movie. For the Take a Chance Challenge, chance number 10 book/movie comparison. I won’t review this until I’ve also finished the sequel.
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (librivox.org audiobook, 38 segments, 25.5 hours total; fiction) FINISHED! Downloaded via Librivox.org. Lots of fun.
• The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (180 pages; children’s fiction). FINISHED! Reread; I still love this book!

My Books

I’m not making huge progress on the books I own: library due dates call me.

• The Stories of John Cheever (20 of 61 stories, 820 pages total; fiction/short stories). Part of my Pulitzer Challenge. I’ve stalled on this; I just have so many other things on my plate. My goal is still five to ten stories a week.
• The [Barnes and Noble] Poetry Library: John Donne (42 of 98 pages; poetry). My current poet. I’ve also stalled on this. No progress this week. Maybe as soon as I finish Architecture.
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift (177 read of 355 pages; fiction). For My Children’s Literature Project. I finished part two (of four), and I’m aiming to finish part three this week. Taking this in small doses (10-20 pages a day, a few times a week) is smart.
• Beloved by Toni Morrison (9 read of 275 pages; fiction). For the Beowulf on the Beach Challenge. No progress this week. I’ll restart this when I get some other things finished.

Old Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

• The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925 by Carl W. Condit (145 read of 220 pages; nonfiction). So fascinating. I can’t wait until I go down town to Chicago so I can see these buildings in person.
• An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward (140 read of 210 pages; nonfiction/reference). For The Spice of Life Challenge. I am reading about 10 pages a day when I can. I really need to improve my knife skills. This week, I learned that my cutting boards are a big place for germs to grow.
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (on disc 6 of 11, about 11 hours total, audiobook; fiction). For the Take a Chance Challenge, chance number 1, random book selection. My requirements: fiction audiobook section, second aisle, third column form the right, third shelf down, tenth book in from right. This is okay, but not a favorite, especially due to the subject matter.
• Bloom’s Major Poets: John Donne (110 pages; nonfiction/critical analysis). To help me make sense of Donne’s poetry. Not begun.
• The Soul of Wit: A Study of John Donne by Murray Roston (220 pages; nonfiction/critical analysis). To help me make sense of Donne’s poetry. Not begun.
• The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (trans. Ivan Morris) (265 pages, plus 140 pages end matter; fiction). For The Japanese Literature Challenge. I’m skimmed a few pages, and I’m eager to read this!

New Library Loot

I got a new books this week.

• The Duchess of Bloomsbury by Helene Hanff (120 pages; nonfiction). The sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road.

Fantastic Finds

Oh dear. I finished three books and added another 17. Do you see my dilemma?

• Emily at Evening All Afternoon ponders writing about reading.
• Book-a-rama wonders: What is YA?

Fiction

• Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie. Amanda from The Zen Leaf didn’t love the illustrations to this graphic novel but did like the sense of place. I do like the illustrations so it already looks good to me!
• The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. Jason at 5-Squared says “the mere experience of having it flood over you feels powerful.” That’s why I like poetry!
• Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart. I know I added this to my list the other week, but Amanda’s conflicted thoughts intrigued me more.
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Raych at books I done read once again wrote a compelling review that makes me want to read this book.
• Jeeves in the Morning by P.G. Wodehouse. I’ve never read about Jeeves, I don’t think. Steph’s review encourages me to do so.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I listened to the audiobook of this years ago, but Nymeth talks about the interesting dialect speech, and I wish I’d read it in print. Time for a revisit?
• Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi. Amanda at the Zen Leaf liked this as she did Persepolis. I liked Persepolis too, so maybe it’s time to revisit this graphic novelist.
• Jabberwocky reminagined and illustrated by Christopher Myers. Jessica at the Curious Reader points to an illustration of the Jabberwocky that retells it like as a basketball tale. I’m excited to read this! I love poetry interpretations like this!
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Julie at 5-Squared shares some great insights in to the book, other than the meat packing descriptions are disgusting. Those disgusting parts have always turned me away from this book, but it sounds like so much more.
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Lula at 5-Squared says, “Everyone should read it at least once. Keep the headache medicine close though.”
• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Claire at kisss a cloud has some interesting insights on this one. I have it on this year’s TBR.
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Foer. Sophisticated Dorkiness loved this look at a boy dealing with his father’s 9/11 death. I’m not sure it’s for me, but I may have to look at it some day.

Nonfiction

• Nineteenth-Century Mormon Architecture and City Planning by C. Mark Hamilton. Found via Amazon search.
• How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built by Stewart Brand. Found via LibraryThing search.
• A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia McAlester. Found via LibraryThing search. A book to browse, not read cover to cover.
• How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch and Poet’s Choice by Edward Hirsch. Valerie at Life is a Patchwork Quilt says the second is probably more accessible to the poetry amateur. I’ve had the first on my TBR for the year, but still haven’t gotten to it.

• Reading Journal (26 Aug): Focused Reading
• Reading Journal (June 10): Book Clubs
• Reading Journal (12 Aug): You Know You Have Been Reading Too Much When…
• Reading Journal (2 Sep): Vacation Prep
• Reading Journal (22 July): Reading as a Priority
• Reading Journal (10 Feb): The Joy of Reading Slowly
• Reading Journal (July 1): Summer Reading
• Reading Journal (17 March): Happy St. Patrick’s Day
• Reading Journal (23 Sept): The Classics Circuit
• Reading Journal (5 August): Library Loot

I have enjoyed reflecting on my bookish thoughts, especially since I didn’t have many reviews to post. At the same time, it made my month very full of non-review posts. (In total, I had 10 non-review posts versus 10 review posts, although two of the reviews were for the same book and one was a summary of a few children’s books.) I have a goal of having more review posts than non-reviews, so I don’t want that overabundance of book talk to become a habit!

Do you mind non-review book talk? Do you have any content goals for your own site? Although I try to remind myself that my books blog is for my personal development, I do often consider the readers and the book blogging community. And I fear I am boring the readers I do have.

It may be a moot point. I’m hoping July is full of “lighter” reads, and so I’ll have more reviews than I did in June. I’m going to take things easy (other than finishing The Arabian Nights). I’m looking forward to this new adventure in reading.

As always, thanks for reading along with me.

Fiction and Nonfiction Reviews

In June, I reviewed a few things I read in May:

• Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (drama).
• Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald (children’s fiction)
  • Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
  • Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
  • Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Magic by Betty MacDonald

I also finished the following:

• Nineteen-Eighty Four (1984) by George Orwell (about 9 hours, equal to 370 pages; fiction) began in May
• Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg (80 pages; poetry)
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo (167 pages; fiction)
• Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts (audiobook, on 6 discs, about 6 hours; nonfiction).
• The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy  (906 pages; fiction)  read in May and June
  • The Man of Property
  • In Chancery and To Let
• Chicago: Then and Now by Elizabeth McNulty (150 pages; nonfiction/coffee table book) I skimmed this book; it has lots of pictures.
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaeffer and Anne Burrows (275 pages; fiction)
• The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P. Huntington (320 pages; nonfiction). read in May and June

Children’s Projects

As a part of my history of children’s literature project, I reviewed some Robinson Crusoe Adaptations for Children (including a detail page for anyone interested). I also read a number of picture books, which I didn’t review.

Other Posts

• May in Review (in which I reviewed May’s reading)
• Bookworms Carnivals (in which I told you about the Books about Books Carnival)
• Reading Journal (June 4): Reading More than One Book at a Time
• Reading Journal (June 10): Book Clubs
• Reading Journal (June 17): Reinforcements
• Bloggiesta! (opening post)
• Bloggiesta! Progress (closing post)
• Reading Journal (June 24): Learning to Read Better
• The Spice of Life Challenge introduction
• My Spice of Life “Feast”: A Pool of Possible Books to Choose From

Challenges Update

Past and Finished Challenges

Once Upon a Time III Challenge: The Journey (until 20 June 2009). 12/1 FINISHED! I really enjoyed this. Although I only was going to read one item, I read many more! I read Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino; The Green Knowe Chronicles by L.M. Boston (six children’s books); Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald (three children’s books) ; The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi; and Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault. It was surprisingly easy to read twelve fantasy books in three months, especially when most were children’s books.

Martel-Harper Challenge (until 30 June 2009). 1/2 NOT FINISHED. I studied Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare in depth, but I haven’t yet finished The Good Earth, which is my current audiobook. This challenge repeats every quarter, though, so I can finish it and count it for 3^rd quarter. If you haven’t checked out Martel’s list lately, you may be surprised by the variety; he adds to it every two weeks, so the reading list just keeps getting longer. It’s now 59 books long.

Reading with Kids Challenge (until 30 June 2009). FINISHED! I had a lot of fun reading with my son. Although I stopped counting my minutes after April, I’m sure we read more than we did before these three months. Reading is a habit, and he looks for and loves books. I’m amazed at how interested he is when I pick up a book to read to him. Even though he doesn’t always appear to be paying attention and he’s playing, when I stop reading aloud, he stops playing, looks at me, and says “More?!” (Especially with Winnie-the-Pooh, this month’s full-length book.)

New Challenges

Summer Lovin’ Challenge (until 22 September 2009). 0/3. I plan on rereading three favorite books. I could just keep adding to this list! I love rereading books. Here are some options, all from my own shelves:

• Beloved by Toni Morrison. It’s been five years since my last reread, and this used to be my favorite book. Ever.
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I haven’t reread it since college. I loved in high school; I liked it in college; I wonder what I’d think now.
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman. This book is just fun, and I love the movie as well.
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I enjoyed this when I was in high school, and wonder what my adult thoughts are.
• The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. When I first read it, I told myself I’d reread it in a few years and probably enjoy it more. It’s been more than a few years.
• Wit by Margaret Edson. This play was great the first time I read it.

Martel-Harper Challenge (until 30 September 2009). 0/2. I plan on finishing The Good Earth and then reading The Doors, a collection of poetry by Margaret Atwood. But, I may read a completely different option instead, depending on my mood.

Take a Chance Challenge (until 30 November 2009): 0/10. I’m not very daring in my reading choices. With summer, though, I’m looking to read some lighter novels, and I thought I’d take a chance as I do so. I hope to do at least two of these random book selections by November. (Click on the link for more details.)

The Spice of Life Challenge (until 31 December 2009): 0/8. I am joining my own challenge for “a feast.”  I want to read and review at least eight books, with at least one in each category. See my post of choices here.

Everything Austen Challenge (until 31 December 2009): 0/6. Read or watch six Jane Austen-themed items, be it the original Austen works, movies, or biographies of the author herself. I’m going to play it by ear and hopefully have fun. I like how watching movies counts for this challenge!

Challenge Progress

Some projects appear on more than one list because part of the challenge is timed, but the overall project is not. I’ve made a note if I’m currently reading a book that applies to a particular challenge. I realize this looks insane. I’m probably not going to get everything finished, though, and I’m okay with that!

Timed Challenges

• Really Old Classics Challenge (until 31 July 2009). 4/5 (The Arabian Nights)
• Beowulf on the Beach Challenge (until 7 Sep 2009). 0/1
• Summer Lovin’ Challenge (until 22 Sep 2009). 0/3
• Martel-Harper Challenge (until 30 Sep 2009). 0/2 (The Good Earth)
• Take a Chance Challenge (until 30 Nov 2009). 0/10
• 9 for 09 challenge (until 27 Dec 2009). 3/9
• BiblioShakespeare Challenge (until 31 Dec 2009). 3/6
• Dewey’s Books Challenge (until 31 Dec 2009). 3/5
• Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge (until 31 Dec 2009). 5/10 (The Words We Live By)
• Everything Austen Challenge (until 31 Dec 2009) 0/6
• Science Book Challenge (until 31 Dec 2009). 0/3
• The Spice of Life Challenge (until 31 Dec 2009). 0/8
• World Citizen Challenge (until 31 Dec 2009). 5/7

Personal Projects

• HTR&W project: poetry. 0/21 poems
• Nobel Challenge. 13/101 authors (Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth)
• Pulitzer Challenge. 10/82 (The Good Earth)
• Newbery Medal. 28/88
• Caldecott Medal.  36/72
• My Children’s Literature Project. 6/15 chapters
• U.S. Presidential Reading. 2/44 presidents
• Presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1/15 presidents
• My Short Story Author Project.
• My Poets Project.
• Favorite Authors to Read.

Classics/Must Read Lists

• Beowulf on the Beach Challenge . 15/50
• 101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers. 42/101
• Martel-Harper Challenge.  17/59 (The Good Earth)

• July in Review
• May in Review
• December in Review
• September in Review
• Reading Journal (June 17): Reinforcements
• Reading Journal (June 10): Book Clubs
• Reading Journal (June 24): Learning to Read Better
• August in Review
• January in Review: A Good Start to 2010
• November in Review + Reading Journal (2 Dec)

I don’t usually write up a post for each new challenge I join; I just put my pool of books on my current challenges page. But, as I’m running the Spice of Life Challenge, I hope my list of hopefully delectable books will tempt you to join.

There are three levels of participation: “A Taste” (read just two books in any category); “A Sampler” (read four books, one in each category”); and “A Feast” (read six books from at least three categories).  To sign up, get some more information here.

Below, then, is my personal pool of books from which I will chose between six and eight for this challenge. These are just the ones I’m most likely to pick up in the next six months; there are dozens more I’d love to get to, of course. I posted a few much longer lists on the challenge site (link to by clicking the picture).

Recently Read

I’ve read and/or reviewed a few books in the past that you may enjoy too. In my pre-book blogging days, I reviewed The Elements of Cooking by Michael Ruhlman, so my review is in a different format. I really enjoyed the essays the beginning of the book best, and I appreciate the glossary at the end. I should revisit it. I also reviewed Ruhlman’s memoir of attending the Culinary Institute of America. Since he is a journalist, it’s a completely different type of perspective. A nonfiction book I read recently (Hunger: An Unnatural History by Sharman Apt Russell) details what happens when we don’t eat; it was an easy-to-read approach to a difficult subject. What the World Eats was also an interesting cultural look at what people in various countries eat in one week.

As for fiction, I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, which is a fun novel about books. A key part of their book club is food, however, so it would fit for this challenge. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens also has a turkey dinner as a key element in it. Those are just two examples: any book with a major food or eating element (or lack of food problem!) would count.

Cookbooks

• The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters. I got this for Christmas and I’ve been dappling in it since then, but I’d like to write up some thoughts about it.
• Rachael Ray’s Big Orange Book: Her Biggest Ever Collection of All-New 30-Minute Meals Plus Kosher Meals, Meals for One, Veggie Dinners, Holiday Favorites, and Much More! by Rachael Ray. I enjoy the simplicity of her meals whenever I watch her show, so I think I should visit a book of just her recipes!
• Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Giada De Laurentiis. I love Italian food. Giada kind of bothers me on the show for some reason, but I do enjoy her simple recipes. I may like her better when I’m just reading her recipes.
• Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Molly Katzen. This sounds like so much fun! My son likes to “help” in the kitchen, and while he’s still too young (20 months) to really be much help, I look forward to nurturing that interest.
• How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman. Bittman is pretty thorough, I’ve heard, so I may give him a try. Since I’m an amateur, I like the idea of a “how to” book with the recipes.
• The Way to Cook or Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking or Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. To be honest, I hardly know anything about Julia Child. At this point, I don’t think I’m up to Mastering the Art of French Cooking but I’m willing to look at some of what Julia Child has done.

Nonfiction

Reference/How  To Books

• The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity by Karen Page. I won this from Bermuda Onion at the beginning of the year, and while I’ve browsed through it, I haven’t yet sat down and written out my thoughts on it.
• Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman. I really enjoyed Ruhlman’s past contributions to my cooking reference library, and this one sounds incredibly useful for understand the science behind cooking.

• What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained by Robert L. Wolke.  I’ve tried to read On Food and Cooking, and I have a hard time with the technical terms. I’ve heard this is an “easier” starting point. It’s scientific and yet approachable and conversational.
• Herbs & Spices: The Cook’s Reference by Jill Norman. This sounds incredibly useful; I have a lot to learn about how spices can make a dish. This particular volume gets high ratings on LibraryThing.
• On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. I’ve started it many times, but never gotten through it. It’s more of a reference book, rather than a sit-down-and-read-it book.

History/Science of Food

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. A look at where our food comes from. I’m scared to find out.
• Much Depends on Dinner: The Extraordinary History and Mythology, Allure and Obsessions, Perils and Taboos of an Ordinary Meal by Margaret Visser. This is another look at the history of where food comes from and the social aspects of dinner.
• Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. I’ve had this book on my list for years.
• Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient by Jennifer McLagan. I’d be interested in how fat is “misunderstood.”

• Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner. There are dozens of books about various different spices, but this one sounds comprehensive, to include many spices.
• Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World’s Favorite Flavor and Fragrance by Patricia Rain. I love vanilla. It smells and tastes so good!
• Six Thousand Years of Bread: Its Holy and Unholy History by H. E. Jacob. A history of bread in its cultural context. Apparently, it’s a bit dated, but it still interests me.
• The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. An evolutionary-organic look at plants that we eat.

Memoirs, Autobiographies, and Essays

• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg. I’ve got a hold request at the library for this; I’m just waiting for someone else to return it! I enjoy reading Molly’s cooking blog, Orangette. She writes with such ease about how food is a part of her life. Plus, her story is an interesting one: writing a cooking blog led her to her husband!
• The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher. I’ve wanted to read Fisher’s collected essays for a long time, but I’ve never gotten to it. Maybe if I start with a slimmer volume, I’ll get inspired. One LibraryThing reviewer says this one is a memoir told through food. It’s also one of the most highly rated Fisher collections on LibraryThing. But I’m open to suggestions: is there a better volume of M.F.K. Fisher to begin with?
• Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell. I admit that I’m actually mostly excited about the upcoming movie; I’ve heard Julie’s book is a bit irreverent and crude, which may not be my thing. But still, it’s the principle of the project that gets me excited: she determined to cook all of the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And she did it!
• My Life in France by Julia Child. Because Julia Child’s life is the inspiration for Julie Powell’s experiment, this seems an appropriate book to read too. I know, I’m going about it backwards.
• Heartburn by Nora Ephron. I’ve never read any of Ephron’s essays, but I’ve heard they are great. This collection is about her pregnancy – when she found out her husband was having an affair.

Fiction

• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I’ve heard so much about this book.
• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway. There’s debate about whether this is a novel or a memoir of Hemingway’s life in Paris. He said we’re free to consider it fiction!
• The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. Sounds like a fun, light read.
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. Sounds like another fun, light read.
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. A mystery; despite the title, I’m not sure it has much to do about food. I guess I’ll find out!
• A Feast of Words: For Lovers of Food Fiction by Anna Shapiro;  Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating from Classic Fiction by Sean Brand; Kafka’s Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes by Mark Crick. These books all define classic novels by their food. I look forward to seeing literature through the perspective of the food in them.

Reading through this list of all those books I want to read makes me sound really obsessed with food. Really, I’m not. I simply try to cook healthful, delicious food for my family. I like food and I like cooking food, and I look forward to reading about it without guilt!

I think this challenge will be lots of fun, and I do expect that reading about food and cooking will help me be more aware of what I’m eating.

Do you want to join the challenge? Join here.

Do you write “start of challenge” posts? Do you read other people’s “start of challenge” posts?

I kind of would like to start doing so, but I have so many “administrative” posts, I’m afraid the book reviews will get lost in the midst of them all!

• A Bite of the Spice of Life (Two Books by Julia Child and Too Many Cooks by Emily Franklin)
• The Spice of Life Challenge
• The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters
• A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
• The Elements of Cooking by Michael Ruhlman
• An Edge in the Kitchen by Chad Ward
• Pretend Soup by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson
• The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
• Reading Journal (4 Nov): Reading Progress and Library Loot
• Reading Journal (28 October): Thoughts on Read-a-thons and Eye Strain

How can I really “read” a book, even fiction, to get something out of it?

I decided to treat Bloom’s book as a textbook as I read through the works on his list, in search of the answer to that question. The How to Read and Why Reading List can be found here; all posts on Rebecca Reads relating to HTR&W can be found on the HTR&W tag.

Since I have now finished the short story portion of the HTR&W challenge, I thought I’d take the chance to revisit the project itself.

Falling Out of Love

At this point of my project, I am rather irritated at Bloom’s book. I mentioned at the beginning of this project that I was to treat him as a professor that I may disagree with. Well, I think there is a reason professors are only “your professor” for a semester: Bloom becomes rather annoying when I refer to him every month. (Note I’ve still only read through page 69 at this point; yes, after nine months.)

Part of the problem is that as he discusses his favorite short stories, he really is pompous in his assumptions and generalizations. And yet, I am still glad I chose to read his favorite short stories. They were all good in their own way. I appreciate some of Bloom’s thoughts, but at other times he becomes irritating. For example, he tends to defines a short story with one meaning; did he not say himself in his introduction that no one meaning can be assigned to a work? Each reader brings his or her own history to a book. He seems to forget his own advice as he pontificates on the stories that he considers grand.

All the same, for various reasons, I intend to continue my project in the coming months as I experience poetry, novels, and drama following Bloom’s lists. I choose Bloom’s list as an amateur reader; now that I have been blogging for a year I realize that there are many books out there that provide “Lists of Books You Should Read.” Why I chose Bloom’s book over another is a matter of timing and chance, I guess. I was moved by his preface, and in that respect, I’m still glad I chose this list as a project. Besides, it has a balance of short stories, poetry, novels, and drama, both new and old. It seems somewhat balanced to me.

I am learning a lot: but I am learning from the works themselves and not from Bloom. Isn’t that the point of this self-imposed project?

A Difficult Pleasure

In his prologue, Bloom calls reading, “the search for a difficult pleasure” (page 29). That is, by far, my favorite phrase as applied to reading. I thought about that as I struggled through The Iliad this year (thoughts here). I am thinking of that phrase now as I reread Jane Eyre (and forcing myself to slow down and enjoy the long descriptions and beautiful language). And I certainly thought about that as I read the short stories on Bloom’s list.

Many of the short stories were not favorites, but some were. I loved reading Chekhov (thoughts here and here) and Maupassant (thoughts here and here). Nabakov’s powerful writing astounded me (thoughts here). I reread Flannery O’Connor’s complete short stories (thoughts here) and I got something different out of her stories than I did before (probably a lot more since I read the stories first in high school!).

There were a few short stories I didn’t enjoy. Ernest Hemingway was challenging for me (thoughts here), and  Borges (thoughts here), Landolfi (thoughts here), and Calvino (thoughts here) were far out of my comfort zone. I didn’t feel like I “got” the stories. But as I read them, I appreciated them despite not liking them.

Timing is Everything

As I recall all of the things I read, I am struck by the timing of my reading them. I mentioned this in my post about Calvino: I think one must approach certain books at the right time in life.

I read two Ivan Turgenev’s stories (thoughts here) first. I didn’t appreciate them. I thought they were slow and dull. But I soon after read Chekhov and loved the three stories so much I read an entire collection of 25 stories; some of those were probably equally dull, and yet I gave them a chance because there were by an author who had written some stories that I had enjoyed. And in the end, I enjoyed the Chekhov stories despite the “dullness.”

I wonder: if I revisited Turgenev now, after reading so many other stories, would I appreciate them more? How much more would I appreciate his stories if I read them in another two or three years?

I feel the same way in the timing of my reading Borges, Landolfi, and Calvino. They were odd to me. Bloom puts the short stories he recommends into two categories: “Kafka-esque”/”Borgesian” and “Chekhovian.” I most certainly preferred the realism of the Chekhovian tradition. And yet, looking at the “Borgesian” stories, I wonder: if I revisit them in ten years, would I appreciate them more? At some point, it may be nice to step outside of the ordinary and visit the fantastic, imaginative worlds created by these very good short story writers.

I just am not there yet.

Bloom says himself:

[T]he best of [short stories] demand and reward many rereadings. (page 65)

I think that is something I do agree with, and that is why I plan to revisit all of these someday (yes: all of them). I truly loved Chekhov and Maupassant and Nabokov; maybe in the future I will come to love Borges and Calvino too. And even “boring” Turgenev.

What book do you think you should revisit some day because you read it at the “wrong point” of your life?

Reading Against the Clock

I still really like Bloom’s prologue the best of all of How to Read & Why that I’ve read: he reminds me that we “read against the clock” no matter what we choose. I only have a limited number of years to read, and this year/week/month/day has limited time in it in which to read. Choosing to read a book means I’m choosing not to read a different book. In the past year since I began blogging, I’ve become much more selective as to which books I pick up. I like that.

Part of that is, I think, book blogging. Because so many people are praising so many different books, my TBR has expanded 100-fold. I must make choices and it’s ended up okay. I still enjoy blogging and reading is still feeling rewarding.

At the same time, I  do think I’ve become a bit too “fast” in my reading. Because “timing” of reading a book makes a difference, I want to make sure I don’t rush through it. It is always hard to go back and reread when there is so much left unread! I should every book the benefit of the doubt on the first read by slowing down.

I feel good about what I choose to read; therefore, I should slow down and enjoy it.

How do you choose what to read? Is book blogging helping or hindering your reading goals?

Short Stories To Be Continued

I really enjoyed my foray into short stories, thanks to the HTR&W project. And yet, I think that Bloom missed a lot of great short stories. While I was reading Bloom’s list, I also read James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, Hawthorne, and O.Henry. I have decided I want to read many more short stories.

I plan on keeping track of my search for perfect short stories on this page.  I liked how I focused on authors by reading a collection by the authors during the HTR&W project, and I may continue to do so; or, I may read short stories and review them as individual stories.

Who are your favorite short story authors? Which are your favorite short stories?

• HTR&W: What Is a Short Story?
• HTR&W Prologue: Why Read?
• The Student by Anton Chekhov: A Perfect Short Story
• Two Stories by Turgenev
• Stories by Ernest Hemingway
• Challenges, A Personal Challenge, and a Giveaway!
• The What? When? Where? Why? and How? of Challenges
• How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster
• Stories by Anton Chekhov
• HTR&W Winner + BAFAB Week

From the beginning, however, I’ve found Bridget to be annoying. While I loved Elizabeth Bennett, Bridget just seems whinny. Besides, with a large prevalence of crude language, this really is not my type of book. Further, I often have found that modern day “chic lit” stories are more entertaining as 2-hour movies, not as 300-page novels. There have been some amusing references to Darcy and Pride and Prejudice but I don’t think I can stomach any more of this novel in order to get to the happily ever after. If I ever feel curious again, I’ll watch the movie.

There are too many copies on Bookmooch for me to get it off my shelf, and I’m sure there is someone out there that wants to read it, crude language and annoying, whining Bridget notwithstanding. Therefore, I’m happy to send it to a randomly selected person.

Leave a note in the comments if you want to be entered for the drawing. I’ll select a winner in a few days.

Have you read this book or watched the movie? Does the crudity bother you? Why or why not?

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Reading Journal (21 Oct): Victorian Second Helpings + Giveaway of an Abandoned Book
• The Joy of Audiobooks
• My Life, According to Literature
• Abandoned Book: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• The Book That Changed My Life, edited by Roxanne J. Coady and Joy Johannesson + Giveaway
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Jane Austen: A Biography by Carol Shields, a Quote Book, and a History of England
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

But I won’t be reading poetry (which I should since I wanted to do a few different “poetry” posts this month). I won’t be reading anything for my “challenges”, despite the fact that I keep signing up for more.

No, I’ll be rereading a book.

When I made up my list of books for college-bound students I was struck by one that I read first in middle school, Jane Eyre. I haven’t read it since middle school. So I decided it was time for a reread.

I am loving every minute of it. I stop and reread passages again and again. It may take me a while at this rate. But I don’t want it to end.

It’s just a reminder to me that this is what reading is meant to be about. Yes, there are places for the challenging books. I’ll still get to my books of poetry and about poetry eventually. Although those books may be challenging to read, they are worthwhile in my personal development

But I should also read for the joys of a comfortable book. So I’m off to Jane Eyre again tonight.

Do you reread books?  Why or why not? What do you read when you’re nursing a cold and not in the mood for a challenge?

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• How to Read and Why: Short Stories Retrospective
• Thoughts on Blogging and Reading + HTR&W Giveaway Reminder
• Reading Journal (June 17): Reinforcements
• Trends in Reading
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• My RIP List for a Lifetime
• Reading Journal (July 15): Movies of Books

Years later, in the 1930s, one publishing novice was inspired when his three-year-old tossed a picture book into the bathtub, which destroyed it, of course. He reflected at the time that

given the wear and tear to which children naturally subjected all their belongings, lower-priced books might be greatly appreciated by parents. (p 29)

Such are two very small stories illustrating how (and why) Golden Books roared to life in 1942. In Golden Legacy, Leonard Marcus shows how the development of Golden Books changed the face of children’s book publishing forever because of resourceful people who thought outside the box. For the first time, children’s books were 25 cents, and not $2 or $3. Instead of buying just one book, parents bought twelve. Children had many books at their disposal, and The Poky Little Puppy has since been the best-selling children’s picture book of all time.

Golden Legacy details the history of Golden Books, the authors, and the illustrators that thousands of people grew up with. I admit, somewhat embarrassingly, that I don’t recall reading many Golden Books as a child. I didn’t read even The Poky Little Puppy until I was an adult and then I found it rather annoying (*gasp* sacrilege!). Therefore, in that respect, I’m completely the wrong audience for Golden Legacy because I don’t have fond glowing memories of the golden edged books in my hands as a youngster. (The “golden age” of Golden Books was the 1940’s and 1950’s.)

But Golden Legacy provided, for me, so much more. It details the history of the publishing company (of various names) that published Golden Books through the years, and it even more interestingly detailed children’s publishing in general. I learned how stereotype in illustration became a problem for the company, and illustrations were adapted or redone in the face of civil rights. Finally, in a fascinating way, I learned how children’s books got into the hands of children – and how and why they became best sellers because of marketing and low price.

I was delighted to see just how children were the true winners. Children’s books had previously been sold just during the holidays, and now they were sold year-round. Children’s books previously had been limited to very nicely bound, expensive books, and now some had affordable prices. Children’s books were previously screened by librarians and reviewers, and now they were best sellers despite the reviewers’ disgust.

And yet, as I read, I realized why best sellers are best sellers: marketing. Little Golden Books were placed on display with a very low price tag. Parents bought all twelve rather than stand in the store debating the merits of each of them. It was marketing genius.

Side note/rant: No wonder the Golden Book illustrators and authors became eager to separate and make a name for themselves outside of the Golden Book brand. If I understand correctly, Little Golden Books do not state the author and illustrator on the cover because the authors and illustrators were a part of a company-owned guild, writing and illustrating books as assigned. If I were an author, I’d want a name for myself because of my merits, not because I was on a “cheap” display. On the other hand, they now have recognition, and maybe knowing your books are owned by thousands of children is enough of a reward for them. Another side note: Now I want to read Leonard Marcus’s history of American children’s book publishing, Minders of Make-Believe.

I, for some reason, did not grow up with Golden Books – probably because my family frequented libraries rather than purchasing books and because I was a few decades past the “boom.” But some people grew up with them and found them to be full of life-changing lessons.

Did you grow up with Golden Books? Which was your favorite?

It is wonderful to have more and more books for children – and I love how Golden Books were taking children’s needs into consideration when they found subjects and a market for books. And yet, I think I would purchase the more expensive book if it has better illustrations and story (which is not to say that Little Golden Books don’t). What book do I want to be reading over and over again?

What do you think about the marketing of children’s books? Do you specifically look for the highly recommended books, or do you go for the ones on display? Does it matter what children are reading as long as they are reading?

Golden Books on the web:

• Visit today’s publisher of Golden Books, Random House
• Collect Little Golden Books

Other Reviews:

• New York Times

If you have reviewed Golden Legacy on your site, leave a link in the comments and I’ll add it here.

• A Caldecott Celebration by Leonard Marcus
• The End of Publishing?
• Pat the Bunny and Other Interactive Books for Kids
• Personal History by Katharine Graham + Why I Love a Great Biography
• Booking Through Thursday: Manual Labor
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
• The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty MacDonald
• On Writing by Stephen King
• My Life, According to Literature

The Book that Changed My Life is a collection of essays by writers, and since I don’t often read modern fiction, I didn’t expect to recognize many of the authors highlighted, much less did I expect such a variety of classics and modern classics highlighted as favorites. Yet, both fiction and nonfiction authors share the books that influenced their life, from Julius Caesar to Mary Higgins Clark.

I loved the short insights into other’s lives. It reminded me of the blogging world: we all have different upbringings, different histories, and different lives, and so we all are influenced by books in different ways. I appreciated most what Billy Collins said (in what I thought was the best essay of the book):

The opportunity to single out a book that “changed my life” makes me realize that no book leaves us unchanged, for better or worse. Why read otherwise? Even to be bored is to be changed. (page 51)

This is how I feel about reading. I love the experience, even when the books bore me!

In the end, I added five books to my “To Reread” pile (because some deserve rereading again and again) and 23 to my “to be read” pile (seven or eight were unofficially already on my list because of various awards). Did I really need that? *Sigh.*

I read The Book That Changed My Life for the Dewey Decimal Challenge and for the Dewey’s Books Challenge.

The Book that Changed My Life

Beloved by Toni Morrison

I must have been 14 or 15 when my mother, an English post-grad student, shared Beloved with me. Reading Beloved changed my life. After reading Beloved, I was convinced that I didn’t need (or want) young adult novels anymore.

For the first time, the characters in a book I read were confusing and complex. The plot was intricate — and it all meant something so grand that I couldn’t put into words. It was painfully violent to read, and yet I wanted to keep reading. I loved the characters and cried for Beloved and for Sethe. I related somehow to Sethe’s pain. The cruelty of slavery seemed real to me in a way that nothing in a novel had ever seemed.

This is not a story to pass on.

I wanted to keep this powerful novel to myself. Reading it, I wanted to absorb it all at once. And yet, I couldn’t. I needed to talk about it, to dissect it, to read it again and again. And I have.

It’s now been four or five years since I discussed Beloved in a college setting and wrote [pretty poorly written] essays about it. It’s been so long since I’ve reread it that I have a hard time recalling specific plot details. And yet, I know that it was Beloved that changed the course of my reading away from the easy, young adult fiction and toward reading that sometimes feels like a “difficult pleasure.” I loved the fact that reading Beloved was difficult! It showed me a new way to read. And that, by extension, is a new way to live.

Now I feel I must reread it.

What book changed your life? If you want, answer this question on your own blog (like a meme). Link back here (or let me know), and I’ll include a link here.

• Possession by A.S. Byatt (Amanda)

Giveaway

I have a like-new copy of The Book That Changed My Life that I’d like to give to a reader of Rebecca Reads.

If you’d like chance to win a copy, please tell me in the comments. I’ll select a winner randomly next week.

ETA: Giveaway has ended.

Other reviews of The Book That Changed My Life:

• Age 30+ A Lifetime of Books
• The Hidden Side of a Leaf
• Things Mean a Lot

If you have reviewed The Book That Changed My Life, leave a link in the comments and I’ll add it here.

• A Stop in South Africa (Two Novels by Alan Paton) + Giveaway
• Really Old Classics Mini-Challenge + Giveaway
• Reading Journal (21 Oct): Victorian Second Helpings + Giveaway of an Abandoned Book
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman + Giveaway (Used Book)
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• TBRs and Other Lists
• A Meme, A Farewell, and A Giveaway Winner
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Jazz by Toni Morrison

Eva at A Striped Armchair created a fun meme about the books on our bookshelves.

The book that’s been on your shelves the longest: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, which was a tenth birthday gift.

A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time, etc.): Beloved by Toni Morrison, which I read for the first time in high school. I always think of my mother, an English teacher who helped me see that reading good literature is delightful, even when challenging. Even though I haven’t loved Beloved as much on subsequent reads, I still think of my mother and that time of discovering literature.

A book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used bookstore, prize, etc.):  Since I started blogging, I’ve won at least a half-dozen books! My first win was a two-for-one: Memoirs of a Geisha and Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton from Maw Books Blog. (I still haven’t read either yet, but I’ve been hearing lots of good things about Memoirs of a Geisha, so it may be coming soon!)

The most recent addition to your shelves: I discovered a used and new bookstore this Thanksgiving. It was so much fun choosing books. I bought Gone with the Wind, The Complete Stories of John Cheever, The Fixer by Bernard Malamud, Pale Fire by Nabokov, and Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, among others. (None were more than $3.)

The book whose loss would traumatize you the most: I don’t think I’m all that attached to the physical books I own, as much as I love them and enjoy owning them. I can get any of them again, if need be. That said, I really like the Everyman’s Pocket Poets editions. I only own one (Wordsworth) but I love the feel of it and I’d be sad to lose it.

A book that’s been with you to the most places: The only book I’ve taken with me to six continents (Africa, Middle East, Europe, Australia, North America and South America) would be the scriptures, I suppose due to limited packing space on most occassions.

A bonus book that you want to talk about but doesn’t fit into the other questions: My favorite book to reread has to be To Kill a Mockingbird. I love that book so much!

Farewell

I have only been blogging for a few months. Nonetheless, Dewey of The Hidden Side of a Leaf has been a great influence on me as I discovered the wonderful book blogging community through the Bookworms Carnival, Weekly Geeks (which I participated in sporadically), and other community building formats.

Unfortunately, Dewey passed away last week. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. Although I never met her in person, I feel a connection to her through the books she shared. Her presence in the book cyber-world will certainly be missed!

A Winner

Dewey’s last post was about the spirit of giving this season and about all the books she intended to give away. While Dewey is no longer able to do so, I’m going to do my part and giveaway some books in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

To begin, the winner of my lightly used copy of The Planets is Amanda!  I’ve sent you an email; please send me an address to send it to.

• Harry Potter Giveaway Winner
• Like Water For Chocolate Winner!
• The Book That Changed My Life, edited by Roxanne J. Coady and Joy Johannesson + Giveaway
• My First Year of Blogging: A Contest with a Giveaway
• Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner
• BBAW Meme + Thanks for the Nominations
• Blogging as Storytelling and Blogging Tips from an Unprofessional
• Doomsday for My Book Sources
• HTR&W Winner + BAFAB Week
• Reading Journal (21 Oct): Victorian Second Helpings + Giveaway of an Abandoned Book

But I feel I can’t write a post about Nabokov (even his short stories) without mentioning another work by this author that I probably don’t even need to name.

After all, twice in the past month I mentioned that I was reading Nabokov’s short stories, and the comment was one of these two reactionst:

“Yuck! I tried to read Lolita once … I couldn’t handle it!” [grimace, and frown]

“That porn author, right?” [look at me curiously]

I haven’t read Lolita. But those that have studied it (such as Thomas Foster) or read it (some other bloggers) seem to indicate that:

1. It’s not a porn novel: it’s about a man in love. It just happens that he fell in with a 1512-year-old girl who is his step-daughter.
2. It’s beautifully written and well worth your time because it is well written.

I can appreciate those thoughts. I can also appreciate people concerned by the underlying theme of it. I haven’t read it, so I really can’t comment on Lolita.

But I can tell you that I loved Nabokov’s short stories. It’s probably wrong to say that Nabokov’s reputation was ruined: many, many people still read his works every year. But the image associated with his name, at least among those I talked to this month, is pretty badly “tarnished.” I imagine people hesitate to pick up his stories, if they know what Lolita is about.

I think it is a shame that people might avoid Nabokov’s incredible writing because of the stigma associated with his most well-known novel. After all, this man wrote 17 novels, as well as short-fiction, drama, biography, and literary criticism. That’s a lot of writing. If the other works are as good as his short stories, they deserve to be devoured by bibliophiles.

And, while I really can’t tell you which books I will read next, I will tell you I plan to read more of his writing. It’s good.

I’m hoping I’ll convince you to read his stories by my post tomorrow.

There are so many reasons why authors are unfairly ignored: negative publicity, one novel that just wasn’t good, one novel that is over-praised, etc.

What writers do you think have been “ruined” unfairly?

• How to Read and Why: Short Stories Retrospective
• Celebrating the Classics: A Dead Author Blog Tour? (An Idea)
• HTR&W: What Is a Short Story?
• Thoughts on Blogging and Reading + HTR&W Giveaway Reminder
• Sick Day and Author Weekly Geeks
• HTR&W Preface and A Challenge

The subtitle is “A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines” and I think that is pretty accurate. Foster’s tone is light, amusing, and engaging as he reminds of the various recurring themes in literature. But his point is that such themes are not random guesses by your literature professors; he argues that the subtle messages and subtle references to other works of literature really just makes literature fun.

I studied English in college, but it’s now been five years since I sat in a class and listened to a professor “explain” a novel or play or story. At the time, I loved to have literature “opened up” for me. I spent four years in college figuring out how to do so. Now, it’s been five years since I thought that way. I’ve been reading just for each book’s story, but I know I’ve been missing things. Reading Foster’s book reminded me that no story written is truly original: the underlying themes have all been said before. Reading, though, should be a mini-quest to find the underlying themes and symbols. They’re there, and many aspects of the novel (or play or story) subtly hint to them. Our job, as readers, is to make the connections.

Foster’s book obviously lacks a lot; there is no way that in 300 pages he can cover all the themes that every piece of literature is based on. Some of the aspects of this book that for me were negative could be positives for you. For example, it carries a conversational tone that made it pleasant for a quick read, but such a tone may bother some readers interested in a more scholarly or serious approach to literature. He references both modern literature and classics; I would have preferred more focus on the classics. He focuses pretty exclusively on symbolism and themes; I’d have liked to learn more about other aspects in literature.

But his book covers many essentials. As I read, I wanted to go back and reread Hemingway’s and James Joyce’s stories: when I read them recently, I knew I was missing something, but I didn’t know where to find it! Considering how much I disliked Hemingway’s stories when I read them, it’s saying something that I now want to revisit him. Foster (re-)convinced me that reading literature and finding common themes can be very fun!

Memorable Quotes

Associate freely, brainstorm, take notes. Then you can organize your thoughts, grouping them together under headings, rejecting or accepting different ideas or meanings as they seem to apply. Ask questions of the text: what’s the writer doing with this image, this object, this act … Reading literature is a highly intellectual activity, but it also involves affect and instinct to a large degree. Much of what we think about literature, we feel first. (page 106)

…[H]ere is where I envy you. If you are a professor, you have to deal with some pretty unsavory characters and some questionable works. If you only want to read like [a professor], you can walk away whenever you want to. (page 234)

…[I]n fact literature is chiefly play. If you read novels and plays and stories and poems and you’re not having fun, somebody is doing something wrong. If a novel seems like an ordeal, quit. (page 284)

Compared to HTR&W

Reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor after (or rather, in the midst of) reading Harold Bloom’s How to Read and Why also made me wish I wasn’t so quick to adopt Harold Bloom’s book as my guide to reading well. Foster’s book convinces me that there are many “guide books” out there to help me learn to read well, which is my purpose to approaching the How to Read and Why reading list. I intend to pick up some other “how to read” books, for further ideas. (Can I tell you how much I like the LibraryThing recommendations and reviews?)

Harold Bloom’s book has a different purpose than Foster’s: Bloom is sharing what he thinks is great literature and why it is great to him. I really appreciated Bloom’s introduction, preface, and prologue to his book and his emphasis on what he thinks is the purpose of reading. But back in June, some people commented that they had the impression that Bloom is, well, somewhat of an ass. After reading some of his explanations of the literature he so worshipfully recommends, I’d kind of have to agree. That said, I’m still grateful for Bloom’s extensive reading list, and I still intend to finish the short stories, poems, novels, and plays he recommends. I’m just adding to that list.

Foster’s book, on the other hand, shares and dissects the themes and symbols that underscore many of the stories, plays, and novels we come across every day. And recognizing such themes is something I would love to be able to do: it’s just a matter of reading more. Click here for some of the books Foster recommends.

If you have reviewed How to Read Literature Like a Professor on your site, please leave a link in the comments, and I’ll add it here.

• A Striped Armchair
• Jackets and Covers

• The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
• The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
• How to Read and Why: Short Stories Retrospective
• Robinson Crusoe Adaptations for Children
• HTR&W Prologue: Why Read?
• Stories by Vladimir Nabokov
• Stories by Tommaso Landolfi
• Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales
• Speak, Child: The Illiad as the Infancy of Children’s Literature

My husband says I’ve been working on reading lists more than I’ve been reading lately. But that’s not true because I read a lot in October! Most of my posts were reviews of books I read.

In November, I’m not going to try so hard to make sure I have “X” posts a week: I’m going to get back to reading.

Lists

I’ve organized my fiction lists here, and I know I’ll keep adding lists. So far, I’ve got lists for the works in How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom, various “really old classics,” the Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists (for novel/fiction), the Nobel Laureates in Literature, and the Booker Prize winners and shortlisted authors.

I have probably a hundred nonfiction books on my “to be read” list as well, but I’m not going to post that, at this point, because my “up next” nonfiction book changes depending on my mood!

For each list, I link to any reviews that I’ve posted on Rebecca Reads. I want to have my reading progress up with my reviews and other reading stuff; I realize that most people don’t care which of the hundreds of winners I’ve read or not.

Challenges

As for my challenges, in 2008, I’ve done pretty well thus far.

I wanted to finish the HTR&W short stories in 2008. But I’ve begun reading other short story writers in between, so I still have three and a half of the HTR&W short story authors to go: I’m in the middle of Nabokov’s collected stories, Borges (which I want to read in Spanish), Landolfi, and Calvino. I’ll try for one short story author a month (Nabokov in November, Borges in December, etc.). I’ll move on to HTR&W poetry, then, in March. All posts relating to HTR&W here.

I’ve read one Really Old Classic (Hippolytus) and I’m in the midst of the first Iliad translation. I hope to finish the Fagles and the Lombardo translations before the end of the year. (I also read Aesop’s Fables before the challenge began.) I plan on reading The Odyssey and The Aeneid in the first half of 2009.

This year, my goal was to read five Pulitzer Prize winners (of fiction). I’ve read four (March, Interpreter of Maladies, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Age of Innocence); I’ve also read two nonfiction Pulitzer winners this year: Katharine Graham’s autobiography and The Complete Maus. I still want to read one Pulitzer Prize of fiction winner in 2008. I was waiting for A Good Scent from Strange Mountain from Bookmooch, but it still hasn’t come. I may read Angle of Repose or The Old Man and the Sea. Or maybe I’ll reread Beloved; there’s been a lot of blog talk about it lately.

My goal was also to read five Nobel Laureates of Literature. I’ve read five authors, but one was before blogging, so I didn’t really write a “proper” review. They were the following: a non-review of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories and The Jungle Book(s), Winston Churchill’s speeches, Ernest Hemingway’s stories, and J.M. Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K. I’m not sure which author I’ll try next: as I said, I may reread Toni Morrison’s Beloved or read Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. I also have two long memoirs/histories by Winston Churchill, but I’m not ready to dive into them yet. I’m very interested in reading more Steinbeck and Coetzee; I’ve also never read Albert Camus and I’ve read a few reviews of his works lately.

I joined the Graphic Novels Challenge half way through the year, so I only had to read three graphic novels. I’ve read four, although two almost count as one (Persepolis and Persepolis II, The Complete Maus, and Palestine). I haven’t decided to join the challenge for next year, but I do have three more graphic novels on my “I want to read” list.

I have not given myself a goal to read the Booker Prize winners; I’ve only read a few on the list at this point, and I don’t even know if I like that type of modern fiction. But I wanted a list of the winners where I can keep track of them all the same. I have Possession, The Blind Assassin, and Atonement coming to me from Bookmooch as I speak, so I may read them in the coming months. (I had to return the other copies to the library.)

I just joined the Martel-Harper Challenge. More here.

I’m also joining the Winter Holiday Reading Challenge hosted by Book In Hand. I’m going to read two of Dickens’ holiday works: A Christmas Carol and The Life of Our Lord, a short and mostly unknown account of Jesus’ life that Dickens wrote for his children one Christmas.

Jealousy

Sometimes I start to feel rushed, like I need to finish my books right now! Can I turn the pages faster so I can get to the next book?! But then I realize that I have an entire life to cherish the written word. If I live to be 80, that is another 52 years for me.

Sure, at some point my children will take up more of my time. I’ll go back to work. I’ll lose my eye sight. But that’s still a lot of time to develop my mind.

I read Someone’s blog and discovered that this Someone was 18 years old. I was insanely jealous: I’m a decade older and I’m just barely starting to organize my reading so that I actually feel like what I’m reading has a purpose. This person has 10 more years of life to enjoy books.

And yet, I know that the last ten years of my life were great, even though I didn’t feel compelled to read everything in sight.

Am I weird or do you also get jealous of readers? How do you keep from feeling the “rush” to finish a book? How do you savor the joy of reading?

• Ongoing and Personal Challenges – 2009
• Challenges, A Personal Challenge, and a Giveaway!
• The What? When? Where? Why? and How? of Challenges
• Blogging Awards
• HTR&W Winner + BAFAB Week
• How to Read and Why: Short Stories Retrospective
• Spooktacular Winners
• Moments: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs by Hal Buell
• The End of Publishing?

See, Canadian author Yann Martel (of Life of Pi fame) was watching Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a function and started wondering what the prime minster reads.

I tried to bring him close to me with my eyes. Who is this man? What makes him tick? No doubt he is busy. No doubt he is deluded by that busyness. No doubt being Prime Minister fills his entire consideration and froths his sense of busied importance to the very brim. And no doubt he sounds and governs like one who cares little for the arts. But he must have moments of stillness. And so this is what I propose to do: not to educate – that would be arrogant, less than that – to make suggestions to his stillness.

So Martel sends the Prime Minister a book every two weeks. He writes a very interesting letter with each book explaining the political or emotional reasons why he, Martel, has selected the particular book. I think it’s a fascinating concept. And Martel has selected a fascinating list of books. Visit What is Stephen Harper Reading? for the reading list (updated every two weeks) and copies of Martel’s great letters. Stephen Harper’s office sent a form letter response for the first book only.

Dewey has started a challenge for us to read just two of the books from the list each quarter.

See what I’ve read, with links to any reviews, on this page.

I’m going to keep this challenge easy this quarter. I will probably reread Jonathon Swift’s A Modest Proposal (which I read in school years ago) and probably Ayn Rand’s Anthem (which I read for a book club years ago and which I rediscovered post-move); however, after this review of Animal Farm, I may reread that instead. This will change, of course, if Martel sends a “Christmas-y” book in the coming six weeks; in which case I’ll read that.

Incidentally, what do our presidential candidates read? There is an interesting article in the Sunday New York Times Book Review about presidential reading. Check out the Amazon list of the candidates current reading choices here.

What book(s) would you send your political leader to read?

• Martel-Haper Challenge (2009 3rd Quarter)
• Martel-Harper Challenge (2009 2nd Quarter)
• Martel-Haper Challenge (First Quarter 2009)
• Martel-Harper Challenge Reviews (2009 2nd Quarter)
• Martel-Harper Challenge Reviews (2009 1st Quarter)
• Martel-Harper Reminder (2009 1st Quarter)
• Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
• A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

I was interested, then, to read in chapter two (“Ingenuity and Authority”) of Seth Lerer’s Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter that Aesop’s fables differ markedly from generation and generation. The history of Aesop’s fables (the Aesopica), then, illustrates how the translators changed the message of a translated text, especially in literature for children. This prompted a question: How are the authors’ purposes and translators’ objectives subversively included in modern children’s literature, and does it matter?

Fables as Nursery Lessons

Fables, Lerer explains, were (and are) the child’s first “lesson in the arts of the literary imagination” (page 37).

[Fables] take parts for wholes, draw on particulars for generalizations, make mute creatures speak. Their status in the nursery or in the classroom rests not simply on moral or didactic goals, but on their metaphorical enchantment. … the heart of the Aesopic fable is a form of impersonation: of animating the inanimate, of turning abstractions into realities. (page 37, page 38)

Even the most original of the Aesopica had some didactic goals. Lerer explains that “Aesop became a touchstone for an understanding of life itself” (page 38), and Aristophanes, Plato, and other writers often referred to Aesop in their texts as underlying examples of a basic nursery education. Hearing Aesop, then, appears comparable to a modern child learning to sing the ABCs. It was an understood part of growing up.

Aesop as Religious Lessons

Through the centuries, various translations of the Aesopica were made, each drawing on the vernacular language of the age. Following the advent of Christianity, translations of Aesop began to emphasize different aspects: instead of being moral life tales, they became Christian parables with religious undertones. Further, Aesopic texts for children in medieval schools included commentaries to explain correct behavior.

Some of the Aesopica still retained a sense of literacy, and some later translators maintained a sense of “wit” rather than “the heavy hand of the school teacher” (page 46). But the bottom line is this: “Translation is transmission” (page 47). With the advent of the printing press, Aesop was often the first text printed, and the translator could rewrite it as he or she desired.

Do We Need Aesop Today?

Obviously, with the advent of a further children’s literature, children can look anywhere for “metaphorical enchantment.” But when reading Aesop a few months ago, I was surprised to recognize familiar stories and semi-familiar characters.

Lerer also recollects how the Aesopica has been reincorporated into other literature: Hamlet’s conversation with the skull, Yorick, for example, has shadows of Aesop (“scattered fragments of an old tradition,” says Lerer, page 56). Aesop speaks today through such fragments, and the new metaphors are the ones familiar to this generation. You probably have read remnants of the Aesopica without ever picking up a book labeled “Aesop’s Fables.”

Further, I was struck by the brief history Lerer recounted. The translator’s and publisher’s agendas transformed the fables into a new literature, thus calling in to question the authenticity of the “original” fable itself. Each new translation became its own work of literature, designed to meet the needs of the children of that age, as the “translator” deemed appropriate.

For me, this calls to mind, then, the various recent debates about works for children today that are obviously created with an agenda. As I haven’t read some of those debated books, I can’t give an opinion of those. I don’t have answers, only questions, and I think it leads to an interesting discussion.

Looking back on the history of Aesop, I wonder: Does it matter why a work was created for children? What is the value of didactic or even subtle “agenda” literature? Did children in the medieval ages know, care, or notice why and how the Aesop they read was created? Would we, as parents, resent the agenda of the translator, and if so, how can we pay attention to the agenda of the author today?

For the rest of October, I’ll donate 10 cents to World Food Programme for every (non-spam) comment I receive on any post of Rebecca Reads. See most post on Blog Action Day 2008 here. I’m also donating any proceeds (4%) from my Amazon Store.

• Aesop’s Fables with Introduction by G.K. Chesterton
• Speak, Child: The Illiad as the Infancy of Children’s Literature
• Pat the Bunny and Other Interactive Books for Kids
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Bookworms Carnival: Fairy Tales
• Lullabies
• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz
• Two Books by Eric Carle
• Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

• Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
• Possession by A.S. Byatt
• Atonement by Ian McEwan

I am very interested in reading all of them. I’ve only heard great things about them. I couldn’t decide which one to get from the library first, so I got them all. And yet, the reason I chose to start the one I started surprised me.

I started reading The Handmaiden’s Tale. Why? Because it’s a softcover, small book that feels nice in my hands. All of the others are very beautiful, nice hardcover books. But at 300+ pages each, their extra-thick special-edition pages make them look and feel intimidating in my hands.

The other least intimidating book on that list? Atonement. Although it’s hardcover, it’s pages aren’t as thick; it’s not a “special edition.”

I realized I love owning hardcovers, but I prefer to read softcovers. I didn’t realize that would make a difference in my reading selections.

Which would you read first? What kind of cover do you choose to buy or to read? Does it make a difference to you?

• Judging a Book by Its Cover
• Dear D____ Public Library,
• “Used” Books Giveaways Poll
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old
• Reading Journal (May 20): Rebecca Reads A Little Slower
• Kid’s Corner: Birthday Books (Age 2)
• Abandoned Book and Giveaway: Bridget Jones’ Diary
• Reading Journal (June 10): Book Clubs
• Reading Journal (26 Aug): Focused Reading
• What is Reading? and Audiobook Review of The Book Thief

I took note of two elements within his discussion of the classics. First, children’s education was based on recitation and memorization. Also, children learned from extracts of The Illiad and The Odyssey, and later The Aeneid, works that even then were “adult” literature.

Memorization and Recitation

The first point caused me to ponder: Do children memorize in school today? What is the benefit of memorization?

Interestingly, Lerer argues that study and memorization of the classics helped give children a voice. They began by memorizing Homer, and progressed to writing their own recitations. Memorization, then, provided a way for them to find their own voice.

I remember memorizing some Robert Frost poems in eighth grade. Even now, any time I’m walking through a forest or driving down an autumn tree-lined road, I find myself thinking, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood….”

Likewise, in the past few days, I noticed others around me reciting instead of finding their own words: movie lines, commercials, and song lyrics. So even today we memorize and recite to find our own voice.

The Illiad as Children’s Literature

But children in ancient days weren’t quoting advertisements: they were memorizing Homer. The classic texts were what helped children learn to speak in an adult world. Lerer summarizes:

…what these texts taught were not simply moral maxims, but habits of control. Children could be masters in the house; yet children of the salves, too, could achieve beyond their birth to gain a path of honor through their merit. … nec generi, sed virtuti. [not according to birth, but according to merit] (page 34).

In other words, Homer helped kids see they could be anything when they grew up. I don’t know much about social class in antiquity, so I don’t know how accurate my generalization is. Nevertheless, it’s empowering to think that Homer could have that effect. But it’s also got me thinking: what literature might be appropriate for children?

Of course, children in ancient days didn’t have any other “children’s literature,” so to speak. Certainly, children’s literature today empowers children to speak, gives them a voice of power and mastery, and helps them recognize the opportunities they have in the future. But Lerer stresses that these works for adults were also the literature and the textbook that children relied upon.

Children were able to understand and take things away from otherwise adult texts. Note that they didn’t read the entire work (The Illiad, for example, is very violent), but they read extracts that were applicable to them. If we ask our children to read extracts from todays adult texts, might they still resonate with them?

Relevant Today?

Reading Lerer’s overview of these classics as a part of childhood education prompted me to begin the Really Old Classics Challenge. I am not familiar with many of the classics he discussed, and I’d never have thought of them in terms of children’s literature. I’m curious.

When I read The Illiad, I imagine it will be a struggle. There are challenging concepts and language within them. I imagine they were challenging to adults in ancient days. And yet, portions of the works were applicable to children then, and they memorized portions for their learning.

I’m not an educator, and my only child is a year old. I’m not calling for the addition of The Illiad to the first-grade curriculum. I recognize that the language of The Illiad is rather complicated for anyone today: this is a different age with different myths and traditions.

That said, I’m sure that modern literature has similar extracts that may resonate with children. What modern literature for adults might have portions that resonate with children? And should we encourage our children to memorize literature? Does memorizing extracts empower children with a voice? I wonder: if we expect more of our children, will they rise to the occasion? Why not try them, and see?

After reading this chapter, I’ve added a few things to my “to read” list:

• The Illiad by Homer
• The Odyssey by Homer
• The Aeneid by Virgil
• Confessions by St. Augustine

• Ingenuity and Authority: Who Really Wrote Aesop’s Fables?
• My Really Old Classics Choices
• Pat the Bunny and Other Interactive Books for Kids
• Robinson Crusoe Adaptations for Children
• Divine Songs by Isaac Watts (Poetry Friday)
• Too Young for Books?
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Reading Journal, October 6
• Death and War in Children’s Literature: Two Newberys about the Revolution

Maybe, I thought, if I write on my blog what I’m going to read this week, and don’t pick up anything else, I’ll get things read. So, anyway, here is my reading journal, and plan, for this week.

Fiction

I am still in the midst of my How to Read and Why Challenge, although anyone who is following along probably thinks I’ve given up: no, I haven’t. Because the first section of How to Read and Why is short stories, I’ve been adding other short story writers as I go so I can get a good variety and overview. I was going to wrap up short stories by the end of the year, but I feel there are so many I should read to get a good “short story” overview, so I’ll see how long it takes to continue reading as many short story writers as I can. For HTR&W, I’m currently reading Flannery O’Connor’s Complete Short Stories and I love her writing! I’ve read most of these before, but I hadn’t remembered them.

I began listening to the LibriVox.org audio of some Edgar Allan Poe stories, in honor of Halloween (my least favorite holiday).

My husband and I will continue to read Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkein together, a little bit every night. It’s going to take forever at this rate, but it seems appropriate for Silmarillion. It is impossible to keep all the people and places separate anyway; when it’s been a few days since I read, I know I don’t remember everything and I enjoy the flow of the words more. I really am enjoying it, despite the fact that I have never read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings and I normally don’t read fantasy.

I have just joined my own Really Old Classics Challenge; I’m going to wait at least another week before I pick up The Illiad by Homer.

Nonfiction

I have finally finished listening to the (never-ending) audiobook of Three Cups of Tea by David Oliver Relin. I’m trying to put together a balanced review, so it may be another week before I get it up. Let me just say for now that it wasn’t my cup of tea. If you haven’t read it yet, Jackets and Covers is giving away a copy; visit here before October 14.

I’m almost finished with The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I’m supposed to be following the program in this book for 12 weeks to help me develop my creativity. Personally, I am not loving this book (although I think it’s a good book and full of great ideas). I’m mostly skimming it at this point. I’ll post my review soon.

I’m halfway through Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman, a biography that I’m really enjoying. As much as I like a great biography, I still can only read 50-100 pages a day, tops.

I started reading Children’s Literature by Seth Lerer weeks ago, and I keep returning to previous chapters and rereading portions. It’s a critical look of what children read throughout history, and why children read those things. I am really enjoying it, and I will probably continue going slowly so I can articulate, probably on Rebecca Reads, what I’m learning about children’s reading habits in the past and present.

The Discovers by Daniel Boorstin has been on my “Currently Reading” shelf for almost a year now. My husband and I were reading it together, alternating between fiction (currently Silmarillion) and nonfiction (this book). However, The Discoverers, which is a history of discovery, is apparently too boring to read at night because we tend to fall asleep. We lately have been reading fiction. Therefore, I think I’m going to officially finish reading The Discoverers by myself, as soon as I finish some of these other books.

Whew! That felt good to get that out. Now on to read!

• Reading Journal (28 October): Thoughts on Read-a-thons and Eye Strain
• Blogging Goals, Reading Journal (January 15), and a Winner
• Reading Journal (June 10): Book Clubs
• Reading Journal (17 Feb): A Brief Post
• Reading Journal (4 Nov): Reading Progress and Library Loot
• Reading Journal (July 1): Summer Reading
• Reading Journal (26 Aug): Focused Reading
• Reading Journal (10 Feb): The Joy of Reading Slowly
• Reading Journal (24 February): My First Vlog
• Reading Journal (May 27): Distraction

“And indeed, what is better than to sit by one’s fireside in the evening with a book, while the wind beats against the window and the lamp is burning?” …”One thinks of nothing,” he continued; “the hours slip by. Motionless we traverse countries we fancy we see, and your thought, blending with the fiction, playing with the details, follows the outline of the adventures. It mingles with the characters, and it seems as if it were yourself palpitating beneath their costumes.”

Monsieur Leon, in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, Part II, Chapter 2

(I’m almost done with Madame Bovary … and I’m loving it! Review to come soon!)

Where do you enjoy reading?

• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• Jane Austen: A Biography by Carol Shields, a Quote Book, and a History of England

A few months ago, I wrote a post about Stephen King’s On Writing.  I didn’t like the book. My main argument was that good books should be determined by a good story and good writing; many best-selling authors’ writing is mediocre, so being a best-seller doesn’t necessarily make the authors good. King’s book seemed to explain how to become a best-seller, not how to write well. I said in the post, “I’ve never read any Stephen King, ” but that should have been, “I’ve never read any Stephen King until now,” as I had just read On Writing.

Well, this week I got a furious comment from a reader. She accused me of being unfair since I had not read Stephen King’s books and suggested a book by him that I should read. I responded by clarifying that I had read a book by him: On Writing. I suppose that I should have also added that the writing in On Writing and the excerpts in On Writing from his other books haven’t convinced me of his superior writing ability, and, as I don’t normally like horror in any form, reading the book she recommended wasn’t on my list. But I only wrote the first part.

Her response to me was even angrier. At first, I deleted her second comment because it seemed to be angry hate mail that was somewhat irrelevant to the discussion. However, I usually wait a day before responding to anything that makes me annoyed or mad; I’ve since reinstated the comment because really, it strikes me now as rather amusing.  Besides, she’s calling me a book banner: how can I then censor her comment? Here’s part of it if you don’t want to bounce over there:

…[F]or an author and a book lover, you argue like a book banner.  Don’t bother replying to this, I am removing this site from my bookmarks.

Here’s my question: Where do I sound like a book banner? What is book banning, by those definitions?

In my post, I made it clear that I didn’t like the particular book or the particular author. I have no intention of reading anything else by him. I suggest we all take a more critical view of the books we read, other than “It’s a best-seller.”

Does encouraging better book choice make me a “book banner?” Does saying “Don’t waste your time with this book!” make me a book banner? If so, then any blogger who reviews a book they dislike is a “book banner!”

So what is book banning? Here are some scenarios. I don’t think they’re all book banning.

• A librarian decides not purchase a certain book. (I’d say this isn’t book banning. Libraries can only buy so many books a year!)
• A librarian removes a certain book from circulation after parents complain. (Yes, this seems like book banning. If parents don’t like a book, they shouldn’t read it or they could encourage their children not to read it. That would be parenting a young child, not banning a book; a librarian removing a book would be making it unavailable to others. But even then, parents and children can find the book elsewhere. It’s still not unreadable.)
• Parents ask their young child not to read a certain book. (I’d say this isn’t book banning. Parents have the right to encourage children to read books with situations and morals appropriate for their age, and, most importantly, their maturity level.)
• Parents forbid their older child from reading a certain book. (I think this is border-line book banning. Older kids are able to choose for themselves. Forbidden status just makes it enticing anyway. But, older children will read what they want to read, regardless of parental influence.)

What do you think? What does book banning actually mean? Does not wanting to read Stephen King ever again make me a book banner? Apparently, I need your help, because I didn’t realize I was a book banner!

I concede that I shouldn’t critique authors when I haven’t read everything they’ve written, although I’m sure I’ll keep doing it, as do other bloggers. I suppose it is wrong. But, regardless, I still stand by what I said about Stephen King, and I won’t be reading his horror.

To beth Powers who has made it clear she won’t ever read this (and to anyone else offended by me):  As I don’t normally read or like modern fiction, popular or not, I suspect we have different tastes in books. I occasionally read modern fiction, but it takes a really good one (and especially a good story) for me to really like it. There are literally hundreds of book bloggers out there that love modern genre fiction and review it regularly; I wish you luck in finding a blog better in line with your preferences. I’m sorry Rebecca Reads wasn’t a good match for you!

To other book bloggers: As a sub question, what do you do when you receive “hate mail” comments? Do you leave them untouched? Do you try to respond politely? Do you moderate them or edit them? Would that be “comment banning”? Is that wrong on your own personal webpage?

• Stuart Little Was a Banned Book
• On Writing by Stephen King
• Reading Journal (30 Sept): The Gift of Choice (Thoughts on Banned Books Week)
• Stories by Guy de Maupassant (Introductory Thoughts)
• A Ruined Author?
• Book Blogging Community
• Banned Books Week
• The End of Publishing?
• Why ARCs?
• Golden Legacy by Leonard Marcus

“The End: Have We Reached The End of Book Publishing As We Know It?” is a fascinating look at the publishing industry and struggles it is facing. While I don’t think publishing is going to ever end,  I thought the article had some great insights into book publishing. This article reminded me of some things I’ve been thinking about recently; that is, why do we read what we read?

Here are some of my thoughts after reading this article:

• Book publishers are commercial companies, out to make money. Therefore, they choose books because of commercial appeal, not necessarily because it’s quality literature.
• A quote from the article: “What I’ve heard from editors is, ‘My judgment doesn’t count any longer.’ They didn’t flock to publishing because they want to publish Danielle Steel.” In other words, editors don’t have much say in book selection. Danielle Steel gets published, while better authors might not. (I was an editor for a short time before I realized how much I don’t want to read most modern fiction.)
• Chic lit writers (for example) get better book deals than do former Pulitzer Prize winners. What has the world come to? That seems a sad commentary on what people read. It’s not that all Pulitzer Prize writing is superb or that all “chic lit” is generic, but I’d think there should be a standard of writing that we expect when we pick up a book. It’s a shame that monetary decisions get in the way of quality literature being discovered (or quality writing being edited properly). (For me, at least, “chic lit” stories are meant to be watched, as in “chick flick.”)
• Books by bloggers really are not the next big thing. Sorry, folks, but it’s not going to happen. Bloggers are not going to save the publishing industry,

The bottom line:

• Simply because a book has been published does not mean that (1) the author made any money or (2) it is worth reading. These days, especially, publishing a business venture!

Why do you read what you read? I know I didn’t answer the question myself, but I find it interesting to think about what “a published book” really is and how it got between two covers (or not).

• Stuart Little Was a Banned Book
• Is Reading Online is Making Us Stupid?
• Golden Legacy by Leonard Marcus
• Why ARCs?
• On Writing by Stephen King
• The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (and BBAW giveaway)
• Abandoned Book and Giveaway: Bridget Jones’ Diary
• Political Reading
• Jane Austen: A Biography by Carol Shields, a Quote Book, and a History of England

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

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

My son was 3½-months-old when my mother sent him Goodnight Moon for Christmas. At that point, it was one of the five children’s books that was not 16,000 miles away in storage. I read it to him every night for months.

At first, I thought I’d get tired of reading him the same story every night. After all, at four months, I know he wasn’t really listening or looking at the pictures. Reading to him was a struggle for a few months, especially when he started “eating” the books (literally taking a bite out of one book). But nights like the other night, nights when he is excited to read, reinforce the need to keep reading.

Besides, I’ve found that I love to read Goodnight Moon. Yes, every night the little bunny says goodnight to the same objects in his same green room in the same order. But it is a different experience every night. Some nights I point out the toys in the pictures. Some nights we read slowly. Some squirmy nights we read very quickly. Some nights we read backwards because my son wants to turn the pages himself.

The words are simple, and the rhymes are lilting and gentle. Goodnight Moon is a lullaby.

Goodnight stars.
Goodnight air.
Goodnight noises everywhere.

I recently purchased Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter by Seth Lerer. I have only just begun to read it, but so far I enjoy it very much. It is a textbook about children’s reading, and, as the subtitle states, Lerer is following the child-aged reader through history, rather than the writer, as many such books do.

As I read the introduction, I felt shivers of excitement as he talked about the power children’s literature can have on a child’s life. Lerer wrote:

Even the most ordinary prose becomes magical when read aloud at bedtime. And even the simplest-seeming of our children’s books teaches something elegant and deep.

Then he quotes Leonard Marcus’ thoughts about Goodnight Moon. Marcus wrote the following in Margaret Wise Brown’s biography (and this makes me want to read the biography):

Goodnight Moon is a supremely comforting evocation of the companionable objects of the daylight world. It is also a ritual preparation for a journey beyond that world, a leave-taking of the known for the unknown world of darkness and dreams. … [I]t is partly spoken in the voice of the child, who takes possession of that world by naming its particulars all over again, addressing them directly, one by one, as though each were alive, and bidding each goodnight. … The sense of an ending descends gradually, like sleep.

Lerer expands the same concept to all of children’s literature: that cataloging and recognizing the familiar are our children’s regular stepping stones into the world of the unfamiliar.

I happen to like looking at things deeply and figuring out why we like what we do and why some things are more appealing than others. That’s the English major in me, I guess.

You, on the other hand, may think that this is reading far too much into a simple children’s story.

Regardless, I hope you take the time to sit down and read something to your child. If you don’t know where to start, I’d suggest Goodnight Moon. That’s what we’re going to read, again, tonight.

• Author Spotlight: Margaret Wise Brown + Giveaway Winner
• Consistency Errors in Goodnight Moon and Other Book Issues for an Obsessive One-Year-Old
• Bookworms Carnival: You Are Never Too Old
• Speak, Child: The Illiad as the Infancy of Children’s Literature
• August in Review
• Ingenuity and Authority: Who Really Wrote Aesop’s Fables?
• I’m Back and Book Miscellany
• December 2008 Month in Review and January 2009 Reading Journal
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle