Now that I have a child, I wanted to start reading to her. I have no real idea of what's out there in terms of children's literature. Except there seem to be a lot of vampires and zombies. WTF? My 10-year-old niece reads, but it seems to be things I wouldn't read if forced to. But then again, she couldn't read Misty of Chincoteague--she said it was boring.
facepalm. I thought I'd rubbed off on her. Instead she reads books about mermaids who are only half-mermaids.
So I decided to read the Newberry award winning books. Next to my adult books, they seem to be a nice change. So I started reserving on my library's website. I will post my reviews of these books, hopefully, if you're looking for a book that has nothing to do with vampires or BDSM, this might give you an idea of something to read. If I like them, I'll be putting them on Katie's list.
The first book I read was Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field. This is an early winner.
I re-read this sweet story, after reading it for the first time many years ago. It has not lost any bit of it's charm.
Hitty is a small doll, carved by a peddler who winters with the Preble family and given as a gift to their daughter. She accompanies Phoebe on adventures, but gets lost several times, and so starts a life full of more adventure than most humans, adult or child. She witnesses the high and low points of the 19th century, travelling around the globe, doing stints with an Indian snake charmer, an itinerant artist, a missionary's child, and a society girl. Eventually, she ends up in an antique shop, waiting for the person who will take her on her next adventure.
There is nothing not to like about this book. Hitty is a charming little character, beautifully brought to life in the pictures by Doroty Lathrop. She isn't fancy, but she is often the most loved, and usually the most durable of the dolls mentioned--she survives a shipwreck, time in a crow's nest, time in a haymow, and the various adventures that happen in childhood. She loves the little girls who possess her equally, no matter if they're society children or sharecropper's daughters, which is a lovely ideal. I kept asking myself what would my dolls say if they were able to put down their stories like Hitty.
And there is a sweet simplicity to the story. It doesn't rely on flash and bling to tell her story. It's little girls being little girls, doing the things that little girls do. Some are kind of snotty, others are simple and loving and good. All have value to Hitty. It's a wonderfully refreshing book which I will make sure my child knows and loves as she gets older.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Friday, June 25, 2010
On the bookshelf this week is . . .
Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt.
I treated myself to a trip to the used bookstore this week. It's becoming a challenge to just spend $20. What wonders can I walk out with for that price. This was one of the six I bought. The others were Gone with the Wind (my copy has gone AWOL and was over-read), Scarlett (I've never read it, I know it's a bad book, but I want to read the two books together), a book called Zelda, an Edna Ferber book, and this one.
I read Homecoming in elementary school. It looked appealing. I enjoyed it then. I'm enjoying it now. The book does feel a little dated, but I'm glad I bought it.
I treated myself to a trip to the used bookstore this week. It's becoming a challenge to just spend $20. What wonders can I walk out with for that price. This was one of the six I bought. The others were Gone with the Wind (my copy has gone AWOL and was over-read), Scarlett (I've never read it, I know it's a bad book, but I want to read the two books together), a book called Zelda, an Edna Ferber book, and this one.
I read Homecoming in elementary school. It looked appealing. I enjoyed it then. I'm enjoying it now. The book does feel a little dated, but I'm glad I bought it.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Handmaid's Tale-Margaret Atwood
I first picked this book up in high school. It probably wasn't the right time for me to attempt it. I was a reader of historical fiction, and I didn't think too much about the future. So I read a chapter or two and put it down.
I bought it a month ago. it had been recommended as one of the 1000 books I should read before I die. While I do have issues with that list at this point--I've read 48 books on the list and most of my favorite authors are not on it--I think it was a book worth reading.
The book is the story of Offred, a woman who is a forced surrogate in a post-modern incarnation of the US, Gilead. Women have had their rights taken away from them, and are either Unwomen, (the untouchables who have been banished), Jezebels (the whores), Marthas (the workers), Wives, or Handmaidens (women who have babies for the Commanders and the Wives. She flashes back to her life before, when she was married to Luke, and they had a daughter. We find out she tried to escape with them, and the child was taken, Luke's fate is unknown. She has three chances to have a baby or she'll be sent to the colonies as an Unwoman. Sex is not about love, it has turned into a bizarre ritualized threesome. Offred must learn how to negotiate this world for her survival.
It was a thought-provoking book, deeply upsetting. I'd like to think Gilead could never happen here, but passages in the book do ring eerily familiar. They discuss how the leaders used fear of Muslims to take away the people's rights. And that people twisted the interpretation of the Bible to suit their needs. At first, the changes don't affect the characters, they figure out how to work around them. People die, but it's no one that Offred knows. She states they thought it could never happen to them, to people they knew. "We lived in the gaps."And that works til Offred becomes the oppressed for being a woman married to a divorced man. How far are we away from her?
How would I react if I were in her situation, my life and prospects dependant on a man who, we find out later, was probably sterile? Forced to be meek and mild, never knowing love. It doesn't seem like anyone LIKED the situation. The Commander can't view the living arrangement as just for procreation, Serena Joy harbors jealousy, although it's hard to imagine jealousy of Offred's position. Even the Handmaidens seem to look for release, whether in killing those who wrong them in organized Particicutions, or in dreaming of getting out. I don't know if it would be tolerable.
I can't say this was the best book I've ever read, but I'm still thinking about it. That must mean it's a story worth reading.
I bought it a month ago. it had been recommended as one of the 1000 books I should read before I die. While I do have issues with that list at this point--I've read 48 books on the list and most of my favorite authors are not on it--I think it was a book worth reading.
The book is the story of Offred, a woman who is a forced surrogate in a post-modern incarnation of the US, Gilead. Women have had their rights taken away from them, and are either Unwomen, (the untouchables who have been banished), Jezebels (the whores), Marthas (the workers), Wives, or Handmaidens (women who have babies for the Commanders and the Wives. She flashes back to her life before, when she was married to Luke, and they had a daughter. We find out she tried to escape with them, and the child was taken, Luke's fate is unknown. She has three chances to have a baby or she'll be sent to the colonies as an Unwoman. Sex is not about love, it has turned into a bizarre ritualized threesome. Offred must learn how to negotiate this world for her survival.
It was a thought-provoking book, deeply upsetting. I'd like to think Gilead could never happen here, but passages in the book do ring eerily familiar. They discuss how the leaders used fear of Muslims to take away the people's rights. And that people twisted the interpretation of the Bible to suit their needs. At first, the changes don't affect the characters, they figure out how to work around them. People die, but it's no one that Offred knows. She states they thought it could never happen to them, to people they knew. "We lived in the gaps."And that works til Offred becomes the oppressed for being a woman married to a divorced man. How far are we away from her?
How would I react if I were in her situation, my life and prospects dependant on a man who, we find out later, was probably sterile? Forced to be meek and mild, never knowing love. It doesn't seem like anyone LIKED the situation. The Commander can't view the living arrangement as just for procreation, Serena Joy harbors jealousy, although it's hard to imagine jealousy of Offred's position. Even the Handmaidens seem to look for release, whether in killing those who wrong them in organized Particicutions, or in dreaming of getting out. I don't know if it would be tolerable.
I can't say this was the best book I've ever read, but I'm still thinking about it. That must mean it's a story worth reading.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Welcome to my bookshelf
This new blog is my reading journal.
I've always been a voracious reader. I used to get in trouble for reading under my desk at math class. I took a huge box of books with me to college. I loved my English classes.
I see a lot of stitchers post their reading lists in their blogs. I wanted to challenge myself to both read and write about what I'm reading. I don't know how well it will go, but I'm willing to take a chance that it will be fantastic.
I've always been a voracious reader. I used to get in trouble for reading under my desk at math class. I took a huge box of books with me to college. I loved my English classes.
I see a lot of stitchers post their reading lists in their blogs. I wanted to challenge myself to both read and write about what I'm reading. I don't know how well it will go, but I'm willing to take a chance that it will be fantastic.
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