Lulu's July book

I'm thinking of reading I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem. Anyone read it? And I'm thinking of re-reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

July book choice

I haven't picked my book yet but have been searching. Some of you might find it helpful to know that you can google "colonial america historical fiction" for some historical fiction booklists. And here are some subjects you might find on your library's webpage or catalog:
- Jamestown
- Samuel de Champlain
- Pocahontas
- Mayflower & Plymouth Rock
- Pequot War
- Anne Hutchinson
- Roger Williams
- American Revolution
- Salem Witch Trials
- Boston Massacre

p.s.

Regarding what Rae posted on Nelle Harper Lee's comment about introductions:
Makes me feel not so bad for hating introductions as much as I do.

I must confess.....

Much as I've read of the classics and the should-reads, I have NOT actually read To Kill a Mockingbird! I own it, I've read about it, I've learned about it, seen a play of the courtroom scene, seen part of the movie....I've walked all the way around it--but just haven't read it! Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) I'm going to read it.

About the play I saw of the courtroom scene: It was part of the National Endowment for the Arts initiative The Big Read. (http://www.neabigread.org/) The Education Department of the Utah Shakespearean Festival (with the Cedar City Public Library) put on a play of the trial scene of To Kill a Mockingbird. Phill and I went for a date, even though he's read the book and I haven't. He received extra credit in his history class for going, and his history teacher played the part of Horace Gilmer, and another teacher of his played the part of Atticus Finch. I don't mean to sound cheesy, but I will never forget that date!! One very interesting aspect of the play was that the director simply chose people from the audience (beforehand) to play the jury. So they were watching everything unfold just as we were, and at the end, they were told to give the "guilty" verdict. You could see in their eyes and hear in their voices how hard it was for them. I was one of many in the audience who were crying. And in a way, I'm glad I had never read the book, and only knew the premise of it....I didn't really know, I guess, because I didn't expect the "guilty" verdict. I actually gasped, and so did most of the audience. The man who played Tom Robinson was one of the most beautiful black men I've ever seen--enormous hands, and very tall, and with a really resonant, deep voice. He cried while doing the part where he testifies. It just seemed so real and so relevant, and then afterwards, there was a great--REALLY great--discussion between the audience and the actors. One of the "jury" was an SUU English professor who has a very obvious love for books. He was very adamant about all his opinions and comments, and fun to watch. Afterwards, we went up to the actor who played Tom Robinson, because we just had to tell him how moving his performance was. He's a fascinating man. His dad is from somewhere in the Middle East, and his mother is African-American. I think. Phill pronounced his name correctly right off the bat. :) The actor's name is Alem Brhan Sapp. (Ah-lemm Bruh-hahn Sopp, if I remember right) Oh--Rae, the director was saying he wondered if Nelle Harper Lee didn't do another book because she didn't feel she could "do it again"--that is, live up to the first, I guess. Abby and Eric call that "perfectionist paralysis", I think. But I also wonder if it really was just a privacy issue, and the overwhelming nature of the success of the book that prevented her from diving into that kind of fame again.

I feel like I'm "wading" through my read. Not that it isn't interesting me--on the contrary, it's getting more and more fascinating for me, I'm just finding only tiny chunks of time in which to read it. (Not surprising, considering the various time-consuming aspects of my life.)I'm halfway through, though. I'm wishing I had started noting my thoughts in a notebook right when I began the book. I used to do that in tenth-grade English, at the request of our wonderful teacher. It always helped me process what I was reading. I did want to share an interesting part with everyone. A little background, just in case it's needed: Patty's been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. They have delusions of all kinds, and one of them is that they've declared war on the U.S., and Patty is their prisoner of war. For the first two months of her captivity, she was kept blindfolded in a closet, fed a piece of bread and some tea each day. I found this part sort of odd, and very interesting.

"As the days and nights dragged on, out of all my deprivations as a prisoner of war, I developed a powerful craving for pizza. I could taste it, see it, smell it, feel the gooey cheese on my hands--all vividly in my imagination. There was no explaining it: I had never been a pizza addict before and there were dozens of other foods I liked better. Nevertheless, it was the sharp, tangy taste of pizza that I craved. It lasted for several days and nights before the urge subsided, unfulfilled."
-pg.94, Every Secret Thing, Patricia Campbell Hearst

Also interesting: Since she was blindfolded for so long, her other senses became heightened, somewhat like a blind person. She says that she knew her captors by their voices, movements, and scents (or odors), and could identify them by name when they at last took off her blindfold.

July Book

Note: I am posting this early because you may need to visit a library to find your July read.

The month of July. It conjures up visions of summer, copious vacation time, beach reading, Harry Potter (on the 21st), parades and fireworks. We celebrate our country's independence from England and this year, we also celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in 1607.

Our July read will reflect these historical events, as the focus in our fiction this month will be the setting. Choose any work of fiction with a historical setting in America (or Great Britain) between 1607 (Jamestown) and 1789 (ratification of Constitution).

Although finding your book may be a challenge, any fiction leaves your genre choice wide open. You may choose a classic, a young adult novel, a romance, a mystery, a historical novel, etc. Try to choose a book you've not read before (or at least one you've not read in a very long time).

The idea is to learn something new about that time period and to appreciate and be more aware this month of our country's remarkable history.

Happy hunting and happy reading!

Mockingbird Three: The Book and the Film

The book is probably based on a local crime that occurred in Nelle's childhood that involved a white woman accusing a black man of rape. It was thought to have been a false accusation. It was not based on the Scottsboro criminal case, as many assume.

Her characters came from people she knew in town...although she wasn't always specific as to who they were. What we do know is that Scout was based on her own childhood life. Dill was modeled after Truman Capote. He, in turn, modeled some of his fictional characters after Nelle. Atticus was definitely based on her father, A.C. She even called him by his initials, just as Scout calls her father Atticus. Jem was based on her brother Edwin. The Boleware family and house two doors south of her own house was the inspiration for the Radley place and character Boo. [Note: I always think of the Casperson house in Preston, Mim, whenever I read about the Radleys. Funny what impressions from your childhood stay with you.]

Nelle originally wanted Spencer Tracy to play Atticus in the film. He would have been good, but was working on another film at the time. Rock Hudson was also considered. In my opinion, he just wouldn't have cut it. When Gregory Peck was chosen, he came to Monroeville and spent time with the town minister, asking questions about the town and the Lee family. He then went to meet Nelle's aged father so that he could get to know him and pick up some of his mannerisms. Peck and Nelle became lifelong friends.

With the exception of Peck, the directors wanted newcomers to the screen to play the other characters. This was so there would be no preconceived notions or typecasting. They picked many character actors from old Westerns and a few Broadway actors, as well. The kids had little or no acting experience.

During the filming of the courtroom proceedings, they filmed the children as though they were watching it all unfold. In reality, they were not allowed to hear what went on in the courtroom. It was filmed separately because the subject matter was inappropriate for their little ears. [Which doesn't make much sense, if they see the completed film in the end or read the book...]

"To prepare for the role of Boo Radley, [Robert] Duvall stayed out of the sun for six weeks and dyed his hair blonde, thinking it would give him an angelic look."

Horton Foote, a Texan, wrote the screenplay, as Nelle had never done one before and was unsure if she wanted to tackle it. Of his screenplay, she said, "If the integrity of a film adaptation is measured by the degree to which the novelist's intent is preserved, Mr. Foote's screenplay should be studied as a classic."

I think that's enough. Sorry to write so much, but I love this stuff!

Mockingbird Two

Here are a few tidbits and quotes from or about Nelle Harper Lee that I liked.

She wrote the foreword to the 35th anniversary edition of TKAM in 1993: "Please spare Mockingbird an Introduction...As a reader I loathe introductions. To novels, I associate Introductions with long-gone authors and works that are being brought back into print after decades of internment. Although Mockingbird will be 33 this year, it has never been out of print and I am still alive, although very quiet. Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity. The only good thing about Introductions is that in some cases they delay the dose to come. Mockingbird still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive without preamble."

"If I hear a consonant, I look around." (This was regarding her Southern drawl)

"Inside the entryway of the Lee's one-story brick ranch house are photographs of family members. But everywhere else are books: in a bookcase that takes up half the entrance hallway; in Alice's bedroom, off the kitchen; and in Nelle's blue bedroom at the end of the hallway. In her room, the walls are devoted to built-in white bookshelves, floor to ceiling. There is a third bedroom, a guest bedroom, and it has bookshelves, too." Her sister Alice said, "All she [Nelle] needs is a good bed, a bathroom and a typewriter...Books are the things she cares about."

As it should be.

Mockingbird One

It's quite amazing that this biography was written at all. Nelle Harper Lee rarely gives any kind of interview anymore, and had the uncanny ability of not revealing much when she did give them. She isn't really a recluse, but cherishes her privacy. So the author had to rely on previously published material, interviews from anyone who knew her, and investigative journalism.

Even after reading the biography, I don't feel that I know Harper Lee much better than before. But I do know more about the writing of her incredible novel and the film adaptation. I will focus in this entry on Harper Lee herself.

• She grew up in Monroeville, Alabama in quite a bigoted climate with Klan membership and mentality being quite common. Her father was the owner of the town newspaper as well as a well-respected lawyer. Her mother was emotionally unstable and never really connected with Nelle. Perhaps this is why there is no mother in To Kill A Mockingbird (hereafter TKAM). The author thinks she probably put a lot of her feelings about her mother into her character Aunt Alexandra. "Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest: throughout my early life, she was cold and there."

• Her neighbor and dear childhood friend was none other than Truman Capote, who I've always thought of as a weird little man. Ivan does a great impression of him. Nelle was very much a tomboy and she and Truman roamed the town much as the three characters in her book. Her father gave them a 20 lb. typewriter so they could write their stories down. She and Truman spent hours doing just that.

• She attended Huntingdon College for a time and then entered law school with the hope of getting her degree and joining her father's law firm like her older sister Alice had. Interestingly, the motto of Huntingdon College is "Enter to grow in wisdom, go forth to apply wisdom in service." Sound familiar? Her heart really wasn't in law and so she headed off to New York to work and write. Dear friends gave her, as a Christmas gift, enough money to pay for living expenses for one year. This enabled her to quit her day job and write full time. Without that gift, TKAM may not have happened.

• She assisted Truman Capote in writing his book In Cold Blood, which details the horrific Kansas murders of a farm family by two drifters fresh out of jail. It's considered one of the first investigative true crime books published. Truman gave her little credit for her efforts and, in fact, may have been jealous of her success. Their relationship was strained as he slid into drugs, drinking and the homosexual world. They did remain friends up until his death, however.

• Nelle has funded many scholarships anonymously and "many have attended college without knowing she was the benefactor."

• She is still alive...or was at the time of the book, living some time in New York and most of the time in Monroeville with her sister, Alice (who is in her 90s). She makes occasional appearances but only on her terms.

Why were there no more books written by her? The author doesn't really know, but as I read and thought about it, I came to the conclusion that she must have been overwhelmed by all the publicity she received for TKAM. How often does a first novel win a Pulitzer? How do you top that? Imagine the pressure. There seemed to always be something preventing her from writing more. She helped Truman with his book. There were interviews galore. Time passed. Even decades. The idea of it all seemed to just fade away. TKAM was a one-hit wonder, but what a hit and what a wonder!

More Bookish Thots

This is just too much fun! I love thinking of each of you reading in between your lives...I stayed up late last night and finished my book. I need to do homework tonight and tomorrow because we are going camping towards the end of the week. I didn't want to be able to use the book as an excuse not to do homework! Because I would have.

I am going to post several long-winded items on the blog re my read. I have so much to share with you. I think we've all read the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, and so I think you'll each be interested in what I found out. If not, you can skip my comments...

Mim, thanks for NOT posting in Japanese. Congrats (or condolences) on your new call. You'll do a wonderful job, as you do in every calling. You have unique aspects that you bring to a calling because of where you have lived and who you have associated with. I absolutely love being in Relief Society. I have very little in common with the ladies in our group, but I love the good spirit that is there. The power of righteous living. It strengthens me enormously each week.

Re holocaust books. I have "enjoyed" many of them over the years. I hesitate to use that word. But I think they all have something good to bring to the table, in that each individual reacted to their circumstances in a different way. Maybe that's why The Hiding Place shows much forgiveness, whereas Man's Search for Meaning is more individualistic and clinical. I agree that everyone should read about that event, if only to try to understand good and evil coexisting...and how one can rise above the evil while being amidst it.

On to the Mockingbird posts.

Another Proxy Post for Mim/Mom

Well, soon enough I'll be in Japan and able to figure why Mom/Mim hasn't been able to post blogs in anything but JAPANESE. Until then, here's her latest post.

Hi All y'all! I'm sure enjoying my book, Lucile Tate's bio of President Packer. What a difference a good biographer can make, because this is so much more enjoyable than a couple of other biogs of GA's and it's not because the subjects aren't good. Another reason I'm enjoying it so much is that he's just Dad's age, so I've lived much of the history that's described. I feel like I have so much in common with him, and yet I'm in such awe of him. The timing of reading this is perfect; I've just been sustained as Relief Society president in our branch (!) and I'm inspired by President Packer's very focused approach to his service. It's easy for me to be overwhelmed and try to do everything all at once. He discovers the Lord's will and patterns by studying the Doctrine & Covenants. Funny, that almost seems like a novel idea to some people.

About Catch Me if You Can--Maddie and Blake read it a few months ago and enthusiastically shared stories with me. Yes, Abby, I think he must've gotten a rush out of duping people. Interesting that he changed. It's scary that people can fool us so easily. I remember the Readers' Digest story about the English professor who actually could not read and no one knew it. I also thought of Frank Abagnale (of Catch Me) when I had Maddie at the doctor's office and the doc said something pretty questionable followed by some comments about appendicitis with gestures toward his left side. Kind of raised the hair on my arms . . .

Must comment on other reads--Beccy and Rae H, I'm about a third of the way thru You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don't Need (haven't started the peculiar people one yet) and I, too, love her frankness and cut-to-the-chase viewpoint. Will be interested in the Harold Bloom book about reading because I really liked Arthur Henry King's Arm the Children and his encouragement of significant reading. Man's Search for Meaning seems like one of those really worthwhile books, Liz and Beccy . . . When I read it I felt like everyone ought to read at least one such book--like The Hiding Place or Elie Wiesel's Night. Blake doesn't think so highly of it as he does of The Hiding Place because the message of forgiveness doesn't seem to come through as clearly, which he thinks is due to Frankl's Jewish eye-for-an-eye mindset. But it changed my life for the better.

Sure is fun to think of all of us reading. Love you each--Mim/Mom

My book for June

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say that I'm reading Man's Search For Meaning for my June book. I figure if I tell you all I'm more accountable. So far, it's extremely insightful. I'm looking forward to continuing the read. I'll let you know what I learn by the end.
Love you all!

Bookish Thots

Over the weekend I watched Harold Bloom on CSPAN's Book TV. He teaches at Yale and is known somewhat as an iconoclast. He is a liberal in the true sense of the word and seems to have taken on the role of letting us know what is wrong with our society. One of those wrongs is that hardly anyone reads anymore. Or we read, but not the best stuff. He espouses the Bible, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, etc. But he's not completely a snob...he loves Austen, Melville, and even the contemporary author Cormec McCarthy. I think one of you girls asked me about McCarthy. I'm not familiar with him, but after hearing Bloom, I am going to give him a try. Anyway, he made me feel good about thinking deep thots and reading words. He reminds me of a Dickens character...and got so emotional about the great authors that he literally became weepy and emotional. His featured book is called How to Read and Why. I am going to take a look at it and if it's not too stuffy, I will give it a try.

I had lunch with my "other" book group friends on Friday. We don't really read much. They mostly want to talk and eat. It's difficult to choose a book because they have limits on what they will try...not too thick, especially. This month's book is Mrs. Mike, which is a good read if you haven't experienced it yet. It tells the true story of a young girl who marries a Canadian Mountie and has to go live in the boonies with him. It's full of her trials and adjustments, not only to married life but to the harsh frontier of upper Canada.

Anyway, at lunch we got talking about Catch Me If You Can. The brother of one of the ladies joined the FBI a couple of years ago. At the end of his Quantico training the group of cadets got to hear the con artist speak to them in person. He shared his secrets with them, so that they would be more aware of when they are being duped. Apparently, it was a high point in the FBI training for this guy. Just thought you'd find that cool, Abby.

I'm enjoying Mockingbird and should be done the end of this week. Will post more then.

Beccy, I finished You Can Never Get Enough Of What You Don't Need and loved it! I'm going to sneak a few thoughts from it into my RS lesson on gratitude this coming Sunday. I started the peculiar people one yesterday. So far so good. I heard her speak a couple of weeks ago on BYU-TV and now when I read her I hear her voice. She's very funny but spot on.

I will be posting our July read later this week...probably when I post re my book. Happy reading!

p.s.

Oh--I would dearly love to see what all of you can come up with in the way of meanings for A.G.R. It's fun to play with words.

Aardvarks Get Rickets

And a couple of my own:

Annoyed Geriatrics Rebellion
Appreciating Great Ribeye

Phill's new job

Phill just got a job working with the Army Reserve in St.George, and his job is called "A.G.R." An abbreviation, true to Army tradition. I don't really remember what it stands for. Seems like lots of Army jobs/descriptions are a little vague. Anyway, I was telling Phill's mom about the job, and then she and her husband were coming up with possible meanings for A.G.R. I was laughing so hard that I just had to share them with all of you!

Agnostic Gnome Revival
Albino Giraffe Revolution
Arthritic Gorilla Recruitment

Phill's stepdad--oddly, also named Philip, just with one L--is British. He makes us all laugh REALLY hard a lot of the time. He came up with those three.

Abby, I have a lot to say about your post! I'm trying to condense it in my mind, though, before I write it out.

Love you ladies--this is so fun.

Catch Me If You Can: The true story of a real fake

I finished my June read really quickly which is a really good thing with the week I'm about to have! I really enjoyed it. I'm sure part of it was due to my soft spot for stories about people on the "other side of the law". I could never be a thief or a con-man (woman...) but it sure is fun to think about sometimes, if only for the cleverness behind the thefts and cons.

After I finished reading this, I was watching a movie about quantum physics (yes, really) and how it can positively influence our lives and came across something that tied back into the book for me. Just as we can be addicted to outside drugs, our body releases chemicals that coincide with certain emotions. Sometimes we get addicted to certain emotions! Pessimism, anger, sexual drive, depression...your cells develop receptors for the neural peptides emitted by certain emotions and will shove other emotions out of the way if that's the main emotion they continue to receive. SO...in Frank Abagnale's case -- and I had thought about this before as I read -- he was addicted, addicted to the rush, the thrill of a clever ruse, and maybe most of all addicted to the women. He never drank, smoke, or did drugs but was addicted to women.

I don't say by any means that that excuses his behavior, but it was certainly interesting to think about.

I also found myself appalled at the French prison system, which is the same today as it was then! For six months he lived in a cell with no light, no bedding, no clothes, and only a bucket for a toilet (which was only emptied periodically). I was SO disgusted and felt glad that we don't do that....BUT -- by the end of the book I changed my mind quite a bit! There's a Q&A with Frank at the end of the book and he is asked if he thinks France's prison system is preferable to America's.

"The French prisons will never change, but the older I get, the wiser I get. Maybe the French have the best system. They believe that when you commit a crime, you are punished. You are reomved from society and its privileges. You are confined. It is not a comfortable living environment. It's not meant to be. They don't want you to come back. They would never provide air conditioning, TV, weight lifting, and great food (even if they are French). In the United States we currently spend over twenty-five thousand dollars a year to house an inmate. Most are living in confinement better than a lot of honest people living in a free society who have not broken any laws."

After hearing that, I had to agree! I don't feel like we need to have prisons as drastic as the French prisons but I think we would certainly benefit if we took a page from their book and made our prisons less comfortable and worked harder to reform the inmates that were there! But then that of course brings up questions of how that would be done without taking a MORAL stand, because heaven forbid we actually SAY there's a RIGHT WAY, that there's a RIGHT and a WRONG which we could actually teach without teaching specific religion. Not enough people in the right places believe that yet.

He also said that what he did thirty years ago in his youth is TWO HUNDRED times easier to do today! Yikes!!

So all in all I felt like it was a great read! I loved that as I was reading, I could just read for pleasure and enjoy the story. But I also loved that the Q&A at the end of the book got me thinking about some of the bigger questions his story brings up!

Long-winded Lulu.....

Aunt Rae, I read Jane Eyre when I was fifteen, and I definitely think it was because it "fed my dreams", as you say. :) I tried to read it again only a couple years ago and I actually guffawed. But I still love that I read it, so I guess I still love it. (Hope that makes sense.)

Everybody: I'm about a fourth of the way through Every Secret Thing. I'm really glad to say that I've pretty much stopped debating whether she really is telling it like it happened, and I'm just enjoying the story. (As much as one can enjoy a story about the kidnapping of a wealthy socialite by a group of violent fanatics.....oh, wait. That is a really good plot!) Like I do with any subject that catches my interest, I've googled everything Hearst. From what I've read, I'm not too impressed by William Randolph Hearst, although I do like what I've learned/read about his son (Patty's father) Randolph. Anyway....it's all pretty engrossing and fascinating to me, so I could talk about it forever. But I won't! Just thought I'd say that I'm enjoying my book.

Abby, are you learning anything from your book that wasn't in the movie? There was an interview with Frank on the DVD's special features, and it was really fun to watch!

Beccy, that picture is hilarious. Phill laughed especially hard. Ah, the pictures on fronts of Harlequin novels....I had a friend with whom I used to joke about Harlequin novels. I found that it was really easy to imitate the writing style of those books, and so as a joke, I started writing one. My pseudonym was Leah R. Quin, a very obvious mix of the letters from Harlequin. One character, Beatrice, had a flatulence problem. It was all really silly, but definitely fun.

Dickens and Conan

Abby: I love the Dickens characters. I think that's why I enjoy him so much. Why else would anyone read an author that can spend three pages describing a doorknob! His books are massive, like Clancy and Michener.

I don't really know why I enjoyed Great Expectations so much, but I suspect it had to do with my age. I read it as a teenager. I was reading a lot of gothic romances, which were somewhat spooky and romantic. They fed my dreams back then, I guess! I only got out of them what I was able to understand as a teen. I was also extremely fond of Jane Eyre, which I read again recently as an adult. I absolutely hated it this time around, even having read it three or four times before. I saw more in the relationship (as a married woman) than I ever could have as a child. I didn't care for Mr. Rochester at all this time. Their relationship was too dysfunctional. So, why did I love it as a teen?

But...oh, the characters are wonderful. Miss Havisham and Pip were favorites. If you get a chance to see the movie version (of which there are many), look for the old black and white version. The scene in the graveyard is just sooooo spooky! It's the best. When I came home after my first year at BYU, Dad and I read David Copperfield at the same time. That was a hoot, too. The aged aunt was a favorite of mine in that book. And I still think of Uriah Heep whenever I meet anyone who is intentionally meek and oily at the same time. Heep made my skin crawl whenever he was in a scene.

Spoiler ahead for those who have not read Great Expectations...Beccy and I burned my little cactus named Miss Havisham in effigy one Saturday afternoon. It was doing poorly and had literally gone gray. So we done her in! That's how enthralled I was with the story. I felt so sorry for anyone who had been jilted like her...again, the teen thinking...and could absolutely understand her reasons for never having left the room/house again.

I think Jasper Fforde was just being silly as usual. I just finished his Nursery Rhyme crime division book called Over Easy. It's about the death (murder?) of Humpty Dumpty who, yes, you guessed it, fell off a wall. It wasn't near as funny as the Thursday Next series. I was kind of disappointed.

Mim: I have a funny memory of Grandma Andersen's house. We (I know Matt was there...don't know who else) had gone upstairs to Freeman's room (was he on his mission then?) and into the very back of the closet. Someone showed us the top of Max and Donnie's wedding cake. It was old and moldy and hard as a rock. I always associate that memory with Miss Havisham! Silliness.

Beccy: I must confess that my dear man has read every one of the old Conan books! They were popular in the seventies. He swears they were good reads. I debate that point! The covers alone would keep them out of our house...but then, again, I read a lot of Tarzan novels and they were actually pretty well-written. They had notty covers, too. Maybe it was just to sell the books?

This is CONAN the LIBRARIAN. It made me laugh out loud! I found it when I was looking for the other little librarian picture. Sorry, had to share.

Hi Mim! Yes, you can play too! Today I talked with Mom on the phone and I told her about our "computer book group." She loved the whole idea and asked if I would print out our writings and read them to her when I visit. She commented that she hoped no one would change their style knowing she would be reading it. :) She was very sharp today and we talked almost an hour. Those moments are becoming few and far between, so I took advantage. Anyway, she says she would read every book we read, if she could.

Lulu, I remember seeing stories about Patty Hearst on the news. Hers is one of those many stories about which we may never discover the truth. With some people it seems more obvious when they are being dishonest, like OJ, or Pete Rose. But others? Like Floyd Landis? Still not sure on that one . . . And so much of what the media presents as "news" is doubtful. Anyway, I'll be curious to hear what you think really happened after you're finished. I love that when I picture you reading, I picture little Savvy too (probably nursing). I associate certain books with each of my babies that I read when nursing them. While nursing Kate I read a whole string of Jane Austen books--it just seemed appropriate since she was my first girl.

Abby, I can relate to your feelings about Great Expectations--ironic, given the title. I think when you read Dickens you have to just enjoy the journey and the intricacies of the plot. It stuns me to think that great authors of his time and before did not have computers, word processors or even typewriters. Imagine the paper shufflings and the annoying pens and refilling them with ink. I have wondered if they would have written more if they had our modern tools. Or what if Mozart had had a computer setup like mine for composing? Anyway, I wanted to say that a friend of mine wrote and produced a musical version of Great Expectations. She has an excellent youth theater group (Center Street Theater) that puts on one major production each year. It was fabulous--I've never enjoyed the story more. It benefited from a few catchy tunes and love songs.

Rae! I'm so glad you are taking a class from Don Norton! He's legendary at BYU. I took Personal History from him in about 1990 or so, and then stayed in touch with him off and on. Did you know that he wrote the style manual for the Church that I used when transcribing patriarchal blessings? He is often consulted by the Church, in fact I think he had a big part in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. When I worked in Poli Sci, the professors often contacted him if they got stuck on a usage or style issue, and he always came through. His campus office looks like the aftermath of an atomic bomb. He is the original absent-minded professor. I loved his dry wit. He taught me much about honesty in journal writing. He introduced me to the concept of archival quality and got me into scrapbooking long before it was a big fad. It was in his class that I wrote the essays about each of my siblings. In fact, parts of the one I wrote about Matt were read at Matt's funeral by his former bishop, if you remember.

Sorry. This is a long post, but I don't get to blog often and have to comment to everyone at once. :0)

A little about my June read

I just finished the first chapter of Every Secret Thing. Patty Hearst's writing style is pretty straightforward and sometimes a little poetic, making it a really easy read. I was surprised to learn that she comes from a family of five girls, with her in the middle. And she was raised with pretty sound values and high standards, at least for the most part. I'm a little disappointed that even though she has given lots and lots of information about herself, I don't really feel like I have a clear idea of who she is yet. Maybe I just need to read more into it. So far I'm liking it a lot, though.

Lulu's pick for June

Although I found a couple of other biographies/memoirs that I was really excited about, our library didn't have most of them. (Basically if it's new, my library doesn't have it.) So I decided to go ahead and try out Every Secret Thing by Patricia Campbell-Hearst. I was surprised (and a little intimidated) to see that the book is two inches thick, but I was already interested after the first few sentences. So we'll see if my interest is held. I was interested to see where the title comes from--Ecclesiastes 12:14. (Which says: "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.") Very appropriate, considering there was great controversy over the truth (or untruth) of Patricia Campbell-Hearst's insistence that she was brainwashed and not actually in allegiance with her kidnappers. Anyway. Sorry if this post is a little scattered and not quite as informative as it could be (about Patty Hearst). My mind is a little scattered and not quite as helpful as it could be. :)

Great Expectations

Well, I finished! I'm not sure what to say about Great Expectations without giving things away for those who haven't read it...

Overall, I have to say I was a little disappointed. It wasn't as exciting to read as I hoped it would be. I loved the story and the plot, but it seemed to take a LONG time to tell for such a simple plot-line. Maybe I missed the point?

I do love Dickens' writing style. The way he phrases things made me chuckle more than a few times. I'm not writing him off by any means and will be interested to read more by him.

I think Aunt Rae is the only one here who's read Jasper Fforde's books -- how does he justify his portrayal of Miss Havisham? Or maybe he doesn't....and is just being funny?

My bad

Lulu, I misunderstood your post as saying that the daughter had written the book. An error on my part. Sorry.

Various Items

Welcome Mim! We hope Maddie joins us too. The more the merrier. I will be keeping track of your choices in my Moleskine notebook (I am addicted to them) for posterity's sake. Ha ha.

Lulu: I believe Every Secret Thing was written by the mother, Patty, rather than the daughter. It was published back in 1982 and tells the story of her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. I was a teenager then and remember the media hooplah well. It would probably be really interesting from a psychological point of view. Her daughter, Lydia, is a model and rising socialite, but has not written a book...to my knowledge. Let us know if this is the book you choose.

Beccy: I need to finish my degree first! I actually applied for a school library position several years ago, took the test, and was not hired...they hired in-house as so often happens. I would love to teach English or History but not here. I also don't know if I would enjoy all the politics and credentials stuff that goes along with teaching. Perhaps I will sub in a small town somewhere. Who knows...

Why do they make becoming a teacher so difficult when the need for teachers is so great? When I dropped Bill off at school today he saw that his homeroom teacher, Mr. Byar, was in the parking lot. Bill adores him and Mr. Byar has been out for months with cancer. Bill couldn't get out of the car fast enough, yelled his name and threw his arms around his teacher. It made my day (and probably the teacher's too)! That's what teaching should be all about!

If nothing else, this blog is a wonderful forum for us to discuss our reading and to keep in touch with one another. I feel closer to all of you already. The wonders of the technological age...

For those of you who know Don Norton, I am taking an English Usage class from him this term. What a fun man he is...we have emailed a few times. Has anyone else taken a class from him?

Anyone?

Has anyone heard of the book Every Secret Thing by Patricia Campbell Hearst? Hearst as in the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. I believe it's an autobiography or memoir. I'm wondering if anyone has read the book or heard anything about it. I saw an interview with Lydia Hearst--Patty Hearst's daughter--and then googled "Patty Hearst". I had never heard the story, and was a little interested. I'm thinking about choosing it for my June read.

Rachel the Potential Well-Beloved School Librarian

Rae, you need to be an English teacher. If I were a student in your class, I couldn't help but be excited about reading and learning what authors have to say. What would it take for you to be "certified" or whatever so that you could teach or be a specialist at a school? Would this even appeal to you? Would you ever work in a school library? What was that awesome school librarian that you adored? Um, hey lady, you could be her. 'Cause you're all growed up now. I think. :)

I have loved reading everyone's posts. This is most wonderful. I am trying to keep a definitive list of books I want to read--that is, instead of writing them on scraps of papers and stuffing them in my purse, my nightstand drawer, my planner, or wherever I happen to be when I think/learn of a book I want to read. I have added several to my list from all of your suggestions.

Proxy Poster :)

Alright, I'm posting a message from Mim/Mom because for some reason she gets oodles of Japanese characters when she logs in and it's all rather confusing right now. So this is what she tried to write earlier:

Howdy, Y'all! I had no idea till a week ago that all this online activity was happening right under my nose. Can I play too?? I remember that we talked about a book club just for us, when I was in Utah with all of you. I think this is a wonderful idea! Rachel (Raehink), I was happy to see that "you be da boss" because you are so qualified to advise us all and recommend good reads. So often you find the perfect book for me and the rest of us. I guess you know us and love us and you have some uncanny knack for it too. My biography choice for June, ladies, will be Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower. He (BKP) figures in the establishment of the Church in Japan, and that's part of my reason for reading it right now. Blake's reading that history right now (The Other Side of the Rising Sun: Tatsui Sato and the Growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan).

Another Test

This is to see if it's only posting by email when it's MY email. I'm using a different address in the hopes that I knock off one more possible issue.

Test - Sending a post by email

Just checking to see if this works.  Mom sent one, but it didn't post and wasn't sent to me so I'm trying to straighten things out.  If you want to post by email, I'll let you know if and when it's working.  In the meantime, mom - if you go to www.blogger.com and sign-in with your gmail username and password, you should be sent to a blogger dashboard that shows our blog title and from there you can "View Blog" or "New Post" and stuff like that.  If that doesn't work, let me know.  I'll also send you another invitation.