August read

It used to be--back in the day--that August was still summer time. School didn't start until after Labor Day. Now it seems that only a few places do it that way and most kids start school in mid-August. In light of that fact, our August read will relate to education.

Pick a non-fiction book having to do with education, the learning process, reading, teaching, etc. I'm leaving this pretty wide open for you. If you don't have a title in mind and want to wander the library shelves, take a look in the 020 (library and information sciences) and the 370 (teaching and education) areas. I'll be interested to see what you each come up with.

Happy reading!

Finished!

I have completed the new (and last) Harry Potter book as well as my June read, In Gallant Company. The HP book was wonderful, I thought, and ended in just the right way. It was intense (with lots of good people dying) but just right. Rowling made me happy. I would have sent her a really nasty note if it had not ended in the way it did.

As for my July read, it wasn't the greatest story, but it did make me think about the Revolutionary War that was also being fought on the ocean--something we don't often hear much of--and how in many respects it was a civil war. English and "Americans"--former English--fighting one another. That must have been as difficult as it was in the Civil War. I often think of our relative on the Andersen side of the family who fought for the Confederacy while some of his other family members supported the Union. Very sad indeed. We owe them so much!

2 Booky Items

The link below will take you to a fine article on the Harry Potter phenom. It tells of a literary critic's Down Syndrome boy and how the HP books helped him progress in his limited understanding. I thought it worth sharing:

www.thecommonreview.org/fileadmin/template/tcr/pdf/berube61.pdf

(or go to www.thecommonreview.org and scroll down until you see the article mentioned)

Abby, I noticed on your personal blog that one of the books you have on your list to read soon is The Historian. I just started it this week. I read Dracula just a year ago or so and purchased Historian in an airport. It was put on a bookshelf and forgotten about. Then, while packing up some books, I found it and decided now was as good a time as any to read it. Had I been really on the ball, I would have remembered that Harry Potter #7 is coming out Saturday and I have first dibs on it in our house. I guess I'll be reading a lot this next week. Plus, I am finishing up my read for our book group!

Anyway, so far the book is great! I am really enjoying its tone. Dracula was just creepy enough to keep me from reading it for many years. This one has that same feel to it. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Happy reading!

THANK YOU!!

Rae, thank you for those links!! I am LOVING that first one....I've been needing/looking for something like that for what seems like forever. By the way, thanks for your sweet comment on my blog photos.

I'm really loving this blog of ours. I feel more connected to all of you, but it's especially sweet to be "more connected" to my aunties. I love that we all have in common the love of words, and the love of good books.

Loving all of you

Lulu

Listed below...

...are two of my favorite web sources for both booklists and author lists. The Fantastic Fiction site is great if you know the author's name and want to see everything they have written (really good if you are trying to read all books of a certain author). It also keeps one appraised of new stuff coming out. The Waterboro site is a compendium of hundreds of booklists by subject. It's just plain fun when you don't know what you want!


http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

www.waterborolibrary.org/bklista.htm


Happy reading!

A link for Abby

http://www.usd320.k12.ks.us/whs/lmc/historicalam.html#Colonial%20and%20Revolutionary%20Days

Maybe that will help you, Abby? Just a list I found....I'm with you. I like historical fiction better when I'm not constantly guessing how much of the main character is truth or fiction. I liked the book Lyddie [by Katherine Paterson], which was historical fiction--but that was set in the time of....what was it....the industrial revolution. So a little late if you're looking for something more July-read-specific.

I've read Dragonwyck, too. I love that book!!

Lulu

Re historical fiction

Abby's post addresses a quite controversial aspect of historical fiction--can we fairly portray "real" people in fiction? I recently read an essay on that very subject. The authors of the essay were trying to define the genre of historical fiction. The consensus was that if the author used fictional characters within a specific historical setting, it was ok. Even if there were actual historical figures in the background, it was ok. What was not ok was taking a historical figure and making them fictional and the main character as well. I don't know that I totally agree with that definition. But it's a real issue in some academic reading circles.

I also love historical fiction and I have the same problem as Abby. I prefer the setting to be historical with fictional characters. I don't mind a reference or two to actual figures, but I dislike it when an author "fictionalizes" an actual person. But I have also read some wonderful fiction books about real people. I think it really depends on the author and his/her ability to pay respect to the historical character.

I remember reading a book on Sacagawea when I was in high school. I felt like I had to finish it (and it was a FAT book) because it was a borrowed book and the lender wanted to talk about it after I read it. I hated that book! The author had made Sacagawea into a contemporary character and even included smut scenes for her. Lewis and Clark are heroes of mine and I know quite a lot about their trek, so that particular book was painful to read. I felt like the book did them all a disservice.

I'm really glad that you are thinking hard about this choice. I thought I had made it easy for everyone by simply selecting a historical setting. But one of the reasons I wanted to do the blog in the first place was to make the selection process as intriguing as the reading. So many people don't know how to select a book!

Have you ever read Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes? I love that book! It's one that slips by many people but is on almost all the grade school reading lists. It should be easy to find and is a quick read. You might also check out the author Ann Rinaldi. She writes historical fiction for older teens. Her books are often about real people, but she writes so well that it doesn't bother me. She has written several within the selected time frame, including one about Paul Revere's daughter.

Have fun in your searching and as always, happy reading!

Unsure of book choice...

Okay, I don't really want to read Witnesses anymore and am wondering just what to read. The writing so far (and I'm not very far) is just really "trite-ish" (is that a word?). It doesn't help that I just finished reading Dragonwyck and really enjoyed it.

I'm also realizing that I love historical fiction -- but I love it best when the main character is fictional. Make sense? I just don't like wondering all the way through the novel, how much of this is true? Whereas with a fictional character, none of the character's life is true but the events can be true. I think I could do a real-life character in a fiction book if I already knew a lot about that person. Maybe I'll have to revisit Witnesses after reading more about Anne Hutchinson.

For now, if I have time before/after/in-between Mom/Mim reading The Winthrop Woman, I might read that (although that's about Elizabeth Winthrop...a real-life woman).

Based on what I've mentioned -- does anyone have any other book ideas that would fit the time period?

My June read done

Hi everyone! I am done with Man's Search for Meaning. It was very interesting. It made me feel stoic afterwards, like I should be able to handle any suffering. I had mixed feelings about his being so detached about it all. I sort of wished he would be more personal, but then I thought that maybe it was the only way he could cope with the experiences.
I shared some of the incidents in it with Pat and he was very interested. I recommend it to anyone; it made me think and ponder purposes and meanings in life . . . but I do not want it to be my only read about the Holocaust. I haven't read anything else. I'd like to read The Hiding Place now after what Beccy said about it.
As for July, I do not think I will try to fit in a book--I think I will be pretty tired! I am already three days overdue. Wish me luck! Love to you all; I'll keep reading your posts and joining in when I can.

Laziness?

I doubt very much that it is laziness! Going from two to three children has got to keep you busy. That's the beauty of our book group. Feel free to opt out completely or just pick a short book any month you are feeling harried. Guilt-free! We look forward to your return to the reading world in August. I'm looking forward to a little Harry Potter myself!

Lulu's July book (or lack thereof)

I'm just wanting to tell everyone I don't think I'll be reading a book this month--at least not in the chosen genre. I had one heck of a time trying to finish Every Secret Thing--it took me six weeks, and I even skipped some parts at the end out of sheer exasperation. It's a long story! Actually, I would have renewed it (for the third time) if our library hadn't been closed for four days with air conditioning problems. And I'm happy I read it, but it was certainly very heavy reading.

Of course, I'm also waiting for the seventh Harry Potter book. So that might just be my only read this month. (And possibly a Mrs.Pollifax book.) I feel like a circus balancing act, trying to just get up in the morning and keep our selves, our babies, and our house afloat! If I have any literary juice left at the end of the month, maybe I'll read Tituba after all. Until then, excuse my laziness....

Love you, everybody.

Side read

I am about 1/3 of the way through a book called History On Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier. It's the account of a libel trial in Great Britain. The woman being sued for libel is an American historian whose specialty is the Holocaust. In one of her books, she described another historian...and I use that term loosely...as "one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial." On the basis of that, he (David Irving) sued her for libel in GB where the burden of proof is on the defendant rather than the plaintiff. It's extremely interesting. I am floored that ANYONE could even try to deny that the Holocaust ever happened! But apparently it's big business...and not just by the nutcases in Iran.

Each of your books sounds fun! Enjoy your patriartic holiday! We will be in Coronado for the big parade as well as beach time, fish tacos, walks in the evening, surf fishing, real Mexican food and visiting Ivan's folks...maybe the last time for a while.

Beccy's June & July reads

First, I delighted in all of your posts! I'm curious, Liz, to know your thoughts about Man's Search For Meaning. I am glad I read it, but I can't say that it changed my life. I did feel that The Hiding Place was a life-changer when I read it, probably in part because it was written without Dr. Frankl's heavy-duty and--to me, sometimes cold--psychological analysis. (It was interesting to me, Mim, that you mentioned it, because it was on my mind all throughout Frankl's book.)

Also, The Hiding Place was really my first (literary) exposure to the atrocities of the Holocaust. But now that I think about it, it wasn't learning about the Holocaust but the character of Corrie Ten Boom's father who had the life-changing effect on me. One of the most touching parts to me is when Corrie asks her father one of those deep questions that children innocently ask. They are riding on a bus with their luggage, all of their possessions in one big bag if I'm remembering right. He knows that the answer to her question is too painful and beyond her comprehension. He gently explains how knowing ugly things about the world is like carrying heavy luggage, and since she is still so small, she can just let him carry that luggage for her until she is big enough to lift it herself. Does anyone remember that?

Anyway, later Troy and I went through Dachau. I felt like a witness to the Holocaust, in a small degree. That was mind-blowing. I wept continuously throughout the tour.

Frankl's descriptions of incidents of Nazi cruelty reminded me of the depravity of the Nephites before their annihilation--they too were hardened, blood-thirsty, past feeling. I truly cannot comprehend being so cruel, so ugly-evil to another human being, though I can see how a person gets to that point through increasingly evil choices. At the same time, there were some who retained charity for others while being tortured. The cumulative effect of the book on me (with The Hiding Place in the back of my mind the whole time) was to bring into sharp and sobering focus the two extremes of what man can become.

Fun genre for July, Rae! I am excited to read Shadow Patriots by Lucia St. Clair Robson. It's about a young woman from a Quaker family who risks her life during the Revolutionary War when she becomes a spy for patriot forces. It is a fictional account of George Washington's female spy in New York that only went by "355." It has rave reviews on Amazon. Incidentally, the heroine's name in the novel is Kate. :)

I hope to finish it before Harry Potter comes out!

July read

I will be reading In Gallant Company by Alexander Kent. It takes place on a British ship while they are fighting the American colonists. I thought it would be fun to read something from the British point of view.

Great choices, ladies!

Mom/Mim & Abby's July book choices

I'm reading Witnesses: a novel by Marcy Heidish -- it's about Anne Hutchinson, who among other things was a religious freedom activist.

Mom is reading The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton, about Elizabeth Fones who married Harry Winthrop.

It'll be interesting to compare notes when we're done.