Snapshot Day in the Library

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." -Jorge Luis Borges

Yesterday was Library Snapshot Day. Unfortunately the library was being used for kids to take a state mandated test yesterday so I ran around and snapped a few pictures today. Of course, I forgot to get the camera out when I had over 30 students in the library for a lesson on good first lines in books. I also forgot to get the camera out when Library Club members sat around discussing out next planned activity or talking up their favorite books. So what I am left with is a bunch of random pictures of students just using the library throughout the day. Since I didn't secure their permission to publish faces I am only hosting photos of the library where the students aren't recognizable. I'll do better next time!

Both girls wanted a romance!

Searching for a perfect book.

Searching the catalog.  This computer is dedicated to just that purpose.

Using the computers during lunch period.

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information on it." -Samuel Johnson

A group of kids sitting around the puzzle table.  (Sorry dark!)

One gal just couldn't find what she needed so she had to clean out her whole purse (no wonder!)

Helping each other locate good books.

Rock the Drop! Support Teen Lit Day

Support Teen Lit Day: April 14, 2011.  

(Sponsored by Readergirlz)

Here's how:

1.  Copy the bookplate below and paste/tape it in a new or gently used YA book.

2.  Drop the book in a public place where a teen might find it.  Try a park bench, a bus seat, a lunch table.

3.  Take a photo of your dropped book.

4.  Post this on your blog and link back to Readergirlz (plus send your stories and photos to them!)

5.  Be creative and have fun.

I did a similar activity with my library club last year and we had so much fun sharing our book drop stories.  I want to do it again with my students this year but this time I am going ask the students to take pictures.

Books I think would make awesome movies

Broke and Booksih

Books I think would make awesome movies.

OK!  I admit that I read a whole lot more than I watch movies so I may actually suggest a book that has already been made into a movie...please be kind!
1.  Eragon by Paolini...actually I know this one was made into a movie already but the movie was so terrible it doesn't count.  It needs a remake that is worthy of the book.

2.  Half Brother by Oppel...I think this would make a wonderful and touching movie about the rights of animals and what it means to be human.

3.  The History of Love by Krauss...the book is amazing so why shouldn't it be an amazing movie?

4.  How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Standiford... it is so quirky and honest.  I think the late night radio segments could be fun in the movies.

5.  The Sky is Everywhere by Nelson...it is sad, and funny, and romantic.  I'd go see it.

6.  Feed by M.T. Anderson...futuristic consumerism to the max.  Is this our future?

7.  Ship Breaker by Bacigalupi...another futuristic tale this one focusing on the possible effects of global warming, lack of resources, with a bit of a love story. 

8.  Cutting for Stone by Verghese...this would be an epic film and would have to be directed by someone who loves the story enough to keep all it's pieces in place.

Not one of my better lists.  Any ideas of books you think would make awesome movies?

My "staycation" is nearly over

Sadly, my Spring Break "Staycation" is nearly over. It will officially end at 5:30 AM PDT tomorrow when I rise to start another work week. So how was my stay-at-home (Staycation) this year? How did I do on all my bookish goals for the week? Here is an update:

• Read at least the first 50 pages of the four Junior Lit Circle books that I haven't read yet. I have to present these books to classes on the Monday that I get back to school.  The four books are: The Bell Jar (Plath); Beloved (Morrison); Ragtime (Doctorow); and Travels with Charley (Steinbeck). Done.  I actually read all of Beloved, half of The Bell Jar, and at least fifty pages of the others.  This is a great weight off my mind.

• Update my reading log journal. Since I have switched to blogging about books I have neglected my reading log journal that I have kept for over ten years. Done. I wrote short entries for all books read in 2011 so far...now to keep it up-to-date!

• Read/complete these books: 1) Lottery by Patricia Wood, No. 2) Dewey, the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, Yes. 3) Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher, No. I'm pretty bummed about not finishing all three of these books but found myself reading other books and not wanting to start these before I finished those.

• Attend the book discussion at the public library over the 2011 Pierce County Reads book Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan. I got the dates goofed up.  The discussion is 4/11/11, this coming Monday.  Woops.

• Blog Goals-a) to visit all of the blogs that I follow at least once this week for a check-in and b) and to write at least five posts this week. I didn't visit all the blogs I follow, but I visited a lot and tried to leave comments if I did.  I also completed over 5 posts this week. Woot-woot!

• Visit the Tacoma Borders store which is closing. I didn't find too many "deals" though I did purchase a few graphic novels.  I also looked around the only used book store in town which has moved from an old, falling-down house to a new store-front shop.

•  In addition, I finished reading the book Mr. Knightley's Diary (retelling of Austen's Emma) by Amanda Grange; my daughters and I went to see the new Jane Eyre movie that just came out this week.  Loved it.  Watch the promo, it is very good.

The weather was ghastly for most of the week so it is lucky for me that I had set my goals on books and blogging, not outdoor pursuits, though I did run out between rain storms and plant some new azaleas and a new daphne to replace plants that died over the winter.  I also had an adventure day in Seattle which included perusing two used books store very briefly. All in all it was a low-key but delightful week.

Join in the discussion

What are the proper uses of literary conventions?

Let's talk a minute about the use of literary conventions, shall we?  Why do we use paragraphs, periods, capital letters, and quotation marks?

What are conventions?  Convention: (1) a rule or practice based upon general consent and upheld by society at large; (2) an arbitrary rule or practice recognized as valid in any particular art or discipline, such as literature or art. (Literary Terms)

I just finished reading a lovely book, Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins.  I loved the book and hated the book in equal measure.  I loved the story and the characters and I hated it that the author left out quotation marks, making it very difficult to read the dialogue or to figure out who was speaking. Here is an example of the text from the book:

Where's the traveling ditto circus off to this weekend? Flash said as they stood together in the half-deserted street. I got a date with Moby in the morning if you want to witness it for history. And Fos, if you say Call me Ishmael again you're gonna fry. No offense, dit, but your husband isn't funny. ---Evidence of Things Unseen, p.109

See what I mean?  It is very difficult to tell who is talking.

Join in the discussion.  How do you feel about it when authors don't use customary literary conventions?  Have you ever experienced frustration when reading something where typical literary conventions weren't used?  Share your thoughts, please.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

When slavery has torn apart one's heritage, when the past is more real than the present, when the rage of a dead baby can literally rock a house, then the traditional novel is no longer an adequate instrument. And so Pulitzer Prize-winner Beloved is written in bits and images, smashed like a mirror on the floor and left for the reader to put together. In a novel that is hypnotic, beautiful, and elusive, Toni Morrison portrays the lives of Sethe, an escaped slave and mother, and those around her. There is .... Baby Suggs, who makes her living with her heart because slavery "had busted her legs, back, head, eyes, hands, kidneys, womb and tongue;" and Paul D, a man with a rusted metal box for a heart and a presence that allows women to cry. At the center is Sethe, whose story makes us think...about what we mean when we say we love our children or freedom. The stories circle, swim dreamily to the surface, and are suddenly clear and horrifying. 

Review by Erica Bauermeister:
From 500 Great Books by Women.

If I were a college English professor I'd want to teach this book.  I know that doesn't sound like the best recommendation to a casual book blog, but I mean it as the highest of praise.  This book is so full of symbolism that I think it would be a fabulous book to read and discuss with others who know what they are talking about.

In a lot of ways Beloved is a ghost story.  It is about a an actual ghost, Beloved.  It is also about the ghosts of slavery. It is also part historical fiction, based on an actual historic event where an escaped slave kills her children rather than return them to a life of slavery. "The novel also seek to understand the impact of slavery, both on the psychology of individuals and on the larger patterns of culture and history... [it] powerfully portrays the meanings of what it means to be owned by another and the difficulty of owning oneself."-from Gradesaver

• "Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed,' she said, 'and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks." - Toni Morrison, Beloved, Ch. 9 

• “I was talking about time. It’s so hard for me to believe in it. Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. You know. Some things you forget. Other things you never do….” (35-36). 

• "Bit by bit, at 124 and in the Clearing, along with others, she had claimed herself. Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another."  - Toni Morrison, Beloved, Ch. 9

Lest you think this book is too high-minded for you, I challenge you to read it anyway.  Once I got started I was completely mesmerized by the prose and swept up in its story. It shows up on the list of Best 100 novels of all time for good reason.

Friday...Following and First Lines

A Few More Pages

First lines from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath:

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. I am stupid about executions.

I know the book is about a depressed girl, Esther, and written by a depressed, suicidal author.  So it is telling that it starts off focusing on a death.  Very grim.
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Today's highlighted blogger is Lesley at My Keeper Shelf.  Have a look at this new blog and congratulations, Lesley. Also take a look at my blog.  I am taking a Spring Break Staycation this week so I have several new entries about bookish things I'm doing this week.

Today's question:

Q. Do you judge a book by it's cover?

I rarely give any thought to the covers of the adult books that I read.  They are what they are.  But when it comes to YA book covers I do notice them because I think that my students notice them and are more likely to select books by their covers than me.  I have noticed that if a cover appears to be juvenile, high school kids will shun the book or I will have to do a lot more "selling" of the book before they'll check it out.

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   Blogger Hop:  Coming Soon

Amanda Grange and Jane Austen retellings

I just completed another of Amanda Grange's books, Mr. Knightley's Diary, a retelling of Jane Austen's Emma.  I had fully intended to make this journal a highlight of the author herself since I have now read and enjoyed four of her books that retell the Austen stories from the heroes' points of view.  However Ms. Grange is apparently a very elusive person and I wasn't able to find out much about her.  Even her own website doesn't have any links to much more than a cursory biography saying that she was born in Yorkshire and as a teenager enjoyed reading Austen and Georgette Heyer.  I did find another blog, Title Magic, that hosted an interview of Grange in 2008.  I redirect you there if you want to know more about this modern-regency author.  The interview is very interesting.  Here is my favorite quote from it:

I love them all for different reasons. I'd always felt that Darcy was the ideal man to fall in love with and that Mr Knightley was ideal husband material. Then, when I wrote Cpt Wentworth's Diary, I was amazed that I hadn't been in love with him for years, because he can do everything! He can captain a ship, and yet he can also say to Anne, 'You pierce my soul.' That's an incredible combination of toughness and tenderness. What a man! Then again, Edmund Bertram really grew on my whilst writing his diary. But perhaps the most surprising hero for me has been Col Brandon. In Sense and Sensibility he comes over as silent and grave, until he tells Elinor his history, and suddenly this dry stick of a man is revealed as a passionate romantic who is the survivor of a tragic love affair. I loved bringing his history to life, and I hope readers will see him as I do, as an excellent hero who has a second chance of love - one of the themes of the novel - and who has the courage to take it.---Amanda Grange interview, Title Magic

To my mind one of the reasons that all of Austen's books have remained so popular over the years is that her characters are so real and there are obviously stories behind the stories.  Why are the Bennets so poor? Why did Captain Wentworth continue to love Anne for eight years of separation? Why was Elinor and Marianne's brother so ungenerous with them? Amanda Grange's book help us imagine more of the story that Austen just alluded to.  I've always like Mr. George Knightly, but now I really like him and want him to win over the heart of his dearest friend, Emma.  And now I can root for Edmund Bertram's heart to change directions in time to see love at his doorstep.

Are you an Austen fan?  Read all her books several times?  Maybe it is time to pick-up an Amanda Grange novel for a retelling of your favorite story from the male point-of-view.  I enjoy them and hope you will, too.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I have a very smug feeling right now that something very magical and extraordinary has just happened to me. All of the sudden I am on the "inside" and I didn't even know I was on the outside before. It is as if I have finally been initiated into an exclusive club that was so elusive that I didn't even want to join until now and that is because I'm in. To what do I credit this bit of good luck and instant popularity? Why, the answer is simple. I have just finished reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I have arrived. I know the answer to life's big question. The only small cloud over my wonderful parade is wondering why no one has impressed on me the need to read this book before now. Is membership in the Hitchhiker's club so exclusive that no one dare recommend the book to individuals unprepared for the journey? Did I have to pass some unwritten test to determine if I was worthy? Well, whatever the reason, I've read it now and I shall tell everyone to read it, the sooner the better.  So what is so special about this book, you ask.  Let me tell you a few things that I discovered.

• First of all, the book is funny, very funny, Monty Python funny. I found myself bursting out in laughter seemingly randomly. I would try to explain the funny bits to family members who would stare at me blankly. Apparently it is a type of humor that is cumulative.
• Just when I'd think I was figuring out the plot, everything would shift.  Nope, I didn't guess that would happen next.
• I read from the 25th anniversary edition and listened to the audiobook, both being excellent choices. The 25th anniversary edition had 65 pages of Part 1: before the book which included all kinds of information about Douglas Adams, how he got started writing the book, photographs and other diagrams of the book and the movie that followed, and quotes from famous people associated with the book.  Because of this introduction I was infatuated with the book before I started it.  Then I started listening to the audiobook read by Stephen Fry.  If ever there was a perfect voice actor for a role it was Stephen Fry for this role.  He is a humorous reader and his many voices made me laugh even when what was being said wasn't that funny. 
• I have the distinct feeling that I missed a lot of the jokes and I am fully prepared to reread the book, read the sequels, and/or watch the movie or all three.  In fact, I want my own copy of the book.

Have I convinced you?  Is it time for you to pick up this book and finally read it for yourself?  I highly encourage you to do it.  If you have read the book, let me know your thoughts, too!

It's Monday. Here's what I'm reading...

Sheila at Book Journey

I'm on my Bookish Spring Break Staycation right now.  I have lots of books that I am reading and previewing, so many, in fact, that I am beginning to feel a little overwhelmed.


What I'm currently reading:
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Wow.  No wonder this book is on many lists as one of the top ten books every written.  I am completely captivated by the prose but the story is so-o-o depressing.

In addition to this book I am previewing three other books for a class project I am introducing on the Monday after Spring Break.  My goal is to read at least 50 pages of each of these before then.

What I am listening to on audiobooks:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
This book is a hoot and I an hardly wait to finish it and write my review.  Don't panic, I'm almost done.

What I just finished reading:
Dewey: the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
I finally bore down and finished this book after several fits and starts over the years.  It really is a darling story but perhaps better suited to a magazine article. The cat on the cover is actually Dewey.  Wasn't he cute?

What I plan to read next:
Lottery by Patricia Wood
This is the book club selection for April.  It sounds delightful and I'm pretty excited to get started.  Here is the summary from Goodreads: "Perry L. Crandall knows what it's like to be an outsider. With an IQ of 76, he's an easy mark. Before his grandmother died, she armed Perry well with what he'd need to know: the importance of words and writing things down, and how to play the lottery. Most important, she taught him whom to trust—a crucial lesson for Perry when he wins the multimillion-dollar jackpot."