Check out https://literacyandme.wordpress.com for thoughts and my passion for spreading literacy in my neighborhood and wherever I can. Today’s post is about wise words from a classic book on literacy by Australian professor and literary activist, Mem Fox. It is written for teachers, parents, and anyone who shares a love of books and all things bookish.
RAE’S READS
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As an English major in my undergraduate days, I took a course in Contemporary Novels. Emma Straub gives the idea of “Contemporary Novel” a hipper, newer meaning. This was perhaps the most enjoyable novel I have read in 2019 although it was published in 2016. It presents college friends and rock music bandmates during another life/another time, who, nearing 50 now, stay in touch, still see each other and live in the same neighborhood, “gentrified Brooklyn.” The story begins “the summer their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together). ”
The themes and issues the author deals with are aging and mid-life crises–all handled with “wisdom, insight, and humor.” Modern life, changing mores, and opinions on what is acceptable are revealed as the characters interact. As one of the middle-aged characters says, “…our passions–be they food, or friendship or music–never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us.”
I give this novel 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it as a “darned good read.”
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Instead of writing about a kid’s book I have read and would like to recommend, let me list some titles I recently “inherited” for my Little Free Library. I want to read ALL of them (literally a whole car full–hatchback, back seats and floors, front seat passenger side), but cannot pick where to start. The following from the first batch look promising. Have you read any of these? Let me know where I should begin.
The Circuit by Francisco Jiminez
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr
For Your Eyes Only by Jonne Rocklin Catherine Br
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdich
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
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This meme encourages the reader to take a random few lines from where he/she is reading or will read and quote them in hopes of teasing other readers into reading the same book. It is hosted by the Purple Booker and has a huge following. (When posting your teaser, be sure to mention the title and author of the book; no spoilers, please).
I have selected “The Quiet Child” by John Burley as my letter “Q” book for the Alphabet Challenge. Here is a brief teaser from the novel.
“Sean emerged from the aisle with two cartons of ice cream in hand, the coffee and sugar balanced on top. He set them down on the counter and walked over to the rack of comics in the shop’s entryway. A dying glimmer of sunlight spilled through the door’s window, illuminating the back of the boy’s head, a hint of scalp visible beneath the dusky blonde crew cut, the tan neck bent slightly to study the illustrated covers.” Sean was the son allowed to go into the store with his father. Danny, Sean’s brother is the quiet child who was told, “…I want you to stay here [in the car]…There was no dissent from Danny–Would there ever be”?
I am not sure about what the book entails, but I suspect the quiet child is autistic, and I am very interested in autism because of contact with autistic children and young men and women over fifty years of teaching where autistic pupils were mainstreamed (or undiagnosed) with other children/young adults. In this novel, the idea is stretched into something almost supernatural as the “quiet child” is shunned as one who brings ill fortune and even disease to those around him. Both brothers evidently go missing, and the “consequences of finding the two brothers may be worse than not finding them at all.”
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This author is an amazing writer. I can’t wait to read her “newest.” I think I will choose to buy the print copy rather than listen to the audiobook. R.
4.5 StarsPublished August 7th 2018 by Dutton
Published August 7th 2018 by Penguin Audio
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In January I agreed to return to the Alphabet Challenge abandoned last summer with the completion of Joyce Carol Oats, The Man Without a Shadow. So far I have read “N,” “O,” and “P.”
Letter “O” was my favorite of the three and definitely the best book I have read so far this year. It appealed to me as a literature major, but also as an original writing technique, for Ian McEwan wrote from the viewpoint of a fetus in its mother’s womb. Not just any unborn child, mind you, but Hamlet, Shakespeare’s Prince of Denmark. In tMcEwan’s novel, Hamlet’s mother, Trudy, is close to her delivery date when she and Claude, her husband’s brother and her lover, plot to kill the king and usurp his throne. Hamlet, from the womb is privy to this information and veers between faithful love and venomous hate for both his biological father and his mother. It is “the classic tale of murder and deceit,” but as you may have guessed from the modern names, it is set in modern (around 60’s) times.
There is a marvelous twist to the decision to go ahead with the murder plot that only McEwan could have invented. It is not in Shakespeare’s version (as far as I know), but it torments both Trudy and her unborn son.
The writing is the best thing about the book. Here is just a sample:
Chapter One “So here I am, upside down in a woman. Arms patiently crossed, waiting, and waiting and wondering who I’m in, what I’m in for. My eyes close nostalgically when I remember how I once drifted in my translucent body bag, floated dreamily in the bubble of my thoughts through my private ocean in slow-motion somersaults, colliding gently against the transparent bounds of my confinement, the confiding membrane that vibrated with, even as it muffled, the voices of conspirators in a vile enterprise.” MAGNIFICENT! But, what else could one expect from the author of Atonement?
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The Audio Book Challenge of 2019, originated by “Hot Listens” and “Caffeinated Reviewer”, which was pointed out to me by my blogging friend, Carla at “Carla Loves to Read” was a perfect “fit” for me. I rarely listen to audio books because I am primarily a visual reader. However, taking on this challenge (I have agreed to listen to 30 books; Carla is aiming at 50.) has been a growth experience in many ways.
The third book I have heard since I began the challenge in January is Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes. Like all of King’s books, it is wonderful and terrible at the same time. King’s main character, Bill Hodges, a “ret-det” (“retired detective” to us civilians), of the police force in a distressed American city is haunted by “the perp who got away, ” “Mr. Mercedes” (so dubbed by the media), plowed a stolen, classic Merdcedes into a pre-dawn gathering of desperate people lined up to apply for a few scarce jobs, killing eight and wounding fifteen others. Hodges blames himself for Mr. Mercedes’ escape, and his crime and case will ever remain “open” to Hodges.
Assisted by an African American computer whiz, still in high school, and a seriously neurotic relative of the woman Hodges loved, Hodges tracks down an email which pulls him out of his depression and into a full-fledged investigation of the psychotic killer.
Brady Hartsfield, the sender of the email and, indeed, the true Mr. Mercedes taunts the tormented detective and decides to kill not only Hodges, but as many people as possible in a terrorist act of violence. Will Hodges figure out who Mr. Mercedes is, and more importantly, stop his devious plan? With King, the reader can be fairly sure he will, but the fingernail-chewing route to King’s conclusion keeps the reader on the edge of his seat! The characterization of this insane killer is one of King’s best as he returns to his frequent theme of Good vs. Evil.
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This quote by Armand Hammer sums up what would be a good motto or life goal for us all.
“I believe we are here to do good. It is the responsibility of every human being to aspire to do something worthwhile, to make this world a better place than the one we found.”
To me, this expresses my desire to “do my part” to spread literacy throughout the world, and specifically in my home town. Steps I have taken in this direction include belonging to and promoting our local book club, building and maintaining a Little Free Library in my yard, volunteering in the library of a primary school in my neighborhood, volunteering at a community center as a basic ESL teacher, and founding two blogs: powerfulwomenreaders.wordpress.com and this one. This past semester,my last at UHCL, I included a Literacy Project as part of the requirements for the Advanced Writing…
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This meme was created by MizB at Daily Rhythms and now is hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. In participating, one answers three “Whats”
What are you currently reading?
What have you recently finished?
What will you read next?
Here are my answers for 1/23/19
Currently, I am listening to Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes as part of my 2019 audio book challenge.
I am also slowly and thoughtfully still reading The Newcomers by Helen Thorpe, part of my goal to read more non-fiction.
Evidence of Flossing, a collection of poems and a photo essay by Jennifer A. Payne is another current read, which I’m more glad each time I encounter a new section that I purchased this slim, delightful, thought-provoking reading experience.
Today/Currently, I have just finished The Obelisk Gate as book “O” of my Alphabet Challenge, which I picked up halfway through the alphabet on New Year’s Day. Gate is by N.K. Jemisin and is the second book in the “Broken Earth trilogy. It is a sci -fi masterpiece.
Last night, as part of my goal to read more non-fiction, I finished Magic Words @ Work, by Kaminsky and Penney. This book offers “magic” words and phrases that get desired results in the workplace.
This past Sunday, I finished Nutshell by Ian McEwan, a novel with a unique p.o.v, that of a fetus within the womb, the narrator, Hamlet–yes, Shakespeare’s manic prince.
I also finished the “P” selection for the Alphabet Challenge, “The Prayer of Jesus, ” a devotional book by Hank Hanegraaff, introduced by Lee Strobel (of The Case for Christ) and recommended by my personal, favorite inspirational author,Max Lucado.
I hope to read soon The Odessa Chronicles by Colin Chappell, whose blog meandray.com is one of my favorites.
Some reasons I was able to do so much reading recently was because I took two days to do nothing but rest and read, and the MLK holiday was observed on Monday of this week. Tuesday and today brought inclement weather, which kept me at home curled up with many good books. I hope the world was equally good to you this week. HAPPY READING!
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog by French philosopher and novelist, Muriel Barbery, was the solution to a problem I’d had for quite a while. I had tried to read this book on several occasions and just “couldn’t get into it,” lost track, or just became bored. Listening to it in the audiobook format, however, kept me intrigued and compelled by the voices of the two masterful narrators.
One, Renee, a short, plump fifty-ish, purposefully dowdy concierge of “a bourgeois building in a posh neighborhood” was a persona to be reckoned with. She and her cat, Tolstoy, led a secret life. Unknown to her tenants, Renee was knowledgable in art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture.
Paloma, her super-smart, twelve-year-old foil who lives with her family on the fifth floor, does her very best to appear mediocre, when, in fact, like Renee, she is extraordinary. They are both in disguise! What blows their pretenses to smithereens is when Mr. Ozu, a wealthy Japanese man buys the building and moves in.
This is a “moving, witty and redemptive novel.” It deals with “quiet personal victories” that make the listener laugh, gasp, and cry at times. The novel itself and the writing, specifically, are wonderful. This was one of the best “reading”/listening experiences I have ever had.
powerfulwomenreaders 