Since I’m not doing the school newsletter any more I figured I ought to volunteer for something at the kids’ school because, you know, an extra supply of brownie points never hurts. Not wanting to overextend myself, I chose to do this lunchtime enrichment thing where, during the cold winter months, parents run small activity groups as an alternative to the post-lunch recess. Half an hour a week for six weeks? Sure, I can do that! Typical activities are arts & crafts, board games, science, origami, knitting, yoga… whatever parents are interested in. Well, you know what I’m interested in — I offered to do “quiet reading.” Ha ha! Nine fourth-grade girls (including Lena, of course) signed up.
Category Archives: Reading
“A creature designed for reading”
Did you see Caitlin Flanagan’s article about Twilight in this month’s Atlantic?
I’ve been reading The Atlantic for several years now, but I didn’t know I had much in common with Flanagan until she confessed that she hates YA novels because they “bore” her. Well, me too. Ok, yes, there are a few that I’ve been reading and rereading since childhood. But in terms of picking up new ones, now, as an adult, that I didn’t first read as a kid… nope. Can’t do it. Am hard pressed to think of any kids’ books I’ve enjoyed as an adult. Oh, The Lightning Thief! I did like that one. And the first Children of the Lamp book wasn’t bad either. But I couldn’t finish Inkheart even when my own son gave it to me as a gift. Harry Potter? No thanks. And in fact (here’s where Caitlin and I disagree) I didn’t even particularly like Twilight. Oh, it held my interest enough that I did manage to finish it, but… meh.
Liveblogging CCM
I think it was for a Weekly Geeks thing, way back, that someone said about me “she only writes when she has something to say.” At the time I took it as an enormous compliment. I mean, really! But now I’m wondering if the blogger was simply trying to say nicely that I’m one of those erratic people who won’t stick to a schedule and is sometimes absent from the blogosphere for months at a time with no explanation.
On reading short stories
So, not to keep you in suspense, the second faerie book I read was The Ladies of Grace Adieu, by Susanna Clarke, which I first heard about from Ella. Susanna Clarke is also the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, a book that I am very fond of not only because it was a terrifically entertaining good read but also because it was the subject of my very first blog post. Awwww!
It’s that time of year again
…when our clan makes its way up to beautiful northern Michigan for a week at family camp.
Here is my post from two summers ago — I believe this post gets more search engine hits than any other I’ve ever written. It seems there are lots of people who want to know what “twisted box stitch” looks like, and even more who apparently are looking for material for their own “how I spent my summer vacation” essay.
Wondering what to read next?
I just had to take a quick break from The Eyre Affair to share this great idea with you, which I heard from M. According to Marshall McLuhan, a great way to predict whether you will like a book is to read page 69. That’s it. M tried it, although as she pointed out, her sample was a bit skewed because the books whose page 69s she read were books that had already made it to her TBR list for one reason or another.
BookMooch, anyone?
I joined BookMooch last week. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Hubby and I had a brief moment where we felt motivated to Get Stuff Done Around The House (don’t worry, it didn’t last long), including clearing some bookshelf space. So I joined BookMooch, listed some books, and next thing I knew I was packing up a bunch.
