Non-Fiction

Awwwwe – Pandas!

1 Comment / 2005, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I’m not sure why “The Lady and the Panda” appeared on my library pick up list but I’m really glad that it did.

I don’t have a thing for pandas the way some people do. They’re ok as far as animals go. Jenn (my oldest child) liked them for a few years but she gave them up in favor of Garfield pretty quickly. I have seen the Pandas at the National Zoo. They’re ok. No big deal really.

I’ve never thought a lot about the zoos. How they came to be. What it must have been like a hundred or more years ago to have some new creature discovered and appear in zoos. Maybe because it’s a hunting thing and I’m anti-hunter? I’ve never really been anti-zoo though. I don’t know, whatever, I’ve just never thought much about the subject.

Now, it seems that I’m thinking a lot about it. I even dreamed about doggone pandas the other night. The book, needless to say, left an impression on me. Interesting woman, interesting subject. Good book.

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Spook Wasn’t Spooky

3 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I was really excited to get Spook, by Mary Roach because I so enjoyed Stiff. I giggled quite a few times during the first 50 pages and then put it down. For two days. Long enough for TW to pick it up and laugh non-stop through it. I picked it back up and I finished it but I didn’t find much to laugh about. And I didn’t find it all that interesting either.

Maybe it’s because I don’t have some burning desire to KNOW what happens after I die. I don’t particularly care. And I don’t particularly want the rest of the world to KNOW what happens either. I guess this is one surprise I’d rather keep as a surprise or something?

TW and I have spent some time pondering what Roach’s next subject will be…. hopefully it’s something better than the after-life.

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Fat Girl

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Fat Girl by Judith Moore was totally depressing. Thank goodness it was short. It also came close to making me physically ill.

I don’t really like food very much. I don’t really like detailed descriptions of food. Moore is very good at the graphic descriptions I so very much hate. I almost put the book down before the end of the introduction.

I’m glad I stuck it out. As graphic as the food and fat body descriptions were, it was worth reading. As depressing and unappealing as all of the characters were, including Judith herself, it was worth reading.

It was worth reading because I have no idea what it is like to be a fat girl, yet I talk to people everyday who are “fat girls”. I have no idea what it is like to love food the way some people seem to, yet I talk to those types of people everyday. Anytime I find a book that gives me some insight into how some people might feel or behave or react, it’s worth reading. Even if it was disgusting. And depressing.

Thank goodness it was short.

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I Love Nancy Drew

2 Comments / 2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Mystery, Non-Fiction /

When I picked up this book from the shelf, I was afraid I would be disappointed. But I wasn’t. And I knew I wasn’t going to be from the first page of the Introduction. Not only do I love Nancy Drew. I love “Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.

I mentioned in my Books That Say Something About You post that Nancy Drew says something about me. She does. I started reading Nancy’s in the early 70’s. The books with the yellow spine and interesting covers. (I do have one old one with a paper jacket and another with a solid turquoise binding) I remember when there was some controversy over who wrote the Nancys. And I remember the move from G&D to S&S.

This little book answers all of the questions I had about Nancy Drew and Carolyn Keene, and some I never wondered about. And it did it in a way that left me satisfied and not disillusioned with either Carolyn Keene or Nancy.

If you prefer the Hardy Boys or Bobbsey Twins or Ruth Fielding or Rover Boys was, you might still want to pick up this little book because the world of children’s literature, the 50 cents books, were linked in one way or another.

Whether you loved Nancy or hated her, she still had some kind of an impact on your life – if it wasn’t for Nancy, were would children’s literature be today? Girls’ literature in particular?

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No Vindication for Me, Magic Instead

2005, Books in Bed, Fiction, Mystery, Non-Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, short stories /

You might have noticed a new book, well two actually, appeared on my reading list and that means I’ve given up on Wollstonecroft and Vindication I just couldn’t do it. Maybe another day, another time, but right now I’m having trouble enough reading. So, I gave up. The first part of it wasn’t bad, it was just a little bit too slow for me to stay focused on.

Instead, I turned to Magic for Beginners. A book of “magical” short stories that were, indeed, about magical topics. But like a lot of short stories, I hated the endings of almost all of them. The stories were terrific and then the ending just went really WEIRD in what felt like an attempt to just finish and finish quickly. I’m ok with weirdness in a story about magic, zombies, witches, etc… but the weirdness has to make SOME sense based on what has happened in the first 10-20 pages of the story.

I loved the faery purse story. Loved the canon story. Enjoyed the catskin story. The endings worked for these. Was really enjoying the zombie/painting story when the ending poofed out on me. The stone rabbits story was really terrific but again, what was with that ending????

Now, I’ve picked up Jasper Fforde’s The Big Over Easy, which TW said was good but not up to par with the Thursday Next series, which is too bad…

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Sisters

1 Comment / 2005, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I finally finished a book, yea me! About My Sisters by Debra Ginsberg and it was a pleasure to read, as I suspected. What an odd family. I’d like to see them in action at a family gathering.

I only have one sister and when I was a teenager I spent an awful lot of time taking care of her, like Debra and Deja, but we definitely don’t have the type of relationship that the two of them have. Maybe we would have if I hadn’t moved so darn far away and stayed away for all of those years? Who knows but it was interesting to think about.

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High School Literature

Fiction, Homeschool, Non-Fiction, Reading Lists /

Michelle is home! Besides the phone ringing off the hook, kids going in and out at all times, the interrupting of our weekend naps and the smell of popcorn this means that we’re back in homeschool mode!

Michelle did school all summer via FLVS but she didn’t do a full blown “curriculum”. The problem with her being gone all summer is that we didn’t really get much planning done for the year. TW and I have some ideas – journaling and world religion – but Michelle really needs to give her input into the literature she’s going to read for the next nine months.

We’ve got some books on the list, leftover from last year, and a couple that she did choose during the homeschool fair in May but we’re still short a good six books or so.

Here’s what we know Michelle will be reading:

  • A Clockwork Orange
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Anthem
  • The Scarlet Letter
  • Jane EyreWhat would you want a 10th grader to read if you could choose anything at all? (We need a biography, we need some poetry recommendations – I can’t take another year of Plath – and we haven’t chosen any Shakespeare yet for this year. Keep those in mind as you’re making your suggestions!)

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    The Virgin of Bennington

    2005, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /


    The title is better than the book, lol. Maybe I am just non-fictioned out or maybe I’m not a Kathleen Norris fan and someone else might enjoy this more than I did. It started out well enough, a conservative and relatively sheltered young woman going from Hawaii to Bennington – shock of shocks – but moved quickly into true boredome. The woman was just plain boring, if you ask me. Even when she was doing a bit more “living” she was boring. Boring, boring, boring.

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    Looking Back

    2005, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Non-Fiction /


    I saw this reviewed on some book blog (I’m sorry for not remembering which in order to give proper credit) and promptly reserved it at the library. I was surprised to see that I was first on the reserve list, I assumed it would be more popular than that because of Lowry’s popularity among kids, parents and teachers alike.

    TW read it on Saturday and kept laughing and I kept saying “what???!” so she’d read parts to me all the way through it. I picked it up early on Sunday morning and enjoyed it immensely. Though I’d have enjoyed it more if TW hadn’t read me almost all ofthe good parts the day before. 😉

    This is the way a children’s author, or any author, should write a biography. I really loved it and would happily recommend it to anyone who is a Lois Lowry fan or even someone like me who likes her books well enough but isn’t as enthralled by them as the rest of the world seems to be.

    I actually thought about re-reading some of her books just because I enjoyed “Looking Back: A Book of Memories” so much. (And if anyone knows where I can find the Anastasia books on CD, let me know. E loved the only one we could find and NEEEDS more Anastasia!)

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    A Walk in the Woodszzzzz

    2005, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

    OK could someone explain to me why people actually love A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson? More to the point can you explain why people call this a really funny book? Why they say things like “laughed my head off” and “extremely funny” when describing it?

    I know I was sick but I didn’t laugh. OK I laughed once but it was in the second half of the book which most reviewers seemed to find less funny. I kept wondering if I had checked out the wrong version from the library or something.

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