Rozax's Reading Journal

I've complained elsewhere that I haven't read a lot since 2005, aside from textbooks. I've been steadily wading through the Wheel of Time novels since then, and I'm on book 11 now. I've been working on it since last year, even though my husband gave it to me in 2006 when we were dating. TvTropes would call the series a door stop.

Since then, I've read all of the Mercy Thompson novels, and I'm waiting for the latest Sevenwaters book to come out in paperback. Yeah, my well's been pretty dry, mostly because I've let it dry up. Perhaps a reading journal will get me back on track. Sci-fi, Fantasy, historical fiction, or non-fiction, perhaps if I keep a log of books that I read for pleasure, I can get myself back on track. I'll aim to read one book per month that isn't related to my studies.

I am currently reading Montessori Madness, which is a must-read for parents who are interested in their children's education, and kinda nice for people who are dissatisfied with how their own was conducted. Or "is", if you're still in *grade school - I'm sure you'd like it, too.
The author is a pilot, not a teacher, and he's writing about his experience with all three of his children in a Montessori school. It's a very insightful and fast read, perfect for the busy individual.

*I refer to elementary, middle, and high school as "grade school", because they are all labeled by grade. I made this assessment in 7th grade.
Other student: Man, I haven't seen that movie since I was in grade school!
Me: We are in grade school.
Other student: No I'm not!
Me: What grade are you in?
Other student: 8th!
Me: *head tilt*
Other student: Shut up!

I know, I'm a smart ass. But it helps to know each other's language. :)

Glad to see your journal and I hope your desire to reignite your reading will be fulfilled. Many journals have given me great ideas for a next book and I am reading more, and more widely, than I did before Library Thing and sharing journals. I look forward to reading your comments.

I've finished reading Montessori Madness, and it makes me even more sure that this is the sort of school I'll want my children to attend. One aspect that I don't really agree with, which an Education Minor friend and I discussed, was how make-believe is discouraged. For myself, I've come to the conclusion that it's okay for make-believe to be forgone at school, because there's plenty of real-life stuff for the students to be discovering. We can play make-believe when they get home.

The author also states that he doesn't agree with all of Dr Montessori's principles, and points out that she was a scientist, so it isn't a great affront for people to disagree with her. She changed a lot of the principles herself as she developed her education methods.

There's so much I want to disclose about this book that I would do a terrible job of summing it up. I will, however, highly recommend it to anyone with small children. I plan on purchasing it as gifts for all of my friends who have small children. Every parent should have the means to decide what is best for their children, but how can they decide what is best if they don't have all the information? Most people still haven't ever heard of Montessori schools.

My March read is Imago. Truth be told, I mainly bought it because it was written by a friend's cousin. It sounds interesting enough, though. The description on the back of the book reads:

Jacine is having a rotten day. She's been fired by the temp agency, her best friend is an obnoxious prig, her cats hate her, her terrible writing is causing a transdimensional warp in reality...and she has a mean hangover.

But when Culturally Appropriate Emissaries from the Seelie Court of the Sidhe's Office of Multicultural Affairs shows up to put an end to her writing career, she realizes that her troubles are just beginning.

Well, it wouldn't be much of a story if her problems were reaching a steady conclusion at the beginning of the book.

You may have already read this, Rozax, but I recently read Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, which is first and foremost a good story from 1917 about a sheltered girl who learns how to take care of herself when she has to move to a relative's farm. But I also understand the schoolhouse in the story uses the Montessori method of teaching, and that the author was an early advocate of the Montessori method.

I'm not knowledgeable about Montessori - my kids went to public school. But this book certainly makes it sound appealing.

I'm not familiar with Montessori in particular, but I've studied many different approaches to educating children. One thing I learned with my own, was that no one method was perfect for all of them. We blended styles of learning and teaching along the way, changing if something did not seem to work. I also learned that when your child hits a wall, it's time to try something new.

It has always made sense to me to follow the child's interest and use that as a springboard for teaching the basics. Especially when they are younger, but even as they age it works well.

The one thing I most wish I'd been taught when I was in school is how to identify my own talents and interests and then how to follow them. I think I'm probably a frustrated librarian/artist. The only thing I do well that would not work well with those two directs, is talking. I do like to talk, so teaching was not too bad a niche for me; but I think if we'd spent more time really looking for our talents, I might have had more fun.

What seems great about the Montessori method is that the curriculum is very individually-based and it follows the child's interest. The teacher's position isn't all about lecturing, but rather observing. If a child wants to do math all day, they can do so. If they want to read the next day, that's okay, too. If the child has spent a few days on one topic, the teacher will coax the student in another direction, bridging what the student has been doing for the past few days with something in another subject.

As I've recently learned, make-believe isn't an option in a Montessori school, so anything the children play with or read will have an academic foundation. So if a student spends three days reading, the material might be the history of nautical science rather than...well, Goosebumps was pretty popular when I was a kid. Since it got kids reading, my teachers were really stocking up. I never liked the books, though. I was reading White Fang at the time.

It takes more time and patience, but it definitely seems that it pays off in the long-run if the child's interests are followed throughout their education.

#5 jnwelch: I've never heard of that book, but I'll definitely take a look at it!

#8 - One of my greatest frustrations in schooling was the constant pressure to teach to the state's "standard" which meant teaching certain subjects in certain years. I finally learned to throw that out the window, but there are certain laws in education which you are not allowed to throw out. I would have loved to let my teenage boys take a hiatus from study and simply work hard for a couple of years. I think it would have helped them in many ways and encouraged them not to be antagonistic towards school, but, it also would have messed with the whole college requirements and timeline. Frustrating.

I personally wouldn't go totally non-make believe in education. When my children were young, I always found books, both fiction and nonfiction which fit in with their studies and interests. I find value in both, and I believe that fantasy and make believe is a very important part of our lives. It allows us to "live out" certain scenarios without the pressure of reality. Just my opinion. :)

Are you interested in other methods of teaching, Rozax? If so I could recommend other books for you to read. Our best schooling years were when I had become familiar enough with many methods to make them my own by combining the things which worked, and tossing the ones that didn't work, with my children, myself and our lifestyles.

#8 - I'd be very interested! And I agree that there is value in make-believe. It keeps the creative juices flowing. :)

Well, Imago turned out to not be my style, so I switched to Thirteen Orphans, which seems very interesting, but I'm always tired when I get the time to read it. I don't want to be falling asleep as I'm trying to enjoy a good book!

So, seeing as I take my laptop everywhere I go, I've been reading Little Women, which I downloaded from Gutenberg.org some time ago. I think I read it once as a preteen, but I'm not sure. Quite a bit of it seems familiar, but that could just be from seeing a couple versions of the film adaptations. My favorite is the 1994 version, wherein the actresses are the appropriate ages for the characters, and Beth is rightfully the youngest.

The book is very enjoyable, and I'm happy that it doesn't entirely put the movie to shame, because there are a lot of events that would take a mini-series to depict. This would not be unwelcome. :)

There's quite a bit of terminology in this book that we don't use these days, and even some old-fashioned terminology in their day is very prevalent in our modern language. Oh, I wish I would have written down which word it was, in particular. I wasn't thinking of my journal, at the time.

There are heavy descriptions of what are "feminine" and what are "masculine" traits, but given how Alcott speaks harshly have "high-class ladies", who can be 100% sure if she isn't asking the reader to question the aforementioned traits?

The reader will no doubt catch hints of strong Christian undertones, but as undertones, the reader does not feel as though their nose is being rubbed in it. I didn't, in any case.

Some of what made this a work of feminist art may be taken for granted if not read for what it was at the time of publication. Yes, the man is still "head of the house" and the woman is busy home-maker; I don't think that can be helped. But with two young women traveling the world (or country) without an escort is pretty bold. Writing them as people who are interested in life, literature, and becoming well-rounded people rather than becoming nothing more than happy home-makers is pretty profound. I'd argue that we need more of the latter in today's work, because I still find too many novels asserting that a woman is not fulfilled until she has married and had a swarm of kids.

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that there are plenty of men and women who feel unfulfilled without marriage and children. My exhaustible gripe is that this is often depicted as a purely feminine trait in most works, where Little Women shows that a man can feel this way, too.

I feel as though I have no direction with this current rambling, so I'll just stop looking for a point and just stop writing, and see what others have to say about the book or one of its movies.

My easy read for May is How Not to Write by Terence Denman. It basically takes half the rules you learn in elementary school and stands them on their head. I knew that this would be a fun read when I saw that the author would be tackling the "his/her vs their" matter.

To quote: "Writers used to get around gender-neutral third-person pronouns by using he, him, or his to refer to both men and women. But you don't have to be at the cutting edge of modern feminism to see that this is not generally acceptable to most women these days." (109)

Plus, use of the third-person gender-neutral pronoun has been around for centuries. It's perfectly acceptable in other languages, so when and why did English decide that this isn't?

I need to pick up more fantasy/sci-fi reads, but my mind has been so rigid with studies for so long, it's difficult to find something I can easily sink into. I'm not going to give up, though!

Thanks for your discussion of the "his/her vs their" deal. I've always wondered just below the level of being willing to talk to anyone about it. LOL. I will definitely begin to use "their" without any hesitation from now on.

If I remember. more LOL

I didn't read anything in June, but I've been listening to the Harry Potter audio books, read by Stephen Fry, since July. I am currently listening to The Goblet of Fire, and reading Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs. I feel much better now that I'm reading, again.

#13 I'm glad you appreciate the discussion, maggie! It's nice to not be alone in that boat. :)

I haven't been keeping my reading journal up-to-date, but I did just finish reading Nerilka's Story last night, and for October, I read The Harper Hall trilogy. These books always have a way of cheering me up when I'm down.

I've only read one of Todd McCaffrey's books. I thought it was decent, but I know a couple people who don't care for his books. I wonder how much that has to do with his writing, though, and how much it has to do with the fact that it has nothing to do with any familiar characters.

I agree that some people may not like Todd McCaffrey's writing simply because he is not his mother. Sometimes, one is just so sad to see the end of a very good run.

Rozax, since I heard of Ms. McCaffrey's passing, I have gone back and started rereading some of her books. So far I've read The Rowan, and am reading Damia. I also have Sassinak in the wings.

And now I've just ordered Crystal Singer and Killashandra through Abebooks. I've not read those in years.

I've also not tried Todd McCaffrey's books, have a recommendation?

Holy-wow! An update!

My current reads are Graceling and Bombay Anna. Though interesting enough, the first is slow-going. I'm a couple chapters in, but nothing about the book has really hooked me, yet. This is pretty unfortunate, seeing as this is a group read. I could probably buckle down one of these evenings and finish it in a couple hours.

The second, on the other hand, is about the real Anna Leonowens (did you know that she was an Army brat born in India?), and I'm flying through it. I'm not moving as quickly as I could (partially because I'm in the middle of another move, and) because the biographer doesn't really have much talent for sequencing. Pretty unfortunate for a biographer. She'll go off on a tangent, listing all of the children of Anna's relatives (one of them being Boris Karloff), and then doubling back and saying, "But that was yet to come..." So then I need to double back to make sure I have my dates straight. This isn't necessary to understand what an awesome life the woman had, in case anyone's interested in picking up a copy. If you're a fan of The King and I, or if you've read Anna and the King of Siam, I highly recommend it.

Welcome back, Rozax.

I've not read any of those books, but Bombay Anna does sound interesting.

I didn't love Graceling, although it seems as though almost everyone else that's read it does. The concept of the graces was interesting, but the rest of the worldbuilding was shallow and I found the romance unconvincing. I look forward to seeing if you like it any better.

I'm now halfway through Graceling, and though it didn't ensnare me in the beginning, I don't mind finishing it. I agree that the author's world-building is weak, and I'm getting a little exasperated by her crutch word being "well". The characters are decent enough, though I think we can lighten up on the whole "OMG a woman is protecting the man" trope.

I just finished the book, and I'm just going to copy my essay from the group read page, with a few alterations.

I agree with others that Po seemed a little too perfect, but I'll be more lenient with Bitterblue being "too" mature. I'm of the mind that we keep our children immature far longer than necessary. Let's consider how, some time ago, girls were women by the age of 15, and could marry and run a household (in some parts of the world, this is still the case). As a small child, I remember eagerly offering to help my parents and grandparents with washing dishes, setting the table, and cleaning the house. They found this endearing, informed me that one day I'd hate it, and told me to "go play". I've spoken with this of other parents and they smile whistfully and say, "Oh, yes. It was so cute, but I knew it wouldn't last..." Of course it wouldn't! It never saw the light of day! And when we reached the far-off age at which these chores are magically expected of us, we'd rather be playing. Go figure. All in all, I find a mature ten-year-old completely feasible, if she's raised in the right milieu. I haven't read A Song of Ice and Fire, but I'll extend this to the 15-year-old soldiers that seem to upset so many people.

I cannot critique this book without discussing a tiring, yet prevalent, however minute, element of many books involving a woman's "first time", which mention a "stabbing pain" (...that immediately goes away and the rest is blissful...right...). I'm guessing that women want to write about it to assure younger readers that it's normal, but I can't help rolling my eyes. If we want to discuss prevalent details (without being intimate; no worries!), I've spoken to friends and family about that "first time", and here's the reigning description: clumsy. Especially if both partners are virginal (I'm looking at you Son of the Shadows!). Several of us, myself included, don't remember pain, because we were too busy trying to figure out how this aspect of a relationship was supposed to work! I suppose that wouldn't make for a very romantic read, but if ever I write a Harlequin romance novel, you can bet he'll accidentally spit on her (for our hero has always *waited* for that special someone and has never kissed another set of lips), and she'll bop him good in the nose with her cheek bone in her attempt to be passionate. Has there ever been a mundane ER visit in a Harlequin romance novel? I've never read them, but my "hero" will need to have his nose reset.

I have already complained about the overabundance of "well", and later remembered all the sentences beginning with "for". I started paying attention to the latter, and noted that I couldn't go a page without "for" beginning a sentence, thought, or fragment. Then I had to go back to the beginning the chapter, for I was word-watching instead of reading. I was shocked when, toward the end of the book, the author strayed and wrote "because" instead of "for". This was still at the beginning of a sentence, but it was progress. I'm hoping that at this point, she realized that "for" doesn't automatically affix a time and place to the novel, nor does it sound elegant. At it's core, it's lazy writing, and I'm surprised her editor didn't correct it.

Cashore could have done better in introducing her characters. I found myself thinking, "Here we go...the no-nonsense female protagonist who doesn't need anyone, but, in the end, learns that she still needs to be loved trope." Chapters later, there were hints that Katsa was never a total hardass, and her interactions with Raffin made her more human and relatable. However, had I not purchased this book for a group read, I would have shelved it and not given it a second thought.

The beginning of the novel also had no real sense of place. JK Rowling managed to give us a sense of where we were in Harry Potter before introducing the protagonist, and without boring us with details (sorry, Tolkien, but my brother couldn't stand your introduction to The Hobbit, though it worked well enough for me). I realize that Cashore wanted to provide us with a sense of urgency, but she instead left me feeling uninterested, wondering, "Who are these people and why should I care?" I care about them now, but had I not bought this book for a group read, I most probably would have shelved it.

I'll provide a snippet from the Fire prologue for my final complaint:

"Immiker explained to him over and over the unstable politics of this land..."

Holy-skat! What kind of English is that?! This isn't the first instance of the problem, either. I'll accept this wording in everyday, spoken conversation, because we're usually still forming thoughts just as the words leave our lips. When writing for any reason, be it a book, letter, e-mail, or instant message, we can do better than that. Let's put the words of this sentence in their proper order:

"Immiker explained the unstable politics of this land to him over and over..."

I don't know about anyone else, but I find that more comprehensive than what slipped by the editor.

I should probably leave some sort of closing thought since this has turned into an essay. After I got going, I enjoyed the book. I'm glad that Cashore didn't spend and inordinate amount of time putting the characters through perilous trials, (one of the many reasons I'm having trouble getting through The Wheel of Time), because it gets dull after a while. I knew that, for me, she wasn't guilty of this when Katsa arrived at Po's castle and was greeted by Lech. I actually worried for her and Bitterblue! I don't worry for anyone in WoT, anymore, and I may just have to find a copy of Fire, after I finish reading Bombay Anna.

I will read your Harlequin novel! :)

I also agree that our society has made a mistake with the "teen" years, and I speak as one who has raise three and if I could do it again otherwise, I would. But the pressures from outside are intense, not to mention the laws we have forcing a lingering childhood and sense of incompetence on beings who should be honing and refining their life skills.

Didn't read the book though.

I'm laughing because I recognize the truth in your response, Rozax. It would be far more useful if novelists would "leave things at the bedroom door" as it were rather than offer up the type of twaddle that suggests that the first time is anything other than clumsy.

You were braver than I, however, because while I found Graceling to be an adequately pleasant coming-of-age fantasy read, I haven't felt drawn to seek out Fire.

I'm mainly interested in it because I've never read a book that treats a villain as the main character. I trust Cashore to be tasteful enough in his presentation.

I've finished Bombay Anna and continue to high recommend it to any fan of The King and I; especially those who've read Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. We know that Anna Leonowens was a real person, so it seems a travesty to hold to the belief that she was nothing more than the Rogers&Hammerstein caricature. She had a full childhood before she taught the royal family of Siam, and an eventful, fulfilling life after she left. Many also don't know that Anna had a daughter studying in an English boarding school while she and Louis were in Siam, and even fewer know about the two children who didn't live long past infancy. Susan Morgan's style feels a little cluttered, but this is an enriching read.

I've recently picked up The Witch's Daughter (wow, apparently R.A. Salvatore has written a book of the same title) by Paula Brackston last night. I've never read any of her books, never heard of her before, but I saw this in my local Books Inc, and it sounded interesting.

I also purchased Wisdom from The Four Agreements, a Charming Petite™ edition of The Four Agreements. It contains knowledge that we all have, but has a nice, concise way of presenting it to us. It's helping me not panic over my upcoming job training/interview session.

Upon returning home, a friend expressed interest in Eat, Pray, Love, so I ordered a copy off Amazon for 1 cent, plus shipping. A friend of ours, katkaradimos, is reading Hunger Games (who isn't?), so we're debating a book discussion on that one, and saving EPL for later. It depends on how far she is in Hunger Games. If she's almost finished, we'll just invite her to read EPL with us.

Oh, dear. I finished Hunger Games in one sitting, but I never came back here to review it. Now I'll have to think about the book for my review instead of just riding my feelings on it.

How's about an awesome screen cap of Cinna from the movie? I haven't seen it, but he was my favorite character.


ETA: I forgot about my contribution to What is it about the Hunger Games that you like the most? Here's a direct link to my post. I'm currently at the bottom of the thread.

Despite having bought another book that is now collecting dust, I've started reading River Marked by Patricia Briggs. I really like her style and her protagonist, but there is one aspect of this story that permeates throughout our culture and really rubs me raw: Mercedes Thompson is part indian (of the American sort) and part white. That point seems to be a subplot in this story, so as I'm only up to chapter 5, I'll be reading more about it.

One of my favorite parts in Little Women was when Amy got in trouble for bringing limes to school, and had to toss all 12 of them out the window. They're sort of on par with Pokemon cards from my school days.

There was a simultaneous sigh, which created quite a little gust, as the last hope fled, and the treat was ravished from their longing lips. Scarlet with shame and anger, Amy went to and fro six dreadful times, and as each doomed couple, looking oh, so plump and juicy, fell from her reluctant hands, a shout from the street completed the anguish of the girls, for it told them that their feast was being exulted over by the little Irish children, who were their sworn foes. This—this was too much.

So much for this all-encompassing solidarity that "white" seems to stand for. Especially if you talk to my generations grandparents. They have all sorts of jokes about shrewd Germans, silly Irishman, stingy Jews, feisty Italians, and you know those jokes aren't "all in good fun". Never mind that our grandparents are, more likely than not, half this-or-that. Yet, despite these divisions — which I suspect will be carried on by the unsuspecting of my generation — one "white" person is much the same as any other "white" person, despite how vastly different a New Yorker of any color can be from a Californian of equally similar traits. Never mind how different a Norwegian might be from an Italian, or even better, an Italian from a Sicilian.

I wish this form of racism were addressed in early childhood education, but people (if not only Americans) need to recognize it as a problem, first.

This might be cheating, but here's what I'm currently reading. :)

Remember when I was complaining about all the uses of "for" in Graceling and Bitterblue?
This is reminiscent of my complaint:



It still doesn't explain all the awkward cases of "well", though.