Friday, December 21, 2007

I'm cheating

From my latest Omnibus post:

Sarah Miller, Alix Flinn, and A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy are all discussing the question of what kind of books a child with "advanced" reading skills should be given.

My feelings on this one are mixed -- I'm never in favor of pushing kids to do things they don't enjoy, but when I was eight years old, I read (and loved) Gone With the Wind, Scarlett, and Nicholas and Alexandra. At the same time, I also devoured Babysitters Club, Cherry Ames, and Sweet Valley Twins books (and tried to sneak in some Sweet Valley High against parental orders -- I wasn't often in trouble, so that incident was pretty memorable).

I'll admit that I didn't get everything in the adult books at the time (the glorification of slavery, for one, along with the phrase "barroom brawl" -- instead of breaking it into "bar room," I put the accent on the second syllable and treated it as a mystery adjective -- and Alexandra Ripley's love scenes went completely over my head).

But I was pretty clear on the plots and characters, and I went around quoting my favorite lines for weeks. A lot of that quoting went into the journal I had to keep for school, so I've always wondered what my third-grade teacher thought of that.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Taking the TBR Challenge


Why not? I'll give it a try. Twelve books that have been on my TBR list for more than six months, to be read over the course of 2008.

The list:
  1. The Log From the Sea of Cortez
  2. Thin Man
  3. Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland
  4. Ali and Nino: A Love Story
  5. Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
  6. Before Midnight: A Retelling of Cinderella
  7. Peak
  8. Captains Courageous
  9. Once Were Warriors
  10. 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
  11. The Truth-Teller's Tale
  12. Bay of Spirits: A Love Story

My alternates:
  1. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
  2. In the Company of the Courtesan
  3. Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal
  4. Anahita's Woven Riddle
  5. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern
  6. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time
  7. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
  8. Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists
  9. Very Far Away From Anywhere Else
  10. The Alibi Club
  11. A Higher Geometry
  12. Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
Looking at these lists reminds me what a nerd I am. But in a good way!