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You are hilarious ! The arrowhead story, the class: I can see it. It's classic too, because it's so annoying when a teacher misses the mark and blows a great teaching moment. Especially when they do so because their 'agenda' is their priority, instead of maintaining a more flexible approach.
So I'm now looking for a May Sarton book to put on my Kindle, as well as Bastard out of Carolina. Thank you.
So, my class. I have a degree already, but i have some free time right now, so i'm taking this marvelous class at the local junior college, in the honors department. These classes are populated with dedicated kids and the curric is fairly rigorous. Very, actually. I just passed the History of West Civ from 4000 BC to 1648 last fall, and now i begin 1648 to modern period beginning next Monday. Like you, I totally agree that the best history employs literature. It just has to. How can one separate one from the other? And this professor requires literature on the syllabus. Last term we had to read Oedipus Rex and King Lear. He also integrates women's contributions and lots of art. So it's a nice spectrum of 'history'. But there's a LOT to read, and that's when my personal books get denied for a while.
Like I said though, I am enjoying poetry now, it's a process, and I like how provocative the experience is. But it requires patience.
The poetry I'm finishing right now is Dearest Creature by Amy Gerstler. It's very wierd stuff, but accessible. I think. Either that, or I'm not getting it. I like her though. I'm intrigued by her odd take on life.
Your post on Jeanette Walls was enjoyable. "what other people would spend their whole lives complaining about..."
Re the good understanding -- I thought the same thing -- she harbored no bitterness about her 'colorful' parents. Wild. A friend of mine said she couldn't even believe a person could survive parents like that with such a 'can do' attitude and thinks the whole book is a lie. :-) Surely this says more about my friend than it does Jeanette Walls.
If you liked Glass Castle I know several other books that remind me of it. Richard Russo, one of my favorite authors, wrote Risk Pool. Other books like GC are The Tender Bar and Liar's Club .
I'm about to begin a history class next week and I'll be immersed in the texts again. Sigh.
Have you read Glass Castle yet? You'll really like it. I see you read her other book about her grandmother. How was that?
I recently finished the Selected Works..... and loved it. Aren't the illustrations fascinating? I don't know what the book selection is I have to look it up.
I just finished The Color of Water. I found it very inspiration, which is very unusual for me. I'm between books right now and should probably start next months' book club selection. Do you have any suggestions?
I'm looking forward to our online personal book club. You and I have many similar literary tastes.
I have to admit, I haven't added any friends to my shelfari profile yet. But, I'd like to keep in touch with you. So, please feel free to friend me.
I also tend to be more of a nonfiction reader, and am in the last half of a new book titled "The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the Twenty-five Years After 50". Having just reached 50, I'm pretty interested in making sure I make the most of life's next phase. The book is pretty inspirational, and will help me look for ways I can make a difference.
I didn't like the Secret Life of Bees. It was too descriptive for me. If you like books that good into great detail before actulally telling the story, you might like this.
I hadn't heard of Serena by Ron Rash, but I'll place it on my radar.
If you wouldn't mind, let me know what you think of Reliable Wife once you read it.
Enjoy!
I hadn't heard of Serena by Ron Rash, but I'll place it on my radar.
If you wouldn't mind, let me know what you think of Reliable Wife once you read it.
Enjoy!
I read A Reliable Wife earlier this year.
Really enjoyed the book, very descriptive. Seemed to take me right into each scene of the book. Based in rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated. Captivating novel.
Good idea. You're smart.
I've got The Girl Who Played With Fire on hold, but I'm still like 80 down on the list. I need to figure out a way to identify books I might want to read before they actually come out. That way I might get a jump on everyone else.
That is fast. Lucky you. I wish our library was as fast.
Thanks for joining Women Speak. We love hearing what you have to say. I hope you are enjoying yourself there and will invite your women friends to join as well.
I have commitment issues, so I have both a Mac and windows pc and hey who doesn't like chocolate. Is Hershey's the worst int the world or have I been spoiled by Swiss chocolate?
hey, i'm letting all my friends know that barnes and noble is having their 50-80% off sale...some books only $1.79, check it out online :)
Thanks for adding me - I see on the books we have in common that you read James Herriot and Fannie Flagg. Like my shelf, they sort of contradict the other dramatic fiction that resides there. I love their innocence - those books are just the pick me up I need when I've been reading something heavy like Lolita or The Known World. You say that it is better to play music than to just listen - I envy that. What do you play and what kind of music?
