Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

A few weeks ago, I reached my goal for the year of reading 52 books.  I would have reached it earlier, but this summer I went through a period of being brain dead and really didn't read too much. Or blog, as you may have noticed. After that lull, I have now read ten or so in the last few weeks.  It feels good to be me again!

My last update about the 52 books challenge was July 10, and I had read forty books.  Since then I have read five fiction books: three romances, a Danielle Steel novel, and The Scarlet Letter.  I had to reread The Scarlet Letter after hearing that both my sister and my oldest son hated it, because I remembered liking it.  Well, I still liked it, but I think I can understand why others might not.  It is much more a description of the action.  In other words, instead of feeling like you are there, you feel like somebody who was there is telling you about it.  It's also a rich source of vocabulary words.

For non-fiction, I divided the book into Catholic, History/Current Events, and General Non-Fiction.  The Catholic books were The Rule of Saint Benedict and The Catholic Book of Character and Success by Fr. Edward F. Garesché, a phenomenal book that I plan to work back through and then use in our homeschool.

For History/Current Events, I read:

1. Under Siege: Three children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg.  I happened to see this in the children's section at the library.  While I was pregnant with the twins, I did a lot of reading on the Civil War, so I was interested in this.  Two of the children are on the Southern side, and the other child was General Grant's oldest son, who actually was present at the battle and was wounded.
2. After Etan: The Missing Child Case That Held America Captive by Lisa Cohen.  Etan Patz, age 6, disappeared May 25, 1979, while walking the two blocks to the bus stop by himself for the very first time.  His parents did not know he was missing until he did not come home from school.  When you read this book, it's almost unthinkable how cavalier society used to be about children's safety.  Missing pictures on milk cartons, Amber Alerts, beginning the search for a lost child immediately instead of waiting 72 hours, etc - these are all developments that happened after this case.  Today there is a tendency in the other direction, but in my opinion, many of these changes were good.  This book is hard to read, but I don't regret reading it. 
3. Gimme Shelter: Ugly Houses, Cruddy Neighborhoods, Fast-talking Brokers, and Toxic Mortgages: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream by Mary Elizabeth Williams. Why anyone would want to live in New York City escapes me completely, especially after reading this book about a family's three year search for a home to buy.  And then finally, they had the privilege of spending nearly $400,000 on a dinky little two bedroom apartment that wasn't even anywhere near the neighborhood they wanted to live in.  The book is part memoir, part commentary on the housing bubble, part someone trying to explain why she and her husband would choose to live in NYC.  I still don't get it, and I honestly, really, don't need to know when you and your husband "christened" your new apartment.
4. So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government by Robert G. Kaiser. Normally I would not read a book with profanity in the title, but this I could not resist.  The title comes from a quote in the book.  This book carefully outlines the horrible influence lobbying has on our government.  I truly think the only way out of this mess is to outlaw raising campaign money and give all candidates public money.  The scariest story in the book was when the President of Taiwan indirectly hired American lobbyists to try to get him a visa to enter the country (he attended Cornell as a young man and wanted to give a speech there).  The State Department, for fear of angering China, had refused him a visa.  The lobbying was successful and he got his visa.  Now, on the surface, I'm fine with that.  Why is China deciding who can enter our country?  But when you really think about what just happened, a foreign entity lobbied our government and got what they wanted!  That is really scary!  It's really a toss-up which book made me want to throw up more - this one or the Etan Patz one.

General Non-Fiction

1. Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  My husband wanted me to read this book.  On the whole, this style of eating makes total sense to me, but it is really expensive.

2. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp.  This is a really interesting book if you do anything creative or if you are interested in dance, since she talks a lot about the dances she has choreographed.  She really makes it clear that being creative is a habit and hard work.  There are lots of exercises and ideas to get your creativity flowing! I will definitely be rereading this one.

3. America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right On the Money by Steve and Annette Economides.  I think I may have read this before, since some of it seemed really familiar, like the pages-long explanation of the minute details of attending the state fair cheaply...zzzz...oh ,wait, did I fall asleep there? Sorry!  You can get the same information that's in this book from The Tightwad Gazette, a lot more enjoyably.  I did like the way they calculated what your emergency fund should be, though, and their suggestions for budgeting for house maintenance.

4. I already ripped apart, uh, reviewed The New Global Student.

5. Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  I guess this is the year I read the books I associate with my mother - Love Story was the first.  My mom had a copy of Gift From the Sea that she really liked.  It's pretty much essays about relationships that she wrote while on a two week beach vacation.  Very thought-provoking reflections on marriage and motherhood.

6. The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka.  While in general I agree with a lot of the principles in this book, I don't like many of the houses or rooms she shows.  I guess I'm a more traditional architecture sort of person. 

And that's it for now!

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

Since the year is half over, I thought I would do an update on my 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  In the first six months of this year, I read forty books.  I am completely behind on my goal to write a review of each book on this blog. I guess I read faster than I write!  So the reviews aren't going to happen, but I do make comments on the books I haven't reviewed in this post, and I have linked the reviews I did write.

I decided to go back over the books I have read and categorize them to see what that revealed.  I was surprised to see that the top category was fiction - I thought I mainly read non-fiction.  Most of the fiction was not terribly difficult or intelligent reading. 

Fiction

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

The Settlers and Last Letter Home by Vilhelm Moberg

The Princess Diaries and Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot

Love Story and Oliver's Story by Erich Segal

Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare (One of my favorites from childhood.  I read it and then read it out loud to my daughters.)

Jess by Mary Casanova (An American Girl book that I enjoyed in about a half hour.)

Harlequin Romances: Crescendo and Fiancé for Christmas

and a few short stories by Sarah Orne Jewett, an author I just discovered and really like.

Education

The largest non-fiction category is books about education.  Is this shocking for a homeschool mom/language teacher? Not really.

I Learn Better By Teaching Myself by Agnes Leistico

Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius by Angeline Stoll Lillard (wonderful, incredible, fascinating book for anyone interested in education!)

Boys Adrift by Dr. Leonard Sax

The Secret Life of the Dyslexic Child by Robert Frank (really good and helpful)

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv (fascinating and gets a real thumbs up from me, because it made me happy to live where I live, which I haven't been happy about for a really long time)

Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education with or Without Schooling by Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver (not worth reading)

How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin (this book also could go under the upcoming parenting section, but since I read it more as an education book than a parenting advice book, I put it here)

The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (review coming up soon)

Welcome to Lizard Motel: Children, Stories, and the Mystery of Making Things Up, A Memoir by Barbara Feinberg (I admit it, I really just skimmed this book.  Parts are really interesting; the rest, ugh. It talks about new young adult fiction and how it is focused on tragedies and problems.)

10 Days to a Less Distracted Child (a most unhelpful book)

History

1066: The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth

A Home on the Field by Paul Cuadros (very interesting book about how a group of Hispanics overcame prejudice and started a high school soccer team)

The Rise and Fall of the House of Windsor by A.N. Wilson (an interesting analysis of the state of the British monarchy)

The Scandinavian-American Family Album

The next four categories are all tied with three books apiece.  

Biography

Know Your Power by Nancy Pelosi

Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever by Judge Judy (ok, I admit it, I walked past this book in the library and couldn't resist.  It took me like 45 minutes to read it!)

Inside the Kingdom by Carmen Bin Laden (Carmen is the ex-wife of one of Osama Bin Laden's many brothers.  This was a fascinating look at a Western woman's descent into the insanity that is Saudi Arabia.  I did a lot of reading on this subject a few years back and saw this in the bookstore, so I wanted to read it.  Note to any woman considering marrying a Middle Eastern man: DON'T!)

Parenting

Sleeping with Your Baby: A Guide to Co-sleeping by James McKenna (This book was written in response to public health campaigns that demonize sleeping with your baby.  Instead of saying, "If you are going to do this, here are the safe ways to do it" and educating the public, they say, "DON'T DO IT! IT'S HORRIBLY UNSAFE AND MAY KILL YOUR BABY!" My oldest son pointed out that it's interesting that the exact opposite approach is taken with sex education.)

The Attachment Connection: Parenting a Secure and Confident Child Using the Science of Attachment Theory by Ruth P. Newton, Ph.D.

Mojo Mom by Amy Tiemann (This is loosely put here - it could also go in my general non-fiction category coming up.)

Organizing

Organizing Magic by Sandra Felton (I had read this before, but figured I would reread it. Nothing earth-shattering contained within!)

Mission: Organization (My sister gave me this for my birthday.  It's based on the show that was on HGTV about organizing your house and clearing up clutter.)

A Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot (Again, this book could go in a different category, but since I reread it mainly to consider the organizational aspects, I put it here.  I have never really reviewed this book although I have mentioned it several times, so I'll have to get to that someday!)

General Non-Fiction

Anticancer: A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber

Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom (An interesting look at marketing and its effect on our brains. I didn't get the pun in the title until my husband pointed it out! I just thought, "Buy-ology: the study of buying.")

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck (I enjoyed this book so much I am rereading it.  Look for a review soon!)

Languages

Language Logic: Practical and Effective Techniques to Learn Any Foreign Language by Robyn Matthew

Doing Foreign Language: Bringing Concordia Language Villages into Language Classrooms (I love these Concordia Language Villages and hope to have my children participate in them someday.  This book gave me ideas to incorporate their style of teaching into my homeschool and teaching.)

Isn't it ironic that languages is the smallest category?

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

I am now officially halfway done my quest to read at least 52 books this year.  I know that I am way behind on blogging about all of them.  However, this book needs to be returned to the library ASAP, so I figured I would do it now and get it over with.

This is a wonderful, incredible book by Tim Seldin, who is president of the Montessori Foundation.  It is a gentle introduction to the Montessori method and what it's all about, but it's also more than that: it's the first parenting book I could ever fully agree with.  I love reading quotes like, "Each [baby] is a full and complete human being who is present in the room with us", "Children have so much to teach us about their needs and interests if we will only take the time to pay attention", and "We don't train children to use the toilet, we support them when they are ready."

There are lots of activities, and one could easily use the suggestions in this book to create a home preschool or kindergarten program.  Suggestions are laid out very simply and avoid the use of expensive Montessori materials.  Throughout the book are gorgeous photographs of children and their parents interacting, learning, growing, and enjoying life.  I highly recommend this book for anyone who has young children or is interested in Montessori and just wants a quick introduction.

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

The subtitle of this book is "The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men" and it is a fascinating read!  What are the five factors he identifies?

1. Changes in schools

2. Video games

3. Medications for ADHD

In this chapter, he explores the way that medication is being prescribed for many boys and the consequences it can have on them.  Medicating boys so they can sit still should not be an option in this society.  However, he is not completely anti-medication, only when it's not really necessary.  My personal experience with this made an impression on me.  I had a friend whose son was in school, and it was a struggle to get him to do his work, but she helped him after school.  He was just a normal boy in my opinion, and I saw him several times a week, since he was good friends with my son.  Then their family situation changed and my friend could not work with him so much.  I hadn't seen them in a few weeks when I went to pick him up after school so he could play with Robert.  The whole drive home he just sat in my car like a zombie.  I asked him several times if something was wrong.  He said no.  I thought, "Something awful must have happened at school!"  When my friend arrived several hours later to pick him up, I told her that I thought he was upset and that something must have happened.  That's when I found out that he was now being medicated.  It seemed to me like a situation where he was getting the short end of the stick and being medicated so he would fit in better with the adults' reality.  I also find it scary that these medications can stunt growth so much!

4. Endocrine disruptors

This part is all about hormones and plastics in the environment and the damage they are doing to our children.  I'll sum it up by saying: bottled water is evil!

5. Lack of a path to manhood in American culture

Sax points out that American society has no "manhood ritual" that designates when a boy has become a man in society.  Since we lack this, dangerous ones are being formed, such as gang initiation rituals.

This book is an easy read and presents lots of interesting information.  The author, who is also the founder and executive director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, not surprisingly is very much in favor of all girls' schools and all boys' schools, or at least classrooms. I think they could be very beneficial, because then boys and girls aren't too busy trying to impress each other. He describes a boys' school where each boy is assigned "Blue Team" or "White Team" when they enter, and then everything is a competition between the teams for the whole school year.  I told Robert about if and he said it sounded really cool!  Girls, however, don't usually respond well to that kind of competition. 

Of course, there's always homeschooling too to circumvent many of these issues.  It would be nice if Dr. Sax mentioned it!

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

Language Logic would be a good read for you if you don't really know anything about learning a foreign language and if you learn best by constant (and I do mean CONSTANT) repetition. If you have a basic understanding that learning a language involves four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing, and that grammar and vocabulary are important elements too, then you will most likely be bored by this book.  I don't think it contained anything I didn't know or any technique I hadn't thought of other than marking every word you look up in the dictionary. I regret spending $25 on it, but I thought it would be more helpful for an advanced language learner.

I also thought it was organized poorly, because it discusses techniques for when you are studying abroad first, and then later goes through the skills necessary in learning a language, plus grammar and vocabulary (and somebody should clue the illustrator into the fact that it's not spelled "grammer"!). In my experience, few people begin studying a language by going abroad to learn it, and it's not really the best way to do so. When I was studying in Germany, I met a French lady who spoke no German whatsoever.  Her company wanted to expand into Germany and had sent her to learn some German.  It really was a waste of time and money, because she had no basis to begin with and the class, even at the beginning level, was entirely in German.

Since this book was so long, it slowed my reading progress down. I was getting annoyed at her saying the same things over and over, but was determined to hang in there just in case she might tell me something useful for my situation.  She uses pop culture references to explain some things, which was cute at the beginning.  I've never watched America's Next Top Model, but I'm sad to say that the examples she used reinforced my stereotype of models not being too bright.

I was very thankful to finally finish reading this book.  I do intend to go back over the techniques for the four skills and make a list of ones I might like to do.  Once I am done with that, it's on to:

Language Logic! Autographed copy! A bargain at $20!

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

Would you like my honest review of this book?

OK, here you go:

This book is a waste of paper.

And a waste of a PaperBack Swap credit.

The End.

ETA: As soon as I got done writing this, I relisted it on PBS.  This morning, my first email received was a request for the book.  I am laughing, imagining this book changing hands a million times as we all read it, say "What a waste!" and relist it!

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

Some of you may think it odd that I read this book, but last Monday morning I  read this blog post by my friend Katherine say what? , and then Monday evening I was browsing the new book shelf at the library and saw Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters by Nancy Pelosi.

It's a very short book, a quick read.  I did not know very much about Pelosi except that she has five children and is Catholic.   I did see her appearance on Meet The Press last year, when she called herself an "ardent, practicing Catholic" and then claimed the Church was confused on abortion (more info here).

She presents herself as a mom who just happened to become a Congresswoman and then the first female Speaker of the House. One section of the book is called "Kitchen to Congress" although she makes it clear several times that she was never really that domesticated. However, immediately into the book it reminded me of Outliers which I reviewed back in December.  Her father was a Congressman during her early childhood and then became Mayor of Baltimore when she was 7 and served in JFK's administration as well. She met JFK and was actually at his inauguration for his famous "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech.  Pelosi had her 10,000 hours of political experience by a very young age.  In contrast, if I decided to run for Congress, I wouldn't have a clue what to do.

To continue with the Outliers idea, the other key is opportunity. Pelosi's first actual position with a title was one that the Mayor of San Francisco appointed her to. While she was home with her children, she also was always active in some way in the Democratic party, and her husband's family was well-connected.  She was friends with the Congresswoman previous to her, and on this woman's deathbed, she told Nancy that she wanted her to run for her seat.  So, Pelosi first ran for Congress in a special election with the public knowing that she was the choice of their recently deceased representative.  That's quite an opportunity! And she was able to raise a million dollars in 6 weeks!  To raise that sort of money, you have to really know a lot of people with spare cash, another opportunity.

It's really hard to connect the woman who advocated abortion and contraception on MTP with the one who wrote "Growing up Catholic had an enormous impact on me - greater, I am certain, than growing up in a political family."  She stresses her faith throughout the book, even using the old-fashioned custom of saying what feast day something happened ("On March 19, 2003, the feast of St. Joseph, I received a call from Condoleezza Rice.")  But I really have to wonder how solid that faith can be when she so clearly advocates things that the Catholic Church considers intrinsically evil.

I have difficulty with Catholic politicians - the Kennedys, John Kerry, Joe Biden, etc.  I find that they engage in a lot of fuzzy thinking - Pelosi uses St. Augustine's arguments over when life actually began to defend her support of abortion rights, while completely ignoring the fact that abortion was always considered to be wrong.  These so-called Catholic politicians embody dissent and I cannot respect them. 

Besides stressing her faith, she also mentions her desire for bipartisan government.  I found that hard to swallow when she related this anecdote about their search for a house.  They had been living with her mother-in-law, with four little children, looking for a house to rent.  They finally found what seemed to be the perfect house.  They were about to sign a lease when Pelosi asked why the house was available. The owner told her, "My husband has been appointed Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, so we'll be going back East to join the Nixon administration."  So Pelosi answered," We won't be able to live here. I could never live anywhere that was made available because of the election of Richard Nixon."  So much for bipartisanship!

Another section I found ironic was from the beginning of her first campaign for Congress.  She says that people assumed she had little children at home and would ask who was taking care of them (her youngest was 17 at the time).  Then she says this: "In 1987, even among the progressives who wanted to see more women in public office, some were uneasy with the idea of a mother running for Congress who still had little children at home." Or a recently born baby, hmm? Or suggesting a 17 year old still needs her mom around?  That kind of rings a bell, doesn't it? 

Twenty years later, some people couldn't get over the fact that Sarah Palin attended a meeting when her baby was 3 days old.  Actually, it reminded me of when my daughter Gabrielle was born.  I had to sign my son up for soccer in person when she was five days old, and the lady signing him up was freaking that I was out with the baby.  I was just like, "There's no one else to do it!"  The state of Alaska doesn't stop just because you had a baby, and moms should be used to that, because neither does a two year old!

The next paragraph continues: "Another double standard is the way in which the press - and the public, too - examines a woman candidate's clothing and hair down to the millimeter. My male opponents received no such scrutiny."  Since Pelosi feels so strongly about these issues (and about bipartisanship!), don't you think that she should have issued some sort of statement showing solidarity with Sarah Palin?  Hmm, guess not.

I also thought that the Democratic party was concerned about climate change and lessening one's carbon footprint, but I guess Pelosi isn't.   She informs us that she knew before she ran that her husband would never live in Washington, and so for over 20 years, she has flown home just about every weekend.  "I've flown across the country fifteen hundred times, maybe more."

One of the most striking things about Pelosi is how organized she is, and organization is key to winning elections.  She admits in this book that the constant denigration of President Bush was the first phase of the Democrats' plan to take back power.  It began with Bush's plan to privatize Social Security and continued with the handling of Hurricane Katrina.  It's interesting that I don't hear anyone blaming the power outages in the midwest occurring now on President Obama.  Through this strategy, Bush's approval rating dropped twenty percent.

I am consoled by the fact that she will probably never run for president, because I think if she did, she would win.  And that might be scarier than having Hillary Clinton as president.  At least she's not pretending to be Catholic.

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

Apparently I have decided to study British history.  You might recall that for Christmas I ordered myself the Usborne book Roman Britain, I just finished 1066, and now I am reading The Wordsworth Book of the Kings and Queens of Britain.  In general, this is fueled by several things: my lasting interest in all things Scandinavian (British history is inextricably linked with Scandinavian history), my fascination with genealogy (thanks to my aunt's hard work, I have one branch of my family traced back to England in 1598), my daughters' love for Scotland, and the fact that I have been reading books set in Britain for, oh, about 25 years.

1066 was fascinating!  I really didn't know anything about it beyond the fact that in 1066, Richard the Conqueror invaded England and took it over, and then the Normans suppressed the British, teaching them well so they in turn could suppress the Irish and the Scottish.  The book goes chronologically through the year, starting with the death of Edward the Confessor and ending with the coronation of William the Conqueror.  I hadn't realized that this was the story that the Bayeux Tapestry tells either; Howarth uses it as source material.

So, it seems that Edward may have promised to choose William as his heir, but then on his deathbed, seemed to indicate that Harold should succeed him.  Harold was confirmed as king by the council of wise men.  But when William heard, he got upset.  Apparently Harold may have also at one point promised to support William as king.  William spends the year planning to invade, actually does in September, and is successful.

One of the really enjoyable things about the book is that Howarth has analyzed all the facts and tries to give a psychological understanding of each of the major figures.  Why did they act the way they did?  He makes it clear that these are his suggestions, but it seems like they fit the facts very well.

Another enjoyable aspect is playing the game What If?  Howarth does a good job showing that, if even one little thing had happened differently, the outcome would have been completely changed.  William was by no means assured of a victory.  And it had never really occurred to me that no one else since has managed to invade Britain, let alone win.

I felt sorry for King Harold - he seemed like a good king.  The coincidences necessary for William to defeat him seem incredible - it makes you wonder if it was God's will.  But how could it have been?

One part I found lacking in the book was at the very end, when Howarth says, "There is no end to the arguments about the ultimate merits of the Norman conquest...The consensus is that it was beneficial in the long run. But its benefits were no comfort to the people of 1066...All they saw was a cruel foreign invader...at least three hundred thousand English people, one in five of the native population, were killed in William's ravages or starved by the seizure of their farm stock and their land."  He goes to say that William wasn't too fond of England either.  I would have liked him to explain more what he means by the consensus believing that it was beneficial - what are the reasons?  What were the effects of the Norman conquest long-term?  Obviously, that is outside the scope of the book, because it only covers the year 1066, but I would have liked at least a paragraph or so.  Now I am going to have to find the information myself!

I also thought it was very interesting that he points out that the Battle of Hastings took place before gunpowder was invented, so people even a mile away from the battle would have heard nothing.  That is hard to imagine!

A side note: it's kind of cool to see how popular the names Roger and Robert were back then!

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

Since I really enjoyed reading Love Story, I decided to get out a few more books by Erich Segal and happened to notice that there is a sequel called Oliver's Story.  Like many sequels, it is not as good as the original.  The book starts nearly two years after Jenny's death and shows how Oliver is getting over (or not getting over) her death.  It is not written with the same sparing style that I enjoyed so much in the first book.  Oliver buries himself with work and stays away from his friends, who push him to start dating again.  He resists until he meets Marcie.  Things seem to be going all right, but Oliver finds he can't commit. Throughout it all, he is discussing what's happening with a psychiatrist.

I felt that the relationship with Marcie went on too long.  The first book is 130 pages, and this book is 180, and it's not telling a better story that needs another 50 pages.  Also, the first book left me with the impression that Jenny's death had been worth it because it would lead to a better relationship between Oliver and his father, which is something she really wanted, but until the last four pages of the book, it is exactly the same as it had been. However, I did find the cause of Oliver's guilt about Jenny's short life interesting, and I felt it could have been explored more.

While the first book had some, this book went over the line in how much vulgarity I appreciate.  I find myself wanting to do the same thing I wanted to do with the second Bridget Jones book: get out my red pen and edit it!  It could have been so much better.

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

This is the last book in the Emigrants series that I mentioned before.  I really enjoyed this series!  Beautiful writing, thought-provoking themes, fascinating characters, historical detail - what more could one want?

This last book covers the period from 1860 - 1890, focusing historically on how the Civil War affected immigrants and on the Indian uprising that happened in Minnesota in 1862.  Moberg does a very good job of explaining both sides of the Indian uprising, and in the end, it seems to me that the fault was with the government, not the settlers, but of course, it got taken out on the settlers.  While looking online, I saw that this is considered to have had the greatest civilian casualties in the U.S. until 9/11/2001!

One of the themes that Moberg touches on over and over is that the emigrants chose not just for themselves but for future generations.  Karl Oskar and Kristina emigrated to be able to feed and care for their children and they succeeded, but in doing so, they decided that their children would be Americans, not Swedes.  This is really brought home in the final pages when we find out that most of the spouses of their children are not Swedish.  And the "last letter home," the one telling Karl Oskar's sister of his death, is written by a neighbor because none of his children can write in Swedish. Then there are no ties anymore to Sweden.  No more letters will be exchanged, and Karl Oskar's sister will never know what happened to her nieces and nephews.

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

This book is very short. I mentioned it in my previous post and looked to see if my library had it the next day.  By dinnertime I had finished it!  It's almost like character sketches with a plot.  But the characters are so vivid, you can't complain.  And I wasn't even upset that the book was over, like I am sometimes, because it just seemed perfect as it was.  It told the story, and the story was done.  I think I will see what other books Segal has written.

I'm sure my enjoyment of the book would have been greater if I were familiar with Harvard and its environs, since that is where the story is mostly set.  Also, for some reason, the entire time I was reading the book, I was picturing Martin Sheen as his father.  I don't even really like Martin Sheen!  Then I was trying to figure out who I would cast as Jenny and Oliver, but I couldn't because I don't know enough young actors.  Of course, now I will have to put the old version on my Netflix queue.

(Oh, and I do understand now why my mom freaked when she saw her five year old reading the book!)

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

I began reading at age 3 and have read more or less constantly ever since.  At times this was a discipline issue.  My parents would check on me at night to try to catch me reading under my covers with a flashlight.  My mom would take me to the library, where I would get a stack of books and then sit there all day reading until she would yell at me to go outside and play.  Then I would conceal the book from her on my way outside or down to the basement so I could continue reading out of her sight.  At times, they objected to what I was reading on top of the sheer number of hours I spent reading.  I remember being very young, five or six maybe, and picking up my mother's copy of Love Story.  She had a fit when she came into the room and saw me reading it! (I still have never read that book - I think I am old enough now, I'll have to get it from the library!)

I also remember trying to read Romeo and Juliet at about the same age.  I couldn't really understand it and was about to give up when one of my parents told me not to read it, although that may have been more due to the fact that I had dug it out of a box in the basement that I probably didn't have permission to be in. 

And I remember hiding a book that was really popular in my school called Go Ask Alice that was all about how this girl had become a druggie.  Unfortunately, I never found out what happened to her because one of my sisters snitched on me and I was forbidden from reading it.  They didn't go for the argument that it would teach me not to do that by letting me see her descent into the hellish world of drug addiction.  I guess they were right since I am not a drug addict.  In fact, I hate taking Tylenol and even birth ten and eleven pound babies without drugs!

Life has come full circle.  I used to hide books I was reading from my parents, and now I hide them from my children.

Recently my daughters and I watched The Princess Diaries 1 and 2 again.  They really are good movies and I have no problem with my children seeing them.  I noticed that they were based on a book. so I went to get it out from the library and noticed that there was a whole series. (Incidentally, why is all children's/young adult publishing now series?  Are authors that lazy?) I started reading the second book first and realized on page one that my daughters were not going to be reading these books!  They changed a lot in the movies.  Basically we have the idea that an American teenager finds out that she is a princess and heir to the throne of Genovia.  The implementation of this idea is quite different.

I am now almost done the second one (I would already be done except for the hiding thing!) and don't know if I will read any more.  They really are not that great or well-written.  I would rather watch the movies.  And that is a very hard thing for a book lover for me to admit!

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

This is Book 3 of the Emigrants series by Moberg.  It details the Swedish immigration to the United States in the mid-1800s through the fictional family of Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson.  This book is the longest, and it is very well-written.  Moberg’s depiction of Kristina’s abiding homesickness is poignant and moving, and the resolution of it was to me unexpected.  Karl Oskar’s younger brother Robert is one of the most fascinating characters that I have encountered.  He emigrates with them and then goes with a friend to follow the gold to California.  The way in which Moberg tells us what happens to him is so dramatic: we are in Karl Oskar and Kristina’s position, knowing only what they know, feeling the anxiety they feel.

Moberg places the family within the historical framework of what emigration meant to Sweden and to the people who left.  Reading this series has, for the first time, made me think about how national character might have been shaped by emigration.  What kind of people stayed in Sweden?  What kind emigrated?  What effect did this have on future generations?

It has also made me think about how relatively easy it is to care for my children.  Kristina’s children are outgrowing their clothes and need new ones, so she actually has to grow the flax, weave the fabric, and then cut out and sew the clothes.  When these wear out, there is no inexpensive thrift store nearby.  These have to last!  And last week, when my son was cold while waiting at ballet, I had many options to take care of him: go inside, put him in the van, give him my mittens, my scarf or my coat, etc.  What if we were in our house and I couldn’t get him any warmer?  What if we were caught in a blizzard?  And while there may not be the food they like in the house, there is actually some kind of food.  How would it feel to watch my children starving?

I highly recommend this series.  One caveat: it tends to be rather graphic (in a physical sense), the first book especially so.  Book 1 is The Emigrants, and this details the conditions in Sweden and why this group of people decides to leave.  It ends with them landing in New York.  Book 2 is called Unto a Good Land and tells their journey to Minnesota.  Book 3 ends in 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, and Book 4, The Last Letter Home, tells of the period from 1860 to 1890.  I can’t wait to read that one!

Posted in 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2009

I don't normally read mysteries, but my oldest son does and we watched the movie together, so I wanted to read the book. My son describes it as "Christie's creepiest mystery," and it certainly is. A poor man and a rich girl meet and fall in love, but danger lurks everywhere. I can't say too much about it without giving anything away, but I wish that I didn't know how it ended while reading the book. I did enjoy both the book and the movie, but of course the book was better. The title refers to a poem by William Blake called "Auguries of Innocence."