Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Tuesday, October 17th, 2006
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| Author: | Carol Shields |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1997 |
Larry Weller is a pretty ordinary guy, who has fallen into a profession, also his obsession, as a designer of labyrinths. In this novel, Carol Shields, whose work always captivates me, tells Larry's story, from cradle through a momentous mid-life party. (See also my review of Unless.) |
Shields convincingly explains how Larry falls into his first marriage and a career as a floral designer, then transitions to a marriage of more depth with a feminist scholar, and steers toward his bliss as a master maze designer.
We learn that one can wander through one's life as if in a maze, and find treasures in unexpected places. Although, since we are highly aware that a maze designer may have carefully planned our discoveries, we can't be sure that we come across the treasures we find by chance.
Very lovely, although the physical descriptions of marital life go on and on and a bit too poetically for my taste.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Larry's Party |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Fiction, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Tuesday, October 17th, 2006
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| Author: | Carol Shields |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2002 |
"What did Cinderella's mother die of?," my daughter asked me, when she was 4. I myself had never troubled to think about this. But I came to realize that, in stories for children, from fairy tales to adventures to Walt Disney musicals, the mothers' presence is usually notable for its absence. Their deaths are required so that plots can unfold.
And yet, I have recently come across a few novels that consider thoughtfully the role(s) a mother may play in her daughter's future. In the two grimmest, White Oleander and The Book of Ruth, the power of the mothers to destroy their daughters despite great distance, time, and, in the case of White Oleander, despite tall prison walls, is absolute.
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Unless and What To Keep convey more nuanced messages. In Unless, a mother is beside herself at her daughter's transformation from promising college student into street person. Eventually, the mother reassures herself that not every activity she undertakes is invested with deep meaning and that she is not responsible for every anguish that afflicts every member of her family. ... |
This book is more fully reviewed in our discussion of some books about the relationships between moms and their daughters. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Unless |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Fiction, History, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Saturday, October 14th, 2006
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| Author: | Dava Sobel |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
The story of Galileo's daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, is mostly peripheral to the story of Galileo himself, in this non-fictional biography. Along with interesting details about what life was like for the illegitimate daughter of a famous scientist in the late 16th century, the book also concentrates on the Catholic Church's determined and successful attempt to get Galileo to renounce his conclusion that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa. |
Reading about the Inquisition which forced Galileo to choose between his deep faith and what he knew to be scientific fact, I was reminded of the later, fictional, 1984 and Darkness At Noon, and the non-fictional Reading Lolita in Tehran and the recent efforts in the United States to ban the teaching of evolution. What is it about power that drives people in authority to force scientists to renounce what they know for what the powers-that-be think they should profess?
In Galileo's case, it seems to me, many of those who reviewed his writings understood that Galileo was correct. And yet, what was required was Obedience rather than Truth.
Why does this happen? Is it, as Ayn Rand seems to think, because those lacking in intellectual gifts resent those who are more intelligent than they are? Or, can it be that theologists and ideologists truly believe that what they believe is not only true, but also that anyone who disagrees must be destroyed? |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Galileo's Daughter |
Posted in Biography, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Death is a central theme, Female protagonist, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science | Comments Closed
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
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| Author: | Terry Pratchett |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
The Wee Free Men is a very enjoyable book about a nine year old girl named Tiffany Aching and her unexpected friends, the Nac Mac Feegle. I liked this book VERY much and it was fun to read. It is wacky in a normal way.
Tiffany lives on a farm peacefully if not a bit bored-ly until she meets the Feegles, and together they have to save the day.
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I also really enjoyed reading the sequel, A Hat Full of Sky.
-- Fizzy, age 11
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Wee Free Men, The |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
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| Author: | Georgia Byng |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2005 |
We had not read the first two books of this series when we read this one, and that was not a problem. Apparently, earlier in the series, Molly Moon escapes from the dreary orphanage in which she is confined by becoming a master hypnotist and defeating her uncle, who is an evil madman.
In this episode, Molly must learn to travel through time so she can rescue her beloved dog, Petula, her friends Forest and Rocky, and her earlier selves, all of whom have been kidnapped from the present to India in the 1870s.
The plot is twisty and interesting and Molly is a wonderful role model for gifted children. She has obviously had to work hard to learn to be a great hypnotist in previous books. Now that Molly is possibly the best hypnotist in the world, there are still other challenging skills she needs to work hard to learn. Skills that some adults around her have mastered and other adults are just adequate at doing. Time-travel for one.
Another endearing trait that Molly has is that she is very aware both of her great abilities and of her shortcomings. The all-knowing narrator of the book takes especial care to let us know what Molly is thinking when she masters her self-doubts, carefully thinks through her options, and then puts her all into implementing whatever solution she thinks will work best. |
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure (Book 3) |
Posted in Animals, Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Dickensian, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Saturday, August 12th, 2006
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| Author: | Annie Dillard |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1988 |
Annie Dillard aims her clear scientist's eyes and the evocative Voice of the Pilgrim At Tinker Creek at the lives of upper class families with children in Pittsburgh, PA in the fifties. She reveals a great deal about Pittsburgh; and just about nothing about herself. |
As long as one isn't determined to read this as an autobiography, it will not disappoint.
Dillard's reflections on the differences between her fascination with the French and Indian War versus her obsession with reading about World War II (one was history, the other was an open wound), about the good that Andrew Carnegie did for the people of Pittsburgh and the good that he could have done if he'd made different choices, about her father's aborted trip down the Mississippi, and, especially, about Dillard's growing awareness as she grew up that Pittsburgh high society was not the box she wanted to be in -- made me grateful to have read this book. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: An American Childhood |
Posted in Biography, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Female protagonist, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science | Comments Closed
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
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| Author: | William Pene du Bois |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1947 |
Technologist/balloonist discovers an island on which a group of very special folks have isolated themselves.
Winner, 1948 Newbery Medal |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Twenty-One Balloons, The |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006
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| Author: | A.S. Byatt |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1990 |
Intricate and, yes, romantic, story of the work and loves of a motley community of poets and researchers, in this century and in the past all exploring pieces of a literary puzzle.
These nerdy people, all obsessed with doing the arcane thing that they do very well, figure out how to combine their efforts for the good of the group and themselves.
Not for children, but similar in theme, although vastly more ambitious than, Dragonfly. Highly recommended for gifted adults. |
Reading about how these gifted people connect intellectually and re-combine romantically, how they work together to solve the mysteries of the past and of their own hearts -- well, it's like wandering through a strange but beautiful garden.
In many discussions about academia, the intellectual pursuits, the single-minded pettiness of people who are deeply interested in -- let's face it -- minutia -- are ridiculed. But in Byatt's treatment -- not really a novel, but a combination of prose, poetry, excerpts from first-person narratives (pseudo-historical documents), we come to admire nearly every character in the book, obsessions, prejudices, intellectual prowess, and all.
Winner of the 1990 Booker Prize |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Possession: A Romance |
Posted in Biography, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Sunday, July 30th, 2006
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| Author: | Perri Klass |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
reviewed by An Asperger's Parent
This is a book for parents of kids who have, or resemble those who have, any of several closely related, and confusingly similar, challenges: Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disability - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Nonverbal Learning Disorder, Sensory Integration Dysfunction. But it's about the kids, not the disorders.
This is NOT the book to provide an in-depth understanding of any one of these diagnostic categories. For that purpose, a book more focused on whichever condition you're concerned about will probably serve you better. For example, my own favorite scholarly resource on Asperger's Syndrome is Asperger Syndrome (Guilford Press, 2000), a collection of articles edited by Drs. Klin, Volkmar and Sparrow of Yale.
What Quirky Kids does, and from my perspective does better than any other publication I'm seen, is to serve as a wise, perceptive and sympathetic counselor and friend for parents of kids who are in this spectrum. It speaks respectfully and helpfully about the whole range of real-world issues, including schools, helpful and non-so-helpful friends, maintaining your own mental health, balancing the needs of multiple kids when one or more has exceptional needs, genuinely appreciating your kid's strengths and quirks, understanding the aches and long-term worries. |
Where so many of the books I've read and helping professionals with whom we've consulted, seem to illustrate the parable of the six blind men describing the elephant, Drs. Klass and Costello, the authors of "Quirky Kids," seem to see, and appreciate, the whole beast. I'm REALLY glad I found this book, and I warmly recommend it to parents for whom these issues are relevant. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Quirky Kids : Understanding and Helping Your Child Who Doesn't Fit In- When to Worry and When Not to Worry |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Gifted, Reading level: Grown up, Science | Comments Closed
