Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Finally, another adult book. I enjoyed the first section - her months in Italy. I have been to the northern parts of Italy and my husband and kids have been to the central part. And I can understand her love of the language and the food. The getting over the divorce part only relates to me in that I have also been getting over a couple of bad experiences - only job-related, not relationship-related.

But the pray part - India - is of less interest to me. I read it, but I resorted to skimming at the end. And the love section, I skimmed entirely. I am not sure why the love part doesn't appeal to me as much. I guess because her search was for a balance between eat and pray and by that point, it just seemed tedious.

I would have enjoyed the book if it had been just the eat and pray part, with the pray part cut down somewhat. I guess that shows where my own interests are, rather than the quality of the book and the writing.

I think this is frequently true. The parts of books that we most enjoy are parts that speak to our own issues and interests. I wonder at times if we can fairly judge books that are outside of those interests and issues. What do reading panels for book awards do when a book comes across their paths that is completely different? I guess the Printz people should be commended for the American Born Chinese selection. It certainly is different from most of the books on the list.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I wish people wouldn't keep comparing books like this to Harry Potter. It just sets me up to think of them in certain ways, which they are not - and don't need to be. Sure, there are some parallels - the main male character is more than just a plain person, there is a female sidekick and a male friend. And these characters all have extra human powers. And the author draws on mythology, especially Greek and Roman, as background material for the story. There are other parallels, too, but for all of that, the book has a different feel to me. It is, much more American - much more shoot-em-up action. There are lots more chase scenes and much less character development. It is in some ways more like the Harry Potter movies.

The main character in the book, Percy Jackson, is a demi-god, the son of the god Poseidon and a human mother. He is sent on a quest to get back Zeus' lightning bolt, which has been stolen. Accompanying him are a satyr (his friend and protector) and the daughter of Athena and a human father.

And, now that I am writing this, I am seeing more and more Harry Potter parallels - much of the initial action takes place at a summer camp / school. There is a mentor (Chiron, who is a centaur). Percy and Annabeth are both demi-gods - half-bloods, as it were. The satyr, Grover, is presumably a full blood.

Oh, well. In spite of the parallels, the book can stand on its own. It is hip and interesting and I think reluctant readers might like it.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

This is one of those books that you read and 1) you are amazed that one person was able to do it and 2) you wonder why this isn't the way our foreign policy is structured in the first place.

The basic idea is that Greg Mortenson wanted to climb K2 and spent a great deal of time preparing for this goal. But disasters interfered and he failed to make it to the top and ended up instead, recuperating in a small village, far from where he planned to be. The kindness of the people led him to promise that he would return and build a school in the village. The book is the story of how that school came to be and all of the difficulties that had to be surmounted to bring it into existence.

Since that first school, at least 53 others have joined the list of projects sponsored by Mortenson and his organization, the Central Asian Institute.

For those who have read this blog for a while, you know that I am deeply interested in education and the form it takes in various cultures. I wish I had oodles of money to give to Mortenson and the CAI. This is how a "war" should be fought.

Books Again

I seem to go in spurts with reading. I have recently finished quite a few, but in the previous few weeks, I had read hardly any. At any rate, some brief notes.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
I enjoyed this one. It is yet another instance of historical fiction that makes me think that, if history had been taught this way, I might have developed more interest for it.

The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden
This book brings up to me my persistent problems with bullying and the way it is treated in the schools. In this book, the little girl who is the target of bullying eventually gets beat up by several other little girls, but the adults concerned don't do anything to punish the girls who did the beating. They rely on the guilty feelings of the girls involved - and eventually that proves to be a workable solution. But I am a bit uneasy about this solution, as I am not sure that the young people involved in bullying will feel enough guilt to make them stop if the adults don't intervene. Yet, I see the effects of the opposite in schools, too. Adult intervene in too many situations in schools now. Even the simplest teasing gets brought to the teacher's attention and the teachers are expected to punish the perpetrators, even though the perpetrators may have been teased previously by the supposed victims. It gets into he said / she said bickering and wastes an enormous amount of time. Kids look to adults to solve all of their problems and don't learn to work out solutions themselves. Adults can NEVER stop all of the teasing and taunting that kids do - nor, in my opinion, should they. After all, there is not always a power figure around to sort things out. Yes, adults need to stop repeated, severe bullying, but I think kids need to work on developing their own strategies for dealing with simple teasing.

One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke
I love how many of the Aussie books have such depth of feeling for family. You really get the sense that, even when there are problems in the family, they are deeply committed to each other. This book works out a little too well to be real, but you forgive her for it, because it feels so good. If you need a feel good book with a happy ending to balance out all of those sad, but realistic ones, this is it.

I have also just finished Grief Girl (Erin Vincent). This is another Aussie book with a tremendous dedication to family. It is one of the most realistic books about death and grieving (targeted for teens) that I have ever read. And amazingly, it does its work while being engrossing as well.

I read Girl with Glasses (Marissa Walsh) - a one idea book. There was not enough of a story here for me.

Tribes by Arthur Slade
I read Tribes (Arthur Slade). I really liked the idea of the tribes and the analysis of high school crowds. But the main idea of the book wasn't as compelling for me. I couldn't feel his anger about his father's abandonment. I know it was completely suppressed, but still - I guess I needed more clues.

The Braid by Helen Frost
Interesting read - might fit in with a unit on immigration.

Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo #1 by D. M. Cornish
I liked this one a LOT better than I expected to. Monsters and Blood and Tattoos just didn't sound like my thing, but I am glad I read it. I love just looking at the elaborate maps and marvel at the ability of authors to come up with such elaborate maps, place names, and background story. I concur with one of the reviews on Amazon, though. It seemed more like a prelude to a major story, rather than the story itself. I sizable chunk of the book isn't story, it is the aforementioned background information. Still, I am eagerly awaiting the next installment.

I read a manga book called Loveless and was completely confused by it. I guess you need to read all of the previous three books in order to even have a prayer of understanding what is going on.

And I am re-reading all of the Obernewtyn books in preparation for the release of book 5 later this year and book 6 next year.

I sometimes wonder what it is that draws me to certain books. There are some books that for some reason just speak to me deeply - books that I can't get too much of no matter how many times I read them. For me, there are only a few books in this class - Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, Native Tongue and Judas Rose, The Obernewtyn Chronicles, the first 5 Harry Potter books (no, I don't like Half Blood Prince. In a way, it spoiled the story for me, unfortunately.), Anne of Green Gables.

Then there is a second group of books - one that I seem to identify with and treasure, but which I don't want to re-read more than a couple of times: Feed, Go and Come Back, Shabanu, Fahrenheit 451, Welcome to the Ark, The Impossible Prefect, and probably quite a few more that don't come to mind right now.

I know one of the things that appeals to me is if the story includes something about schools and learning. I am also greatly interested in how gifted kids come to deal with society. That doesn't explain all of the choices, but it does tie together some of them.

Witch Week and Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

I think I have read one other Chrestomanci book, but it has been a while. I think they are OK, but, for some reason, I am not really very fond of the parallel worlds plot device. I do like the idea of alternate histories, though, so it is somewhat puzzling to me that I don't care for the parallel worlds. I guess one thing I don't like is the characters traveling back and forth between all of these parallel worlds. It is too confusing - and leaves too many open questions - how do they get back and forth, how do they arrive just in the nick of time, how do they know which world to stop off in, etc.

Characters: I really got tired of Gwendolyn in Charmed Life. You are supposed to, but it got so annoying that I could hardly read those sections any more. I guess it reminds me too much of some of the students I get in not-so-great classes that I sub for. I found Eric a bit too passive, but still interesting. I liked Charles (Witch Week), but I would have liked a little bit more information about why he changed his mind at the last minute. Feeling sorry for Chrestomanci didn't feel quite strong enough to me.

Still, they were good reading and I think kids would enjoy them.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

I still don't know what I think about this book. I think I should like it, because it just won the Printz award for Young Adult Literature, but I don't really quite get it. The metaphor of the transformer and all of the transformations seems a bit too complicated for me. What I really need to do is to read it again. I read it rather quickly during an SSR time while I was subbing, so I was a bit more distracted than I would have been, had I read it at home. I do like most of the art work, though. I am still not sure what I think about graphic novels. I really like character development more than they allow, but this novel has more character development than I would have expected. Must re-read.

Replay by Sharon Creech

I wouldn't say this is Sharon Creech's best book ever, but it was enjoyable. I especially like dreamer Leo, who sometimes feels he disappears in his big active family. And I like how the kids in the play are thinking about what people were like when they were younger. It is interesting to see what goes through their minds as they watch the children and adults around them through the lens of "How have they changed from when they were younger?".