The Bookshelves

I have been re-arranging clothes, books, other knick knacks just because 'tis the season and just because.

The Christmas season does this to me. We bring out the snowmen, the trees, the wreathes, the Santas, the Willow Tree nativity, the stockings, and other things need to go away for a month or two. Our spare rooms need to be tidied so that overnight guests can rest during the holiday frenzy.

In the midst of all of this are the books.  The shelves need to be re-arranged so that the holiday themed books come to the front, to be read, to be shared, and later to be moved to the back, waiting for next year when they move to the forefront once again.

One of my favorite holiday books is by Jan Karon.  She is an author I enjoy for the simple stories she tells, for the continuing saga of her characters.  There is not a lot of excitement or suspense in her stories, just daily living in a typical town.

I am looking forward to turning the pages of this book once again.  But even moreso I am looking forward to re-visiting many of the titles I have forgotten --- until I re-arrange the bookshelves.

And on my Christmas gift list are.....

...books, of course!

The weekend before Thanksgiving My Daughter the Librarian hosted a book fair for the Clinton Prairie Library.  This annual event was held at the Barnes and Noble location in Lafayette.  I attend every year for several reasons.  First and foremost is to help my daughter raise money to purchase books, movies, games, and other items for the school library.  The other is to work on my Christmas gift list.  Plus a side bonus is to enjoy the atmosphere of the bookstore itself, to meet the students who interact with my daughter and son-in-law (who is also a teacher and the varsity baseball coach) on a daily basis, and to enjoy a beverage and a pastry from the Starbucks Café. 

This year I shopped primarily for my grandchildren.  Neither family had a copy of one of my favorite books, The Polar Express.  They will find a copy wrapped under the tree this year.  Landon, who will be 5 in January, is learning new things, including how to read.  I found a book for him that will stress learning new reading skills.  The Little Girl my younger daughter and son-in-law have in their home through foster care loves Peppa Pig and she will receive a book about that character plus a few picture books with new vocabulary words, which she loves to learn.  Cooper, who is just over a year old, will receive chunky books that his fingers can grasp and which have pages he can try to turn as he looks at the large pictures and bright colors.

My 88-year-old mother is difficult at Christmas.  She has everything she needs, but she loves to read, mainly Christian romances and novels with an Amish setting.   A boxed set of novels by an Amish author will be wrapped for her under my sister's tree in Cleveland.  My daughter and son-in-law love reading (do you know any librarians who DON'T like to read???) so they selected a few books for their gifts.  Plus my 12 year old nephew will turn 13 on Dec. 31 and every year since his birth he has received a book from Aunt Beth for his birthday.  Sports books are good for him, and there is a new one just released by an author he enjoys.  He did admit on Thanksgiving Day that he is enjoying reading more  now than he did, and he said The Fault in our Stars was one of his favorites!  Good to know!

I usually share novels or books that I enjoy with several friends and my closest neighbor.  I found a book titled A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg that was on sale through Barnes and Noble online and I  ordered four copies for gifts (still credited to the Book Fair!). 

If there is a reader on your gift list, please consider purchasing a book for that person.  I remember looking forward to Christmas morning when I was young so I could start reading all of the new books I was adding to my collection.  Nancy Drew books were my favorite then, and I read all of them over and over again.

You can't go wrong with a book---unless someone you know is totally opposed to turning the pages and has other things to do with spare time.  Most people have some type of reading interest, from biographies, to novels, to best sellers, to self-help books.  If you need a unique gift, shop online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon or stop by your local bookseller and cross some names off your list.

Start 'em young - continued

As you may or may not know, I was attacked with the shingles virus two weeks ago.  Anyone who has had chicken pox as a child is susceptible to getting shingles as an adult.  The chicken pox virus remains in the body, so when there is stress on the body physically or when other circumstances arise, the virus takes advantage of the opportunity to attack.  A vaccine is available to adults once they reach a certain age, but I never took advantage of taking the shot since my mother always told me that I had never had chicken pox as a child.  While my sister did and we shared a room when we were young, I never had the first pock, according to Mom.  Well, she was wrong.  I did have chicken pox because the virus erupted again as shingles.  The eruptions were on the right side of my face, from my chin to my ear along the jawline and up into my cheek, and into my hair.  My right ear canal was swollen shut.  I still can't hear well out of the ear and the pain is continuing, but the eruptions on my face have subsided and, thanks to a homeopathic gel recommended by a friend, are disappearing.  Now instead of looking like I have had an elephant ear plastered to the side of my face, I look like I have had a bad case of poison ivy that is lingering.  And the pain continues.  Sigh.

All of this is leading to being contagious and not seeing my grandchildren.  Not only did I not want them to have even the slightest chance of contracting anything from me, I didn't want them to see me like I was.  In fact, each time I went to Arnett Clinic for an appointment with the doctor or the ENT, I sat in the corner of the waiting room with my head down while my husband checked me in and we waited to be called to the examination room. I didn't want to make eye contact with anyone and see the fear or sympathy of anyone looking at the eruptions on my swollen face.

Yesterday after the appointment with the ENT, stopping at Payless Grocery Store and stocking up on groceries, and an early lunch at Cracker Barrel, we also stopped at my youngest daughter's house south of Delphi to see our three grandchildren (and of course her and her husband too).  Landon (who is 4) was super excited to see me, peered at my face, and grabbed me around the knees and wouldn't let go.  Tessa, who will be 2 soon,  was excited as well, and she kept pointing at my knee, then at my face and saying "Ow-ee."   True...I did hurt.  Then Cooper, who is 1, was smiling and laughing and kept yelling "DADA!  DADA!" which Hilary said is what he is calling everyone.

As we settled into the living room after they finished their lunch,  it began.  The books started flying off the shelves.   Cooper was picking out books that had pictures with furry or shiny inserts in them. We had to look at each page, touching each cat or bird or dog as we turned the pages.  Tessa wanted to crawl up on my lap and read her action books.  She likes those because we 'do' the actions, then she giggles.  With each book we finished, they would jump down, or slide off my lap unto the floor, go to the bookcase, and pick out another book to read. 

How happy it makes me to see my grandchildren enjoying books.  They are learning animals, colors, textures, numbers.  But most of all, they are experiencing love.  Nothing can match snuggling with a little boy or girl who wants you to read to a book to him/her.  Nothing.

Terminology

I know that I let myself wide open with the last discussion board post about the worth of reading Walden, and I steel myself for the negative responses.

However, some clarification is needed.

Walden is not a 'story' with the usual elements of a short story:  characters, plot, conflict.  It is an essay, a reflection, a journal of a man's thoughts as he spent 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days in the woods in Massachusetts.   Journals are like blogs, in a way, that record one's thoughts, meanderings of the mind, random flashes of insight.  If you are expecting to read something action packed with a cast of characters, you will not find it in Walden.  It is not a 'story.'  It is an essay.

I have written in previous Pods of Thought blogs about how my tastes in reading have changed over the years.  I used to hit the Best Sellers or New Fiction on the shelves in the library and at Barnes and Noble.  While I still enjoy reading John Grisham (and a cousin recommended that I read his new novel, Gray Mountain), my tastes have turned more toward biography, historical accounts, and books from Proverbs 31 ministries and some of my favorite Christian writers.  The latter are not action-packed books, and they can't be read more than a chapter or two at a time. There are no characters, either, except for the first person accounts the author often shares.  However, I find these readings to be interesting and thought-provoking.  If I want action and good plot and character development, I will choose a book by Grisham or another popular author. Maybe reading sections of Walden at a time would have been more beneficial.

But I also want to comment on the irony of some of your responses.  Even though many of you felt that reading Walden (and that view leaked over into Emerson's works at times) was about as 'exciting as watching paint dry," most of you took something from reading the work of Emerson and Thoreau. Reading the discussion boards about the aphorisms was one of the most interesting reads I have had this semester.  It was fun to see which aphorism you selected, how it had affected you or how you interpreted it, and interesting to read how others responded.  Lessons learned for life?  Sayings to life by?  Thoughts to share and impress upon your children (get off the cell phone or video game and go outside and play!)?

Conclusion - know the difference between a short story and an essay.  Walden is NOT a story, never has been, never will be.  But it does rank up there as a pretty powerful essay with a lot of lessons to be learned.

Start 'em young!

I truly believe that many teen and adult readers become readers because they were read to at a young age, received books as gifts, enjoyed the ritual of bedtime stories, or were handed a library card when they left diapers behind.  There are exceptions to all of these, but those who have enjoyed reading or saw reading as a part of their lives tend to keep the reading habit going as they mature and move into adulthood.

I may have mentioned that my middle grandchild, my only granddaughter, is living with my youngest daughter and son-in-law as a foster child.  She first visited them exactly one year ago for two weeks; then she was returned to live with extended family. The day after Christmas she returned to their home again, and she has never left!  For a variety of reasons and in order to protect her safety and security, I refer to her as The Little Girl instead of by her name or any other type of identity.  No pictures of her can be shared even though we have many of her in our family collection.

Recently The Little Girl has taken to crawling up into my lap, with a book, and asking me to read to her.   She goes to the bookcase, selects one of her favorites, comes back to me, holds out the book and says "Book!  Read, Mamaw!"  She crawls up to the couch or beside me in the chair, snuggles in, and we read.

Sometimes her attention span is short than the time it takes to read each page, so I have to shift into my speed reading techniques or quick summary skills.  Other times she has to look at each picture, trace the shapes  of the animals, and name all of the colors.  It is fun to watch her sit with Papaw reading a book about zoo animals, making sounds with each page turned. 

The Little Girl will celebrate her 2nd birthday soon.  Since she wasn't with us and her family situation was rather unsettled last year at this time, this may be the first birthday party she has ever had.  I have already decided to give her two sheets for her bed, a pillow case for her pillow, and a new blanket that do NOT have John Deere tractors pictured on them.  She is using leftovers from my grandson right now.  She needs to have something a little more feminine to lay her little blond curls upon at night and to wrap around her to keep her warm.  But also on my shopping list of birthday presents for her is a few new books.  All her own.  Books that we can write HER name in.  Special books that will have special meaning for her in the years to come.

Reading habits start at a young age.  We are starting hers now.  And we will have some quality snuggling time as we look at the pictures and learn new words and sounds.

Raisin in the Sun

The students in the ENGL 112 class and I have been watching A Raisin in the Sun this week. While I enjoy reading a play in the written format, there is nothing like watching the words come alive on the stage or the screen, the way it was meant to be.

For a while today I followed along with the text in our Norton Anthology. It was interesting to see the changes that had occurred from the original text to the screenplay.  Some were subtle changes, such as a different form of a word or an additional phrase.  Others were more noticed, as in chunks of dialogue in my written text that were omitted when the characters spoke.

What impressed me more, however, was the impact made by the intonations and expressions added by the actors and actresses.  The power of the changes in volume of Sidney Poitier's voice.  The 'look' in the eyes of Claudia McNeil as she turned on her son as he tried to defy her authority and the spacing of her words as she put him in his place as his father's son.  The energy that Diana Sands added to each of Beneatha's conversations with her brother, with her sister-in-law and with the two men who were her suitors.  The apologetic tone at times in the voice of Ruby Dee as she struggled with being pregnant with a second child that her husband didn't want.  What a difference it was to hear the dialogue spoken, whispered, yelled rather than reading it quietly from the page of a textbook.

As the class time ended today, the movie didn't.  I toyed with the idea of stopping the film and asking the students to finish reading the final four pages of the play themselves before they came to class on Tuesday.  However, the scenes at the end of the play where Walter Lee tells Mr. Linder exactly what he can do with the check from the neighborhood association is too memorable to miss.  The impact of his final words, the reactions of the rest of the family members, and the end of the story, as we see it on the stage, are too moving to miss.

I always told my high school students that plays were fun to read from the text and we could do so much with the words and the actions of the characters.   A play is meant to be performed and the audience is meant to enjoy every word.

Discussion

Last night we held our third Blackboard IM session; this one was for Pod #4.

Granted...sometimes we talk about other things not class related.  Last night we were discussing board games, then card games.  How did those relate to Abraham Lincoln or the plights of African American women during the times of the Civil War?  They didn't.  But it was fun to share some ideas and get to know each other much as might if we were sitting in  a classroom with each other.

Most of the time we talk about an author, or a short story, or a poem, or an idea presented, or a particular discussion board forum.  Last night we talked about famous speakers, stemming from that forum in this Pod.  We drifted then to visiting Gettysburg, then trips to Washington D.C., and even discussed Historic Williamsburg and Jamestown.  Still good discussion.

Blogs were a topic of discussion last night too.  These are always fun and sometimes a post will trigger some good healthy discussion about a topic relating to the literature read...or sometimes not.

More people need to join us!  It is an hour of time.  It is worth 25 points to converse with the others in the group.  It is fun.  It is entertaining.  And last night, the time flew by!  We talked beyond our official end time, and we probably could have chatted longer if I hadn't stopped the discussion.

The next Blackboard IM session will be on Thursday October 23 from 8:30 -9:30 Eastern time.  Please consider joining us.  We would love to add more people to our group !  Mark your calendar today so you don't forget. 

Topics?  Emerson.  Thoreau. Longfellow.  Whittier.  Blogs.  Transcendentalism.