Today's BTT question is another pretty quick answer from me so here goes.
Today’s question comes from Conspiracy-Girl:
I’m still relatively new to this meme so I’m not sure if this has been asked yet, but I’m curious how many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?
I'm really not either. I don't write notes in books, but it's not because I need to preserve them for anything. I actually tend to either Bookmooch my books or donate them to my local library. I don't write in them because it distracts me from the story.
In college, I did write a lot of margin notes in books. I think today I'd probably use lots of colored sticky tabs and removable colored tape. That's actually how I teach students to notate books.
Short, quick answer this week! Happy Thursday to everyone!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
100 Most Influential Books by Women
I found this list via Alison. I took enough classes in college to get a Women's Studies minor, but I never paid the fee and filled out the paperwork. I was curious to see how many I'd read. The ones I've read are in green type.
- Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind
- Anne Rice, Interview With the Vampire
- Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
- Virginia Woolf, The Waves
- Virginia Woolf, Orlando
- Djuna Barnes, Nightwood
- Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
- Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
- Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome
- Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness
- Nadine Gordimer, Burger's Daughter
- Harriette Simpson Arnow, The Dollmaker
- Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
- Willa Cather, My Ántonia
- Erica Jong, Fear of Flying
- Erica Jong, Fanny
- Joy Kogawa, Obasan
- Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook
- Doris Lessing, The Fifth Child
- Doris Lessing, The Grass Is Singing
- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
- Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time
- Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres
- Lore Segal, Her First American
- Alice Walker, The Color Purple
- Alice Walker, The Third Life of Grange Copeland
- Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon
- Muriel Spark, Memento Mori
- Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
- Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina
- Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
- Susan Fromberg Shaeffer, Anya
- Cynthia Ozick, Trust
- Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
- Amy Tan, The Kitchen God's Wife
- Ann Beattie, Chilly Scenes of Winter
- Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
- Joan Didion, A Book of Common Prayer
- Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays
- Mary McCarthy, The Group
- Mary McCarthy, The Company She Keeps
- Grace Paley, The Little Disturbances of Man
- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
- Carson McCullers, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
- Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart
- Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood
- Mona Simpson, Anywhere But Here
- Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
- Toni Morrison, Beloved
- Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm
- Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mr. Fortune's Maggot
- Katherine Anne Porter, Ship of Fools
- Laura Riding, Progress of Stories
- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust
- Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower
- Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits
- A.S. Byatt, Possession
- Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
- Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle
- Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac
- Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus
- Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca
- Katherine Dunn, Geek Love
- Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle
- Barbara Pym, Excellent Women
- Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
- Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
- Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist
- Nancy Willard, Things Invisible to See
- Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry
- Lynne Sharon Schwartz, Disturbances in the Field
- Rosellen Brown, Civil Wars
- Harriet Doerr, Stones for Ibarra
- Harriet Doerr, The Mountain Lion
- Stevie Smith. Novel on Yellow Paper
- E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
- Rebecca Goldstein, The Mind-Body Problem
- P.D. James, The Children of Men
- Ursula Hegi, Stones From the River
- Fay Weldon, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
- Katherine Mansfield, Collected Stories
- Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills
- Louise Erdrich, The Beet Queen
- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
- Edna O'Brien, The Country Girls Trilogy
- Margaret Drabble, Realms of Gold
- Margaret Drabble, The Waterfall
- Dawn Powell, The Locusts Have No King
- Marilyn French, The Women's Room
- Eudora Welty, The Optimist's Daughter
- Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries (I just reviewed this one!)
- Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John
- Tillie Olsen, Tell Me a Riddle
- Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
- Iris Murdoch, A Severed Head
- Anita Desai, Clear Light of Day
- Alice Hoffman, The Drowning Season
- Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
- Penelope Mortimer, The Pumpkin Eater
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Unconscious Mutterings
- Treadmill :: Sweat
- Stroke :: Killer
- Exclusively :: Excluding
- Lash :: Fake (Many of you have heard my fake eyelash story!)
- Red carpet :: Premiere
- Credit card:: Offers - way more mail than I need!
- Points :: Bad discipline (I worked at a school that used a point system a long time ago - what a disaster!)
- Domestic :: Goddess
- 21 :: Drinking without a fake ID
- Inject :: A bit of humor into life
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh
This is my seventh book in the Book Awards Challenge, and it is the winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award. There is another posted review of this book on the Book Awards blog which enticed me into reading this one.
There are actually three Mrs. Kimbles in the story. They share the same husband at various points in his life. We meet his first wife, Birdie, as a young mother who eventually struggles with alcoholism. His second wife, Joan, is a wealthy socialite who is a breast cancer survivor. His third wife, Dinah, is much younger. The story spans the 1970s and 1980s as Ken Kimble moves up the social ladder, trading spouses along the way.
Strengths of Mrs. Kimble: I loved this book. Each wife's story was as unique as she was. Each woman was portrayed as a complete individual, flaws and all. It was heart-breaking at times how the husband's character preyed on the weaknesses inherit in each woman - her youth or her insecurities. I grew to like each one for a different reason. Birdie, however, was my least favorite because it was hard to read about her descent into alcoholism and its effects on her children. I did appreciate the hints Haigh gave as to her attempts at happiness, and sobriety, with another man. I admired Joan's strength in the story as well as her ability to care about others. Dinah turned out to be my favorite character. I think that is because she grew the most by the end of the story. She became a complete person and was able to unify Kimble's children into an extended family. To some extent, she became the leader of the Kimble clan.
Haigh also did an excellent job of portraying Ken Kimble's character as he romanced and, later, disillusioned each wife. In a strange way, she was able to create a character that I both pitied and hated. He was more than a one note louse.
Weaknesses of Mrs. Kimble: I really enjoyed this one so the only weakness for me is that I could have spent an entire book with each of these women. I wanted to know more about Birdie's past and future, Joan's battle with breast cancer, and Dinah's life after the end of the novel.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this one. It was a fun, well-written read. Let me know if you've read it!
There are actually three Mrs. Kimbles in the story. They share the same husband at various points in his life. We meet his first wife, Birdie, as a young mother who eventually struggles with alcoholism. His second wife, Joan, is a wealthy socialite who is a breast cancer survivor. His third wife, Dinah, is much younger. The story spans the 1970s and 1980s as Ken Kimble moves up the social ladder, trading spouses along the way.
Strengths of Mrs. Kimble: I loved this book. Each wife's story was as unique as she was. Each woman was portrayed as a complete individual, flaws and all. It was heart-breaking at times how the husband's character preyed on the weaknesses inherit in each woman - her youth or her insecurities. I grew to like each one for a different reason. Birdie, however, was my least favorite because it was hard to read about her descent into alcoholism and its effects on her children. I did appreciate the hints Haigh gave as to her attempts at happiness, and sobriety, with another man. I admired Joan's strength in the story as well as her ability to care about others. Dinah turned out to be my favorite character. I think that is because she grew the most by the end of the story. She became a complete person and was able to unify Kimble's children into an extended family. To some extent, she became the leader of the Kimble clan.
Haigh also did an excellent job of portraying Ken Kimble's character as he romanced and, later, disillusioned each wife. In a strange way, she was able to create a character that I both pitied and hated. He was more than a one note louse.
Weaknesses of Mrs. Kimble: I really enjoyed this one so the only weakness for me is that I could have spent an entire book with each of these women. I wanted to know more about Birdie's past and future, Joan's battle with breast cancer, and Dinah's life after the end of the novel.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this one. It was a fun, well-written read. Let me know if you've read it!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
This is the third and final book in the Book to Movie Challenge. It is written for a middle elementary school audience and tells the story of India Opal whose father is a preacher in a small town. Winn-Dixie is the dog she adopts at the start of the story and the catalyst for change as Opal (as she is called) adapts to life in a new town.
I actually saw the movie of this book before I read the book. That's somewhat backwards for me since I normally read books first, but it was a hot summer day and the movie was $1.00!
I truly enjoyed the book. I loved the character of Opal and how she related to the dog. I also loved the quirkiness DiCamillo created in the characters Opal befriends in the town. I wish I had read the book first because I wonder how I would have pictured these people with my own imagination. It was hard to shake the actors' images from my head as I read.
I did find one significant difference from the book to the movie. In the movie, I found the father to be much more distant, and almost mean, at points in the story. However, in the book, I quite liked the father and felt somewhat sorry for him. He seemed a bit distant and dreamy, but did not have the hard edge I perceived in the movie. I wonder if it was intentional or simply my reaction to the actor in the role.
Overall, I found the book charming and would recommend it highly. It made me wish I still taught fourth or fifth grade because it would be a fun book to discuss with children. Let me know if you've read it and what you thought. I'd be especially curious to know how you felt about the father in the movie.
I actually saw the movie of this book before I read the book. That's somewhat backwards for me since I normally read books first, but it was a hot summer day and the movie was $1.00!
I truly enjoyed the book. I loved the character of Opal and how she related to the dog. I also loved the quirkiness DiCamillo created in the characters Opal befriends in the town. I wish I had read the book first because I wonder how I would have pictured these people with my own imagination. It was hard to shake the actors' images from my head as I read.
I did find one significant difference from the book to the movie. In the movie, I found the father to be much more distant, and almost mean, at points in the story. However, in the book, I quite liked the father and felt somewhat sorry for him. He seemed a bit distant and dreamy, but did not have the hard edge I perceived in the movie. I wonder if it was intentional or simply my reaction to the actor in the role.
Overall, I found the book charming and would recommend it highly. It made me wish I still taught fourth or fifth grade because it would be a fun book to discuss with children. Let me know if you've read it and what you thought. I'd be especially curious to know how you felt about the father in the movie.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
I read this book for both the Reading Awards and the Canadian Authors Challenges. It is the second book in the Canadian and my sixth in the Reading Awards Challenge. It is the winner of Pulitzer Prize.
Shields has written a pseudo-biography of Daisy Goodwill Flett and follows this character from her birth in 1905 until her death near the end of the century so her life stories spans the incredible changes in Canada and America in the 1900s. However, Shields chooses to tell the story in selected vignettes of time.
STRENGTHS OF THE STONE DIARIES: The writing is marvelous, and Shields is able to draw the reader into this story even though she changes point of view throughout the telling of this life. I call it a telling, but it really feels like a remembering - how memories are indistinct at time and sometimes skip around to what may, or may not, really be important. That is what I loved most about this story. Shields was able to capture the life of an ordinary woman without an excessive focus on her role as wife and mother.
There is a segment, after the death of her second husband, where we hear about Daisy's life, and job, through a series of letters written by her and by others. These letters truly capture the time period, the 1950s, while establishing Daisy as an independent woman, which was not the norm for that era. Also, there is an incredible chapter where Daisy loses her job and sinks into a depression that is heart-wrenching because we are told about it from so many different perspectives that it is clear that no one really knows Daisy well enough to help her and, ultimately, she has to decide to not be depressed any longer in order to survive. I also loved the role of her female friends throughout the story. It really felt true to the friendships I've experienced with women in my own lifetime.
WEAKNESS OF THE STONE DIARIES: I'm sure the changing points of view and episodic story telling would turn off some readers. However, I adored the book so I really can't speak to its weaknesses. It is probably one of the best books I've read this year.
Overall, as you can tell, I adored this book. I loved the writing and the character of Daisy. I really felt like I was sharing her life, and the chapters where she declined into memory loss, and eventual death, where incredibly moving. I haven't felt this involved with a story emotionally since I cried through the end of Isabel Allende's Paula, and that's pretty high praise for me! Paula is probably my favorite book of all time so this one ranks right up there. I'd love to know what you thought about this one - even if you didn't like it. Let me know.
Shields has written a pseudo-biography of Daisy Goodwill Flett and follows this character from her birth in 1905 until her death near the end of the century so her life stories spans the incredible changes in Canada and America in the 1900s. However, Shields chooses to tell the story in selected vignettes of time.
STRENGTHS OF THE STONE DIARIES: The writing is marvelous, and Shields is able to draw the reader into this story even though she changes point of view throughout the telling of this life. I call it a telling, but it really feels like a remembering - how memories are indistinct at time and sometimes skip around to what may, or may not, really be important. That is what I loved most about this story. Shields was able to capture the life of an ordinary woman without an excessive focus on her role as wife and mother.
There is a segment, after the death of her second husband, where we hear about Daisy's life, and job, through a series of letters written by her and by others. These letters truly capture the time period, the 1950s, while establishing Daisy as an independent woman, which was not the norm for that era. Also, there is an incredible chapter where Daisy loses her job and sinks into a depression that is heart-wrenching because we are told about it from so many different perspectives that it is clear that no one really knows Daisy well enough to help her and, ultimately, she has to decide to not be depressed any longer in order to survive. I also loved the role of her female friends throughout the story. It really felt true to the friendships I've experienced with women in my own lifetime.
WEAKNESS OF THE STONE DIARIES: I'm sure the changing points of view and episodic story telling would turn off some readers. However, I adored the book so I really can't speak to its weaknesses. It is probably one of the best books I've read this year.
Overall, as you can tell, I adored this book. I loved the writing and the character of Daisy. I really felt like I was sharing her life, and the chapters where she declined into memory loss, and eventual death, where incredibly moving. I haven't felt this involved with a story emotionally since I cried through the end of Isabel Allende's Paula, and that's pretty high praise for me! Paula is probably my favorite book of all time so this one ranks right up there. I'd love to know what you thought about this one - even if you didn't like it. Let me know.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Booking Through Thursday - Horror!
Here's this week's Booking Through Thuirsday question, and it'll be a quick easy answer for me!
What with yesterday being Halloween, and all . . . do you read horror? Stories of things that go bump in the night and keep you from sleeping?
I thought about asking you about whether you were participating in NaNoWriMo, but I asked that last year. Although . . . if you want to answer that one, too, please feel free to go ahead and do both, or either, your choice!
I absolutely hate horror novels. I am a complete wimp as my husband will attest. I can't stand scary movies or books and avoid them all. If I accidentally start a book and realize it is too scary, I'll put it down immediately. I hate being scared! I'm not talking just blood and gore - I'm not good with the really psychologically twisted stuff either. I've never read or seen Silence of the Lambs, and I avoid Anne Rice novels! I'm sure horror novels are well-written, but they are not for me.
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