Children's Books

For my Children's Literature and Literacy class, I had to read a lot of children's books, so that's what I spent the majority of my semester doing. At first we only had to read books suitable for children in grades K-3. The best one by far was Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems. I was hysterically laughing throughout the book, and couldn't wait to show it to my roommates, that's how funny it was. I've been told that the author has a whole series of books about the pigeon, and they're definitely worth buying and giving to your kids. 

Afterwards we had to read more advanced books for children in grades 4-6. I read a lot of books, all of them had to be Newberry Honor or Winners.  It's hard to pick a few favorites, since all of them had qualities that I loved in a book. The Giver by Lois Lowry was definitely one that I would recommend to anyone, regardless of age. I was unfortunate enough not to read this book when I was in grade school, but it was one that had been on my list for awhile, and I was glad for an excuse to read it. It is a story that stayed with me for awhile, and made me think about the things that I appreciate in my life; things that are always there that we never usually give a second thought to. Like colors, or music. Not having those things would make life boring. Even just the simple yet beautiful act of feeling love is something that many of us take for granted. But not in this book.

Some other wonderful titles that I read were The Underneath, The Higher Power of Lucky, Savvy, The Princess Academy, A Corner of the Universe, and A View from Saturday. All wonderful young adult literature that anyone could pick up and enjoy.

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Long Time, Let's Play Catch-up: Books, Knitting, Revolutionary Road

So I know it's been a really really super long time. Haven't felt much like updating. But now I do, so here it goes.

I finished a lot of books since I last wrote. One of my favorites was one entitled The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall. It's about a mother and daughter who have escaped the Russian Revolution and have moved to a Russian-owned parcel of land in pre-revolutionary China. It does sound a little weird and far-fetched. I mean, why would I want to read a book about a Russian girl in pre-Communist China? It makes no sense. But it was suprisingly good. The writing was very fluid; I had a hard time putting it down. The characters were well-rounded and I felt emotionally invested in the main character, as well as the many side-plots that were going on around her. In the end they all tied together for a nice bang. So, this is definitely a book I would recommend.

I also just finished David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Great book! I absolutely love Dickens style of writing. I sometimes try to keep in mind that he got paid by the word, and there are certain characters, such as Mr. Micawber, that I think may have been written with a personality that lends itself well to exaggeration and long ranting. I was kind of expecting something more similar to Great Expectations, if only because Jane Austin's novels are so very similar to each other. But it took a completely different turn of events, and I ended up with tears in my eyes towards the end.

As far as knitting goes, I finally finished a humongous project of three baby blankets for my neighbor across the street. She had triplets instead of just one, and I had promised her I would make her a baby blanket when she had just found out she was pregnant. They are adorable! They're names are Anna Faith, Owen Sotir, and Eli John. I made each a different color: one pink, one light blue and one dark blue. It was my first time using a cable needle and trying to make something with a cable knit, so I was a little nervous at first. But the repetitive nature of the blankets made it so that eventually it came to be second nature, and after only a short while I didn't need to look at the pattern at all. They turned out absolutely beautifully and I am so proud of them. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of them before I gave them to her, but I do have the pic that I saw that made me decide to use this particular pattern. This is the blog that I discovered the knitting pattern at: http://thecakeplate.blogspot.com/2008/08/luca-cabled-baby-blanket.html

Lastly, I just have to say a few things about Revolutionary Road. I saw this movie two weeks ago, and I was sorry I hadn't seen it sooner. I know many people have told me that the critics didn't like it, but I have no idea why. The movie opens with drama and it ends with drama. It was like an Edward Albee play written without the major ridiculousness. It seemed to me so true to life, so genuine. I could relate to exactly what it was the characters were going through; the feeling of being trapped into what society dictates how life is supposed to be led. It tugged at my heartstrings and brought me along for a wonderful ride. Both Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio gave outstanding performances, and I think everyone should watch this film.

Abundance

I haven't written in awhile, I know. I just finished this novel, Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund. It's a novel about the reign of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette. It's told from her point of view.

I read in the author's notes at the end of the book that much of the novel was taken from actual journal entries and letters that were written by her, and only a little of it was speculative, which excited me at first.

However it took me an incredibly long time to finish the novel. It did get to be a little boring, since she seemed so out of touch with what was actually going on. I felt bad for her. The author portrayed her as a victim of circumstances. She was married very young, to a man who was afraid to have sex with her, and was completely unprepared in running a country. She had no idea how to keep up with what was really going on in France and seemed completely oblivious to everything. So, overall, it made for a very boring middle, and I was sighing with relief when I had finally finished the book. I feel as though the author was trying to make you sympathetic to Marie Antoinette's plight, but I just felt like she should've tried harder to understand France and the French's people's needs. Since she didn't really try at all.

I definitely would skip over this one, unless you're a Marie Antoinette fanatic.