I don’t know how some people do it. They post every day and they include photos. How do you do it? I love how the photos look, but boy do I find prepping them tedious!
I’ve been sitting on a number of updates just because I couldn’t face the photo tweaking that accompanied them.
But laziness aside, I need to get this post out of draft format and move along. So here you go….
I am late, late, late in posting about September reads. And really I have no excuses. Just laziness. And the fact that I can’t read, knit, watch baseball, and type simultaneously…
The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis
From the book jacket: “How a talking horse and a boy prince saved Narnia from invasionâ€
Why this book? The next book in the Narnia series.
My take: It becomes harder and harder to ignore Lewis’ biases as the books go on. In this one, he doesn’t like people of Middle Eastern descent. There’s a reason why the first one is so well known and the rest aren’t read as frequently. And I can see why I lost interest in them before this point when I was growing up.
Putting that aside for the moment, however, it was a stronger story than The Silver Chair, which preceded it in the series.
Pages: 217
The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
From the book jacket: “Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school . . . again. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he’s not even sure he believes it himself. Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp….â€
Why this book? I’d read great things about it all over the place, but particularly and repeatedly from Camille at Book Moot.
My take: Percy Jackson is a compelling Everyboy kind of character. He’s always in trouble. He and his step-father don’t get along. He doesn’t get good grades. He suffers from ADD. And then, after surviving a couple of harrowing attacks, he finds out (as every child hopes to one day) that he is more extraordinary than he ever could have hoped. And his real adventures begin.
Compelling, exciting, and both character- and plot-driven — exactly what a young adult novel should be. Exactly what any novel should be. I couldn’t put it down and can’t wait to read the next one. It deserved every bit of praise it received — and then some. Definitely a top-10 book for the year.
Pages: 377
The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones
From the book jacket: “Tonino Montana often wished he had been born with an instinct for magic like his brother Paolo. Paolo had no trouble learning spells, or ordinary lessons for that matter, but Tonino was dismally slow at both…. Not that his family minded in the leeast; they had too many other worries anyway, because lately none of their spells seemed to have the old power. Something — or someone — was definitely sapping the strength of even the mighty charms set to defend the city, and if they gave, there would almost certainly be war.â€
Why this book? Jenn suggested I might like the earlier books in this series. Since the library didn’t have them, I chose this one instead.
My take: How do the apparently non-magical function in a magical world? The answer would seem to be through strength of character and observances, although it’s never as simple as that, of course.
The book features warring magical clans, communicative cats, and an overabundance of Punch and Judy. If any of that sounds interesting, I’d recommend the book. And I was sufficiently intrigued by the wizard Chrestomanci, that I will seek out the other books featuring him that Jenn recomended.
Pages: 269
Knitting Rules! The Yarn Harlot’s Bag of Knitting Tricks, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
From the book jacket: “The Yarn Harlot spills her bag of knitting tricks. Essential survival skills, insider secrets, and undercover revelations for yarn enthusiasts of all levels and persuasions…â€
Why this book? I read Stephanie’s blog every day and heartily enjoy her trials and tribulations in the knitting universe. I saw her last month and picked up a copy of the book for her to sign for me.
My take: Her book is just like her blog — witty, entertaining, and real. She relates funny stories, offers up basic “recipes” for how to create scarves, hats, shawls, and socks, and provides incentive for taking on that next scary project. And she makes you laugh while you’re reading, which is key.
Pages: 224
Total pages for the month of September: 1087
I know today is Wednesday. Which means tomorrow is Thursday. But I keep thinking that it will be Friday, which means it’s time to look ahead to the weekend, right?
Friday night, we head to RFK Stadium to see the Nationals take on the Mets. The Mets have been sucking it up recently, while the Nats seem to be on a bit of a tear. My Mets may have managed (eventually!) to clinch the NL East (which was one of those three beautiful things I knew I meant to include last Thursday, but couldn’t think of), but they seem to be concluding the regular season in a bit of a slump. My hope is that the Mets are just getting the rest of the season’s losing out of the way now so that we can enter the postseason ready to rock. I’m looking forward to the game.
Saturday is the National Book Festival. Lots of cool authors are going to be attending, from Doris Kearns Goodwin (a favorite!) to Poet Laureate Donald Hall, from Alexander McCall Smith to Kevin Clash (Elmo), and from Julia Glass to Louis Sachar. Each author has some main stage time — to read, to answer questions, to speak at large — as well as some time put aside to sign books. (It should be noted that poets get the raw end of the deal because unlike the rest of the authors, they are only allotted 30 minutes to sign their works.) So I figure I’ll be spending the day down at the Mall. Maybe I’ll lunch at the American Indian Museum. They have an excellent cafeteria.
Sunday is the farmers’ market, of course. But it also brings the annual Crafty Bastards fair to Adams Morgan. This is a festival sponsored by our alternative news weekly, The City Paper, and encourages the artistic amongst us to create … stuff … and sell it. Everyone there is very creative. But it’s a matter of finding the ones that you go, “Wow! That’s amazing. I wish I could make something similar. But lacking time/commitment/talent, let me give this person $20-$200 of my money instead in exchange for it.” There are plenty of crafters that make you think, “Wow! Why on God’s earth would you make that? And who would give you $20 for it? I’m not sure that I’d take it home even if you gave me $20.” The festival is supplemented by local food vendors and local musical acts. It’ll be a fun day and I’m looking forward to hitting up Woolarina‘s booth to buy some yarn for my Yarn Aboard II pal. I just have to get there before Lolly arrives. Since she is once again hosting Socktoberfest, I’m afraid she’s going to buy up everything I want.
Okay, I admit it. D.C. does offer a wealth of activities within a very constrained amount of space. I won’t have to drive to any of these events and that definitely wouldn’t have been true in Connecticut.
I’ll be away through the weekend and since Rudi’s mom doesn’t have a computer or Internet access, postings will be sporadic and dependent on finding public kiosks and spare time.
In the meantime, I leave you with three beautiful things from the last week:
1. The rain broke the heat and the weather has been beautiful. Today dawned sunny, with weather in the 70s.
2. Rudi has class on Wednesdays this fall, so I went to a political meeting alone last night. But because I was there by myself, our friend John offered me a ride home in his two-seater convertible.
3. Sunday night after Rudi went to bed, I picked up one of the library books I’d borrowed Saturday and started reading. At 4 a.m., I forced myself to put the book down and go to bed. Once I woke up (just shy of noon!), I started reading again. A bike ride to the zoo interrupted the reading for a while, but I came home and finished the book off before supper. It’s been a while since I found a book so compelling it required finishing in one fell swoop. (The book, you ask? The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. It really did live up to the hype.)
I’m going to blame work deadlines and strep for a slow conclusion to the summer reading. Work kept me tied up late into the evenings and over weekends, and the strep left me feeling listless and uninterested in picking up even the funniest book. But eventually both were conquered and I did squeeze two more books into the season:
I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away, by Bill Bryson
From the book jacket: “After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens — as he later put it, ‘it was clear my people needed me’). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, [the book] recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man’s attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.”
Why this book? I really enjoy Bryson’s books. I bought it because there was a buy-2-get-1-free sale of certain publishers at my local book store. I picked it in August because you can’t help but laugh when you read Bryson, and the month seemed woefully serious from the outset.
My take: The book differs from a number of other Bryson tomes in that it is a series of adapted newspaper columns he wrote for a British newspaper recounting the differences (both good and bad) he encountered between the U.K. and his new-old home in the U.S. The advantage of such a book is obvious for such a disconnected month — no column lasts more than four pages and the topic changes from “chapter” to “chapter.” And it worked. I’d read an article or two at night to wind down before I went to bed or while I waited for the Metro in the evening. On the other hand, because it’s a series of articles, there are some repetitions that wouldn’t be as noticeable if the series were read weekly over three years that become more so when read nightly.
While it wasn’t my favorite Bryson book, it’s not because it isn’t good or funny; it’s just different. I’d recommend it to anyone who thinks they’d like to try a taste of his style without having to commit to a whole book about one subject — Europe, the Appalachian Trail, science — or someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to read anything all at once and has to fit their reading into bits and bats of time sprinkled throughout the day, week, or month. You’ll find you won’t think about things like health clubs the same way again!
Pages: 288
Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
From the book jacket: “In an evocative and fast-paced adventure on the high seas and on a faraway island, an orphan boy named Peter and his mysterious new friend, Molly, overcome bands of pirates and thieves in their quest to keep a fantastical secret safe and save the world from evil. Bestselling authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have turned back the clock to reveal the wonderful story that precedes J.M. Barrie’s beloved Peter Pan.”
Why this book? This has been on my to-read list for a while (because who doesn’t love Dave Barry?), but I hadn’t managed to pull it together to buy myself a copy. And the library took its own sweet time in acquiring a copy. Hopefully they won’t be so slow in buying the sequel, which came out in July.
My take: Having read one of the original Barrie works, I definitely feel this pulled more from the play and movie adaptations than the original works. Having said that, I enjoyed it anyway, finding it entertaining to see how Barry and Pearson managed to introduce each familiar aspect of the Peter Pan story. I also enjoyed the new characters (especially Mollie) and plot twists that were introduced
The book’s beginning was a little slow, with the authors taking a bit too long to get the action moving, but once they got going, the story remained riveting and fast-paced. There was no obvious, “I wrote this chapter; he wrote the next” kind of divisions disrupting the story, so I’ll definitely read future collaborations between the two, even if they choose to stray from this successful storyline.
Pages: 452 pages
Total pages read for Kat with a K’s Summer Reading Program during July: 740
Total pages read to date this summer: 3890
Total books read this summer: 14
This leaves me having beaten my goal of 10 books for the season, but falling short of my bonus goal of reading de Tocqueville. It’s too bad for Democracy in America, but there’s always the winter… And I just want to note that some of Kat’s other participants leave me feeling woefully inadequate and under-read. As of last week’s update, the folks leading the count had read 50 books apiece and one woman’s page counts were more than quadruple mine. I bow before such prowess.
What is it about a good book that makes it so hard to put down? What makes a book compelling rather than commonplace? Is it the storyline? The characters? A unique twist in the storytelling? Something intangible?
I’m not sure which of these has come into play, but I finally got around to reading Peter and the Starcatchers and it is taking all my self-restraint to put it away for the night and to go to bed. I mean, it’s 2 a.m.! I have another 20 chapters — probably 150 pages — which I could finish by 4.
What sane person thinks like that? What normal person seriously considers intentionally staying up until 4 hours before they need to go to work in order to read a book that will still be sitting there come lunchtime or eveningtide? Will things happen in the book while I’m away that will change the story? It’s not like I’ve left the characters in a precarious situation (which I never would do, by the way). They’re all safe. They’re on the beach. They’ll be fine until I’m able to get back to them. (They will be, won’t they?)
But it doesn’t matter. I really just want to throw myself back on the couch, pull out the book, and read away until I reach “The End” and my curiosity about what happens next is satisfied.
Woe to those who hope their children grow up to be readers. This is the future that you’re pointing them to — sleepless nights and an unquenchable thirst for adventure and knowledge. It’s a hard life.