scaifea's 2015 challenge - thread #6

Welcome to thread VI!



Below you’ll find an explanation of my reading habits, which, I warn you, is a bit crazy. Usually I have about 10-12 books going at once, one each from the following groups (and occasionally other books slipped in there, too):

1. A book from the 100 Banned Books book (at least currently. As soon as I finish this list, I'll replace it with another, and oh, I've got tons of lists).

2. A children's book, for Charlie's library. I'm trying to collect books from various award lists, and I like reading them before reading them to Charlie or deciding to add them to Charlie's shelves. For this category, I’m currently working through three lists:
a. 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Die
b. The CYOA books
c. The Newbery Honor books

3. A book from the Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy List, in chronological order.

4. A book for the Presidential Challenge. Books for this category are read in chronological (presidentially) order.

5. An audio book, which I listen to as I knit/sew/otherwise craft/drive.

6. A list I'm working through together with my best friend, Rob: The Hugo/Nebula/WFA/Bram Stoker lists (combined, in chronological order)

7. For this category, I cycle through 7 different stacks:
a. A book from my shelves which I haven't yet read
b. Agatha Christie's bibliography (in chronological order)
c. Stephen King's bibliography (in chronological order)
d. Neil Gaiman's bibliography (in some order other than chronological (don't
ask)).
e. Christopher Moore's bibliography (in chronological order)
f. Stephen Fry's bibliography (in chronological order)
g. The NEH Timeless Classics list
h. The National Book Award list (in alpha order by title)
i. The Pulitzer list (in alpha order by author)

8. A read-aloud-to-Charlie-at-bedtime book.

9. A book from my Classics shelves.

10. A book on Buddhism or from the Dalai Lama's bibliography.

11. Book-a-year challenge: Two years ago, along with a few others in this group (*cough* Paul *cough*), I made a year-by-year list to see how far I could go back with consecutive reads. I've decided, again, to follow Paul's lead and try to fill in some of those blanks, and so I'm adding an entry here to my lists.

12. The American Author Challenge.

13. The British Author Challenge.

14. This slot is reserved for books that just grab me and shout that they need to be read Right Now.

And on top of these, there will be a multitude of picture books and easy readers, which Charlie and I read together. I've decided this year also to list our re-reads, but I'll just list them each day and not number them.

So, now you've got a glimpse of just how neurotic I am.
Please feel free to post comments, recommendations, or whatever else strikes your fancy. And Happy Reading, everyone!



What I'm reading now:
-Johnny Got His Gun (Banned Books list)
-Crossover (Newbery Winner)
-Faust (The Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy List)
-John Tyler (Presidential Challenge)
-Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy (audio book)
-Stand on Zanzibar (Hugo & BFSA award lists)
-Excalibur (from the TBR shelves)
-Mary Poppins (Charlie's bed-time book)
-Cicero (off of my classics shelves)
-Essential Tibetan Buddhism (Buddhism list)
-Pierre and Jean (year-by-year book list, 1888)
-Needled to Death (series that my mom wants me to read so we can chat about it)
-The Iliad (everyday audio book in the car)
-The American (American Author Challenge, NEH list)
-The Night Watch (British Author Challenge, 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read list)
-Brideshead Revisited (British Author Challenge, NEH list)
-Joss Whedon: The Biography (Christmas present!)
-Below Stairs (library Blind Date with a Book book)

In addition to these, I have some classics-related texts that I'm working through (quite slowly):
-Asinaria by Plautus (reading in Latin)
-Iliad by Homer (reading in Greek)
-Latin Literature by Gian Biagio Conte
-The Cambridge History of Classical Literature Volume 1 Part 1

Books Read:
(For previous reads, see previous threads.)

FEBRUARY
70. (#20) Secret of the Pyramids (CYOA list) - 8/10 = B
71. Little Elliot, Big City (public library book) - 9/10 = A
72. The Iridescence of Birds (public library book) - 8/10 = B+
73. Plants Feed Me (public library book) - 9/10 = A-
74. Baby Cats (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B
75. Thank You Day (public library book) - 8/10 = B
76. Baby Dogs (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B
77. Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth! (public library book) - 9/10 = A
78. A Mouthful of Onomatopoeia (public library book) - 7/10 = C
79. Little Green Peas (public library book) - 9/10 = A
80. Baby Horses (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B
81. Starry, Starry Night (public library book) - 8/10 = B-
82. Around Town (public library book) - 8/10 = B
83. We Both Read: My Day (public library book) - 8/10 = B
84. (#21) Clearing Weather (Newbery Honor list) - 9/10 = A-

The Charlie Topper:

And the Bonus Question:

I'm usually posting photos under the guise of a Proud Momma (as you are all, at this point, painfully aware), but for this thread's Bonus Question, I'm posting as a Proud Daughter. Here's me and my mom when I was just over a year old - it's not the best photo of baby me, but doesn't my mom look gorgeous?



And here's my dad when he was young and working as a sales clerk in a men's clothing shop (he's the one in the middle):



And one of him and his horse and buggy around the same time - the town was having some sort of "Olden Times" festival, so he drove the buggy, which he painstakingly had fixed up on his own, to work that day:



Handsome, wasn't he?

So, the Bonus Question:
Do you have a favorite photo of your mom or dad, aunt or uncle, grandparent or other older-generation relative? If so, and you don't think they'd mind, I'd love to see them - share! And share the stories behind them, too.

I love your photos, Amber. Charlie looks very serious there in the photo, but he's handsome. And your mother is gorgeous. I don't agree that it's not a good picture of you because I think you look nice and happy in that pic with your mom. Your dad looks very spiffy as a sales clerk. And how cool is that photo of your dad in the horse and buggy?

I wish I had some good old photos of my parents to share with you now, but alas, my favorite photos of my mom and dad are back at my mom's house. So I'll have to go visit and see if I can scan them to keep. I've been meaning to do it anyway for the longest time ... so maybe this will be the nudge I need to actually get this project going.

Happy new thread, and lovely photos of your parents! I'm afraid my mom still has all of our family photos, so I have none to share myself.

From your earlier thread, oh, yeah I knew I couldn't request the new Harper Lee book yet. But I do all the purchasing of fiction for the library, and I usually have an order list started a few months in advance. July's kind of on the outside of my lists now (the farthest one out at the moment is June), and when I checked earlier it was not yet available to purchase. I imagine it will be in the next month or so.

After your post, I did see some other articles come out and it sounds like a mixed bag - some really excited about the prospect and others worrying that she may be taken advantage of because of her failing memory. I certainly hope that's not the case.

Happy new thread!!

Fun photos! I will have to scan my favorite (though I'm not sure I'd share it, as it's ridiculously special to me) but I can picture it very clearly. It's kind of darkly lit, because it was at night. My mom is sitting on the edge of my bed. You can't even see me, just a faint outline of where my legs are under the covers. She's all dressed up, and I think had just come home from a party. I used to wait up until my parents got back to make sure they *did* come back (I had abandonment issues, obvs), and my mom would always come in and sit down and talk to me until I fell asleep. So I guess my dad took a photo of it once. It's a terrible photo but it evokes very strong emotions and brings back almost viscerally that feeling of being little and safe and loved. And when I look at it, I swear I can smell her perfume. Weird, huh?

Here you go. Me, about age 2 or 3, having fallen asleep cuddling with mom.

>4 cameling: Hi, Caro! The buggy is pretty cool isn't it?!

>5 bell7: Mary: *facepalm* Of course! Sorry - I forgot in what capacity you would be looking up books! Silly me!

>6 SuziQoregon: Thanks, Juli!

>7 katiekrug: Katie: Oh that photo sounds just absolutely wonderful, Katie. And I don't think it's strange at all that you can smell her perfume, or that you'd want to keep the photo just to yourself. Thanks for sharing the memory with me.

>8 Oberon: Oh, Erik, I love it! So sweet. And your mom has great taste in books!

I love Erik's photo, too!

Happy new thread, Amber. You sure are a difficult lady to catch up with!

I do have a favorite picture of my family, one that was taken way back in the early 1950's. It sits in a place of honor in my living room but I don't know how to scan it into the computer so you'll just have to imagine this one!

>9 scaifea: Ppfff, no worries! Just to be confusing I look up books in both librarian and reader capacities ;)

OK, you are going to have to get a panoramic camera and use it upright to capture your "reading now" stack. Srsly!

>7 katiekrug: aw, that is lovely!! What a evocative story.

I used to love it when my mum and dad got dressed up and went out. It was a rare occurrence, but I loved the excitement and hanging out with mum when she got ready.

>7 katiekrug: Not strange at all! I can smell my grandma whenever I see pictures of her or when I'm working with yarn (she taught me how to knit). The sense of smell is the strongest one we have when it comes to evoking emotions!

I have tons of pictures of my parents that are precious to me and quite a few of my grandparents, though I only got to know grandma so there isn't as much of a personal connection there. I won't post them but I'll describe them to you.
My fave of dad is of him and his brothers (all much older than him), and it's SO clear that little 5-year-old dad is trying to be just like them (in their teens and early twenties). Same posture, same (kid's version of) facial expression...
Mum's photo is of her in a fabulously 70's style ski dress on a ski trip with dad and their best friends. I don't know why I love that photo so much but I do. It's incredible. (Red glossy matelassé fabric!!!)
There's also a wonderful photo of mum and dad (that I have framed in my bedroom) with their arms around each other on the pier at my aunt's place. They look exactly as I remember them looking when I was little, and as I think of them generally.
My fave of grandma is either one of her reading to my brother and I when we stayed over at her place (oh, the memories!). We're all three completely absorbed in the story and the bottle of gruel I'm holding is dangerously close to falling down on the floor.

>14 LovingLit: I loved it when mum and dad went out, too! (They very, very rarely did so it was exciting and exotic.) But I'd hang out with my dad when he got ready. I love the aftershave, which he'd use approximately twice a year and he'd let me tie his tie for him (I love ties). Mum's preparation included a lot of hairspray - which, ugh!

>11 katiekrug: Katie: I know, right?! Adorable on so many levels.

>12 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! And, boy, aren't you a photo tease! Ha!

>13 bell7: Mary: It honestly doesn't take much to confuse the likes of me, I'm afraid.

>14 LovingLit: Megan: *snork!* I blame Paul and Mark and their cool reading challenges. It couldn't have anything to do with my own obsession with various lists or anything...
I don't even remember my parents getting fancied up and going out; when I was little we had very little money, so certainly no extra for fancy clothes or goings-out, and my mom was much like me - she wouldn't let anyone babysit me - and so they never went anywhere that I couldn't go with them. Tomm and I are pretty much the same way with Charlie.

>15 PawsforThought: Your photos sound wonderful!

>16 PawsforThought: My dad still uses the same aftershave that he always has and I love that smell. It smells like comfort and safety and love and security and happiness.

Look what came in the mail today!! So exciting!!

I have a Gaiman waiting for my in the pile by my bed....soon, soon!

Happy new thread, Amber!
What perfect timing that you get a book in the mail from the very man himself. Looking forward to your thoughts. :)

Loving all the favourite pictures.

Again I don't have any old ones scanned but off the top of my head the one I can remember is one where I'm giving my mom a kiss on the cheeks. We aren't an affectionate family so there aren't too many pics like that so it makes it doubly special. :)

Happy New Thread, Amber! Love the photos of you and your Mom. You really take after her.

Congrats on the Gaiman! Nice grab!

>19 Berly: Kim: Oooh, which one!

>20 jolerie: Valerie: I know - perfect timing! I'm excited to get to it soon.
And your photo sounds so sweet!

>21 msf59: Thanks, Mark! That's a real compliment (I think my mom is lovely).

74. Baby Cats by Bethany Olsen (Charlie's school library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B
A non-fiction easy reader about kittens.

75. Thank You Day by Farrah McDoogle (public library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B
A Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood easy reader about a town Thank You Tree, on which everyone ties thank you notes. Cute, but not a lot of substance, of course.

Also Read Today:
-The Magic School Bus Fights Germs
-Hello Kitty Camping Adventure

Happy new thread, Amber. No pics to share but I love the ones of your parental units.

Yes, happy new thread! Love the Charlie topper. I love the way he looks straight at the camera ~ what self-confidence! Good job, Mom.

I've got so many meaningful pics of my parents and grandparents and other family members from when I was a little girl that I'd crash your thread if I tried to post all my favorites, but I love seeing pics of your parents when they were young. (Your mom was lovely, yes, but you were (and still are ~ I won't make Mark's mistake) the cutest thing!)

Hi, Amber - Happy New Thread!

I've just been catching up the old one, and had to laugh at your Neil Gaiman quote about how best-sellers in the past were crap too (paraphrasing!). Of course this buys right into my "Read the #1 US best-seller from 1895 onwards" project, for which I've just got through marvelling at how little I know of almost the entire Top Ten for 1896. It will be interesting to make a list of the best-sellers that really lasted the distance.

I have many favorite photos of my parents, but most of them are in the states in storage. Here are the favorites from their recent visit to us.


Dad just helped the kids build a fire (after their Dad said no)


Mom at the beach with the kids (South Island)

>25 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky!

>26 Storeetllr: Mary: Well, he's certainly used to me taking his picture, since I've done it every single day of his life so far. Ha!
And my mom made that little sailor suit for me - she made *all* of my clothes.

>27 lyzard: I *love* your reading challenges, this one especially and it's one that I've pondered doing several times. Maybe someday. I'd love to see your list of Ones That Lasted, if you decide to make it...

>28 nittnut: Jenn: Excellent photos! And I commiserate with the "after their Dad said no" bit - grandparents, eh? Ha!

On the agenda for today:
Treadmilling, cleaning, possibly some granola-bar-baking, more laundry, and then back to school for some volunteering (I'm running a Baking Center for Charlie's class, helping the kids bake little muffins. I did it for the first time last Wednesday and it's a hoot!). Soup Beans (aka: Ham and Beans) and Cornbread for dinner tonight.

On the reading front: Just a few pages yesterday, I'm afraid, from Stand on Zanzibar, which is a bit out there, but interesting so far.

The calendar book today: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, which, I think, is already on my wishlist. Anyone read this one?

>30 scaifea: I read Let the Great World Spin several years ago, Amber, and I very much enjoyed it. I hope you get a chance to read and enjoy it soon!

>31 alcottacre: Thanks for the recommendation, Stasia! Charlie and I have read a children's book about Philippe Petit, but I suspect that this book is a bit different than that one. Ha!

I am very sure it is!

Congrats on another shiny new thread, Amber.

Do not tell me that you have not read Let the Great World Spin! Wipes sleepy eyes and reads post again! What??

Morning Amber, my friend! Have a good day!

>33 alcottacre: Stasia: *grins*

>34 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara!

>35 msf59: Mark: Um, oops. Sorry, Mark! I'll move it up the wishlist, then, okay? Better? Happy?

>36 scaifea: Moving it up the wishlist sounds like a good plan, Amber. Else Mark might come and get you!

>37 alcottacre: *snork!*

>38 scaifea: I am sure that Mark is scary in real life, right? Lol

>39 alcottacre: Stasia: Maybe, but I think the trick is to offer him a beer and that calms him right down, like playing music for Fluffy... Ha!

Here is a picture of my dad and I taken around 1967 or 1968 when I was 4 or 5. It is one of the few I have of us, as he passed away in 1973 and he was usually the photographer. I was a flower girl in our next door neighbor's wedding and had to drop rose pedals as I walked down the aisle. I'm not sure that is even done these days. I remember practicing and practicing the hesitation step that I was taught to walk down the aisle.



And while I was looking for that picture, I ran across my Junior Prom picture, so even though I'm a little late, here it is as well - straight from 1980:

One of my favorites of my mom:



Bonus me in front and my aunt (left) and uncle (mom's brother). Lookit that white suit on LW3! So elegant!

Fav of Dad:



And a fav of the two of them together:

>41 rretzler: Robin: I love the photo of your dad and you - what a handsome guy and you were a cutie-patootie in that pretty dress! I think they still do the rose pedals for some weddings, at least.
And I absolutely love your prom dress! Very pretty.

>42 lycomayflower: Laura: Oooh, gorgeous photos! And I love how happy everyone looks - I suspect that you had a childhood similar to mine - full of happiness and love...

Happy New Thread, Mamie! Loving all the old-timey photos, including the ones of your good-looking mom and dad, and tiny Mamie.

Hmm, here you go with one from a vacation in northern Michigan. My mom's in the front row with the red undershirt, and my dad's behind her. His brother is on the far right.

>44 jnwelch: Morning, Paul, uh, I mean, Mark, oops, I mean Joe! *snork!* Lovely photo of your family! I particularly like your uncle's thumbs-up.

>42 lycomayflower: Awww.... That first one---wasn't the '80's or anything, was it!

One of my favorites of my Mom, around 10 years ago:



and my Dad, from quite a bit longer ago than that...



and then this truly ancient one of the three of us (before my baby brother came along)

>46 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: Whoa, the handsomeness is there all through the family, isn't it? And I can't even begin to tell you how much I love those little crossed arms of yours in that last one!

>47 scaifea: Yeah, that's my "I got this" pose.

>48 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: Yes! Do you still use that pose?

>45 scaifea: Morning, Amber! A lot of people like to call me "Jim", too. OK, I deserved that one. :-) Glad you like the photo. That uncle's a hoot.

Two Charlie stories for you:

1) I had a conversation with him yesterday morning that made me realize that I'm pretty sure he's inherited my synesthesia. I was tying one of his shoes and he said to me, pointing to the one that was untied, "He doesn't like to stay tied at all," and then pointing to the other shoe, "but she's much better and agrees to stay tied." I then asked him if he thought of numbers and letters as boys and girls and he said Yes and looked at me like, "well, of course they are." So then I asked him if numbers and letters were certain colors to him and again I got the, "well, duh" look and answer. And he told me about their personalities and such, too, and said that everything is either a boy or a girl and that he was sad sometimes because one boy in his class thinks he's weird for saying that his backpack is a boy and his lunch box is a girl... So, yeah, I'm pretty sure he's a synesthete like me.

2) Also, yesterday, when I asked Charlie what he wanted to do this weekend, he said the he'd like to sort the books on his shelves into Fiction and Non-Fiction and would I please help him reach the books on the top shelves so that he could sort them all. I think all of my life has been building up to that moment, and I'm pretty sure I saw heavenly light shining down on his precious little head when he said that. *lucky, happy, proud momma sigh*

>50 jnwelch: Joe: *snork!* I'm just cheesin' you, as Charlie would say. I think "Mamie" is a step up on the classy/awesome scale for me, so I'm not really complaining! Ha!

>51 scaifea: - Now *I* want to do some book organizing this weekend, too!

I think all of my life has been building up to that moment, and I'm pretty sure I saw heavenly light shining down on his precious little head Oh, boy. It's all downhill from here, you know!

>51 scaifea: How interesting about the synesthesia. I've read that it is genetic. I didn't realize you had it. What do you see?

Also, FYI, I keep trying to remember to post pictures to your last few threads, but they keep moving to a new one before I have time to go home and scan any photos. I'm really going to try hard on this thread! :)

>53 katiekrug: Katie: I know, right?!

>54 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: *snork!* I'm not exactly surprised, you know. For example, he's been sorting things like crayons and colored pencils - and on more than one occasion croquet balls and mallets - into ROYGBIV order since he was 2 and a half or three years old. No, I'm not kidding.

>55 rosylibrarian: Marie: All numbers and letters each have their own color and gender and personality for me. For example: 5 is male, gold/yellow, and is young and cocky most of the time. Downright arrogant sometimes. A is female and red, and a no-nonsense kind of gal - serious and very smart.
Interesting story about 6, who is orange and female: I've always known - even as a very young kid - that she liked girls instead of boys, but wasn't able to put the title of "lesbian" to that idea until I learned the word.
And pretty much all inanimate object have gender and personality for me, too, although those associations are generally not as strong as the number and letters, but more just something that I'm vaguely aware of in the back of my mind.

>51 scaifea: awesome! On both points. This world would be a less cool place without people who attribute sex and/or colour to objects/numbers. And the fiction/nonfiction sorting! I would be so proud. :)

I think all of my life has been building up to that moment

Such a great Charlie story!

And here's my favourite picture of my grandparents, from their wedding day. They were married overseas in uniform during WWII:

Happy new thread my dear and a great Charlie photo.

>51 scaifea: You mean its not a totally normal thing for odd numbers to be blue, green and purple and even numbers to be red, yellow and orange?? ;-)

Huh. Who knew. Guess I have some form of synthesia as well as my letters and numbers are colours but they don't have characters or gender. Much stronger are the characters/colours/moods of days of the week, months and seasons. They are also closer or further away to me, but that has no basis as to what day it is now. For example, tomorrow is Friday which is a pale green but is quite far away. Saturday is purplish and very distant, but Sunday is a warmer yellow and closer. Monday and Tuesday are the closest days to me.

>58 _Zoe_: No wonder it's your favorite---that's just beautiful!

Happy new(ish) thread!

>57 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan!

>58 _Zoe_: Oh, Zoe, what a *wonderful* photo! Thanks for sharing it!

>59 johnsimpson: Thanks, John!

>60 rretzler: Robin: *grins*

>61 lunacat: Jenny: It's pretty common for people with even mild forms of synesthesia to think of the progression of days, weeks and months in a spacial way. I do.

>62 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: Agreed.

>63 foggidawn: Thanks!

>51 scaifea: #1 I had no idea the assigning of gender/color/etc. to inanimate things had a name, though now I think of it I vaguely recall reading a book once where a character did that, and perhaps synesthesia was mentioned. I think I only do the gender assigning to my fingers (pointer is female, middle and ring are male, little finger is female, and thumb is a puppy dog ~ I've got no idea why) and color assigning, along with taste in some cases, to numbers. For example, 5 for me is orange and very astringent. 2 is blue and mild, 6 is yellow and sharp. I always kept it quiet because I thought it was pretty weird. Glad to know I'm not alone in that, though I still think it's a bit weird!

#2 Don't blame you for bursting with pride and happiness! You've done well.

>66 Storeetllr: Mary: I always kept it quiet because I thought everyone must think the same way! Ha! It never occurred to me that it was anything weird until I read somewhere about synesthesia.

Happy new thread, Amber! Here's one of my favorite photos of my Dad, and if it looks familiar that's because I post it as a thread topper every September. The book he is reading was a gift from me - I picked it out all by myself. My sister helped me wrap it. I was probably about Charlie's age, maybe a bit younger.

Oh, fantastic photo of your dad, Mamie! I love that you gave him a Winnie the Pooh book!!

The Soup Beans and Cornbread are smelling *so* good right now! I know I'm gonna have to change into my "I ate too much" pants later on this evening - this is my very most favorite meal.

Loving these photos.

The Charlie story! Organizing his books. Oh my.

I have a friend who is a synesthete and several of her kids are too. I taught them piano lessons and when I finally assigned the notes the color they "heard" things progressed much more successfully. So interesting.

I laughed about your "I ate too much" pants. I have those, too :)

>71 nittnut: Jenn: Oh, good for you for adjusting your teaching methods to match the needs of your students!

>72 katiekrug: Katie: Oh, yeah. I'm wearing them now. Too Much Cornbread. But it's so, so good!

Ok, that is just really cool. I had to look up synesthete because I've never heard of it before. I have a distinct association with the number 2 being a female and told my husband once and he didn't really understand..ha! But that's about it. Never gave it any further thought. So cool that maybe Charlie understands the world the way you do! :)

>74 jolerie: Valerie: He's a lot like me in a lot of others ways, so yeah. *smiles*

Your synesthesia is absolutely fascinating! I don't have that sense, and yet your descriptions of 5 and A feel right somehow. Cool.

Hi Amber - Happy New Thread. I'm loving all the pictures. Great Charlie stories, too.

>76 lauralkeet: Laura: Ha! I'm glad that you like my 5 and A! Ha!

>77 BLBera: Hi, Beth! Good to see you! The pictures are great, aren't they?

76. Baby Dogs by Kari Schuetz (Charlie's school library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B
An easy reader about puppies. Adorable photos, of course.

77. Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth! by Marie-Louise Gay (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A
Roslyn wakes up one morning and decides that today is the day that she will dig the biggest whole on earth, all the way to the South Pole. He father advises that she take a sweater with her, because it can get chilly down there.
Adorable and funny, and the illustrations are fantastic. Definitely recommended.

Also Read Today:
-Walt Disney Presents One Hundred and One Dalmatians
-Thomas and Friends All Around the Island

Hi Amber. I had my 59th birthday on Sunday and I got to read two books: Strands of Sorrow by John Ringo and Finding Zero by Amir Aczel. I got the latter as a January free book to review and I put my review up.

I have lots of pictures of my parents on my Facebook page, but I don't feel like rehosting them to publish them here. Can librarything host pictures?

>72 katiekrug: >73 scaifea: lol, we all have I ate too much pants! I wear mine most days ;)

>79 scaifea: the biggest hole on Earth sounds sweet! Today at the library I got the kids a cat book written in haiku! (Won Ton)

Breezing through...love the proud mama moment and the cool insight on synesthetics.

>80 jjvors: Oh, Happy Birthday, Jeff! There's nothing like time to read on your birthday, eh? And I don't really know much about using librarything for photos - I upload mine to flickr.

>81 LovingLit: Megan: Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth is a great book! You and your wee ones would love it, I bet. And I'll have to see if our library has Won Ton, because it looks great.

>82 Berly: Morning, Kim!

On the agenda for today:

I just got a message from the school librarian wanting to know if I could substitute for her today, but I woke up a little stuffy and don't honestly want to spend all day working (her Thursday schedule is very busy, with story times and RTI groups back to back). I did tell her, though, that I would still come in for my normal afternoon volunteering to reshelve all the books. (That's the part that she really doesn't want another substitute doing, because apparently Dewey is an acquired skill? Seriously, folks, it's not that difficult.) So, I'll be doing that this afternoon. This morning it's treadmilling, book fair stuff, cleaning and maybe those granola bars that didn't happen yesterday. Leftovers for dinner, I think.

On the reading front: I read a little bit more of Clearing Weather and Excalibur yesterday, and by "a little bit," I mean a couple pages of each. It's difficult to get much reading done when Tomm's away on a trip, for some reason...

The calendar book today sounds like a self-help type thing, so not really my usual fare: Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant. Anyone read this one?

Morning Amber! Hope the stuffiness is nothing serious. Love all the photos everyone is sharing.

>85 msf59: Mark: Me, too. Charlie's had a minor cold for a while now; I hope I'm not getting it! Gah.

>84 scaifea: Dewey is very much an acquired skill. So is alphabetization. Only the skill isn't called "shelving," it's called "attention to detail."

We had somebody, not sure if it was staff or patrons, mix up all the 975.6 books and the 976.6 books. Thing is, the titles should have told whomever it was that something was up. There's a big difference between North Carolina and Oklahoma.

ETA: On second thought, I think it's more of an inborn trait than an acquired skill.

>84 scaifea: I think any organizational system is a little bit of an acquired skill (or perhaps an inborn trait as >87 casvelyn: suggests). But no, I don't think it's that hard to learn if you're willing to put the effort into teaching someone. I shelved books for so long that I started pulling out books I knew didn't belong even though the Dewey number on the spine label said they did - I'd come to know the categories so well that I could tell when a number had been transposed in typing.

By the way, I think your description of synesthesia is fascinating. What a neat way of seeing the world! The closest I come (and I'm not sure it really compares) is having a special affection for words that sound like what they are. Like goal (especially the long drawn out Spanish-announcer goal). And grey. It has to be "grey" and not "gray" because the "ay" ending is... well, too happy to be the color grey. It's really sort of unexplainable beyond the fact that I just enjoy words and their sounds and meanings.

>88 bell7: To me, grey and gray are subtly different. Gray is like flat gray paint, kind of institutional, whereas grey can be wisps of fog, or a melancholy feeling. I like grey much better than gray, but I use both depending on what's being described.

Happy New Thread, Amber! Seems like I'm always catching up. Have a great day! Off to continue catching up with others

>87 casvelyn: I think you may be right that it's more of an inborn trait, or an inclination toward orderliness. One must, I think, revel in things being in their proper places to appreciate the beauty of Dewey and LoC (which I prefer, really).

>88 bell7: Mary: Ha! I do that, too, now, at the school library - pull books that I strongly suspect have been labelled incorrectly - and I'm pleased to report that my instincts usually seem to be right!
Also, I agree with you completely on grey/gray!

>89 foggidawn: Oooh, that's a cool way to think of grey/gray, too.

>90 Carmenere: Hi, Lynda!

Amber, I have duplicates of some Newbery award books. I'll go through them and let you know which ones I have, then you can decide if you would like them for Charlie.

>92 Whisper1: Oh, thanks, Linda!!

>91 scaifea: I'm not actually an organized person in any way except for my books. I prefer LOC to Dewey as well; I like the granularity and the academic-ness. For my own personal books, I invented my own shelving system so that I can be granular in areas where I have lots of books and broad in areas where I don't have many books. Plus I can get all my books on the shelves exactly where I would expect to find them.

>94 casvelyn: Yeah, I think I like LoC more because I'm so used to it, having spent so many years in the Land of Academia. I have grand daydreams of LoC-ing my books, but it hasn't happened yet.

I hate Dewey with a passion and I'm not familiar with LoC as it doesn't exist over here. The academic libraries here either use Dewey or their own version. Public libraries often use SAB (Swedish system based on the letters of the alphabet, making "Noba" geography books about India, for instance). Most are changing either to Dewey or a different system. My local libraries are changing to something called Rainbow where the different areas have different colour labels on the spine and the areas and sub-areas are spelled out. Makes it easier for non-employees to find their way around the bookshelves. Also, it's very pleasing to the eye.

At home, I my own categorization which divided books by fiction-non-fiction and then according to author/height (books by the same author are always grouped together, but all books are placed in height order with the tallest to the left and the shortest to the right. So shelves aren't always filled to capacity as I might not have books shorter than a particular book by a particular author.

>96 PawsforThought: Yeah, I'm not exactly surprised that you don't have the Library of Congress system over there... *snork!*
I love your personal system, though, and the Rainbow system sounds kind of lovely, too. Hm...future Bonus Question possibilities...

Yay for Charlie and Amber and others here being synesthetes as well. The gender and character thing is completely new for me and is really fascinating!

I was so relieved when I learned that "synethesia" exists! Before that it was called "never mention those colors or food associations or people will say you're nuts!" in my family. Then one day I confessed the colors to my grandma and she said "but of course numbers and letters have colors", so now I know where I got it from.

As a small kid I also connected certain sounds with foods, but that went away when I got older and travelled more and real (food) memories got mixed in. The German name of Cologne (Köln) is a fruit punch, because the "ö" sound (think of the o in world) is both sweet and sour. The "nch" in the German name München for Munich (like the nge in fringe) always gave me an association to a special juicy type of salt meat.

I also often have problems using names correctly when for example a Bernd looked more like his name should be Jörg, but that was his brothers' name. It embarrassed my parents more than once. Or I accidentally tell a friend that I forgot someone's name, but remember it was a blue one.

I wish I had some of that music snyesthesia where you could practically compose in colors...

I posted these books on my thread, but in the event you don't see the message, I highly recommend these books. I think Charlie might really enjoy them:

>98 Deern: Oooh, I want to know what the color of my name, Lenora, is.

I'm mighty envious of you synesthetic people! I wish I had even a tiny bit of synesthesia but I can't think of anything that fits the bill. :( And I'm a really colour-sensitive person. I can't handle if things are the wrong shade or colour combinations that don't work. It makes me itch. But I have no connection between colours and numbers/lettters/words/music/etc.
There seems to be a great variation among synesthia-types. Does anyone have a list of some sort? It'd be very interesting to read.

>98 Deern: Natalie: Very cool about the names! But I'm sorry that your family wasn't more accepting of it. I don't know that I ever even told my folks about it - I just assumed it was a normal thing and so it just never came up.

>99 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda, but we're pretty much a no-bats kind of household, after having one in the house a couple of years ago. Charlie is demonstrably not a fan of them. Ha!

>100 Morphidae: Oh, me, too! For me your name is male, probably because L is a dude. He's blue, by the way.

>101 PawsforThought: Just google it; there are several sites with information about it.

Well, I went to the library before heading into school today, to pick up some holds. Here's what was waiting for me:



Excited!

And then, as is my wont, I checked out the Sale Shelves and as a consequence came home with these bad boys, all for $15:

>103 scaifea: I just finished This One Summer. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on it.

>100 Morphidae: For me your name is a blue/green colour. A sort of mix of sea green, turquoise and teal. Bright but mellow and calming. It comes with the sound of the sea as well - not the sound of distinct waves but the sound you hear when the sea is round the next corner........that gentle roar.

Ooh! Look at all those pretty Shakespeare plays! I'm jealous. Hard to resist.

Hi Amber, I love your Fountain pen photo on Julia's (rosalita) thread and I have posted my pens on her thread as well. Hope you are having a good day my dear, love and hugs.

All of this talk of synesthesia -- have you and Charlie read The Noisy Paint Box yet? Or is that where the conversation started, and I've just forgotten? It's one of this year's Caldecott honors.

>102 scaifea: I like blue. The male? Not so much. Ha!

>105 lunacat: I couldn't have asked for a better color or sound. They are so me!

***

So the next question is... my nickname is Nora. Does that change anything? If this is annoying, tell me. I just think it's so cool.

>104 Oberon: Erik: I'll definitely let you know!

>106 BLBera:: Beth: I know, right?! And I already have a complete works (two, in fact), but these are just so pretty...

>107 johnsimpson: John: Oooh, I'll have to head over to Julia's thread and check them out!

>108 foggidawn: foggi: Not yet. I tried to request it from the library, but they don't have a copy. Ding dang. If it's about synesthesia, though, I may have to order it...

>109 Morphidae: Not annoying at all, Morphy! It doesn't change anything for me, since N is also blue and male (although a lighter blue (more like steel blue) and he's a more laid-back fella than L, who's a bit of a snob, actually).

>110 scaifea: It's a picture book biography of Kandinsky, and talks about experiencing color as music.

>11 katiekrug: Huh, cool. It sounds like it does address synesthesia, then, at least indirectly. I hope I can get my hands on a copy soon.

78. A Mouthful of Onomatopoeia by Bette Blaidsell (public library book, picture book) - 7/10 = C
A book presumably about onomatopoeia, but really not a very good one. The first page (poorly) explains the concept and then is followed by a bunch of pages with onomatopoeic words printed randomly over photos. Tsk.

79. Little Green Peas by Keith Baker (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A
This one is a little young for Charlie, although we both enjoyed the illustrations a bunch.

Also Read Today:
-Elmo Says Achoo!
-The February 2015 issue of High Five Magazine

>103 scaifea: Oh, those red Shakespeares! Beautiful...(pocket-sized?)

>108 foggidawn: Kandinsky is my favorite artist! Even though my boys are way too old for this book, I may just have to get it for myself!

>100 Morphidae: Sorry, no greens in my perception. All names/words are color mixes because of the different colors the letters have, but there is always a clear tendency. So yours is a very deep night blue that gets lighter and more reddish towards the end. A bit like dawn at the end of night over the sea. It's a very hamonic name unlike mine own.

>103 scaifea: I'd love to hug those Shakespeares, they are beautiful!

>108 foggidawn: Just read some reviews, sounds like a great book. Colors talking to him, fascinating! Ordered the Kindle sample.

>103 scaifea: Great book haul, Amber.

Amber, I'm fascinated by the synesthesia discussion! Does Charlie assign the same genders and colours to things as you do? For example, would you also say his lunchbox is a girl? You and Jenny and Nathalie all seem to associate "Leonora" with blue (albeit different types of blue), which is partly what made me wonder. I recalled reading about this in one of our papers last year, and I think it was this article in the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/apr/27/benefit-synaesthesia-brain-injury... I'd never heard of it before that, and I think my parents would have reacted like Nathalie's - don't tell anyone! According to the article, at least 4.4% of people have it, though, and for them it's so normal that it's no big thing. A bit like being left-handed, I suppose, although there are 10% of us :-)

Have a great day, Amber! Like Kim up at #82, I am finding the synesthesia information interesting and I cannot blame you at all for the 'proud mom' moment!

>114 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: Nope, they're pretty much a normal hardcover size - it's the New Temple Shakespeare set.

>115 rretzler: Robin: I'm pretty disappointed that my library system doesn't have it, but I suspect that now it has won an award, they'll order it.

>116 Deern: Natalie: They *are* pretty Shakespeares, aren't they?
And I hadn't thought of getting an e-version - I don't have a kindle or any other kind of reader, but we have an ipad for Charlie to use and he has several books on it; maybe I can get Tomm to put it on there...

>117 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara!

>118 susanj67: Susan: We may coincide on a few things, but there's not a trend, I suspect. And yes, I think you're spot-on with the left-handed analogy: it's not a disorder or anything; it's just a different way of thinking about things and it's fairly rare, especially in its stronger forms. I'm not exactly surprised to discover that a fair amount of us 75ers have at least some mild form of it, thought, since the tendency toward the condition likely falls in with other kinds of tendencies (and I wouldn't be shocked that being an avid reader who loves to keep records of that reading is one of those tendencies).

>119 alcottacre: Morning, Stasia! Good to see you!

On the agenda for today:

Grocery shopping this morning, then back to school for more volunteering this afternoon. I'm excited to be in the school today to witness some of the festivities: today they're celebrating the 100th Day of Kindergarten with all sorts of games and special treats all day. Charlie is *so* excited.
Charlie and I ended up going to Pizza Hut last night for dinner to spend one of his BookIt! coupons, so the leftovers will be for dinner tonight and then a big old clean-out of the fridge is called for, I think. And Tomm gets home tonight!! ...And then leaves again on Monday for another week-long trip. Dang.

On the reading front:
I read a few more pages in Clearing Weather, which I'm enjoying even though it's taking me an age to get through (I just don't get much reading time at all when Tomm's not here because all of the evening chores need to be done even though a third of the work crew is missing and another third is child labor and honestly not that reliable - ha!) and then a few pages in Below Stairs in bed before conking out, which is okay so far but not great (I don't care for her tone most of the time, honestly).

The calendar book for today sounds pretty interesting, as a book written by the author of the Stephanie Plum series (which I haven't tried yet but I'm interested) and a writer for the Monk tv show: The Heist. Anyone read this one? Thoughts? Should I wishlist it?

The article in the Guardian is interesting in that they believe that synesthesia makes your life easier and therefore should be taught. It certainly can give you an advantage in memorizing things, but it can also lead to the opposite (my name problem for instance). I remember some brain training game where the color words were written in a different color and you had to assign them to the color they were printed in. For example "green" was printed in red and had to be moved to the red box. However the word green for me is more yellow, so my synethesia was an absolute hindrance. But I always did great in those tests where you got a text and had to mark all "e"s or other letters.

The letter/number ==> color connection is the most frequent one and right now I was wondering if it might have to do something with an early reading age as well (additionally to the Basic genetic thing). And then of course you'd find many synesthetes of that type among the frequent readers. A question for the non-synesthetes I never asked yet: if you go grocery shopping and think about buying bananas, do you see a banana in your mind or the word "banana" or both? In my case it's definitely both and I can't say if the picture of the banana comes an instant earlier to my mind or if it is the word I see first. Ad no, the word isn't yellow, it's mainly brown.

Happy Friday, Amber! I loved This One Summer and so did Joe. I've been hearing very good things about El Deafo. Looking forward to your thoughts.

>122 Deern: Natalie: Teaching synesthesia? Not possible, I would think. The principle behind it, maybe, and I can sort of see that working - like using memory pegs in your mind.
And I don't know exactly how having synesthesia is related to your question for non -synesthetes - I think that may be a slightly different issue (i.e. whether you're a visual learner and what kind of visual learner you are). What I mean to say is I think both synesthetes and non-synesthetes could answer your question, no? I see both in my mind, by the way.

>123 msf59: Mark: Well, if you both liked it and it's won an award, I'll prepare myself for having my socks blown right off! Ha!

>122 Deern: I am a non-synesthete and I see words. This may be partly because I never go grocery shopping without a written list, so I have the words right in front of me. I also never buy bananas, because I can't stand the smell of them. :)

I'm a very verbal, very concrete thinker. I think in outlines and lists. I think most clearly by writing things out, longhand, in cursive.

ETA: I'm very concrete when it comes to abstract thinking. When it comes to things that are actually concrete/have physicality, I need a good map or diagram.

>103 scaifea: Very cool! Are they annotated editions? I was just telling someone else that I'm really attached to my Norton Shakespeare, but it's like 3000 pages long and weighs forty pounds, so not practical for toting around, but I need all the help I can get with Shakespeare, so the notes are necessary.

I missed the boat on posting prom photos - maybe I can find one this weekend, along with a mom photo.

>126 DorsVenabili: Yes and no. There are a few notes, it looks like, but not enough to make it really what I would call 'annotated'. But that's okay, because I've got my Riverside Shakespeare for that, which is, as you say for your Norton, a bit of a boulder to carry round. So, see? I clearly needed these! Clearly.
I'm looking forward to your photos if you can find some!

Totally drooling over your Shakespeare haul - and they're red!! I love red! What a great find! And UGH - we need to clean out the refrigerator, too, so I feel your pain. Happy Friday, Amber!

>124 scaifea: I don't see how you would effectively "teach" synesthesia either. I ain't got it, and although I could see memorizing a color to go with a letter, that wouldn't be the same thing, would it? And if one DID have it, since it doesn't seem to be the same for everyone, trying to teach it the "right" way would be like forcing a left-handed child to use her right hand. Counter-productive and perverse, in other words.

>128 Crazymamie: Hi, Mamie! Cleaning out the fridge is just about The Worst, isn't it? Gah.

>129 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: That's it exactly. That's just why I don't think it would work.

>116 Deern: Oh, that's lovely, too! I love all the blues.

>122 Deern: I'm a non-synesthete and I see a banana in my mind. I'm very visual and it's important to me that the words in a book not interfere with my visualization. A great book for me is one in which I'm not aware of reading. I'm not "into language." It's why I tend to stay away from books called "lyrical."

While some people complain about author's describing what characters are wearing, I love it. It helps me visualize what they look like so the "movie" is more complete.

Just checking in - and adding a dollop of jealousy - I love the idea of seeing words in colours. I'd ask what colour you see my name in, but I have an inkling that with the harsh fricatives it would be a colour I didn't like :/

I haven't read that article but I'm guessing what they meant by "teaching synesthesia" is teaching people to use colours to associate things. We did that at the school I sometimes work at when there was a kid who was mostly deaf who went there. His assistant made the chart of "days of the week" different colours for the different days. So the kids in his class all "knew" (associated) that Monday was blue, Saturday pink, etc.
There are schools who have colour assignment as part of their pedagogics. A woman I had courses with at uni had gone to a school like that and always used particular coloured pens for different types of notes/subjects. Worked well, apparently.
I do a version of it myself and always colour co-ordinated my uni notes with my highlighter pens and post it notes/flags. I did it before uni and I still do it with things like my calendar (and I'm frustrated that my calendar app on my phone doesn't let me change colours the way I want. Blur is work, dark green is school (not used much now, obv.), pink is fun, light green is anniversaries/birthdays, purple is health, etc.

>131 Morphidae: Morphy: Oh, I love your explanation of your reading preferences - it explains a lot about why we differ on our opinions on a lot of books, since I'm pretty much the opposite (I *love* language and I really don't want the author telling me what people are wearing, as I've already decided that myself!)!

>132 BekkaJo: Bekka: Well, I'll tell you anyway, because I think your name is lovely: it starts out yellow and fades into brick red.

>133 PawsforThought: I suspect you're right and that's what it means, but then they really shouldn't call it "teaching synesthesia" for the reasons that Linda pointed out above.

>132 BekkaJo: The Bekka is a delicate pink and Jo is a deep purple. Not sure if that is to your taste though ;)

Oh, and if it is just Bekka then it's a sunny yellow. I don't know why it should be different for the Bekka of bekkajo, or bekka on it's own, but I've learned not to question things. They have their own rules and if I start to question them and try to apply strict logic it makes me itchy and uncomfortable.

>134 scaifea: Oh, absolutely, that was a very odd choice of phrase. You don't teach inborn traits. You can't teach synesthesia the same way you can't teach people to be funny. You can teach them aspects of what what it means (to associate colours with certain things or to make certain jokes), but not the trait itself.

Have you gotten anywhere with Trigger Warning? I have been waiting for it to come out, I love his story collections. Oh, I started Chasing the Moon, I should be finished with it in the next few days. I havnt forgotten that you would like it.

Hi Amber!
Your mention of the school librarian's RTI groups piqued my interest. What does that look like? I am part of our school's RTI team. We have not used our librarian yet, so I am just curious... :)

>136 PawsforThought: The analogy to teaching humor is perfect!

>137 xymon81: Matt: Nope, not yet. I'm gagging to get to it, but I have a whole shelf (literally - I've even got two books lying on top of the books of the shelf because they won't fit!) of books to read *immediately* so it'll be a little while before I get there. I just know I'll love it, though, because there isn't a Gaiman book that I don't! How's Chasing the Moon so far?

>138 jayde1599: Jess: They give her the highest-scoring groups and with the first graders she does advanced writing with them and also reads together with them in a group (they go round the circle and take turns reading aloud from the same book - It's the first Junie B Jones right now); with the kindergarteners she plays games with them that test their vocabulary (CVC words right now, I think, mostly) and tutors them on easy readers. I'm sure she does more than that, but those are the elements of which I'm aware.

>139 scaifea: It is going pretty good he comes up with some very original concepts.

>140 xymon81: Excellent!

Late to this party, but wanted to jump in and say I, too, have always perceived numbers as having specific character traits.

>142 lycomayflower: Laura: Awesome!

80. Baby Horses by Bethany Olsen (Charlie's school library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B
An easy reader about, well, foals. Adorable photos.

81. Starry, Starry Night by Wade Cooper (public library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B-
Too overly simplified, even for a beginning level easy reader. Meh.

Also Read Today:
-a back issue of Charlie's Lego Club Magazine

Ah, I'm all for dropping books before they can disappoint too much. Down with Below Stairs! I don't know anything about it, but if she's annoying you, she better have a good reason for it if you're going to give her the time to finish the book. You're red book haul looks good. Lucky you!

>145 cammykitty: Katie: Nope, can't do it. Must. Finish. Every. Book. I know, foolish. But still, I can't help it.

Hi Amber, I'm stopping by to say hello! As the pain level is higher this week than most, I'm not able to concentrate a lot. But, children's illustrated books work magic. I can sit back, enjoy finding the details of an illustration and escape into the wonderful art and story telling.

Thanks again for having a major role in directing me to this genre.

>147 Whisper1: Linda: I'm so sorry to hear that you're not getting any relief from the pain. Less than a week to go, now, though!

Hello from me, too, Amber. I want to read El Deafo! They had it at that ALA conference, but only for display, not discounted sale, darn it. Hope you enjoy This One Summer. I thought that was a really good one.

>134 scaifea: I'd like to know if anyone else has "full immersion movies" like I do when reading books. I'm in the head of whichever character is in the focus at the moment. I'm not them but rather I'm an omniscient observer. I know what they think, see what they see, hear what they hear, and feel what they feel (which used to get interesting before I was more jaded about sex scenes.) Or sometimes if there is a lot of action, I'm jumping from looking over one shoulder to another.

>132 BekkaJo: just to complete it: Bekka in my world is a light spring green that (yes, it's the ks) gets darker. Jo is purple with a tinge of red. Very nice colors.
My own name is a jumpy chaos of yellow, red and the French h also adds brown, while Deern is a nice cool bluish pink.

>150 Morphidae: Yes, I have those as well, and I'm generally not happy when a favorite book is turned into a movie.

>150 Morphidae: I do that, but usually i am the character. To the point where I cry, breathe differently, blush, have heartraces, etc. It doesn't always happen, only with certain types of writing, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is.

Happy Saturday, Amber! I just finished my 2nd cup of coffee and I am currently surfing the threads. It feels good, not having to go out THERE!

>150 Morphidae: For me, reading a book is like listening to someone give a spoken narrative of something that happened to other people. Both the narrator and I are removed from the action. This is one of the reasons I really hate first-person narrative (the other major reason being that it's rarely well done). I'm also unconsciously/subconsciously "experiencing" the syntax, vocabulary choices, and sentence structure. I don't know how else to describe it but as an experience. I'm not critiquing, unless the grammar is truly bad, and it's not something I do on purpose, but the actual, literal words themselves and the mechanics of language are part of my reading experience. Oh, and the font and typography play a part as well.

I'd say my reading is a full immersion experience, but in a different way than yours.

Also, I like this whole conversation, even if other people's ways of reading seem very strange to me. (I don't mean that critically, but just that one assumes that everyone reads the same way as oneself.)

>149 jnwelch: Joe: I'm excited to get to them both, which I'll do as soon as I get finished with Clearing Weather...

>150 Morphidae: Morphy: For me, reading is more like sitting in the movie theater; I'm fully immersed in the story, but wholly as an observer, not as a character. The language can pull me out of that, too, in a very good way if it's very good (and in that case I can pull back to appreciated the beauty of a sentence and then plunge right back in), or in a bad way if the language is bad, and then it's harder to get into the story, of course.

>151 Deern: *waves to Natalie*

>152 PawsforThought: I don't think I could ever *be* the character - I'm too stubborn and would want to be making my own decisions about my actions and not letting the author have a say. Ha!

>153 msf59: Morning, Mark! I just woke up not too long ago after a lovely Saturday Sleep-In. All kinds of happy that my Scaife Boys let me have some extra time in bed! Tomm's making eggs and toast right now and I should go get my tea kettle started soon...

>154 casvelyn: I'm much more like you in my reading style that I am like Morphy, I think. And I agree that this is a very interesting topic - I love to hear how others read!

On the agenda for today:

I've signed Charlie up for another Sock Hop at the library, so we'll be heading out for that later this morning. Otherwise, it's the usual weekend To Do list: laundry, bills, organize the week's photos off the camera, clean... And Charlie and I need to figure out what kind of Valentines he'll make for his teachers, too. Lasagna for dinner tonight.

On the reading front:
Still making slow progress on Clearing Weather and I managed a few more pages in Stand on Zanzibar, too.

The book calendar's weekend quote: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound that make as they fly by."
Any guesses on which author said this?

Morning, Amber! Have fun at that Sock Hop!

>157 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! We will - Charlie loves them, and I get free reading time!

>156 scaifea:. Douglas Adams

>159 lycomayflower: Laura: Winnerwinnerchickendinner!!

Argh, shoot! I knew that quote. And I love Douglas Adams.
Oh, well, that's what you get for actually sitting down to read for a change and not just hanging around LT...

Oh, I forgot...

>155 scaifea: It's not always but some types of novels/stories I'm just drawn into to the point where I feel everything the main character feels. Maybe "be" is the wrong word, but I definitely feel them. I have to be careful with what I read in public as this can be a bit embarrassing otherwise...

Getting caught up here. I too find the discussion of synesthesia fascinating. I'm not a synesthete, but I do associate people with letters. Usually it's the first letter of their first or last name, but if they have a double letter somewhere in their name it might be that letter. I suppose it's a mental filing system.

I'm a little late in responding to your question, but I thought I'd share a photo of my grandparents. I think this may be one of their wedding photos. They were married in the summer of 1929. My grandfather died in 1943 when my father was seven so I only know him through photographs.



And here's another favorite. My grandfather was a minister. In this photo he and his classmates have staged a mock wedding, probably as practice for learning to perform a real wedding. My grandfather is in the middle playing the part of the minister. This would have been taken sometime between 1927 and 1930.

>163 cbl_tn: Oh, wow, Carrie, those are amazingly cool photos! Thanks for sharing them!

82. Around Town by Victoria Taylor (public library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B
An easy reader Lego Duplo book that Charlie checked out of the library today.

Also Read Today:
-Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Drop It, Rocket!

On the agenda for today:

Laundry, cleaning and hanging out with my Scaife Men before one of them leaves for another week-long business trip tomorrow. It's my half-birthday today, so we're going out this afternoon for some sort of treat, ice cream is likely. Not really my idea to celebrate, but we do celebrate Charlie's half-birthday every year with cupcakes and a present, and he insists that it's only fair the we celebrate mine and Tomm's too. What a kid, eh?
Hopefully there will be reading time today, too...

On the reading front: I'm nearly finished with Clearing Weather, which is turning out to be a great adventure story.

Happy Sunday, Amber! Half-birthdays, huh? Novel idea...

Happy half birthday, happy Sunday and happy ice cream eating. How considerate of Charlie to insist on you and Tomm having the same celebrations as he has! :)

As kids we were in three having our birthdays during the xmas holidays when it was quite impossible inviting others, so once or twice each of us did the same thing, celebrating half-birthday in summer instead with BBQs.

Happy Sunday, Amber! Half-birthday, huh? Must remember this.

>167 msf59: Mark: I started the half-birthday thing for Charlie on his first half-birthday because I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to celebrate the fact that for him it falls on the Ides of March, which is just about the most perfect thing to this classicist's eyes... Plus, any reason to celebrate this kid is okay in my book, of course.

>168 Deern: Natalie: I like the idea of half-birthday parties for those who have holiday birthdays, plus, as you say, it makes it possible to have outdoor parties, which is nice, too.

>169 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie! A friend of mine celebrates the half-birthdays of her little ones, too, and she very cleverly makes a half cake (she bakes the cake in a round pans then cuts them in half, stacks and frosts them so they look like a very tall *half* birthday cake. Cool, huh? By the time I met her (after we moved here) we were already firmly in the cupcake tradition, so I haven't changed over, but I do love that idea.

Oh, I love the half cake idea!! Too fun!

Okay, laundry is doing, Tomm has taken over the cleaning for me today (yay!), so I'm headed off to the kitchen to whip up a batch of heart-shaped sugar cookies to kick off our week-long Valentine celebrations (which consist of eating cookies all week, essentially, although there will be a heart-shaped chocolate cake next weekend...).

>171 Crazymamie: Mamie: I know, right?! And it looks pretty cool, too.

As always enjoying your theme photographs very much!

Good morning, Amber. I am caught up with your oh-so-interesting thread. I wish my letters and numbers had colors and personalities. Life would definitely be more fun. I was explaining the concept to 7-year-old Griffin over breakfast (I am babysitting this week) and he thinks it's "weird" but then that's his word for many cool things!

I absolutely loved your sacred moment upthread when Charlie wanted to organize his library. I feel that way when Haley wants to play with dolls. I had many dolls I loved as a child and one of her favorites is "Toodles". She also likes playing with my recently acquired Madame Alexander doll and her Shannon, which is a knock-off Am. Girl doll. My two older granddaughters played with despicable Barbies for years. I hope Haley doesn't get the Barbie Bug.

I'm also loving the old pictures. I am away from home so have nothing to share.

Happy half birthday, Amber. Tomorrow my younger daughter has her 16th birthday and will celebrate it here in Davos. Her best friend came with us to our ski holiday and another good friend will meet us at a Pizzeria tomorrow evening.

>174 sibylline: Thanks, Lucy! Always great to see you here!

>175 Donna828: Ha! I don't know if it makes life more fun, really - it's just the way of the world for me.
I've convinced Charlie to hold off on the book sorting until tomorrow and make it a little-bit-every-day project. That way he can still have lots of Tomm Time today before Daddy leaves again for another week tomorrow (Tomm isn't really into the book thing like Charlie and I are).
Love the doll-playing! I still have most of mine at my parents' house; my mom made a lot of mine, so of course they're special to me. I'm excited that Charlie loves Legos and all sort of art projects, which I love doing with him.

>176 Ameise1: Barbara: Happiest of Sweet 16ths to your daughter tomorrow! I bet you'll all have a lovely time.

Cookie dough is chilling in the fridge and apples are peeled and sliced and cooking for a batch of applesauce...

I like the idea of half birthdays! Why didn't someone twig me onto this concept years ago? ;-)

Happy half birthday, Amber. Heart shaped cookie week sounds like a great way to celebrate a lovely week with your Valentine. We just gotten more snow through the night ... I could make snow hearts while I'm shoveling and give my snow art to Edd. :-)

>179 cameling: *More* snow, Caro?! Whoa. I'm so glad that you ordered that snow blower!

Loving the synesthesia conversation (wish I had it) and that led to my son and I looking up other genetics traits like double eyelashes (Elizabeth Taylor) and Heterochromia (eyes of different or saying color--there are three subtypes!). Apparently synesthesia is only present in 4.4% of the population. There were more factoids, but you get the idea. :)

We always celebrated half birthday in our house because my oldest was born right around Christmas time and I thought she kinda got gipped. (BTW--I waited a month to try and get pregnant so she wouldn't be born then, but she came a month early, so much for planning!) It's no fun to get ALL your presents at the same time and be sandwiched between Christmas and New Years. So then, we had to celebrate half birthdays with all the kids. And, I still say my half birthdays like little kids do. I think it is fun!

>181 Berly: Kim: Oooh, double eyelashes would be nice, wouldn't it?
And I agree - half birthdays are a hoot. Any little excuse to have a celebration is okay in my book.

Had a little hunt for photos for your parenthood thread.
Don't see enough of my old girl - here we are together last time I was in UK (without a razor obviously)

Hi Amber, happy half-birthdays to you all. I hope you have had a good weekend my dear, love and hugs to you all.

>183 PaulCranswick: What a great photo with your Mum, Paul! Where is that big smile?

This half birthday celebration stuff for people with birthdays around the holidays sounds like a nice idea. But I think I have to content myself with the fact my relatives are pretty good about making a near-Christmas birthday special (many of them are in the same boat) because my half birthday is the Fourth of July. *facepalm*

>183 PaulCranswick: Oh, Paul, your mom is lovely! And I think you look very dashing with the beard, too.

>184 Morphidae: Ha! Thanks, sister!

>185 johnsimpson: Thanks, John! It's been a great weekend!

>186 msf59: Mark: I know, right?

>187 lycomayflower: Laura: *snork!* But you get all sorts of fireworks on your half-birthday! That's pretty excellent, actually.

We celebrated half birthdays growing up because I was born in February and my brother in August, and it was a way to prevent jealousy about presents. I still acknowledge my half-birthday even though no one else does, and it's a couple of days before my wedding anniversary so there's something more important to celebrate.

Happy half-birthday, Amber. This sounds like something I could get behind - so along with your half-cake do you get small presents as well?

Have a very happy unbirthday, to you, Amber!

>190 lauralkeet: Laura: I love that so many other people do the half-birthday thing, too! Very cool.

>191 DeltaQueen50: Judy: Charlie gets one present, but I just got a DQ Blizzard (and honestly, I can live with that).

>192 jjvors: And a very merry un-birthday to you, too, Jeff! Ha! We sing that song on our half-birthdays, too. So fun.

83. We Both Read: My Day by Sindy McKay (public library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B
Another in the series in which an adult reads the left side of the page and the little one reads the right side. Charlie loves these and we've discovered that the public library has them, too!

Also Read Today:
-The Elves and the Shoemaker
-The Sesame Street Library Volume 8
-Duck & Goose Go to the Beach

I have two photos to share of my mother. The first one was taken sometime in the late 1950s, although she can't remember where:



In the second one she is playing second fiddle to the cutest baby of all time:

>195 kidzdoc: Darryl: That top photo of your mother is simply elegant. She is beautiful. And I love that photo of the second cutest baby ever...

>187 lycomayflower: Then we share our birthday obviously with the difference that the date of my HB is completely meaningless where I live and so could be used for a summer party. :)
I always wanted to travel to the US for my HB to have fireworks that day once in my life.

Happy Monday, Amber!

>197 Deern: Natalie: You are welcome to come stay with us next July (or anytime, of course) - we live just a couple of block away from the town park in which they set off the local 4th of July fireworks, so we can all sit in the back yard and watch your half-birthday celebration! *big smile* No, seriously, anytime, you're welcome at Scaife Manor.

All this talk of half-birthday fireworks reminds me of the birthday I had one year while I was still in grad school: my best friend took me to a Rush concert (one of my all-time favorite bands), which happened to be playing in town on my birthday. Halfway through the concert, they paused to play Happy Birthday for a local radio station or something, but it was So Cool because it was like they were playing it just for ME!

On the agenda for today:

Treadmill, book fair stuff, cleaning/organizing the basement storage area (ugh), and then back to school for a book fair meeting this afternoon (we're putting together the book fair flyers today to go out to all the parents).
Black Bean and Corn Soup for dinner, with Apple Batter Pudding for dessert!

Before heading to school this afternoon, if I have time I may try to visit the couple of local businesses from which I'd like to ask support for the book fair - I want to try to raise more money than we usually do for the All For Books program (for every dollar we raise through this program (donations, not books sold), Scholastic will match the amount and donate their half to a couple of children's charities which buy books for kids in need, plus we still get to use the money *we* raise under that moniker to buy books for the school. In the past, PTO has just had a small donation box sitting at the book fair registers; this time round I'm organizing a Classroom Coin Challenge and, as I mentioned, approaching a couple of local businesses to see if they'd let us set a donation bucket by their registers.

On the reading front:
I made good progress on Clearing Weather yesterday afternoon, sitting in my rocking chair while the chaos of Tomm & Charlie Roughhousing went on all round me (reading a good book with a chorus of Charlie belly laughs as background music is just about the Best Thing Ever, friends). And last night before conking out, I managed a few more pages of the Cicero biography, which is excellent so far, well written and like visiting an old friend whom I haven't seen in a long time. I'm starting to feel the pressure of February's AAC and BAC, though - I need to get started on those!

The calendar book for today is, I'm afraid, one that I can not, in good conscience, recommend to anyone - from a classicist's point of view, these books are just downright awful - Ptooey!: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (even typing that made me throw up a little in my mouth).

Our Valentine Heart Sugar Cookies turned out pretty great yesterday (Charlie did the cookie cuttering and the decorating):

Good Morning Amber, glad you had a good weekend my dear. What a nice surprise for your half-birthday in Grad school by going to a Rush concert, I am a big Rush fan myself, in fact I just love heavy rock and am a massive Kiss fan. I hope you have a lovely Monday, love and hugs.

#134 #135 #151 Thanks guys :) I should have clarified - the Jo is a hang on from my very first e-mail address and is the start of my maiden surname - Jolley. I love that there is a variety in the colouring though - for some reason in my head I figured everyone would have the same colours which doesn't make sense at all.

#199 LOL - classicist aside I *gulp* rather like these... sorry :)

>201 johnsimpson: John: The Rush concert was on my *actual* birthday, which made it even better! I'm not surprised that you're a fan - all the cool people are, doncha know... *grins*

>202 BekkaJo: Bekka: *sad sigh* You know how in Peter Pan, every time someone says that they don't believe in fairies, a fairy dies? Every time someone says they like Riordan's book, I'm pretty sure a classicists breathes her last... Quick - clap your hands and say, "I *do* believe in researching mythology before writing about it, I *do* believe in researching mythology before writing about it..." Or you could just go read Gaiman's Sandman series - that should do the trick, too.

Morning, Amber! Back to the grind today. At least we are not dealing with a snowstorm. Whew!

>204 msf59: Mark: Agreed! Good luck out there - it's not exactly tropical today, I think...

>199 scaifea: Leaving aside questions of quality, I'm mystified as to why the calendar is recommending a book near the end of a series. It wouldn't make much sense unless the reader had read the earlier books.

>203 scaifea: I don't know a thing about the book/s you're talking about, but I wholeheartedly agree that people should just go ahead and read Gaiman's Sandman. Everyone. Every single person on Earth.

>206 foggidawn: Well, I'll tell you, I'm frequently mystified by this calendar. The blurbs are, in general, awful. The only reason I have one year after year is that my mom always buys one for me for Christmas and I think it's so sweet that I faithfully use them, and despite the weirdness of it, I've gotten some good things to add to my wishlist through the years from it. Plus, I like seeing how many of them Mark has read and gets excited about. Ha!

>207 PawsforThought: Sing it, sister!

I loved that Magellan book from the calendar last year!

>209 susanj67: Susan: See?! It *is* a worthwhile calendar sometimes...

>200 scaifea: Morning Amber, the cookies are looking yummie.

>211 Ameise1: Morning, Barbara! They are pretty tasty, I have to say.

>210 scaifea: But I do promise not to read any - ahem - more - Rick Riordan because I wouldn't want a classicist to die. (I read the first Percy Jackson one to see what all the fuss was about, but didn't read any further). Full disclosure: I was once on a flight opposite one of the actors from the film, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count :-)

>203 scaifea: But what if a person doesn't SAY they like reading Riordan? What if a person just thinks it? Does a classicist get the flu?

>213 susanj67: Susan: Ha! No, I think you're safe - those actors likely haven't read the books either!

>214 Morphidae: Morphy: Why are you always pushing boundaries, missy?

Ooh - Scout's half birthday is tomorrow. Good timing.

>216 BLBera: Beth: Cool! Will you make her a half cake?

Finally getting a chance to catch up on your thread. Love the synesthesia discussion. I'm not a synesthete but I find the concept fascinating.

Finally managed to get caught up with your most recent thread - and your previous thread - Amber. Half-birthdays are a new one to me. What a fun idea!

>195 kidzdoc: Darryl, your mother is so beautiful! And I'm impressed by how recognizable you are in your baby picture.

>200 scaifea: Ooh, those cookies look amazing! I think I need to eat a cookie now.

I'm always interested by the question of how faithful retellings should be to the original stories. It seems to come up more in discussions of movies: I know a lot of people don't like Troy etc., but I tend to be happy that the stories are surviving in popular media at all. That said, I only read the first Percy Jackson book and just didn't find it interesting enough to continue with the series.

>220 _Zoe_: It's a very interesting question! I think it all boils down to how much respect the "re-tellers" have for the original source material. As long as you're changing things but keeping the spirit of the material, that's fine. But when you change things to fit with an idea you've already set up, even when that idea clashes with the source material (and the source material suffers as a result) - that's when things aren't ok. The TV show Merlin didn't stick to the "true" story of the Arthurian legends but it had enormous respect for the tales and as a result was a lovely show.
I'm personally fine with most of the movie version of Troy. It's not a great film but it told the story with more respect that it has been told by many others.

*waving* at Amber

I finally scanned a photo to share! (Right before you switch thread, ha ha!)



That is my mom as a little girl and her brother. This must be 1958? Isn't she darling?

I love the 50s styles, >195 kidzdoc: >223 rosylibrarian:. The hair, the clothes, it all looks so lovely.

Nice cookies, too, Amber. We made some too the other day, but they only liked eating the uncooked version. The baked ones are going stale in the bikkie tin! I need to ice them maybe :)

>218 SuziQoregon: Hi, Juli! It's funny how interesting everything thinks it is, when for me it's just the way things are and not very interesting at all. Ha!

>219 lkernagh: Hi, Lori!

>220 _Zoe_: Zoe: I know I've made this speech before, so if you've heard it already, please feel free to skip it: I'm just fine with people playing with mythology and even changing it up a bit; once a myth stops changing, evolving to suit the needs of those telling and listening, then it dies.This is what the Greeks and the Romans believed and they changed their own myths to suit their needs all the time. For example: In the original story of Medea, she didn't kill her children at the end - Euripides wrote a real shocker ending for that one (it just happens to be the ending that we all know now). BUT. One must have that respect for the general spirit of things and not stray from certain key elements. Riordan clearly doesn't really understand the mythology with which he plays and there's some pretty nasty evidence of that in the first book of the series (I read the first one then abandoned the series in disgust). His version of Athene, for example, is just awful and just all kinds of wrong. The Greeks would not be okay with what he does to her (he makes her into a sexual being and at the core of her identity lies her a-sexuality).

>221 PawsforThought: Yep, I'm perfectly fine with the movie Troy. Yes, they changed stuff, but as I said above, the Greeks would be okay with that. Honestly, I think the Greeks would get a kick out of that movie. Because the spirit of the thing is true. And that's all I ask, really.

>222 alcottacre: *waves right back at Stasia*

>223 rosylibrarian: Oh, Julia, she's *adorable*!!! And your uncle looks like the All American Boy - I bet he was friends with Beaver Cleaver, wasn't he? Thanks so much for sharing!

>224 LovingLit: Megan: Ha! Charlie and I just had a couple of cookies as an after-school snack! No cookies last very long in this house, I'm afraid...

I've been following along and really enjoying the synesthesia discussion. I love finding out what colour people see me as. And although I don't have synesthesia myself, I am a very visual thinker, and tend to think in metaphors, and attribute odd traits to objects and concepts, so synesthesia seems to make complete sense to me. I frequently have trouble converting thoughts into words when I'm talking. Typing is easier.

I have a hard enough time keep track of regular birthdays so adding half birthdays might just kill me..haha!
Happy half birthday celebrations, Amber. :)

>226 evilmoose: Hi, Megan! I think I'm a very visual learning, too; I wonder if that's a common trait in people with synesthesia (I suspect that it is).

>227 jolerie: Hi, Valerie! Well, I just have the one munchkin to keep track of, so that makes it easier, I think...

>225 scaifea: Now I'm trying to figure out if we read the same book! In the Percy Jackson series, Athene does have children, but they are born much in the same manner that she was. They are products of an intellectual attraction, not a physical one. But I think that may have been explained in one of the later books. And I did read the whole run of them . . . I won't give my opinion of them, because I don't want to cause any deaths! *slinks off, softly clapping and whispering "I do believe in research, I do believe in research..."*

>229 foggidawn: Nope, no children, I don't care how they come about. It was more than that, too, but it's been a while (although not long enough) since I read it. Just, no.

84. (21st non-picture book) Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs (Newbery Honor list, 312 pages) - 9/10 = A-
A good old swashbuckling tale, with dastardly men as the foes and brave young souls as the Good Guys, set in New England just after the Revolutionary War. I liked this much more than I expected to - a great story with equal parts New England shipbuilders' story and world-wide adventures on the high seas.

Also Read Today:
-Sports for Sprouts: Dance
-Penguins, Penguins
-That Is Not a Good Idea!

I'm still sitting in the wings on your threads, they move so quickly and I didn't have much internet access over January. What a great haul of Shakespeare books back in #103.
The mythology discussion is interesting, there are some good retellings out there, though sounds like Riordan isn't making the cut. I just read my last ER book, Out of Tune, which is a collection of dark retellings of old ballads and folksongs, some were really good, others just mediocre, but overall was great to find out more about these songs that have been around so long.

>232 avatiakh: Hi, Kerry! I've been lurking over on your thread, too.
I absolutely *love* a good re-telling of a myth or folktale - that's where my deep and abiding love of Gaiman comes from, as he's the master. I'll definitely put Out of Tune on my wishlist!

And Let me just say one more grouse thing about Riordan and then I'm done on the subject: Once you put aside the atrocities he commits on mythology (if you can, that is), then what do you have left? A mediocre-at-best story. Honestly, for me there's just no redeeming quality there. I mean, if he were an amazing writer and great plot ideas, then that would be one thing, but, well, he's demonstrably not. I have to say that I'm pretty happy that I'm out of the business of teaching mythology to college freshman, because once those that grew up on this claptrap hit college (if they haven't already - when did this festering turd of a series hit the shops? No, don't tell me, I really don't care), they're going to make teaching that class a nightmare. I think I'd have to add a clause to the syllabus that reads something like, "Any mention of Riordan and whatever he may claim about mythology in this class will result in a pop quiz for THE ENTIRE CLASS. No exceptions." Yes, I think a policy of damnatio memoriae would be best.

Okay, I'm finished now. Let's move on, shall we? Before my crabbiness reaches Homeric proportions?

On the agenda for today:

Treadmilling, book fair business, cleaning, laundry. I got lots accomplished yesterday on the book fair! All four businesses that I approached agreed to display our donation buckets for the All For Books program, so I'm hoping that we collect a record amount of donations this time! And I think I've finally decided on the menu for the Teacher Preview event: I'm going to keep it simple, with Apple Cider in my slow-cooker (the smell alone of it simmering all day should help draw them to the party after school), Snickerdoodles, and I may try to make Fortune Cookies again (I made them once when I was teaching, for my Latin class, and printed out verses (in Latin, of course) from Vergil's Aeneid to put inside them - Folks used randomly to open their copy of the Aeneid and point with closed eyes to pick a line, and then tell their fortune with it. This time, though, I thought I might type up slips of paper with quotes from children's books and let them make up a fortune from those... We'll see how ambitious I'm feeling when we get closer to the actual event.

On the reading front:
I finished a book yesterday (see >231 scaifea: above)! And then read a few more pages of Below Stairs - I still don't like her tone (I find her pretty annoying, honestly) but despite that her story is interesting. And I'm super excited to start The Crossover today!

The calendar book today doesn't make me nearly as grouchy as yesterday's; in fact, it's already on my wishlist somewhere: The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver. I'm pretty sure some of you have read this one...thoughts?

Morning, Amber! I hope it lightens up a bit today! It was raw & cold yesterday. I've had The Signal and the Noise, in my audio stacks for a couple of years. I would like to get to it one of these days.

>235 msf59: Hi, Mark! I hope today goes better for you than yesterday. Move that one up the audio list, please, so I can hear your thoughts on it...

I know nothing of Riordan and what he's done to mythology, but I like the hard line you would take in that hypothetical syllabus! Go, Amber!

>237 DorsVenabili: Kerri: Ha! Well, I *did* have the 'pop quiz for everyone' policy if a cell phone rang in my class. It worked very well, I have to say...

While I am familiar with Riordan's series (as in, I know it exists), I've never read any or been interested in reading any. But I *loved* your ranting!

I also loved the ranting! I have only read the first book in the series, and that was enough for me. Forget the mythology, the writing is not good. And it's a shame because I thought that the premise was a lovely one, and I think it could have been a great way to introduce kids to mythology. I hope that the writing at least got better in the later books.

Happy Tuesday, Amber!

>239 katiekrug: Katie: Ha! Thanks! I think...

>240 Crazymamie: Mamie: It *is* a great idea (Neil really needs to write a kids' series about the gods), but the best way to introduce kids to Greek and Roman mythology (and Norse, too) is D'Aulaire, hands down.

Agreed - we love those books!

>242 Crazymamie: Mamie: Yay!! I had so many students over the years in my mythology courses who would come up to me and tell me that their love of mythology started with those books when they were little. I humbly think that all kids should have those on their bookshelves. You *know* that Charlie does...

Hi Amber. Loving all the old family pictures on your thread. Love the pictures of the book stacks too! I have the Norse mythology D'Aulaire from yester-year. Must go find it!

>244 mdoris: Hi, Mary! The D'Aulaires are amazing, no?

I have never heard of D'Aulaire. But is the mythology writing/interpretation is as good as you all claim, I need to seek them out!

>246 PawsforThought: They're nice and simple introductions to the actual mythology, for kids. The real treat is the illustrations, which are beautiful.

The new thread is up!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/187757

>233 scaifea: Not that you feel strong about it or anything. *coughs*

>249 Morphidae: Do you need a cough drop, dear?