scaifea's Challenge

Pages Read: 12326

Books Read So Far:

1. The Poems and Songs by Robert Burns
2. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
3. Born Free by Joy Adamson
4. Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum
Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod
5. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
The Metamorphoses by Ovid (selections)
6. Practical Photography by John Freeman
7. Mei Li by Thomas Handforth
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter
The Bacchae by Euripides
The Odyssey Book 11
The Aeneid Book 6
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone by Sophocles
8. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss
The Iliad by Homer (selections)
9. The Golden Ass by Apuleius
10. The Everything Baby Shower Book by Sabrina Hill & Jone Russell
11. The Baby Shower Book by Pauline Glendenning
12. The Best Baby Shower Book by Courtney Cooke
13. 100+ Baby Shower Games by Joan Wai
The Odyssey by Homer (selections)
The Oresteia by Aeschylus
14. Beowulf
15. Paperweight by Stephen Fry
The Medea by Euripides
The Electra by Euripides
16. They Were Strong and Good by Robert Lawson
The Aeneid by Vergil (selections)
Ab Urbe Condita by Livy (Book 1)
17. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
18. The Confessions of St. Augustine & The Imitation of Christ (trans. William Benham)
19. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Cicero's Correspondence by G. O. Hutchinson
20. Baby Animals
21. The Twelve Days of Christmas
22. Old King Cole and Other Rhymes
23. My First Book of Colors
24. The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon
25. Webby Saves the Day
26. A Grouch's Christmas
27. Terk's Tale
28. Princess Rosetta and the Popcorn Man
29. The Little Red Hen
30. I love My Little Storybook
31. The Rescuers Down Under
32. Stories About Animals
33. Sleep, Little One, Sleep
34. Surprise
35. The Prince and the Pauper (Illustrated Classics Edition)
36. A Journey to the Center of the Earth (Illustrated Classics Edition)
37. Black Beauty (Illustrated Classics Edition)
38. Ben-Hur (Illustrated Classics Edition)
39. Folk and Fairy Tales of Far-Off Lands by Eric & Nancy Protter
40. His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis
Amicizia E Potere by Sandra Citroni Marchetti
The Philosophical Books of Cicero by Paul MacKendrick
De Amicitia by Cicero
41. Then It Was Destroyed by the Volcano by Arthur Pomeroy
42. Favorite Fairy Tales
43. The Complete Hand Christian Andersen Fairy Tales
44. Old Time Favorites
45. The Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrook
46. Isabella of Castile by Joann J. Burch
47. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
48. Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
49. Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader
50. Charlie Monkey Funny Faces
51. Berenstains' A Book
52. What Can a Camel Do?
53. The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
54. A Children's Treasure of Mythology
55. The Gremlins by Roald Dahl
56. Abraham Lincoln by D'Auliare
57. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
58. Many Moons by James Thurber
59. The Rooster Crows by Maud & Miska Petersham
60. The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown
61. White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt
62. Miss Hickory by Carolyn Bailey
63. The Big Snow by Berta & Elmer Hader
64. Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
65. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
66. The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes
67. The Divine Comedy by Dante
68. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
69. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
70. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
71. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
72. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
73. Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger
74. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
75. Pajama Time! by Sandra Boynton
76. Rudolph's Bag of Toys
77. Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?
78. Find the Puppy
79. Sam Sheep Can't Sleep
80. The Marvelous Land of Oz by Frank Baum
81. If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff
82. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Ok, so since 2009 is nearly here, I thought I'd get my thread all ready to go. I took part in the 50 Books Challenge last year, so my explanation of my reading habits might look familiar to some of you:

I'll start by saying that I'd like to just use this as a way to keep track of what and how much I read in a year, so I hope that's ok. This past year I ended up reading a little over 60 books, but a lot of those were kids' books (I'm building up a library for my 3.5-month-old son, Charlie), and I have little hope that I'll actually make it to 75 books this year. I usually have 7 books going at once, one each from the following groups:

1. A book read aloud with my husband in the evenings. We take turns picking what we read, and we're also pretty slow about it - several days might go by without the time to read aloud - but we're patient with it and generally do a good job remembering what's going on when we return.

2. A library book. I'd tell you how I pick these, but it's too embarrassing. Maybe you'll figure it out as the year unfolds...

3. 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).

4. A children's book, again, for Charlie's library. I'm trying to collect books from various award lists, and I like reading them before reading them to Charlie.

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

6. A book for the Presidential Challenge.

7. For this category, I cycle through 9 different stacks:
a. A book from my shelves which I haven't yet read
b. A CYOA book - I'm trying to collect as many of these as I can, again, for Charlie.
c. Agatha Christie's bibliography (in chronological order)
d. Stephen King's bibliography (in chronological order)
e. Neil Gaiman's bibliography (in some order other than chronological (don't
ask)).
f. Christopher Moore's bibliography (in chronological order)
g. Stephen Fry's bibliography (in chronological order)
h. The National Book Award list (in alpha order by title)
i. The Pulizer list (in alpha order by author)

So, now you've got a glimpse of just how neurotic I am. I'm interested to see just how many books I'll read this year, since things have changed significantly in the past year with Charlie now a member of our household - he doesn't allow much time for reading, but I think I'll keep him anyway :)
Please feel free to post comments, recommendations, or whatever else strikes your fancy. And Happy Reading, everyone!

welcome Amber
a question, what does CYOA mean?
Anita

Anita: CYOA = Choose Your Own Adventure. It's a series of children's books in which you get to choose how the story goes, to a certain extent. For example, at the end of a page, you might get a choice such as, "to go through the door on the left, turn to page 45. If you decide to call the police, turn to page 105." And so on. They're fun.

CYOA. OOH. I remember those.... sigh.

My son reads Fighting Fantasy now but I think CYOA were better (I'm probably just old-fashioned though).

Welcome to the group, scaifea! And I will wave at Charlie, too, since I have a feeling before long we will hearing from him, lol.

>3 scaifea: Welcome to Charlie's mommy! :)

-TT

I jumped over from the 50 Book group too! I look forward to following your 2009 year of reading! Hi to Charlie! =)

*waves to mrstreme*
I'm looking forward to finding out what you're reading this year too!

1. The Poems and Songs by Robert Burns (library book)

This one took me forever to read (and maybe belongs on my 2008 list, but my rule of thumb is to count books in the year I finish them, so here it is.
I'm glad I read it, but I'm not gonna lie: it wasn't the most fun I've ever had reading a book. I'm not super crazy about poetry to begin with and the dialect made it slow going. There were some poems that I really enjoyed, though, in particular ones that I'd heard before but didn't know whose they were. So, I'm coming away from it with a new respect for Robert Burns.

You and your husband read aloud to one another - now if that isn't my idea of the perfect man!!! I didn't know that they made those anymore.

Yeah, he's pretty wonderful. He also does middle-of-the-night feedings for our 3.5-month-old son. AND he actually *likes* doing the dishes (or so he claims).

wow. I am awestruck.

I am seriously thinking about trading in my hubby for a new model :)

2. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (from the Banned Books list)

Meh. I'm, in general, not a huge fan of poetry (unless it's ancient and Roman), and this was certainly no exception. Just not my cup o tea.

I had a lit professor who was a huge fan of Leaves. He gave a dramatic reading from Leaves evey class for the entire semester! I got so sick of it. I now almost run screaming from the room whenever someone mentions W. W.

LOL - I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Shudder..Walt Whitman. Shudder, shudder. I write poetry (well, I used to)...studied poetry. Edited poetry. Funny, but I just can't be bothered with most of it. My favourite is a small book called The Muse of Distance by Alan Williamson. It nearly brings me to tears - freeverse poems, with the title poem a tale of anguish and love in the Midwest. It established my foreigner's love for those lands in America (oh, how fortunate I married a Nebraskan no? Now I have an excuse to visit...)

Heh...the very first line of that poem reads...

'What composes a life? Mine comes, too much, from books'

and how I can identify!

Severn: Maybe I'll have to check Williamson out, being a Midwestern gal myself and all. Thanks for the recommendation.

3. Born Free by Joy Adamson (from the NEH list of classics for children - for Charlie's bookshelves)

Nonfiction
Yet another 'Children's Classic' that I'd never read before.
In the 1950's, a game warden working in Kenya and his wife find themselves raising a lioness cub. This is their story of how they became attached to the cub, then little by little trained her to live her own life back in the wild, with interesting tidbits about their life in Kenya added in. It's an amazing story, although not terribly well-written, IMHO.

Try The Wilderness Family by Kobie Kruger. It is very good.

alcottacre: Ooh, I just looked it up and it *does* look good - thanks for the recommendation!

No problem. Enjoy!

4. Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum (A Christmas present from my BFF)

This slim volume is in the form of a journal written nearly all in haiku. The narrator starts out as a normal guy keeping a poetry journal, but gets bitten by a zombie and turns into one himself, all the while keeping up on his journal writing.
I had to sneak this one in in between all my list books, since it was a present from my friend and he's waiting for me to finish it. It's a fast read and a good one, but not as funny as I thought it would be from the title; there are chuckle-worthy moments, but there's also some disturbing bits to it. I definitely recommend it to any zombie fans.

Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod (read for work)

Occasionally I'll add books that I've read for the class I'm teaching this semester (Classical Mythology). I won't be counting them toward my 75 books, because they're re-reads for me and for work (not that I don't generally approve of people counting rereads - I'm of the notion, as others here, I believe, that pretty much anything goes for one's own challenge - it's just that I've read and re-read these so many times and I sort of want my 'official' list to reflect what new stuff I've read for the year). However, I'll list them nonetheless in case anyone's interested in chatting about them.

Hesiod has never been a favorite read for me, but he's vastly important to the study of classical myth, so I find myself re-reading him every couple of years for work. The stories are enjoyable, though, including the succession myth of Ouranos/Cronos/Zeus and the creation of the first woman, Pandora, and her famous jar (yes, it's a jar and NOT a box; that's actually fairly important). Oh, those silly Greeks and their fear of women. For anyone interested, I recommend the M. W. West translation (it's an Oxford World's Classics edition) because it's a nice, easy-to-read version with very helpful notes, especially for people who aren't 100% knowledgeable in the field.

#26: I will probably read that one since I enjoy mythology. I just have to find the translation you are referring to since my local library has not got the book in any translation.

alcottacre: I actually have an extra copy; if you want to PM me your address I'd be happy to send it to a new good home. However, I have to warn you that my old copy has some writing in it (not mine (I'd *never* write in books) - I got it used).

No new books to report, but I did want to post my Book Quiz results:

You're The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

by Douglas Adams

Considered by many to be one of the funniest people around, you are
quite an entertainer. You've also traveled to the far reaches of what you deem possible,
often confused and unsure of yourself. Life continues to jostle you around like a marble,
but it's shown you so much of the world that you don't care. Wacky adventures continue to
lie ahead. Your favorite number is 42.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

So tell us: Is your favorite number 42?

#29 scaifea - I'm actually a little jealous of your book quiz result!!

#30 alcottacre: How could it not be? It *is* the answer to, well, you know. :)

#31 flissp: LOL - I was pretty excited (and surprised) to get such a cool outcome!

5. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (another Christmas gift from my BFF)

A how-to guide for surviving a zombie outbreak. I really like the way that Brooks has set up his zombie world, although I have to admit that I have a lot of work to do to get prepared for an epidemic - for one, my house is far from being hide-out ready (lol). I definitely recommend this (and World War Z) to horror/zombie fans, especially George Romero fans (Brooks is clearly influenced by Romero's version of the zombie).

The Survival Guide currently sits in my bathroom. Lol. I, too, am woefully behind in preparing for a potential zombie outbreak...

dk_phoenix: Hahaha! I finished this last night right before going to bed and then couldn't get to sleep because I was too busy thinking about how much work The Husband and I would have to put into prepping the house in the event of an outbreak. So, I started to get a little depressed about it, then realized that, hey, this is fiction and thus we're probably not going to have to worry about it - LOL! I really need to get out of the house more.

...what do you mean, it's fiction?????? *blink* ... *blink*...

Oh, right. Man, do I ever need my morning coffee... :D

Stories from the Metamorphoses by Ovid (for work)

Again, this is for the mythology course I'm teaching this semester, so since I've read this poem more times than I can count, I'm not counting it toward my total for the year. I'm not assigning the whole work, so I'll list the individual stories as I read them.

I've been in love with Ovid since I first read him. He's a master wordsmith, a wonderful storyteller, and he does it all with tongue firmly in cheek. Highly highly highly recommend The Metamorphoses for anyone and everyone.

This week we've read:
Creation, the Ages, & the Flood
Jupiter & Io
Jupiter & Callisto
Jupiter & Europa
Jupiter & Semele
Jupiter, Juno & Teiresias
Venus, Mars & Vulcan
Pygmalion
Apollo & Daphne
Diana & Actaeon
Diana, Apollo & Niobe
Mercury & Battus
Minerva & Arachne
Echo & Narcissus
Salmacis & Hermaphroditus
The Battle of the Lapiths & the Centaurs

6. Practical Photography by John Freeman

I read this one because The Husband and I recently bought a fancy new camera and I want to be able to get the most out of it (and I'm not very experienced at taking good pictures).

Sadly, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone with the same goal (i.e. learning how to take better pictures). I read the entire book and know just as much about taking pictures as I did when I picked it up. It's not to say that there's not info in there, it's just not very well explained/written in my opinion. Oh well.

If anyone has any suggestions for a good How-To book on digital photography, I'd love to hear them!

Born Free was the first movie I ever saw as a child (now dating me!). It was so sad I cried all the way home and deep into the night.

It is ironical really, because my own kids (now teens) seem to watch such sad, violent, emotionally wrought flims with narry a tear. It must be conditioning.

Anyway - glad you read the book. The film is probably terribly dated, but you could watch that too?

kiwidoc: I've just added the movie to my Netflix list - thanks for the recommendation!

7. Mei Li by Thomas Handforth (Caldecott Award list)

A young girl follows her brother into the city to celebrate the New Year and has all sorts of adventures while she's there. In the end, though, she discovers, not unlike a certain Dorothy who belongs to another book entirely, that there's really no place like, well, you know.

I'm working on collecting the Caldecott Award winners for Charlie's library, and this is one of them. It's a sweet little book and the black & white illustrations are lovely, but it's not the *best* children's book I've ever read. Maybe I'm just expecting too much out of the Caldecott winners.

as a collector of Dutch awarded childrens/YA books, I can tell you some years just produce better books as other years ;-)
I have rated some winners of the most important award here not more than 2 out of 5 stars....
Anita

Amber

I love the photo of your dog on your home page! My dog Simon is a shetland sheep dog and he loves to do tricks and catch things as well.

Your comments on Caldecott Award winners are timely because yesterday I decided to read as many Caldecott winners as possible in 2009.

And, Anita, why am I not surprised that you would be a collector of YA books! WOW.. That's incredible. And, I have to ask if you have an all-time favorite YA book.

Anita: I've found that that's the case with a lot of other awards lists, so I don't know why I'm so surprised now. At any rate, I'm still going to make my way through this list, because I'm sure I'll discover some good ones along the way.

Whisper: Simon is a great name for a dog! I'm always glad to find a fellow dog-lover. It's also exciting to find someone else working through the Caldecott list too - I'm looking forward to comparing notes with you along the way.

Also keep in mind that the Caldecott award is not for the quality of the story, as in the Newbery and so many others, but specifically for the illustrations. So you may have an meh story with glorious pictures winning.

>43 Whisper1:: Linda
ehhh that is a though question, so many great YA books...
The problem is that the books that first pop up in my mind are not translated :-(

The two Dutch YA writers I like the most are Tonke Dragt and Anton Quintana if you ever find a book by one of these I recommend them.
Then there is the Swedish author Peter Pohl who writes heartwrenching books, I have the four that are translated in Dutch. Two are translated in English: Johnny, My Friend and I Miss You, I Miss You!.

Good point, ronincats. Sometimes it's worth a meh story when the illustrations are really good. Heck, you can make up your own story to go along with the pictures!

Anita,
I'll be sure to read both of the Peter Pohl books you mentioned.

Linda
I'll read the reviews when you have read them :-)
Oh and I found one of Quintana is translated: The Baboon King and one by Tonke Dragt The towers of February. I am not sure if these are published in England or the USA.

and sorry Amber for thread-jacking...
Anita

No problem, Anita. It makes me look more popular anyway - 49 posts is pretty measly compared to some other threads! ;)

Amber.
Your thread is an interesting one and I check it often.

Lol, Whisper1 - thanks for the morale boost! I was kidding, really, I don't actually suffer from thread envy. I'm a big lurker myself - I don't often post on other people's threads, but I enjoy reading them.

#52: I am the same way - just because I do not post on a particular thread does not mean I have not been there. And that includes yours, Amber :)

More reading for my mythology class. This week's class is on mystery cults and the Underworld.

Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 10, which includes the following stories:
Orpheus & Eurydice
Cyparissus
Ganymede
Hyacinthus
The Cerastae & the Propoetides
Pygmalion (my favorite story in the entire poem)
Myrrha
Venus & Adonis
Atalanta & Hippomenes

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter
The Bacchae by Euripides
The Odyssey Book 11
The Aeneid Book 6

Ditto #52 and #53

Ditto #55 :)

I'm here and I love the mix of classics and Charlie updates.

Have you read Anthony Everitt's biography of Cicero? It's starting to yell out to me from the bookshelf. I seem to be stuck in the 1920s in England and need to get out!

I also have the Cicero book waiting for me - it has been waiting for over a year since we visited Rome. I would love to hear how people find it.

I'm ashamed to say that I too have the Cicero bio on my shelf, unread. I've heard so many great things about it, and Cicero is (as I've told my husband) my one true love (besides Johnny Depp, of course), so I really should have read it by now. Maybe we should do a group read?

Hmmm...I was unaware of this Cicero bio. My boss is always quoting (I think, maybe, MISquoting) Cicero. Perhaps I should get it for him for his birthday.

OK I'm in good company!
Cicero made it from the shelf to beside the bed last night but The Lost Traveller was too good.

A mini-group read sounds good. LW3 maybe you should make it a pre-loved birthday present...

Thank you! I enjoyed your reports from the mythology class!

Yay, you found me!

I started Cicero last night. The first chapter's excellent and very readable.

By the way, we have Leaves of Grass unread on the bookshelf and after your reaction I'm not bumping it up! Thanks.

Glad I could help, cmt.

Ok, well I'm gonna have to pull Cicero off the shelf and get it started, I think.

For this week's class:
Oedipus Rex
Arrogant, quick-tempered, and proud, Oedipus thinks his ability to decipher riddles will save him and Thebes again, but instead it leads to his gruesome downfall. Yes, the Freud stuff is here, but that's by far not the most interesting part of this play. The struggle between fate and free will and the inevitable nemesis which follows hubris - these are what make this arguably Sophocles' best work.

Oedipus at Colonus
Set some 20 years after the action of Oedipus Rex, this play deals with Oedipus' last day on earth. He hasn't changed much in those 20 years - still the same arrogant, ill-tempered man. Sophocles wrote this play when he was in his eighties, and it has some interesting things to say about old age and the relationship between a father and his children.

Antigone
This play follows closely on the heels of Oedipus at Colonus and is set back in Thebes on the day after the famous battle between two brothers (the sons of Oedipus) for the thrown, in which both die. Creon - brother-in-law to Oedipus and uncle to his children - is left as King and declares that Polyneices (the bother on the attack side of the battle) should not be given a proper burial, and that anyone who gives him those rites will be sentenced to death. Antigone is determined to give her brother the forbidden burial, and of course ends up dead herself by the end of the play. The daughter of Oedipus unfortunately shares many of her father's characteristics - stubborn, easily angered, self-righteous. I've always thought that this character seems more like one of Euripides' leading ladies than Sophocles', because of her borderline crazy actions. At any rate, she is certainly an interesting study of stubbornness and pride taken to the extreme.

I hope that I find more time soon to do some out-of-class reading!

I hope you get to do some out-of-class reading soon too! Lol. At least you get to read interesting plays at this point...? Could be worse? (Trying to sound encouraging, but I don't think it's working, haha.)

I agree with you on Antigone sounding like one of Euripides' leading ladies... I always enjoy Euripides' plays, which is maybe why I liked Antigone. Never thought of it that way before...!

Well, I'm giving a midterm next week, so I should be able to find some extra reading time before then (oh, but then come the piles and piles of essays to grade - ugh).

Oh noes! I remember grading first-year essays when I was in 4th year... can you pass some of the work off to senior students?

ETA - I suppose I should have asked first whether it's an intro mythology course or not... LOL! My mistake!

Yes it is intro myth, but no, we don't have undergrad graders here. Sigh.

Ah, that's too bad! With my memories of grading, I feel your impending pain :S

8. I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss (For Charlie's library)

My parents were here visiting over the weekend and they brought this for Charlie's Valentine's Day present. As with all of Dr. Seuss' corpus, this one is wonderful. Somehow, though, I kept thinking of alcottacre while reading it - clearly, Stasia, you must read with your eyes shut to get through all those books (not to mention all these threads too)! LOL!

No, I just use both eyes (one for each book) and those in the back of my head as well, lol.

hahahaha!

For class this week:

Selections for Homer's Iliad

I started to write a summary of the poem and eventually gave up. I teach this text year after year, and I find it impossible to give a concise summary of such a momentous epic. The best I can do is to say that it's about pride, rage, struggling with life's big choices, fate, the bitterness and pointlessness of war. And I'll say that if you haven't read it, you should, but that's the Classicist in me talking.

>75 scaifea: I'd agree everyone should read it, but I'm no classicist. How many times have you read it now?

Huh. I've lost count at this point. Probably at least 15 times?

9. The Golden Ass by Apuleius (The GD's 1001 Fantasy list)

Lucius finds himself, through an unfortunate accident, transformed into the shape of an ass. He then has a series of adventures (and misadventures) until he is transformed back into his previous human form by the goddess Isis and becomes initiated into her mystery cult.

I had read bits and pieces of this before in Latin, but never the whole thing. It's a great story, very entertaining, and clearly influential on later authors, such as Boccaccio, Chaucer and Ariosto. I definitely recommend it, but I would also recommend an edition with a good commentary for those who may be a little rusty on their ancient Roman culture references.

# 9 sounds interesting! Thanks for the recommendation!

#78: I'm with Foxen - it does sound interesting. I am assuming that there exists a translation into English for those of us who have never had Latin? *hmm, wandering off trying to find book in English*

There are lots of translations out there, I'm sure. I read it in English too (would have taken me much longer to read through it all in Latin, although I want to at some point) - I read the Loeb edition, which has the Latin text on one side of the page and the English translation on the facing page. The translation is good in the Loeb too, and they're adorable little volumes to own.

#81: My local library has a translation by Robert Graves, so I will be reading that one. I may try and track down one of the Loeb volumes in future though.

Stasia: You can't go wrong with Robert Graves, I think. Enjoy!

#83: Amber, I have read both Graves' I, Claudius and Claudius the God, so I think you are right.

Oh oh, have you seen the BBC I, Claudius miniseries? It's one of my all-time favorites! Great cast.

#85: No, I have not seen it. I know Derek Jacobi starred in it, but that is the extent of my knowledge of the miniseries.

That's two (I, Claudius/Claudius the God) I keep meaning to read/watch too - I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them...

Well, I very highly recommend the BBC version - it's really wonderful.

I second that, scaifea! I've seen it twice. Now, I need to read the books!

I recently hesitated to put I, Cladius in a TBR stack because it looked to daunting and I had too many other dense books. What's it like?

Well, bdb, I've never actually read the book either, yet (it's setting on my pile too). But I wouldn't worry about it being daunting - it's a fun historical-fiction-y look at the early Roman Empire.

bdb: I read I, Claudius as a sophomore in high school--I remember enjoying it, but I also remember drawing up a very complicated family tree, partly for a class project and partly so I could keep all of the characters straight. It was massive.

I watched the I, Claudius production on PBS, and was intrigued enough to read both I, Claudius and Claudius the God, which I loved. Maybe it helped to have seen the tv series first.

10. The Everything Baby Shower Book by Sabrina Hill & Joni Russell
11. The Baby Shower Book by Pauline Glendenning
12. The Best Baby Shower Book by Courtney Cooke
13. 100+ Baby Shower Games by Joan Wai

Well, guess what I'll be doing soon? LOL. Well, anyway, for those interested, I can really only recommend the first book in this list. The others are a bit silly and not very helpful.

Scaifea - Did you find good baby shower games in your books? I always struggle with that. I've done a name the baby animal game before - for example, a baby cat is a ______. Or I've done famous baby trivia - for example, Katie Holmes's baby is named ________. I also sometimes have people address a Thank You note envelope to themselves and them have a drawing for prizes. (The parents-to-be get the envelopes and note cards to send thank yous.) But I have absolutely nothing clever. (I do refuse to use the guess the baby food flavor game - some of it is not very tasty, in my opinon.)

Hope you have fun!

porch_reader: I didn't find any good ones in the books, but I've come up with some myself that I'm pretty proud of/excited about. For example, I'm going to buy some odds and ends that one keeps in a diaper bag (wipes, diapers (of course), diaper rash cream, powder, changing pad, etc.). The game will be that each guest in turn will be blindfolded, I'll put one of the items in a diaper bag, then they have to guess, by feeling it only, what the item is. At the end of the game, all the items go in the bag and the mom-to-be gets the whole package. I'm also going have them not only address their own thank-you cards, but write them as well, mad-lib style. They'll sign their names in one corner, so the mom-to-be will know whose crazy answers are whose, and send different notes to different people. That will be part of a set of 3 rotating 'craft stations' - the other two will be: 1) each person paints a picture on a onesie, 2) Using markers, each person writes a note on a few diapers, words of encouragement or silly jokes to brighten up those middle-of -the-night changes for the parents-to-be.

I went to a baby shower a couple of weeks ago and we played "pin the tooth on the baby", which was a variation on "pin the tail on the donkey" and that was quite fun. We also played pass the parcel, but obviously fixed it so that mum-t0-be got the prize which was some kind of baby toy.

At my niece's shower the game that I loved was 'Guess the Poo.' There were 5 or so diapers with 'poo' in them. It was smashed candy bars. We had to guess the name of the candy bars. It was funny seeing my hubby's grandma holding diapers to her nose.

More class prep reading:

The Odyssey by Homer (selections)
The Oresteia by Aeschylus

This week we're discussing the various homecomings of Greek heroes after the Trojan War. Odysseus, famously, takes 10 years to get home, experiencing many adventures along the way (including a cyclops, cannibals, sirens, a beautiful but dangerous witch and a trip to the underworld) and losing his entire fleet and crew as well. Then, when he finally does reach his home, he finds his house overrun by arrogant young men vying as suitors for his wife. Oh, but he takes care of it. Oh, yes. Spectacularly so. It had been awhile since I last read this, and I had nearly forgotten how great it is. It's one of the best adventure stories of all time, and Odysseus is one of my favorite characters ever. If you haven't read this, hop to it! You won't regret it.

The Oresteia is a trilogy of plays, all on the subject of the curse of the house of Atreus. Agamemnon's return from the war is easy and uneventful, very unlike Odysseus', but the trouble starts when he reaches his home. Clytemnestra, his wife, kills him in the bath, which leads to their son, Orestes, seeking vengeance by killing her and her lover. The Furies then pursue him (they punish those who spill the blood of their kin), until he reaches Athens and seeks asylum in Athene's temple. The goddess established the Areopagus (the Athenian homicide court) to hear his case, and he is ultimately acquitted. No summary can come close to doing justice to these plays. They're powerful in their language and in their message. TNT has nothing over Aeschylus: he knows drama.

#99: Amber, I remember reading Agamemnon before, but do not think I have ever read the other 2 plays in the trilogy. I will look for them. Sounds like very powerful reading material.

Stasia: The three plays should be fairly easy to find all together, and I bet you'll be able to find them at the library. I'd say "happy reading" but these are anything but (murder, monsters, madness)!

14. Beowulf (The GD's 1001 Fantasy list)

The monstrous Grendel is terrorizing the Danes, but Beowulf comes to the rescue, killing both Grendel and his terror of a mother, whose form is never really described, but who is clearly a frightful thing of some sort other than human. The hero is rewarded greatly for his deeds, returns to his own people and gets more rewards and rules for a good 50 years. Then enter the dragon, so to speak. And exit the dragon, along with Beowulf himself.

This is another of those works which I can't believe I somehow got through a college degree in English without reading. I'm glad I've finally gotten round to it - a wonderful, sad, heroic epic. The mourning scenes are truly heart-wrenching, and I'm always amazed at how little we've changed over so many years, that these sentiments still have meaning and can still touch us in such profound ways.

The mourning scenes are truly heart-wrenching, and I'm always amazed at how little we've changed over so many years, that these sentiments still have meaning and can still touch us in such profound ways.

Very well put!!!

Scaifea - I am wondering if you read a recent translation of Beowulf - I recently read the Seamus Heaney one, which is brilliantly done, and one of the publications has great illustrations. He also does an audio of this, read by himself with his lovely Irishy accent.

I did, in fact, read the Heaney translation, the one with the illustrations. *And* I have it on audio as well, but haven't listened to it yet.

15. Paperweight by Stephen Fry (Stephen Fry Bibliography list)

A collection of Fry's essays written for various British publications, plus a 2-act play at the end. It's no secret that I have an intellectual crush on Stephen Fry, so I could gush about this book ad infinitum, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say, it's absolutely an enjoyable read.

#106: It's no secret that I have an intellectual crush on Stephen Fry I never knew this about you, Amber. I guess I am going to have to give Fry a try to see what the big deal is.

Stasia: Well, for me it all started with watching Jeeves & Wooster (he plays Jeeves). So at first I fell in love with his Jeeves. Then I decided to have a peek at his books, and loved him even more, even though he's so smart and witty and clever that he makes me feel a smidge dumb.

@ 108

I adore Stephen Fry. Have you seen his pseudo quiz show called Q.I.? (Stands for "Quite Interesting.") It's a British show and as far as I know isn't available on DVD in the States, but there are some bits on Youtube. A sample.

lycomayflower: I've heard of it, but couldn't get hold of it. I never thought to look on youtube - thanks!
I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I even follow him on twitter.
*blushes*

110> I also take a look at his Twitterings (Tweets?) sometimes (read: at least once a day), and I haven't decided whether or not to be slightly embarrassed. I mean, shouldn't we be congratulating ourselves that we have the good taste to worship Stephen Fry?

Every episode from the current series is on Youtube, in both regular and extended versions--if you search for "QI XL" you'll find the longer ones. Highly recommended.

wunderkind: So, are you concerned for Stephen's safety right now, on that island with all those poisonous snakes? I have to admit that I am - LOL!

>111 wunderkind:: wunderkind
ever since "Blackadder" and later "A bit of Fry and Laurie" I am a fan of both Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie :-)

112> Just a bit. :) Have you read Moab is My Washpot? I heard (can't remember where) that he's going to be writing the next volume, about his university years, sooner rather than later. Oh, and have you heard his podgrams (free from iTunes)?

113> I've been racking my brains but I can't quite remember how I first came to know of Stephen Fry and his greatness. I think it was through Hugh Laurie--he was in the first ever episode of QI.

wunderkind: I haven't read that one yet - I'm working through his biblio chronologically, so I haven't gotten there yet.

This week's course readings:

The Medea and The Electra by Euripides

This week we're discussing the role of women in Classical mythology, so these are two must-reads.

Medea, who left behind everything to help Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece, is now, 10-15 years later, angry at her aging hero for leaving her for a younger woman. He claims he's doing it for the family, since his children with her - a barbarian (= non-Greek) - are not considered legitimate, and his marriage to the young Corinthian princess will give them a place in Greece society. Medea, cares nothing for his flimsy arguments, and exacts her terrible revenge, leaving Jason homeless, wifeless and childless. Although his is the most well-known version of the myth for us today, Euripides completely shocked his original audience by having Medea kill her own children - they would have known a different version, in which they died at the hands of the Corinthian citizens. This is my favorite of the Euripides plays - Medea is famously the woman scorned and arguably the most powerful and complex female character in ancient Greek literature.

The Electra is Euripides' take on the curse of the house of Atreus, and true to his nature, he puts his own spin on the story. In the versions given us by the previous two extant tragedians (Aeschylus and Sophocles), Electra is a minor figure in the tale, meek and innocent, sad in her unfortunate ties to such a violent and cursed family. Euripides again shocks his audience by turning this character into an outspoken, complaining, pushy, rash woman, who is more concerned for her social status and sex life than she is for her father's wrongful death and the part that her brother, Orestes, must play in the family saga.

#116: I love The Medea. I saw the play on PBS (I think) years ago with Colleen Dewhurst as Medea. It was terrific.

Stasia: I haven't seen that - I'll have to see if I can Netflix it!

#118: I think the video that I watched was checked out of the local library - you know, one of those 'Masterpiece Theatre' type of things, although I am not sure it was MT. It has been a looooong while since I watched it.

I looove the Medea (okay, I love Euripides' plays)... I once won a copy of the Cambridge edition and keep intending to translate it as a pet project... I'll get around to it one of these days... I can only imagine how powerful the language must be during her speeches in the original Greek...

We watched a play version once too... I don't know who produced it or who starred, but it was very good...

#120: Indeed, it's true that reading anything in translation means you're missing out. For example, when Medea reproaches Jason for being, well, a jerk, she says to him, "esosa se esosa hos isasi hosoi" - note all the hissing going on, a clear indication of how angry she is, and can you imagine how great an effect that would have on stage?

OK, I'm such a sucker for lists, so I have to join in on this too (I've starred the ones I've read):

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
*2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
*3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
*4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - I just don't like them that well.
*5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
*6 The Bible
*7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
*8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
*9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (currently reading)
*10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
*11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (currently reading)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
*14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
*16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
*21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
*25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
*28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
*29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
*33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - Read most of them!
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
*36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
*40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
*42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
*46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
*48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
*61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
*64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
*65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
*68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
*71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
*72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
*73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce -
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
*81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
*85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
*87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
*91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
*98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
*99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

35/100 = slightly embarrassing. Oh well.

16. They Were Strong and Good by Robert Lawson (Caldecott List)

A very sweet idea for a children's book - to make one's immediate genealogy into a story. And, of course, the pictures are quite lovely.

For my course prep, last week I read some selections from Vergil's Aeneid, and this week it's Book one of Livy.

For this week's myth class:
The Sandman: The Kindly Ones

I'm using this for my discussion of modern interpretations of classical myth. I *heart* The Sandman muchly, so it was no chore to re-read this. There's so many mythologies and lores and literatures engaged in here that it makes my head spin, and I love it. I can't recommend Sandman enough, and one of the nice things about being a teacher is that you can force your favorite reads onto others :)

My dear, you have the most wonderful mixture of books - from Dr. Seuss, to baby shower planning, to ancient Greek texts! =)

LOL - thanks!

17. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (NEH Timeless Classics List)

An accounting of the adventures of Meg, Jo Beth and Amy, along with various and sundry friends and family members.
Yet another from the list of books I can't believe I've never read before. Lovely characters (Jo will forever be Katherine Hepburn for me) and a delightful story, although at times I felt a bit too knocked over the head with the moral-of-the-story business. It also got a smidge too saccharin at times. Overall, however, a wonderful little book.

Jo's Boys is my fav in the Little Women series (hmmm, but I like Little Men a lot too), and I like Eight Cousins a bunch.

Do give us an update on the shower :)

suslyn: I think Little Men is on that same list somewhere, so I'll at least be reading it, but Jo's Boys sounds appealing to me (Jo was by far my favorite character). I'll probably end up reading the whole series at some point.

Not much to report on the shower front just yet. My friend, who is a pilot, is having a girl and they aren't telling what name they've picked, so we've all taken to calling the baby Runway. So, the theme for the shower is Project Runway. It's so fun to plan a party, but difficult too, since our budget, like most people's right now, is tight, and I can't financially do all the things for it that I'd like. For instance, I wanted to order personalized M&M's as party favors, but man, those things are way more expensive than I thought they would be! So, I'm going with the personalized candy wrappers instead. Oh well.

My already-slow progress will be even slower for the next week or so, since I have 30 papers and 45 essay exams to grade. *sigh*

I think that you need to become a slacker teacher. More true and false tests!

cal: I like where your head's at - maybe after I get tenure I'll slack off a bit :)

Jo's Boys is the sequel to Little Men. I never did read Good Wives til last year and never knew I was missing anything. Given what you didn't like about Little Women, I'm guessing skipping Good Wives wouldn't be a bad thing. (Do I hear cries of outrage?)

ETA Scaifea -- I think I was wrong. While I liked (loved) Jo's Boys -- I believe Little Men is my fav, it's about "Jo's Boys" when they're smaller.

18. The Confessions of St. Augustine & The Imitation of Christ (library book)

I had read bits and pieces of Augustine in Latin before, but never the whole thing. He's such an interesting character - trying so hard to be righteous and not exactly succeeding. The Imitation of Christ was interesting too, and I'd like to read it in Latin someday. The particular translation was not great - lots of Thee's and Thou's, which made it difficult to get through.

Confessions is on my 999 list. I've only read bits & pieces, but it wasn't in Latin :)

I hope you have a better translation than the one I read!

19. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (banned books list)

Huh. I'm not exactly sure what to say about this one. Interesting, yet very, very long. I was, however, really surprised that I could understand it without rereading each sentence several times, and that makes me happy.

Cicero's Correspondence: A Literary Study by G. O. Hutchinson

I'm not counting this one toward my total, since it's both a reread and for work (I'm working on an article on Cicero's letters). It's a nice reading of the letters and argues for the literary value of them, rather than taking the letters simply as historical sources.

20. Baby Animals
21. The Twelve Days of Christmas
22. Old King Cole and Other Rhymes
23. My First Book of Colors

These are all new editions to Charlie's nursery library, and he, of course, helped me read them. The first three are, well, okay, but the Baby Einstein book of colors is a really good one and I recommend it.

24. The Story of Mankind by Hendrick Willem Van Loon (Newbery Award list)

This is the 1922 winner of the Newbery Award. The idea behind it is noble - to provide a broad overview of history for kids - but it's sadly outdated and the only version I could find in print has a ridiculous amount of typos and has left out all the illustrations that were apparently part of the original (the author frequently refers the reader to these illustrations which are not present). So, sadly, this one will not go on Charlie's bookshelf.

25. Webby Saves the Day
26. A Grouch's Christmas
27. Terk's Tale
28. Princess Rosetta and the Popcorn Man
29. The Little Red Hen
30. I Love My Little Storybook
31. The Rescuers Down Under
32. Stories About Animals
33. Sleep, Little One, Sleep
34. Surprise

More books for Charlie's library. Of these, Princess Rosetta and the Popcorn Man is by far the best - wonderful illustrations and a nice little story.

I love the kids' book reviews! I had some absolutely wonderful books at that age. If I can think of the titles I'll pass them along. They are at mom's, in storage in France or with my sis.

#138: I am adding that one to the Continent. Thanks for the recommendation, Amber!

http://www.orphanedbooks.com/si/3553.html
Found one :) I adored this book :)

ETA here's a link with pic and a different description: http://www.bookfaerie.com/si/009477.html

Stasia: It's a good read, but I'll warn you that you may want to have a copy of the letters he discusses handy, since he doesn't provide much in the way of quotes from the actual letters and sort of assumes that the reader is reading the letters alongside his discussion.

suslyn: Thanks for the recommendation - I'm always looking for more books to get for Charlie!

#145: Rats! Now I have to find a book of the letters, too. I hate when authors do things like that to me. lol

Stasia: Books, you mean. There are several volumes of Cicero's letters. Happy reading - LOL!

Great, now you tell me *sigh* I may be postponing reading the original book indefinitely!

Just read a book you might like, it's a well written modern mystery with lots of classic literature and mythology woven into the story. The Drowning Tree. Review at the book's page and my thread!

bdb: Cool - that one's definitely going onto my wishlist. Thanks!

>141 scaifea: 'Princess Rosetta and the Popcorn Man has the BEST title!

FlossieT: It is good, isn't it? It's a cute little book too.

35. The Prince and the Pauper
36. A Journey to the Center of the Earth
37. Black Beauty
38. Ben-Hur

More books for Charlie's library. These are adapted versions of the original stories for younger readers. I loved these as a kid and I want Charlie to have them too.

39. Folk and Fairy Tales of Farr-Off Lands
40. His Excellency: George Washington (Presidential Challenge)

The first one is an old book from when I was a kid that is getting added to Charlie's library. It's a neat little collection of stories mostly from China, India and Japan. The Ellis book is for the Presidential Challenge, on which I'm clearly getting a slow start. The details of Washington's life was interesting, but Ellis' writing really irritated me - he seems quite pleased with himself for some reason that I can't understand (he's not nearly as good of a writer as he thinks he is).

Oooh, on the children's books recommendations, can I put in a word for Noisy Nora (if I haven't already) - I loved it when I was small (it's all in the reading) - every time someone says "I'm back again", I STILL feel a deep need to shout "...said Nora, with a MON-U-MENTAL CRASH!. And I'm 31. Sigh. I've bought it for ALL my friends children, so they'll understand :)

...I also found a wonderful book called 365 Penguins at the weekend, which I shall be giving to my cousin's daughter, even though she's probably too young for it. Basically, it's a (quite complicated) counting book - a family receive a penguin through the post every day of the year - what I liked was just how manic it gets!

flissp: Those sound great - I'm adding them both to my wishlist for Charlie!

#154, I got about half way through His Excellency: George Washington and tossed it. It was dry and uninteresting.

hope you both enjoy them!

#155 I read 365 Penguins earlier this year and also thought it was a great picturebook.

Amicizia e Potere by Sandra Citroni Marchetti
The Philosophical Books of Cicero by Paul MacKendrick

Again, I'm not counting these toward my total, since they're work-related reads (even though I've never read these two before).

The Citroni Marchetti book (in Italian - yay for me, since I don't 'officially' know how to read Italian), deals with friendship as a negotiation of wills between friends, specifically in Cicero's Letters and Ovid's exile works, and how that definition of friendship must change once Caesar comes to power (Caesar's will becomes the dominant third party to all friendships). I suspect this would be a very dry reading for a non-Classicist (and more than likely even for some Classicists too!).

On the other hand, the MacKendrick book is a great introduction to Cicero's philosophical thought and works (take it from someone who feels woefully ignorant on the subject - this book is clear and informative and very readable). The Introduction is a nice Cicero's Philosophy for Dummies sort of thing, and the rest of chapters each deal with a different philosophical work from his corpus, giving basic info in outline form, then providing a summary and select commentary.

De Amicitia by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Again, not counting this toward my total, since it's a re-read and for work.
This is Cicero's philosophical text on friendship, and it still has some relevancy today (ex: He says that it's difficult to find a true friend among politicians, for who among their kind prefer to see his friend advancement over his own!). It also contains some lovely words of comfort for someone who has just lost a friend. One of the coolest things about this work is that you can read it alongside Cicero's (actual) letters, in which he interacts with his own friends, and see where and how he does and doesn't follow his own guidelines on friendship.

41. Then It Was Destroyed by the Volcano by Arthur Pomeroy (library book)

This book caught my eye in the library, but didn't live up to the fun promised in the title. It turned out to be more of a plot summary of movies made about the ancient world, although there is a nice chapter on references to the ancient world in Buffy. Overall, meh.

maybe he should have just written about buffy ;)

Lol - clearly! But then again, I tend to me more interested in Buffy than 60's Italian peplum films, so I could be a bit biased...

;)

42. Favorite Fairy Tales
Another one for Charlie's shelves. A nice collection of stories, some very familiar, and some I'd never heard of before.

43. The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

This one was intended for Charlie, but it's not gonna make it onto his shelves. Wow, I had no idea how depressing most of his stories are. Lots about growing old, being forgotten, and dying. Sheesh.

Lots of the original fairy tales are so different from the versions that most people know - the versions created by Disney, I guess. I remember reading the real The Little Mermaid as a kid. It was one of my favourite Disney movies, so I expected it to be the same happy story that I loved. It wasn't. I remember being shocked that the Little Mermaid dies in the end!

Cait86: Indeed. I'm a big fan of the original Brothers Grimm collection (much more violent than the Disneyfied versions). Violence is okay with me (although Grimm isn't going on Charlie's bookshelf either), but not depressing stuff.

44. Old Time Favorites

A Charlie book - this one is a collection of stories, mostly sections from various children's books, with a couple of stand-alone short stories too.

45. The Book of Nature Myths

Another book for Charlie's library. This is a neat little book of myths from various cultures, mostly Native American.

46. Isabella of Castile by Joann J. Burch

Yet another book for Charlie. A cool little biography of the queen.

How many books is Charlie up to now, Amber? He seems to be amassing quite a collection.

Message 167
Chiming in on the comments regarding the depressive nature of fairy tales, years ago I read a book by Bruno Bettelheim (see below). As I remember, he wrote of the need and importance of fairy tales and all the trials and trivals experienced by the characters.

I seem to remember that he thought Rapunzul was an excellent example of a woman in adversity who was able to use inner strength and resources (her hair) to get herself out of a difficult situation.

Bettelheim was a Freudian psychologist who worked with children.

Here is a reference taken from Wikipedia:

In The Uses of Enchantment (1976), Bettelheim suggested that traditional fairy tales, with the darkness of abandonment, death, witches, and injuries, allowed children to grapple with their fears in remote, symbolic terms. If they could read and interpret these fairy tales in their own way, he believed, they would get a greater sense of meaning and purpose. Bettelheim thought that by engaging with these socially-evolved stories, children would go through emotional growth that would better prepare them for their own futures.

http://www.librarything.com/work/432
http://www.amazon.com/Uses-Enchantment-Meaning-Importance-Fairy/dp/0679723935

Stasia: So far, he's got a little over 300 - and he's only 10 months old, lol! I don't know what I'll do if he doesn't like to read!

Whisper: In fact, I've read the Bettelheim book and found it pretty interesting. I also took a course in college on children's literature, which was full of cool tidbits. For instance, there were so many wicked step mothers in fairy tales because at the time these stories were orally circulating, women died frequently in childbirth, often leaving children with fathers who quickly remarried and thus arose the problem of which children would inherit the father's wealth, the children of the first wife or those of the new wife. The new wife generally, of course, wanted her own children to benefit, to the misfortune of the older children. So a lot of these stories have reflections of real life at the time.

Amber, thanks for a very interesting communication regarding Fairy Tales!

#175: Sounds like what we did for Beth - who turned out not to be a reader, unfortunately. But then, Catey came along and made up for it, lol.

Oh well, if he's not a reader, at least I've been able to read a lot of children's books that I'd never read before. So there's that. lol!

#178: I have been reading a ton of juvenile & young adult books since joining LT and I do not even have a Charlie to blame it on :)

47. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Dorian is a beautiful young man, adored by all who meet him. One of his admirers, an artist, paints a portrait of him which turns out to be more than meets the eye, so to speak.

I read this because the move is coming up on one of my movie lists and I know that the book is coming up on one of the reading lists. I didn't want to read the book *after* watching the movie, so I moved the book up on the list. It's the first Wilde I've ever read, and I think it'll be awhile before I read any more. It's not that I didn't like it - the story itself was very interesting - but his style got on my nerves a little. Now off to watch the movie...

While the new picture may be good, there is a stunning version made in 1945, starring Hurd Hatfield as Dorian, and co-starring Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, and George Sanders. It is well worth seeking out to watch. Avoid the television and other remakes between that and this new one. Oliver Parker has directed some interesting films, but I didn't realize it was coming out. Thanks!

Prop2gether: The '45 version is the one I'm going to watch - it's on the 100 Years 100 Thrills AFI list, which I'm working my way through at the moment.

#181 ...and another slightly trippy film adaptation that came out only a few years ago - I can't remember who directed it though and the cast were all unknowns - it was probably fairly small-scale - I saw it at the Cambridge Film festival and I never saw it advertised anywhere else...

I second the viewing of the 1945 version. Very well done. I will be anxious to hear what you have to say about this new remake. I did enjoy the book when I first read it back in grammar school in the 50's and again a fairly recently. His writing, I will grant, is a bit different, but I think that he was a genius.
later dayz,
belva

I third the 1945 version!

I know I'm about an hour late, Amber, but Happy Birthday to You! Hope it was lovely!

Belated Happy Birthday! I hope it was a great day for you.

And, Terri, Your birthday is a week from today, so Happy Almost Birthday!

Thanks! I had a great day and got lots of books as presents!

48. Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

Yet another one for Charlie's library. I think I've read all of his other poem collections, but I hadn't read this one - it's just as good as his others. Lovely.

I love Shel Silverstein. Did you know he wrote the song "A Boy Named Sue" that Johnny Cash recorded years and years ago? I always like that little bit of trivia.

Whoa!~! I didn't know that bit of music trivia. How very interesting. Love, love, love his books!~!

tloeffler: I think I did know that at some point, but had forgotten it - thanks for reminding me! I think he also used to write for Playboy magazine...? My memory on that bit of trivia is tenuous too, and I'm too lazy right now to try to track it down.

#190 - no?! I love that song - it never fails to make me giggle!

Belated happy birthday scaifea!

Thanks, flissp!

49. Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader

I read this while, well, you know. Lots of misc. trivia - definitely helped to pass the time.

*snerk* unstoppable...no plunger needed!

LOL!

I love the Uncle John books. They are so funny. I have four in my bathroom!

#198: I am refusing to think about the state of cal's bowels if she has 4 of them!

Well I am very happy. ;)

Okay, so I watched the 1945 Picture of Dorian Gray. Great acting - I *love* Donna Reed, and the guy who's also in Rebecca (I don't know his name) as Henry (I think) was wonderful. However, I thought the actor playing Dorian wasn't great (I understand that he was purposefully downplaying his emotions - I still just didn't like him). Maybe I didn't find him believable because Dorian is supposed to be so attractive and I didn't think this actor was at all - lol! Oh, and what's with adding the Egyptian magical cat thing? Really? Part of what makes the story so cool and creepy is that it's not explained why what happens to the painting and Dorian happens. Typical Hollywood meddling, I suppose. Overall it was very good, though.

50. Funny Faces Charlie Monkey by Roger Priddy

This was a birthday present for Charlie. It's a really cool board book, and best of all, Charlie loves it.

Of course he loves it! His name is in the title, lol.

And he gets called 'monkey' on a daily basis!

All the more reason for him to love it!

51. Berenstains' A Book by Stan Berenstain & Jan Berenstain
52. What Can a Camel Do?

Two more for Charlie's bookshelves. I seem only to have time these days for short children's books. I've got several books going at once, but I'm making very slow progress.

53. The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
54. A Children's Treasure of Mythology
55. The Gremlins by Roald Dahl
56. Abraham Lincoln by D'Auliare
57. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
58. Many Moons by James Thurber
59. The Rooster Crows by Maud & Miska Petersham
60. The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown
61. White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt

Most of these are from the Caldecott list, with the exception of Dr. Dolittle, the Mythologoy book and the Dahl book. All of them, however, are meant for Charlie's bookshelves. I very much enjoyed all of them, but in particular the Lincoln book and the Burton one - Lincoln for the illustrations and Burton for the lovely little story.

Ooh, while we're talking about Charlie... have you come across Sir Charlie Stinkysocks? Wonderful children's books - the sort of picture books that are great for 'bridging the gap', in that they actually have quite a lot of words per page.

Dunno if I can catch up on what I've missed, but I'd sure like to! In the meantime I hope to just stay current!!

FlossieT: Ooooh, that one's definitely going on the 'to buy' list! Thanks!

>207 scaifea: Virginia Lee Burton is one of my favorites! She was also a gifted textile designer and you can see some of her art at Folly Cove Designers II .

V. cool, marise - thanks for sharing the link!

62. Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (NEH Children's Classics list)
63. The Big Snow by Berta Hader & Elmer Hader (Caldecott list)
64. Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (library book)

Miss Hickory and The Big Snow I bought for Charlie's shelves. The Big Snow is a lovely picture book - beautiful. But, Miss Hickory, I'm afraid, will not make it into Charlie's library. Hated the ending. Hated it. And the stry as a whole is nothing specical.

Wealth of Nations was, sigh, boring. I really want to be able to be learned enough to say that it wasn't but I can't help it. It was a snoozefest for me.

#213: It was a snoozefest for me.

Well, if nothing else, you (and Charlie?) got a good nap out of it, Amber.

Ha! If only. Charlie is demonstrably NOT a napper. We're lucky if he takes one 30-minute nap a day. Sigh.

#215: My oldest was like that - I was lucky if she took a nap at all. I brought my youngest home from the hospital and she would sleep 4 hours at a stretch. I told my doctor I was sure something was wrong with one of the girls, I just was not sure which one :)

BTW - My oldest still does not sleep, so the problem does not get any better with age, lol.

Stasia don't say that about your oldest!! Teresa is a shocking sleeper too (although she has improved since she's turned 2... so there is hope for Charlie and you, Amber!)

She is 20 now, Cushla, and like her mama, a night owl :)

Wow, I'm so glad to know that things don't change - lol!

65. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (National Book Award list)

Wow. Loooooong book. And I'm completely troubled by the ending. I kept on reading despite not really being engaged with the plot or the characters because I thought maybe the ending would be worth it. But it seems like Bellow just forgot to add a proper ending - it just sort of stops. Ugh.

#220: I think I will give that one a pass. Sorry it was such a bad read for you, Amber. I hope the next one is better!

66. The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes (Newbery list)

Again, another one for Charlie's shelves. I really enjoyed this one - a young man coming of age on the high seas, captured by pirates, with an ending that's not quite happily-ever-after, yet (or maybe therefore) highly satisfactory. Can't wait for Charlie to read this one in 10 years or so!

#222: Can't wait for Charlie to read this one in 10 years or so!

In the meantime, you can enjoy reading it on your own and to him. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

67. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (GD 1001 Fantasy List)

I'd been meaning to read this for a very long time and I'm glad I've finally managed it. I much prefer the Inferno bit to the rest of it (what exactly does that say about me?). I did not, however, like the translation much (Longfellow) - a bit to archaic for my taste. I know a smattering of Italian, and someday I'd like to tackle it in the original, when I have more time.

68. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (Dahl Bibliography list)

Another one for Charlie's bookshelves. Unbelievably, I had never read this one before. It's great and I know that Charlie will *love* it!

#225: I loved James and the Giant Peach as a kid. It was my favorite of Dahl's.

I always think that my reactions to a given book are influenced by the other books that I've read at about the same time - which just makes me wonder what it was like to read The Divine Comedy and James and the Giant Peach back to back. That's variety!

LOL! I'm used to reading multiple books at the same time, so I generally can keep them pretty separate in my head. I wonder, though, what Dahl's version of the Inferno would have been like...

69. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (NEH Children's Classics list)

Yep, another one for Charlie's shelves. And yet another one that I can't believe I'd never read before. Delightful, of course.

#229: I am not sure that I have ever read Peter Pan, either. If I did, I read it more years ago than I care to recall. Maybe I should give it a shot :)

It's very cleverly written - add it to the pile!

I already did! I also stumbled across a book about Barrie called J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys by Andrew Birkin that looks pretty good, so I put it in the BlackHole as well.

!!!!!!!!!!

Stasia, I'm sorry - YOU MUST READ PETER PAN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

One of the seminal books of my childhood, although I think I love it even better as the audiobook read by Wendy Craig (difficult to get hold of now).

Really wonderful.

I love, love, love the original Peter Pan! It's hilarious, and Tinkerbell is a potty-mouthed jerk, it's really quite fantastic. Very different from the Disney version, with more subtle humor and subtext. Did I mention I love it? :)

Tinkerbell is a potty-mouth? Reallly? Not that I'm doubting you, but I am surprised. I've never read PP, and I doubt I ever shall. Have had the creeps re: J.M. Barrie ever since that Johnny Depp movie.

I haven't read Dahl but I see that I need to! I always read so many good things.

*ThrowsPeter Pan and Ronald Dahl on my TBR pile*

I bought Peter Pan for my (adult) son last Christmas. I may have to borrow it back from him.

I've definitely read since a novel that is a (very) fictionalised bio of J.M. Barrie... and I can't for the life of me remember what it's called or who it's by, only that it's yet another book I sought out because it was reviewed in the New Yorker. Hmm, I wonder if LibraryThing can help me track it down.

ETA: and of course, it could! Kensington Gardens - Rodrigo Fresan. Strange, but interesting.

>235 Fourpawz2:: For the time period, in my opinion, she's really quite rude... and she curses *a lot* (and her feelings for Peter are... er... rather adult, if I remember correctly)... I found it hysterical :D

Hmmm, I've flicked through my Granny's copy of Peter and Wendy many times, and we've got a very thumbed children's edition at my parents, but I don't recall ever actually reading it myself. I shall have to look it out this Christmas I think.

LOL - it's funny to discover which books will spark conversation - I hadn't a clue that Peter Pan would be one such book, but, of course, I'm happy to see that you all are thinking about reading it!

I put it on hold at my local library, Amber, and hope to pick it up next week.

Maybe that's another one of those children's classics I need to read. *sigh* There are so many.

70. A Bear Called Paddington (NEH Children's Classics list)

Well, here's another one; if you haven't read it, you really ought to, IMHO. Wonderful, charming, delightful little children's book. I want Paddington to live with us!

#244: I read that one to the girls a century or so ago. I agree - it is wonderful, delightful and charming!

If you like audiobooks, do seek out the Stephen Fry Paddingtons - he's just got such a great tone for Paddington.

Yay for Paddington! My first wellie boots originally belonged to a big Paddington teddy bear - and I have lots of excited memories of Paddington train station en route to Plymouth when I was small too. Sadly, I never saw him in the flesh...

>247 flissp: SNAP on the bear-n'-boots thing. That's quite spooky. My big Paddington is still in the wardrobe in 'my' room at mum's.

*blink blink*
There's an audio version with Stephen Fry?!?!
I love him.
*off in search...*

I love the idea that there's a whole generation of us out there that grew up wearing Paddington's wellies!

71. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Other Favorite Bedtime Rhymes
72. The Little Engine That Could (1001 Children's Books)

Two more for Charlie's shelves. Eventually I'll finish another of my own books!

>244 scaifea: - I just have to chime in to say that I love Paddington. I had a stuffed Paddington that went everywhere with me when I was little. But I haven't read any of the books to my boys. I must make a trip to the library!

I just noticed The Little Engine That Could in #251.... my brother ADORED that book and used to demand it multiple times a night. After many years, our family copy "mysteriously" disintegrated. RIP. Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope for your sake that Charlie doesn't love it THAT much :-)

LOL, FlossieT - I hope not either, especially since I've got loads of books for him already - we may never get through all of them!

73. Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger (Newbery List)

Yep, another one for Charlie. And another one I'd never read before. A collection of fairy tale-type stories from South America. It's really nicely written - not only does he tell the stories in a lovely way, but he also gives you background on his travels in South America while collecting the stories, and does so on a child's level. Highly recommend this one.

#255: That one looks very good. I am adding it to the BlackHole.

BTW - I picked up Peter Pan at the library the other day and should be getting to it in the next couple of weeks.

I've had a small collection of the Paddington Bear books since I was a teenager. I love him!

74. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
75. Pajama Time! by Sandra Boynton

These are the books Santa left Charlie in his stocking this morning. Again, never read these before now; both are lovely. Nearly shed a tear at the first one and can't wait to make the second one a bedtime regular.

So I've made it to 75, but to be fair, the majority of my books this year have been for Charlie, so haven't exactly been page-intensive. Likely to be more of the same for the 2010 challenge, but since I'm not really focused on the actual 75 goal (I'm more interested in simply keeping track of what I read and lurking on other 75er's threads!), I'm not too troubled about it.

Who cares how you made it? You made it! Congrats!!

congratulations!

and I loved #74 ;-)
Anita

Thanks!
Anita: I can't believe I've never read that one before! Seriously, I've been exposed to so many wonderful books now that Charlie's come along!

To you and Charlie!!

Congratulations on your 75! Add me to the list of those who LOVED Guess How Much I Love You! I read it to my granddaughter from the same copy that I read to her father!

Thanks!!

76. Rudolph's Bag of Toys
77. Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?
78. Find the Puppy
79. Sam Sheep Can't Sleep

All new books Charlie got for Christmas from The In-Laws.

congratulations on reaching 75!!!

Congrats on passing 75! I'm glad that Charlie got such good books for Christmas. Sandra Boynton is one of my favorites. I think that I can still recite Barnyard Dance from memory.

80. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum (NEH Children's Classics List)
81. If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff

Two more for Charlie's shelves. I think I didn't like the Oz book as much as I'm supposed to (everyone seems to love these books, but I'm mostly meh about them). The Mouse to the Movies one was adorable, though. Charlie got it from his grandparents for Christmas, along with an equally adorable matching plush mouse. V. cute.

Well, this is probably it for 2009 for me. I've got my 2010 thread all started up and ready to got - hope to see you there!

>267 scaifea:: Have you and Charlie read If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, which is the first in the adorable "If you Give..." series? I am totally dating myself since I read this to my girls who are now 14 & 17, but it was one of our favorites.

lindsacl: No we haven't - I didn't know it was a series, but now that I do, we'll definitely have to check the others out! Thanks for letting me know!

>269 scaifea:: Well I didn't know it was a series either, but from the title I was pretty sure your book was a more recent incarnation involving the same mouse. LT's Common Knowledge classifies it as part of a series, with Mouse/Cookie as the first one. Enjoy!

ETA: I'm amazed how just reading your thread brings back such pleasant memories of reading with my own kids. You should save this thread somehow so you can come back to it when these days are long gone!

lindsacl: No! Don't remind me that he's growing up - I'm already troubled about that - lol!

82. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Dahl bibliography for Charlie)

Whoops, one more last minute entry! This is a reread for me, but it was oh so very long ago that I'd forgotten most of it, really. *Love* that the main character's name is Charlie and that he's such a good little guy (just like mine, of course). Classics kids' book - highly recommend it for anyone's shelf, regardless of age.

Happy New Year, everyone!!