Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the category “reflections”

06 Feb 2014
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Rating the Underrated


Thank you for tuning in for another round of lists. This one again comes from BookRiot, being posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky. She shares the results of reader poll for underrated books from the 576 who decided to voice their opinion. Usually I find these findings rather dubious.  Stanford and Gallup were not involved so how do we really know how legit the findings are?  Since you are here take a look at the list.  Any surprises?  I am only familiar with a couple of the votes. Sigh, my illiteracy is showing again, I suppose.

       Posted by   Rebecca Joines Schinsky     

Are These the 13 Most Underrated Books?

<!—->
  1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (9 votes)
  2. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (6)
  3. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (6)
  4. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (5)
  5. Stoner by John Williams (5)
  6. The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay (4)
  7. if on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino (4)
  8. Lamb by Christopher Moore (4)
  9. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (4)
  10. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (4)
  11. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (4)
  12. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (4)
  13. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (4)

I adored The Phantom Tollbooth in elementary school, grooved on The Princess Bride in college, and skipped The Neverending Story, both the book and the movie. Nothing else on the list rings a bell. I’m not seeing how Tollbooth or Princess Bride could be underrated since both became film adaptations.

Anyone read any of these? Are they underrated?

Check out other Riot polls:

The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

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Posted in Books, Reading, reflections, reviews, writers and tagged , , , , ,
30 Jan 2014
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Continuing the Love for LOC


Cover of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Pi...

Cover via Amazon

Visiting the Library of Congress is high on my BIG list, yet that one wish won’t be actualized until time and funding match up. For now I continue visiting it on-line for research and serendipity surprises. For instance, as I browsed for Idaho pioneer entries my screen popped up their Books that Shaped America entry. I’m thinking somewhere there is a book about pioneers in Idaho? It didn’t matter because I became lost through the eras as I browsed, read, and absorbed.  Fascinating, illuminating, and enlightening how the books reflected the times and influenced future reading. For the entire link go to Books That Shaped America.

Here are some titles to ponder:

Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard Improved (1732) and The Way to Wealth (1785)

Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)

L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)

Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)

Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat (1957)

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

Ralph Nader, Unsafe at Any Speed (1965)

César Chávez, The Words of César Chávez (2002)

I know, I know–I’m hearing the “what about _______!” I was surprised at what made the list and what didn’t. I hope you check it out and let me know what you think should have made it.

Interior Library of Congress, by G. D. Wakely

Interior Library of Congress, by G. D. Wakely (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Posted in America, Books, education, Literature, Reading, reflections, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , ,
25 Jan 2014

Lit One-Liners


BookRiot became another 2013 discovery, and I am hooked. How could I resist posts delivered free to my mailbox which concern all things books? I definitely found this one by Rachel Cordasco a saver. It will be incorporated into my AP warm-ups where I have students create micro-précis  statements as a ready-set-go for the May exam. Here are some pull-outs from Cardasco’s post:

    Posted by   Rachel Cordasco   from BookRiot            

30 One-Sentence Lessons from Literature

1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Just make up your mind already, dude.

2. Anything by Stephen Crane: It doesn’t matter what you do- the Universe still thinks you’re super lame.

3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: You can never read too many novels…oh wait, maybe you can…

4. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser: Cluelessness is not something you want to broadcast when you’re a young woman in strange new city, for you’ll just become a skeevy-guy magnet.

5. Dracula by Bram Stoker: If you have a choice between Count Dracula’s castle and the Holiday Inn, stay at the Holiday Inn.

6. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: If you absolutely must create a freakish monster thing, be sure to make a girlfriend for it, cause if you don’t, he’ll be really, really mad.

7. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka: Sucks to be a bug.

8. Macbeth by William Shakespeare: You should treat your guests well by, you know, not murdering them in their beds.

9. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: When you travel around in a boat with a friend, away from human civilization, when you do run in to people you realize just how crazy they all are.

10. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: When it comes down to choosing between the hot guy who treats you like crap and the not-as- hot guy who treats you like a queen, it’s really not a choice at all.

11. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Don’t frighten the natives.

12. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: When the freaky alien things come swooping down on Earth and shooting lasers or whatever at everyone, run as fast as you can cause those aliens are mean.

13. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Yeah, yeah, money can’t buy happiness- check.

14. Anything by e. e. cummings:

capital

letters

are for

losers.

15. King Lear by William Shakespeare: Don’t bother arguing with your parents. Or your children. Just don’t bother.

_________________________

My own contributions:

Beowulf by John Gardner: growing up in a cave with a fiendish mother definitely changes your perspective

Daisy Miller by Henry James: It’s true, when in Rome, or at least in Italy, as a single American girl, who should do as the Romans–Italians do–then again, maybe not.

Room with a View by E.M. Forester: what is about Italy and young women anyway?

“The Lovesong of Alfred J. Prufrock” T.S. Eliot: What if, What if, What if Hamlet hadn’t been your poster boy of decision-making?

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: getting in touch with your inner feelings definitely deserves a second thought

Posted in Blogging, creativity, education, Literature, Reading, reflections, writers and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
20 Jan 2014
2 Comments

ChromeCast Conclusions


Over the holidays, as I solicited advice on buying a new laptop, my tech progeny convinced me to buy a ChromeCast. I did. Since then I have come to the following concusions:

  • It’s a great value for the inexpensive purchase price.
  • It’s easy to set up and even easier to use.
  • It’s versatile in use, ranging from music to videos to film clips to entire movies.
  • It’s portable and travels well, meaning it has possibilities of being set up on other screens.

And the best part?

  • There are no additional costs involved.

The progeny originally used the argument of my movie passion to convince me to buy it. “No more running to the library or grocery store for a nightly flick!”
However, I did balk at the idea of re-upping with NetFlix. Not so much a bad experience, just one more monthly payment to keep track of. Instead, I signed up for the free monthly trial, did the trial period, and cancelled by the deadline. I won’t be signing up for NetFlix? Why? They don’t carry the movie selections I primarily enjoy–namely classics and the odd oldie. Netflix is fine for the current box office run, but I can live with my dollar specials available at the local grocers.
Instead of movies I’m primarily using ChromeCast for Pandora.
Right, I’m playing music on our TV. The sound system is better than my iPhone, it’s soothing to watch the little pictures float across my screen, it’s lovely background to reading, and it’s commercial free. No kidding. For some reason when Pandora is ChromeCasted no commercials pop up.
I have on occasion YouTubed with ChromeCast. It is possible to find full-length flicks on there, you just have to know what to look for and where to look.
All in all, it’s been the best present to myself that the whole family enjoys.
Anyone use ChromeCast beyond movies and music?

Posted in Movies, Music, reflections, reviews, technology, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , ,
18 Jan 2014
7 Comments

Cook Shack Commentary of the Clearwater


idaho!

idaho! (Photo credit: sandwichgirl)

As I continue researching my novel concerning the Idaho gold rush, I wade though promising volumes of background material. One particular book  centered on the right area of Idaho, yet proved to be about lumberjacks in the 1930s instead of gold miners of the 1800s. Since it arrived in my batch of research finds I decided to glance through it in hopes of finding a nugget (yes, an intended pun). I found a dandy story about a circus elephant and a lost poker bet, but not much else I could use. I did find these pithy bon mots of philosophy at the back of the book. Perhaps I will have various characters spout them at appropriate moments.
From Tales of the Clearwater by Sam Swayne:
1. Life is too short to shave with a dull razor.
 2. Half of success is trying, and if you half try, you will succeed.
3. Too many men think that when they bite off more than they chew, they can wash it down with alcohol.
4. A dog that has been to the carcass doesn’t need to confess to his master where he has been.
5. A lean man lives long; a hog on a diet is the last to market.
6. The most conspicuous guest is usually the most unwelcome; a pole cat though long remembered is not invited to return.
 7. Some wives are like varoom motors on tricycles. Lots of noise up front, but no help on the push.
8. Them that have nothing is them that don’t take care of what they have.
9. A whipped rooster runs from a rabbit, but the cock of the hen yard will fight the bull (which goes, I presume, with this last one):
10. He who is head of the house will go twice as far as the man who is shoved by his spouse.

Now I’m not saying I agree with the sayings; I’m thinking they catch the flavor of the setting invoked: both lumber camps and miner camps functioned without the company of women ( at least the marrying kind).

Any of these sayings still applicable to today?

Posted in Books, reflections, reviews, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
16 Jan 2014
10 Comments

Trio of Tomboys


Is it just me or do the more popular female lit protagonists share this particular trait in common: they tend to step outside of the expected norms of behavior. Here is a quick lit list:

Katniss Everdeen: hunter
Elizabeth Bennett: outspoken
Antonia: ran the farm
Hattie Inez: homesteader; journalist
Pippi Longstocking: indefatigable personality
Thursday Next: amazing skills
Jo March: independent spirit (psst–a writer when it wasn’t in vogue)

Hmm, most of these ladies might be under the broad category of tomboy (I rather liked than unintentional pun, thank you)

Tomboy

image: kidzworld.com

Tomboy. Is it a label of distinction or derision? What is a tomboy? According to one source (TVTrope.org), it’s a derivative of tomcat, which is odd because a tomcat is all out male. I’m trying to catch on to the logic here–cats usually associated with female and by designating a girl as tomboy it’s saying she’s a boy cat instead of a girl cat? I’ll put a pause on that line of thought and jump right in the learned fact that there are different categories of tomboy. TVTropes.org lists over a dozen types of tomboys. I had no idea.

My favorite reads usually involve spunky heroines and among my childhood reads are a trio of tomboys. I think I appreciated them so much because we shared so many characteristics:

Scout: overalls are indeed comfortable, I have two sets in my closet
Laura Ingalls: playing ball at recess beats the snot out of gossiping with the girls at lunch
Caddie Woodlawn: running around outside having adventures is a much better way of growing up

I have settled down somewhat, although I would still be playing church softball league if I hadn’t messed up my shoulder, and I have a difficult time passing up a playground, let alone skipping rocks. and climbing trees. And yeah, I would prefer watching Red Dawn II instead of Legally Blonde II. The male progeny are realizing theirs is not a normal, or at least expected mum. Is that a problem? I can make brownies or meat loaf when needed, but I’d rather be up to bat.

Maybe that’s why my character, Rebecca, in my historical novel is a tomboy–often a little of “me” goes into the “who” I create on the pages in my stories.

What are your thoughts on tomboys? Who can I add to my lit list of fave tomboys in the annals of literary girls who just can conform to the expected norm?

Posted in Books, Literature, Reading, reflections, Writing and tagged , , , , , ,
14 Jan 2014

Verse for Wear


1st edition

1st edition (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First word purging and now onto verse wearing.

Throughout the year I also collected poems from my daily feeding from www.poets.org. Daily offerings are contemporary, while weekends focus on past classics. I began subscribing for a couple of reasons:

1. Poetry appreciation came into my life later than sooner and I’m making up for lost time.
2. Since becoming an AP teacher I figure it’s best practice to move beyond my basic knowledge of Frost–doctors must keep up on new practices, so as a practicing English literature teacher I should as well.

After a year of daily dosing of poems I have found I’m still drawn more to the classic poets, yet still appreciate the “now” of poetry today and listen, for the most part, what is being said.
So, here are the poems that I keep in my “save” file. I plan to wear these verse offerings by pulling them out for discussion in class. And here, as well. Any comments? Are you more contemporary or classic in your poetry choices?

All poems and bio information are from poets.org

Edgar Guest:
Guest has been called “the poet of the people.” Most often his poems were fourteen lines long and presented a deeply sentimental view of everyday life. When his father died, Guest was forced to drop out of high school and work full time at the Detroit Free Press, eventually considering himself “a newspaper man who wrote verses.” Of his poetry he said, “I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them.” 

Only A Dad
Edgar Guest 

Only a dad with a tired face,
Coming home from the daily race,
Bringing little of gold or fame
To show how well he has played the game;
But glad in his heart that his own rejoice
To see him come and to hear his voice.

Only a dad with a brood of four,
One of ten million men or more
Plodding along in the daily strife,
Bearing the whips and the scorns of life,
With never a whimper of pain or hate,
For the sake of those who at home await.

Only a dad, neither rich nor proud,
Merely one of the surging crowd,
Toiling, striving from day to day,
Facing whatever may come his way,
Silent whenever the harsh condemn,
And bearing it all for the love of them.

Only a dad but he gives his all,
To smooth the way for his children small,
Doing with courage stern and grim
The deeds that his father did for him.
This is the line that for him I pen:
Only a dad, but the best of men.

From the book "A Heap o' Livin'" ©1916
Joyful Moments Web Designs Graphics © by Mary  (Garren) Morand © MARY MORAND WEB PAGE – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Webmaster ~ E-Mail ~ Comments
I appreciate this poem because it gets a shout out to dads. There are so many poems that exult moms (which I don’t mind) and I think fathers get shorted on all they do and how we feel about them.
Radar Data #12
by Lytton Smith
 
It was in the absence of light
as when near new moon and 
no moonlight; as when a part 
of a picture is in shadow (as 
opposed to a light); as when 
in the condition of being 
hidden from view, obscure, 
or unknown–in concealment, 
or else without knowledge 
as regards to some particular; 
and of the weather, season, 
air, sky, sea, etc., characterized 
by tempest; in times, events, 
circumstances etc. subject to 
tempers; inflamed, indicative, predictive, or symbolical of 
strife (harbinger of coming 
trouble)-a period of darkness 

occurring between one day & 
the next during which a place 
receives no light from the sun, 

and what if it is all behind us? 
I no longer fear the rain will 
never end, but doubt our ability 

to return to what lies passed. 
On the radar, a photopresent 
scraggle of interference, as if 

the data is trying to pretend 
something’s out there where 
everything is lost.

About This Poem   
“People are always curious where a name like ‘Lytton’ comes from–and it’s not from modernist biographer Lytton Strachey, but gothic novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He famously came up with the opening phrase (in Paul Clifford) ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’ But I’ve begun to feel guilty mentioning that; his opening sentence is actually pretty good, so I’ve begun writing a whole series of poems that try to translate, rework, recuperate it.”  Lytton Smith

This is My Life
by William Stanley Braithwaite
 To feed my soul with beauty till I die;
To give my hands a pleasant task to do;
To keep my heart forever filled anew
With dreams and wonders which the days supply;
To love all conscious living, and thereby
Respect the brute who renders up its due,
And know the world as planned is good and true-
And thus -because there chanced to be an I!

This is my life since things are as they are:
One half akin to flowers and the grass:
The rest a law unto the changeless star.
And I believe when I shall come to pass
Within the Door His hand shall hold ajar
I’ll leave no echoing whisper of Alas!

Over the course of his career, Braithwaite founded a publishing company and taught creative writing at Atlanta University. His poetic style was influenced by English Romantic poets John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Wordsworth.
This poem smacks of resolution for the New Year. It stirs a resolve to become better than I am and to leave no regrets at the passing of the day. Yup, that’s what a poem should do–get some soul stirring going.
My hopes are that your New Year will be filled with verse, be it created or found, and that the words will resonate in your life into others!
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Posted in creativity, education, Poetry, reflections, reviews, Teachers, Uncategorized, Words, Writing and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
10 Jan 2014
9 Comments

Vacuous Vocabulary?


The wonders of iPhonology have allowed me to copy and collect words throughout. I have a tidy little word zoo in my notes files and some words remain oddities to be gaped at, while others become part my lexicon. This year I have collected a list of vocabulary words that range from antiquated to techno lingual. Are these etymological critters known to you?
syllogism
Salmagundi
detritus
ameliorate
penury
tyros
averred
panegyric
chimera
dilatoriness
salubrious
ignominy
sophisms
opprobrium
insouciant
nepenthe
internecine
probity
chiasmus
insouciant
ineffable
eschatological
palimpsest
vitriol
frisson
perjorative
gentian
perspicuity
parousia
demotic
pellucid
obeisance
pelf
elegiac
ineluctable
effulgently
nimbus

These came from hither and thither through my lexiconic ramblings ranging from children’s books to devotional studies to contemporary and classic reads. Is it mindless (my title reference) to collect words? My hopes are to incorporate, refresh, and enfuse my personal dictionary with items from the collection. In actuality, I periodically scroll through the list and gloryosky at them. I like their looks, their sound, and some I like their meaning.

Any of you collect words? Any sharsies?

Posted in education, Literature, Reading, reflections, Words and tagged , ,
06 Jan 2014
1 Comment

The Twelve Days of Christmas Break


English: Second verse of "The Twelve Days...

Saturday the 21st I woke up realizing break had finally happened. Endless days stretched ahead of me, at least two weeks (plus) worth of no lesson plans, or grading papers, or slogging out of bed when it’s dark to teach teens who would rather not be taught, only to return home in the dark. The gift of vacation. And then that old standby of The First Day of Christmas zipped into my head and I decided to make my own song: On Each Day of Christmas Break I Gave a Gift to Me (okay, the rhyme scheme is off, but it’s the thought that counts, right?)
A snub at the alarm
Staying up way too late
Last minute shopping
Visits with the family
Thoroughly cleaning house
Reading and napping
Working on my novel
Lunching with my sweetie
Walking in the winterwonderland
Reading cards and letters
Getting a new haircut
Eating most indulgently
Joining the gym
A joyful little getaway
Celebrating the New Year
Post Holiday shopping
And returning to the classroom completely renewed, refreshed, and ready for 2014!

Posted in Blogging, holidays, reflections, Teachers, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
30 Dec 2013
12 Comments

Revisits and Rereads


Cover of "To Kill a Mockingbird: 50th Ann...

Cover via Amazon

It’s 5:45 a.m. and I’ve just finished re-reading Mockingjay. I checked it out a couple of days ago partly because I was surprised to see not one, but two copies on the shelf. I cancelled my hold request for Catching Fire as I reached the last chapter of the last book in this series.. How could I return to the middle after witnessing the end of Katniss’s journey?
I usually don’t reread books unless a long interval takes place–at least five years or more. To Kill a Mockingbird is the exception–then again, I teach that one and is less of a re-read than a re-visit at this point.

But let us turn from Mockingbirds back to Mockingjays:

As I eased the last page over and closed the book and suffer from that post traumatic feeling of “book done” I’m glad I’ve reread Mockingjay. The first time through was a done in a frenzy of page turning, and I missed so much. This time I have faces for the characters having watched the movies and the tangled relationships of Katniss take on a deeper meaning now.

It’s much the same when I revisit Scout —Mary Badham‘s freckled pageboy face is superimposed upon Harper Lee’s Scout, as she bildungsromans her way through childhood and racial injustice, let alone Southern discomforts of the 193os.

Someday I will return once again and reread the third and final adventure of Katniss. Although I definitely appreciated the Hunger Games trilogy, I doubt I will actually become as familiar with it as I have with To Kill a Mockingbird. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a connection between my fondness for these two lit ladies, one a Mockingbird and the other a Mockingjay.

Yes, there is: it’s called A Good Story.

So, Book Boosters–while you are dialed in–any novels or books you reread? Or perhaps revisit?

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