Pam Webb
a writer's journey as a reader
Archive for the tag “reading”
What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Zora Neale Hurston, American author. Deutsch: Zora Neale Hurston Español: Zora Neale Hurston (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Cover of Their Eyes Were Watching God
Tina Turner belts out a great 80’s tune about love and relationships and her personal point-of-view on the whole age-old matter of that interpersonal sparking that goes on between man and woman. That tune kept running through my mind as I read Zora Neale Hurston‘s Their Eyes Were Watching God. I think Janie and Tina would have been soul sisters or at least would have gone out for a girl chat at the local Starbucks.
TEWWG is not a title I would have picked up on my own. I’m not a fan of dialect-heavy text, hence I don’t do a lot of Mark Twain either. Simply tell me the person is Irish, Swedish, Southern, or illiterate Northern and I get the idea. All the enhanced ‘taint so, hissa, and blimeys wear on my inner ear after awhile. Since Hurston’s book is on my list of AP Literature texts we will explore in class next year I have plucked away at Janie’s vernacular and have come away an enriched reader. Why? Hurston’s writing style is mesmerizing. I also came away with another plucky female protagonist to add to my list. Janie is a survivor, and an admirable individual with or without a man in her life. She’s got chutzpah. Janie is one of literature’s greatest philosopher’s concerning love:
“Love ain’t somethin’ lak uh grindstone dat’s de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore” (20.7).
We as readers witness how Janie experiences love in three different forms: an unwilling, immature teenager who’s ignited imaginings of love are reduced to serving as a farm hand; a trophy wife whose own needs become buried as her social position rises; and finally as the woman fulfilled in a marriage of choice.
Written in 1937 (literary wagging tongues say Hurston did so in seven weeks), Hurston’s novel covers many issues reflective of the times. If we can set those aside and concentrate on Janie, I would comment on how Janie set a standard worth noting: marry for love, even if it cross grains tradition and common sense.
What does love have to do with marriage? Everything, according to Janie. Tina gave us her opinion about it in the eighties, but Janie had it hands-down in thirties. Let the love meet you on the shore of life.
Related articles
- Happy Birthday, Tina Turner! See Her 8 Sexiest and Leggiest Moments (fabsugar.com)
- the green space: 75th anniversary of “their eyes were watching God” (blkcowrie.wordpress.com)
- Zora Fest inspires fans of Zora Neale Hurston (tcpalm.com)
- 100 Novels Reading List 61-70 (ellenclarke.com)
- Alice Walker reads from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (rawstory.com)
wikipedia image
P.S. Halle Berry presents an admirable Janie in the movie version of the book. While the movie condenses the book greatly, Janie’s character is captured well by the beauteous Berry.
The ABC’s of Blog Maintenance
Like cars, blogs require basic maintenance in order to perform at their best. There’s analogy in that statement I could pursue about oil and air pressure relating to tags and categories, but I’m not sure I can pull it off.
I think I need to add a disclaimer about this post: I am still very much a blogger newbie. It is not my intention to offend anyone. It is also not my intention to come off sounding like a know-it-all-bloggy pants (especially when my hits and follower stats aren’t at huge impressive numbers…yet). I simply felt compelled to share some observations and what better way than through the trite and true method of ABC-ing.
American Broadcasting Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
*I am at the virtual podium*
CM: ahem…thank you for stopping by. Some of you may be veteran bloggers of a million followers and quadrillion hits, while others of are just getting started. And some of you might be in between those extremes. Here are some basic ABCs of blogging.
A is for appreciate. Stop by other blogs and comment, click “like”, or simply browse the site. No one wants to write in a void, and everyone appreciates a bit of appreciation.
A is also for advertise. Toss out a kudo about another blogger’s post through your writing, via one of those nifty blogger awards, or even link up another post through a Zemanta click.
Blogging Heroes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
B is broadening your scope. You might have started your blog with only one subject in mind (the wonders of bottle cap collecting, for instance). Why not launch out and discuss how bottles came to be invented or include a craft article on bottle cap wind chimes? Broadening your blog content can attract new readers.
Bottle Caps (Photo credit: merfam)
C can be for connecting and contributing and customizing. Connecting is all about developing relationships with other bloggers, creating a bit of cyberspace friending (sans Zuckerman, thank you). Contributing is commenting and replying to posts, adding your two-cents and maybe even a dollar’s worth to a topic. Finally let’s cut to customizing, that need to get your style thing going. As you continue posting establish a voice, tone, persona for your blog. Find your niche–are you witty, eccentric, knowledgeable, graphically inclined, inspiring? Your followers will look forward to the character you give your posts.
There are many other important components to blog maintenance. These simple ABCs are only a start.
Thank you for your time.
*slight nod of head in acknowledgement*
Happy Pages
and Happy Blogging
Related articles
- Integrating Zemanta into your compose experience (everything.typepad.com)
- The Reader Appreciation Award! (leajurock.wordpress.com)
I Do So Appreciate My Readers
Cover of Inception
Cover of Their Eyes Were Watching God
It is ever so wonderful to check notifications and discover the nomination of a blogger award. This one comes from AJ Jenner. She is doing what most of us writers would like to do–take a sabbatical from the workaday world and she is seriously pursuing writing. Yay and hooray to live out that goal. News update: she just won a screenwriting contest. Double hooray!
I’m a little fuzzy about the requirements of this award and so I will wing it (as usual).
First off: what have I been up to lately? Hmmm, besides grading papers until my eyes and resolve give out, I’ve managed to smush in some fun stuff:
- read a few books: Their Eyes Were Watching God (a possible text for AP literature), Insurgent (been waiting almost a year for the sequel to Divergent) .
- watch a few DVDs: Inception (again). Flyboys (for my seniors as a means of emphasizing how WWI experience shifted the world’s paradigm and changed literature forever), Miracle Worker, Romeo and Juliet (both for classes, yet I don’t mind how many times I’ve watched them), Their Eyes Were Watching God (almost as good as the book), Garrow’s Law (series based on real life of the English lawyer who began defense for the prosecuted in 18th century).
- garden–although I’m not enjoying it quite like I used to. Score? Weeds 5, Me-1
- gelato walks: on Fridays they offer fruit flavors (strawberry on top and chocolate on the bottom…yummmmy)
- procrastinate about editing my YA novel that needs to be sent off to a publisher I discovered at a recent writing conference.
Oh, and nap. I turned to chocolate to relieve the stress of end-of-the year teaching, and gained two pounds. Napping seems to be working better. Somewhere I read that those who nap lose weight. I still prefer chocolate though.
Another part of the award is to nominate other blogs? I don’t know how many we are supposed to nominate so I will offer up those blogs who regularly respond and drop by:
And I do so appreciate my readers, so if I left you off the list, my apologies. I really need to finish this so I can take my Sunday nap. Either that or I will succumb to popping down to the store for chocolate.
Related articles
- Garrow’s Law (lisanneharris.com)
- what we read. their eyes were watching god. 1. (lovelychaos.typepad.com)
Chaos, Anarchy, Mayhem–not a bad read
“Insurgent,” he says. “Noun. A person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not necessarily regarded as a belligerent.”
So says Fernando, a character who lived just long enough to insert the meaning of the book’s title. Insurgent is the second installment of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series. It weighs in at 525 pages (YA style, meaning slightly larger print). And the verdict? I like the first book better.
Second books in a series are tough. There is an expectation of sorts, especially if the first one grabbed our attention, like Divergent did mine. I think I read it in a couple of days and it too was thick. This one took me a week–admittedly, I am in the middle of grading end-of-the year papers, but if I’m really into a book I make the time to squeeze in any spare moments possible.
“What happened with this one?” I wondered to myself chapter after chapter. I didn’t feel the pull, the connection that I did in the initial book, that’s one point. Another point is that I felt like I had stepped into a play mid-progress. Roth begins the book right where it left off. Great way to keep the action going; however, it’s been about a year since I read Divergent and felt a tad lost.
Roth has this to say why she chose not to backtrack on the first story:
“I made an “artistic decision” in Insurgent not to do a lot of recapping (that device used in sequels to remind readers of what happened in the first book). Recapping is not a bad thing– it is very useful, and often necessary–but I felt that it would bog down Tris’s narrative and would sound unnatural in her voice.”
I can see her point–on the other hand, it wouldn’t hurt to at least have some kind of reference to remember names, places, former action. I call these courtesy plot pages, and they score reader thank you points with me. Roth did provide something along these lines on her blog. Be aware that it contains absolute spoilers for reading Divergent. Need a plot reminder? Click here.
Overall, Insurgent is not a bad read. It contains lots of action, plot twists, character growth, and has a cliffhanger ending which will keep me looking for the next installment. Dystopian reads are interesting to me, and I appreciate Roth’s writing style and her themes of government control, violence and pacifism. She also subtly weaves in the aspect of finding personal peace through finding faith. This is the best theme of all.
Out of curiosity, if you had to choose a faction (not born into one), what faction would it be?
Dauntless: tattoo-bearing adrenaline junkies, who tend to shoot first and ask questions later. You don’t see too many old Dauntless hanging about the compound.
Abnegation: they wear grey, because they do not want to stand out in society. They are self-less and serve the community.
Erudite: these guys are the brains, the tech-geeks. They can also be a bit on the autocratic, cold logic side of life.
Amity: sounds like the Amish because they basically are in philosophy. They are the peace-keepers and the food growers of this messed up society.
So–which one would you choose?
Related articles
- Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth (cuddlebuggery.com)
- Insurgent by Veronica Roth (teensreadinplano.wordpress.com)
- Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth (bookarooju.wordpress.com)
- Book Review Sunday: Insurgent by Veronica Roth (sallyallbright.wordpress.com)
- Free Four: Tobias Tells the Story, by Veronica Roth (mrsaubergine.wordpress.com)
- ‘Insurgent’ debuts at number one on ‘New York Times’ hardcover bestseller list (examiner.com)
Rethinking Knowledge
Image via CrunchBase
Too Big To Know by David Weinberger certainly does give a person something to think about. If the book title doesn’t intrigue you, move on to the subtitle:
Rethinking Knowledge
Now That the Facts Aren’t the Facts,
Experts Are Everywhere,
and the Smartest Person in the Room
Is the Room
I think entire college course could be dedicated to the subtitle alone.
Speaking of colleges, specifically universities, it makes sense Weinberger is the person to write a book about how the Internet has impacted our knowledge since he is a Senior Researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for the Internet & Society. He knows what he is talking about when it comes to the Internet and how it is shaping our thinking, and that’s what this book is all about: how the Internet is reshaping our thinking.
From the inside book flap:
We used to know how to know. We got our answers from books or experts. We’d nail down the facts and move on. But in the Internet age, knowledge has moved onto networks. There’s more knowledge than ever, of course, but its different. (emphasis added)
It is different. It’s instant. And we all know from downing ramen, micro meals, and breakfast in a glass, that instant is not better–it’s quicker, yes, but overall it lacks something in the quality aspect of satisfaction.
Let’s wind up the Victrola, please….Back in my day (yada yada). But it’s true, back in school, you know prior to the ’80s and desktop computers and Internet access, a student had to GO to the library and look up information in almanacs, encyclopedias, and in expert-crafted tomes of knowledge. I don’t think our school library even owns an encyclopedia set anymore. Librarian: Just go look it up on the computer. In fact, I think the school library has become a computer lab adorned with fiction, since the non-fiction is ignored and passed over for the Internet click instead.
After reading Weinberger’s book I feel my long held opinion is validated: we are becoming stupider. I tell my students all the time how our brain is a muscle. If we don’t exercise our muscles they atrophy. I know my brain is getting flabby. One example is my lack of data bank of memorized phone numbers. Why should I when I can speed dial? Yet, before I rant about the overkill of technology and how it is breeding a stupider instead of brainer society let me let Weinberger point out his thoughts:
page xii (even before he starts the book)
The Internet is an unedited mash of rumor, gossips, and lies. It splinters our attention and spells the end of reflective, long-form thought…Everyone with any stupid idea has a megaphone as big as that of educated, trained people. We form “echo chambers” online and actually encounter fewer challenges to our thinking than we did during the broadcast era. Google is degrading our memories. Google is making us stupid. The Internet loves fervid, cult-driven amateurs and drives professionals out of business.
Image via CrunchBase
Before we pack up our Macs, trade in our iPhones, and blast Microsoft and totally castigate technology, let’s step back, take a breath and rethink knowledge. Here is the big question: how much do we need to know? This is what Weinberger explores throughout his book.
In Chapter Nine he brings up the million dollar question: Are the changes in knowledge good or bad? I dunno–are they? All I know is what I learned and most of my learning has come from reading, not from zipping and schlipping and sedgwaying my way across the knowledge-littered frontier of cyber space. I feel drained and mentally fatigued after I have spent an hour kibitzing on the computer. Kind of like eating a bag of Cheetos when I should have been eating a salad but didn’t want to take the time to create something nutritious. The analogy tie is that although Cheetos could be considered food it doesn’t have a lasting effect when it comes to nourishment; it’s not at all like savoring a lovely garden salad laden with veggies and topped with sunflower seeds. Seeking information via the Internet for me, most of the time, is eating a bag of Cheetos. I keep eating, but I’m still hungry even after the bag is done. Books are salad in that the bulk goes down and stays down and feeds the body (lettuce and pages–it works).
All I can say is the whole “Is the Internet enlivening or depriving our brains” question brings me back to the short story By the Waters of Babylon” Do you know the passage I’m alluding to? The one where the protagonist looks around at the remains of the once great society and wonders, “Did they eat their knowledge too fast?”
It makes me wonder–are we eating our knowledge too fast?
image: cyberlawharvard.edu
Related articles
- Is Data Too Big To Know? (semanticweb.com)
- The Internet Changes the Nature of Knowledge (themoderatevoice.com)
- In A World Of Too Much To Know (twistimage.com)
- Information overload: we’re all dealing with it… (beyondmeds.com)
- Weinberger’s “Three Orders of Organization” (lis65302studentblog.wordpress.com)
- The Factual Age (etao.wordpress.com)
Serious Nonsense
Jasper Fforde is a seriously funny writer. And while that statement constitutes a bit of oxymoronic thought, it is indeed true. Fforde has basically resumed where Douglas Adams left off when it comes to creating parallel worlds that address some serious issues veiled in nonsensical prose. Fforde and Adams are the grown-up literature of choice for those who appreciate Alice in Wonderland, yet want something not found shelved in the juvenile section of the library.
A librarian recommended Fforde to me last year knowing I was an English teacher and a voracious reader (i.e. Book Booster). I began with The Eyre Affair. Harboring a soft spot for capable, tenacious heroines, who nevertheless possess vulnerability, I consumed the entire series. Moving on to the next Fforde offerings, I can’t say I embraced his Nursery Crime books; truthfully, I did not get beyond the first chapter. When Shades of Grey (not that Shades of Grey) came out, I checked it out only to return it being far too busy with other projects and such to dedicate time to it. Then came the warmth of late spring. Aah–hammock weather. I found time for Fforde.
I could spin out a satisfactory summary, yet why not let the invented wheel roll? Here’s what GoodReads has to say:
wikipedia.org
Stunningly imaginative, very funny, tightly plotted, and with sly satirical digs at our own society, this novel is for those who loved Thursday Next but want to be transported somewhere equally wild, only darker; a world where the black and white of moral standpoints have been reduced to shades of grey.
This is the first in the series and it ended with quite a cliffhanger. Now that school is almost out and the drowsy days (and the cozy hammock) beckon me, I look forward to continuing my found Fforde series. I do like a good series.
Related articles
- Hammocking, the Backyard Sport of Choice (cricketmuse.wordpress.com)
- One of Our Thursdays is Missing, by Jasper Fforde (mrsaubergine.wordpress.com)
- Hungry for Another Series? (cricketmuse.wordpress.com)
- Into the Land of Words, Part I (enchantedbybooks.wordpress.com)
- June 1book140 Shortlist: Whodunits (theatlantic.com)
- Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’d Play Hooky With Today (sarahsaysread.com)
Nifty Fifty
Ta-dah! This marks my fiftieth post and to commemorate the event here are some random fifty trivia bits.
1. This weekend my community celebrates Lost in the Fifties. It’s a weekend where people dress up in poodle skirts and 501’s and saddle shoes and watch a parade of old-time cars go by. There’s a street dance and a big dance at the fairgrounds with bands that are mock-fifty era sounding. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a biggie for tourist bucks. We even showed American Graffiti at the local stage theatre.
designerjet.com
2. Of the fifty United States I’ve only been to about seven. Does airport transfers count? Then make it about a dozen.
statecountymaps.com
flicker.com
3. I don’t like weather colder than the fifties. Forty-five is pushing my comfort zone.
writerleagueoftexas.wordpress.com
4. If I could name my top favorite fifty books I would have to say To Kill a Mockingbird remains close to the top as my favorite reread. Which is saying something since I teach just about every year to ninth graders.
5. Should I set out to gather fifty quotes about reading, writing, and books I would include these gems:
- The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. Agatha Christie
- The desire to write grows with writing. Desiderius Erasmus
- My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living. Anais Nin
- If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it.Tennessee Williams
- The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them. Jeff Jarvis
- I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done. Steven Wright
- Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.Marsha Norman
- Be obscure clearly.E.B. White
- The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.Gustave Flaubert
- Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers. Isaac Asimov
6. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover is one of Paul Simon’s songs that tends to loop in my brain now and then.
Hammocking, the Backyard Sport of Choice
Although the calendar says summer starts next month, I say 85 degrees is summer. All year-long I look forward to the time when I will spend my days shlumping around in my hammocks. Yes, I have two. One is a deluxe double-wide parked out edition which is housed in its own little gazebo. It’s designed for those hot days when a breeze-in-the-shade reading session hits the spot. The other is a K-Mart sale special stiff-canvas singler that is a roasting-is-the-mostest wonder. I’ve already replaced the material on that one.
Summertime, hammocks, and books, with a side of lemonade in a frosted glass–who could want anything more?
What I was reading in the hammock over the weekend:
I become a Jasper Fforde fan after reading his Thursday Next series, and have started his new series. I wonder if he is enjoying the notoriety if being the original Shades of Grey title on the market. More of a review later.
Blue Skies,
Cricket Muse
Related articles
- Haven of hammocks (ewermter.wordpress.com)
- Shaun’s Hammock Misadventures (bigbasslakemi.wordpress.com)
#3: Picture Books Are for Any Age!
“What do you write?” is a question often traded at a writer’s conference. My answer is usually an embarrassed “everything.” It’s true. I write middle grade, YA, adult, poems, non-fiction, plays, book reviews–I like to write! My favorite genre, the one I no doubt have spent the most time on, is picture books.
There is something incandescently, transcendentally, most amazingly wonderful when it comes to experiencing a picture book. They are even better when shared with a child. I don’t mind reading them on my own. Oh, picture books are only for kids? Is that a bona fide rule?
Moving on with my Cricket List: Musings of a Voracious Reader, I decided to tackle my #3: Picture Books.This is a tough one because it could go on from here until next Tuesday because I have so many favorites. I could probably start entire blog about picture books. So instead of a list I am posting thumbnail covers of picture books read, admired, reread, find timeless, find amazing, and want to share with the world. Barnes and Noble supplied the images.
Enjoy!
This is only a thimble’s worth in the sea of picture book reads. I stopped at page 15 of Barnes and Noble’s picture book list. Feel free to browse on your own. And make sure to pop a couple of picture books in your basket when shopping at your local library or bookstore. Picture books are forever.
Pam Webb aka Cricket Muse
A writer's journey as a reader
Recent Award
Children’s Insider
Society for Children’s Writers and Illustrators
Pam Webb 