The Nightingale

Best book I've read all summer. I give it 7 stars. I'm grateful to mom and to the Summer of 100,000 Pages for leading me to this book that I probably wouldn't have read otherwise.

Paper book vs Ebook vs Audiobook

I want to take a little family poll.

What is your reading preference and why?

• Paper Book
• Ebook
• Audiobook

Although I do enjoy paper books, I have come to LOVE Ebooks.  Specifically, I love reading on my kindle.  I love the convenience of carrying 20 books around with me on an object that weighs 7.3 ounces.  I love that a kindle screen doesn't hurt my eyes like an iPad or computer screen.  I love that I can add a reading light if I need it.  I love that when I don't know a word I can put my finger on it and it gives me the definition.  I love that I can still check out library books and never pay a late fee.

What camp do the rest of you fall in?

It's Beatrix Potter Week

It’s Beatrix Potter Week

We are winding down our summer reading program, so let’s end with a BANG.  We can add lots of pages this week as we celebrate the works of Beatrix Potter.  One reason that I want to do this is because Hill Top Farm, her home, is just a few miles from Amanda’s temporary home in the Lake District.  I’m planning to go there when I visit Amanda in a few weeks. 

There was a movie about Beatrix, Miss Potter, which came out several years ago.  It might be fun to watch it; however, ours is not a summer movie program.  We are reading!  So I suggest that you read Beatrix Potter by Alexandra Wallner.  It gives a simple life sketch.  There may be some other books about her in your library; choose what suits you and what is on the shelf.  Then try reading some of her delightful tales.  Did you know that Beatrix’s editor wanted her to make the drawings in her first book larger?  She would not enlarge the pictures, saying that the book needed to be small so that children’s hands could hold it easily.

Although she wrote a few other books, she is most famous for her 23 “tales.”  They are:

1.     The Tale of Peter Rabbit

2.     The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

3.     The Tailor of Gloucester

4.     The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

5.     The Tale of Two Bad Mice

6.     The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle

7.     The Tale of The Pie and The Patty-Pan

8.     The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher

9.     The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit

10.  The Story of Miss Moppet

11.  The Tale of Tom Kitten

12.  The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck

13.  The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding

14.  The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies

15.  The Tale of Ginger and Pickles

16.  The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

17.  The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes

18.  The Tale of Mr. Tod

19.  The Tale of Pigling Bland

20.  Appley Dapply’s Nursery Rhymes

21.  The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse

22.  Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes

23.  The Tale of Little Pig Robinson

Anyone who reads five or more of these books will add significantly to our page count.  As an added bonus, if you read them and then REPORT it to me, I will bring you a special gift from Hill Top Farm.  Do I have any takers?  

Reading Style

This is Jane.  In my absolutely delightful book group, we sometimes give Jane a hard time about her reading style.  Jane does not like to read books with bad endings; therefore, she always reads the ending to see if she is going to like the book.  If she is going to be disappointed with the ending, then she saves herself the trouble of reading the book.  Sometimes if Nona is struggling through a book, she calls Jane, who Nona knows will have “finished” the book already, to see if it is worth reading.  All of us in the book group get exasperated with books that have bad endings.  We also feign exasperation with Jane who doesn’t “play by the rules.”

Is Jane cheating?  When I first met Jane I was surprised that this retired English-teacher-turned-high-school-counselor would defy the established though unwritten laws of book reading.  When you open a book and read that first sentence, aren’t you making an agreement with the author to enjoy her story in her way?  Isn’t there some kind of contract between the two of you?  In return for his giving you enjoyment and knowledge through his words, shouldn’t you give him the time and pages needed to develop the plot the way he intended without jumping to the end? 

Cases in point: 

·      If we knew that in Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are going to end up together wouldn’t it diminish the tension we feel through several hundred pages? Would this scene be quite as enjoyable if we were positive that it was coming?

·      Wouldn’t it ruin The Da Vinci Code to know that Teabing is the teacher before Dan Brown is ready for you to have that information?  Yes, by the time Brown actually reveals this, we have suspected the same; but we don’t suspect it from page 1.  I would feel cheated if I didn’t get to figure that out on my own.

·      Would you really want to read Where the Red Fern Grows if you knew that Old Dan and Little Ann were going to die in the end?  Why put yourself through it?

Are too many classes in college devoted to developing your style of WRITING and not enough to developing yours style of READING?  (Perhaps I would have done better on the ACT if I had practiced Jane’s style of reading on the reading portion of that exam.)  What do you think of Jane’s style of reading?  Although I frown on it, I happen to know that Daniel smiles on it. 

Let’s hear from you, Daniel!  And everybody else weigh in on the subject too.  Thanks for your comments.