Reading List @ MindSay 
books
I hereby declare this summer to be "The Summer of Non-Fiction!" (insert trumpet sounds and jazz hands here!) Of course, I've always got me some good reality TV, but there are also these cool things we call books.
I love to read books, as I like to read about books. Always have. So when the summer book preview lists came out this year, I poured through them and wrote down all the titles that sounded intriguing to me. And when I looked at my completed list, I realized that ALL of the books I wrote down - with the exception of 1 - were all non-fiction. So here is my reading list (including those that I've already completed). If you've read them, let me know what you thought.
Finished:
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex - Mary Roach Fun read. I read her previous book "Stiff" (about cadavers - get your mind out of the gutter!) at the recommendation of a good friend R78 with somewhat similar taste in books. Shiny and I both enjoyed the read. There were moments that had me giggling out loud, and moments where I actually said "Wow! I didn't know that!"
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry - Kathleen Flynn I like to read about food. Reading cookbooks, cooking magazines, recipes, etc. But most of all I enjoy reading about people's adventures in the kitchen. Heat, Julie and Julia, Bourdain (see below), loved them all. Ruth Reichl's memoirs are also fabulous (although she was a reviewer not a chef - but still great reads).
Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain Hi. Bourdain. Awesome. Shiny and I also enjoyed the TV show based on this book, but it was short-lived. We have it on DVD (cause we're dorks like that). Big ups to all of his books - fiction included.
The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company - David A. Price As someone who has both studied animation and animation history (for real - college courses and everything) and who is a total fan of Pixar, I really enjoyed this book. Read through it pretty quickly. It was cool to read about all the goings on behind the scenes and about how the technology and the company was created. Of course my kid just liked to look at the pictures...
The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood - Mark Kurzem Don't remember how I initially came across this book, but as soon as I heard about it, I had to read it. The bulk of the book is about the author's search to assist his father to figure out his true identity. A majority of the book takes place in the present (how he finds out about his father's past and it all starts to unravel into the present) and the toll this journey takes on the family. This project started as a documentary (which I've also seen), but I found the book way more engaging.
To read:
Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World - David Maraniss Recommended by both a good book review in the newspaper and by R78. Every four years I get sucked into the drama and excitement of the Olympics, so how could I not read this? Currently #16 on the waiting list.
The Anglo-Files: A Field Guide to the British - Sarah Lyall Well this one just sounded like fun. Being friends with some Brits and watcher of BBC and BBC America on occasion and all.
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You - Sam Gosling Intregued by the book review, and even more so after hearing the author being interviewed on the radio. Can't wait to learn what my stuff says about me (aside from the fact that it needs to be put away). Currently #25 on the waiting list.
Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a Capella Glory - Mickey Rapkin As a collegiate singer and appreciator of a Capella music, this sounded like a fun one as well. First on the library waiting list!
Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11 - Patrick Creed & Rick Newman I'm waffling on this book. Do I want to read it or not? Being in DC, seeing this in person on 9/11, and being that I was sitting in traffic at the exact spot where this event took place just an hour before, and continue to comute past there every day, I'm just not sure. I haven't seen the "Flight 93" movie. However, I've read the opening excerpt of the book online and was totally sucked in.
Central Park in the Dark: More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife - Marie Winn I thought it would be interesting to read about animals instead of people. No giraffes in this one though. At least not that I know of.
Books: A Memoir - Larry McMurtry From the author of Lonesome Dove, which I've never read. Another memoir - but this one is a book about a lover of books! Excellent reviews. Looking forward to it!
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible - A.J. Jacobs R78 (there she is again) recommended him. She is a huge fan of his work. I read "The Know-It-All" and loved it. Since Shiny and I are into the whole learning about religion thing, and after hearing interviews with Jacobs about the book, I went ahead and bought it. Since I own this, of course I keep putting it aside for library books that have to go back after two weeks, and other projects.
I also need to catch up on my Laurie Notaro and her Idiot Girl adventures. She cracks me up to no end, and it's touch when I'm laughing out loud about something crazy and inappropriate, and can't explain to my kid what's making me laugh. I just saw at Borders today that she has a new book out, so I can't wait.
Other non-Fiction books read this year:
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - Steve Martin Always been a fan of Steve Martin. This was a great read.
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food - Jennifer 8 Lee Again with the food books... Reading this made me crave chinese food every day that I was reading this. Facinating following her journey around the world. Some of it even takes place in our own backyard.
So maybe this is the year of non-Fiction?
So, as I mentioned, I'm reading and analyzing (as every reader shoud), seeking other analyses and discussion. As I also mentioned, my first books are going to be the Harry Potter series. Yes, all 7. Am I crazy? Maybe a little. Normally, I'd whip through them in about a week, but I'm making myself slow down, write in the books (yes, write in them--don't worry, they're my own copies, and I would never deface a book so as to make it unreadable; but writing in the margins is cheaper than buying sticky notes and allows me to ask questions/make comments and know exactly what I was referring to...wow. More tangents!)
ANYWAY.
Without further ado, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived. This chapter is one of my favorites in the whole book, maybe the whole series. It's one of the only times where we truly see the Dursleys. While they're not my favorite characters, they certainly are interesting. We see them as they are: upper middle-class, fairly privileged (that word just doesn't look like it's spelled right) suburbanites. They're fairly wrapped up in their own world. They don't notice things like owls swooping around in broad daylight. Vernon notices the strangely-dressed people, but only because they don't conform to his ideas of how people should behave. Vernon only starts noticing all the strange things occuring around him when he hears the name "Potter". His own paranoia kicks in then, and he starts seeing signs of the apocalypse everywhere. Petunia reacts in almost exactly the opposite way. When Vernon points out all the strange things happening and suggests a possible connection with her sister, Petunia asks why he would assume that. While Vernon's paranoia sends him into a worried frenzy, Petunia's paranoia sends her to an isolated bubble. In a number of ways, Petunia and Vernon are perfect foils for one another. In appearance, Petunia is tall, horsey, and blonde, while Vernon is short, stalky, and dark-haired. In manner, they also foil each other. Petunia is chatty and full of gossip, while Vernon is not.
Another element that makes me really happy is all the foreshadowing that occurs. We build and build and build, knowing something regarding the Potters (she even makes their name--a fairly ordinary name--sound magical and mysterious) is about to change the lives of many. Even after we have a vague notion of what's happened (if you're reading it for the first time, you don't know exactly what all is going on), that last line of the chapter is still foreshadowing.
Speaking of names, she uses names in important ways a lot. I know this has been said a lot, but she does. One of her biggest successes was taking such an ordinary name, Harry Potter, and turning it into something totally magical, both in the novel and in real life. She uses dry, flat names for the Dursleys, who are, in comparison with the rest of the Harry Potter world, very dry and traditional and closed-minded. They are anti-imagination. Dumbledore and Hagrid, on the other hand, are some of the more interesting characters, as their names might suggest.
Oblivion: Both the Dursleys and Dumbledore are described as being somewhat oblivious, but they're oblivious in completely different ways. The Dursleys are almost obtuse about anything abnormal, and they regard abnormal with fear and suspicion. Dumbledore, on the other hand, is oblivious in a more benign way. He doesn't notice--or doesn't care--that he's out of place on Privet Drive. He remains steadfastly oblivious to McGonagall's attempts to sidewind into the story behind the Potters and all the celebration, of which Dumbledore obviously knows more than he's letting on.
Speaking of McGonagall and Dumbledore, I LOVE this relationship. McGonagall obviously admires and looks up to Dumbledore, but she also realizes that he's not perfect. She shows very strong reverence for the man but doesn't mind questioning him in an almost devil's-advocate way. Dumbledore values her opinion and trusts her immensely, but he also sees a great deal more than she does. He takes risks that she might not, knowing full-well that it's a bigger risk than others might take.
Symbols that caught my attention:
-Drills: Mr. Dursley is obviously what I somewhat cynically call a Manly Man. He knows what masculinity is, and he knows what it is not. Although Vernon doesn't directly work with drills, the fact that he works for a drill company is a symbol of his supposed masculinity and male authority.
-What is percieved: When Mr. Dursley sees the cat reading the map, he becomes rather agitated. He becomes convinced that he could not have seen a cat reading a map because that would mean that the cat has some kind of power. Seeing is believing, and Mr. Dursley refuses to believe and therefore refuses to see.
-Owls: they're flying free. Birds that fly free are a symbol of liberation. The wizarding community has been liberated from the horror of (don't flinch) Voldemort's reign of terror. Owls are also associated with the supernatural, which is probably why it's owls and not eagles or some other large, noticeable bird. Also, owls are a parallel to the wizards themselves. The owls are out and about, unhiding; likewise, their masters are out and about, not trying to hide who they are, celebrating.
-Light: with the stealing of light, Dumbledore symbolically (grr...spelling!) limits knowlege to just him and those around him--in this case, McGonagall and Hagrid. Light is a symbol of knowlege and reason. In a way, he gathers reason to him.
-Scars: (yeah, yeah...d'oh!) serve as a reminder of the past (quite literally). For Harry, it's also a symbol of everything the world sees of him. They see the boy with the scar; they see the boy who defeated Voldemort. It's a symbol of the surface Harry.
Themes:
-Tolerance: Immediately, we are confronted with the Dursleys' intolerance of the abnormal. This intolerance develops as the chapter proceeds. It grows from simply "the abnormal" to anything that doesn't conform to their strict idea of what is socially/morally acceptible. This is a sharp contrast to the obvious tolerance Dumbledore shows for those not conforming to even his seemingly strange ideas of normal, such as Hagrid. McGonagall shows a sort of middle ground, obviously tolerating Dumbledore, yet somewhat questioning the acceptance of Hagrid. In the end however, Dumbledore's influence reigns supreme, as McGonagall doesn't entirely dismiss Hagrid.
-The idea that those who object most vehemently often have the most to hide. It's the sort of McCarthy Witch Hunter whose parents are Communists thing. The Dursleys are steadfastly against whatever the Potters stand for (as of yet, we can't SAY the wizarding world, as Rowling hasn't quite given us that gem...she's hinted at it, but not said it outright), and yet two of the greatest witches and wizards are Mrs. Dursley's own sister and her husband and child.
Any comments? Please. I wanna know.
I was reading a blog this morning and this beautiful person inspired me to write a simple list of what i like and makes me happy .... thank you littlecauldron
(my list won't be as clean as hers but i'm me)
1. chilly mornings with a hot cup of coffe
2. jamacian blue mountain coffee
3. chilly nights and someone to cuddle with
4. making a dessert for anyone that enjoys it
5. hot shower
6. a mani & pedi
7. taking time to pet my cats & dogs
8. walks at night
9. the beach in winter
10. 69
11. a cold beer and hot pizza
12. working in my flower garden
13. spending the day cooking for and talking with all my children
14. reading a good book
15. spending the weekend with hubby at a hotel
16. dinner and a play
17. "eating a sandwich" with close friends ... is it 4:20??
18. alone time
there is more i have bored you enough
I'm unofficially on holidays! But since i haven't been called to replace any teachers and that all forms are soon to be on holidays, i may consider that i'm on summer vacations right now...
I have so many things planned that i want to do, including:
- Watching tomatoes grow and ripe and eat them! I can't wait to pick the first one and savour it!
- Making special gifts for my best friend's 30th birthday... It's coming up soon, but i've already started and should be ready on time... I'm not saying anymore right now, just in case she may come by, even though i doubt it...
- Knit, knit and knit some more! I've found blogs on knitting and people show all the wonderful things they have knitted, and that makes me want to do more.
- Quilt, of course... I think i'm going to make one for my father's wedding, next year... I know it's quite early to think about it already, but i should be busy next year if i stick to my resolutions... so i may as well start that early. Moreover, i have other quilts to make for babies just born... I wish people stopped having babies, i swear, it uses up much of my time! But mothers are so happy when they get a quilt for their babies...
-Oh! I was going to forget..... practice more sports: swimming and jogging... I've started jogging already!
- Read and study... I have a huge list of books i must study... Well, i've just realized it's not so big.... but i know how much personal work tht implies... that's part of my business-to-be next year, as i want to take a very difficult test that may enable be to increase my incomes.... but i don't know if i'm clever and good enough to pass it... But it would be a step for me to get closer to my goal...
Here is the list, and i must say that i'm rather happy with what we have to study...
Litterature:
1. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus.
2. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
3. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813).
4. Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory (1940).
5. Richard Ford, A Multitude of Sins (2002).
6. Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy (1759- 1767).
7. W. B Yeats. Selected Poems.
History:
1. The US presidency from Roosevelt to Bush.
2. Devolution in the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Grammar and translation...
Even though i started on Coriolanus and i can say it's not my favourite Shakespeare play, the rest of the list sounds good...: i LOVED The Power and the Glory! It's a great novel. I also read The Grapes of Wrath many years ago and i remember liking it very much too... We'll see...
In other words, it's going to be a busy summer! I wish days could be longer so that i could do more! Anyway... I hope to be posting more again too... but hey! I'm on holidays!
As I continue to prepare to re-enter the land of Academia, I thought I should catch up on my reading. This is taken from the TOP 150 Englsih Novels of the 20th Century. Below, I have the top 25. The ones in bold, I have read, which leaves the rest for me to read. Not too bad, but rather depressing to look at. The 20th Century was so filled with political satire! Just the titles alone leave me with a somber, hopeless feeling. *sigh* Perhaps a sad commentary that if art, in this case literature, reflects life ... is life really this depressing? I prefer 19th Century! It was a bit cheerier!
1.The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald 2.1984, George Orwell 3.Catch-22, Joseph Heller 4.The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck 5.Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 6.Animal Farm, George Orwell 7.Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 8.Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison 9.Ulysses, James Joyce 10.The Lord of the Flies, William Golding 11.Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger 12.Brave New World, Aldous Huxley 13.The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner 14.Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce 15.To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee 16.The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway 17.Native Son, Richard Wright 18.Beloved, Toni Morrison 19.Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell 20.To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf 21.The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien 22.The Color Purple, Alice Walker 23.On the Road, Jack Kerouac 24.The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton 25.The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
Which ones have you read? Enjoyed?
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