Take Me Out with the Crowd
Wordless Wednesday
Thanks, Amber, for taking the photo....
Review: And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
I don't usually read anything special for Banned Books Week. I just don't go out of my way to read books that have been challenged in libraries or schools. I have read several, but that was because I wanted to read them or had to for a class, not to "Read a Banned Book." This year, however, as I was reading some of the Banned Books Week coverage, there was an article which of course I can't find right now, but the girl in it after having had And Tango Makes Three read to her class or group was so happy because it depicted a family that resembled hers. I had heard of the book before but had never read it, so since our library had a copy available I picked it up last night.
And Tango Makes Three is a cute little story aimed at preschoolers and young elementary kids. Two male penguins, Roy and Silo, spend all their time...
Banned Books Meme
In honor of Banned Book Week (September 24 through October 1), I have posted the list of the top 100 banned or challenged books in 2000-2009 from the American Library Association.
The titles I've read I've struck through.
The titles I own are in italics.
The titles I want to read are in bold.
Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Myracle, Lauren
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Forever, by Judy Blume
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
King and King, by Linda de...
Review: “Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case” by S. J. Rozan
"Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case" by S. J. Rozan is a light mystery. Yong-Yun's daughter is a Chinese American private investigator, Lydia Chin, Rozan's series detective, but in this short story it is Yong-Yun who offers her help. Tan Li-Li plays mahjong with Yong-Yun and her friends, but when she calls for Lydia's help, Lydia's not home. Li-Li's grandson has been kidnapped and Li-Li's son only has two hours before he needs to turn over the code for software his firm has developed as ransom, effectively destroying his career. Yong-Yun accepts the case, implying that she works closer with Lydia than she does.
I liked how Yong-Yun followed the clues, and dealt with the whole situation wisely. She's a bright woman. I enjoyed reading her thoughts, not just on the case but on her daughter's profession, asking the computer about people "as though it were a temple fortuneteller," marriage which "if handled badly, can be a source of distress," and her...
Review: The Best American Short Stories 2011, edited by Geraldine Brooks
In her introduction to The Best American Short Stories 2011, Brooks states, "I have always though of literature as a physical matter. A great piece of writing is the one you feel on your skin. It has to do something: Make the heart beat harder of the hairs stand up. Provoke laughter or tears." And when the author can do that in less than 30 pages, I am amazed.
This anthology contains a varied selection of topics and authors. Some of the writer are relative new-comers, others well-known Pulitzer Prize winners. There are stories about parent-child relationships and about small towns, even a foray into a futuristic prison.
I've already looked in detail at a few of the stories:
“Ceiling” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“Housewifely Arts” by Megan Mayhew Bergman
“A Bridge Under Water” by Tom Bissell
I'm sure some people will like some of the stories better than others, as with any collection. Overall, though, it's a collection worth reading. There are several stories to savor, like "The...
National Punctuation Day
Today is National Punctuation Day!
“The writer who neglects punctuation, or mispunctuates, is liable to be misunderstood.... For the want of merely a comma, it often occurs that an axiom appears a paradox, or that a sarcasm is converted into a sermonoid.”
— Edgar Allan Poe, “Marginalia,” Graham’s Magazine, Feb. 1848
I'm afraid that I can be rather liberal with punctuation and fairly inconsistent— I do love a misplaced dash— but I don't think I'm guilty of the next, at least not too often. (Ignore the first line of this post, please.)
“Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own jokes.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
And I liked this winner of last year's haiku contest at the day's official website.
Time to eat grandma.
Save her with a comma or
Simply savor her.
—Tom Murawski...