Postings

I've been lurking on LibraryThing's forums for several years now (yeah, this blog is not the only place I have problems posting), and today I scrolled through one of my favorite topics - the worst books of this quarter (or whatever time period) where folks share what they couldn't bear to read another page of. Sometimes these posts are places for people to get all snobby about their reading or to take a couple of shots at book club recommendations, but when I read this post I cracked up:

Worst books so far:

The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis. I had been looking forward to reading this book. It was a really boring book. Even a character who can bring people back from the dead couldn't make this book interesting to me.

The Clue of the Missing Bagpipies. Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #41 Typical Nancy Drew. I'm just tired of her being such a know-it-all in every book.

Is Sex Necessary? Or Why You Feel The Way You Do by James Thurber and EB White. I gave this a rating of 2/5 -- my lowest so far. A humour book that was not funny and really outdated.

I feel like I should add The Late Hector Kipling by David Thewlis. I gave it a 3/5 and thought it was well written, but, it was VERY dark and not what I was expecting.

I love Nancy Drew, but I do agree she can be a know it all. Now I'm off to check out the poster's library. I have a feeling I'll enjoy her reviews.

Most Influential Southern Novel

LibraryThing alerted me to this poll for the most influential of 20 southern novels of the 20th century. Since I know a couple of you have opinions on this sort of thing, I'm curious to know what you all would pick. I haven't really read enough of these to make a strong choice, but I would like to see the debate that's happening on South Caroline Educational Television around this poll. Interestingly, I think there are two movie adaptions of the novels that have had a huge influence on how the South is perceived by people outside of the south - Deliverance and Gone With The Wind, although not necessarily positive perceptions. The poll where you can vote is here but do come back and tell me what you think.

Indoors and Outdoors

Environmental Educator David Soule is coming to Webster in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I won't be able to hear him speak, due to other plans, but I have been motivated to take a look at some of his writings. I recommend reading his essay Beyond Ecophobia, which takes a look at what most schools are doing around environmental education and whether it's actually effective. I think his arguments make a lot of sense and he and Richard Louv (Last Child In the Woods) have been making me think about our lack of connection to our natural world and how I can make sure Nora has more time in it. Interestingly, their writings are bringing me closer to Waldorf education, despite some of my concerns about it. And I am ever more wishful that we could afford to send Nora to an Reggio Emilio school, but that is sort of out the question right now. Actually, I wish every child could to to an Reggio school, but unfortunately, no one is asking me about education policy (at least no one who has power to change education policy). In some ways, Nora, thanks to my parents and extended family, gets much more time in nature than many children do, but I also think that her parents are not always the best models for appreciating the out of doors. Mainly because Jason and I are much more likely to go read a book than we are to go on a hike. While I think reading books are a great idea, I sort of wish we were a little, teensy, bit more outdoorsy than we are. I'm not suggesting we suddenly decide to take up kayaking any time soon, but maybe we'll take Nora on her first camping trip this spring.

On The Road Again

Hmm, it feels like I'm never here anymore.  Last week I went to the TESOL conference in Denver.  It was really a very good conference.  As well as being quite big.  I think what I enjoyed most about it was that it was an unusual cross-section of academic and practitioner.  Usually conferences are one or the other, this one had both with the added benefit of actually thinking about policy at the same time.  It was sort of nice for folks like me who actually enjoyed taking classes at college and who sort of miss talking about theory and the big picture, as opposed to just getting some strategies to use in the classroom on Monday.  I also loved that it had social justice issues right at the forefront, which is sort of an unusual thing at a literacy-related conferences, where social justice issues might be present, but usually shunted off to the side.   It being more front and center here  is probably because of it's international focus, which was another thing I liked about it.  Oh yeah, and there was a blizzard too.   

This week I'm off to another conference, presenting and exhibiting (that sounds so wrong), but this time I'm going to Southern Missouri, specifically the Lake of the Ozarks.  I'm not really a fan, although, most of Missouri seems to think that it's the cats pajamas.  We are, of course at the Tan Tar A, which is where just about every Missouri conference having to do with Education ever is held, unless one of the two cities convinces the rest of the state to come their direction.  It is an odd place.  Like a southern shotgun house that someone just kept adding on to, the Tan Tar A has labyrinth of buildings that only sort of connect, elevators  that don't stop at every floor,  and passageways that dead end making you exit and run around the building to resume your course.  I dread going there, but then again, I sort of like the place's oddness juxtaposed with it's unrelenting marketing that they are all about FUN and FAMILY.  I won't being doing the water park, or the golf, or the spa  and to the outlet mall (well, maybe),although that's what children, men and women are supposed to do at resorts, or maybe just this resort - in that order - check out the billboards. The irony of it being a FUN, FAMILY VACATION, where none of you actually spend time with each other or even see each other, is sort of lost on Tan Tar A.   In any case, I will be sans family,  stuck in a big exhibit hall talking about parental involvement and why it's more than asking the parents of the "good kids" to come in and decorate the bulletin board, to a potentially hostile audience. Good times.  Let's hope spring is back to stay, because I really want to get home on Saturday evening.