Wool & Words

Booking It

I haven't done one of these in ages, but I've got a minute today and the question is just too good to resist. I've been noodling around with a question similar to this as I prepare for the upcoming school year.

What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?

To me, a reader is defined not by what they read, but by the attitude they bring to the world around them. At some point I realized that I read everything: cereal boxes, newspapers, books, movies, television shows, commercials, conversations, body language. Any form of human (or, as I'm learning now that I live with 3 cats, animal) communication can be read if you attend to that communication as readable. The reading attitude questions, examines, explores, and discriminates. Readers are open to possibilities and seek to understand. Readers consume communicative events.

Like I said--noodling. I'm curious to see what others have to say about it. Thanks, Deb, for such a provocative question!

Decisions, Decisions

While Dems in Texas and Ohio are trying to figure out which part of their identity to reward, I have to figure out what to read. Shortly after graduation (seems like AGES ago), I purchased lots of interesting books

From bottom to top:

• Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf
• The New Brain: How the Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind by Richard Restak M.D.
• Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide by Henry Jenkins
• The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Ann Marie Fleming
• The Bookseller of Kabulby Asne Seierstad
• Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster (this one was actually a graduation gift)
• Nightby Elie Wiesel

I haven't cracked a one of these; how tragic is that? I need to read one or two (at least) before I head off to new employment land. But how to pick?

If I use the punctuation method of selection, then I can easily knock out four of them. Because, really? That colon is the mark of academe to my eyes. My dissertation title has a colon, every paper I've delivered in my graduate career has had a colon, every freaking book I pick up at the library to read has a colon.

You see, everybody poops.

But using the colon method knocks out the Austen adventure, which is most decidedly NOT an academic book; I suppose they wanted to appeal to the Austen-loving academics out there.

I could use the length of the title (Wiesel wins that one) or the feel of the book in the hand (Seierstad is satisfying) or the amount of eye-candy (Fleming, in a landslide). I could use social significance (Seierstad and Jenkins) or learning-something-new (Wolf and Restak) as criteria for selection.

Or I could just pick one up and start reading.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Anyone have experience with any of these?

Advice?

Surely there's got to be a way for me to get one of these to examine? I mean, after all, I am an English teacher...

Booking Through Thursday

This daily blogging thing means I'm open to memes, and this is one I love.

Today's Booking Through Thursday question:

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less? Why?

My answer? Definitely reading more now.

When I was younger, I read all the time; I was constantly buried in a book when I didn't have something else taking my attention. I read everything--cereal boxes, books, newspapers, magazines (well, I LOOKED AT Tiger Beat--can you really call what you do with that reading?)--and I always wanted more.

I still read constantly--on the screen, in print--and I read more types of things and in different ways. In fact, I'd have to say that because of my maturing and what I do for a living, I read everything; the world is a big book to be savored and examined.

Booking Through Thursday...a Day Late

This week, BTT poses the following question:

Who’s the worst fictional villain you can think of? As in, the one you hate the most, find the most evil, are happiest to see defeated? Not the cardboard, two-dimensional variety, but the most deliciously-written, most entertaining, best villain? Not necessarily the most “evil,” so much as the best-conceived on the part of the author…oh, you know what I mean!

My immediate answer was "Moriarty," but on reflection, I thought that I'd share a different favorite, one who has definitely seeped into our consiousness, even if we don't know who he is.

George Du Maurier's Trilby tells the story of a young woman who is destroyed by the manipulations of an evil, controlling Svengali-like creature, named, oddly enough, Svengali (*winks*). A brief introduction to Svengali:

He had been the best pianist of his time at the Conservatory in Leipsic; and, indeed, there was perhaps some excuse for this overweening conceit, since he was able to lend a quite peculiar individual charm of his own to any music he played, except the highest and best of all, in which he conspicuously failed.

He had to draw the line just above Chopin, where he reached his highest level. It will not do to lend your own quite peculiar individual charm to Handel and Bach and Beethoven; and Chopin is not bad as a pis-aller.

He had ardently wished to sing, and had studied hard to that end in Germany, in Italy, in France, with the forlorn hope of evolving from some inner recess a voice to sing with. But nature had been singularly harsh to him in this one respect — inexorable. He was absolutely without voice, beyond the harsh, hoarse, weak raven's croak he used to speak with, and no method availed to make one for him. But he grew to understand the human voice as perhaps no one has understood it — before or since.

So in his head he went for ever singing, singing, singing, as probably no human nightingale has ever yet been able to sing out loud for the glory and delight of his fellow-mortals; making unheard heavenly melody of the cheapest, trivialest tunes — tunes of the cafe concert, tunes of the nursery, the shop-parlour, the guard-room, the schoolroom, the pothouse, the slum. There was nothing so humble, so base even, but what his magic could transform it into the rarest beauty without altering a note. This seems impossible, I know. But if it didn't, where would the magic come in?

Whatever of heart or conscience — pity, love, tenderness, manliness, courage, reverence, charity — endowed him at his birth had been swallowed up by this one faculty, and nothing of them was left for the common uses of life. He poured them all into his little flexible flageolet.

Svengali playing Chopin on the pianoforte, even (or especially) Svengali playing 'Ben Bolt' on that penny whistle of his, was as one of the heavenly host.

Svengali walking up and down the earth seeking whom he might cheat, betray, exploit, borrow money from, make brutal fun of, bully if he dared, cringe to if he must — man, woman, child, or dog — was about as bad as they make 'em.

So many gifts, but still so unsatisfied. You almost feel sorry for him, because of his upbringing, his artistic pain, and the racism and mockery directed at him by other characters. But he takes advantage, he ruins, he destroys.

So he wins for me in this round. And I'm off to Louisiana to do some wedding planning (!!!) and visit family. I'll try to post from the road. I'm shamefully behind on my Sockapalooza 4 socks, and I need to confess to my knitting peeps.

The Things You Learn

I love finding new blogs, especially when they're the blogs of people I actually know. It's even better when you learn something! James of subdue it with a sweater (great blogname, eh?) has actually made me want to buy another of Debbie Stoller's books. Son of Stitch 'n Bitch won't be out until later this fall, but I want to knit the argyle scarf on the cover NOW.

And then there's Darilee of Knitting Marries Dirt Bike. Darilee is an incredible fiber artist, a great knitter, and just a really good, cool soul. Keep an eye out for her felt scarves (I hope you plan to put up some photos eventually, my lady), because they're just beautiful.

In Harry Potter Land:

I'm still digesting, but yes, I did read (all but the first 4 chapters) the book yesterday. I even skipped watching "The Closer" to read, which is a serious sacrifice for me. The series ended just as I hoped it would. It was triumphant, that ending, in a subtle, gentle way. I found myself getting a bit lost as I got closer to the close because I was giving in to my baser reading instincts to rush through and find out what happened. I made myself slow down, read some of it aloud, and it was really lovely and thoughtful and made me dig deep. And then this afternoon I was speaking to a friend and I could see how wonderfully Rowling had crafted the story from the beginning, how she had led us to this point so logically and nicely. I want to read them all again and will eventually. For now I'll just savor the satisfaction of the ending. Good storytelling, whether it's for kids or grownups, always satisfies.

In about a week I'll make comments that actually speak to what happened, since I assume that by that time all who might read this blog who want to preserve the moment of discovery will have finished their read. But I'll make sure to give a spoiler warning, ok?

Endings

I've just finished the book. I'm going to think about it a bit, after I've had some sleep and re-entered my little life. It's been a hectic couple of weeks, and I'm in need of a bit of rest.

Can't. Read. Yet.

I've got my copy of The Book, thanks to about 15 minutes of waiting in line at the local Wal-Mart. I'm halfway through my reread of Half-Blood Prince, which I left (drat!) in my car at the yarn shop, so I won't get it back until I get there tomorrow, and I have to finish it before I read the new one AND I have this pesky little job interview to go to on Monday, so, really, I won't be able to read it until Tuesday.

Sigh. I'm going to have to be super-vigilant in my internet travels. Be careful with the spoilers out there, OK?

Booking Through Thursday

Can't resist the Booking Through Thursday HP theme for this week! Besides...I feel a bit more at my leisure to meme since my good friend, Tricia (blogless, I'm afraid), did me the tremendous favor of helping me collate my committee members' edits into one, easy to work with document.

So...the Q & A:

1. Okay, love him or loathe him, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on Saturday… Are you going to read it?
   
   Of course I'm going to read it! I reread Order of the Phoenix last week and I'm working on Half-Blood Prince right now to get ready. I anticipate a sleepless night next Tuesday.
   
2. If so, right away? Or just, you know, eventually, when you get around to it? Are you attending any of the midnight parties?
   
   I have to prepare for a job interview on Monday, so I don't know that I'll let myself start it until that's over. But once that's done, it's on, baby!
   
   Not yet certain about when I'll get my book. We're having a game night at the yarn shop this Friday (local folks--come check it out!), so if I'm feeling adventurous afterward, I can certainly see heading to the bookstore to enjoy the final frenzy. Come to think of it, I really should go this once to experience the cultural moment, eh?
   
3. If you’re not going to read it, why not?
   
   I can't imagine not reading it, but I read a WaPo editorial yesterday that explained why some might pass.
   
4. And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? What are you most looking forward to?
   
   I think that Harry will survive, although I fear that he'll do so as Frodo does in LOTR, which would not satisfy. I'm really looking forward to finding out the truth about Snape and seeing Voldemort get what he deserves, which is nothing less than total annihilation. Yep. That would satisfy.

The Great American Novel?

Chappysmom posted a request for the best children's books, the great, personality-and-sense-of-country-shaping ones that really stuck. Like good ribs. Mmmmm...ribs.

My choice? Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game.

Why?

A bunch of seemingly random people, from different backgrounds and walks of life, with varied desires, needs, strengths, weakness, and hidden criminal activities, come together in a high-rise apartment building only to discover that they are all (mostly) connected to one person who has died. They have to play his game to win his fortune, but the game is not what it appears.

The heroine? A cheeky enfant terrible named Turtle.

The book is patriotic without being insipid, supports competition while showing that it's not good to hurt others to be successful. There are broken hearts and failures and Great Lessons Learned. The book, for me, is America.

And it's fun and funny. It won a Newbery Award. It's freaking awesome. This is my favorite book to give to girls, although I'm thinking I should pass it on to a few boys too. If you haven't read it, read it. It's just light and good and fun.

Reading

I finally bit the bullet and just finished up Infidel. I'm not much for memoirs; I tend to prefer good fiction, poetry, and essays. This book, though, really wanted me to read it, so I acquiesced.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born 3 months after me. 3 months and an ocean away, both born into large extended families steeped in monolithic faith traditions. In some weird way, I was reading my other self, a vision of a life I could have had were it not for the accident of birth and nation.

Being born here, in this country, is such a gift. As I read her story, as I learned about the conditions in which she and her family lived, the hardship they suffered, the awful things done to her in the name of faith, I couldn't help but think, "there but for the grace of God go I."