Emmaline

This made me choke on my lunch. Good one!

I guess I am another painfully slow reader. I generally only read books from the 1800s, and it takes me a bit to get into the language of the author. The Wizard of Oz took only a few hours, while Catch-22 took me over a month. Granted I teach preschool, so most of my time is spent coloring, cutting, creating materials to use the next day. I wonder if I made myself read for say an hour a day if I would speed up some?

I have a 1908 copy of Shepherd of the Hills signed by the author to a "dear friend." It is nicely aged and smells amazing.

I love that quote from Horton. My students loved that book and now when I ask them to do something they say "I ment what I said, I am faithful 100 pernent" I figure for 3 year olds that's pretty good.

I am enjoying it quite a bit, I just have to enjoy it is smallish doses. For some reason this is not a spend an afternoon reading type of book for me. It is a read for 20 minutes before you go to bed and on your lunch break kind of book.

I am on chapter 15 and honestly it keeps going. It continues to tell the story from multiple points of views by introducing a character every chapter and telling their part of the story then switches characters again. That being said, I am enjoying it because it fits my sense of humor (monty python, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, etc.). I am finding I can't read much in a sitting though, I read a couple of chapters on the weekend and maybe one during the week and go back to a more serious read. I do find it very funny though.

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect." Kafka The Metamorphosis "Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo." James Joyce Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." Raphael Sabatini Scaramouche "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years." William Faulkner A Rose For Emily Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. This planet has — or rather had — a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches. Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans. Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Yes I know its more than the first line, but it sets up the rest of the book for the large amount of absurdity encountered on this five part trilogy.

This past week in my preschool class we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday (Theodore Geisel), and his many zany stories. I have always enjoyed reading Dr. Seuss books, but I would not call myself a huge fan. This past week my 10 3 year olds were really into Dr. Seuss. We made the red and white hats, made green eggs and ham, made Horton hats, played elefun, I have a huge 50 piece Horton floor puzzle, several stuffed versions of the characters, etc. I have to admit, I am a much bigger fan since this experience. I have done this theme in the past, and couldn't wait for it to be over. We graphed our favorite Dr. Seuss book and Green Eggs and Ham won, Fox in Socks came in second and Cat in the Hat was third. My favorite book is Fox in Socks because the tongue twisters make it fun to read. What is your favorite?

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel I have always thought that was the coolest title ever. Sounds like a science paper or something but it is really a play about this family with all sorts of problems including poor, low social status, single mother raising two very different daughters... It is a short read, less than an hour, but I remember enjoying it.

This sounds so familiar to me! I am wanting to say that I have read this book. Was it Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen?

That's not just in your imagination.

I read Black Like Me in Honors English in high school, and it really stuck out to me, but I had forgotten about it until now. I need to go back and reread to see if it is what I remember it to be. Thanks for the reminder.

Books that jump around in time. One page you are in a memory the next someone is dreaming about the future, then for a paragraph you are in current time, back to a dream. Ugh, I just can't keep up when they do that. I think that is why every time I try to read Withering Heights I just can't get into it. I spend so much time trying to figure out did this already happen?

Barnes and Noble has a version that has it in a book with other short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson for 4.95. I like those versions because they also include a bio on the author, what was happening in history at that point, timeline, a bunch of footnotes, plus more in depth end notes, comments and questions, plus inspired by that lists notable movies, plays or other novels based on a theme or idea of the work.

I feel that a must read book has a quality, character, phrase, or event that is referenced on a regular basis by many different people and in many different situations. Catch-22 I have heard the phrase catch 22 all my life, but had no idea what it meant. I just figured it had something to do with the phrase "d@mmed if you do, d@mmed if you don't. 1984 We learn all about "Big Brother is watching you" Oedipus Rex A whole psychological complex was named after this Greek work. Romeo and Juliet Yes, I realize it is a play but all romance stories are compared against these "star crossed lovers" The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Irving Stone I really enjoyed that book, it did drag on for a while. It took me forever to finish, but I am glad I did. I read Lust for Life about Van Gogh right after that.

Oh I would not call the movie anything close to being good. About the only good thing in it was the lead actor, but honestly he was there more for scenery than anything else. I was simply saying that I watched the movie, and it has again reminded me that I want to read the book. My problem seems to be that I keep getting sidetracked when looking at it. The last time I was at Barnes and Noble I went with the intention of getting it, but picked up Cranford instead, and arrived home realizing that I again did not purchase it.

I am the opposite, I enjoyed Treasure Island, but did not enjoy J&H at all. I have to admit, I have a soft spot for pirate stories. It was my first classic I read as an adult, and I gave my copy to my dad. He reads mostly books about Indians and mountain men, and does not like flowery wording. He enjoyed it. I have since convinced him to read several classics, all adventure themed aimed at young boys, and he has enjoyed most of them. He is reading Huck Finn at the moment. I was interested at the thought of everyone "committing mass plank-diving suicide." It does hold comedic value.

I pick this up almost every time I am at the bookstore, and put it back down again. I just never seem to be in the mood for it. I watched the movie a few weeks ago, and I do have to say the man playing Dorian is quite tasty, the story was quite disturbing. I think the visual of the picture after Dorian started making bad choices is a visual I will never get out of my head. I guess I will have to read the book to see if it is as disturbing as the movie (and hopefully better!)

Wrong Bronte, but I agree, I wanted so much to enjoy that book. I have started it so many times and finished it twice, but every time I am bored with it. I have seen the 06 movie several times and always enjoy it. I love the story, but I think the writing is what bored me.

I enjoyed the first half when we were at Count Dracula's estate, but when we switched over to the Lucy storyline I was so bored! The whole thing where she started to look pale was weak and having dreams was so predictable. You knew the first time they hinted at it but we had to go on for chapters and chapters about it. I enjoyed the lunatic scenes, I thought they were fun. One of my favorite quotes comes from that section: "Chasing an errant swarm of bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic when the fit of escaping is upon him!" As I was reading it I kept thinking I wonder if this would be better if I was reading it when it was first published, when people were not so familiar with the Dracula story in all of it's many reinterpretations.

We all have our favorites, but what are some of your least favorite classics? I made myself finish The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne. He was overly verbose and never got to the point. He took 3 pages to tell us what a dead man looked like. Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carol. Maybe I was just ready to move on to something else after reading Alice in Wonderland, but this just dragged on forever!

I almost said Sherlock Holmes! I have The Woman in White and Moonstone on my to read shelf. I see that many people put Woman in White on their favorites list. I have had that book for about 3 years and have not read it. I guess I need to.

My three favorite classics are Jane Eyre Rebecca The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone Jane Eyre is a recent favorite of mine, but when I finished it I closed it, sighed, and started over immediately. Rebecca has been one of my favorites since Honors English in HS. Agony took me several months to read, but it is such a good book.