I am ridiculously tired! My grad school pulled an about face on me and required a Wednesday night class - I live 4 hourrrsss away! So I was at work before 7:10, worked untl 12:30, had to take half a day, drove a little over four hours, class for four hours, drove home, home at 1 am on Thursday, up at 6, work, then I had tickets for a local dinner theater that I bought a couple of months ago! Great fun with some awesome ladies, but about ready to be UUUUUNconscious! I am, in fact, too tired for Pet Photo Sessions (tm). For a special bonus, one of the cats is sick, soooo yeah. Gross.
Life Among the Savages
Shirley Jackson
Published: 1952
Why?: I admit to having a huge soft spot for humorists. Shirley Jackson is most famous for her more political work (“The Lottery”) and her collection of horror novels (the most famous is probably The Haunting of Hill House). I read her stories about raising her four children in suburbia before I read “the Lottery” or anything of her creepy works. In fact, it must have been a decade after I read “The Lottery” that I realized this book was by the same author! The stories are delightful and witty, far ahead of similar books dealing with the realities of family life.
Gist: "Our house is old, noisy and full. When we moved into it we had two children and about five thousand books; when we finally overflow and move out again we will have perhaps twenty children and easily half a million books . . ." This book is a collection of stories inspired by Jackson’s real life and children; exactly where fiction and reality diverge isn’t clear, but only in the same way that all master storytellers adjust their lives for a good story.
Bonus Trivia: Life Among the Savages is followed by Raising Demons. Also, a selection from this novel, about her son starting kindergarten, is often included in Jackson collections with the name “Charles.”
Perfect For: Ages 12+, people who love a good chuckle
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir
Keywords: Humor, Classic
Showing posts with label Books: Memoir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books: Memoir. Show all posts
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
11: All Creatures Great and Small
The students started today! BUM BUM BUUUUM. Our kids are out of elementary school for the first time, so they're usually pretty reticent, but a couple of my classes were already hyper. I have a feeling they'll be experiencing "punishment detail" (i.e. worksheets in rows) a good bit earlier than usual!
My feet would like everyone to know that they completely wimp out every summer and don't like going back to all that tile in August. Yeeeowtch!!
The eyeball I scratched last Sunday is feeling much better. Given that my vision is excellent while my other bits and bobs are less so, I'm thrilled that there's no lasting damage!
All Creatures Great and Small
James Herriot
Published: 1976
Why?: All of Herriot’s books are delightful, and are often referred to as a group by the name of the first book, All Creatures Great and Small. The full series of books is All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and All Things Wise and Wonderful. I first heard this book instead of reading it, and the easy-going charm of Herriot’s stories immediately drew me in. Herriot (born James Alfred Wight) deftly combines the people and animals he met as a country veterinarian in Yorkshire with a dash of fiction and light-hearted writing. These are “feel good” stories, designed to lift the spirits. There are few things I love more than short stories that can bring you out of a case of the dumps!
Early in the school year, it's always s busy that I don't have time for novels. I tend to revisit short stories by authors like Herriot. :)
Lazy picture taking is lazy on the first day of school!
I bought my hardback copies of all three books at the Alachua County Library Sale when I lived in Florida. If you live anywhere near Gainesville and you’ve never been to the library sale, make sure to get the details! You have to get there ridiculously early to get in the line, the air is stifling and hot, the noise of voices and giant fans bound off the warehouse walls, and you have to elbow people out of the way. It’s wonderful!
Gist: James Herriot is a country veterinarian in Yorkshire. These are the stories of not only his animal patients, but also his human clients, neighbors, and friends.
Bonus Trivia: The titles for Herriot’s books (or collected volumes; they were originally smaller books) come from an old song called “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”
Perfect For: Ages 12+ (or advanced readers)
Genres: Fiction, Short Stories
Keywords: Humor, Memoir
My feet would like everyone to know that they completely wimp out every summer and don't like going back to all that tile in August. Yeeeowtch!!
The eyeball I scratched last Sunday is feeling much better. Given that my vision is excellent while my other bits and bobs are less so, I'm thrilled that there's no lasting damage!
All Creatures Great and Small
James Herriot
Published: 1976
Why?: All of Herriot’s books are delightful, and are often referred to as a group by the name of the first book, All Creatures Great and Small. The full series of books is All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and All Things Wise and Wonderful. I first heard this book instead of reading it, and the easy-going charm of Herriot’s stories immediately drew me in. Herriot (born James Alfred Wight) deftly combines the people and animals he met as a country veterinarian in Yorkshire with a dash of fiction and light-hearted writing. These are “feel good” stories, designed to lift the spirits. There are few things I love more than short stories that can bring you out of a case of the dumps!
Early in the school year, it's always s busy that I don't have time for novels. I tend to revisit short stories by authors like Herriot. :)
Lazy picture taking is lazy on the first day of school!
I bought my hardback copies of all three books at the Alachua County Library Sale when I lived in Florida. If you live anywhere near Gainesville and you’ve never been to the library sale, make sure to get the details! You have to get there ridiculously early to get in the line, the air is stifling and hot, the noise of voices and giant fans bound off the warehouse walls, and you have to elbow people out of the way. It’s wonderful!
Gist: James Herriot is a country veterinarian in Yorkshire. These are the stories of not only his animal patients, but also his human clients, neighbors, and friends.
Bonus Trivia: The titles for Herriot’s books (or collected volumes; they were originally smaller books) come from an old song called “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”
Perfect For: Ages 12+ (or advanced readers)
Genres: Fiction, Short Stories
Keywords: Humor, Memoir
Monday, August 01, 2011
07: Escape
Our internet went out! >_< It took two days for the evil company to get it fixed, and now I'm behind! *sniffle* I'm actually posting this on the 3rd, but it's been ready since the 1st, so I'll cheat a bit with the posting date!
Escape
Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer
Published: 2007
Why?: I connected this book to The 19th Wife because I read it after, myself. This is the story of Carolyn Jessop, one of the wives of cult leader Merrill Jessop. Her prose is tightly handled, but tells the story of a life in bondage to ignorance and lifestyle with painful clarity. Though there is certainly bitterness and heartbreak in her story, Jessop looks with optimism to the future.
Gist: This is the memoir of a woman who escaped her husband, a leader in the FDLS, and successfully gained sole custody of her children. It tells of her life from her childhood, with her mother and her mother’s sister wives, through her marriage to a much older man at 17, to her current life in the “outside” world.
Bonus Trivia: Carolyn Jessop is the only woman to have left a group of Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints and won full custody of her children. She has released a second memoir entitled Triumph: Life After the Cult, but it focuses more on personal philosophy than the events of her life. For those who might feel uncomfortable hearing just her side of the story, her eldest daughter chose to return to her father’s family. She has announced that she will write her own book about life with the FLDS.
Perfect For: Ages 17+ for dealing with mature subject matter
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir
Keywords: Drama
Escape
Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer
Published: 2007
Why?: I connected this book to The 19th Wife because I read it after, myself. This is the story of Carolyn Jessop, one of the wives of cult leader Merrill Jessop. Her prose is tightly handled, but tells the story of a life in bondage to ignorance and lifestyle with painful clarity. Though there is certainly bitterness and heartbreak in her story, Jessop looks with optimism to the future.
Gist: This is the memoir of a woman who escaped her husband, a leader in the FDLS, and successfully gained sole custody of her children. It tells of her life from her childhood, with her mother and her mother’s sister wives, through her marriage to a much older man at 17, to her current life in the “outside” world.
Bonus Trivia: Carolyn Jessop is the only woman to have left a group of Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints and won full custody of her children. She has released a second memoir entitled Triumph: Life After the Cult, but it focuses more on personal philosophy than the events of her life. For those who might feel uncomfortable hearing just her side of the story, her eldest daughter chose to return to her father’s family. She has announced that she will write her own book about life with the FLDS.
Perfect For: Ages 17+ for dealing with mature subject matter
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir
Keywords: Drama
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)