Hour One

Whew-Tithe was definitely a good chocie to start off with; I'm racing through it. An interesting plot, plus big type and small pages make me feel like I'm really achieving something! At first, I was turned off by the writing style (not as polished as I would've liked), but once I relaxed I found myself enjoying the story enough to overlook it. Now I want to get back to it, so without further ado,

Books Read: Tithe by Holly Black
Pages Read: 132
Books Completed: 0
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 1

ETA: From now on, I'll check Dewey's blog *before* my own post. She has a neat mini-challenge up, and the book I'm reading is set in New Jersey (well, and faerieland, lol). Five interesting facts (via Wikipedia):
1. The Swedes and Dutch were first to settle the area.
2. Washington wintered there twice during the Revolution.
3. There are about 8.7 people living in NJ, creating a population density of 1,175/sq mile (the highest in the nation!).
4. A lot of oil refineries are there-6 major ones that process about 728,000 barrels a day.
5. Same-sex couples can have civil unions in New Jersey (as of Feb 2007).

Hour Zero

I'm so excited! Almost enough that I don't notice how early it is. Whew. 7 on a Saturday. But, I'm prepared. Here's my breakfast of (reading) champions: a huge cup of sweet, milky Early Grey and a buttered everything bagel.

I'm dressed for comfort; big Old Navy sweatpants that I stole from an ex-boyfriend three years ago and a sleeping cami. And here is the bookpile...

I've decided to begin with Tithe, a YA Urban Fantasy novel. It seems like it'd be a pretty easy, and fun, read, so I good way to ease into the morning (did I mention it's 7 AM here?!).

Shout out to all my fellow Readers, and the super-kind Cheerleaders, and the super-amazing Dewey for planning and hosting this whole thing. Here's to a glorious day of reading for us all!

I'm Ba-ack!

I haven't posted for a whole week; that certainly hasn't happened in awhile! I was sick until around Tuesdayish, and then my sister got into town on Wednesday. It's been pretty busy around here.

However, I'm back just in time to remind everyone about Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. It's tomorrow, but you still have a little bit of time to sign up. There are going to be a ton of prizes, if you need any more incentive to read. I'm still participating (stay tuned for pictures of the books I've been stockpiling for this challenge), so that means that tomorrow I'll provide enough reading material to make up for a week's worth of silence.



Then, it turns out that my niece is going to be out of town for a week, beginning Sunday night. That means, basically, a week of paid vacation! So much reading time! I'm very, very excited.

Well, I'm off to visit the other participants and cheerleaders for the Read-a-Thon. It's good to be back. :)

The Good, the Bad, and...

I'm too tired to write in real paragraphs, so here's what's going on in my head this Friday:

The Good: inspired by Chris' mention of the book review siteCurled Up with a Good Book, that offers free books in exchange for reviews, I submitted a sample. Today, I received an e-mail asking me to pick out a few books that they'll send my way!

The Bad: just a few books? The list was really, really long, and there were a ton of good ones on there. Finally, I narrowed it down to six (3 fic, 3 non-fic) that all sound enjoyable.

The Ugly: now, I have to (im)patiently wait for the books to arrive.

Well, that one's mainly good I suppose. :)

The Good: since the weather is more fall-like, I've been drinking lots of hot tea and making soup!

The Bad: since the weather is more fall-like, I have an icky cold.

The Ugly: I got my nose pierced two weeks ago. And now I have a cold. I'll leave the rest up to you!

And with that, I'm off to finish the last twenty pages of So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson. I received in the mail today after bookmooching it, and I've simply devoured it. Good book + hot tea + comfy bed = the cold isn't as bad as it could be.

Five Five-Stars

October is turning into a crazy-busy month, and I'm not really sure why. I missed my Fast Food Nation Tuesday yesterday; sorry-look for it next week! In the meantime, my 'to-be-discussed' pile has gotten out of control. Looking at it depresses me, and I've decided that there's only one way to feel in control again. Here's a whirlwind tour of the books I've read recently that rated five stars. There's a variety of genres here, so hopefully you'll find something that sounds good!

True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
This is a true account of the author's first year of teaching a creative writing course at a juvenile hall in LA. Included are many works by the kids, and for me this book really changed my perspective on somethings. Like the author, in the beginning I expected the kids in juve would be violent, bitter, and certainly not interested in creative writing. However, I quickly discovered that the kids were just that-kids, who had definitely gotten into the wrong crowd. Most of them knew it however, and they used the writing class as a way to try to figure out what they were going to do with their lives, either if they got out or if they were sentenced. Most of the kids Salzman taught were in for murder, so he sees several of them sent into the adult system. Salzman is a remarkable writer; he brings the reader along on his own journey, so that in the beginning, the reader sees the stereotypes of the inmates and the guards. Only through the evolution of the book does the reader realise that these stereotypes don't really hold true. Salzman is also a very funny writer. The way he ended up teaching a class at juve was that his friend (Duane), who was already a teacher, invited him to come observe for a day. Salzman was unsure, so he listed the pros and cons.

Reasons Not to Visit Duane's Writing Class at Juvenile Hall
-students all gangbangers; feel unqualified to evaluate poems about AK-47s
-still angry about getting mugged in 1978
-still angry about having my apartment robbed in 1986
-still angry about my wife's car being stolen in 1992
-wish we could title L.A. County and shake it until everybody with a shaved head and tattoos falls into the ocean
-feel uncomfortable around teenagers

Reasons to Visit Duane's Class at Juvenile Hall
-have never seen the inside of a jail
-pretended to be enthusiastic when Duane mentioned it

Salzman's willingness to be completely honest makes for compulsive reading; I read this in two sittings. I'll be looking for Iron and Silk, Salzman's account of two years teaching English in China. I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone. I only have a couple of quotes here, but that's because most of the books works as a whole, and it'd be silly to quote three pages. :)

Favourite Passages
Sister Janet Harris was nearly seventy years old but looked two or three decades younger. She had a lovely smile and a pleasing voice-I wanted to like her right away-but the fact that she was a nun and that she worked in a prison made me wary. I couldn't help thinking of the film Dead Man Walking, which I disliked in spite of not having seen it. (22)

I asked Patrick what made someone else an "enemy"; what were the gangs really fighting over?
"Nothing at all," he answered immediately. "It's exactly like a video game, where you're just racking up points and trying to end up with a higher score than anybody else. That's your rep. The fact that it's dangerous only makes it a hundred times more fun. An enemy is anynoe who's playing against you." (111)

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Yep-I found my other Banned Books Read! Turns out I put it in the big bag that I keep all the library books I've already read in. I'm smart sometimes. I'm glad that I found it, though, because I definitely wanted to finish it. This is a short novel written as the diary or observations of eleven-year-old Esperanza (and don't get her started on her name!). She discusses the people in her life, especially all of her nieghbours on Mango Street, as well as some key incidents. There isn't much of a plot to this one, but I revelled in the writing style. There's something very innocent in its straightforwardness that's just addictive. Take a look:

Sally is the girl with eyes like Egypt and nylons the color of smoke. The boys at school think she's beautiful because her hair is shiny black like raven feathers and when she laughs, she flicks her hair back like a satin shawl over her shoulders and laughs. Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble. They are very strict in his religion. They are not supposed to dance. He remembers his ssters and is sad. Then she can't go out. Sally I mean.

I'm in awe of Cisnero's ability; her prose has a startling, almost luminous quality to it. What a wonderful book to spend an afternoon getting lost in!

The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
This book was everything I had hoped for and more. I read it for the Unread Author Challenge. It begins with a little boy in America being stolen; while a changeling takes his place in the real world, the boy becomes a faery in the forest. From then on, the chapters alternate as both the changeling and the boy react to new environments and begin to grow. The book spans between twenty and thirty years, and the story telling is breathtaking. I just wish that this wasn't Donahue's first novel; I want to be able to wrap myself up in his writing! In fact, I purposely slowed down my reading for this book to try to make it last. The very first page draws you in, and it doesn't let up until the end!

Favourite Passages
Don't call me a fairy. We don't like to be called fairies anymore. Once upon a time, fairy was a perfectly acceptable catchall for a variety of creatures, but now it has taken on too many associations. Etymologically speaking, a fairy is something quite particular, related in kind to the naids, or water nymphs, and while of the genus, we are sui generis. The word fairy is drawn from fay (Old French fee), which itself comes from Latin Fata, the goddess of fate. The fay lived in groups called the faerie, between the heavenly and earthly realms. (1)

Racking my brain to find a way to get through to them, I recalled other occasions when I had encountered something in the forest as helpless and dangerous as these two human children. (8)

Speck lifted her head skyward to gather in the shadow of wings beating through the air. When they had all landed, the blackbirds fanned out their tails as they paraded to the wild raspberries, hopping to a tangle of shoots to gorge themselves. The glen echoed with their chatter. She reached around my back and put her hand on my far shoulder, then rested her head against mine. The sunlight danced in patterns on the grown thron by leaves blowing in the breeze. (186)

"I wonder what it is like to hold a baby in my arms, feel like a grown-up woman instead of sticks and bones. I remember my mother, so soft in unexpected places-rounder, fuller, deeper. Stronger than you'd expect by looking." (186)

When the chance arose over those next few years, Speck and I would steal away to sleep in the relative peace and luxury beneath the library. We threw ourselves into our books and papers. We read the Greeks in translation, Clytemnestra in her grief, Antigone's honor in a thing coating of earth. Grendel prowling the bleak Danish night. The pilgrims of Canterbury and lives on the road. Maxims of Pope, the rich clot of humanity in all Shakespeare, Milton's angels and aurochs, Guliver big, little, wahoo. Wild ecstasies of Keats. Shelly's Frankenstein. Rip Van Winkle sleeping it off. Speck insisted on Austen, Eliot, Emerson, Thoreau, the Brontes, Alcott, Nesbitt, Rossetti, both Brownings, and especially Alice down the rabiit hole. We worked our way right up to the present age, chewing through the books like a pair of silverfish. (205)

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
This is the second book in the Thursday Next series (appropriate, since I read it for the 2nds Challenge., and I'm so glad that I gave The Eyre Affair (the first one) a second chance. This one is way, way better than The Eyre Affair! Thursday Next travels between even more books, Miss Havisham is a main character, and all of my favourites from the first book are back. :) This is the best kind of brain candy imaginable; it's like eating candy that's healthy for you! Everyone who enjoys books should give this series a try; if the first one scares you off, because it feels too sci-fi ish (that's what happened to me), give this one a try before writing off the series. Fforde doesn't have to spend as much time world building in this one, which gives him more time to create a ripping good read!

A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
Imani recommended this one to me awhile ago, and I happened to have it on my shelves (I remember buying it for only a few bucks in a bargain pile). Manguel (who seems to have had a pretty cool life) traces reading through the ages, and touches on what many great Western thinkers had to say about the act. The book is a remarkable synthesis of personal anecdotes and extensive research (there're quite a few endnotes). Chapters have names like "The Missing First Page," "Being Read To," "Reading within Walls," and "The Translator as Reader." It's a pleasure to see someone who loves reading explore his passion. The other great thing about this book is that there are lots of pictures scattered throughout the text, which is unusual and neat. Also, the chapter lengths are just about perfect for leisurely reading; most of the chapters feel likes self-contained essays anyway. Oh, and my version (paperback, ISBN0670843024) came with a really neat little poster called "The Reader's Timeline." I think anyone who loves reading will love this book. If you don't believe me, check out the massive amount of quotes below.

Favourite Passages
I also read according to what I thought a book was supposed to be (labelled by the author, by the publisher, by another reader). At twelve I read Chekhov's The Hunt in a series of detective novels and, believing Chekhov to be a Russian thriller writer, then read "Lady with a Lapdog" as if it had been composed by a rival of Conan Doyle's-and enjoyed it, even though I thought the mystery rather thin. (14)

In that sitting-room, under a Piranesi engraving of circular Roman ruins, I read Kipling, Stevenson, Henry James, several entries of the Brockhaus German encyclopedia, verses of Marino, of Enrique Banchs, of Beine...I had not read many of these authors before, so the ritual was a curious one. I would discover a text by reading it out loud, while borges used his ears as other readers use their eyes, to scan the page for a word, for a sentence, for a paragraph that would confirm a memory. (17)

Reading, then, is not an automatic process of capturing text in the way photosensitive paper captures light, but a bewildering, labyrinthine, common and yet personal process of reconstruction. Whether reading is independent from, for instance, listening, whether it is a single distinctive set of psychological processes or consists of a great variety of such processes, researchers don't yet know, but many believe that its complexity may be as great as thinking itself. (39)

The medieval scholars relied on their own memory of books they had read, whose pages they could conjure up like living ghosts....Eventually the scholars of the Renaissance, improving on Aquinas' method, suggested the mental construction of architectural models-palaces, theatres, cities, the realms of heaven and hall-in which to lodge whatever they wished to remember. These models were highly elaborate constructions, erected in the mind over time and made sturdy through use, and proved for centuries to be immensely efficient. (61)

I would settle down (at night, but also often during the day, since frequent bouts of asthma kept me trapped in my bed for weeks) and, propped up high against the pillows, listen to my nurse read Grimms' terrifying fairy-tales. Sometimes her voice put me to sleep; sometimes, on the contrary, it made me feverish with excitement, and I urged her on ino rder to find out, more quickly than the author had intended, what happened in the story. But most of the time I simply enjoyed the luxurious sensation of being carried away by the words, and felt, in a very physical sense, that I was actually travelling somewhere wonderfully remote, to a place that I hardly dared glimpse on the secret last page of the book. (110)

[The creator of the Penguin book series] went to see the buyer for the vast Woolworth general store chain, a Mr. Clifford Prescott, who demured; the idea of selling books like any other merchandise, together with sets of socks and tins of tea, seemed to him somehow ludicrous. By chance, at that very moment Mrs. Prescott entered her husband's office. Askw ath she thogh, she responded enthusiastically. Why not, she asked. Why should books not be treated as everyday objexts, as necessary and as available as socks and tea? (144)

Whether we first choose the book and then an appropriate corner, or first find the corner and then decide what book will fit the corner's mood, there is no doubt that the act of reading in time requires a corresponding act of reading in place, and the relationship between the two is inextricable. There are books I read in armchairs, and there are books I read at desks; there are books I read in subways, on streetcars and on buses. I find that books read in trains have something of the quality of books read in armchairs, perhaps because in both I can easily abstract myself from my surroundings. (151)

Reading in bed is a self-centered act, immobile, free from ordinary social conventions, invisible to the world, and one that, because it takes place between the sheets, in the realm of lust and sinful idleness, has something of the thrill of things forbidden. (153)

Rooms, corridors, bookcases, shelves, filing cards and computerized catalogues assume that the subjects on which our thoughts dwell are actual entities, and through this assumption a certain book may be lent a particular tone and value. Filed under Fiction, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is a humorous novel of adventure; under Sociology, a satirical study of England in the eighteenth century; under Children's Literature, an entertaining fable about dwarfs and giants and talking horses; under Fantasy, a precursor of science fiction; under Travel, an imaginary voyage; under Classics, a part of the Western literary canon. Categories are exclusive; reading is not-or should not be. Whatever classifications have been chosen, every library tyrannizes the act of reading, and forces the reader-the curious reader, the alert reader-to rescue the book from the category to which it has been condemned. (199)

A cousin of mine from Buenos Aires was deeply aware that books could function as a badge, a sign of alliance, and always chose a book to take on her travels with the same care with which she chose her handbag. (214)

But I know that the main reason I hold onto this ever-increasing hoard is a sort of voluptuous greed. I enjoy the sight of my crowded bookshelves, full of more or less familiary names. I delight in knowing that I'm surrounded by a sort of inventory of my life, with intimations of my future. I like discovering, in almost forgotten volumes, traces of the reader I once was-scribbles, bus tickets, scraps of paper with mysterious names and numbers, the occasional date and place on the book's flyleaf which take me back to a certain cafe, a distant hotel room, a faraway summer so long ago. (238)

The act of reading establishes an intimate, physical relationship in which all the senses have a part: the eyes drawing the words from the page, the ears echoing the sounds og being read, the nose inhaling the familiar scent of paper, glue, ink, cardboard, or leather, the touch caressing the rough or soft page, the smooth or hard binding; even the taste, at times, when reader's fingers are lifted to the tongue... (244)

We know that we are reading even while suspending disbelief; we know why we read even when we don't know how, holding in our mind at the same time, as it were, the illusionary text and the act of reading. We read to find the end, for the story's sake. We read not to reach it, for the sake of the reading itself. We read searchingly, like trackers, oblivious of our surroundings. We read distractedly, skipping pages. We read contemptuously, admiringly, negligently, angrily, passionalte, enviously, longingly. We read in gusts of sudden pleasure, without knowing that brought the pleasure along....We read in slow, long motions, as if drifting in space, weightless. We read full of prejudice, malignantly. We read generously, making excuses for the text, filling gaps, mending faults. Amd somewtimes, when the stars are kind, we read with an intake of breath, with a shudder, as if someone or something had "walked over our grave", as if a memory had suddenly been rescued from a place deep within us-the recognition os something we never knew was there, or of something we vaguely falt as a licker or a shadow, whose ghostly form rises and passes back into us before we can see what it is, leaving us older and wiser. (303)

Short Story Sunday (maybe in Asia?) and a Tiny Challenge

I'm a day late again; I completely blanked that yesterday was Sunday! However, since I was stuck in bed/on the couch with a cold, I ended up finishing Witches' Brew today. That leaves me with five stories to discuss, so I'll be brief.

I was very hesitant going into "The Birds" by Daphne du Marier, since I'm not a fan of the movie, but it ended up to be great. Nothing like the movie and a lot more sinister. It tells the story of what a country man does to try to protect his family when all of the birds in England mysteriously begin attacking people. Highly recommended!

On the other hand, Mary Elizabeth Counselman's "Night Court" left me cold. One night, a reckless driver gets into yet another crash and finds himself summoned to a court conducted by victims of car accidents. It was way too preachy for me to enjoy. And I saw the 'twist' a mile away.

After that, I had a real treat with "The Lovely House" by Shirley Jackson. A young girl goes to visit her friend in a big old house. But things take an odd turn or two. The ending doesn't wrap everything up; Jackson leaves that up to the reader, which I really appreciate. I'm thinking I really need to read more by Shirley Jackson (I've also read "The Lottery").

"Kindling Point" by Marcia Muller (one of the editors of the anthology, which I find sketchy) felt like an assignment for a college writing class. Take that as you will, but I found it a bit too simplistic and juvenile to enjoy. A woman in an old Victorian finds out that her daughter is talking to ghosts through a Ouijia (sp?) board; the ghosts' story seems to be eerily reflective of the present day.

And the final story was Joyce Carol Oates' "The Bingo Master." This story was very powerful, however it didn't have the slightest element of horror or supernatural or spookiness. So, I'm not sure why it's in the collection, but I'm glad I read it. I don't really want to share a plot summary, since it's the kind of writing that draws much of its power from the unfolding.

There you have it, a whirlwind tour of the last part of Witches' Brew. I'm glad I found this anthology, but I find it was of mixed quality; either the stories were incredible or bad, nothing in between.

Now for the little, bitty challenge (don't look at me that way). Literate Kitten is hosting a horror short story challenge. She's listed her top ten spooky stories and is challenging participants to read just one of them during the month of October. Also, she'd like it if participants provided their own list of ten horror tales. A lot of her selections sound very good, but I've decided to commit myself to "The Monkey's Paw." I'll also be reading another of her picks (the Isak Dinesen) as part of one of my R.I.P. II books. Makes me more excited to read it! I'm not sure if I can come up with ten good creepy stories, but I'll try...

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. I found this incredibly creepy, and I'm pretty sure it gave me nightmares for quite awhile.

The Birds" by Daphne du Marier. You can tell I didn't read a lot of horror short stories before the R.I.P. II challenge!

"The Lovely House" by Shirley Jackson (see above)

"Riding the Bullet" by Stephen King. I think King is scarier in short story form than novel form, and a lot of the stories in Everything's Eventual were creepy. This one has stayed with me, though.

""Snow, Glass, Apples" by Neil Gaiman. Oh my gosh-this is easily one of the creepiest stories I've ever read. It actually made the hair on my arms stand up.

"The Thing in the Wood" by A.S. Byatt. Also a very spooky tale, one that I still remember vividly after six years.

And, um, that's all I'm coming up with right now. I don't have much experience with short stories. However, my next trip to the library should help change that; I'll be coming home with the ss collections by Joyce Carol Oates, John Saul, Peter Straub, Dean Koontz, and the Oxford Book of Gothic Tales. Yay for ghost stories in October!

The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen (thoughts)

I have waited far too long to discuss my first read for the Outmoded Authors challenge: Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September. This relatively domestic book is set in 1920s Anglo-Ireland, and the writing is quietly, unobtrusively beautiful. It follows one Anglo-Irish family, especially Lois. Lois is in her late teens or early twenties, and still trying to find herself. The various cast of characters that wander in and out of Lois' life cause her to examine her own values and goals.

The book's strength is its cast of memorable characters who all seemed to reflect my own hidden fears or desires. The other strength is that Bowen leaves something up to the reader. She's willing to hold back a little, requiring you to fill in a few of the blanks.

This book was a pleasure to read, rather like a contemporary Jane Austen (and I don't make that comparison lightly). I will definitely be hunting down more of Bowen's work, and I hope that they're all this good! I highly recommend me this to everyone who likes domestic fiction and good writing.

Favourite Passages

A thought that fifty years hence she might well, is she wished, be sitting here on the steps, with or without rheumatism-having penetrated thirty years deeper ahead into time that they could-gave her a feeling of mysteriousness and destination. And she was fitted for this by being twice as complex as their generation-for she must be: double as many people having gone to the making of her. (36)

He had seemed annoyed at her being young when he wasn't. She could not hope to explain that her youth seemed to her also rather theatrical and that she was only young in that way because grown-up people expected it. She had never refused a role. She could not forgo that intensification, that kindling of her personality at being consiered very happy and reckless even if she were not. She could not hope to assure him she was not enjoying anything he had missed, that she was now onconvinced and anxious but intended to be quite certain, by the time she was his age, that she had once been happy. (40)

Laurence achieved this escape by sitting always with a social alert expression between two groups; when one tried to claim him he could affect to be engaged by the other. (54)

Lois was forced to state that there was a man in the Rutlands, a Gerland Lesworth, whom she had found affecting. She supposed there was no question as to his being intrigued; people seemed to notice. So Viola wrote back, she must hear all about him, should have heard before; her Lol was really the final Sphinx. She wanted to know, to see, to hear him, even to smell him-because all the nicest men did smell, didn't they, indefinitely but divinely. (69-70)

"Gerald is so matter-of-fact. Nothing could make him a tragedy." (91)

"Hugo, how could you let her get so wet!"
"My dear, I am not an umbrella." (129)

The mill startled them all, staring light-eyed, ghoulishly, round a bend of the valley. Lois had to come hurrying up to explain how it frightened her. In fact, she wouldn't for worlds go into it but liked going as near as she dated. It was a fear she didn't wat to get over, a kind of deliciousness. (178)

Visitors took form gradually in his household, coming out of a haze of rumour, and seemed but lightly, pleasantly superimposed on the vital pattern till a departure tore great shreds from the season's texture. (200)

Impressed by the strangeness, by this pressure of emergency, Lois plaited her hair in two plaits instead of one and felt herself a different woman. (274)

Playing Catch-Up

These last few days have been pure craziness; barely any time for me to drink a cup of tea and read a book, much less time to flop into my armchair here and write a post. So, here's what I would have posted about in the last few days, if I'd had the time.

+The latest edition of Estella's Revenge is up! My favourites this time were the interview with the owner of The Sleuth of Bakerstreet, "The Unknown" (about one woman's realisation that she should pursue an MLIS-something I've been thinking about a lot lately), "Sure I Know the Queen" (which discusses first lines, and offers some for the reader's enjoyment), and "From the Bookshop" (a review). All of the articles were a lot of fun, and my TBR list is ever-longer from the great books discussed. Hop on over!

+Danielle pointed out in a comment on my previous post that Perez-Reverte didn't write The Shadow of the Wind. I was thinking of The Club Dumas and mixed up the titles! I'll be fixing this in the original post as well, but thought I'd point it out here. Poor Carlos Ruiz Zafon got short thrift-he's the truth author of The Shadow of the Wind.

+Submissions are open for the latest Book Carnival. As this one is all about spooky books, I'm sure most of us can find a post to submit! Dewey has the indepth info up over at her blog.

+Finally, Banned Books Week! I'm only half way through The House on Mango Street, as it has disappeared (don't tell the library). However, I did read The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. I must say, I didn't enjoy it all that much. I found it to be an incredibly depressing view of human nature. But that's ok-I still read a banned book! The writing itself was good at least, and I didn't want to put it down while I was reading it. I was enjoying The House on Mango Street quite a bit until it disappeared, so I hope I can finish that one up.

Feeding the Addiction

I really, really need to take the link to Novel Challenges out of my blogroll. For those of you who haven't visited, Wendy posts about every reading challenge she comes across. I believe this makes her a pusher. And here's my latest hit:

the Seafaring Challenge. There are several reasons I'm joining this one:
+the button is just gorgeous, and I want it on my blog
+I never read nautical books, so it'll expand my horizons
+it has a really, really cool set up
+it runs from November to December, so it's after the R.I.P. II challenge and
+it gives me an excuse to use the word "swashbuckling," which has to be one my favourite words ever.

And now, for the book pool:
My library has many of the Master and Commander series (by Patrick O'Brian), so I'll definitely be reading the first of those. My library also has a handy-dandy reference book: Harbors and High Seas, which is an atlas for the series. Since I'm new to this genre, it should be helpful.

I also bookmooched The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I wasn't as entranced by The Shadow of the Wind as a lot of people seemed to be, but I did enjoy it. I want to give Perez-Reverte another chance to wow me!

I'm also eyeing my library's copy of Treasure Island, which sounds like a lot of fun! One of those classics I never read, and who can resist pirates? These three would earn me the rank of Commodore (see? I told you it was a neat setup)

If I want to go for Admiral, I have to squeeze in one more book. Fortunately, Danielle (a true ocean afficianado) has provided a great list of possibilities. From that list, I really like Birds of Prey by Wilbur Smith, and my library has a copy of it! Plus, Smith is South African. Along with the Spanish Perez-Reverte, this helps the challenge have a great international flavour. I might even go for the Super Special Admirality rank (kidding-I made that one up) and read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Susan made it sound so appealing, and once again my library has a copy.

One of her 'extras' is Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester, which is the first (publication-wise) of the Hornblower series. This series looks really good, but unfortunately this one isn't available at the library or bookmooch. :( My library does have the first (chronologically-wise) of the series, but I think it'd be neat to read them in the published order. We'll see.

There ends my list of swashbuckling heroes and dire ne'er-do-wells. Who else is willing to walk the plank? Argh. (hehe-I love this challenge already)

Fast Food Nation (Chp 2)

I almost forgot what day it is! That's right: Tuesday, aka Fast Food Nation day. As stated previously, the book has ten chapters, an introduction, an epilogue, and an afterword, so this feature will go into December. I'm hoping to make the posts a center for thoughtful discussion about the issue, but if that doesn't happen at least I know I'm getting the word out. :) Oh, and to read previous posts on the book, just click on the "fast food nation" tag at the end of this one.

Last week, I promised that this post would get people's blood boiling. Let's see if I can make good on that promise

Chp 2: Notes

+"Walt Disney and Roy Kroc [the guy who made McDonald's a nationwide franchise. -Eva] were masterful salesmen. They perfected the art of selling things to children. And their success led many others to aim marketing efforts at kids, turning America's youngest consumers into a demographic group that is now avidly studied, analyzed, and targeted by the world's largest corporations." (33-4)

+Kroc donated $250K to Nixon's reelection fund in return for presidential support of a bill allowing companies to pay sixteen and seventeen year olds 20% less than minimum wage. Not only did Nixon oblige, he also "permitted McDonald's to raise the price of its Quarter Pounders, despite mandatory wage and price controls restricting other fast food chains." (37)

+"[Kroc] liked to tell people that he was really in show business, not the restaurant business. Promoting McDonald's to children was a clever, pragmatic decision. "A child who loves our TV commercials," Kroc explained, "and brings her grandparents to a McDonald's gives us two more customers." (41)

+"Twenty-five years ago, only a handful of American companies directed their marketing at children-Disney, McDonald's, candy makers, toy makers, manufacturers of breakfast cereal. TOday children are being targeted by phone companies, oil companies, and automobile copmanies, as well as clothing stores and restaurant chains. The explosion in children's advertising occurred during the 1980s. Many working parents, feeling guilty about spending less time with their kids, started spending more money on them. One marketing expert has called the 1980s "the decade of the child consumer." After largely ignoring children for years, Madison Avenue began to scrutinize and pursue them. Major ad agencies now have children's divisions, and a variety of marketing firms focus solely on kids." (42-3)

+"The bulk of the advertising directed at children today as an immediate goal. "It's not just getting the kids to whine," one marketer explained in Selling to Kids, "it's giving them a specific reason to ask for the product." Years ago sociologist Vance Packard described children as "surrogate salesmen" who had to persuade other people, usually their parents, to buy what they wanted. Marketers now use different terms to explain the intended response to their ads-such as "leverage", "the nudge factor," "pester power." The aim of most children's advertising is straightforward: get kids to nag their parents and nag them well." (43)

+"Today's market researchers not only conduct surveys of children in shopping malls, they also organize focus groups for kids as young as two or three. They analyse children's artwork, hire children to run focus groups, stage slumber parties and then question children into the night." (44)

+In the late 80s, the Federal Trade Commission tried to ban TV advertising for kids under eight, arguing that they couldn't make informed decisions and were being exploited. However, lobbyists from the TV, advertising, and toys killed it. (46)

+Some stats: average American kids spend 21 hrs/wk watching TV (equals 1.5 months/yr), the only thing they do more other than school is sleep, see 30,000+ commericials. 25% of kids 2-5 have a TV in their bedroom.

+"...fast food chains are now gaining access to the last advertising-free outposts of American life. In 1993 District 11 in Colorado Springs started a nationwide trend, becoming the first public school distrct in the US to place ads for Burger King in its hallways and on the sides of its school buses....For $12K, a company got five school-bus ads, hallway ads in all fifty-two of the district's schools, ads in their school newspapers, a stadium banner, ads over the stadium's public address system during games, and free tickets to high school sporting events." (51)

+"The nation's three major beverage manufactureres are now spending large sums to increase the amount of soda that American children consume...Eight-year-olds are considered ideal customers; they have about sixty-five years of purchasing in front of them. "Entering the schools makes perfect sense," the trade journal concluded." (53-4)

+"...sodas provide empty calories and have replaced far more nutrious beverages in the American diet. Excessive soda consumption in children can lead to calcium deficiencies and a greater likelihood of bone fragmentation." (54)

+"Soft-drink consumption is now common among American toddlers. About one-fifth of the nation's one and two year olds now drink soda...."Pepsi, Dr Pepper and Seven-Up encouraged feeding soft drinks to babies by liscensing their logos to a major maker of baby bottles..." A 1997 study published in the Journal of Dentistry for Children found that many infants were indeed being fed soda in those bottles." (54)

+"The spiraling cost of textbooks has led thousands of American school districts to use corporate-sponsoed teaching materials. A 1998 study of these teaching materials by the Consumers Union found that 80 percent were biased, providing students with incomplete or slanted information that favored the sponsor's products and views. Proctor & Gamble's Decision Earth program taught that clear-cut logging was actually good for the environment; teaching aids distributed by the Exxon Environmental Foundation said that fossil fuels created few environmental problems and that alternative sources of energy were too expensive; a study guide sponsored by the Americna Coal Foundation dismissed fears of a greenouse effect, claiming that "the earth could benefit rather than be harmed by increased carbon dioxide."" (55)

+"The money that these corporations spend on their "educational" materials is fully tax-deductable." (56)

+"The American School Food Service Association estimates that about 30 percent of the public high schools in the US offer branded fast food. Elementary schools in Fort Collins, CO, now serve food from Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and Subway on special lunch days." (56)

Chp 2: Thoughts

If you're not screaming mad by the end of reading those notes, then I don't think you'll be ruffled by anything. For me, it's almost enough to make me not want to have kids! Of course, I know that I can try to raise them as aware consumers, and of course send them off with packed lunches to try to avoid fast food in elementary school (!), but it'll take some strong swimming to go against this tide. I wonder what kind of parents let their little kids participate in the focus groups Schlosser mentions ad agencies run; would you have your son or daughter go to a sleep over with adults? Kind of weird, imo. I cannot believe that corporations can not only create biased textbooks, but do it for free! Meanwhile, public schools are facing such a budget crisis they create advertising packages. There's something very wrong with that picture.

You'll note that my thoughts aren't very coherent this week. Basically, I think it's wrong, immoral, and should be illegal. These companies take kids and treat them as money-making machines. So sad.

I can't wait to see y'alls reactions to this, so even if you don't normally comment, please share any experiences/opinions about this one. So many of you are parents, which would be an interesting view.