saturday march 14
Despite J.M. Coetzee's reputation and numerous awards, I only discovered him a few weeks ago. "Diary of a Bad Year," published in 2008, is a lovely book.
The main character is an aging writer, with many biographical similarities to Coetzee himself, who has been asked to write "Strong Opinions" about the state of the world to contribute to a larger collection. The top half of each page are his "strong opinions," written in very broad, formal language about everything from torture and war to religion and democracy. At the bottom of each page is a personal, first-person narration from the main character. We discover that he is a lonely and even frail man. He asks a young woman to transcribe his "strong opinions" and, page after page, we read his public, intellectual voice while simultaneously following his day-to-day life, told in a private and almost intimate voice. We get to know Anya, his typist, as well as the man she lives with, a loud and unthoughtful man who is quite the opposite of the narrator.
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friday february 27
When I hear the words "high school," certain memories spring to mind: catching the city bus each morning, memorizing those French verb conjugations, and putting off "required reading"--the tedious Shakespeare plays, Melville stories, and the Dickens novels--as long as possible.
I wasn't averted to reading; after all, my bedside was cluttered with books by Amy Tan and John Grisham, among others. But the idea that I was required to read certain books because they were "important" always bothered the teen-aged me.
Luckily, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County provides ample opportunities to discover (or rediscover) classic literature, old and new. Today, for example, not only can I read the library's copy of Hamlet and watch it performed by Patrick Stewart, but also I can download an audio-recording of the play from NetLibrary or a video study guide from MyLibraryDV and gain an even better understanding of this classic that became one of my favorites, long after I had to read it for eleventh-grade English.
The short story index, one of the many internet databases to which the library subscribes, allows users to read entire short stories from their home computer or on one of the library's public terminals. I found some of wonderful stories there, including Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find." And after rereading that classic, be sure to check out this recent biography of O'Connor, simply titled, Flannery.
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tuesday february 10
One of my earliest memories is of an alphabet train poster that spanned two walls of the bedroom I shared with my little brother. My mom or dad would name a letter, and I would point to it. Or they would point to a letter, and I would name it or give its sound. I don't remember the moment I learned to read -- most don't, I suspect. But being read to each night and, yes, pointing to those letters on my bedroom wall certainly sped up that process.
Children today have endless opportunities to engage in literacy activities. Besides stimulation from the home environment, like the kinds my parents provided, everything from television shows, such as Reading Rainbow, to computer software programs, such as Reader Rabbit, can support children's emergent reading skills. Here are some of my favorite books to read with young, emerging readers:
The Internet gives us even more ways for children to have fun with words and stories. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has updated its Kidspace, a site complete with homework help, reading recommendations, games, and even a place for children to write book reviews. The site should be attractive to children, parents, and teachers alike.
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tuesday october 21
In an ideal world, I would have a stack of Booker prize winners on one side of me, a stack of Pulitzer prize winners on the other side of me, and an infinite amount of time to read these wonderful books. (The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has a page with links to award-winning books in a variety of categories).
But like most people, my reading habits are shaped by the various pushes and pulls of the real world. Instead of reaching for long, engrossing epic novels (such as previous favorites Middlesex and The Poisonwood Bible), I find myself doing more and more of my reading online in shorter segments, whether it's an article from The New York Times or a book review on one of the many literary websites across the internet.
In addition to Turning the Page, there are many other book-themed sites worth visiting. The Elegant Variation is a site dedicated to providing book reviews and information about author visits around the country, as well as connecting writers with one another. The book blog of the New York Times, Paper Cuts, has frequent author interviews and discussions about the world of books and publishing. In a fascinating entry from October 17, 2008, a writer discusses the dangers of writing truthfully in some regions of the world.
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tuesday september 11
I was one of those kids who left the library each week with a new stack of books, getting carsick on the way home because I couldn't wait to start reading. From Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden to C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, my childhood books usually involved misfits and hidden worlds of one kind or another.
Madeleine L'Engle passed away last week at the age of 88. She wrote more than two-dozen works of fiction as well as volumes of poetry and non-fiction.
After I read about L'Engle's death, I immediately retrieved our copy of her most celebrated book, A Wrinkle in Time. This book has some of my favorite misfits and hidden worlds. Meg is a high school student (or junior high? We're never given an exact age) who never seems to work to her potential. She wears glasses and braces and is belligerent toward adults and other students alike. Charles Wallace, Megs brother, didn't start talking until he was four; he now speaks, at age five, in complete sentences with perfect diction. Calvin is one of the popular kids in high school, but only because he pretends. The three of them--with help from Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which--embark on a journey through time and space to find Meg and Charles Wallace's father.
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monday august 06
Every day at the library, customers check out the newest titles by authors such as Janet Evanovich and James Patterson. But they aren't just checking out the books. Many seek out these titles in audio book form. I was surprised last week by an article in the New York Times that debated whether listening to a book on cd was equal to reading that same book:
"Dain Frisby-Dart, 40, an avid audio book listener from Trempealeau, Wis., told her book group a few years ago that she was listening to the current selections. One of the members, a man in his 70s, reacted as if she had been reading CliffsNotes."
The article describes how many of the people who listen to audio books do so in private: in the car, at home, or while wearing headphones. But with book clubs growing in popularity, people's reading - and listening - habits are being made public.
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thursday may 31
The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss, was one of those rare novels that captured me on page one then held me hostage from other activities—namely eating and sleeping—until I reached the final page. And once I was released, all I wanted to do was find someone else who'd read it and shared my experience.
History is about many things—aging and loss, love and friendship, memories—but it is also a book about a book with the same title. The mystery of this book within a book propels the action towards a breathless conclusion. I often found myself flipping through pages I'd already read in order to confirm my suspicions. And I restrained myself from flipping ahead in the book or even reading the summary on the back of the book to avoid becoming spoiled.
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saturday april 07
As readers all across Cincinnati discuss and celebrate Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, I’d like to introduce another fantastic author. Like Tan, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells stories about the the power of tradition and the experiences of first-generation Americans. Divakaruni has written a few novels as well as numerous short stories, nine of which appear in the 2001 collection, The Unknown Errors of Our Lives. I highly recommend this collection to any fan of great writing.
In the first story, Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter, the title character tries to adjust to life in California with her son’s family. While her son and his wife seem to have easily assimilated to suburban life in America, Mrs. Dutta can’t figure out the mechanics of the washing machine or the jokes on television. After all, she washed her clothes by hand in India!
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