Review:Shen of the Sea

Shen of the Sea; Chinese Stories for Children
by Arthur Bowie Chrisman

I picked this up for the kiddos since it was a Newbery Medal Winner for 1926. As we study ancient history in the fall I plan to read folktales from every nation. I was prereading to see if this would be better as a read-aloud or a quiet read for the 5th grader.

Well, it definitely works as a read-aloud. The stories are humorous and lend themselves to the subtle play-acting of reading to smaller children. Also some of the names are very similar and confusing so a difference in voice will help my kiddos, who are 5 & 9, to differentiate between characters. My kids will enjoy the Chinese words that are taught throughout the stories.

The stories tell of the origins of chopsticks, books, tea and China dinnerware, among other things. But these folktales are purely from the imagination of the author. They are not original legend. That doesn't detract from the stories but it does prevent it from being an accurate historical record of the beliefs of the ancient Chinese people. Nonetheless, it will create a pleasant cuddle time with my kiddos; and that's one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling.

I read this as part of the Newbery Award Challenge and the Book Awards Challenge as well. I'd recommend Shen to children ages 6-11.

Busy Busy

I will be gone once again for a long weekend. I have the audio version of To Kill a Mockingbird to listen to on my long drive. While I am visiting with family I will finish Shen of the Sea and Greek Lyrics. Then, when I return I will pick up Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories and Horace's Odes from the library. I will need to renew the biography of Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee one more time in order to get through the last couple hundred pages.

As you can see I have been reading and will be doing quite a bit more. I also have about 5 children's books about ancient Egypt to look over for school in the fall. And I'm browsing books on fairy parties as Goldilocks will be turning 10 soon. So why do I feel like I'm getting nothing done lately?

Oh, and we've been dealing with hives, car trouble, and now pinkeye. I hate to expose my nieces and nephew who are visiting from Texas but it doesn't look like it can be helped at this point. All this plus the humid 100 degree weather we are having makes me want to take a nap; a very looooong nap.

Hi! I'm Cindy

You Are Cindy Brady

Warm hearted and sweet, you have a childlike innocence that lets you see the good in everyone. But you're also a bit of a baby. You stick your nose where it doesn't belong... and cry when you get caught!

What Brady Are You?

Oh yeah. It nailed me.

More Loveliness

Here are a couple more Oregon beauties from Mom's camera:

P.S. I'm still reading so hopefully I'll have something to review soon.

Lovely

Mom took this picture in Oregon last week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Review:A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving
pages:617
First sentence:

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice-not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God;
I am a christian because of Owen Meany.

Now if that first couple of sentences don't peak one's interest I don't know what will. John Wheelwright tells the story of his best friend, Owen Meany, who had a tremendous faith that he was an instrument of God. The story moves back and forth from the boys' childhood in the 60s to John's adult life in the 80s, filling in the gaps to that initial statement.

While the first sentence is a great hook, the reader quickly gets bogged down with all the details of Wheelwright's impressions. I sometimes wondered if what he was saying served any purpose in the story. And it felt quite a bit longer than I expected it would. If this wasn't a mass market paperback with teeny tiny letters smooshed together the book could easily be 1000 pages. But I couldn't leave the question of the meaning of Owen's life unanswered. I cried in the first chapter; I've heard that a lot of people cry at the end as well.

I liked the story as far as plot goes. You find yourself rooting for Owen because it's clear he has a huge heart hidden within his tiny body. While I was reading I was bored with all the minute details about every little thing. By the end, though, I realized that pretty much every detail did matter. They all, together, drew a clear picture once the ending was made known.

But ultimately I find I can't like this book too much. I loved Owen and I liked the child version of John but the concept of faith in this book is false. I could not reconcile Owen Meany as the epitome of true faith with how Holy Scripture describes true faith. Since I believe this idea of faith is at the heart of Irving's message I have to take issue with the author's worldview. It's inaccurately based on experience. Why did God bother to give us the Bible and instruct us to live by it if we can have a faith in Him apart from it?

I don't intend to preach a sermon on what true faith is and how one finds it; I only wanted to explain what my issue is with this book. I disagree with the premise behind the book therefore my pleasure in the plot is soured. I know I am in the minority in my low rating but I'm giving my honest opinion.

Out of curiosity I watched Simon Birch, the movie loosely based on the book. It was cute but not wonderful. I would say I liked it better than the book. And it didn't take nearly as long to get through.

Enlightening Experience

I watched the movie adaptation of A Portrait of a Lady, a book that I didn't much care for. While I liked the movie about as much as the book, it did help to make a few things more clear for me. One of the things I noticed were a few well places images. In one scene where Barbara Hershey's character is having a discussion with Nicole Kidman's character in order to manipulate her, in the background there is a statue of a naked man who is missing his "member." So does this emasculation refer to Hershey or Kidman? Or both? The other symbolic background image is a mural or a wall hanging of Christ's death on the cross directly behind Hershey when Kidman accidental runs into her after finding out a terrible secret about Hershey. I would never have thought of Hershey's character as a Christ-figure in the book but I can see it now. How very interesting! Does it make me want to reread A Portrait of a Lady? Not really. At least not anytime soon.

Vacation Snapshots

Here are just a few of the beautiful sites we took in on our Pacific Northwest vacation:

Doesn't this mansion look like the perfect setting for a Gothic novel? Can't you just picture the ghosts in the windows? Too bad you can't see the inside. To find out more about the Carson Mansion in Eureka, CA, go here.













This little fella was looking for a few crumbs while we waited to take a tour through the Oregon Caves.













And this was from inside the caves. Those stalactites are known as cave drapes. It took them thousands of years to form.











This is MonkeyBoy, myself, and Goldilocks staring in wonder at the vast Pacific Ocean along the Oregon coast. The air smelled of salt and some of the hollow crab shells were almost whole.









And lastly, Mt. Rainier in Washington. MonkeyBoy kept calling it "mountaineer" but the rest of us call it "mom's mountain." We lived near it briefly but it will always be at the center of my heart.

Lessons from a Spider

Though I was not a reader as a child I did derive some pleasure from reading. I read through a few picture books several times, like Little Bear and A Monster at the End of This Book. But my first real book, one with chapters, was Charlotte's Web.


I really loved this story as it unfolded otherwise I would have given up on it like I did so many other books that took too much time and effort to complete. But I read this one to the end. I loved the characters and the storyline. I could see the webs that spelled out "some pig". And this is why I was so disappointed in the ending.


Yes, disappointed. In fact, pretty darn angry. It probably took me weeks to get to the end. I was so excited to have finished a book that the melancholy nature of the ending left me feeling like I'd been socked in the stomach. How could Charlotte have died? Why couldn't Wilbur be as close in friendship to any of her children? I wouldn't have put so much of myself into the story if I had known that it didn't have a blissfully happy ending. For a while it really turned me off to reading.


I'm relieved that I didn't give up on reading completely. And I have been blessed with rereading this classic to my own kiddos; but I still feel tense whenever I near the ending, knowing that Charlotte doesn't survive. Of course, I now understand that people(and spiders) don't live forever. Death is just a part of life. As a sensitive child(some would say over-sensitive) I felt Charlotte's loss as if she were a cherished pet or loved one. I felt deep anguish but I didn't understand that I was reacting to the text. I just didn't like feeling like that. What I didn't understand was that I loved Charlotte and Wilbur and Fern and the farm with all it's animals as if they were a part of my everyday life.

What made Charlotte inspirational wasn't that she could read and write but that she lived a selfless and honorable life while she was alive. She was wise, gentle, and patient. Even her flaws(eating flies) were handled with dignity and concern for others. She was the perfect mother figure. I wanted to be like Charlotte. I still want to be like Charlotte.

There are so many beautifully crafted stories out there for children and adults that have less than happy endings. I no longer require a happy ending to consider my reading time to have been worthwhile. In fact, several of my most cherished books have very sad endings or dismal outlooks. There was a time when I would have claimed that any book that didn't depict a hopeful ending wasn't very realistic. That was the optimist in me. Sadly, I have learned through hard experience that the world can and often is a harsh place. A sensitive heart will be trampled many a time. But I can't give up my hopes and prayers for a gentler creation. I have seen it all too often. I have been with people who are genuinely kind in spirit. I have seen a world that holds beauty that can take my breath away.

I'm no longer afraid to mourn for Charlotte. But I also admire her. Her sacrifice was an act of the deepest beauty.

Review:Beowulf

I've posted my first review for the Book Awards Reading Challenge. Take a peak. Let me know what you think.

Booking Through Thursday

1.In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?

Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth was excellent. I also loved Jane Eyre with Toby Stephens, Silas Marner with Ben Kingsley, and , though it took a few liberties, A Midsummer Night's Dream with Michelle Pfeiffer because it is fun and does a great job of capturing the magical quality of the play.

2. The worst?

I have to say Ella Enchanted, which was nothing like the book and so much worse. Also, The House of Mirth with Gillian Anderson. It is probably my favorite book but the movie was boring beyond belief.

3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.)

I read the book first in each of these cases except for A Midsummer Night's Dream. I don't require that the movie match up with the book exactly but it must give the same emotional impression. But a movie that strays too far from the book I would consider as a totally different story.

8 Things I Bet You Didn't Know

Sarala at blogaway tagged me for the 8 Things Meme that's been going around lately. Here are the rules:
* Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
* People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
* At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
* Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I hated reading as a child. In fact I didn't get very much pleasure from it as an adult either. It wasn't until we got rid of the TV and started homeschooling that I started reading in earnest. Now it's practically the only thing I want to do.
2. I always wanted to be a mommy. When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I would always say an interior decorator but my secret wish was to be a homemaker. In the 80s(when I was growing up) "homemaker" was a dirty word. Now we call ourselves stay-at-home moms. It was the only dream I had consistently throughout my childhood.
3. I always wanted red hair. My mom has the most beautiful red hair. It runs in the family, except in mine. Mom had no little red heads of her own. I inherited the fair skin and the freckles and even the curls, and I have some red in my hair but it is basically brown.
4. I worked as an extra on The Power Rangers. I can even be seen in one of the episodes. Actually my back can be seen. I also worked on Sweet Valley High and a really really bad gangster movie starring Martin Sheen.
5. I love being pregnant. It's the only time I can consume caffeine(including chocolate *sigh*) without it making me irritable.
6. I am related to Thomas Jefferson in a round-about way. We're something like third cousins 5 times removed. There are an abundance of Thomases and TJs in my family.
7. I taught myself to quilt. I love crafts of all kinds but quilting is my real passion. Sometime I'll post a picture of my butterfly quilt. It's beautiful and I am very proud of it.
8. I saved the most important one for last. I am head over heals for the man I married. We celebrate 14 years of marriage next week. We have had more than our fair share of troubles it seems but each year my admiration and respect for him grow. And I still think he's a hottie too.

I am not going to tag anyone because I think I would be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't already done this meme. If you haven't done this one and want to just consider yourself tagged.

One more thing. I am leaving tomorrow on a one week family vacation. I'll see y'all when we return. TTFN!

Reading My Bible

As every christian at some point does, I have tried numerous times to read through the whole Bible in a relatively short amount of time. Most people try for one year. I would have been happy with two years or five years. Much to my shame, I am now confessing that in 12 years of being a believer there are still books in the Bible that I've never read, in part or in whole. But I was inspired by this article by Noel Piper that I came across in my web surfing last night.

Mrs. Piper, the wife of author John Piper, didn't write a "this is what you should do" post but a "this is what worked for me this year" post. Her ideas are not groundbreaking or phenomenal but they allowed her to accomplish her goal, not just adequately but with great pleasure.

So I am starting a new personal reading challenge: to read through my Bible in a year and to note which books I have read at the end of each month for accountability. There is nothing like putting your goals and results out there for the world to scrutinize to keep one focused.

This new goal will affect my other goals and challenges but I believe it to be the worthiest goal I could accomplish so I am making it the #1 priority. If you would like to give it a try for yourself please leave me a comment. I'd love to have a buddy.