Read a book or books over 400 pages
Reading Round Table is a monthly book forum for adults in the Northwest Mississippi Community College service area. Anyone interested in reading and discussing a variety of books is welcome to join other lifelong learners the last Monday of each month at the RC Pugh Library on the Senatobia campus. Discussions, led by faculty and friends, begin promptly at 2 p.m.
Pecan season is about to wind down. At the end of January we will have picked over 600 pounds. We live in a small pecan grove...
This is Sandy! Right between Sandy's ears in the background is a dead pecan tree. (We didn't pick that one!)
These pecans are waiting to be sent to the crack house.
This is me wishing you all Happy Readings in 2007!
The instructions are as follows:1. Grab the book closest to you.
I'm currently reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. I graciously accepted Kimbofo of Reading Matters open call to participate, because I thought the passages insightful.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of the next three sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the book and the author.
5. Tag three people.
"Here as elsewhere, one does well to remember that writing literature is an exercise of the imagination. And so is reading it. We have to bring our imaginations to bear on a story if we are to see all the possibilities; otherwise it's just about somebody who did something."
Again, I'll not tag anyone, but feel free to do this meme if you wish.
I found a great blog for military books! Jlmnman, at Strategist's Personal Library, reviews books and makes suggestions (or Not) in different categories located on the sidebar. You may choose books from his four shelves: Afghanistan, Holocaust, Iraq and World War II. I imagine the more he reads the bigger his categories/bookshelves will get. Jlmnman is another Canadian finding a theme and doing his bloggiest to make it world worthy!
| What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. | |
| Literate Good Citizen | |
| Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm | |
| Book Snob | |
| Fad Reader | |
| Non-Reader | |
| What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz | |
Got this from Library Dust!
I was tagged by Rick!
1. I graduated with a BS in Aerospace not a BA in English.
2. I started reading for fun in my late 20's. I thought it was a dull pursuit as a hipster; now, I don't go anywhere w/out a book.
3. I sold my '69 Citabria to pay for my MLIS. (A Citabria is an aerobatic plane, and yes I looped-de-looped. Oh, Citabria spelled backwards is airbatic. Get it!?!)
4. I was one of those loud, obnoxious kids librarians (public/school) were always tossing to the curb. (JeMarcus, I was just like you!)
5. Forever by Judy Blume was hidden in my sock drawer during Jr. high.
I'll not tag anyone, but feel free to do this meme if you wish. I was looking at all the blogs I read and I think everyone has been hit by this one. :-P
Read 5 classics from January 1st - February 28thGift Challenge #4
Most of us think of A Christmas Carol as a morality play; actually, it is a political stance. Dickens’ play attacks a popular Victorian thought: to feed the poor would only encourage reproduction to take advantage of the extra food. This thought, known as Malthusian, named for the British social thinker Thomas Malthus.
In the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, author Thomas C. Foster explains the history:
The photo above depicts my favorite Scrooge, actor Alastair Sim.Dickens caricatures this Malthusian thinking in Scrooge’s insistence that he wants nothing to do with the destitute and that if they would rather starve than live in the poorhouse or in debtor’s prison, then, by golly, “they had best hurry up and do it and decrease the excess population.” Scrooge actually says that. What a guy!
Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times. ~Kate L. Bosher
GIFT Challenge #2
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.
The University of Memphis reported that while 32 teenage girls watched TV their metabolism dropped 16 percent below resting metabolic rate, according to Raphael Calzadilla of eDiets.
Can you believe it? A person burns 70 calories reading a book and only 47 watching TV. That’s right, kind of knocks that over-weight, bookworm stereotype off her comfy couch as big(ger) sister wields the remote.
Ready to flip off that TV and flip open a book? I thought so! Make 2007 the year you lose weight and gain knowledge by reading.
First, let us travel back in time for an oldie but goodie, The History of Reading by Alberto Manguel, which was published in 1996. As a young man, Alberto Manguel read books aloud to fellow Argentinaian, Jorge Luis Borges. At the time, Borges was 58 and almost blind. Author Manguel has written or edited thirty works of non-fiction.
Manguel’s first chapter is titled, “The Last Page.” Who out there reads the last page first? The following are other chapter titles: “Learning to Read,” “Being Read To,” and “Private Reading.” Library Journal claims, “The result is a fascinating book to dip into or read cover to cover.” If you like this book, you may like his follow-up, A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader’s Reflection on a Year of Books.
Francine Prose, author of 14 books of fiction, has written 
an excellent book on reading, Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them. Author Prose says, “The trick to writing is reading—carefully, deliberately and slowly.” You might want to read a book from her “Books to be Read Immediately” list.
There are two new books on the “art of reading” literarily. The Look of Reading by Garrett Stewart and Reading Women by Stefan Bollmann with forward by Karen Joy Fowler. Both books include paintings, drawings, and 
photographs of men, women and children reading. Stewart’s art book also includes those pieces with text in the medium.
Bollmann’s book, as the title suggest, concentrates on women. In Fowler’s forward she states, “A woman reading, after all, is a woman not cooking or cleaning.” Darn those lazy women readers.
What a year! Beginning in January, I walked into Northwest’s R.C. Pugh Library and became the Public Services and Reference Librarian. My location and job title changed, but my mission remained the same—Make Mississippi Read!
Of course, no one can really make a person read. The old adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,” applies here. I guess studies have been conducted to prove this point.
Imagine a windowless, solid-white room containing only one object, a book. Now, place a human being in said room. The odds will not be in our “reading” favor. We only have a 50 percent chance he will pick the book up and flip through it. We have a 25 percent chance he will actually read it, but we also have a 25 percent chance he will use it as a pillow.
My work is, as they say, cut out for me. At a reading level of one, an adult will be able to make out important words like “stop” and “sale” but will not be able to read simple sentences. Thirty percent of adults in the state of Mississippi are at level one. Thirty-four percent of adult Mississippians read at level two—equivalent to an eight-grade level.
I will say it again; I have my work cut out for me, but I am not alone. Many teachers and librarians across the state have the same challenge.
These articles have been my opportunity to reach newspaper readers in north Mississippi. As of January 1, 2006, I have written fifty articles featuring over 100 books. At an average of 400 words an article, that’s 20,000 words worth of book talking. Pshew, I’m tired.
The following were my favorite books for 2006: A Year of Magical Thinking (2005) by Joan Didion, Marley and Me (2005) by John Grogan, Devil’s Teeth (2006) by Susan Casey, Early Escapades (2006) by Eudora Welty, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons (2002) by Lorna Ladvik, In Cold Blood (1965) by Truman Capote, Zamba (2005) by Ralph Helfer, and An Ordinary Man (2006) by Paul Rusesabagina.
I understand that I am reaching a reading public, but my hope is the book talks spread. I envision a word-of-mouth possibly firing up a non-reader to get involved. I realize I cannot make a person read. The individual must make that life enhancing choice.
It is 4:45 p.m. on a sunny, 70-degree, Friday afternoon, as I emerge from Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee to find a FedEx deliveryman at my door. Did he know I was just reading about his competitor, UPS? Is he here in my driveway to chastise me for being unfaithful?
to ship lobsters by UPS is Christmas Eve. Apparently, the traditional Christmas dinner in France is not turkey, but fresh lobster. In the chapter titled “Out in the Sort,” there are more crustaceans flying in 757s to Paris than humans.
GIFT Challenge #1
As you bask in the glow of your finely lit Christmas tree, I thought you might enjoy a holiday quiz. It is real simple and may require help from other family members. So, put down that angel-shaped cookie and back away from the eggnog!
Each paragraph is a quote from a beloved Christmas book, seven in all. You are to guess which book goes with each quote. Easy peasey, right? Well, I’m not going to give you the titles. To find the answers look at the following blog entry titled “Christmas Quiz Answers”. Good luck!
A. “The Kranks are skipping Christmas! No party! No tree! Nothing but money in their pockets so they can blow it on a cruise.”
B. “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
C. Chapter title “My Old Man And The Lascivious Special Award That Heralded The Birth Of Pop Art”
D. “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more.”
E. “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
F. “The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire…”
G. “His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!”
H. “On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I was listening for a sound—a sound a friend had told me I’d never hear—the ringing bells of Santa’s sleigh.”
I. “…the Man, the Connection, Santa Claus himself”
J. “More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, and he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!”
K. “God bless us every one!”
Need books to entertain the males in your family this Christmas? Here are a few suggestions….
If the movie, Casino Royale, awoke a new James Bond enthusiast in your family, wrap a couple of Ian Fleming’s paperbacks for him. For the older aficionado, try Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History by Christine Sismondo. This book contains the history of twelve popular cocktails, plus specific instructions on their construction.
For that par"d"ner in your life, there is a new collection of modern, short-story Westerns titled Gallatin Canyon. Author Thomas McGuane is, “thought of as a writer of manly-man reticence in the school of Hemingway,” notes the New York Times Book Review. They state the book is, “beautified with dashes of Big Sky coloring” and “masculine themes.”
Does the man in your life crave real stories in espionage? New in paperback, A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency is the story of Richard Helms. This man once had lunch with Hitler, pre-World War II, and later became the CIA director from 1966 to 1973.
For the rocker-boy cousin, U2BYU2, is hot this season. He will be able to follow Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. through the years as the band goes from Irish pub to Mega-stadium stardom. Tattoo by Dale Rio might appeal to those males who wear their attitudes on their arms rather than their sleeves.
Do you know any men who like hard-boiled mysteries? Robert Parker has a new Spenser out titled Hundred-Dollar Baby. Publisher Weekly says, “Spenser exchanges witty dialogue with the faithful Hawk, sexy dialogue with his beloved Susan and smart-alecky dialogue with cops and villains.”
Michael Connelly is back this season with a new Harry Bosch novel titled Echo Park. This serial-killer thriller has Bosch reflecting on the bad guy who got away. Go get him, Harry.
For the man with the funny bone, Carl Hiaasen’s new title Nature Girl will keep the laughs coming. People magazine explains, “Zapped during dinner by a telemarketer peddling Florida ‘ranchettes,’ Honey Santana doesn’t just go postal, she devises a get-even scheme of demented brilliance.”
AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin
