Author: booknutgirls

booknutgirls http://thebooknutdotcom.wordpress.com I read. I blog. I sell books. I chauffeur my kids. What more do you need to know?

Another take on Caddie Woodlawn

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I’m just a white gal, just a reader, and not necessarily a scholarly or heavily critical thinker.

I had to get that out of the way before I posted a link to this. (The link appeared in a comment on my review of Caddie Woodlawn.) It’s by a Native American woman, a scholar, and one with a mission to change the way that Native Americans are portrayed in literature. All of which I can support. But something about her post on Caddie Woodlawn bothered me. It wasn’t that she couldn’t find evidence for scalp belts (probably there were never any), or that she disagreed with the use of squaw or brave to identify Native American men and women. Fine, that’s racist, and I can understand that. No, it was this:

With deeper knowledge of American Indians, we all might be able to get books like Caddie Woodlawn off the shelves. They have use for study and discussion of stereotypes and bias, but the misinformation they impart to children must not continue to go unchecked.

Tell me, how is this different from an ultra-conservative trying to get the book about the gay penguins off the shelves? Or the anti-Harry Potter diatribes? Or any other book that someone wants banned? Are there no allowances here? If her logic holds, then we should probably take everything off the shelves that wasn’t written before, oh, say 1970. Yeah, there’s a lot of racist and insensitive stuff out there. But even Shakespeare was racist. Does that mean it’s not good? What’s the line here?

Interview Meme

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Andi did this one, and I thought it’d be fun to play along. I so very rarely diverge from my script of book reviews around here, and it seemed like just the thing to liven this place up. So I had her send me interview questions.

First, the directions: Want some questions of your own? Leave me a comment saying, “interview me!” and I will respond by e-mailing you five questions (if your email is not on your profile, email me (ack! I have to give out my email: mmfraf@sbcglobal.net. No spam please.) your desire to be interviewed so I know your address). I get to pick them, and you have to answer them all. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. I know you’re a children’s/young adult literature lover, like me. What is it about the genre that appeals to you?
I don’t remember reading YA fiction as a kid. It seems like I went from reading little house to reading Agatha Christie (and wanting to read War and Peace) without much in between. I read a lot of crap, too. So I think one of the appeals of YA literature is just that there’s so much I haven’t read. I also think that some of the best storytelling is found in the children’s/young adult section, and a good story is what really draws me in.

2. What is the perfect meal?

For me, a meal isn’t about the food. Even though I’m slowly becoming a food snob. (I hate church potlucks. The food’s terrible.) It’s all about the conversation. So, the perfect meal would either be: 1) my family sitting around the table talking and laughing while eating something yummy that I’ve cooked (and all of them liking it!), or 2) Thanksgiving dinner with extended family or friends, or 3) a nice quiet dinner out with my husband at a good, not terribly overpriced restaurant, or 4) having dinner with some good friends and good conversation.

3. Do you have any recurring dreams? If not, what’s the most vivid dream you can remember? (This prompted by the barrage of shark dreams I’ve been having lately.)
I do have dreams of a very old boyfriend occasionally. They always leave me peevish in the morning, though. My dreams — at least the ones I remember — are always littered with people. The most recent one I remember had Michael Palin in it. Hmm… wonder why?

4. Four daughters! What’s the best part about having a slew of girls in your house?
Low instance of property damage. Hand-me downs (we always said they were cheaper in the short run, more expensive in the long run). The fact that they’ll always have each other as friends (we hope).

5. You do such lovely writing here at your blog and at Estella’s Revenge, I have to know, if you could interview any author who would it be and what would be your first question?
Dead or alive? (Do I have to choose?)

I’d love to interview Jo Rowling, ask her what it’s like going from a struggling single-mom to being the richest woman in England. Ask her what she’s going to do now that Harry Potter is finished. I’d love to ask Jane Austen what she thinks of the movie adaptations of her books. I’d love to chat with Bill Bryson, see if he’s really as funny in person as he is on paper.

So, there you have it. Let me know if you want a turn.

Austenland

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There is no way I’ll be able to write anything remotely objective for this book. (Though I’m going to try for the June issue of Estella.)

So, I’m just going to leave you with my favorite quote from the book. Jane’s (she’s the main character) trying to explain her fascination with Austen and the whole Regency thing to a guy she’s met. She says, “I don’t think I could explain it to a man. If you were a woman, all I’d have to say is ‘Colin Firth in a wet shirt’ and you’d say ‘Ah’.”

Ah, indeed.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go pop in the DVD now.

Caddie Woodlawn

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I felt like I was sorely neglecting the Newbery project that I’ve signed up for (not having read anything since Higher Power of Lucky, back in March), so I read this little gem of a book by Carol Ryrie Brink.

My full review is over at the Newbery Project.

Around the World in 80 Days

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Michael Palin is my favorite Monty Python. This is not something I discovered as a teenager — I’d seen Holy Grail, but that’s about it — but as an adult. See, I married a Monty Python Fan. He uses two of their movies in his classes (“They’re full of great philosophical points,” he says). We own not only the entire series on DVD, but also every special that they have come out with. We have books on the Pythons. And, being the loving, devoted wife that I am, I’ve watched it with him (he’s working on getting the girls hooked), and yes, have gotten sucked into it (well, it is funny…). In the process, I’ve come up with my own Beatleesque descriptions of all of them: I don’t get Terry Gilliam, I find Terry Jones often unfunny, Graham Chapman is the straight man (yes, I get the irony), Eric Idle is just smarmy, John Cleese is a great physical comedian, but Michael Palin is my favorite.

So, what does all this have to do with a Jules Verne book?

Well, way back in 1988, when I was 16, and Michael Palin was 45 (I know, he’s older than my dad!), the BBC got him to see if he could do what Phileas Fogg did in the Verne book: travel around the world in 80 days (or less). I’m sure he didn’t know when he started that this would become a second career of sorts for him — he’s done six of these, and is working on a seventh — and that’s how I came to this book. I’ve long wanted to watch these travel documentaries (being a fan of both travel documentaries and Michael Palin), but they were never to be seen in the video stores of Jonesboro and Macomb (same with Bollywood movies, but I digress). Along came Netflix, and I found that they really do carry everything. We’ve watched Sahara — good, but the ending was too abrupt — and are 2/3 of the way through Himalaya (which has been really good so far). And watching those got me curious about the earlier ones.

He’s written a book to accompany each of his travels, and I reserved a copy of the first one. The gimmick was to follow the Verne book as closely as possible, without using airplanes. The book’s basically his diary of the trip — broken up into little segments for each day. And it’s fascinating. He’s an engaging, funny writer (favorite part: the initiation he got for crossing the International Dateline on a merchant ship. At one point, he commented that it was worse than being in a Terry Gilliam film). I loved seeing the world through his eyes. He really is a people person, making friends with whomever will talk to him, searching out the unusual and unspectacular, and he’s genuinely curious about the world. I was saddened by the lack of respect for the earth that many people had in 1988 (but I had to keep reminding myself that it was nearly 20 years ago) — and it made me wonder how much the world has changed, if at all (I doubt he’d do it again, but I’d be to see what it would be like now, 20 years down the road). There was also the constant pressure to keep up with a fictional character. He was lagging way behind Fogg for quite a while — over sea travel isn’t nearly as easy as it was in the 1880s — but caught up from Tokyo to Los Angeles, and across America, so he ended up on time. But only barely. I liked his descriptions of culture shock going from country to country — a realization just how different we really are.

I also realized that there was a lot more information in the book than would or could appear in the BBC series. So, I’m curious and need to get the tape and watch it. And conversely, I should probably get the books to all the other ones, too. And I probably will. Eventually.

So Y’all Want to Know

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What the book scene is like here in Wichita, right?

You ask, I deliver. Check out the interview with Sarah Bagby, too (She’s the manager of a local indie bookstore). That was an interesting experience (though it was very trying for my babysitter; dear little K doesn’t like it when Mommy’s away). Thankfully, I didn’t come off like a complete bumbling fool.

Oh, and while you’re there, check out the other stuff in the issue. It’s a good one.

Riddle-Master

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Wow. I don’t know where to start with this trilogy — The Riddle-Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, and Harpist in the Wind — by Patricia McKillip. I’m at a loss for words.

It’s a huge, dense book, a homage to Lord of the Rings. And as a homage, it’s brilliant. Instead of copying the world, or the ideas from Tolkien, she used the themes — of redemption, of the passing of an age, of harnessing and the temptation of power — to craft a masterful work. I was caught up in the story, in the world, wanting to know the answers.

But… it was almost too dense. I would read passages and think “What the heck just happened?”, and re-read them. And they wouldn’t be any clearer. I’d go on with the hope that everything would make itself known in the end. I suppose if you read a book entitled Riddle-Master things are probably going to be confusing for a while. But, when the end finally came, and the resolution, I was oddly disappointed. Perhaps it was that I saw it coming pages before, but just didn’t quite figure it out. Or perhaps it was too pat and I wanted more. But I don’t know what that would entail.

I really enjoyed the first and second books. The first is Morgan (the Riddler of the title, the Prince of Hed, the Star-Bearer) figuring out his destiny, and traveling the realm looking for the High One (think High King) to get some answers. It ends with a spectacular cliff-hanger, which isn’t fully resolved until the end of the third book. The second is all about Raederle, who is Morgan’s love, companion, friend. Morgan disappeared for over a year after the end of the first book. She got worried. And, despite the objections of her father and all the other land-rulers (think oh, the lesser kings in LOTR), she and Morgan’s sister Tristan, and Lyra (a kick-butt guard; think Eowyn) they go looking for him. Raederle figures things out about herself, for herself, and becomes, gradually, Morgan’s equal (or at least comes close) in power. It’s quite the book.

The third, however, doesn’t work as well. It builds up, and builds up, but is way too dense to have made much sense to me. I tried to get it, but it all came crashing down in the end, a huge battle, thousands of lives lost, power thrown and hurled everywhere, and I couldn’t visualize it. I didn’t get it. I don’t get it. Someone will have to explain it all to me.

Still. I’m not sorry I read it. Thanks again, Corrine, for sending the book. I’ll get it back to you soon.

Bloggers vs. Reviewers

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I’m not going to weigh in on this debate (being one of those who are blogging reviews…), but for a thoughtful overview, check out Betsy’s thoughtful post on the whole debate.

In other news, I finished Riddle-Master of Hed last night. And I’m SO glad that Corrine sent me the whole trilogy, because it ends with a major cliffhanger. I would be totally up the proverbial river if I’d checked it out from the library. Maybe I should talk to them about it.

The, um, review will be forthcoming, after I finish the other two books.

River Secrets

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I’m reading a lot of fantasy books these days, but almost none are from my Once Upon a Time challenge list. I will get to those eventually…

I threw this one in here (I figured it would be a quick read), because I discovered the library had it while searching for books for M. Not to pass a Shannon Hale book up, I threw it in the bag and took it home. Where it sat and called me and nagged me until I finished Temeraire and I could happily indulge myself in Hale’s wonderful storytelling.

I liked this one. A lot. At least, a lot better than I liked Enna Burning. The basic plot: Razo (the sheep boy from Goose Girl, and Enna’s good friend) is asked to be a part of an envoy accompanying the ambassador to Tira, following the uncertain end to the war between Bayern and Tira. Times are uneasy; there are elements in Tira that want to go back to war with Bayern, and it’s up to the ambassador and the soldiers to stop the assembly from voting to go to war.

Razo’s role in all this is uncertain until about a third of the way through the book, when he gest a special assignment: discover who’s behind the burned bodies that Razo keeps discovering.

I enjoyed this for many reasons. Hale’s a great storyteller, and has a way of describing a world and yet letting her characters be characters rather than elements of the world (which is more difficult to achieve than you would believe). I liked Razo’s development from an insecure kid to a self-aware, and confident young man. I liked Dasha as a counterweight to Razo. I loved Enna and Finn’s romance. And Radiance, the Tiran prince, cracked me up.

Unfortunately, while she alluded to Enna Burning, and pretty much explained the really important parts, you can’t effectively skip that book and read this one. This one makes more sense having read Enna Burning, and there were times when I wished I had read it more recently.

And, this one makes it worth your time.