Weekly Geeks #3 -- Children's Books

Okay, so this post is a week late, my bad. This week's theme was to write about our memories of childhood books.

I've always loved books and can remember reading the same ones over and over as a child. I was also into lists even back then. I remember having a binder of loose-leaf paper with my list of books that I had read. It was several pages long. I wish I still had that list -- it would be interesting to see what was on it. I know there would have been a lot of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. I had inherited my mother's Trixie Belden books from when she was a child and I loved them. I also owned an extensive collection of Nancy Drew, probably 60 or 70 books. I don't think I ever got around to reading the higher-numbered books in the series, there were too many choices at the library (one of my all-time favorite places, even then) and eventually I outgrew Nancy Drew. Maybe one day I'll go back and read a few again, although I'm leery of doing that -- what if I don't like them anymore?

There's a couple of books that I fondly remember before I was old enough for Nancy Drew, et al. One was Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. I don't know why I liked this book, exactly. I don't have specific memories of reading it, but I saw it in a bookstore a few years ago when I was shopping for my little nephew and I remembered it from my childhood. All I can say is that it gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling when I looked at it.

Petunia at Educating Petunia reminded me of a book that I loved (at least I think the book she wrote about in her blog is the book I remember). It was called The Fourteen Bears in Summer and Winter by Evelyn Scott. I googled it after reading her post and it brought back such good memories that I'm going to buy myself another copy. The pictures in this book are great, so colorful and of course the bears are adorable. What little girl wouldn't love it?

I know there's several more, I just wish I could remember them. We didn't have much money growing up, but I always had books, and I can recall how happy I felt sitting and looking at them for hours at a time. I'd love to own some of them now, so that I can sit and look and feel like a little girl again.

Another challenge -- The Wind-Up Book Chronicle

This challenge struck me as a wonderful idea. Us bookies always have at least a few books that we start but never get around to actually completing. If this sounds like you, consider signing up for:

The rules of the challenge are:

1. To participate, you must use books that you've read more than 50 pages of BEFORE MAY 1 but never finished.

2. The challenge will run from May 15 through November 15, 2008.

3. Books can overlap with other challenges.

4. Your list can be changed at any time, BUT you must use the 50 page rule to books read BEFORE May 1, 2008.

5. There is no minimum number of books required.

6. You must sign up for this challenge by June 1, 2008. Sign up using Mr. Linky at The Wind-Up Book Chronicle -- the Linky will be closed on June 1.

7. Read your selections and feel great about finishing what you started!

A Confederacy of Dunces by Robert Kennedy Toole

Synopsis from Barnes & Noble:

"The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning classic hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "a masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue." A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times)."

It's difficult for me to know what to write about this book. I enjoyed it and found myself not wanting to put it down because I had to know what was going to happen next. The writing style was good, it moved quickly and I didn't get bogged down at all. That said, I didn't find the book as funny as I've always read and heard that it is -- there were numerous times when I found myself smirking at something or thinking, "That was clever," but only 1 or 2 times I actually laughed. I guess my main difficulty is in reconciling how this book is considered one of the "great books of the 20th century." I read somewhere that the author has been compared to Jonathan Swift ("Gulliver's Travels") but I don't get it. I'd really like to know if I'm just missing something or if this book has an undeserved reputation. I'm going to do some research and see if I can get a better grip on it. But like I said, I enjoyed it. I would read it again and I have no problem recommending it to others -- I just question how others have categorized it.

Booking Through Thursday - May 15

Following up last week’s question about reading writing/grammar guides, this week, we’re expanding the question….

Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?

Do you ever read manuals?

How-to books?

Self-help guides?

Anything at all?

I guess it partly depends on what you consider a "manual" -- if it means the pictures of how to hook up something with a lot of wires or how to assemble a bookcase, then yes. But if it means the detailed book that comes with stuff, generally no, unless something goes wrong (although I might skim the parts of how to program something, such as when I got my Sirius radio receiver).

I don't really go in for how-to books. I have a couple of gardening books but I've never cracked them. As for self-help guides, I've read a couple of financial ones, but most others I find too banal.

Read-a-thon 2008 is coming!!

I just read about this and I'm so excited!! Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf is again hosting a 24-hour Read-a-thon this June. That's right, 24 hours straight of glorious books. Can you imagine anything better? The specific date has not been announced yet -- you can vote for which date(s) work(s) best for you through a survey link on Dewey's blog. You can sign up as a Reader or a Cheerleader (or both, I suppose). You can also check out what happened in last October's Read-a-thon here. This will be a great opportunity to make some progress in your TBR, as well as interacting with the book blog community. Even if you can't do a full 24 hours, I encourage everyone to join in and share their love of books!