The most dangerous podcast

I started listening to the NPR Books podcast. It's a mish mash of book reviews and author interviews.

I love books. Love reading them, acquiring them, displaying them (the only room in my house without books is the bathroom). They make every room more cozy.

I've had to practice quite a bit of restraint while listening to this podcast, holding myself back from going straight to Amazon and ordering them all.


Books: Book Reviews, Book News, and Author Interviews : NPR

A good book/a geek from way back

I'm re-reading The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal. (It's my pick for book club.) I read it first in high school after getting sucked into the mini series on Great Performances (PBS). In high school I was watching a lot of PBS. A geek to the core at an early age.

The main character in the book is Fabrizio del Dongo. (A fun name to say!) He's quite the naive guy who wants to go off and join Napoleon's army. Later he becomes a prelate in the Catholic church. Stendhal is quite clever and mouthy but you have to pay attention or you miss it.

From a review of the new translation in The New York Times (1999):

The quick pace of the narrative and the vividness of the characters are balanced throughout by a coolly sardonic assessment of human nature and, in particular, of politics. Stendhal ... found himself living at a time of almost unprecedented political cynicism in post-Restoration France; disgust with the bourgeois complacency of his countrymen played no little part in his admiration for the Italians, whom he considered to be more authentic -- more profound and more susceptible to violent emotions, as he wrote in his diary. More.

If you like this one, you'll surely like The Red and The Black, also by Stendhal (the red represents the military and the black represents the church).

Nice reading comprehension

I was in a store in the card aisle. Among the various types of cards, “birthdays” “graduation” etc., there is a section called “milestones.” When I first saw it I thought it said “mistresses.”

More Jane Austen!

Jane Austen wrote only a few books. That is a crying shame. Various attempts at updating Austen have been good and bad. I was so delighted when Sheriboo told me about The Family Fortune. It's an update of my favorite Austen book, Persuasion.

The Family Fortune follows the story's skeleton but it's enough of a different story to keep you turning the pages. The characters are well developed. It's very hard to put down, as Sheriboo warned.

The book also has the right amount of description and detail. I absolutely loathe the trend in some fiction to over describe, e.g., "she slipped her red-manicured feet into her fuchsia, Fendi slip-ons which exactly matched her silk shift." Or this one from the book I'm trying to read for book club

"Isobel felt herself rising through dark water. It was a slow ascent from slate depths, light teasing in a far shimmer above. Air bubbles trapped on the underside of the boat gleamed like wriggling snails."

Pushing the mind

I read about a person who travels a lot who, in an effort to keep pushing his mind, picks up a magazine at the airport news agent before each flight. What makes this interesting, however, is that he picks up a magazine that he would never think of reading. We all gravitate to what we like and understand. And there are things that we have no interest in. His argument is that by reading things he'd never think of reading, he pushes his mind in new directions and often gets ideas that would have likely never surfaced.

I really like this idea. Yesterday at the library I picked up an assortment of such magazines. I couldn't yet get myself to pick up Road and Track or Motor Trend. My list:

• Kiplinger's -- eyes glaze over. Involves math, shudder.
  
• Backpacker -- about backpacking, hiking and camping. I hate camping.
  
• Discover -- about science, technology and the future. I quickly glaze over and find so much of it uninteresting. I do find some easy-to-understand stuff interesting.
  
• Scientific American -- see above.
  
• Dog Fancy -- I love dogs but this magazine always struck me, due to the use of the word "fancy," as too foo-foo, too "let's put the dog in clothes!"

But first, I need to go through the pile of paper on my desk.

Kids and dogs

My cousin Joni sent me an e-mail about this offering at the Great River Library in St. Cloud.

Thursday, Oct. 26 , 6:30-8:00 pm
Desiree and Tiffany are certified Reading Education Assistance Dogs and love to sit and listen to books. Registration for 15 minute sessions begins October 18. Ages 5 and up.

That is the sweetest thing ever! Here's a bit more about the Reading Education Assistance Dogs.

The mission of the R.E.A.D. program is to improve the literacy skills of children through the assistance of registered Pet Partner® therapy teams as literacy mentors.

The Reading Education Assistance Dogs® (R.E.A.D.) program improves children’s reading and communication skills by employing a powerful method: reading to a dog. But not just any dog. R.E.A.D. dogs are registered therapy animals who volunteer with their owner/handlers as a team, going to schools, libraries and many other settings as reading companions for children.

And a short testimonial from the R.E.A.D. site:

Catherine and her Boston Terrier, Chato, who participate in the R.E.A.D.^® program at the Midvale Boys' and Girls' Club, understand just how convinced most children are that the dogs they read to listen and absorb what they are hearing. One second grader informed them, "I really scared that big black dog the other day!" When asked how, he replied, "I read him a ghost story!"