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Text of the page (random words):
e but it will have no effect upon me p 303 scribed by nyssaneala at 8 43 am 32 reader s responses labels british lit classics literature women writers world lit sunday october 5 2008 sunday salon october 5 later today we will be going apple picking with a group of our friends one of my favorite autumn activities however reading is high on my mind today since i decided to take the leap and tackle the cairo trilogy all 3 books they have been staring at me for two years and i figure it is about time that i took the plunge i m hoping to do a little blog hopping during maya s afternoon nap and stay tuned for an onslaught of picture books reviews i m hoping to post my thoughts on many of the books we checked out from the library that have a fall theme i m still catching up on my own reviews too i hope to have my thoughts up soon on hotel du lac by anita brookner remember me and shopahoilc and baby by sophie kinsella and pride and prejudice by jane austen scribed by nyssaneala at 9 13 am 5 reader s responses labels sunday salon dappled apples jan carr title dappled apples author jan carr illustrator dorothy donohue year 2007 rating 3 5 out of 5 dappled apples is a whimsical romp through an apple orchard and pumpkin patch i checked this book out of the library before we went apple picking and it fit that context beautifully it has simple rhyming text and the illustrations are vibrant and really stand out i can t say it s one of my favorite picture books but i will probably keep it on my list of books to get from the library each autumn scribed by nyssaneala at 6 31 am 3 reader s responses labels children s literature picture books house of leaves mark danielewski title house of leaves author mark danielewski country usa year 2000 pages 709 pgs rating 4 out of 5 first sentence this book is not for you i first saw this novel years ago and it caught my interest but i never got around to reading it finally about two months ago i saw it on my brother in law s bookshelf and borrowed it i was in for quite a ride there is both a lot going on in the plot and a lot of very little the main plot if there is such a think is the story of a photojournalist and his family who move into a house that turns out to be a wee bit bigger on the inside than the out side the analysis of the navidson record a documentary made by the photojournalist as his family adjusted to their new home and discovered it wasn t quite normal is written by an old guy named zampano who died in his apartment his book was discovered by johnny truant a self admitted liar and druggie whose life slowly begins to spin out of control in the footnotes of the book rounding out the narrators is the editors who occasionally throw in their own two cents it s a dizzying fascinating book you can t review house of leaves without mentioning it s unusual styling a postmodern piece of art each narrator has their own font which really helps the reader follow what s going on and from whose perspective as the family and outsiders who become involved in the exploration delve into the mysteries of the house they are begin to expose themselves to a dark exploration of their psyche and interpersonal relationships the text mimics both the action and the emotional state of mind each person is in it turns twists reduces to only a few words per page it is a dizzying effect but relatively easy to follow one of my favorite parts which seems to get overlooked in reviews is quite simple zampano is a blind man and his book is reviewing a movie what the another highlight is the letters between johnny and his mother while she was at the whalestoe psychiatric institute the letters are in the appendix but they bring subtle clues to much of johnny s narration scribed by nyssaneala at 5 57 am 5 reader s responses labels american lit fiction mystery monday september 29 2008 happy rosh hashanah and eid this year the jewish new year rosh hashanah will be celebrated at the same time as eid ul fitr the muslim holiday that celebrates the end of the month long fast of ramadan both are joyful festivals and feasts of celebration our family is taking advantage of this nearness to host an interfaith dinner with friends and family to celebrate both shanah tova and eid mubarak scribed by nyssaneala at 6 12 am 4 reader s responses saturday september 27 2008 friday fill in september 26 1 hot apple cider butternut squash soup pumpkin curry more apple picking taking walks with maya and watching the leaves change and picking pumpkins from a pumpkin patch are some of the things i m most looking forward to in october 2 sometimes i just want time to myself 3 john mccain actually did a decent job at the presidential debate tonigh t and that s why there is a saying never say never his policies however are still crappy 4 when i m down i pick up a good book 5 chasing after maya is where you ll find me most often 6 a rainy day is good for reading 7 and as for the weekend tonight i m looking forward to watching the debate tomorrow my plans include reading pride and predjudice and sunday i want to spend time with my family that are coming to visit scribed by nyssaneala at 6 30 am 4 reader s responses labels friday fill in tuesday september 23 2008 sing through the day title sing through the day eighty songs for children compiled by marlys swinger country various pages 112 pgs rating 5 out of 5 i first came across sing through the day when i was compiling a list of books related to the waldorf method of learning this book of songs comes up on many lists and i was intrigued maya loves music the songs i have sang to her from birth almost always soothe her when she is upset or having a hard time falling asleep and i desperately needed to add to my repertoire i was quickly growing tired of the few songs i knew by heart the songs in the book with accompanying scores are categorized mainly by time of day morning playtime nighttime with other categories such as weather birthdays and games also included the book includes a cd of many of the songs while the quality of the cd is not the best it does help this musically challenged mama learn the tunes my years of playing the flute mean that i can read music but i have a terrible time carrying a tune with my voice and in that way the cd really helped out the songs are from all over the world and many include tips on how to incorporate musical instruments creative play and fingerplays with the music we are having a lot of the fun learning the songs proud missus sheep is a wonderful alternative to the standard old macdonald had a farm a song i was quickly growing tired of and is easy to learn proud missus sheep she has a little lamb now down on cherry tree farm hear them together in any sort of weather baaa baa baaa and so on for whatever animals you want to sing about squirrel nutkin a spanish folk tune is a great accompaniment to reading beatrix potter s squirrel nutkin the japanese rain song is also a huge hit in our home the other day we got stuck out in a thunderstorm maya was tired and grumpy and as we hovered under our umbrella she was quickly getting fussier i started singing the song and she immediately calmed down and started smiling underneath my big umbrella i can hear the rain underneath my roof of yellow singing down the lane pichi pichi chapu chapu rain rain rain underneath my big umbrella i can see the sun down i bring my roof of yellow for the rain is done pichi pichi chapu chapu rain rain rain some of our other favorites are the swiss alpine song the thuringian folk tune the rooster s our watchman and the finnish tune sleep my duckling i have probably said this here before but i am a firm believer in the power of music and horrible singing voice aside we spend a lot of our day singing and making music maya has learned how to bang rhythm sticks together and loves eggs shakers and maracas we recently started music together classes so there is no longer any shortage of new music to sing clap and dance along to scribed by nyssaneala at 8 53 am 3 reader s responses labels children s literature monday september 22 2008 the crystal cave mary stewart title the crystal cave author mary stewart country uk year 1970 pages 512 pages rating 4 out of 5 first sentence the day my uncle camlach came home i was just six years old the crystal cave is the first book in mary stewart s merlin trilogy it is a series i have been meaning to read for a long time and when i saw it on the library bookshelves i snatched it up immediately book one takes place when merlin is just a young lad the illegitimate son of the daughter of a local king during his childhood britain is divided into tiny kingdoms after the departure of the romans the saxons are a constant threat as they will be for quite some time but the land is also divided by internal feuding that takes place before the return of uther and ambrosius we follow merlin through many of his well known acts his prophecy of ambrosius victory transporting and building the giant s dance stonehenge and the encounter between uther and ygraine that led to the birth of arthur most of the arthurian books i have read are about the women mists of avalon by marion zimmer bradley and queen of camelot by nancy mckenzie come to mind it s a nice change to read a book about one of arthurian legends most mysterious characters merlin the crystal cave certainly lives up to the hype and i m looking forward to reading the other books in the trilogy scribed by nyssaneala at 8 13 am 6 reader s responses labels arthurian legend fantasy fiction women writers sunday september 21 2008 independent people halldor laxness title independent people author halldor laxness country iceland year 1946 pages 512 pages rating 4 out of 5 independent people is the story of bjartur of summerhouses an icelandic crofter who has bought his own croft after 18 years of servitude to the bailiff of myri bjartur is conservative stubborn and fearful of progress he is not especially likeable but you can t help being drawn into his plight bjartur prides himself on being an independent man defining independence as freedom from servitude however freedom and independence from starvation sickness and extreme poverty are issues he confronts on a daily basis halldor laxness won the nobel prize in 1955 and many view independent people as the crown of his achievements despite this it remains an obscure novel it took months to obtain a copy through the interlibrary loan system from a small country most americans know little about for me that is part of its charm the book is hard describe it is about many things icelandic sheep farmers in the early 20th century self sufficiency and independence a satirical look at bjartur s limitations the impact of war and the juxtaposition of economics and politics particularly socialism vs capitalism all play out through the course of this epic novel there are long discussions of ancient icelandic poetry for bjartur is a poet which really gives the story a timeless quality framing these themes is the relationship between bjartur and his only daughter asta sollija independent people certainly hold its own in comparison to other works of the time by authors such as ernest hemingway john steinbeck and pearl s buck it is a book to read when you have the time to sit down and browse slowly scribed by nyssaneala at 7 22 am 4 reader s responses labels classics european lit literature reading across borders world lit sunday salon september 21 wow it has been 1 1 2 months since my last sunday salon post i love blogging and reading what my blogging friends are up to but i found i just needed a break for a while in retrospect i think it was the craziness of the last few months finally getting to me moving unpacking adjusting to hubby s new schedule and the fact that most days he leaves for work before maya gets up and returns after she goes to bed and beginning to chase after my little bub who started crawling and is now close to walking we have also been plagued by maya s unwillingness to eat solids and her slow weight gain and drop from her growth pattern already on the smal l side in the 3rd 5th percentiles which has spurred v isits to a gastroenterologist and a host of blood work and other tests her pediatrician diagnosed her as failure to thrive not because i believe she is but i need a diagnosis number for insurance purposes in all other ways she is thriving but seeing ftt on paper just makes me feel ill so far all of the test results have come back fine and my gut feeling is that nothing is wrong medically especially since she meets all the milestones far in advance she just isn t all that interested in food we will be going to a speech pathologist that does feeding therapy i m really hoping that helps more than our meeting with a nutritionist who failed to tell me anything i didn t already know in all other ways maya is a happy healthy 9 month old baby she has been crawling since june and currently her favorite activity is cruising around with her brio walker wagon in the last few days she has been briefly standing on her own so it looks like walking is in our near future she says a few words now ma ma da da and ne ne when she wants to nurse she has also learned the milk sign i use to ask her if she wants to nurse and she has finally learned how to go both up and down a step so i don t have to worry as much about the step between our living and dining room and her toothless grin is almost gone she has two budding lower teeth with one ready to erupt any day with all of that going on how i digress from books i haven t had as much time to read as i usually do i have finished a few books in the last two months independent people by haldor laxness shopaholic and baby by sophie kinsella the crystal cave by mary stewart you are your child s first teacher by rahima baldwin sing through the day compiled by marlys singer and house of leaves by mark danielewski all of those reviews will be forthcoming throughout the next week or two and now having finished house of leaves yesterday i am having a hard time deciding what to pick up next i could read remember me by sophie kinsella my mom s book group pick for this month although i like sophie kinsella i m not expecting the book to generate much discussion and having just read one of the shopaholic books i m not as inclined to pick this one up i also have the blue jay s dance by louise erdrich on my tbr pile but i don t know if i m in the right mood for non fiction what i really want to read next is the second book in mary stewart s merlin trilogy but my hold isn t available at the library yet more than likely i will be picking up something small and quick an agatha christie or barbara pym book to tide me over until the hollow hills is available at the library happy sunday fellow saloners scribed by nyssaneala at 6 04 am 16 reader s responses labels sunday salon older posts home subscribe to posts atom my 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