Redding Reading

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale

For those who were concerned, sorry I’ve been away. It is finals week. Enough said.

About two months ago, I read Maus by Art Spiegelman (art spiegelman? I forget if he likes to be capitalized or not).

Anyway, it was an amazing book. It is a graphic novel (there are two volumes, sometimes put into one - so make sure you read both) that tells the tale of Mr. Spiegelman’s (Art’s dad) time in Auschwitz. Even though people are represented by animals (Americans are dogs, btw), to me it almost makes the story more powerful. Spanning from when his parents met, their first child, how they hid from the Nazis with the help of some sort of reluctant Polish folk, their time in the camps, how they got out, his mother’s death, and how Art and his father met now, these short novels cover a lot of ground and make a huge impact.

I would love to discuss the symbolism of the Nazis being cats and the Jewish people being mice with anyone that wants to. It has a lot of levels. Hi, I just took a literature theory class - please bear with me.

Fun side note: Maus first appeared in the magazine Raw, full of underground/alternative comics. I wish they still came out with new issues.

I’m going to have my future students read this book in class as part of a Holocaust unit.

Never Let Me Go

Double post day!

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a different kind of book. My sister said today “it was subtle and slow, but in a good way.” I agree. Please excuse the brief explanation, the book is better if you realize what is going on as it is slowly revealed to you.

Kathy, the main character, is reminiscing about her school days at Hailsham. There’s some typical friend drama, some not typical friend drama, and some other weird stuff going on. Some of the teachers say mysterious things or act strangely around the students at times. The students at Hailsham are special, and not everyone likes them outside of the school. Once they are done with school, their lives are very different from normal lives.

I enjoyed this book. Again, sorry for the vague description. If you enjoy futuristic novels with interesting moral questions, read this book. I wish I could discuss it more on here without ruining anything, but I can’t. I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m interested in seeing how they handled the book.

In the Sea There are Crocodiles

In the Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda is based on the amazing true story of Enaiatollah Akabari (a name I had to copy and paste to spell correctly). The story starts when Enaiat is ten and his mother smuggles him out of Afghanistan into Pakistan - and leaves him there. He travels throughout the Middle East working in various places and dealing with racist/mean people. Crossing many dangerous borders illegally, it takes him five years to reach Italy where he seeks political asylum.

While this book was not as powerful as other books I’ve read about the Middle East, I enjoyed it. I peeked at some reviews on Amazon, and some complained it was too simplistic and good for young adults. While I agree young adults should read it, I think anyone can enjoy reading this book. It is always fascinating to read about other cultures. I thought the parts where Enaiat talked about how certain groups hated each other and how he was smuggled across borders were captivating.

I would not put this book on the top of a reading list, I would still recommend it. It’s quick, sad, interesting, and fun at times. Overall worth reading at some point.

It’s Always Something

I am a huge Gilda Radner fan. I’ve loved her ever since I was little and happened to see her on television while flipping through the channels. It was an SNL sketch where’s she’s a little girl and she leaps up into a wall as hard as she can. I thought (and still think) that was so funny. Not only was she hilarious, but she was married to Gene Wilder - another one of my favorite people.

While I knew she had had cancer, when I picked up her book, It’s Always Something, I did not expect it to be about that. I don’t know why. I thought it would be how she described her wanting the book in the beginning - about marriage and owning a home and funny little stories about all those things. It was not, because she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

I listened to this book in my car, Gilda reading it from my tape player, and I cried so much. Her story is so emotional. She wrote her story in a fantastic way. I felt her pain. I felt her happiness. It made me think of people I know who have had cancer in a different way. I’m prouder of them, even more inspired by them.

I would highly recommend this book. It goes through many details of treatments and how she felt, so those who are easily affected by these types of details should be cautioned. As I said, I cried about every five seconds.

It was an amazing book, and I think it’s better if you listen to Gilda read it.

Franny and Zooey

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger is about siblings in their twenties. Basically, something is majorly up with Franny. She cries, faints, and is generally disagreeable. Her family is concerned about her at home because she lays on the couch and cries. Her boyfriend and family discover it has something to do with a book she carries around. She and her brother, Zooey, discuss the book together and have interesting religious talks.

This book went a little slow for me. It’s definitely not my favorite, but the religious discussions in it were interesting (for awhile). I loved Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, but to me this book was not as good. However, a boy in one of my classes said Franny and Zooey was his favorite book. So I don’t really know what to tell you. If you hate Catcher in the Rye, books were people discuss religion and books, or books where people complain a lot - this book is not for you. If you slightly enjoy any of those things, you will slightly enjoy this book.

I would also like to add that Zooey is a hilarious character to me and I really enjoyed him. The book was worth reading just to read about him.

To Kill a Mockingbird

My posts on books I read for fun are mostly meant to be summaries and a quick blurb on what I thought of the book. I hope they help you decide whether or not you want to read these books.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was not about what I thought it was about. No, I didn’t think it was about killing birds. I actually don’t really know what I thought it was about. I knew it involved a trial and racism. I did not realize it was narrated by a child. Or that a lot of it would be childhood adventures. All of these things were pluses for me.

The book is about Atticus Finch’s children growing up and how they handle the trial he is part of. Atticus is a lawyer who has to defend an African American in the south at a time when African Americans weren’t thought of very highly. He takes the case anyway because he feels it is the right thing to do and that all people are people. His children, while not racist, are confused by this concept because people in their town are criticizing their father and being rude to them.

The children, Scout (the narrator and youngest) and Jem (Jeremy), are both hilarious and awesome. Scout refuses to be a proper young lady and has some keen insights to the people around her. Jem is going through some changes as he’s growing up and learning how to be a big brother, son, and adult.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was interesting to read children’s reactions to a case that would be very - intense. I’ve read books about trials but most are from the perspective of a lawyer or adult. To read about a trial from the point of view of a lawyer’s youngest daughter (I think she’s about eight at the time of the trial) was new and excellent. It brought new insights to how families are affected by things like their parent’s jobs, especially if they involve taking an unpopular position.

Overall: Enjoyable. I loved it. It’s one of those books that doesn’t feel like it’s teaching you something while it’s teaching you something. Scout is amazing.

Why Read, Pages 1-21

Forgive the boring title. We are reading Why Read? by Mark Emundson for one of my college English classes. Basically this book discusses why reading is important and how he thinks education should be different. As an education major/someone who has been in school at least once, his thoughts on education are interesting to me. Bear with me, I think this post is worth thinking about.

Education has become entertainment 24/7. Many students hate teachers who can’t joke around and don’t make their subject fun. While I personally think it’s a good thing for a teacher to be enthusiastic and connect with their students, I do realize this entertainment issue is actually a problem. A student can’t go into a class and expect their teachers to do backflips, crack jokes, and give them puppies. School is for learning. Sometimes a lesson a teacher has to teach is not going to be fun. Does that make the teacher a bad one? Or the lesson not worth learning? Just because I didn’t think my biology class was fun doesn’t mean what I learned wasn’t important.

He also had some interesting points about television. I love television more than the average bear, but I think his criticism of it was spot on. TV makes enthusiasm look silly. Why participate when you can just watch? We love to watch things. Think about when you were little. Do you remember when everyone was super enthusiastic about volunteering for things in school? By the time you got to middle school and high school, it became lame to be the one to raise your hand in class. What happened?

For me, I relate this lack of enthusiasm to television. I started watching more things on TV as I got older. Let’s assume my classmates did, too. By watching TV, we figured just watching other things was better too. We’d rather get lost in other people’s lives than live our own. Of course, I’m still going to continue to watch my shows. Don’t get me wrong. Perhaps I’ll try to make a more conscious effort to read more, though.

Finally, the last thing I found interesting was that people use education to get rich, not for enrichment. SO TRUE. For some. While people may want a certain lifestyle in the future and need a certain amount of money to do it, I feel that education should challenge your beliefs as well. Thank goodness for liberal education! I’m taking classes about things I hate, but you know what? It’s good I’m learning about them. When am I going to use chemistry as an English teacher? Never! But now I know why chemists are important and maybe understand why some things work the way they do. If my brain absorbed anything.

I also think we should be challenged in our education - beliefs-wise. Sure, maybe I think green is the best color in the world and everyone should like green but what about all the people that like blue? I should have to think about that. I should be courteous to them and perhaps think about blue being an okay color. I can still like green the most, but I can accept blue. That is obviously an over simplified example of challenging beliefs. I am trying to avoid political/religious/whatever discussions. For now.

…the end.

Explanation

For awhile now I’ve been wanting to make a blog about the books I’ve read and whether or not I think other people should read them/giving a brief summary/whatever. Then this fall semester started and we’re reading this book called Why Read? by Mark Emundson and it’s made me think a lot about books and learning in general. So now I’ve decided that I’m starting this blog as a way to discuss my thoughts about the content of my classes and, of course, the books I’m reading for my own pleasure. I will always warn if I’m going to have a spoiler. I promise.