Literacy Conclusion

Here's a post that is far overdue! I have failed in reporting to those of you who are curious, but I did not fail in my personal literacy challenge. This blog should have been written in December, however, in December I was moving and could not locate the books I had read. Actually, I still can't locate all of those books I read. I missed several months of reporting near the end of the year (Apparently, September- December... no big deal, just a quarter of the year), and honestly, I am struggling to remember all of the books I read during the last 3 months of the year. The reason? I was in school. School that happens in 8 week spurts. School that requires at least a chapter of textbook reading a week.

I know that in September I read The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, Song Yet Sung by James McBride, Small Steps by Louis Sachar, and No Quick Fix by Keith Phillips. Sometime in October through December, I also read Helpless by Barbara Gowdy, The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side by Agatha Christie, and at least 2 other books that I cannot remember no matter how I try.

The Golden Compass- Not really my cup of tea. This surprised me, but there it is. It drew me in, and then made me hang around and wait a really long time for it to end. It was dark. It had some interesting religious elements in it that did not bother me, but I would warn parents of preteens and early teens to be aware of before handing to their young readers. Would I suggest it to someone else? Not really. It wasn't poorly written, I just didn't enjoy it.

Song Yet Sung- A story about a runaway slave, slave hunters, and their surrounding world. The slave continually receives visions of modern day America throughout the book, and it baffles and terrifies her. I really enjoyed this book. It's one of those books that I gulped down fast because I couldn't get enough of it, and when it was done, I lamented not savoring it better. Would I recommend this book? Yes!

Small Steps- This book is a follow up book to Holes, but it really has little do with Holes content. It follows Theodore (Armpit) after he gets out of Camp Greenlake. Theodore works hard to turn over a new leaf, and grows an elderly brother fondness for the neighbor girl, who is often picked on because she is physically disabled. It was an interesting book, a sweet, teenagery story, and I enjoyed it, but it is entirely outside of the genre I expected it to be. Would I suggest this book? Yes, but it's not one that I would suggest someone rush out and find it to read it right now.

No Quick Fix is a collection of stories put together to share the reasoning of Dr. Phillips' approach to ministering to the inner-city. It was an informative read, and even interesting. If you are interested in the working of the inner-city and effective forms of ministry within it, pick this one up: yes.

Helpless- This book is about a young Canadian girl who gets kidnapped. It is told from multiple sides, including the kidnapper's side. The kidnapper is a man with pedophilic tendencies (something I had not known when I started the book) who is determined not to act on them. I curse the book for drawing me in, because honestly, it gave me the creeps. It was not poorly written (definitely not), it was just really disturbing (though never graphic). The disturbing factor was not because of physical activities, but mental activities. To put it plainly, I don't want to be able to think like the book leads you to think. Would I suggest this book? No! It disturbed me too much!

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side- this is the first Agatha Christie I have ever finished (not the first one I have started, though). I have never been an appreciator of mystery novels. Recently, however, I seem to have turned over a partially new leaf. I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to picking up another Agatha Christie sometime. Yes, I would suggest this book.

Wow, this is a really long post.... I feel like it needs photos. I have no photos at the moment.

As for the Literacy Challenge, in it's entirety, I enjoyed it. There were a few months where I was very stressed in trying to pull off my personal reading, but I succeeded every time. Most months, I succeeded in reading multiple books.

The grand total of fun books for 2011 is........28!

As I think back over the year, my favorite reads were: Song Yet Sung, Parrot and Olivier in America, Unshaken, and Beezuz and Ramona.

As for 2012, I haven't continued the Literacy Challenge, simply because life has been so very busy. Honestly, I miss it. I miss being immersed in literature of all levels. I have a book I have been casually reading. It's huge. Who knows how long it will take me to finish it.

2012 aside, I'm pretty proud of Literacy Challenge, 2011. Would I suggest it? Yes.

Wowza, Literacy, 4

So, I have been putting off this update on my literacy challenge for April mainly because I do not want to type this much.  The number looks pretty impressive, until you realize that 3 of the books were books I got for my cousin Keira, who will be 7 this months, and 2 of the books were easy-but interesting- reads from the Young Adult section.  All tallied, I finished 9 books this month, which definitely breaks my record of 3. Of those 9 books, 2 were old favorites, and 6 were new to me, one was... a hover book.

We've got a lot of books to run through, so let's get this party started, in order of being finished, first to last.

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey- This is a book I found in Costco. I am a fan of Costco's book section, because while the rest of the world is selling this book for $16, I got it for $8.  This book tells the story of two different men, one-Olivier- a young, born and bred French aristocrat, fleeing from yet another revolution in France. The second man-Parrot- an old, seasoned servant, born and English man, but well traveled. Olivier is sent by his mother to America, post Revolutionary war, pre Civil war. Parrot is sent as his manservant to protect Olivier, and to spy on his doings and report back to Olivier's mother.  While it takes a long time for the story to even get both characters in America, the story really seems to be a reflection of what America as a new country means to the two different classes.  For Olivier, raised in a life only below that of royalty, America means stepping down in class.  Because there really is no aristocracy in America yet, suddenly, he finds high-end middle class men (farmers turned bankers and such)approaching him as an equal.  Parrot, on the other hand, being a servant who has managed to get an education, has the opportunity to step from the bottom rung of society to the middle.  The story is told in chapters alternating between the narratives of Parrot and Olivier, which is often entertaining to hear both character's honest and opposite perspectives of the same situations.  The story also starts in each of the men's boyhoods, gradually working up to the "present" story of the men as adults, making us understand the reason the men think and behave as they do, which really makes us close to both characters.  Peter Carey writes in such a style that there were times I could have sworn Parrot and Olivier was written 100-200 years ago. It feels like a classic. The prose is beautiful. I had to stop and look up 5 words I did not know(that's a good number, enough to make me feel like I'm getting educated, but not enough for me to get irritated about having to find the dictionary again).  The place where it veers from its classic vibe is in its sexual references: they are a little more brazen that Charles Dickens might have stated.  Because of this, I would not recommend this book for a teenager. They are not elicit, however, there is enough detail to let one's imagination finish the picture. As far as sexual references are found in adult literature, this is probably as tactful as a non-Christian, modern author gets.  With all of this stated, I truly enjoyed this book, the story was interesting and vivid, the plot twists just enough, and the end is bittersweet.  Would I recommend this book?  For readers older than 20, yes.

Next up!
Out of Ashes by Keith Phillips.  This book is a look at the deeper cause of the LA riots, but even more than that, it is a call to care about our inner cities.  It tells true stories about people who grew up in some of the most dangerous parts of the inner city.  It explains why pulling oneself up by the bootstraps is not often available to the people the expression is applied to. It also gives a few examples of the different perspectives that people have depending on where they live, and why.  Dr. Keith Phillips has been working in LA since the Watts riots. He is the founder of World Impact and in this book he also explains why certain tactics of ministry work and why others fail.  For those of you involved in Compassion International ministries, you may find this book interesting, as they hold many of the same ministry beliefs.  This book is a good combination of stories (I nearly cried during some) and strategies, leaving the reader not only understanding the problem, which many books do, but also offering ideas towards solution (which I find many "call to action" books forget).  This book is well worth the read, and yes, I would recommend it! (And it is a quick read)

Holes by Louis Sachar- This book is a book that was popular when I was "too old" to be reading it, meaning early teens, but the kids 9 years younger than myself where required to read it in 4-6th grade, and were raving about it.  I have always told myself, one day I'll snag it from one of my siblings or their friends, but I never managed to do it.  Lately, I have been searching for it, because I really enjoyed the movie.  When I found it on sale at Borders, I snagged it. It was enjoyable. The movie followed the story pretty closely. For those of you who don't know the story: Young outcast, Stanley Yelnats always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This is so when he is found to be in possession of stolen property.  He is given the option of juvenile hall or Camp Greenlakes. He chooses Camp Greenlakes, where the boys spend their entire stay digging holes.  None of this would have happened it if weren't for Stanley's No-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather, who according to family legend, brought down a curse on the heads of all the men in the family. Stanley doesn't really believe in the curse, but its good to have somebody to blame for all the bad luck he has, occasionally.  During his time at Camp Greenlakes, Stanley, often picked on at school, learns to toughen up, builds muscles, builds social skills, and gains friends.  The story is quite an entertaining one, a good read for anybody.  For parents with boys who are reluctant to read, this would be a good book, because it is not really girlie, and it has boy jokes, and even an old western story woven in. Recommended reading(even for adults)? Yes.

Elephant Run by Roland Smith- This book caught my attention in the independent readers section with its black and green cover, followed by an intriguing name.  It is about am adolescent English boy named Nick during WWII, whose mother sends him away from England because of the frequent bombings. She sends him to his father's tea plantation in Burma. When he gets there, it turns out, Burma is not any safer, as almost as soon as he gets there, the Japanese invade. His father's plantation is taken over, and he and his recently made friends are forced into servitude at the plantation, while his father is sent to a Prisoner of War camp, with the threat that if he attempts an escape, harm will come to Nick.  Nick realizes that with his own well being being held hostage against his father, it is up to Nick to escape and rescue his father. With the help of an elephant, and his Burmese friends, a dangerous plan is attempted.  This story was an interesting one. There were very few times where the story slowed too much. It was good read, with just enough sweet romance to make any preteen girl sigh, but only enough to just satisfy the girls, there is not enough to make a boy throw the book away.  The book was contracted, the publisher is Disney, this adult reader found that was evident in the tone of the book the entire time. However, just because it was there does not mean the book was a dud. It is like watching a "made-for-tv-movie" you understand from the beginning that it is of a different caliber.  With that understanding, I still enjoyed it, and I think it would be a good read for teenagers, as it does have quite a few educational tidbits in it, but I do not think this book will ever reach "classic literature" status, as Holes has (they came from the same bookshelf, by the way). Ten years down the road, I don't think I'll ever hear anyone say, "Gasp! You never read Elephant Run?!" However, while it is not necessarily a must read, it passed my time pleasurably, and if someone asked me for a light read, Yes, I would suggest Elephant Run.

Bottled Up by Jaye Murray- This is a Goodwill bookstore find, and not a bad one, I might add. It was well worth the 75 cents that caused it to be mine. Phillip, who prefers to be called Pip, is, at first glance, the typical pot head in high school.  He skips classes constantly, has a defiant and careless attitude, and really, just goes to school to avoid trouble at home.  Pip has a 5 year old brother-Mikey, and while he doesn't want to see Mikey destroyed by their alcoholic father, or start using drugs and alcohol, Pip really resents the fact that because his father is a lunatic, and his nothing of a mother, it falls to "Pip the pothead" to be the most responsible parent available to Mikey. Pip just wants to be left alone, to live in the numbness of marijuana, when a teacher finally loses patience with him and sends him to the principal's office for what turns out to be the last straw.  The principal intends to expel Pip, but as the principal reaches to call Pip's parents, sheer terror seizes Pip at the thought of what his father will do to him.  He works out a deal with the principal. Pip can stay in school, so long as he shows up to all of his classes, does not get sent back to the principal's office, and attends counseling.  When he gets to counseling, he finds out that there is a weekly urine test, and a 3 strike rule, 3 bad tests, and you are out, no more counseling. For Pip, no more counseling means no more school, which means unthinkable trouble at home.  The story is mainly about Pip's gradual returning from his haze to face his life, even though it sucks, and understanding that even though Mikey is not his son, and should not be his responsibility, Mikey is his brother, and Pip should care.  It is really a good story. This story contains some harsh language, as well as some abusive scenes, but I feel that without the language and the scenes, the story would not have been honest.  I am only putting the warning in for any readers looking for something for their teenagers. Honestly, I think, for this book, it really depends on the teenager, however, the language may be a cut off line for most parental guidelines.  Every sentence is not laden with foul language. In fact, it is sparsely used, but it is there. If it were a movie, it would probably be rated PG-13. If I were rating the book, I might rate it at PG-16 or 17.  With all of that said, I really appreciate this book. It is heart wrenching, and good, having a semi-satisfying ending that was definitely not written by Hallmark.  Yes, it was good read.

Whew!  Hang in there, blogfriends, that's 5 books down! If you have made it this far, you deserve a reward. You should buy yourself some chocolate! I am going to leave the next three books(all childrens books): Beezus and Ramona, Good Job, Kanani!, and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle for a later, and much shorter journal.  As it turns out, I have already written about the 9th book, in this blog post!

So, you are now free to go find yourself some chocolate! Thanks for reading!