What we're reading

Lovely lady, thirteen. I thought this might be a good book for her to read an age where she's starting to decide who she is in this world and where her interests lie. No, I lie. She came to me and said "I finished my reading book," and Bird by Bird was on top of the stack sitting on the bookshelf at my eye level. Serendipitous, yes? She's a writer, working on her third (fourth?) novel. "Oooooooo!" she said when I handed her Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. I noticed today that her bookmark is nearly to the end. I can't wait to hear what wisdom my lovely young writer has gleaned from this book.

Got some time to kill? Check out these sites: Powells.com interview with Anne Lamott, and a PBS film, bird by bird with annie, including some audio clips of Lamott on her life.

Lovely young sister is reading Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. She seems to be plowing her way through the novel with her usual "you're making me read something different" enthusiasm. Reading comprehension is a struggle for our autistic sweetie, so she prefers to stick with tried-and-true favorites that she understands. She'd rather read Betsy-Tacy series for the umpteenth time. By now, I think that she could probably recite the darn things, and I say that only half tongue-in-cheek: When she was four she could recite almost the entire dialogue of Disney's animated 101 Dalmatians. She does seem to be following the story in Ballet Shoes fairly easily, and she says she thinks it's good. Here's her review of Ballet Shoes, since she just brought me some tea and stayed to keep me company: "It's good. I like it. I like the girls. I like stories about girls." I'm running out of girly series ideas for this lovely lady that aren't complete and utter twaddle. Any thoughts?

A Christmas season bedtime favorite. I read Auntie Claus (by Elise Primavera) to the gents this evening. It's the story of Sophie and her mysterious and beloved Auntie Claus who disappears ever year after Halloween and doesn't return until Valentine's Day. Sophie decides to solve the mystery one year, and discovers the true meaning of Auntie Claus' first rule of Christmas. The illustrations are darling, cute without (usually) tipping over into "cutesy." Auntie Claus has an official website here. There's even a BB&G (Bad Boys and Girls) quiz.


Our read-aloud this month, Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages, selected by Harold Bloom. The ladies and gents ask me to keep reading, just one more page or one more poem. Some favorite stories so far: The Bottle Imp (Robert Louis Stevenson), The King of the Golden River (John Ruskin), and Reflections (Lafcadio Hearn). If you're not in the habit of poetry as a read-aloud selection, this book offers a nice introduction. Poems between the stories makes for a nice read-aloud flow, allowing us to clear a story from our heads before moving on to the next short story. The poetry selection is varied and the poems are lovely and fun to read. For novice poetry readers (me) and listeners (the ladies & gents) it's been a wonderful experience. We laughed at Carroll's "Beautiful Soup" and promised that we'll all memorize it together and make up a tune so that we can sing it on soup nights.

We'll be taking a short break from Stories and Poems so that I can read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, written by Barbara Robinson. Maybe this will be the year that I don't cry at the end. Ha!

I'm in the middle of The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield). It's kept me up a few "just-one-more-chapter" nights. Ghosts, twins, a crumbling mansion, madness, books. Perfect entertainment. My favorite thing about this book, though, is the cover. Isn't it gorgeous?