I’ve been taking a little breather from blogging after 31 Days of posting every day, so things have been a little quiet around here lately. But I haven’t stopped reading!
As I mentioned in a previous post, something about the fall season coming on makes me gravitate toward adventure or fantasy stories. It’s so great to read about danger and courage while sitting cozily under a fuzzy blanket in your warm house. I read Alanna: The First Adventure in October and thought it was okay, though I didn’t love it. I then read the second book in the series and strongly disliked it. Looks like I’m done with Alanna. I hate it when writers imply that female characters have to be sexually active at age 17 to be complete. Alanna is told by a goddess that to truly achieve her goals, she will have to do three things, one of which is “learn to love.” The definition of love certainly is cloudy. I’d definitely vote Harry Crewe from The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley over Alanna in the strong female character category. It seems to me Alanna does a lot of selfish thinking. But I realize that there are a ton of Alanna fans out there, so judge for yourself.
A fun fantasy story I did enjoy was Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff. It started out a little trite: poor mountain people who supply the King’s city with gold in the medieval time period. I was reminded of Princess Academy or many recent fantasy books set in the medieval days. However, I was intrigued by the importance of names, the nature of magic in the story, and the totally different portrayal of the character of Rumpelstiltskin. I always considered him a sinister person, but this very imaginative re-telling will change your mind. Though I would have liked the plot to tie up some lose ends it left out, it was a mostly satisfying fairy tale novel. If you like Shannon Hale, Jessica Day George, or Gail Levine, I recommend Rump. Thanks to Mary for recommending and lending it to me! This is a good book to read with children about 8-12.
Now that I’ve drenched myself in fantasy and fairy tale, I feel like one who has eaten cake for every meal for three days straight. I want classics! I read Willa Cather’s novella A Lost Lady in one sitting last Sunday afternoon when both of my children decided to take a nap at the same time. It always surprises me how enthralled I become in Cather’s works when they hardly ever have a very strong plot (O’ Pioneers being the exception). Cather’s work is driven by characters, settings, and overarching themes. A Lost Lady is about Marrian Forrester, a high society woman who marries a railroad man and lives in a pioneer railroad town in Colorado in the early 1900s. I loved it. There was symbolism, beautiful descriptions, multi-faceted characters, and rich historical background. After all those “fun” books (which were really did enjoy!) I drank in A Lost Lady like I hadn’t had water in days. I’m so glad my dad found it in a thrift store, bought it, read it one Saturday afternoon, and then passed it on to me.
Next up for me is the Great English Classic, Brideshead Revisited. I’m only 40 pages into it, so it’s too early to judge if I actually like it. I can tell it’s a novel that I could read two or three times and still miss something. It’s complex. I love British lit, but I’ve started this book three times over the last five years, and this is the furthest I’ve gotten. I think it’s caught me this time, though, and I’ll finish it in the next couple of weeks.
What are you reading this month?
Jeanette Walls started her illustrious writing career with the internationally bestselling memoir, 
they’re almost like patron saints in my life. (I’m not Catholic- just go with me on this). People like Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, C.S. Lewis, L.M. Montgomery, and Frances Hodgson Burnett. These writers wrote beautiful, rich, original works that are full of the joy of living and the magic in every day imagination. I knew their works through and through long before I learned about their lives. I was in shock when I grew up and learned that they lived stories not at all like the books they wrote. Most literature fans know Jane Austen was a poor spinster who never married, and lived under the thumb of her father. Louisa May Alcott could have written a riveting account of her eccentric father’s spartan style of living and raising children. Alcott was poor for most of her life, and at one point as an adult considered suicide. C.S. Lewis’s mother died when he was a child, he had a distant father and grew up in boarding schools, and when he finally found love in life, it was through terminal illness. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s father died when she was three and her family moved around England until they finally left for Tennessee when Burnett was age 15. During their move, Burnett’s usually sympathetic and loving mother made Burnett burn her early writings. And, most disheartening of all to me, L.M. Montgomery struggled with depression and had a mostly loveless marriage.
There are some great resources written by actual experts (not just some blogger like me). My current favorite is 
Honey for A Child’s Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life 
reading Books to Build On: A Grade By Grade Resource Guide For Parents and Teachers. I don’t buy into the core curriculum idea–that every child should be taught the same thing decided by the government–but the idea for core knowledge stems from a sensible thought that there are just some things everyone needs to know. One of the reasons we choose to start out homeschooling is because we know all children are different: some children will enjoy math, some children will want to spend lots of time on music, and we will have the freedom to develop their areas of interest and talents. We will still want to make sure their minds are grasping concepts in all areas of education, and I think this book will help me think of ways to focus on subjects that aren’t my children’s favorite (or maybe not my favorite, either! I’m looking at you, Math.).
