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Virtually Well Read – Are You Smarter Than A Ninth Grader?
August 15, 2009 By 13 Comments
Before I go all nerdy on you and talk about the next Virtually Well Read book club selections, I’ve got to unload something:
Here’s what I was like when I was reading The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.
“I hate this book.”
”I have no idea what this (fill in your adjective of choice – a naughty one) book is about.”
“Hmmm..this character is kind of interesting,”
“Who is this chick?”
“Oh my god, I love this book.”
“Leave me alone.”
“I don’t care. Order pizza.”
“Shhh…I’m reading.”
“I can’t believe I already finished this book. I hope they don’t ever make it into a movie. “
That last was, of course, the kiss of death.
I haven’t seen the movie, but based on the casting of Rachel McAdams in the lead female role, I’m not feeling too optimistic. She’s just too Rachel McAdams-y to pass as a weird, socially awkward, deeply thinking woman capable of living her life based on blind faith in something completely far out and unheard of. Eric Bana, though. Yah.
Moving right along. Are you smarter than a ninth grader?
The ninth graders I teach have to read any two of the following books this summer (some of them have to read one, but you should read two, because if you were in my class, you’d be in the Honors section, and also I have to re-read all of them so two isn’t really that many).
Emma by Jane Austen – classic, funny, easily accessible, but inarguably a chick book.
Abarat by Clive Barker – gorgeous, fantastical, and rich story of Candy Quackenbush and her personal Odyssey (no mistake there) through the islands of the Abarat. Beautifully illustrated and heavy as hell. I swear to you, the only reason I don’t like this book more is because it weighs so much that my arms got tired when I was reading in bed!
1984 by George Orwell – the first time I read this book was for my own summer reading in 1981. Maybe 1982. In any case, until the Cheney/Rove era it was still a frightening futuristic warning.
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates – I generally find literature written for adolescents to fail miserably in capturing what it really feels like to be an adolescent in terms of awkwardness and the fact that your entire life between the ages of 12 to 17 is one opportunity for public humiliation after another. This is one of the few novels that seems authentic. Catcher in the Rye is not a ninth grade summer reading book and I’ve been thinking about using it as a Virtually Well Read selection because I am curious about whether contemporary readers, adult or adolescent, think that it is still relevant and applicable to the American teenage condition. I give you permission to sub Catcher in the Rye for one of the others. Aren’t I kind? Flexible? Tell that to the ninth graders.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - this is one of the other novels written for adolescents that seems authentic. Sherman Alexie is very versatile, and when he doesn’t exactly hit the mark, he still gets credit for trying “outside” his normal genre and voice. This one hits the mark. And is FUNNY.
The Last Days of Summer by Jeffrey Kluger – While this is another adolescent novel that doesn’t seem fake and based on the Disney Channel’s interpretation of Teen Life, it is also really appealing to me because of the historical context that acts as the vehicle for the story. I learned a lot about American life in the 1940′s from this novel. And I laughed a lot. Out loud.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel - best selling and very literary allegorical novel. I won’t try to explain the allegory because it gets a little circular and makes my head start to hurt, but I will say that it has to do with the tension and balance between reason and faith. Plus…lifeboat, Bengal Tiger, Orangutan named Orange Juice, carnivorous trees on a floating island. Good stuff.
So.
PIck two (or one if you don’t think you can HACK IT). Read them by September 15th. Come back here to “discuss” via your brilliant offerings in the comments section.
Please? I’d do it for you.
Thanks.
He Said, She Said
August 12, 2009 By 2 Comments
Here’s Clayjack’s (partial) response to my post the other day about inadequate eyelashes…well, that’s not exactly what it was about, but you should go read it yourself so that I don’t have to recap the whole thing.
I’ve tried to corral him into writing more regularly with me in a back and forth kind of format, but he’s being very grownup and not allowing himself the distraction of the bloggy or not-a-bloggy world – also he insists on maintaining quality standards so that he doesn’t just post any old thing like I do.
“… I totally got your point. …But I would hope that women would find it a nice change of pace that men are investing in their appearance more, trying to please women (or, let’s be honest here, other men), doing their part to make the world a more
aesthetically pleasing and less smelly place.
And I meant what I’d said in my comment about attitude being important, and while I don’t think most guys are capable of
recognizing it, they are certainly subject to the powers of a well put-together woman, no matter her size or shape. In a private
journal I was writing for my daughter when she was only months old, I told her that so much of perceived beauty is attitude. Take an average woman and inject her with the ability to move with confidence and a bit of flirtiness, the occasional genial touch here
or there (there was NOT a forgotten ‘t’ in one of the previous words, in case you were wondering), and she becomes an object of
desire.
I mean, think of all the guys with truly messed up faces that are models. They look like former NHL enforcers. But for some reason women coo around them. Now it could be their bodies, but with the funk that rests on top of those shoulders, you’d think that’d scare the women away. They must be attracted to something other than that. Confidence? Attitude?
True, men are visually oriented. We like see boobies. BIG boobies. But I think How The Tools Are Used is an element that’s as or more important than What Tools You Have. I guess what I’m coming around to is I’m not in favor of women all trying to make themselves into the images of the magazine covergirls. I AM in favor of each woman discovering what does and doesn’t work for her eyes, face, skin, hair, body, and then making the most of that.
I also think that the perception of beauty has become more inclusive in the last 10+ years. An example – J-Lo has a big butt. The kind of butt that would have been made fun of in my junior high school. Now it’s an object of desire. And it hasn’t replaced some other butt shape as being desirable, it’s just been added to the list of aesthetically pleasing butts. More butts of varied shape are being appreciated because of J-Lo. I actually had a draft post along those lines, but I didn;’t think I could pull it off without
receiving death threats, so I never posted it.
And I notice a lot more women of different sizes and shapes are moving about society, showing off their midriffs, their tramp
stamps, etc. Now not all of them fit my definition of that right attitude, but I can’t question whether they are moving with
confidence, because they are. They appear to feel good about themselves and are not shy about being twigs. Or heavy. Or huge
breasted. Or small breasted. Or long torsoed (?). Or long legged.
…This is way too long. Anyway, I understood you. I just think women are finally getting some investment from men in their
looks, and I don’t think they should put an end to that. Unless the smelly, hairy, farting guy is what they’re after.”
Point taken. Smelly, hairy, and farting is not what we are after.
p.s. don’t know what’s up with the formatting, but my husband and nephew just spent half an hour deep frying everything they could lay hands on from oreos to cinnamon buns to chocolate covered espresso beans and I’m too ill to figure it out just now.
