February Reading
Should We Burn Babar, Herbert Kuhl
This was a book of essays on children's literature, and how we explain culture and changes in culture with our kids as we read through classic books, and how some treatments of history we give to children still show cultural prejudices that are unfair to them. Good ideas, strange execution... but there was some good food for thought. Share stories with your children that have troubling messages - then talk about them. That's the gist, basically.
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
Young adult novel about the states thrown into a police state after a major bombing in San Francisco. The kids are alright, and they have the tools to bust the surveillance and show the adults how wrong the whole thing is. Enjoyable, if not really weighty.
Saturn's Children, Charles Stross
I have a suspicion there's a reason Stross rhymes with Dross. All the humans are dead and self-aware robots still roam the solar system - because we told them too. There are robots trying to make new humans. It's sort of like Heinlein's Friday without the feeling of being a romp of a caper.
Quintet, Douglas Arthur Brown
Estranged Cape Breton triplet brothers catch up on eachother's lives by way of a journal they mail back and forth between their new lives. They explore eachothers new and old trials and triumphs and discover both how to love one another again, and how to be more comfortable in the lives they now live. I really really enjoyed this - it's a quiet little novel full of emotion, and quite wonderfully written, full of distinct voices.
Homebirth In the Hospital, Stacey Kerr
Mostly a collection of birth stories. I'm just trying to mentally prepare, I think. John watches you tube videos of people giving birth, I read books full of people's stories. It's coming fast!
Curse of the Narrows, Laura MacDonald
Excellent narrative nonfiction about the Halifax Explosion. MacDonald unearthed a plethora of amazing facts, figures, and stories. All the more compelling now I live up in the North End.
The Willoughbys, Lois Lowry
Bizarre but charming early reader about four children who are basically orphans, even before their parents die.
Eat Me, Kenny Shopsin
Recipes and commentary from the man who inspired the Soup Nazi. I am going to cook from this before I take it back to the library. And now I really want to eat there!
This was a book of essays on children's literature, and how we explain culture and changes in culture with our kids as we read through classic books, and how some treatments of history we give to children still show cultural prejudices that are unfair to them. Good ideas, strange execution... but there was some good food for thought. Share stories with your children that have troubling messages - then talk about them. That's the gist, basically.
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
Young adult novel about the states thrown into a police state after a major bombing in San Francisco. The kids are alright, and they have the tools to bust the surveillance and show the adults how wrong the whole thing is. Enjoyable, if not really weighty.
Saturn's Children, Charles Stross
I have a suspicion there's a reason Stross rhymes with Dross. All the humans are dead and self-aware robots still roam the solar system - because we told them too. There are robots trying to make new humans. It's sort of like Heinlein's Friday without the feeling of being a romp of a caper.
Quintet, Douglas Arthur Brown
Estranged Cape Breton triplet brothers catch up on eachother's lives by way of a journal they mail back and forth between their new lives. They explore eachothers new and old trials and triumphs and discover both how to love one another again, and how to be more comfortable in the lives they now live. I really really enjoyed this - it's a quiet little novel full of emotion, and quite wonderfully written, full of distinct voices.
Homebirth In the Hospital, Stacey Kerr
Mostly a collection of birth stories. I'm just trying to mentally prepare, I think. John watches you tube videos of people giving birth, I read books full of people's stories. It's coming fast!
Curse of the Narrows, Laura MacDonald
Excellent narrative nonfiction about the Halifax Explosion. MacDonald unearthed a plethora of amazing facts, figures, and stories. All the more compelling now I live up in the North End.
The Willoughbys, Lois Lowry
Bizarre but charming early reader about four children who are basically orphans, even before their parents die.
Eat Me, Kenny Shopsin
Recipes and commentary from the man who inspired the Soup Nazi. I am going to cook from this before I take it back to the library. And now I really want to eat there!