Thursday, June 16th, 2005...7:38 pm
dum de dum de – oh, hello! must be time for my weekly post!
Fortunately slackblog.com ™ has been assisted this week muse-wise by Purple Mark , who has tagged me with a book meme.
I did a slightly different book meme a little while ago.* Apologies to my fellow LBJ nerds Mark and The Currency Lad (and your bloody feed’s still crook, Lad), but I couldn’t finish the goddam Dallek I was reading then. For not-yet-LBJ-nerds, there are two major histories of LBJ, Dallek’s and one written by Robert Caro, a journalist-turned-historian. Dallek’s is in my view undoubtedly the better historical biography. Having read more about LBJ than is common or actually necessary, I can tell you that the economy with which Dallek explains and illustrates his arguments is really quite outstanding. But. But Robert Caro writes a frickin’ ripper psychological dissection. It’s less contextual, and more conjectual, than Dallek. But it’s a really good story. And it doesn’t have to go back to the library. And I’m only reading for kicks.
I am continuing my Roth project too, having finished Operation Shylock and started The Ghost Writer yesterday. After I decided to read all his books, I couldn’t decide on how to go about it. I even paid a visit to the Philip Roth Society website. Oh, it’s a real giggle there. They have this magnificent troll called “helge normann nilsen”. Helge’s as good a troll in her way as EP is in his, although sadly she is Norwegian, not Swedish. I tried to put her through some cheap internet translator so I could meanly make fun of her, but I was foiled by the utter humourlessness of everything it had to say. Except “very much to the point post” which is Norwegian for email. Heh.
Helge appears to be a Professor of something (which I can’t work out) and her iss-ewe with his latest novel The Plot Against America boils down to “Roth’s novel is contrafactual.” I know, outrageous! He made his novel up! Anyway, here is a link even though you will never read a more poorly designed forum in yer life. But you never know who’s keen do you? And I have finally settled on an innovative plan for Roth reading, by getting whatever ones are there in the library when I take the last ones back.
* I only just realised, going back to get the link, that I never pulled up Fyodor on his ridiculous comment: “Darcy is a pompous, parasitic snob who never earned anything in his life.” Any savage can tell you that Darcy earned the respect and affection of an intelligent and beautiful woman, which is about as good as it gets, Fyodor. You go right ahead and tell me how I’m wrong if you don’t believe me.
Anyhoo, back to the meme. You already know what I think, so it’s time for crazybrave’s first ever guest post, by Sage Salvador aged 2 3/4:
Total number of books I’ve owned:
There are nearly 100 in my bookcase in the lounge room and at least that many in my bedroom, but I’m asleep so Mum’s not checking. Mum has thrown out some that were crap and made squeaking noises of various kinds.
The last book I bought:
I don’t yet operate in the cash economy directly, but the last book Mum bought me was “Kipper’s Monster” by Mark Inkpen. She got it from the secondhand book shop because she’s tight like that.
It’s a top read. Kipper’s friend Tiger has a new torch, and you can shine it on stuff and make shadows that are sometimes scary. After cracker night I have a new torch too. Anyway, Kipper and Tiger get freaked out in the woods by a monster noise, but it’s just a wise old owl and they go and camp in Tiger’s bedroom and read stories. I think monsters are very cool, and I like to hide from them under my blue blanky.
The last book I read:
Hairy McClary’s Rumpus at the Vet by Lynley Dodds
The olds get right into the rhythm of this one, and I love to watch the animals go nuts. It’s more fun than trying to make my animals go nuts, because Mum and Dad get cut about that.
Five books that mean a lot to me:
The Sneetches and Other Stories, by Dr Seuss
While all of the stories in this book are excellent, “What was I scared of?” is the best story ever. It has got spooky pale green pants which do stuff even though there is nobody inside them. In the end the little furry kind of guy makes friends with the pants, which is cool. There is also a “snide field” which always cracks Mum up.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle
This book has groovy collage animals that are different cool colours, like a blue horse and a green frog. If Mark still needs a gravatar, he could do worse than the “purple cat, purple cat”.
Welcome Home, Little Bear by Maurice Jones & Anna Currey
My Mum is clever. She can read this whole book to me with her eyes shut. It’s about a little bear who gets lost and has to look in lots of caves until he finds the other bears. Then they all have a cuddle. Mummy and I always have a cuddle in that bit, too. This is a very good story. My Granny bought it at the academic remainder bookshop in Fyshwick ‘cos she’s tight like Mum.
Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox & Judy Horacek
This is just about the perfect book for a toddler like me. Colours, action, rhyme, pattern, rhythm. It’s a miracle of pre-literate learning, I think. Well actually, that’s what Mum says. I like it because it’s funny and it’s got sheep in it and because I get to throw up my hands in an adorably faux-crazy-jew fashion every time Mum says “Where is the green sheep?”
Mighty Machines by the mysterious authorless phenomenon that is Dorling Kindersley Children’s Books
This book has tops pictures of big rigs, racing cars, tractors, fire engines and so much more! This is my best book for making noises too.
I am tagging:
Bumblebee, Liam, Charlie, Olle, Dash and the little Dude.
Update:
How cool this turned out to be! I really love good kid’s books, and it’s important to me that Sage finds reading easy – whether it turns out to be something that is a major interest in his life is another matter, but I’m doing what I can. The other parents tagged have done beautiful posts which show how much they love reading and their kids too, and you should go read them:
Bumblebee is 8
Liam is 3
Charlie is 2
Olle is 6
Dash is 2
and the Dude is 2.
20 Comments
June 16th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
er um I dunno how to say this politely. But. You wouldn’t be a bit, er, onkus ponkus would you?
June 17th, 2005 at 12:02 am
Well Sage, you have certainly set quite a challenge for Charlie there. We were pleased when he started putting sentences together, but you talk like a university educated 30 something.
I’m accustomed to thinking ‘Mmmmm never read any of those books’ when people do book memes, but when it’s a list of books for toddlers and I’m still going ‘mmm haven’t read any of those books’ I start to get worried. Obviously have to trawl some secondhand bookshops. What a good excuse.
June 17th, 2005 at 12:04 am
FX, that would depend entirely on what “onkus ponkus” means. But probably.
June 17th, 2005 at 12:39 am
Seeing as you asked so nicely, I’ll counter with another question: what exactly does Darcy do to win the respect and affection of young Lizzie?
I mean, aside from being a single man in possession of a good fortune, owning a spiffy mansion and looking a lot like Colin “I’m not really Darcy, you know, you crazed stalker” Firth, WTF does this guy DO to earn anything? I’ll tell you what he does:
1) Buys off Wickham, who he should have seen off properly in the first place, preferably at sword-point; and
2) Eases back on the haughty condescension just a tadge enough to persuade Lizzie he’s not made of marble.
BFD.
June 17th, 2005 at 1:16 am
Just because Jane Austen didn’t waste valuable time and energy delineating exactly what Darcy did with his wealth doesn’t automatically make him a poncy cad. His staff have nothing but praise for him as a kind and generous man, and I’m sure there are many JA fans who have written sequels (check out The Republic of Pemberley for details) which may extend our — let’s face it — fictional knowledge of such a lovely fantasy of a male.
June 17th, 2005 at 1:32 am
But I am off-topic. What an excellent choice of books. Bumblebee has read all except Green Sheep and Kipper. I have read Green Sheep, but that is because I am a fan of Judy Horacek. B has unfortunately moved on to pacier pages, as you will see…
June 17th, 2005 at 2:31 am
onkus ponkus, schickered, full as a boot, on the slops,tired and emotional etc
Hairy MaClary from Donaldson’s Dairy – I think I still remember it.
June 17th, 2005 at 2:37 am
Fyodor, you make me sad.
June 17th, 2005 at 2:50 am
Sorry to disillusion you, Laura – it’s time the spell was broken.
Some bastard had to do it.
June 17th, 2005 at 3:16 am
I thought the whole point of Darcy was this:
a) Most men in Austen’s era were totally crap.
b) Some were less crap to varying degrees up to the point of being merely OK.
c) Some of these OK men were quite handsome.
d) One of these handsome OK men happens to owed half of England. He is therefore a ‘good catch’.
The fact that all you had to be considered to be OK was to not make snide putdowns suggests that the bar is not very high.
I have my suspicions that Fyodor is Colin Firths long loss twin brother and owns half of Australia, and this whole blog thing is an elaborate trick to show all women* up for the gooey, mercantile prostitutes that they really are.
I suspect that Fyodor is in fact EP and the joke is on ALL of us.
* exception include: any woman currently within hitting distance of harry; any woman likely to be within hitting distance of harry within the next month, any women harry would like to hit on.
June 17th, 2005 at 4:07 am
worldpeace gave me ‘Harry the Dirty Dog’.
He’s a white dog with black spots who gets so dirty that he becomes a black dog with whitespots.
I thought it was going to be about a sexfiend.
“See Harry leer at the schoolgirls. Leer, harry, leer!”
“See Harry slide his mobile camera under the changeroom door at the swimming pool. Slide, Harry, slide!”
“See Harry spike the women’s drinks at the party. Spike, Harry, spike!”
But, no. it was about a dog who didn’t get recognised by it’s owners.
June 17th, 2005 at 6:51 am
that Helge etc etc is rahlly something alright. I taught someone like that once. Forty years older than all the other students, and wanted to tie everything back to Jung, who he loathed intensely. The worst was that he would listen grimly till another student finished talking, then start trashing their argument, but he’d only talk to me not to the person who’d said something in the first place.
June 17th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
Hey Sage, thanks for the meme tag dude. I’ll be getting onto it right away. That Green Sheep book rocks. I got if for Christmas and I can tell that Mum thinks it’s kind of boring to read over and over but you never know where the green sheep will be do you?
June 17th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
FX, I love that you just go on ahead and say it. Every frickin’ time.
I may have had – to use a Rob Schaap-ism (and where the hell is he?) – a glass beyond thirst. May have. Perhaps I was just struck by whimsy? Statistically, it has to happen to everyone sooner or later.
June 19th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
I will get on to it soon too. That is all my own s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g.
June 21st, 2005 at 4:23 am
Can’t get trackback to work so have to do this manually:
http://susoz.typepad.com/personal_political/2005/06/childrens_readi.html
June 21st, 2005 at 4:41 am
have no idea about trackback but i have finally replied to your meme!
April 11th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
I want to inform you all that I am male. Helge is often confused with Helga, which is the female version of the name. I am flattered by the attention, but would like to see the arguments you may have with my Philip Roth comment.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:01 am
My apologies, Helge, I did ignorantly confuse your name with Helga.
As for your problem with Philip Roth, I don’t believe that a fiction writer has to tell the truth, or even something like the truth.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
[...] from Judy Horacek, whose wonderful feminist cartoons you would be familar with. She’d seen this old post which mentioned Where is the Green Sheep? which she illustrated, and thought Sage might enjoy a [...]
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