Howling Frog Books

Week 9: The Woman in White , by Wilkie Collins I thought I would pick this up again because I had forgotten most of it. I enjoyed reading it pretty well, and I found it a bit ironic that the plot actually moves faster in this than in my other current book, The Swan Thieves . This counts as a monthly classic too!

Week 8: The schools we need and why we don't have them , by E. D. Hirsch It took me forever to read this book by the Cultural Literacy guy, E. D. Hirsch. His main theme here is that the US needs a common core curriculum in all public schools, and that anyone looking to further "progressive" goals like social justice and equality is going to have to adopt educational philosophies that are usually considered conservative. I do agree with quite a few of his ideas--he's got me convinced that we should have a common curriculum in the US (good luck getting that one passed), and that the American insistence that we are unique and can't learn from other countries' successes is wrong. But I disagree with his position that nearly all children will learn at approximately the same pace if you give them solid, slow-and-steady instruction. In my experience, some kids are just not going to learn to read by age 6--and as long as they're getting plenty of oral instruction...

The History of the Medieval World: from the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade , by Susan Wise Bauer. W. W. Norton & Company (February 22, 2010), 768 pages. I have been looking forward to seeing this second volume of Susan Wise Bauer's history of the world project. I enjoyed the first installment, The History of the Ancient World , and I was happy to get this opportunity to read The History of the Medieval World . Chronicling the entire history of the world is such an insanely ambitious project that I both admire Bauer for taking it on, and wonder how she's going to pull it off. I'm looking forward to seeing the results over the next few years. This series concentrates on the history of nations: rulers, wars, and religion. Bauer connects them together and shows how they influenced one another. In particular, she concentrates on the twining of religion and political ambition--how rulers used religious identity to consolidate power, and how religious aut...

The Holy Sinner by Thomas Mann Mann's novel is based on the medieval Gregorius legends. I did not look Gregorius up carefully enough beforehand, so I didn't realize that the legends are sort of what V. C. Andrews would have come up with, had she been a medieval storyteller. The legend is itself based on the story of Oedipus and is meant to show the infinite goodness and forgiveness of God. No matter how awful your sins may be, if you repent you can be forgiven--though your penance may involve living on a rock and turning into a hedgehog for a while. Mann writes as if he is a medieval chronicler, which can be a little tiring and repetitive, but it's suited to the story. Every so often, characters fall into rhymed verse as they describe some dramatic incident. I have never read Thomas Mann before, and always kind of meant to, so when my brother Tom suggested this title for the historical fiction category I thought I'd give it a try. Yeah, thanks a lot Tom. It was ...

Sky Coyote by Kage Baker This is the second novel in the Company series, and thanks so much to the Bookshelves of Doom blog for telling me about Kage Baker! The series setup is that Dr. Zeus, Inc., based in the 24th century, has agents working throughout history. Sky Coyote centers on Joseph, whose last role was a Spanish priest of the Inquisition--now he's playing Coyote to the Chumash of Point Conception in 1700, just before the Spanish show up to take over. The first Company book is In the Garden of Iden , so start there. Kage Baker turns out to have been a Central Coast resident; she lived in Pismo Beach. So why didn't we all know about her?? Baker just passed away a couple of weeks ago, and she will be missed. Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah I read about this YA title in another 52 weeks blog--thanks Amira!--and thought it sounded like a fun read. Amal is an Australian teenager at a preppy private school, and she's also a faithful Muslim...

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the prisoner's dilemma , by Trenton Lee Stewart Our favorite clever foursome is back in the third Mysterious Benedict Society book. This one is just about as much fun and hard to put down as the other two. My 9-year-old daughter loves these books and this has been at our house for a month or so, so it's high time I picked it up. I also got this great sewing reference book: A to Z of Sewing . The A to Z series has wonderful photography and directions. This is a general guide to elements of sewing like seams, gathering, ruffles, zippers, and so on. Much of it was familiar, but it's nice to have techniques I've learned from many different sources collected in one spot, and I also learned several new things. This will be a very good book to have around as the girls learn to sew, and I'd recommend it for a beginner. Sewing patterns from the big companies generally illustrate a quick-and-dirty style that works, but that does not...

Lessons from Little Rock , by Terrence Roberts  This memoir is hard to put down.  It's by one of the group of nine black students who first entered Little Rock's Central High school to end segregation in Arkansas.  The book is not very long; Roberts talks about his early life and family, how he decided to be one of the Nine and what it was like that year.  (This was in 1957-58, and all of the area high schools were actually closed for the next year in an attempt to stop desegregation.  Roberts finished high school in Los Angeles.) As a Gen-X California girl, I don't know a lot about the South and legal segregation--it probably doesn't help that US history is my worst subject.  So while I knew the general outlines, the details were mostly news to me.  I particularly enjoyed Roberts' descriptions of his family life and community; he had some excellent teachers and mentors who helped him on his way. This title has led me to Warriors Don't Cry , by Melba Pattillo Be...