The title for today's post is sort of random, but it works for what I want to talk about. The reading challenge for the summer is ongoing, but I have taken a couple of detours. Let's start with my agreement to what Emily said about Anthem by Ayn Rand. This is the first book I have read by this author and while I am not sure I agree with Rand's philosophies, I do understand her theme. Emily said it best - freedom. Not just a freedom to do what a person wants to do, but to learn what he or she wants to learn. As an educator, we spend a lot of lip-service talking about making students "life-long learners." Then we serve up a curriculum and a pacing guide and facts by the boat-load when really we need to be teaching them how to learn for themselves. Students believe that education ends at graduation, whether that is high school, college or whatever. In fact, that is just the beginning of education - life is the real teacher. Instead of teaching curriculum, I, as a teacher, should be using curriculum to teach my kids how to learn when I am no longer there to guide them. The main character in Anthem was forced to live within the confines of the dictated state - within the brotherhood. Thinking for himself was criminal. Freedom was achieved when he was able to think for himself. We need to decide whether or not thinking for ourselves is worth the cost - and there is definitely a cost. (btw, truly thinking for yourself does not mirror everyone else in the culture who thinks they are thinking for themselves, while, in fact, they are just following a different crowd. Just saying...)
Moving on, after I read Anthem, I read Janet Evanovich's One for the Money. One of my co-workers has been encouraging me to read this mystery series for a while now, so I picked on up at 2nd and Charles. Loved it! It was pure fun. I laughed the whole way through it. Evanovich creates in Stephanie Plum a very believable character and a New Jersey accent that I can hear as I read. I'll be getting Two for the Dough very soon. These books are quick, fun, take-it-to-the-pool reads.
The latest book from my ambitious reading list is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This book may be retitled One Hundred Years of trying to Finish reading the book. I don't have any problem admitting when a book is hard and this one is hard for me. Marquez writes about the family of Jose' Arcadio Buendia and his wife Ursula who move to the fictional town of Mocando. They have a bunch of children named Jose Arcadia, Aureliano, etc. They in turn have children named Aureiano Jose, Aurelianos, Arcadio, who in turn have children with the same types of names. It is so hard trying to keep the characters straight. The book does not have a typical rhythm in the chapters, which are very long. Most books, modern or classic, quickly develop a rhythm to the chapters, and the reader can detect the rise and fall of the action within each chapter, which clues them to the end of the section. One Hundred Years is written in almost a stream-of-consciousness manner which moves from one idea or character situation to another to another, ending up nowhere near where you started at the beginning of the chapter. Flashback and flash forwards are common. I'm about halfway finished, and I will persevere. Emily, my daughter, was reading it in Spanish, and I think she had to take an extended break. I can't even imagine trying to read this difficult book in another language.
With regard to themes of the book, I notice a couple of things so far. From a gender perspective, men are visionary and women are practical. Truth does not always win the day, and the explanation of anything supernatural should be attempted. Faith does not have much of a place. Family is supreme; religion takes a backseat to family. I'll weigh in more as I go along.
In light of the heavy reading, I have decided to intersperse another fun book into the lineup. My bff (aka my Nook) has the capability to download a Free Friday selection each week. I try to download the ones that appeal to me, and I recently downloaded a piece of Jane Austin fan fiction entitled The Phantom of Pemberly. As you know, lots of fan fiction has found a market in the mainstream publishing world which follow the characters of Pride and Prejudice after the marriage of Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Since I love that book, this type of fiction is a guilty pleasure, and I don't mind admitting that I enjoy it. Imagination should follow the end of a book like P & P; remember what I said about thinking for yourself. Some of this fan fiction is pretty bad, but some is a lot of fun. Beware, some of it is racy, and you might see Darcy and Elizabeth in situations that you never dreamed, but The Phantom of Pemberly is harmless. It is a murder mystery which follows Elizabeth and Darcy through a snowstorm at Pemberly where they have a lot of unexpected guests and strange occurrences. I'm about a third of the way in. We'll see if Lydia did in the parlor with a revolver or if Mrs. Reynolds used poison in the drawingroom.
That's it for today. Happy reading!
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