Re: BANANAFISH digest 509
Sarah J. Eisenhart (sarahj@mills.edu)
Fri, 13 Nov 1998 09:53:36 -0800 (PST)
>early teens - Susuan Cooper's five books of the "The Dark is Rising "
>sequence - the first isn't as good as the second and subsequent ones.
When I was younger I loved the Dark is Rising books! I read them in
middle school as well as most of Madeline L'Engle's books although _A
Wrinkle in Time_ was reguired in my third grade class (a bit young for
that I think). As I was growing up, my father used to read us a bedtime
story every night until about 8th grade. We would read whole books
chapter by chapter every night--I mean not just typical "kids books"--I
remember we read 1984, Animal Farm, The Lord of the Rings, The Catcher in
the Rye, The Canterbury Tales, Fahrenheit 451, etc. by the time I was in
5th grade. Of course I didn't understand them at all to the extent that I
did when I read them for myself later but it definetly was one of the most
important processes that I went through--being introduced to that kind of
literature at such a young age. Oh, and I'd just like to add that _The
Little Prince_(one of my person favorites) is, I think, a great example of
a book for kids and adults because its content covers so many different
areas.
>Has this group shared commentary regarding Maynard's book? I see that
>several of us have made mention of her, but I have not seen responses to
>her "insights" about jds. I read a scathing review of both her as a
>person adn her book in "Slate," an on-line journal. I think the reviewer
>worked with maynard at the new yorker. He basically depicts her as a
>self-imposed victim--a naricissist.
I just thought I'd comment that I went to see Joyce do a book talk in S.F
last month for interests sake. She seemed sort of high strung and twitchy
and definetly had a little following of fans. She was a pretty
interesting speaker although I agree that she is *a bit*
self-involved--basically she seemed somewhat eager in a pathetic
looking-for-acceptance way--but "mostly harmless" not malicious in terms
of Salinger.
--Sarah--