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Book Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Mar 26th, 2012 by

Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs

I got this book from Quirk Books as a book blogger and in exchange for a review.  It is probably pretty obvious that, as publishers go, Quirk is one of my favorites.  This is because they have created an identity to their brand.  I fear the day a mega-publisher buys them out.  I worked hard to get my copy.  I tried the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program and I stalked their booth at Book Expo last year.  I ended up catching the attention of someone there who sent it to me out of, what I can only assume is, pity for how I was embarrassing myself.  I promise I am not biased in favor of this book.  They publish plenty of books that I don’t care for.

With that being said, I loved this book.  I think I get maybe 1 or 2 books a year that I can’t put down no matter what time it is.  This book had been sitting on the TBR shelf waiting for me to have some time to sit and do nothing for 24 hours.  This is a family book.  By this I mean: the entire family can read this.  Kids will enjoy it and so will their parents.  It is another one of those YA books that crosses boundaries.

The thing is, I knew I would love this as soon as I saw it.  The promotion Quirk did for this book with the book trailers and posters and everything I saw made me want it even more.  The cover design drew me in even though I really had no idea what this book was about. Flipping through copies allowed me to see the pictures (real pictures of unknown origins in most cases- according to Riggs’ comments at the end of the book) and these drew me in.  I am not the only one either.  People who found out I got a copy expressed excitement equal to my own.

As for the story, I thought it was a well developed mystery and adventure story.  It gave us just enough information about what is going on to make me excited for a sequel (and there is one planned). Riggs does a great job setting the stage, explaining the purpose of the home, the secrecy and giving us just enough of the big mystery to get us through the small mystery of this volume and beyond.

I felt I got a strong enough idea about who the main characters are to make me understand and sympathize with them.  For example, Franklin, the father of our main character Jacob, had a very difficult relationship with his father and it clearly impacted how his own son understood his relationship with both his father and grandfather.  Yet, I felt that a lot was left out.  Riggs glosses over relationships that seem important.  Jacob has to decide if he goes back to his home or stay in the Peculiars.  Since Riggs really doesn’t give us a great development of the people at home (Jacob’s friend, his mother, his aunt, his uncles, etc) it doesn’t feel like there is really a question there. One could justify that these people are all seen through Jacob’s eyes, but I don’t really believe that.  Jacob does understand people and demonstrates it in his understanding of the Peculiars and his father.  I felt like Riggs didn’t want to waste time with characters who wouldn’t matter to the storyline.  I disagree; I think it helps the reader understand how torn Jacob is when it comes to deciding what to do.

In the end this was not enough to change how much I enjoyed the book though.  I can’t wait for the next book to come out and hopefully this will be a great, ongoing series.

 

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12in12: Just enough ruffles

Mar 24th, 2012 by

IMG_0232 by librarygurl
IMG_0232, a photo by librarygurl on Flickr.

This is the second 12in12 project to be completed. The yarn was from a de-stash at knitting a few months ago. It is just Lion’s Brand Wool-ese in green.
This pattern is a scarf called just enough ruffles. This quick and easy scarf will someday be a gift for someone.
The trick to creating the ruffles is tippling the number of stitches in the last 1/4 of the scarf. It can probably be done with any weight for thicker or more delicate scarves as well. I can easily see me making this scarf again for a quick gift.

See project on Ravelry

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I did the North Shore Yarn Crawl

Mar 21st, 2012 by

I suspect I will do this once and never again.  I spent the weekend doing a Yarn Crawl of yarn shops in the North Shore.  Last April Christi and I went to Salem, stopped at a yarn shop and found out we had missed an awesome adventure.  We vowed we would make a point to do it this year.  So, when the announcement came out for this year, we made plans to make it happen with Pat.  The three of us spent the weekend (well Christi on just Sunday) doing 12 yarn shops in 12 days.

I am glad I did it, don’t get me wrong.  I got hundreds of dollars worth of yarn at the fraction of the price because I love the discount areas.  Still, I spent more than I planned and came away with more than I need.  This probably will make it easy for me to reign myself in when we go to the WEBS tent sale in a few months.  Why am I glad?  Well, I spent a fantastic weekend with my best friends.  You can’t beat that.  There are other reasons though.  I saw a part of the state that I have never seen before.  I rarely go to the North Shore and when I do it’s for Salem.  This time I saw towns I didn’t even know existed and I want to return to a few of them.  We drove from town to town stopping at shops, chatting with people, touching soft things, seeing cool yarn art, getting ideas for projects.  You can see pictures of all the yarn I got (some free, a little at full price and most of it as deep discounts).  I have assigned about 75% of the yarn to specific projects.

In the past 8 years that I have been knitting I don’t think I have ever experienced anything like this.  Pattern Works and WEBS are adventures unto themselves. You go to Pattern Works, but you also go for the trip to Center Harbor.  It’s so lovely there.  WEBS you go for the warehouse and the possible discount… or for the tent sale. Last year, when I first heard about the Yarn Crawl, I was at one of the shops involved in it.  It had happen to be before I went to the WEBS tent sale and before I had really seen what yarn shops could be like.  Other than Michael’s and JoAnn’s yarn sections, I had been to Pattern Works a few times for quick trips.  I had never really been overwhelmed by wonderful, quality yarns.  This trip was when my yarn snobbery was born.

I am going to be honest, some of these stores I will never go to again.  The problem is, especially with small, local yarn shops, is that there isn’t enough of a reason to go out.  They all have the same yarn selection and the same prices.  In Beverly there are two withing a 1 minute walk of each other.  There was nothing to bring me back.  I want yarns that I can’t find elsewhere, classes that nobody else is doing, etc.  My own local yarn shops are sufficient and even better.   There was one store that gave me what I was looking for: Coveted Yarns in Gloucester.  This is an amazing shop.  It is filled with yarn from floor to ceiling.  It even hangs from the ceiling in some places.  There are rooms full of yarn all over the place and just when you think you have seen it all, you turn a corner and there is another room.  This is what I want from a local yarn shop.  I want to be so over whelmed that I know I have to come back.

Yes, I bought something at every store.  I quickly made my way to the discount bins though, not the full price items.  I did go mostly with projects in mind.  Sometimes the yarn was so nice, the discount just right and my mind was so overwhelmed that I bought things I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.

As I said, I probably won’t do this again.  Yes, we had ton’s of fun, but that was mostly the company and us just being us.  I would rather do the WEBS tent sale any day…

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12in12: Danica

Mar 19th, 2012 by

IMG_0214 by librarygurl
IMG_0214, a photo by librarygurl on Flickr.

I have already written a post about my goal to knit 12 pre-selected items this year. I wrote a little about the frustrations I had felt right away with some of the projects I have selected. Well, I officially have my first completed item!
This is the Danica scarf and it isn’t for anyone specific just yet.
The technique is called entrelac. It’s a method of picking up and knitting stitches together to make this woven look. You work increments of 10 stitches at a time. It was intimidating to think about the project, but once I started I found that it was easy and I loved it.
The yarn I got as part of a de-stash a little less than a year ago. It’s Peruvian alpaca yarn and it is super soft. The colors are greens and browns mostly with a bit of red and black included. I think this scarf would be perfect for a man. For now it is put away until I can decide what i want to do with it.

See on Ravelry

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Book Review: Monoculture

Mar 14th, 2012 by

Title: Monoculture: How One Story is Changing Everything
Author: F.S. Michaels

I got this ebook from LibraryThings’ early reviewer program.  In exchange for a free copy of the book, I have to post a review.

I have been sitting on this book for months.  I just wasn’t in the head space for it until recently.  The premise of the book is that our society and culture develops around one common message.  The modern message is one of economics.  Michaels’ does a good job explaining how the economic message has permeated our lives from our careers and education to our religion and creative activities.  Michaels’ uses clear language and makes his case logically using examples of studies, quotes and stories from experts.  The way Micahels’ presents his case made me see, in the first chapter, the logic of this.  It did not take much for me to understand exactly what he was talking about.  Not only did Michael’s make his case, but he discussed what happens when people go against the message and those who have.  He looks at three different people and organizations that are working against the economic message. I did especially enjoy the section where Michael’s discussed what is going on in libraries.  I think this was the most important section for me.

The problem I had with this, and it seems others have as well, is that he doesn’t take it far enough.  He leans to summarizing and giving cursory examples rather than going in depth.  Other non-fiction books like this go into much more detail about the studies that give evidence to their points.  The books, as a result, reads too much like a logical tirade more than well researched evidence.  While many people are OK with that, I want to see real evidence of your point.  This became a rant and criticism of society, and it clearly was a criticism, rather than an unbiased observation of what is going on.

 

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Book Review: We All Wore Stars

Mar 5th, 2012 by

Title: We All Wore Stars: Memories of Anne Frank from Her Classmates
Author: Theo Coster

I got this copy of the book from LibraryThing’s Early Review program.  In exchange for a copy I was asked to write a review of it.  I also got a copy of this book at Book Expo 2011, but gave it away.

Growing up Jewish meant I never escaped the Holocaust.  We hear about it early in our lives and Anne Frank’s story quickly enters our education.  I think her diary was the first book I actually read about the holocaust, but I have only read it once.  I have had many copies through the years, but never read it more than that first time.  There were so many other books to read; fiction and non fiction alike.  In the past year I have found more Holocaust memoirs coming past me.  I suspect it has a lot to do with aging of survivors and the Jewish communities emphasis on remembering what happened.  This is the second translated memoir I have read in the past 12 months as well.

The struggle with translating a memoir is to make sure it translates well, but also keeps the spirit of the original work.  This was originally written in Dutch and translated by Marjolijn de Jager.  I think de Jager was very successful with her translation.  This book was easy to understand, the translation made sense and most ideas translated well.  My struggle with the narration was more from the nature of the narrative.  The emphasis was more on recounting what happened, predominantly to Coster, rather than weaving a story.  There are times Coster jumps around in time, following a train of though, and then may come back to his original point.  For example, when he talks about going to Israel he explains how he met his wife Ora.  It seems she only showed interest in him when she learned he had ridden a moped from Amsterdam to Israel.  From there he jumps to telling us that story and then never tells us any more about how they fell in love.

What I enjoyed most was hearing the stories of Frank and Coster’s classmates who survived the war.  They all had such different experiences.  Some were deep in hiding while others were fortunate enough to be spared leaving a home.  One thing they all had in common was their terror.  It didn’t matter if you were deep in hiding, in a camp, or living in the open.  They all shared the fear that they would be sent to their death.  Some more than others, but that fear remained and all of them were able to talk about it openly.

“We could show how bad luck and good fortune are often intertwined, especially in difficult times (p.9)”. This is probably the quote I liked the best and probably sums up the entire book.  Each of them had different fortune.  For Coster his luck had to do with his father’s possible mistake with some paperwork.  Had his father correctly filed paperwork Coster’s fortune would not have been the same.  For Anne, had someone not reported them she may have survived.  Their stories all show how one choice, often outside of your control, can keep you alive or lead you to death.

In the end, this message is what I was meant to take away.

I also took away a better sense of what the Dutch did and didn’t do to support their Jewish neighbors.  Coster’s make a point of reminding readers that 80% of Dutch Jews died during the war.  There are hints that it was because there was no resistance.  This was a country that surrendered quickly.  I think this is wrong.  I think the Dutch helped in very small ways.  There was also so much denial about what was happening and what could happen. Not just from the Jews, but from everyone.  Even the German Jews who came to Amsterdam after the Nazis came to power lived in denial about what was happening.  I think that denial resulted in more deaths than any lack of resistance from the Dutch.

Should you read it?  YES!  Especially if you have read other books about Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

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Goals 2012: 12 in 12 Knitting

Mar 2nd, 2012 by

Last year I found a really neat group on Ravelry: 12 in 12.  The goal is to finish 12 projects in 2012.  There is no other rule than that.  Considering that I typically do more than that I figured it would be an awesome project.  I made a few decisions of my own.

  • I would only use yarn I already had in my stash.
  • I would pick all the projects a head of time.
  • I would make them a priority over other knitting.
  • I would focus on learning new techniques and improving specific skills.
  • I would use this as a chance to make some projects in my queue.

Things that made it on to the list were entrelac and lace patterns.  I had three cardigans to make for myself, slippers, scarves and more.  Only 1 project was on a deadline.  Other than that, I have until the end of the year to finish everything.  I suspected that most of these would be done in Fall/Winter anyway given my focus on my thesis.

Here I am at the end of February, 2 months in, and I am not doing wonderfully.  My biggest problem has been a lack of desire to knit.  I started with the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl, which I was going to wear to a wedding.  This looked like a simple enough lace and it is easy to do, but not easy to maintain.  I have this lovely grey lace yarn that I found at WEBS for this project.  I have found that, since I am on double pointed needles, I am loosing stitches.  The plans for this wedding have been canceled so I don’t need to make this shawl anymore.  I am also not feeling ready for it.  I have decided to frog it for now and focus on a different lace pattern.  I think something easier and smaller is a better idea.  My biggest concern about the lace pattern was following the pattern details.  I am pleased that I found this easy to do.  Thanks to highlighter tape and a pattern portfolio with magnets I was able to keep track of where I was in the pattern.  My decision, ultimately, is to find another project to replace this with.  I still want to use the yarn and do a lace.  I think I have found the right project and I may need to get more yarn for it.

I am also working on the February Lady Sweater.  I have been so excited about this pretty cardigan for almost a year.  I finally got the yarn I wanted for it in a de-stash (a lovely purple cotton fleece yarn) and I cast it one when the year started.  I had to frog it once already because I thought I was 100 stitches off.  Turns out I was managing the project wrong.  It said to repeat 2 rows a certain number of times.  I forgot that means I should do double the number of times to get the right number of rows and stitches.  Frogging it did allow me to rethink the size.  I decided to go down 2 sizes in the project.  This is because I suspect I will wear this next fall and winter.  I hope to be a smaller person by then so a smaller cardigan will have a longer lifespan.

There is more to this goal though.  I want to complete 12 other projects over the year too.  These are to accommodate projects that come over the year.  There may be gifts, new babies, inspiration that strikes, etc.  So far I have two on this list: Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gifts for the Florida grandparents.  My grandmother’s shawl is done and I have cast on the hat for my grandfather.  Both are in cotton because it is Florida after all.

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Book Review: America’s War by Edward Ayers

Feb 29th, 2012 by

Title: America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on Their 150th Anniversaries
Author: Edward L. Ayers

This book was created specifically for the Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War program the ALA and NEA are running in libraries this year.  This is the book we are reading for every session.  The book is organized around our sessions.  Section 1 corresponds to session 1 and so on.  The sections are smaller when we also read another book.  In most cases there are a multitude of readings to discuss.  A mix of fiction and non-fiction make up each section.  Some selections are speeches, others are essays or excerpts from something larger.  The goal of the program is to make us reconsider what we know about the Civil War.  The purpose is that our discussion scholar will lead up through each section in conversation to help us make sense.  As of this writing, my group has only made it through the second session (section 2 of the book) and we are getting ready for section 3.

Dr. Edward L. Ayers worked with the ALA and NEA to select the readings.  There was a lot of thought and effort that went into selecting these readings and each was put in for a specific purpose.  Section 1 is a companion to March and is an excerpt from Louisa May Alcott’s diary from when she was a nurse during the war. Section 2 focuses on the build up to the war.  It contains speeches from Frederick Douglas, Lincoln, Thoreau, Alexander H. Stephens, readings from Twain and more.  Section three focuses on Shiloh with readings from Grant and Bragg as well as a fictional, modern excerpt from Bobbie Ann Mason‘s Shiolh.  Section 4 is the companion to Crossroads to Freedom with the counter argument that Antietam was a turning point for the war.  Finally, section 5 deals with freedom after the war.  This is not just on freeing the slaves after Antietam, but also on what those freed before the war experienced.  Another speech from Douglas as well as letters from those who commanded the “Colored Calvary” helps understand how these men were being treated in the north.  Letters and speeches from Lincoln helps understand where the President was mentally.   Other readings focus on the reaction of slaves to being freed.

Personally I took so much away from these readings, but I have already discussed my lack of knowledge about the Civil War. What frustrated me was Ayer’s periodic opening commentary to readings.  Each section contained a summary of what the readings would contain and some questions to think about.  These were fantastic for me.  What I had a problem with specifically was the commentary he sometimes began a selection with.  For example, and the most frustrating one for me, was the Mark Twain reading in section 2: “The Private History of a Campaign That Failed”.  This is Twain’s recollection about his short experience in the war.  It includes a story of how he killed a civilian.  Ayers, at the beginning of the piece states (without citation) that this is not true.  Twain did not kill a civilian.  Putting aside my frustration with a lack of citation for that fact (I am an academic librarian after all), what I did not like was Ayer’s making these comments before we read the piece.  His commentary taints our reading and interpretation of what we read when he puts it before the entry.  I would have much rather read it after.  To have reacted as I would have without any context or additional information.  Then I could reconsider how I felt about the reading.  I could have questioned my reaction and understanding.  I think this is the purpose of the readings and program: make me rethink.

Other than that I really enjoyed this and think any Civil War buff should get a copy and read it.  Putting all these reading together in once volume creates a flow that works well for the program and for learning more about the Civil War.

 

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Book Review: Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam by James McPherson

Feb 27th, 2012 by

Title: Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam
Author: James McPherson

This book is part of the Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War.  I am a few sessions ahead on the readings, but that is not stopping me.  This book will be part of session 4 (we just ran session 2).  I am not very knowledgeable about the Civil War.  Let’s face it: I grew up in Miami.  Miami has no deep cultural connection because Miami did not really exist in the middle of the 19th century.  It was incorporated a few decades after the Civil War.  There were no battle grounds to go visit on field trips, no local history to focus on, and no heroes to celebrate.  While part of my father’s family has been in this country for generations, the majority of my family has come so recently that I am third/fourth generation American.  My own family doesn’t have much of a connection to the Civil War so we never glorified or celebrated our own involvement.

All this has changed since I moved to Massachusetts.  This is a state rich in history, especially Civil War era history.  Living in Lowell specifically has opened me up to so much interesting history that I am now more interested in the Civil War than I have ever been.  It is difficult though as I know so little about the Civil War.  As I do the readings for this series I struggle to keep up with locations, historical figures, and who won a battle.  Crossroads to Freedom was amazing at helping me understand all these ideas, places and people I am struggling with.  McPherson does an amazing job of explaining what led up to Antietam.  He was delightfully critical of McClellan, but also fair to his strengths as a leader.  He did an amazing job explaining the frustrations the Confederacy was feeling about being recognized by Europe.  He gave me new insight into Lincoln and his struggle to go forward with the Emancipation Proclamation.  The maps were detailed and helped me understand troop movements.  The writing style was simple and easy to understand.

What is my criticism?  There isn’t any really.  This book was selected because many, including McPherson, argue that Antietam was the turning point for the war.  Even though it wasn’t a well fought victory (McClellan allowed Lee to just retreat without being followed – among other things McClellan failed to do) it was a much needed victory for them.  It was after Antietam that Lincoln put forward the Emancipation Proclamation and it was after Antietam that Europe decided not to recognize the Confederacy as its own nation.  McPherson recognized that, obviously, it was not the end of the war, but he makes the case that this battle is the deciding point.

The question is: did he make his case?  Did he convince me that this was the deciding point?  Not entirely.  I agree this was a huge turning point.  This is when the war stops being about just reuniting the country and becomes about ending slavery as well.  McClellan’s choice to not follow Lee and continue fighting makes me feel like this was a minor victory after a bloody battle.  McClellan seems to be the one who thinks his victory was more important than it was.  To me it seemed like a de facto victory.  He didn’t really beat Lee.  McClellan just stood his ground long enough.

Should you read this book?  Of course you should!

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Book Review: The Shallows by Nicholas Carr

Feb 22nd, 2012 by

Title: The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
Author: Nicholas Carr

To make it clear: I read this book so I could work with the college writing classes at UMass Lowell. They selected this book as their focus for the semester. A large majority of the faculty are pulling assignments from things found in this book. To provide support I felt I needed to be engaged in the conversation. I had read the original essay and didn’t take offense to Carr’s argument. I thought this would be a great read, a great source to generate research ideas and discussion points, and it would help me when students need research help.
I gave up on this one after chapter 3. I blame chapter 2 for making me not want to continue. Carr’s premise is that there is a problem with what the internet is doing to our brains. I found myself questioning if this is a bad thing.
I will admit I loved his chapter on neuroplasticity. I find this topic fascinating and would have enjoyed a book that focused on the biological and neurological changes happening as a result of changing how we consume, process and integrate data. I found value to the argument that reading on the web changes how we read. He lost me when he went back to Socrates and how the world changed when we shifted away oral communication and memorization to written communication. Carr went on and on about how they complained about how it would ruin oral traditions. Yes, it changed how we communicated. It changed how our brains worked, but it certainly didn’t ruin society. I felt Carr’s implication was giving validity to the fears of the ancient Greeks.
This is when I just stopped reading. If the argument is that this is ruining our brains then couldn’t this be an example that changing doesn’t mean ruining? How do we know this won’t be good in the long run? Did oral traditions totally disappear. There is still value in the spoken word: storytelling, public speaking, reciting poetry. They have become art forms and skills to develop to better yourself.
Should I have kept reading? Maybe, but I didn’t stop because I couldn’t read the way I use it. I stopped because I disliked his book and his premise. Do I disagree with him? Not necessarily; I simply don’t think we can judge the changes to our brain just yet. This book came off as a complaint more than informative for me. That’s not what I am looking for.
Finally, I was asked to include this commentary by a colleague. Carr covers the history of technology, but he fails to cover the history of the computer or the internet. I would think this would be important to cover if you are criticizing how the two are changing our brains.

 

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