Monthly Archives: October 2006

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Books 10/18/06

I finished Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber. It was extremely informative, and very helpful. There are sections that didn’t apply at all to our current situation but that I might need later, on nightmares and that kind of thing, as well as clearly written information about sleep cycles and schedules. I feel prepared now to tackle the task of getting Zoe to fall asleep without a bottle in her mouth.

I’m alternating books now, which basically ends up meaning that I’m not finishing any of them, but I’m currently reading Portrait of a Marriage, Special Topics in Calamity Physics (which has nothing to do with actual physics and looks amazing!), and What You are Seeking is Causing you to Seek. I should just pick one to soldier through, as I’m horribly behind on my total for the year. I have to read at least 10 books by the end of the month to catch up. It might be time to break out the kids books, but thats kind of cheating. But I did want to read the Snicket books again, at least the last half of them, so that wouldn’t be cheating. :)

Current total: 70

Currently reading: Portrait of a Marriage by Nigel Nicholson, Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, and That Which You are Seeking is Causing you to Seek by Cheri Huber

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Reason 5697326 why I love my daddy

I called my dad today just to say hi, and after we exchanged the regular pleasantries he told me he was watching The Breakfast Club. When I asked him if he’d ever seen it before, he informed me that he had, and in fact he watches it whenever he sees that it’s on TV. Something about that just makes me immensely happpy.

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Graphic novel goodness

I’m reading 4 graphic novels for an big review I’ll be writing for Eclectica Magazine, and I’ve finished two of them- Missouri Boy by Leland Myrick and Kampung Boy by LAT. They both tell the story of a boy growing up, one in Missouri, the other in Malaysia, and the parallels are really interesting. The review is going to focus on the concepts of place and heritage in these comics, and the other books I’m loooking at are American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang and Klezmer by Joann Sfar. Should be really fun. But I’d recommend both of those I’ve read so far, they’re quite good.

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It’s over

The final book in The Series of Unfortunate Events arrived today, and it’s fantastic. The book itself is super good, bringing up very interesting issues of what it means to protect and shield your children from the world; it’s also a perfect ending to a wonderful series. It didn’t answer all the questions, but it answered enough, and as a whole the series achieves some really awesome things. It tackles the questions of what it means to be good and noble, why people are so easily tricked, why culture is important, and so many other things. And while it brings up the questions, just like the over arching mysteries of the series, it doesn’t answer them all, but rather leaves the reader to think about them and put the pieces together. I will absolutely be reading these to Zoe, and will enjoy the possibly difficult discussions that will come from them.

Now I have to go read the Beatrice letters again.

Current total: 69

Just finished: The End by Lemony Snicket

Currently reading: Ferber’s Sleep book and Portrait of A Marriage by Nigel Nicolson

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Neato devito

This is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. This guy takes old books and makes shelves out of them- do a little clicky clicking and you’ll see how neat they are. Although a little part of me cries at the thought of these books getting cut up, at least they’re works of art now, rather than getting thrown away. Check out the “Funniest shelves” first, those are the best. I wish I had the ridiculous amounts of money to buy one.

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Books 10/9/06

I finished The Wee Free Men a while ago, and it was quite fantastic. It’s the story of a young witch and her attempts to save her little brother (and the world) from an evil Queen. She’s helped in the effort by the Wee Free Men, little pictsies who bear a very intentional resemblance to the Scottish. It’s written by Terry Pratchett, and while it’s intended for a younger audience, contains a lot of humor that would soar right over their heads- but not confuse them. It’s really a true all ages book, there’s something there for everyone. I really highly reccomend it, I really enjoyed it.

I also just finished The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. It’s about that time to help Zoe learn how to sleep through the night, and I picked up this book and Ferber’s to see which direction we should go. This one was really helpful, with a lot of really good ideas that I know we will use.

The one thing that I didn’t like, and it’s something that bugs me about a lot of these types of books that have a strong philosophy, is the apparent need to villanize other philosophies in favor of their own. I finally just quit reading the introduction, because its whole point was to explain how appalling, cruel, terrorizing, insensitive, and “rationalizing” the cry-it-out method of sleep training is. (She used all of those words.) Now, we probably won’t use the cry-it-out method, but I don’t need someone trying to prove to me that their method is the way to go by demonizing other methods, and insulting me if I chose to go with them. If your method works, then let it stand on its own. If I’ve already purchased the book, then obviously I think the idea has merit, so just give me the information on the method and philosophy, rather than try coerce me into doing what you think I should. To top it off, there always seems to be a bit about how the people who use the other techniques will try to convince you that what you’re doing is so wrong, and how they’re so bad for doing that– not noticing the hypocrisy in that. She also seemed to be making some snide comments about Ferber that indicated that she didn’t really understand what he was trying to do (at least as I understand it), but I could have been misinterpreting those.
Anyway, despite the introduction and a little bit at the end that ventured back into the “if you ever let your child cry you’re neglecting them and they will never be as good of a person as a baby that never ever cries”, it was a really good and insightful book. Now, on to Ferber, which I expect will be far more similar to Pantley’s book than she might suspect.

Current total: 68

Just finished: The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley

Currently reading: Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber