A few more links for Tuesday:
I stumbled across this poem by W.H Auden the other day and thought it would be a good one to share for National Poetry Month:
The More Loving One
by W. H. AudenLooking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.
Inspiration for a YA novel, anyone? I feel like sections of this poem could be fantastic as a title or epigraph.
It can’t be Friday without a Friday Fifteen, in which I review fifteen books in fifteen words or less. Onto the books!
1. Alaska ABC Book by Charlene Kreeger
Gifted when I was 7. Loved the art. Still makes me want to visit Alaska.
2. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
Read for high school psychology. Lots of interesting stories about brain functions and damage.
3. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Like Anna Karenina: glad I read it, wanted to care lots more than I did.
4. Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery (Baby-Sitters Club #17) by Ann M. Martin
My shoutout to Friday the 13th. But come on, Mary Anne–seriously?
5. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hester is pretty cool, but I really wanted her to call out Dimmesdale.
6. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Exciting sci-fi/dystopian novel. Still can’t get over Manchee.
7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A classic for a reason. I loved how Mary is petulant, not the perfect child.
8. The Partly-Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
More great essays on history, politics, and media with a dash of memoir by Vowell.
9. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Another gorgeous work by Woolf. Love the passages about time.
10. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Being a preteen military genius is hard, especially with siblings taking over the world.
11. The Bridesmaids by Cherie Bennett
Very fluffy MG novel. Features characters named Juliet, Paris, and Fawn.
12. Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
It’s Shakespeare via the Saw series. Glad I read it, but nothing compared to later works.
13. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
I didn’t like eggs or ham as a child, so this was a tough read.
14. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
Literary and steampunk-y. It’s like a graphic novel gift meant especially for me.
15. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
I was obsessed with this play in middle school. Witty and tragic with cavalier costumes.
Ending the week on lots of great links:
One of the most fun National Poetry Month projects I’ve seen is Poem in Your Pocket Day. In Charlottesville, VA (one of my very favorite places in the world), Poem in Your Pocket Day has been lead by the fantastic librarians at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. Take a look at how they shared thousands of poems with Charlottesville residents in 2010:
So glad to hear about the response, including the enthusiasm of volunteers. Well done, Cville poem-lovers!
This year’s Poem in Your Pocket Day will be on Thursday, April 26. Any plans to share a poem?
From Steinbeck’s East of Eden:
A nice reminder that perfection holds us back. Must keep that in mind for a current first draft that’s plaguing me.
(via wit + delight)
Very intrigued by this book trailer for Black Arts by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil.
Elizabethan London, demons, pickpockets, and time travel? Yes please.
(Confession: In college I took a class on the history of witchcraft. And then another about the Salem witch trials. I am kind of a target audience for this.)
A little treat for Thursday: Little Brown just released the title, release date, and synopsis of JK Rowling’s upcoming novel. The Casual Vacancy will be released on September 27, 2012. The plot:
When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.
Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.
Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.
And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
I’m very confident that Rowling can capture darkly comic struggles beneath English idyllic life. (Although my first thought was “I really hope it’s the book version of Hot Fuzz!”) Very excited to hear more about The Casual Vacancy in the months to come.
A few more links for the afternoon:
At That Hapa Chick, Julia has a great post about why diversity is important in YA. She talks about discovering Lisa Yee’s books, many of which feature Asian characters:
“Everything about those books hit so close to home; the humor, the characters, the Asianness of it all. These books made me realize how much I was connected to my Asian culture and how much I really appreciated it.”
I love that Julia found a deeper connection to her background through Yee’s novels. Books like these don’t just reflect many readers’ experiences; they can help those readers form a deeper appreciation for their own history and culture.
Obviously literature in general could benefit from more diversity, and young readers in particular need to see that their backgrounds are valued. But I’d also argue that it’s important to write books with diverse characters that aren’t just about those cultures. Kids from various cultures participate in sports, get in fights with their friends, laugh at inside jokes, try to get their homework done five minutes before class. I think that balance of cultural background and modern teen life is something most readers can understand.