My reading has been very eclectic lately (big surprise, huh?) and not all of the books have been great reads. But there does seem to be a larger plan at work here and I saw it come together while reading Mary Doria Russell's CHILDREN OF GOD (CoG) for this month's read-a-long ...
- In CoG there is a character named Joseba who is from the Basque region of Spain. His background is in terrorism and his family had a history of being involved in ETA. Also, he is fluent in Euskara. All this would have meant very little to me had I not recently listened to THE BASQUE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. I didn't particularly enjoy that book but I did learn a great deal from it. That knowledge definitely came in useful here and it helped me to appreciate this character and his unique perspective.
- Another character in CoG is Danny Iron Horse, descendant of the Lakota Sioux tribe and also of Swedish immigrants. Having just finished listening to the amazingness that is BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE and also the highly educational INDIAN CHIEFTAINS AND GREAT HEROES, I understood a great deal about Danny's background and the perspective and prejudices that he brought to the book. The decisions he made near the end of CoG made a stronger impact on me than they had during my previous reading of this book because I now understand more of where he's coming from.
- This last point isn't meaningful as the previous ones, but ... At one point a characters describes someone else's viewpoint as definitely not Panglossian and having recently read Candide I understood that reference. Pangloss was a character to looked on the world with unfailing optimism, always believing that things will work out "for the best, in this best of all possible worlds."
that focused on Rachel Carson's book, SILENT SPRING and I had to share a few thoughts.
by Marla Cone, a book about the poisoning of the Arctic due to pollution. I found it both horrifying and amazing and highly recommend it. It was, of course, titled and themed after Carson's book, but I had not read that one (and still have not). In fact, the only thing I knew about SILENT SPRING was that it had something to do with the way chemicals affect birds.
I am horrified at what we didn't know about pesticides and the way they affect living things. From what I understand, Carson was a brilliant natural scientist and a gifted and eloquent writer - a rare combination. Her writing brought enormous attention to a very serious problem. Within 10 years of SILENT SPRING's publication sweeping changes were made in environmental laws, and in the the way the US government and the American people thought about pesticides.
and to share it with Kiddo when he's a little bit older. It is one of the best, most educational, books I've ever read/listened to.
and actually started reading it again. He also read all of 
, even though he has refused to read 
. He always told me that the Wimpy Kid books look stupid, but after loving Big Nate I think he's willing to give them a shot (both books are by the same author). These books captured his interest and made him WANT to read, which in turn helped his reading improve. He is much more confident in his abilities and I think he's actually beginning to enjoy reading. *gasp* *cheer*
books. Plus he's still getting Star Wars graphic novels from the library whenever we drop in there.
. I asked for a review copy of this book after checking out the 
