Comments on Comments and Children's Books

For those of you who don't read comments to blogs (I would be one of them if this wasn't my blog; I mean, why do I care what other people think about other people's thinking? Follow? It's a tough one):
Michele made an excellent discovery.
http://jffsf.org/2013/library-wars/
Live action Library Wars! 

Children's Books

I've read quite a few juvenile fiction and non-fiction books over the past six years without much thought to keeping track of my favorites. I own many, mostly bought at random, and am constantly thinking "I want to own this!" after reading one borrowed from the library. Yet, I never write down the titles. Strange. So, perhaps, here I will start a record of favorite children's books.

The Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall (illustrated by Barbara Cooney)

I think I love this one because the life described, lost now in this modern world except for the Amish, is so simple. Is it really an idyllic life? Would I have been so accepting as a child to be given the never-ending task of needle-work? Will my children? Ha. Never-the-less, I love it. And I think I want to find one about ranching/commercial fishing for Uncle Jim and Bella to share.

Dr. Suess's ABC, Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You? by Dr. Suess

Okay, a billion things have been said about the brilliance of Dr. Suess so I won't repeat any of that. I just have to single these two out as excellent engagement books for the little ones. Kids LOVE rhyming and making funny sounds and plain ol' randomness. Both my kids loved these books and the ABC one, I swear, taught my kids the alphabet better than anything else I tried.

Alison Croggon and Kiiro Yumi

The Naming

A young adult fantasy novel by Alison Croggon. The back cover says "epic fantasy" and I have to agree. Surprisingly dense world, with a bard-like rambling adventure tale to bring it all out. Many times I was reminded of The Lord of the Rings though there has been no mention of dwarves or giants or even elves. It is the style, I think - the mix of poetry and music - and the vitality of inanimate objects. Well, and magic too. The white light shall smite thee darkness!
Four books, though? I don't know if it can sustain my interest so long.

On another note:

I read quite a bit of manga during my Korean drama foray because, obviously, manga are like television shows without the television. Also, most of the dramas were based on manga series and it was fun to see the original inspirations. In my manga browsing, I stumbled across Library Wars. The fight for free access! With guns! Need I say more?
 

In the Player

When we turn on the house music, my eldest daughter only wants to listen to Taylor Swift (or, if I'm lucky, maybe Adele or the Ting Tings or Feist). I can't say I hate Swift (her stuff is catchy and the lyrics very true to a particular age) but nobody should listen to it as much as I have been forced to. Instead, when I am driving to work or free to my own intentions, I listen to:
Sleigh Bells
Kimbra
Martha Wainwright
Ellie Goulding (mostly her Lights album)
The Gossip
Tegan & Sara
Santogold
Once (the soundtrack)
Regina Spektor
Apparently I only want to listen to woman...

Garth Nix

Sabriel

Fantasy. Action. Adventure. A bit of romance. Walking dead. What's not to love? This series, like Cashore's, is set in a world a bit like medieval Europe with no cars or cell phones, etc. Actually, it has some similarities to Neil Gaiman's Stardust as well. There is a magical place with a wall around it! But it was written before Stardust. Hmmm... coincidence?
Anyway, read it if you like well written YA fantasy without all that whiny crap.

Lireal

The sequel to Sabriel. I'm reading it now and enjoying the heck out of it. The main character works in a library! Woohoo!

Korea

Korea - The Impossible Country by Daniel Tudor

Most of the books I found about Korea were about the two countries (North and South) as a whole or about North Korea solely. Though South Korea has risen into the global market (via technology and automobile manufacturing) and culture (via pop music and video), very little seems to been written about the country. Korea - The Impossible Country was excellent in its brief overview of the history of the region (including North Korea) and deep focus on modern culture. Tudor discussed everything from religion to economics, politics to popular media in an easily readable language. As Tudor said, the achievements of the country are incredible but it is sad that the psychological well-being of the people seems to have suffered because of it.

Of the other books about Korea, by far my favorite is Pyongyang by Guy Delisle. Really it is a graphic novel travelogue of Delisle's experience while working at a French animation studio in North Korea but it is enough to give a fascinating and disturbing picture of a little known place. And from what he describes I doubt anyone could give an accurate (or fully informed) account of the history or culture, so this is as good as it gets.

Where it all began...

My obsession with South Korea began with watching Korean dramas, specifically Coffee Prince. I own that one now. I think other people should watch it too. Korea television series are different than most American series: there's an end planned into it (kind of like British mini-series). They appear to range from 14 to 18 episodes of about an hour each.
My favorites are: Coffee Prince (obviously), Queen Inhyon's Man (Queen and I), and Flower Boy Next Door. I watched a LOT more but I don't feel like listing their positives and negatives. However, I will say I am currently watching Answer Me 1997 and it's living up to its hype. Shut Up Flower Boy Band is also supposed to be good.

It all comes down to FOOD.

All of the shows feature scenes with the main characters eating. Real eating. Coffee Prince is awesome because the lead chick shoves enormous quantities of food in her mouth. You just never see that in American television. I loved it. I wanted to eat that food. So I started exploring restaurants and recipes and reading about all the cultural nuances to their meal rituals (and trust me there are a lot of nuances and a lot of rituals). It has all been well worth the ridicule I've endured from my closest friends about my weird obsession! ha ha