First up, to my lovely, supportive encouraging friends: THANK YOU. I did try to enter the book review comp on The Book Depository but all my reviews hover around the 1,000 word mark and the limit was 200 words. And after a while of heavy handed editing (which was like choosing which of your limbs to cut off, I might add), I realised that the competition closed at 5:00pm today. *Sigh, ah well! Next time (hee hee, secretly pleased! It's one thing to do a blog because you want an outlet, and you know that friends will read it, it's another to put it out there in the big bad literary world).
Now, you've probably heard of the Get Reading! promotion (subtitled '50 Books You Can't Put Down'), the ads have been running on telly and bookstores have been promoting the pamphlets, etc, etc. I've just read through the list of books and I'm not sure of some of their choices. Anything by Audrey Niffenegger is a winner, and Ahn Do's autobiography seems worth a look, but 'First Tests' by Steve Cannane? Really? It's described as "a fascinating peek into the backyards of our cricket greats". Okay, I'm sorry, but I fail to see how that is "fascinating" on any level. Not to mention "Bindi Wildlife Adventures Book 1" from the precocious and annoying daughter of late croc hunter Steve Irwin. Seriously? An absorbing read for kids? What happened to kids books that actually required reading - as opposed to skimming? Like Oliver Twist, James and the Giant Peach, Anne of Green Gables and Treasure Island! These books actually extend the vocabulary and expose children to a world of experiences lost to modern generations. Since when did kids books cater to the shortened attention span of the x-box/wii generation!?!?!?! My daughter is one and a half years old, and she will 'read' her books for hours! One of the current favorites is Enid Blyton's 'Animal Tales' for goodness sake! Bindi can eat Enid's dust anyday, as far as I'm concerned. If you want to check out the list for yourself go to http://www.getreading.com.au/the_offer/the_guide/index.php
Lastly, I have just ordered'The Eyre Affair' by Jasper Fforde (thank you Gary) and 'Chasing Harry Winston' by Lauren Weisberger; a bit of light reading to help alleviate my aversion to the gore-infested fantasy that seems to taint all the pages of the books in my bedside table. I think that has to be the smallest order I have ever lodged at the Book Depository...let's see if I can remedy that! Cheers all!
On the matter of kids these days, yeah after being on my last lot of teaching rounds I can definitely vouch for the lack of any kind of literacy skills in most kids! It's ridiculous!Even half of my Year 10 class cannot properly form a sentence without grammatical and/or syntax errors. So frustrating! Grumble...
ReplyDeleteAnywho... Rant over... I shall check out the list... :)