:: The Old Freewheelin' Reader ::

:: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 ::

Happy New Year to all the loyal Freewheelin' Reader visitors!
tim 10:58 AM [+]

Pinocchio has not always been the loveable character we know.
In the original text, by Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio was a bit of a jerk.
Read more here... and pick up the original book, it sounds good.
tim 10:41 AM [+]

Books I've picked up
I hope you've all had a wonderfull holiday thus far. I've had a literate one myself. I'd been reading 1984, which is just great and then I recieved some other books for Christmas including; Fast Food Nation, The Island Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, Meet the Group of Seven, My Leafs Sweater and The Treaties of Canada with the Indiands.
I look forward to reading and sharing them all.
In a side note, todays Powell review is Gods of War, Gods of Peace: How the Meeting of Native and Colonial Religions Shaped Early America. So much Native-related lit. I could die.
tim 10:47 AM [+]

Switzerland lifts a Bin Laden Book Ban
tim 9:56 AM [+]

Literary Round-Up
Newsweek: Top books of 2002
Esquire: The Story of Ivring Berlin's White Christmas
Moscow Times: Prosecuting Harry Potter
Salon: Interview with Zadie Smith
tim 7:03 PM [+]

Happy Holidays
I'll be off for the next little while.
tim 8:24 AM [+]

The NY Times Editors' Choice List and Notable Books 2002.
tim 12:28 PM [+]

Getting Rid Of Words or The Dumbing down of the English Language and How I Learned to Live With It.
Two organizations hand out awards for misuse of the English Language
tim 1:29 PM [+]

The lost art of the apostrophe
tim 12:28 PM [+]

Remember I told you Graham Greene's book, the Quiet American was being made into a movie? (see 12/3/02)
Well it has. Read more.
tim 11:47 AM [+]

Did anyone else not know what Zeitgeist means?
Here's your answer - Zeitgeist is German for the spirit of the age.
Good luck acting like you've known that all along.
I'll do the same.
tim 9:55 PM [+]

A review of The Cave by Jose Saramago
This basic tennents of this book make it seem like it's been done before. Maybe I only think that because I'm reading a similar sounding book right now - Orwell's 1984

tim 11:14 AM [+]

First Among Equals
Read More
Comment
tim 1:33 AM [+]

An in-depth review of Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million by Martin Amis.
tim 12:10 PM [+]

Cuban Libros
Michigan State University is presenting a collection of hand crafted Cuban literary publications that are (from what I can tell from the website and from what I read in Utne) quite stunning. Check out the design, as they are all unique and incredibley detailed.
tim 11:24 AM [+]

Read to Feed
A fantastic way to encourage reading and political involvement in our youth.
Please, read more.
tim 11:51 PM [+]

STEAL THIS BOOK
By Abbie Hoffman
-stolen from apeshallnotkillape
tim 5:01 PM [+]

The Utne Book Club
tim 10:47 AM [+]

A short review of We Interrupt This Program: The News Broadcast That Kept Us Tuned In. I hear about it first on CBC. The audio clips are extemely engaging.

tim 4:46 PM [+]

Want to know why books are so expensive these days?
Read and extensive article here.
Turns out they might not be as expensive as you think.
tim 11:27 AM [+]

Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics
Examines the historic and contemporary links between mind altering drugs and zen budhism.
Might be good.
Reviewed by Salon.com.
tim 2:39 PM [+]

Does Ron Mclean get a cut of HNIC?
Todd Boyd's new book, The New HNIC (Head Niggas in Charge): The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop examines the prevelance, relevance and impact of Hip Hop culture on a global scale.
Read a review here.
tim 9:13 PM [+]

From Russia with Love
Freereadin' doesn't often bring you very much from Russia but here's something I thought all you world travelers would enjoy.
Anton Krotov, a Russian, has written a couple of books about how to travel around the world (specifically Russia, but into places like Afghanistan too) for little or no money.
He and his companion sound like interesting people. They're part of an organization called the Academy of Free Traveling and apparently, they offer many travel tips in their publications. I wasn't able to find them on-line. If you have any luck, let me know.

tim 8:23 PM [+]

"The mans who does not read good books has no
advantage over the man who can't read."
- Mark Twain.

As much as I hate to disagree with a literary giant like Mark Twain I am afraid I have to in this case. Case in point - a friend of mine who is far more academically inclined and successful than I am constantly reads 'junky books' (her terms not mine) whereas I try to read nothing but Giller Prize winning novels. She believes that every book has some value in that it appeals to something in the reader - just not every reader. I agree. There is no room for academic snobbery in books. I believe that the most important element in encouraging someone to read is to find something they like. One would hope that your students would chose great works of literature (historic or contemporary) but one should not be discouraged if they feel like reading 'junky novels'. There are really two reasons not to be discouraged. The first is that you encourage them to read by giving them silent sustained reading time during which they can read a book of their own choosing. The second reason it that in unison with SSR you are also likely reading a book together as a class. A smart teacher, in my opinion, would have students reflect on their engagement with both books, maybe even make comparisons between the two. While you'd like to encourage high art sometimes low art can be the entry way for students into literature; by discouraging it you may be shutting them out completely. However if you are a book snob, as I am, the best thing to do is to encourage their reading and patiently wait to see if they latch onto something of greater significance. If they do not, worse case scenario, they remain life long readers of books you do not like but they do. I can live with that.

Students, regardless of their preferred reading material need to be surrounded by a literacy rich environment. Teachers need to create a classroom that emphasizes the importance of literature in our daily lives According to Tompkins this involves reading, speaking, listening and viewing literary works. When students become engaged with literature they are preparing themselves to succeed in every area of the curriculum. For example, math and science often involve word problems that students may or may not be able to perform based on their reading and interpretation abilities. The type of literature students read will not develop this ability but analysis and discussion of their choices will. This is why literature focus units, literature circles, and reading & writing workshops are so vital. They all encourage the students to think critically, not just in terms of literature but as a transferable skill. It is the teacher's job to embrace higher order thinking as common practice. By encouraging this type of engagement teachers lay the foundation for a community of learners that can rely on each other strengths and abilities. One never knows when the knowledge gleaned from reading a junky book will come to pass as and important skill. So as I said before, get them reading as often as possible.

Tompkins, G. E. (2001). Language Arts: Content and teaching strategies (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.



tim 7:45 AM [+]

Updated Book Wishlist
Dave Eggers who wrote A Heart Breaking Tale of Staggering Gernius has written his first novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity. There were some great passages in Staggering Genius but also lots of dull and repetitive bits. I guess I'm willing to give him another chance though.
Read a review here.
tim 10:31 AM [+]

The Matrix and The Philosopher
The Matrix has spawned a book about philosophy in all its varied forms.
Read a review here.

tim 10:26 AM [+]

Lionel Gelber Prize for non-fiction
5 books have been shortlisted for this annual prize. Admitedly I haven't heard of any of them.
I think Samantha Power's book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide sounds interesting. According to the Globe, it's an examination of the world's killing fields and U.S. response, or lack of it.
Read about the rest here.
tim 10:13 AM [+]

Bringing Books to Life
The CIA was spying on Graham Green for many years due to belonging to the Communist Party.
Michael Cain stars in the movie version of his book The Quiet American.
Read more here.

tim 12:15 PM [+]