November 2008 - Page 3 of 3

Meme: Seven Random

Facts about me and books

I was tagged for this by Leah from The Octogon. It took me a while to think of answers, as I did a similar meme a while back; and I\’m not sure they\’ve very random, but here you go:

– My father used to say that I ought to run a used bookstore. This back in high school when half of one wall in my bedroom was just books. I always thought in return: why? I want to keep my books, not sell them. But now I do so much online swapping, constantly wrapping books to ship, I almost feel like I am.

– Every year or so I rearrange all the books on my shelves. Sometimes I want to see everything an author has written side by side (fiction and non-), other times I like the books to be organized by subject (even down to what kind of fantasy it is). Right now the books are just split into three groups: nonfic by subject, children\’s fiction by title (I\’m going through them with my daughter) and all the rest of the fiction by author.

– I never know what to do when someone gives me a book I already own. I love getting books, but this makes me feel awkward. I have duplicate copies of several books in my collection because someone gave me a lovely new copy, but for various reasons I want to hold onto the old ones as well.

– I don\’t use bookmarks anymore. I used to have a little collection, but I\’ve lost them all. When I started taking notes about my reading I\’d have a bookmark and a piece of notepaper floating around to jot things on. So I started just keeping the notepaper in the book instead of bookmarks.

– I have a huge scrap file of pictures from magazines, that I collected back when I wanted to be a children\’s book illustrator. I thought it would be useful: what if one day I needed to know what sailboat rigging looked like, or an exotic costume, or a hummingbird in flight? (this before internet was at my fingertips). Now I just use the scrap file occasionally to make custom book jacket covers, and I\’ve been thinking lately of making booksmarks. But then I don\’t know what I\’d do with them!

– I always have the intention of keeping business cards from all the used bookstores I visit, especially those I know I probably won\’t be to again (on travels). But then I forget, or loose them, or feel like it would be an incomplete collection since I haven\’t always done it. So I hardly have any. Silly.

– I have, however, saved every public library card. Except for the one I used the longest- from the King County Public Library system, where I grew up in Seattle. I don\’t know what happened to that one. Here\’s all the rest, indicating other places I\’ve lived: Madison County (Rexburg, ID); San Francisco; Sonoma County (Petaluma, CA); Baltimore, MD; Fairfax, VA and currently, Loudon County (Sterling, VA). I could easily describe all the library branches I used in these various systems, their different policies and programs, layout of the bookshelves, which new books I discovered there, etc- but that\’s for another post someday.

The rules of this meme are pretty standard: link to who tagged you, post the rules, share seven random facts about yourself (bookish, in this case), tag seven new people and give links to their blogs, visit the people you\’ve tagged and leave them a comment to tell them about it.

I\’m tagging Raych of books i done read, Trish the Hey, Lady! Whatcha Readin\’?, Petunia of Educating Petunia, Jessica at Both Eyes Book Blog, Chris of Stuff as Dreams are Made On, Steph who writes The Kea and the Literary Wombat. And anyone else who wants to just join in.

Tags: bookshelves, memes

I Love Gymnastics

or, Gymnastics School
by Naia Bray-Moffatt

This is a lovely book. It\’s a bit too advanced for my four-year-old, she lost interest after fifteen pages. But the photographs are so beautiful I finished reading it on my own. I Love Gymnastics follows a young girl named Jessica and her classmates through a beginning class at a gymnastics club. Through a series of images and descriptive captions, it describes all the work that goes into learning gymnastic skills. First are stretches, warm-up and conditioning exercises. Then the children learn basic moves like splits, forward rolls, headstands and cartwheels. Each spread describes a move and the steps involved in learning it, emphasizing flexibility, good posture, and forming graceful shapes with the body. Next the girls do some basic vaulting, learn to balance on the beam, and try the uneven bars. It\’s informative to see the progression: a move is first learned on the floor, then practiced on a low apparatus or with a spotter before the child performs it solo. Also clearly shown is how the skills of basics are used in more complex moves. Near the end of the book a few more advanced students visit the class to demonstrate floor routines and help the younger girls practice. A few pages show the different kinds of body conditioning and apparatus the boys use, and then all the children show off their skills in an end-of-class competition.

For anyone\’s little girl interested in doing gymnastics, this is a great book. The only odd thing about it is the title. The cover (board, jacket and flaps) says I Love Gymnastics. But the title page says Gymnastics School. Upon doing searches, I found the book listed with both titles (and the exact same cover image). It\’s a little puzzling.

Rating: 4/5 48 pages, 2005

Tags: 4/5- Great Book

Solving Squirrel Problems

How to Keep This Ubiquitous Pest Out of Home and Garden
by Monte Burch

No, I don\’t have a squirrel problem. But I saw two books about squirrels at the library sale on the final day, and picked them up out of idle curiosity. I thought at least I\’ll learn a bit about squirrels, and maybe how to deal with any problems I might have someday.

This book wasn\’t quite what I expected. The first part has an overview of different squirrels species. There is information on squirrels\’ natural ranges, what they eat, and basic habits. The next chapter talks about dealing with squirrel pests which steal birdseed and destroy birdfeeders. After some info on how to discourage squirrels from raiding birdfeeders by your own devices, I suddenly found myself reading what appeared to be advertisements for commercially made bird feeders. Manufacturer\’s names, websites and prices included. Maybe this is standard information to include in this kind of book, but I found it annoying. Then lists of what kinds of seed attract which kinds of birds (wasn\’t the book about squirrels?) and how to build birdhouses that deter predatory squirrels (oh, there they are!) who like to eat eggs and baby birds. Next comes a useful chapter about how to keep squirrels from ruining your lawn and garden, and how to keep them out of your house. Then it veers again into discussing other types of rodent pests, especially rats. At this point I realized I really don\’t have the issues this book is dealing with, so why am I still reading it? I started flipping pages and got surprised at the end, which tells how to get rid of squirrels- by live-trapping, using traps that kill them (one by electrocution!) and shooting them. In fact, the final third of Solving Squirrel Problems is all about hunting squirrels.

This is where the book shines. There is so much information, detailed descriptions and personal anecdotes about squirrel hunting, you can tell the author enjoys it. He explains techniques for stalking or attracting squirrels, different methods to use in various seasons, what kinds of guns and ammunition are best, and how to skin, gut and cook squirrels. There are twelve recipes (and two for groundhogs) including squirrel vegetable-noodle soup, fried squirrel, barbecued squirrel and squirrel casserole. I can\’t say that any of them appear appetizing to me. I also learned that there\’s a market for squirrel tails. The hair is used to make flies for fishing.

The final chapter of the book is about being nice to squirrels: putting out food especially for them (which distracts them from the birdseed) building nest boxes for them, and managing habitats that favor them. The book also cautions handling squirrels (or any wild animal), and lists all the parasites and diseases squirrels can pass to people I wish I\’d read that before my kid rescued a young squirrel from one of our cats and handed it to me! Finally, I have to call this book abandoned just because I skipped so many passages I didn\’t read it completely. Interesting in some parts, dull and annoying in others.

Abandoned 248 pages, 2003

Tags: 0/5- Abandoned, Animals Nonfiction

winner

Book giveaway winner
My daughter was delighted to help pick the winner of this giveaway. I wrote the names on strips of paper, she folded them all up tight.

They barely fit in her hands.

It took five throws to get one name to land on the book. First toss: zero. Second toss: two. Third toss: three. Fourth toss: seven! Fifth toss: one name. Wow, that was fun!

And the winner is

Ruby(mouth) ! Ruby, send your mailing address to jeanenevarez AT gmail DOT com and I\’ll mail your book soon!

Gymnastics in Action

by Bobbie Kalman

This is another book for kids on gymnastics that I read to my daughter. It\’s more detailed than the last book, and a bit advanced for a four-year-old, so we read it in stages, with lots of discussion when she had questions about things. Gymnastics in Action explains the basics: what are gymnastics, the importance of warm-ups, basic moves and positions, why you need a good coach, which events boys and girls do, types of equipment and gear used, how gymnasts progress in their skills and learn routines, and how the gymnast\’s body works. The last spread describes rhythmic gymnastics (which I didn\’t see in the other books we read). The pictures are all bright and very clear, and the descriptions easy to understand. It\’s a good, informative book for children about the basics of the sport.

Rating: 3/5 32 pages, 2003

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Juvenile Nonfic, Past Reads

The Call of the Wild

by Jack London

I have to think this is the most famous of Jack London\’s stories. I can\’t count how many times I\’ve read it since high school. It\’s the story of a mixed breed dog named Buck, a shepherd-Saint Bernard cross, who was stolen from his California home and sold in Alaska during the Gold Rush, for use as a sled dog. Buck quickly learns to master his new hostile environment, learning the \”law of club and fang\” and fighting others dogs in the team for supremacy. He passes through the hands of several different owners, some reasonable and kind, others outright ignorant and cruel. (In this the story reminded me of Black Beauty). Eventually Buck and his team end up with irresponsible owners who nearly starve them to death, and he\’s rescued just in time by John Thornton. There follows a period where Buck shows his devotion to Thornton by performing heroics and awesome feats of obedience, before harking to the irresistible call of the wolves in the forest and running off to live with them.

I just had to open this book again after recently reading Coppingers\’ criticism in Dogs: A New Understanding:

\”I can\’t think of a single trait possessed by wolves that I\’d want on a dog team…. Jack London\’s fictitious lead dog, Buck, dreamed about being a real wolf, and in the end left the world of man and reverted to the wild to lead a wolf pack. To me, this kind of imagery is not just fiction, but awful fiction. It seems to me there should be a touch of reality to a romance. London\’s story does no favors for dogs, or for wolves.\”

I had in mind to read the book more critically this time, looking for how it was unrealistic, according to what I read in Coppingers\’ work about sled dogs. At first I started jotting down a list, which things felt true: the team\’s eagerness to run, their tendency to fight with each other, an individual dog\’s distress at being left behind when the team ran. But the list of unrealistic depictions was far greater. I\’ll point out a few: dogs would not work after being injured. I don\’t know how many times in this book I read about a dog being \”slashed to the bone\” in a dog fight, then pulling the sled the next day! And if the dogs fought so regularly, why wouldn\’t the drivers tie them up out of each others\’ reach? The idea that Buck could learn new predatory behaviors solely by instinctual memory seems pretty ludicrous. He went from being a pampered pet in California, to working on a sled team- okay, feasible. He toughened up to the work. Also believable. Then his senses grew sharper, he ran off to hunt and kill prey by himself, and even brought down a moose! Seeking out the largest one he could find out of pride, no less. I find it hard to believe a lone dog could ever kill a bull moose. Aside from this fabulous feat he also, on a bet Thornton placed, broke out of the ice and pulled for a hundred yards a sled loaded with a thousand pounds, all by himself. I just don\’t think a hundred-fifty pound dog could do that. (Please correct me if I\’m wrong!) And then there\’s the whole concept of Buck having dreams about his ancestors and \”remembering\” wolfish instincts. It struck me just as ludicorous as what I read simlilar in Nop\’s Trials.

The strange thing is, even though I discovered that this book is full of overblown romanticism about Nature (harsh and brutal), I still find it a great story. After a while I put aside my notes and just enjoyed it again. I think if I hadn\’t been enthralled by The Call of the Wild when younger, I would have found some of its portrayals laughable, and others very disturbing (especially the mistreatment of animals). So I\’m glad I read this first of all in youthful ignorance, because that has allowed me to continue to appreciate Jack London\’s wonderful storytelling, even if I can see some flaws now.

Rating: 4/5 …….. 88 pages, 1903

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Animals Fiction, Current Reads, Re-reads

Dogs: A New Understanding

of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution
by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger

This book is fascinating. It challenges so many widely held popular beliefs about dogs. With careful logic, the Coppingers examine what dogs are and how they got to be that way, from a biologist\’s understanding. They pick apart the idea that dogs are descendents of wolves deliberately tamed and bred by early humans, explaining why it would have been nearly impossible for that to happen. Instead their hypothesis is that dogs actually domesticated themselves, adapting to a new niche- scavenging at Neolithic rubbish heaps. According to Dogs: A New Understanding, this means that even though dogs and wolves share a common ancestor, dogs don\’t behave like wolves and shouldn\’t be treated like they do. It\’s very complicated. Sometimes the explanations get quite technical, but the authors always bring it back down to layman\’s terms.

Presenting a new idea about how dogs evolved is only a small part of this book. It covers many other topics. Why are there so many different dog breeds? How is it possible that dogs can take so many diverse shapes and sizes, yet still be the same species? How much of canine behavior is intelligence, and how much genetic or instinctual? The Coppingers go into a lot of detail about several working breeds: sled dogs, livestock guarding dogs, and sheep herding dogs in particular. I was intrigued by the chapter about sled dogs, which describes how physical attributes -size, body shape, gait- are what make the best sled dog. (It also criticizes Jack London\’s books which dramatize the life of working dogs in Alaska, making me curious to read them again). There is heavy criticism in this book about how working breeds have now become household pets, and the breeding of dogs for show. The Coppingers aver, like Jon Katz in The New Work of Dogs, that many current relationships between dogs and humans (including, to my surprise, service dogs) are not mutually beneficial and probably bad for the dogs. We \”need to think harder about how dogs intersect with people,\” they say. This book held my attention all the way to the end. (Except for one boring chapter about the scientific nomenclature of canine species.)

I just have to mention one of my favorite parts of the book. It describes an experiment where Dmitri Belyaev, a geneticist, tried breeding for tamer silver foxes at a fur farm in Russia. He eventually got foxes that acted like dogs- begging for attention from humans, taking food from their hands, etc. But they also started to look like dogs: floppy ears, spotted coats, upturned tails. You have to see this for yourself.

Rating: 4/5 352 pages, 2001

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Animals Nonfiction, Current Reads

Month: November 2008