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It’s not hard to guess my answer: impossible!. But evidently some don’t agree — including a librarian.
Circulating heavily in the blogosphere is the story of a library director who told a nine-year-old boy that he “hogs” the library’s annual summer reading event. He’s read 373 books over the last five contests.
In this age of electronic consumption and dependency, why would anyone, particularly a librarian, discourage a child from reading a book? I read tons of books during the summer reading contests when I was young. I don’t remember if I won any prizes but that’s because prizes weren’t the point. The reading was the reward. I loved that summer not only created more time to read but that you could read whatever you wanted
I taught my kids that reading was the most important skill you can acquire. With it, you can learn damn near anything else. The only way there can be too much reading is if you believe knowledge, stimulation and joy are irrelevant to the human condition.
Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.
Charles Scribner, In the Web of Ideas
Bulletin Board
- Who knew? Today is supposedly Book Lovers Day (something real book lovers celebrate yearround). Maybe it’s a good day to embark on my new goal of paying a quarterly book tax by buying at least $100 worth of books at the local indie bookstore.
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
- It’s Been Real, It’s Been Fun, But It Hasn’t Been Real Fun (“Unfortunately in Pierre where Democrats are all but non-existent, it seems the biggest issue is not necessarily doing what is best for the residents but in determining who can come up with the most ridiculous legislation to determine who is more Conservative or who isn’t Conservative enough.”)
- The Day the Literature Died (“Like all of us, I remember where I was the day I learned that literature had died. I was at home, clicking around on the internet when I came across the articles, and I sat back, stunned.”)
Blog Headline of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
The thing you don’t need to live — books, art, cinema, wine and so on — are the things you need to live.
Matt Haig, The Humans
In recent years the ABA Journal, the magazine of the America Bar Association, has been into various “best of” lists for law (e.g., best movies, best TV shows). The latest is the 25 Greatest Law Novels Ever (there’s actually 26 because there was a tie for 25th). Evidently, my cultural legal education is lacking as I’ve only read seven of them.
Part of the reason may be the way a “law novel” is defined. A law novel is one whose storyline revolved around lawyers, legal cases or “the moral milieu of the law.” I’m sorry, what? Anyway, the magazine asked 14 “particularly well-read lawyers and scholars” for nominations and came up with a list of more than 100 books. The same panelists made the selection from that ballot.
You probably won’t be supervised that To Kill A Mockingbird topped the list. And, of course, John Grisham and Scott Turow show up. But I think you’ll be surprised by several of the entries. I know I was.
And none of these were required reading for law school. There’s a couple on the list that perhaps should be.
Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of [another].
Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
Bulletin Board
- Best wishes to Bob Mercer as he recovers from a health problem (and learned how good medical care is in SD)
Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes
- Blinded by the war on terrorism (“Demanding zero risk of terrorism at home, moreover, makes it easier for terrorists to succeed. If the bar is set at zero, then a single successful attack means the terrorists have triumphed.”) (via)
Blog Headline of the Week
Blog Line of the Week
Why Even I Sometimes Hate Lawyers
Bookish Linkage
- How online publishing impacts national libraries, such as the Library of Congress
- Victoria Best ponders reading slumps
- How important is Rexa Aslan’s Zealot? (I read it before the Fox News interview exploded and while it doesn’t break new ground I recommend it.)
- London firefighters have linked increasing calls about people trapped in handcuffs to the popularity of “mummy porn“
Nonbookish Linkage
My struggles with myself seldom reach aerobic level.
Mason Cooley
Normally, I would be writing about missteps and milestones today. But there weren’t really any missteps and there was a major milestone. As a result, I decided Matt Haig’s The Humans deserved more than a passing mention. It is the first book I’ve given a five star rating on Goodreads in two years. I also highlighted more passages in it than in any other book for at least that long.
 The Humans is one of those books whose qualities exceed any description of it, particularly when the first thing you have to know is that it is narrated by an extraterrestrial. But for anyone to toss it in the genre bin for SF would be inexcusable. The SF element is simply a vehicle for telling a story about humans and the human condition.
The story stems from a brilliant, but not very likable, Cambridge mathematics professor, Andrew Martin, making a significant mathematical breakthrough. It is so significant that the Vonnadorians are concerned about what humans will do it. They kill Martin and our narrator inhabits his body with the mission to destroy any trace of the discovery.
The faux Martin is disgusted by his assignment. Not only will he have to cope with the “midrange intelligence” of humans “living a largely deluded existence,” but also their “hideous” bodies and “baffling” social customs (clothing, for example.) Moreover, he will have to take his place in the real Martin’s family, his wife and, among the most bewildering of homo sapiens, a teenage boy. Alien Martin slowly adjusts to his situation and begins writing an account of his mission for aliens. His commentary, frequently humorous ala Douglas Adams, reflects an increasing comprehension of the strange species on the planet. As that comprehension grows, his observations of humanity and the human condition become ever more insightful.
Through the SF structure Haig gives us an “objective” outside observer of our lives today. Not only do we see what it is to be human through innocent eyes, the fact the observer is not human eliminates or at least reduces any tendency to attribute his perceptions to biases we might impose on a human character. And while some might accuse Haig of occasionally resorting to platitudes, anyone who doesn’t see part of themselves in the story and reflect on their own life is missing its essence. The guileless alien Martin shows us how being human requires not just our strengths, hopes and talents but also our faults, frailties and failings.
You hold reality in your hands until it burns and then you have to drop the plate.
Matt Haig, The Humans
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Additionally, some links on this blog go to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There is no additional cost to you. Contact me You can e-mail me at prairieprogressive at gmaildotcom.
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