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Here is Publishers Weekly's list of 2006 BEST BOOKS. Three romance books made it and one of them is Marjorie Liu's Shadow Touch! Y'all know I'm a fan of her stories and I'm so happy for her. The other two authors are Nora Roberts and Kasey Michaels, so you can see what an outstanding achievement it is to be picked!
Are you planning to read any of the other books on this list? There are so many interesting sounding titles, and not so much time ;-(. I might pick up Yang's American Born Chinese.
We, especially our kids, are so bombarded with other media these days. What would you do to make them read more? These teachers ATE WORM BURGERS! Now these are very dedicated teachers ;-).
When I was a little kid, I didn't need any encouragement to read at all. I loved stories, especially fairy tales. My favorite author was Enid Blyton and she was probably the first author I glommed on. She introduced me to the intricacies of detective work and high adventure (The Secret Seven and Adventurous Five series) and she perked my interest in fantasy (The Secret Faraway Tree books).
Of course, I didn't have the Internet or Ipod to pull me away from books. Would I have remained a reader if I had what children have now, I wonder? When the first Walkman came out, I owned it, but it wasn't constantly attached to my ear. I wasn't obsessed in collecting more cassettes to listen to the way I was obsessed with getting the next reading fix.
When the first VCR came out, my family was very addicted to the Chinese Kungfu Soap Operas imported from Hong Kong; it was the family thing to do, to sit around the TV to watch the latest three episodes (three fit into one VCR/Beta). But I never considered not reading any of my monthly Mills And Boons books!
Never in my imagination, though, could I have envisioned us all chatting via Internet the way we do now. We are so hooked by this Black Hole of Information that I think we've lost a lot of time to read. So. I blame thee, Internet! ;-P Do you think, if you didn't have your puter, you'd read even more today? Of course, those of you who grew up with a computer in the household probably are wondering how on earth we survived without one! LOL.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Best Books
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4 comments:
Dear Jenn:
It's up to parents to control access and limit time to "machines" so that kids do read. I have three boys, 6, 8 and 10, who read voraciously. For the past three years we haven't had any television (although I allow them to watch selected movies on DVD, so they're not entirely deprived!). We didn't even have a video game thing until last year, when I bought a Playstation to bribe the kids! (They earn minutes on it for chores, school work, etc.) As a result, the older two are in a gifted program in school, and I think the younger will qualify for it too. (It starts at 2nd grade.) I read a book every couple of nights - it's my escape after a stressful workday and dinner/homework hours! (In fact, I just re-read all of yours, in anticipation of your new one coming next spring.) So although I love the internet, it will never replace curling up with a good book and a glass of wine. If parents set the example, by reading themselves and by limiting kids' access to "boxes" of whatever sort, kids will read.
Has your muse returned? We're waiting for another excerpt!
All the best,
Cecily
That is so nice of you, Jenn! Thank you.
Sigh. We had dial up I'm ashamed to say. It was horrible, but I discovered reading early too, although my mother says a different story (err, no pun intended) but I read at least 7 books a week and have for the past 7 yrs. It became an addiction and it's one I'll happily live with for the rest of my life! But, I don't know. Maybe I would be addicted more to the puter if we'd had better connections. Maybe not. Oh and definately Bastian Bitch. Sounds better than Peter Pet. LOL
~Athena
Hi Cecily,
But how many parents are willing to "sacrifice" television for three years? ;-) I do think that television time (as well as puter time) should be limited but I don't know whether that would encourage children to read more. It works with your kids (and congrats for them being in the gifted program). When I visit my friends' homes, I do see a tendency in giving the kids everything electronic as a source of privacy--his/her own phone line, own cell, own puter line, own TV...it's pretty amazing! My parents...ah well, different era, I suppose.
I love reading with a glass of wine too! In fact, when I was a kid, I would read inadvertently (sp?); I would be dusting the shelves for my mom and see a book there and I'd end up standing on the shelf, with duster under my arm, reading that book. My mom had caught me doing stuff like that all the time. She called it book-frozen, LOL.
Marjorie,
You're welcome, but don't think I don't still hate you for your beautiful cover art ;-).
Athena,
I actually had dial-up till several years ago when it became obvious that I like sending out and receiving digital photos and movies ;-). Dial-up isn't that bad, really. What am I saying? We live in the age of NOW! LOL.
I used to read a book a day too! Can't do that any more ;-(.
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