Books About Reading
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World 由 A.J. Jacobs
Just for the heck of it, one 日 A.J. Jacobs decided to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, all thirty-two volumes. Surprisingly his details about his adventure is quite amusing and he does share some very interesting tidbits from the EB. 或者 as Jon Stewart says: "The Know-It-All is a hilarious book and quite impressive achievement. I've always said, why doesn't someone put out a less complete version of the encyclopedia? Well done, A.J."
Reading Lolita in Tehran 由 Azar Nafisi
I know I have previously recommended this book in my link soapbox 文章 but besides her memories about living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, Nafisi offers amazingly insightful analysises on Lolita, The Great Gatsby, and Daisy Miller. I wish I could have had Nafisi as my Western Literature professor!
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Books About 写作 & Grammar
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves 由 Lynne Truss
Would 你 expect an author, while 写作 about punctuation, to bemoan the fact that she never had 婴儿 with Aldus Mantitus the Elder (1450-1515), the man who invented the italic interface and printed the first semicolon? Or, that she has an obsession with Warner Brothers' Two Weeks Notice and how it is missing an apostrophe - and she really wants to add it in? 你 might not have expected it, but that is what 你 get with Lynne Truss's (or is it Truss' ?) Eats, Shoots & Leaves. I certainly didn't expect to snort loudly from laughing so hard while 阅读 the book. And now for the joke that inspires the title.
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to 火, 消防 it at the other patrons.
"Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wild-life manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"Well, I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves."
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who 爱情 图书 and for Those Who Want to Write Them 由 Francine Prose
"In this excellent guide, Prose explains exactly what she means 由 close reading, drawing attention to the brick and mortar of outstanding narratives: words, sentences, paragraphs, character, dialogue, details, and more. In the process, she does no less than escort readers to a heightened level of appreciation of great literature. Many will want to go to the shelves to read again, 或者 for the first time, the 图书 she discusses. And to aid them, she thoughtfully adds a 列表 at the end: 图书 to Be Read Immediately." -From School 图书馆 Journal
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Books About Censorship
Killed Cartoons: Casualties from the War on Free Expression, edited 由 David Wallace. I first learnt of this book from NPR (link) and I was instantly interested. A book full of 动画片 that never ran in newspapers because people (editors) were too afraid that readers and/or advertisers would protest it? What really is fascinating besides seeing 动画片 that 你 would have never seen otherwise is the accompanying text to each cartoon: either the cartoonist describes the evolution of its creation 或者 the editorial describes why it was killed. Truthfully, some 动画片 might make 你 think "Yeah, I can see why it didn't make the paper". But others will leave 你 baffled to the problem, which leads to the ultimate difficulty of censorship.
Cartoon subjects included in Killed Cartoons range from sex, violence, 9-11, race, and everything else inbetween. I will now include one such "killed cartoon", an example of a comic that I understand why it wasn't printed (too soon after the attacks) but also find satirically clever.
Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories 由 Censored Writers, edited 由 Judy Blume. A collection of original short stories written 由 authors whose works were challenged 或者 banned in the past. Authors include Norma 狐狸 Mazer, Julius Lester, Katherine Paterson, and Jacqueline Woodson. Sales went to benefit the National Coalition Against Censorship.
And in respond to this last recommendation, below is a 列表 of commonly challenged and banned 图书 from American Libaries, as reported 由 the ALA. The ALA (American 图书馆 Association) dedicates a week every 年 to Banned 图书 but feel free to check out any of these any time and see what the hullabalu is all about. It truly is amazing to look at the 列表 of Challenged 图书 and see which ones people have issue with. Titles in bold are the ones that REALLY surprise me (mostly because I have read and enjoyed them).
The 100 Most Frequently Challenged 图书 of 1990–2000
1. Scary Stories (Series) 由 Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate 由 Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 由 Maya Angelou
4. The 浓情巧克力 War 由 Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of 越橘, 哈克贝利 Finn 由 Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men 由 John Steinbeck
7. Forever 由 Judy Blume
8. Bridge to Terabithia 由 Katherine Paterson
9. Heather Has Two Mommies 由 Leslea Newman
10. The Catcher in the Rye 由 J.D. Salinger
11. The Giver 由 Lois Lowry
12. My Brother Sam is Dead 由 James 林肯 Collier and Christopher Collier
13. It’s Perfectly Normal 由 Robie Harris
14. Alice (Series) 由 Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
15. Goosebumps (Series) 由 R.L. Stine
16. A 日 No Pigs Would Die 由 Robert Newton Peck
17. The Color Purple 由 Alice Walker
18. Sex 由 麦当娜
19. Earth’s Children (Series) 由 Jean M. Auel
20. The Great Gilly Hopkins 由 Katherine Paterson
21. In the Night 厨房 由 Maurice Sendak
22. The Witches 由 Roald Dahl
23. A Wrinkle in Time 由 Madeleine L’Engle
24. The New Joy of Gay Sex 由 Charles Silverstein
25. Go Ask Alice 由 Anonymous
26. The Goats 由 Brock Cole
27. The Stupids (Series) 由 Harry Allard
28. 真假公主 Krupnik (Series) 由 Lois Lowry
29. Final Exit 由 Derek Humphry
30. Blubber 由 Judy Blume
31. 万圣节前夕 ABC 由 Eve Merriam
32. Julie of the 狼 由 Jean Craighead George
33. Kaffir Boy 由 Mark Mathabane
34. The Bluest Eye 由 Toni Morrison
35. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters 由 Lynda Madaras
36. Fallen 天使 由 Walter Dean Myers
37. The Handmaid’s Tale 由 Margaret Atwood
38. The Outsiders 由 S.E. Hinton
39. The Pigman 由 Paul Zindel
40. To Kill a Mockingbird 由 Harper Lee
41. We All Fall Down 由 Robert Cormier
42. Deenie 由 Judy Blume
43. Flowers for Algernon 由 Daniel Keyes
44. Annie on my Mind 由 Nancy Garden
45. Beloved 由 Toni Morrison
46. The Boy Who 迷失 His Face 由 Louis Sachar
47. 交叉, 十字架 Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat 由 Alvin Schwartz
48. Harry Potter (Series) 由 J.K. Rowling
49. Cujo 由 Stephen King
50. James and the Giant 桃子 由 Roald Dahl
51. A Light in the Attic 由 Shel Silverstein
52. Ordinary People 由 Judith Guest
53. American Psycho 由 Bret Easton Ellis
54. 《勇敢传说》 New World 由 Aldous Huxley
55. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy 由 A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
56. Bumps in the Night 由 Harry Allard
57. Asking About Sex and Growing Up 由 Joanna Cole
58. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons 由 Lynda Madaras
59. The Anarchist Cookbook 由 William Powell
60. Are 你 There, God? It’s Me, Margaret 由 Judy Blume
61. Boys and Sex 由 Wardell Pomeroy
62. Crazy Lady 由 Jane Conly
63. Athletic Shorts 由 Chris Crutcher
64. Killing Mr. Griffin 由 Lois Duncan
65. Fade 由 Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? 由 Mem 狐狸
67. Slaughterhouse-Five 由 Kurt Vonnegut
68. Lord of the Flies 由 William Golding
69. Native Son 由 Richard Wright
70. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies 由 Nancy Friday
71. Curses, Hexes and Spells 由 Daniel Cohen
72. On My Honor 由 Marion Dane Bauer
73. The House of Spirits 由 Isabel Allende
74. Jack 由 A.M. Homes
75. Arizona Kid 由 Ron Koertge
76. Family Secrets 由 Norma Klein
77. Mommy Laid An Egg 由 Babette Cole
78. Bless Me, Ultima 由 Rudolfo A. Anaya
79. Where Did I Come From? 由 Peter Mayle
80. The Face on the 牛奶 Carton 由 Caroline Cooney
81. Carrie 由 Stephen King
82. The Dead Zone 由 Stephen King
83. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 由 Mark Twain
84. Song of Solomon 由 Toni Morrison
85. Always Running 由 Luis Rodriguez
86. Private Parts 由 Howard Stern
87. Where’s Waldo? 由 Martin Hanford
88. Summer of My German Soldier 由 Bette Greene
89. Tiger Eyes 由 Judy Blume
90. Little Black Sambo 由 Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth 由 Ken Follett
92. Running Loose 由 Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education 由 Jenny Davis
94. Jumper 由 Steven Gould
95. Christine 由 Stephen King
96. The Drowning of Stephen Jones 由 Bette Greene
97. That Was Then, This is Now 由 S.E. Hinton
98. Girls and Sex 由 Wardell Pomeroy
99. The Wish Giver 由 Bill Brittain
100. Jump Ship to Freedom 由 James 林肯 Collier and Christopher Collier
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World 由 A.J. Jacobs
Just for the heck of it, one 日 A.J. Jacobs decided to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, all thirty-two volumes. Surprisingly his details about his adventure is quite amusing and he does share some very interesting tidbits from the EB. 或者 as Jon Stewart says: "The Know-It-All is a hilarious book and quite impressive achievement. I've always said, why doesn't someone put out a less complete version of the encyclopedia? Well done, A.J."
Reading Lolita in Tehran 由 Azar Nafisi
I know I have previously recommended this book in my link soapbox 文章 but besides her memories about living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, Nafisi offers amazingly insightful analysises on Lolita, The Great Gatsby, and Daisy Miller. I wish I could have had Nafisi as my Western Literature professor!
-----------------------------------------------
Books About 写作 & Grammar
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves 由 Lynne Truss
Would 你 expect an author, while 写作 about punctuation, to bemoan the fact that she never had 婴儿 with Aldus Mantitus the Elder (1450-1515), the man who invented the italic interface and printed the first semicolon? Or, that she has an obsession with Warner Brothers' Two Weeks Notice and how it is missing an apostrophe - and she really wants to add it in? 你 might not have expected it, but that is what 你 get with Lynne Truss's (or is it Truss' ?) Eats, Shoots & Leaves. I certainly didn't expect to snort loudly from laughing so hard while 阅读 the book. And now for the joke that inspires the title.
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to 火, 消防 it at the other patrons.
"Why?" asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wild-life manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"Well, I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots, and leaves."
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who 爱情 图书 and for Those Who Want to Write Them 由 Francine Prose
"In this excellent guide, Prose explains exactly what she means 由 close reading, drawing attention to the brick and mortar of outstanding narratives: words, sentences, paragraphs, character, dialogue, details, and more. In the process, she does no less than escort readers to a heightened level of appreciation of great literature. Many will want to go to the shelves to read again, 或者 for the first time, the 图书 she discusses. And to aid them, she thoughtfully adds a 列表 at the end: 图书 to Be Read Immediately." -From School 图书馆 Journal
-----------------------------------------------
Books About Censorship
Killed Cartoons: Casualties from the War on Free Expression, edited 由 David Wallace. I first learnt of this book from NPR (link) and I was instantly interested. A book full of 动画片 that never ran in newspapers because people (editors) were too afraid that readers and/or advertisers would protest it? What really is fascinating besides seeing 动画片 that 你 would have never seen otherwise is the accompanying text to each cartoon: either the cartoonist describes the evolution of its creation 或者 the editorial describes why it was killed. Truthfully, some 动画片 might make 你 think "Yeah, I can see why it didn't make the paper". But others will leave 你 baffled to the problem, which leads to the ultimate difficulty of censorship.
Cartoon subjects included in Killed Cartoons range from sex, violence, 9-11, race, and everything else inbetween. I will now include one such "killed cartoon", an example of a comic that I understand why it wasn't printed (too soon after the attacks) but also find satirically clever.
A 2001 cartoon 由 J.P. Trostle parodied a plan to tighten security for a Chapel Hill, N.C., 万圣节前夕 街, 街道 party in response to the events of Sept. 11.
Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories 由 Censored Writers, edited 由 Judy Blume. A collection of original short stories written 由 authors whose works were challenged 或者 banned in the past. Authors include Norma 狐狸 Mazer, Julius Lester, Katherine Paterson, and Jacqueline Woodson. Sales went to benefit the National Coalition Against Censorship.
And in respond to this last recommendation, below is a 列表 of commonly challenged and banned 图书 from American Libaries, as reported 由 the ALA. The ALA (American 图书馆 Association) dedicates a week every 年 to Banned 图书 but feel free to check out any of these any time and see what the hullabalu is all about. It truly is amazing to look at the 列表 of Challenged 图书 and see which ones people have issue with. Titles in bold are the ones that REALLY surprise me (mostly because I have read and enjoyed them).
The 100 Most Frequently Challenged 图书 of 1990–2000
1. Scary Stories (Series) 由 Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate 由 Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 由 Maya Angelou
4. The 浓情巧克力 War 由 Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of 越橘, 哈克贝利 Finn 由 Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men 由 John Steinbeck
7. Forever 由 Judy Blume
On one hand, The Giver won a Newbury Award. On the other, it was challenged/banned. Either which way, it's a good book that I read in middle school.
9. Heather Has Two Mommies 由 Leslea Newman
10. The Catcher in the Rye 由 J.D. Salinger
11. The Giver 由 Lois Lowry
12. My Brother Sam is Dead 由 James 林肯 Collier and Christopher Collier
13. It’s Perfectly Normal 由 Robie Harris
14. Alice (Series) 由 Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
15. Goosebumps (Series) 由 R.L. Stine
16. A 日 No Pigs Would Die 由 Robert Newton Peck
17. The Color Purple 由 Alice Walker
18. Sex 由 麦当娜
19. Earth’s Children (Series) 由 Jean M. Auel
20. The Great Gilly Hopkins 由 Katherine Paterson
21. In the Night 厨房 由 Maurice Sendak
22. The Witches 由 Roald Dahl
23. A Wrinkle in Time 由 Madeleine L’Engle
24. The New Joy of Gay Sex 由 Charles Silverstein
25. Go Ask Alice 由 Anonymous
26. The Goats 由 Brock Cole
27. The Stupids (Series) 由 Harry Allard
28. 真假公主 Krupnik (Series) 由 Lois Lowry
29. Final Exit 由 Derek Humphry
30. Blubber 由 Judy Blume
31. 万圣节前夕 ABC 由 Eve Merriam
32. Julie of the 狼 由 Jean Craighead George
33. Kaffir Boy 由 Mark Mathabane
34. The Bluest Eye 由 Toni Morrison
35. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters 由 Lynda Madaras
36. Fallen 天使 由 Walter Dean Myers
37. The Handmaid’s Tale 由 Margaret Atwood
38. The Outsiders 由 S.E. Hinton
39. The Pigman 由 Paul Zindel
40. To Kill a Mockingbird 由 Harper Lee
41. We All Fall Down 由 Robert Cormier
42. Deenie 由 Judy Blume
43. Flowers for Algernon 由 Daniel Keyes
44. Annie on my Mind 由 Nancy Garden
45. Beloved 由 Toni Morrison
46. The Boy Who 迷失 His Face 由 Louis Sachar
47. 交叉, 十字架 Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat 由 Alvin Schwartz
48. Harry Potter (Series) 由 J.K. Rowling
49. Cujo 由 Stephen King
50. James and the Giant 桃子 由 Roald Dahl
51. A Light in the Attic 由 Shel Silverstein
52. Ordinary People 由 Judith Guest
53. American Psycho 由 Bret Easton Ellis
54. 《勇敢传说》 New World 由 Aldous Huxley
55. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy 由 A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
56. Bumps in the Night 由 Harry Allard
57. Asking About Sex and Growing Up 由 Joanna Cole
58. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons 由 Lynda Madaras
59. The Anarchist Cookbook 由 William Powell
60. Are 你 There, God? It’s Me, Margaret 由 Judy Blume
61. Boys and Sex 由 Wardell Pomeroy
62. Crazy Lady 由 Jane Conly
63. Athletic Shorts 由 Chris Crutcher
64. Killing Mr. Griffin 由 Lois Duncan
65. Fade 由 Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? 由 Mem 狐狸
67. Slaughterhouse-Five 由 Kurt Vonnegut
68. Lord of the Flies 由 William Golding
69. Native Son 由 Richard Wright
70. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies 由 Nancy Friday
71. Curses, Hexes and Spells 由 Daniel Cohen
72. On My Honor 由 Marion Dane Bauer
73. The House of Spirits 由 Isabel Allende
74. Jack 由 A.M. Homes
75. Arizona Kid 由 Ron Koertge
76. Family Secrets 由 Norma Klein
77. Mommy Laid An Egg 由 Babette Cole
78. Bless Me, Ultima 由 Rudolfo A. Anaya
79. Where Did I Come From? 由 Peter Mayle
80. The Face on the 牛奶 Carton 由 Caroline Cooney
81. Carrie 由 Stephen King
82. The Dead Zone 由 Stephen King
Martin Hanford's Waldo better hide from the censors!
84. Song of Solomon 由 Toni Morrison
85. Always Running 由 Luis Rodriguez
86. Private Parts 由 Howard Stern
87. Where’s Waldo? 由 Martin Hanford
88. Summer of My German Soldier 由 Bette Greene
89. Tiger Eyes 由 Judy Blume
90. Little Black Sambo 由 Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth 由 Ken Follett
92. Running Loose 由 Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education 由 Jenny Davis
94. Jumper 由 Steven Gould
95. Christine 由 Stephen King
96. The Drowning of Stephen Jones 由 Bette Greene
97. That Was Then, This is Now 由 S.E. Hinton
98. Girls and Sex 由 Wardell Pomeroy
99. The Wish Giver 由 Bill Brittain
100. Jump Ship to Freedom 由 James 林肯 Collier and Christopher Collier
