River: The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems. Mal: See, morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with, long as she does it quiet-like.

'Safe'


We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good  

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Fred Pete - Jul 12, 2004 6:14:01 am PDT #5037 of 10002
Ann, that's a ferret.

How else do you survive long road trips?

When you're a kid?

Leave home around 4 a.m. Doze until daybreak. Fairly soon after daybreak, breakfast as Dad continues to drive. Soon after breakfast, stop for gas and bathroom break. By the time you get seriously bored, you're almost there.

Worked in our family.


billytea - Jul 12, 2004 6:15:11 am PDT #5038 of 10002
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

not book related, but this is where I pop in and say, I lived there for three months in the Nullarbor. My poor home is gone now, the raiolroad uprooted the town of Cook.

Seriously? How did I not know this?


Jessica - Jul 12, 2004 6:15:36 am PDT #5039 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Speaking of reading the paper, did any NYCistas see the first chapter of The Great Gatsby in today's NYTimes? Apparently they're going to be publishing it serially to encourage people to read. Reading it piecemeal like that would drive me batty, but it's a neat idea.


Ginger - Jul 12, 2004 6:17:16 am PDT #5040 of 10002
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

Reading made me carsick when I was a kid, but I did it anyway. I'd just read until I felt sick, close my eyes until I felt better, then read a little more. I suspect I could read upside down in a hurricane.


Polter-Cow - Jul 12, 2004 6:21:16 am PDT #5041 of 10002
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Speaking of reading the paper, did any NYCistas see the first chapter of The Great Gatsby in today's NYTimes? Apparently they're going to be publishing it serially to encourage people to read. Reading it piecemeal like that would drive me batty, but it's a neat idea.

That's pretty sweet. And it might drive people battily to the library to get the book themselves. Very cool.


msbelle - Jul 12, 2004 6:38:43 am PDT #5042 of 10002
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

Seriously? How did I not know this?

which part? that I was there? or that cook no longer exists?


joe boucher - Jul 12, 2004 6:43:37 am PDT #5043 of 10002
I knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve. - John Prine

did any NYCistas see the first chapter of The Great Gatsby in today's NYTimes?

They're talking about it right now on The Brian Lehrer Show. ("They" being Charles Scribner III and Brian Lehrer.)


billytea - Jul 12, 2004 6:44:21 am PDT #5044 of 10002
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

which part? that I was there? or that cook no longer exists?

That you were there.


Pix - Jul 12, 2004 6:46:44 am PDT #5045 of 10002
The status is NOT quo.

My parents did the flashcard thing too, but what can you expect with two teachers? Mostly, though, I remember them doing that with my brother.

My parents were both teachers. Mom was a K-8 expert and Dad was a high school English teacher. They didn't do the flashcard thing, though--in fact, I don't think I learned to read until I was taught in school, first grade. I must have been about 6. Once I got started, though...hoo boy. Only child, lived in the middle of the woods with no neighbors my age. Read in the car, at dinner, in bed under the covers with a flashlight, outside ("play outside" translated to "read outside" for me), in planes, on trains, in class behind the book the teacher wanted me to read... Yep. Addicted completely, me. I've always looked forward to long trips for that reason--catch up on reading! Woot!

I love that the NYT is publishing Gatsby serially! I teach it that way to my lowest level juniors (read one chapter every class or so), and they love it. It would drive me batty because I'm conditioned to read a lot in one sitting, but for these kids who can barely get through a magazine article without losing interest and forgetting what it's about, the serial approach to literature works well.


§ ita § - Jul 12, 2004 6:47:01 am PDT #5046 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Driving vacations were definitely time to read in the car in my family. We also read books aloud to each other.

I remember the driving trip to the Lake District and Scotland where I was really into Tolkien. And memorising (and reciting, natch) the poetry. I'm thinking my parents were reconsidering their decision to allow me to read about halfway through that vacation.

I always read above my grade level. I make no pretensions now to having understood above my grade level, but there you go. I sure thought I was clever at the time. It just means I have quite the list of books to reread to see what the hell they were talking about.