melissahoulroyd.info

• Title: The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
• Author: Alan Bennett
• Publisher: Picador
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Pages: 120

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

One of my favorite movies of 2006 was The History Boys, based on the play written by Alan Bennett (and he wrote the screenplay, too). When I saw this novella on the LibraryThing Early Reviewer request list, I hoped for a story as fascinating and touching as The History Boys was.

I wasn’t disappointed. The Uncommon Reader is a fictional story of the real life Queen of England and her recent foray into the world of literature. Bennett is able to capture the essence of reading, once again, and establish characters so close one can touch them. It is funny I should say that because Hector in The History Boys says:

The best moments in reading are when you come across something—a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things—which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.

Bennett is not dead, given, but his novella certainly struck a chord in my bookworm heart. Many chords, in fact.

I am no queen, but I can definitely relate to this:

The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature. Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included. Literature, she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic. (30)

The novella gives the reader a sense of the life of English royalty: hectic, pampered, and much removed from the ordinary. Every hobby or habit is questioned, and normality and humanity seem far off. This fictitious version of Queen Elizabeth II finds solace in reading, and finds her humanity. Through the literature she reads, she is able to sympathize and learn, to live through the lives of the ordinary people she has been so distant from. She is able to grow and think for herself in a totally new way.

And none of this happens without causing friction.

I found this work to be a great read in parts, but sometimes it got a bit slow. For 120 pages, it took me an awful long time to read. Of course, I am glad that I did, and I would recommend this to anyone who likes to think about why they read and what it does for them… and anyone who is interested in the royal family, too. Fictitious though it is, The Uncommon Reader sure is believable. 3.5/5

Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers and Picador for this free copy of The Uncommon Reader!

• Title: Paper Towns
• Author: John Green
• Publisher: Dutton
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Pages: 305

Paper Towns by John Green

In early 2007, I stumbled upon John and Hank Green’s now-complete Brotherhood 2.0 video blog (or vlog). (They now have a new vlog/blog at Nerdfighters.com.) To be honest, I had never heard of either of them before their project, but their vlog posts were painfully funny and a welcome diversion from my piles and piles of graduate school work.

Here are two vlog posts of John Green reading a draft of Paper Towns way back in 2007: Paper Towns, Part 1 and Paper Towns, Part 2. (And don’t worry, they’re not spoilers.)

In December 2007, Brotherhood 2.0 ended. Eventually, I stopped thinking about the Green brothers and Paper Towns until Melissa Walker posted on her blog in October about Paper Towns and this fantastic video of people with their new copies! (Thanks for the reminder, Melissa!)

Paper Towns was definitely something to be excited about. It’s a fantastic realistic story wherein the protagonist learns more about himself than the person he is searching for. I would put it in the Catcher in the Rye—Perks of Being a Wallflower—Be Good—Tell Your Sister category of bildungsromans that are and would be appealing to young adults, 20-somethings, and YA literature fans like myself.

John Green balanced the right amount of emotionality without becoming sappy, existentialism without becoming too abstract, and humor without becoming insincere. I was thoroughly impressed, and I look forward to reading more of John Green’s work. 4.5/5

Have you read this book yet? What do you think of it?

• Title: The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book III)
• Author: Philip Pullman
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Year of Publication: 2000
• Pages: 518

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

It has all come to this: The Amber Spyglass continues and completes the story of Lyra and Will with the greatest climax in all of the trilogy and the final denouement. And no, I didn’t get my happy ending, per se, but I did get a promise.

There are more ambiguities, more philosophical ideas, more complex relationships in The Amber Spyglass than the parts before it.

I was engrossed from start to finish; I could not put it down. When I finished, I had a hard time putting my thoughts to words. From the world of mulefas (ultimately quadruped intelligent people with seed pods for wheels), to the world of the dead, to the world of our own, to Lyra’s — from meeting, despising, and befriending the Gallivespian spies (fairy-sized people with poisonous spurs on their heals), to meeting Lyra’s own death, to falling in love — there was so much to say. All of it was worthwhile, all of it added to the complexity and depth of the characters, all of it made me want more.

This trilogy would be a set of jewels in any collection, especially one for young adults. The progression of the story not only takes place in what happens, but in the ideas expressed and the maturity of the prose. I can’t wait to read all 1200+ pages again. 5/5

My first exposure to immigrant services in public libraries was when I read a case study on free English as a Second Language tutelage for adult learners in Michigan. I was touched then, reading about how great it was for the people involved and the community at large. I saw this NYLA program, Libraries Pave the Road to Citizenship, as a chance for me to learn more about that subject.

I was surprised to learn that I would hear not only about libraries participating in teaching adult immigrants the English language, but also that there are libraries participating in aiding patrons with the naturalization process. The panelists were:

• Homa Naficy, Manager of Multicultural Education and Outreach, The American Place, Hartford Public Library
• Elaine Giardino, Civics for Immigrants Project Manager, Literacy Volunteers of Westchester and Rockland Counties
• Norma V. Menard, Executive Director, Literacy Volunteers of Clinton County

(more…)

I’ve always found information literacy to be really interesting, not least because of its importance in being a good citizen of a democratic government and making wise decisions. Without knowing how to judge sources on their reliability and bias and critically analyze them, all information is useless.

So it is no surprise that the first program I chose to go to at the NYLA Conference in Saratoga Springs was called 21st Century Information Literacy Standards for Digital Learners of New York. The presenter was Fran Roscello, of Roscello Associates Information Literacy Consultants and the co-chair of the NYLA Information Literacy Task Force. (more…)