Back in the Real World

Wow.  I can't believe I haven't posted since last Wednesday.  As you probably guessed, I was able to get up to Farmers Branch (between Dallas and Ft. Worth) for the bluegrass festival I mentioned in my last post.  I got back to Houston on Sunday morning where the real world was waiting for me with open arms.

My 88-year-old father fell and broke his hip a few days ago and is in a rehab facility about ten miles north of where I live, so I stopped off there on the way home.  Today was a day of desperation at the office as several of us struggled mightily to get our 4th Quarter forecasts and 2011 production budgets done by noon (second pass).  I expect that after we see the numbers tomorrow there will be a third pass.  Then it was back to the rehab facility to bring my dad some things he requested yesterday - a drive of almost an hour in rush hour traffic.

I have managed to squeeze in some reading but I'm falling behind my self-imposed schedule on reviewing the books I've finished.  I have two to write already and I'm finishing up on three other books in the next two or three days.  My main concern is the review of Washington: A Life I need to post on Monday as part of the official blog tour for that one.

Because of all that, I'm going to skip more book talk today in favor of posting one of my favorite performances from the "Bloomin' Bluegrass Festival."  This video features Adam Steffey & The Boxcars on October 16, 2010, doing one of the songs Adam originally recorded with Alison Krauss & Union Station.  The weather was great, the music was even greater, and I'm totally exhausted.  Isn't that the way a good vacation always works?



The Boxcars: Adam Steffey (mandolin), Ron Stewart (banjo), John Bowman (fiddle), Keith Garrett (guitar) , Harold Nixon (bass)

Worth It or Not?

Why is it that we (and, in my experience, Americans are most guilty of this) are willing to work countless extra hours right before we go off on a vacation or long weekend to relax a bit?  And, more importantly, is it really worth it to exhaust yourself mentally and physically before resting up just in time to return to your regular work week?

I'm planning to drive up to Dallas on Friday morning for a weekend bluegrass festival up that way.  This is a big deal bluegrass festival when it comes to Texas and I've been looking forward to it for months.  As luck would have it, things are not going particularly smoothly at the office right now and I've been forced to work 11-12 hours per day this week just to get my Friday deadlines met by some time Thursday night.

That has meant almost no reading this week, way less sleep than normal, and a growing weariness on my part.  Every time this happens, I tell myself I will never fall into this trap again - only to do it again a few months later.  I suppose if it comes down to a choice of extra long hours vs. no vacation, vacation will win out every time.  But, really, now.  Is this the best we can do in this country?

Dark Road to Darjeeling

Dark Road to Darjeeling is Deanna Raybourn's fourth "Lady Julia Gray novel," and a lot has happened to Julia since I last visited her. Silent in the Grave, the first book in the series, is the only other Julia Gray novel I have read, so I was a little surprised to see that in 1889, as the novel opens, Julia and Nicholas Brisbane have married. The two are, in fact, on the eighth month of their extended honeymoon travels around the Mediterranean. 

Seated in a Cairo restaurant, and about to discuss what their lives will be like when they return to England, Julia and Brisbane are surprised by the sudden arrival of Portia and Plum, Julia's sister and brother. Portia delivers the upsetting news that her former lover, Jane Cavendish, believes her husband has been murdered on the Himalayan tea plantation on which Jane very soon expects to give birth to their child. Julia, solid amateur detective that she considers herself to be, agrees to accompany Portia and Plum to the plantation to see what they can learn there about the supposed murder. Brisbane, professional detective that he is, reluctantly agrees to go with them because he knows the dangerous mischief Julia is likely to get into on her own. 

At the plantation, Julia and Brisbane find it easier to identify the numerous people who would benefit from Freddie Cavendish's death than it is to determine whether he was even murdered. His aunt and cousin share an obvious motive: financial control of the tea plantation. Others, including some of the plantation's expatriate neighbors and one or two of the Indians employed in service, have equally compelling, but less obvious, reasons for wanting to see Freddie dead. A more immediate concern for Julia and Brisbane is whether Jane and her baby are in danger from the same hand that might have ended Freddie's life. 

Dark Road to Darjeeling is a very good Victorian mystery, but that is not the best thing about this book. What most makes this series memorable is the relationship between Lady Gray and Brisbane, two characters who were meant for each other and for no one else. Julia is an independent, stubborn, confident and competitive young woman with a remarkable sense of humor. She loves her husband completely but cannot help herself when it comes to competing with him to be the first to solve a mystery. Brisbane is her perfect match, a man who admires her skills, finds it difficult to say no to her, and knows how to protect her from her most dangerous impulses. 

It is great fun to watch the two of them at work amidst the vivid 1880s atmosphere in which Deanna Raybourn places them. Raybourn populates this remote Indian outpost (neither Julia, nor Brisbane are quite sure where they are anymore) with exactly the type of eccentric characters one would expect to find in such an isolated part of the world. One or two of the mystery's evolving coincidences do require the reader to make a conscious effort to suspend disbelief for a moment, but that is part of the fun. Lady Gray novels are, above all else, relaxing escapism. 

Rated at: 4.0

Are Picture Books Doomed?

Remember picture books?  I am willing to bet that most avid readers can still recall images from some of the picture books they had when they were first learning to read.  If not, older readers can certainly remember some of the picture books they used to get their own children, or perhaps their grandchildren, interested in reading.

Now, according to this New York Time's article, those old fashioned picture books are considered passé by modern parents who want to move their children into "chapter books" as soon as possible.  Some of the parents described in the article seem almost embarrassed to have their four-year-old seen reading a picture book when all his friends have moved on to those picture-less chapter books.

Parents have begun pressing their kindergartners and first graders to leave the picture book behind and move on to more text-heavy chapter books. Publishers cite pressures from parents who are mindful of increasingly rigorous standardized testing in schools.


“Parents are saying, ‘My kid doesn’t need books with pictures anymore,’ ” said Justin Chanda, the publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. “There’s a real push with parents and schools to have kids start reading big-kid books earlier. We’ve accelerated the graduation rate out of picture books.”

[...]

Literacy experts are quick to say that picture books are not for dummies. Publishers praise the picture book for the particular way it can develop a child’s critical thinking skills.


“To some degree, picture books force an analog way of thinking,” said Karen Lotz, the publisher of Candlewick Press in Somerville, Mass. “From picture to picture, as the reader interacts with the book, their imagination is filling in the missing themes.”


Many parents overlook the fact that chapter books, even though they have more text, full paragraphs and fewer pictures, are not necessarily more complex.

[...]

Still, many publishers have gradually reduced the number of picture books they produce for a market that had seen a glut of them, and in an age when very young children, like everyone else, have more options, a lot of them digital, to fill their entertainment hours.

Do read the whole article for a more complete feel for how this trend is impacting parents and their children.  I am no reading expert, and do not claim to be one, but the idea that picture books are being yanked from the hands of struggling young readers before they are ready to move on to something more difficult seems completely wrongheaded to me.  Child readers, especially those to whom reading does not come easily, need to feel good about their reading experiences.  If they are to become lifelong readers they need to gain some pleasure from the experience, not see reading as a chore or challenge that has to be overcome.

The problem, in my opinion, is overreaching parents, those who realize they cannot have a redo of their own lives and opt for the next best thing: pushing their children harder than they were pushed at the same age.  Picture books seem to be a critical part of the reading experience.  I suspect that children know when it is time to move from picture books to chapter books - even if their parents do not quite get it anymore.

Dewey's Read-a-thon, III

Hours 17-24


My nap turned into a full night's sleep when the alarm failed to wake me.  I vaguely remember turning it off so it's my fault.  I did read another handful of pages in the new Bill Bryson book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, so my final, rather pathetic stats are:

Books Read: Dark Road to Darjeeling, Making Bank, At Home

Number of Books Read in and Completed since start: 3 / 1

Pages Read in these Hours: 14

Total Pages Now Read: 417

Minutes Read this Hours: 18

Total Minutes Now Read: 568

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Hour 16

Books Read: Dark Road to Darjeeling, Making Bank

Number of Books Read in and Completed since start: 2 / 1

Pages Read in this Hours: 23

Total Pages Now Read: 403

Minutes Read this Hours: 36

Total Minutes Now Read: 550

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Hours 14-15


I finished Dark Road to Darjeeling and I'm pawing through the stack as Hour 16 begins in search of something that will keep me awake for a while longer.

Books Read: Dark Road to Darjeeling

Number of Books Read in and Completed since start: 1 / 1

Pages Read in these Hours: 70

Total Pages Now Read: 380

Minutes Read these Hours: 100

Total Minutes Now Read: 514

=========================================================

We are 13 full hours into this thing and I can't believe how few minutes I've actually read during those hours.  I have managed to meet all of my Saturday obligations finally, so perhaps I'll get to do some concentrated reading before the crash that is likely to claim me later tonight.

The last two hours have largely been taken up with getting dinner on the table and my youngest grandson ready for bed.  My reading was limited but the totals now look like this:

Books Read: Dark Road to Darjeeling

Number of Books Read in and Completed since start: 1 / 0

Pages Read in these Hours: 39

Total Pages Now Read: 310

Minutes Read these Hours: 49

Total Minutes Now Read: 414

Dewey's Read-a-thon, II

Hours 10-11

Books Read: Dark Road to Darjeeling

Number of Books Read in and Completed since start: 1 / 0

Pages Read in these Hours: 65

Total Pages Now Read: 271

Minutes Read these Hours: 87

Total Minutes Now Read: 365

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Hours 7-9


These include a trip to a local pizza parlor with my youngest grandson for a quick lunch but I did get a good bit of reading in:

Books Read: Dark Road to Darjeeling

Number of Books Read in and Completed since start: 1 / 0

Pages Read in these Hours: 81

Total Pages Now Read: 206

Minutes Read this Hour: 123

Total Minutes Now Read: 278

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Hour 6 got off to a late start but here are the stats:

Books Read: Dark Road to Darjeeling

Number of Books Read in and Completed since start: 1 / 0

Pages Read in this Hour: 27

Total Pages Now Read: 125

Minutes Read this Hour: 42

Total Minutes Now Read: 155

I also visited two other blogs during the hour to see how things were going elsewhere.  If what I saw on those two are anywhere near average, I am reading at an embarrassingly slow pace so far today.

Onward...