Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
19. Reread A Tale of Two Cities.
COMPLETED 12 February 2006
We had to read this in 8th grade English, and I fell in love with Sidney Carton and his making the ultimate sacrifice for the woman he loved and the man she loved. I still think the opening and closing lines of this work are some of the most moving ever written. I will admit, though, that rereading this as an adult was a bit of a chore. I bought an annotated edition and could not resist reading all the notes it contained. It might have been easier to avoid the notes, but that's not the sort of person and reader I am. I also found it quite interesting that whereas we read this in 8th grade, it was summer reading for my younger son's Advanced Placement English class. Does this mean high school has dumbed down five years in just a generation? It does make one wonder.
We had to read this in 8th grade English, and I fell in love with Sidney Carton and his making the ultimate sacrifice for the woman he loved and the man she loved. I still think the opening and closing lines of this work are some of the most moving ever written. I will admit, though, that rereading this as an adult was a bit of a chore. I bought an annotated edition and could not resist reading all the notes it contained. It might have been easier to avoid the notes, but that's not the sort of person and reader I am. I also found it quite interesting that whereas we read this in 8th grade, it was summer reading for my younger son's Advanced Placement English class. Does this mean high school has dumbed down five years in just a generation? It does make one wonder.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
20. Read or reread 26 books.
COMPLETED 2005-06
I picked 26 as the number figuring one book every two weeks. Here's the list (I didn't count the specific books listed in The Fifty on their own):
(1) Being Perfect
(2) The Twelfth Card
(3) Cross Bones
(4) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
(5) The Historian
(6) R Is for Ricochet
(7) The Egyptologist
(8) The Pythagorean Solution
(9) The Pegasus Secret
(10) Checkpoint
(11) Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids
(12) The Unlikely Spy
(13) Predator
(14) A Certain Slant of Light
(15) A Mind for Murder
(16) The Pale Horseman
(17) Prince of Fire
(18) Glamorous Disasters
(19) S Is for Silence
(20) The Labyrinth
(21) Crash Course
(22) Mitla Pass
(23) Snakes on a Plane
(24) The Magdalene Cypher
(25) Gone
(26) At Risk
I picked 26 as the number figuring one book every two weeks. Here's the list (I didn't count the specific books listed in The Fifty on their own):
(1) Being Perfect
(2) The Twelfth Card
(3) Cross Bones
(4) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
(5) The Historian
(6) R Is for Ricochet
(7) The Egyptologist
(8) The Pythagorean Solution
(9) The Pegasus Secret
(10) Checkpoint
(11) Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids
(12) The Unlikely Spy
(13) Predator
(14) A Certain Slant of Light
(15) A Mind for Murder
(16) The Pale Horseman
(17) Prince of Fire
(18) Glamorous Disasters
(19) S Is for Silence
(20) The Labyrinth
(21) Crash Course
(22) Mitla Pass
(23) Snakes on a Plane
(24) The Magdalene Cypher
(25) Gone
(26) At Risk
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
24. Write 12 letters.
COMPLETED
I put this one on The Fifty because back in the days before e-mail and cheap long distance, I used to like to write letters. I figured one per month for my 50th year would be a good number. Between my brother (who did not at that point have a computer), my father, and some birthday cards to faraway friends, I did manage the one per month, though it never felt "right." Interestingly, in the past year, I've written regularly to a kendo friend doing a Mormon mission in Japan and to another friend (who also once did kendo) attending law school in London. My only way to communicate with the missionary is via snail mail; the law student could be e-mailed or Facebooked instead, but we're both very much enjoying the writing. I've also been sending regular cards to My New Hero at the US Air Force Academy. I've recaptured the magic of paper correspondence much more this year than I did in my 50th, when it felt more like something I had to do than something I looked forward to doing. I can't imagine going several weeks without writing a letter. It also makes the trips to my own mailbox much more exciting, because she who writes letters also receives them!
I put this one on The Fifty because back in the days before e-mail and cheap long distance, I used to like to write letters. I figured one per month for my 50th year would be a good number. Between my brother (who did not at that point have a computer), my father, and some birthday cards to faraway friends, I did manage the one per month, though it never felt "right." Interestingly, in the past year, I've written regularly to a kendo friend doing a Mormon mission in Japan and to another friend (who also once did kendo) attending law school in London. My only way to communicate with the missionary is via snail mail; the law student could be e-mailed or Facebooked instead, but we're both very much enjoying the writing. I've also been sending regular cards to My New Hero at the US Air Force Academy. I've recaptured the magic of paper correspondence much more this year than I did in my 50th, when it felt more like something I had to do than something I looked forward to doing. I can't imagine going several weeks without writing a letter. It also makes the trips to my own mailbox much more exciting, because she who writes letters also receives them!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
