Herding Cats

  • The Thirteenth Tale

    I knew how it was for him.  It was easier now that I was grown up than when I was a child.  How much harder birthdays had been in the house. Presents hidden overnight in the shed, not from me, but from my mother, who could not bear the sight of them.  The inevitable headache was her jealously guarded rite of remembrance, one that made it impossible to invite other children to the house, impossible, too, to leave her for the treat of a visit to the zoo or the park.  My birthday toys were always quiet ones. Cakes were never homemade, and the leftovers had to be divested of…

  • Purple Hibiscus

    Kambili is a 15 year old girl, growing up in Nigeria with her older brother, Jaja, and their parents, Eugene and Beatrice. Eugene is a very wealthy, influential man, one of the few who dares to stand up and tell the truth about the local government by means of the newspaper he owns. Theirs is a charmed life, with Eugene donating richly to the poorer neighbors, to the church, and to the many charities he supports. They live in a compound surrounded by high walls, and they have servants to cook and clean and drive for them. They have cable television and luxurious cars, plenty of meat to eat, and…

  • The Westing Game

    I first heard of The Westing Game, I think, in a comment left by my old bloggy friend, Wendy.  (She’s not old, just quit blogging, so she’s not a current bloggy friend, right?  I miss her writing, actually.) Based on her loving the book as a kid, I bought it for Maya and put it on her bookshelf. It has thus far failed to capture her interest, so it’s just been sitting there, waiting.   When I signed up for the Herding Cats reading challenge, I saw this book on the list, and thought it was a good chance to read it. The Westing Game is the story surrounding the…

  • Herding Cats Challenge

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8[/youtube] I read about the Herding Cats reading challenge over at Dewey’s blog, The Hidden Side of a Leaf, and I had to join up, because not only do I love to read, I also used to work for EDS, when the ad above aired. So I thought, yeah, I’m on board. Here are the rules. 1. List 10 books you have read and love. LOVE. OK, at least really really like. 2. Pick 3 books you haven’t read before from the ‘favorite books lists’ of other challenge participants. Don’t worry, they’ve put together a wonderful master list, making it much easier than going through list after list after list.…