Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

You can read my experiences trying to learn to fly here.

Poo.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

In my email came a sale notice from Chronicle Books. They usually have odd and fun books and publications. As I scrolled through the email, I saw this book.

Poo Log: A Record Keeper.

Besides the loaded name, and besides the general idea behind the book -- writing about your bowel movements -- what really weirded me out was the reader review, which I've excerpted here:

What a fantastic idea. Many the time when you've wanted to share something weird that happened with/exited from your bowels, but just couldn't. As fascinating as it was to you, you just weren't sure how it'd go over.

What is this person talking about? Are you telling me there are that many people who want to share stories about such things? I have never had the desire to share these kinds of details with anyone, much less devote time and paper to writing about it.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't as fascinating to others as you think, and that means I'm pretty sure I know how it would go over.

The flush on the toilet is there to expedite the job of getting it out of the house. Why write a book about it unless your doctor has given you a medical reason to keep tabs on such things? Does your poo really need its own biography?

Yuck.

Labels: book reviews

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Listography: Life in lists.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I found myself in Barnes and Noble tonight, just standing in front of the books in an effort to regain calm. I considered picking up a book and flipping through the pages just to catch the new book-smell.

Sometimes, I do that. Books generally don't mock or expect much from me, and so, they put me at ease. Lately, I've not been buying. I've just been wandering the stacks and racks of new books, running my fingers through them periodically.

I saw one that looked interesting, because it had to do with lists.

I love lists. I have a blog category just for lists. I use lists when I'm too lazy to recount a long story. I use lists to be funny. I love the lists found at McSweeney's, and frequently find myself guffawing and chortling.

The idea behind listography, though, isn't just fun and games, but more about making lists of things to help you create a surprisingly accurate, though truncated, "biography" of yourself. It is also a good way to help kick start ideas if you're stuck, maybe as a writer or artist. Listing things is a way to get past the first, obvious answers (put them down right away and be done with it) and into deeper places. I use lists like triage: get it all out on paper, then organize the list with the top things top. I have lists floating all over my room and studio, and I'd swear they were breeding. To Do lists, idea lists, places I'd like to go lists, changes I need to make in my life lists... lists.

So, Listography. The website, yes, but there are also journals that help you make lists. I liked the look of the journals, with muted artwork that reminded me of something from a Sufjan Stevens album.

I didn't buy it, though, because I'm trying not to spend money and also, I can use the web site and my own journal and come up with more relevant lists than things like a list of people I'd make it with, or some such thing.

But the journals are decent. The web site is interesting. So there you go. Now you know.

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Doug TenNapel.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

Two things happened.

I read an article from a recent edition of World Magazine that talked about how there weren't many Christians making graphic novels, even though the genre was exploding. One artist, Doug TenNapel, caught my attention because his style and his stories were pretty bizarre and risky, and weren't just re-tellings of traditional Bible stories or illustrated Bibles.

Plus, I had two Amazon.com gift certificates to use before they expired.

You can imagine where this is going.

I bought Monster Zoo, Flink, Black Cherry, Gear, and Iron West.

I wanted to see what his stories were like. I wanted to see his art. I wanted to get some ideas because I've been working on banging out "cartoons" with a vague idea of throwing them into a jumbled collection to sell. The idea of a complete novel, and not a series of one or two-page sets, has been churning in my mind.

I just wanted to see how bizarre "bizarre" sold as.

Pretty bizarre. It reminded me of watching Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness.

I love TenNapel's stuff. His stories are edgy and hilariously odd and wonderful, all tied up into a kind of undercurrent of truth that I recognize. No browbeating. Just wonderful mixes of elements, such as in Iron West, which combines Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster, alien robots, and the Wild West.

Get some, if you're into graphic novels.

Labels: book reviews, recommended reading

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Bait and switch.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

All I can say is that after reading Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, I know without a doubt that as wacky as my employment history is, it beats going through the nonsense described in the book.

I didn't care for Barbara Ehrenreich's previous book, Nickel and Dimed, because it seemed shallow and presumptive.

Bait and Switch, whatever else it was, was painful. That people go through that to get a job...

I live on another planet, it seems. The thought of marketing myself and career coaches and Norman Vincent Peale-ish faux positive thinking and elevator speeches...yuck. Fake.

Excruciating to read, not because of bad writing, but just because of the truth of it. Even if it is a slanted view and not fully true in some people's opinion, that even if a smidgen could be true -- that's bad enough.

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Being intellectual.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

The Intellectual Devotional books, if placed in the bathroom, are basically a snootier version of the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series.

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Socrates cafe.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I so wanted to like the book.

The cover was entrancing.

Socrates Cafe: A fresh taste of philosophy, by Christopher Phillips, should have been my perfect book. I love questions. I never have answers. When I teach Sunday School, it's 95 percent questions. I throw them out, one after another. I rarely state anything when I teach, whether it's an art class or otherwise. Questions. I would love to sit around with some people in a coffee house* and just talk deep stuff and ask questions and bat around theories and leave with more questions than on arrival.

This is, again, because I have very few answers.

Jesus answered in questions.

The Socratic Method is great for lovers of questions. Questions, the great teacher. Questions, the friend and lie-detector of those who despise fake know-it-all arrogance. Questions, water for the intellectually parched. Questions, the friend of those who don't like being told what to do. Questions, the friend of those who won't take an answer as the final answer, but as a spring board to another question. Questions, oxygen for the curious.

And this book? A friend of sleep. I can't get past the first 50 pages. I've tried three successive times.

Why?

Links:

If you want the book, I'll send it to you. Just email me your mailing address. Maybe you can get to page 51.

* I hate coffee. I'd be having hot chocolate, the drink of the gods.

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Jesus for President.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

The book, besides being beautifully designed and visual astounding, is direct and harsh.

Good.

I can't get it out of my mind, because even though some things I may not have swallowed whole, I realized very much that Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw were putting into words the things I have been struggling with increasingly over the years: The church and politics (and no, the book doesn't urge support or give a free pass to either party). What is the church. What about the poor.

Topics like that. Things I've not fully been able to honestly say have been dealt with in my own life.

Jesus For President: Politics for ordinary radicals has the potential to make angry those with minds locked into stone and tradition, and rip open the hearts of those who already sensed something is very amiss with how we "do church" now. This is a book for those who like Jesus but don't want to be a Christian because they think they have to become a member of the Republican party in order to follow Christ.

Claiborne talks about more than just politics and the church. He very directly calls the reader on what our consumerism and American lifestyle translates into for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world. He covers everything from the culture of Jesus to our culture of waste, from global economy to eating locally produced food and items. He talks about resources, sustainability, the "enough" policy vs. rampant "gotta have more", and...sweatshops.

I have a friend in Nicaragua who I've started to help support. She works in a sweatshop. It's a terrible job. I'm so proud of her for working and earning money, but it's a terrible job that is destroying her health. When we go to Nicaragua, we often buy clothes on sale and take them down to distribute. Imagine my horror when, pawing through the clearance racks at Old Navy for skirts and shirts, I found a shirt with a label that said "Made in Nicaragua."

She might not have made that shirt. Chances are good that she didn't. But what was I doing? In search of the cheapest stuff, we are encouraging corporations to find slave-like labor to feed the American appetite for "cheaper, and more." How horrible it would be to bring down clothes to give to the people who, in agonizing conditions for low pay, made them. Claiborne provides so much material in this book, ranging from scripture to anecdotes to suggested alternatives.

Obviously, some of the things Claiborne suggests in the realm of what we buy aren't going to work as well in the middle of nowhere North Dakota as they do in the heart of Philadelphia. Handmade sandals, from recycled rubber, mean that about six months out of the year my toes are going to turn black and fall off. However, that is not the point. And there are things we do -- deliberate choices in what we do and do not buy or support -- that can answer as an alternative to some of the ways Claiborne is personally putting his convictions in action. In general, we need to be deliberate and not thoughtless. Americans are thoughtless, and are trained to keep an eye on the bottom line which is, essentially, a focus on "cheaper to buy so I can buy more."

I'm not giving this book a fair review. It hit me like a wall, and I need to read it again. All I can say is that you should read it, and that you ought to be prepared for the message. Unlike most Christian books which tell you how to find power, control and blessings in life, this book isn't going to make you feel warm and fuzzy and give you six easy steps to do it. It is, instead, a call to pulling back the curtain and seeing the wizard for the first time.

This is a book that needs to be read. If you want to be like a lot of Christians and get all hung up on "right theology" and play that old "discern and debate" game, fine. But for those of you who have felt like something is not right and you know American consumer culture is not Christian and you are uneasy about something you've not been able to put your finger on, read this book.

Other Links:

Video: Claiborne talking about the book.
Out of Ur: Book review of Jesus for President (part 1)
Out of Ur: Book review of Jesus for President (part 2)
Chuckp3.com: Jesus for President
Zack Exley: Jesus for President, a book review for atheists (part 1) (part 2)
The official Jesus for President web site
Jesus Creed: Jesus for President (brief mention among other interesting books)
Claiborne and the Cedarville controversy

Labels: book reviews, christian books, recommended reading

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Where have all the good men gone?

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I can't say I care much for the title of the book. It implies something fairly negative about both sexes: either there are fewer good men or that women are asking such a self-serving puffed-up question on a literal level.

But I had the book on my shelf and I'm making a concerted effort to read all of my books for crying out loud, and there you have it. I read A.J. Kiesling's book Where have all the good men gone?: Why so many Christian women are remaining single.

Kiesling bases her book on a survey she took, with 70 percent of the respondents being female, and 30 percent being male. She used true anecdotes and survey/letter responses to build each chapter around the topic, often including the strange outcome of singles ministries in today's Christian churches (which I agree with and, essentially, echo in this post).

Some of the book was good.

Like I said, she had some good things to say about the explosion of the singles ministry concept of the past few decades, in particular, and I wished she'd actually delved more deeply into that rather than the last half of the book which dealt with the survey responses of men and women. She discussed the concept of marriage and the bizarre state of extensive singleness in the modern world, attempting to put it in historical and Biblical context. In that, she also did a decent job though again, I'd wished she'd beefed up that section a bit more instead of the focus on the survey responses. She talked about the danger of the "buddies/friends" trap in which people stay in friendship of buddy groups for years and never make any committments. She offered good advice on "pulling a Ruth"¹ and sometimes taking the step to end a friendship that should be more but never would be if someone didn't just say something. She also touched briefly on the concept of men who wait to marry and then, when they do hit their upper 30's or 40's, they choose to marry much younger².

Because she provided the full excerpts of some of the responses, there were often a few in there that conflicted with each other. This is to be expected. Not all women feel the same about an issue, and the same can be said for men. Some of the responses were written by idiots, of either gender. Of that, I'm positive.

What bothered me was a seeming conflict in responses by those taking the survey. For example, the male respondents first made a case that Christian women were not really different from non-Christian women in how they dress and act and that that was a problem for them. A bit later, however, the response was that Christian women are too often overweight and unattractive and that men are surrounded by sexy, revealingly dressed women all day and how are Christian women supposed to expect men to be happy with them when they seem to buy their clothes at Walmart and not take pride in their appearance?

After reading some of the male responses to what they expected of women, I was mainly interested in meeting these guys and giving them a front snap kick to the groin.

It disturbs me that I found something more building and encouraging as far is working on the internal beauty and becoming a better person in a non-Christian feminist book that told me I don't have to fall into the traps of beauty, instead of in a "Christian" book. Kiesling's book made me feel, at the end, that I was desperate and needy and that I needed to start starving myself and doing all these things to be good enough for these fellows who, out of the same mouth, claimed Christian women expected too much from them spiritually and in maturity.

Front snap kick. Groin. Definitely. It's not as if Christian guys are all cherry, either. It's just that the women, in their survey responses, never even mentioned looks (or money, despite the common accusation of women being gold-diggers) in the top of the list whereas men did.

I can't say I can identify with most of the book, since she tends to focus on singles living in an urban area (never outright said, but clearly suggested by the way it is worded) with a very different life than I have had. This is often the case for me when reading such books: I really can't identify with the examples of all the past relationships and bad experiences and extensive singles group activities since I've not had that.

Again, after reading it the book, I didn't feel good or hopeful or anything near peaceful. I felt bad about myself and the way I looked and the life I'd led and the current state of affairs. Which is not what I am ever looking for in such books. I felt better and more hopeful and stronger after reading the non-Christian book, as I mentioned.

The better book on this topic which uses surveys and candid interviews is Shaunti Feldhahn's books, For Men Only and For Women Only. What she found echoes a lot of what Kiesling says, but it is put in a better, more methodological way that makes sense and isn't so insulting. Perhaps, because her respondents were married men and women, they didn't have the high level of selfishness that single people attain and nurture as they continue to be single. In that way, their responses weren't so "me me." I highly recommend those books for an "inside" look at what's going through the minds and hearts of men and women. Feldhahn's books are aimed at married couples but everyone, really, can benefit. Essentially, she reveals the "secret" fears and needs of each gender that the other may not realize or understand.

I would recommend reading both of Feldhahn's books (no matter if the titles suggest they are for one gender or the other) rather than reading this book.

---------------------------

¹In response to guys who either left comments or emailed me after this post, I understood that the concept of "pulling a Ruth" i.e. not being passive and choosing to tell someone "I am interested" might be a good thing. In my case, when I did it, I can't say it was, or that anything arose from it other than exposing my heart and feeling embarassment. So there you go, for what it's worth. It might not always be a good idea.

² Some of the unsettling anecdotes involved a singles ministry in Florida where the leaders had divided the large group into an older and younger group. They had a problem with men from the older group "crashing" the younger group, essentially on the prowl for younger women instead of women who were their age. That I find creepy.

Labels: book reviews, recommended reading

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No house-warming critique.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

The cover of the book looks pretty good.

I wish I'd quit falling for that.

That, and the critical reviews that lace the cover.

"Taut thriller!"

"Page turner!"

"Keeps you guessing until the end!!!!"

Um, no.

Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti got together and co-wrote a book and what's that they say about too many cooks? I've never read anything of Dekker's because too many Christian magazines have been proclaiming him to be like some kind of Christian-thriller genius making me doubt it, which is a lesson I obviously can't carry over 100 percent.

What is a "Christian thriller" anyway?

But the cover of the book looks good, the book in question being House.

The summation even sounds chilling: The only way out is in.

The start of the book is decent, I'll admit. But, as in the tradition of Stephen King who cooks up a great story but fumbles in the final closing delivery, this book bombs in the denouement. And there wasn't one character that I really cared about. I wanted someone to just kill them all off so I could call it done and read another book.

A violin string is taut. A bow is taut. This book is not taut. I'll admit to page turning, as in "I'm just going to start skimming so as not to waste any more of my time." And, sorry to say, I've been well-trained in ferreting out a clumsy Christian allegory and I figured out what was going on in this book at the halfway point.

I stand with Tolkien on this one, and add to it my opinion that forced Christian allegory is no treat. When I read Amazon.com reviews of the book with readers saying it is the "best horror story I've read", I can only recommend a reading of Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian.

Of course, that's not a "christianized" story, which may explain why it rings true (despite being bout Dracula) and has more to glean morally and even spiritually than this forced effort by two well-known Christian authors. It also might not be considered a "page-turner" which really isn't, in my opinion, necessarily a positive attribute for a book. Kostova's book is a book of mulling and amazement and gradual revelation. House is...meant to sell books to a certain sector of readers. It likely does that well. However, I was disappointed. Peretti was an author I loved as a teen and young adult.

Perhaps I've become a jaded reader and am not willing to put up with it anymore, but I don't think that the case. Instead, I think of this as another example of a sub-par Christian product beget from a mind that thinks Christians can only write in direct allegory or with the subtlety of a Mack truck driving over you.

Essentially, the book is about sin.

Read it if you want. I didn't care for it.

Labels: book reviews, christian books

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Fathers and Sons: Francis and Frank Schaeffer.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I've not read Frank Schaeffer's book Crazy For God, but I've read plenty about it, and have taken part in some online discussions of the book. The reaction to Schaeffer's book on his parents, Francis and Edith, has been mixed, ranging from welcome relief at his honest look at the lives of his parents to outrage that he would write what he did.

I've appreciated Francis Schaeffer's books for years, particularly his take on arts and Christianity, though I only own a few. His classic book, How Should We Then Live? was a good challenge for me and a springboard into Chuck Colson's How Now Shall We Live?

I've not read Frank Schaeffer's book. I'm not really that interested in it, neither out of a positive or negative reaction to all of these reviews. I'm just not much for reading biographies or tell-all books. I've no doubt that Francis Schaeffer was not a perfect human being and had his unsightly qualities, yet still be able to read his work and be incredibly blessed by what he is saying. God uses clay pots, after all. He uses the stumbling, bumbling, stuttering, easily angered, fallible people to do His work -- why would Schaeffer have been any different?

Regardless, Os Guinness (another of my favorite authors) has written a review of the book that is, without question, the best I've read yet. Guinness writes his review with more than just a mere book review at the heart of what he is saying. I recommend reading the review in full: Fathers and Sons.

UPDATE: Here's a slightly harsher take on the Frank Schaeffer phenomenon.

Related Posts:

I won the lottery!

Labels: book reviews, christian books

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Pagan Christianity.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Pagan Christianity: Exploring the roots of our church practices, a book by Frank Viola and George Barna, looks highly interesting. I've not read it, nor read much about it. Essentially, it is a book that illustrates how many of the ways we think church must be done are traditions that are not actually found in the Bible. You can read a sample chapter here (PDF file).

A review of the book (at Brant Hanson's blog Letters from Kamp Krusty) is what originally piqued my interest. Hansen wasn't the only blogger to talk about the book; here's another blogger who also had an advance copy.

Consider purchasing your copy from Viola's site; you get it a bit cheaper there, you'll get an extra chapter if you purchase from him, and you help support his ministry. That's where I ordered my copy.

Links:

Pagan Christianity: Official web site
Frank Viola's official web site
Openheaven.org Forum: Interview with Viola, and forum discussion
CRN.info: Post and discussion
Tentmaker.org: Same interview with Viola as on Openheaven.org
The expository files: A less-than positive book review
Sue's book reviews: A book review
DSGraves.com: A response to Viola
Dan Kimball: House Churches and "Pagan Christianity" Part 1

Further reading: If you find what Viola has written to be interesting, or are wanting to read more of his writing, a collection of various essays written by Viola can be found here.

Labels: book reviews, christian books

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Revelations of an unexpected life.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

Connally Gilliam's Revelations of a Single Woman: Loving The Life I Didn't Expect is a book that should be read by all single adult women. I referenced it earlier, on a different blog.

Gilliam doesn't write a book on how to wait patiently, what to do to change your single status, or any other trite and typical messages found in too many Christian books for single women. She doesn't merely see singleness as a problem, a calling, a waiting -- it is the framework for the book, but her larger message is something different. Instead, she directly and with unfettered words tells the reader to look for joy and purpose in God, to focus on giving to others instead of looking for what can be gotten for self.

I appreciate what she has to say. She's funny and true and in no way over-wrought. She doesn't shy away from any topic (sex and celibacy, lesbianism and confused friendships in an intimacy-starved age, the hurt when all your friends marry off and how a relationship change such as that is a loss, obsessive or wrongly-placed attention on ultimately unhealthy friendships, ways we substitute friends and relationships to fill a God-void...). In the end, after reading this book, I felt a lot of conviction about how I had been -- or more accurately, not been -- a friend. I saw areas I needed to improve that weren't so much about ways to end the "problem" of singleness, but ways to be a better human focused on God while caring more about others. I found a challenge to not let repeated hurts harden my heart while, at the same time, learning to wall off and protect the inner-most part of myself and not let everyone in and take from what I should protect.

As any single person knows, the single life, the longer one is in it, tends to lead towards an painful kind of expertise in saying goodbye to friends, or, at least, saying good by to the way a friendship once was as friends marry and lives change.

Actually, nothing has taught me dependence upon God like letting go of people. I don't think it's simply because I'm a chronically codependent, enmeshed, dysfunctional relational junkie. Perhaps there's some truth in that. But honestly, letting go can just be hard on the heart, and sometimes I need help. (p. 153)

Gilliam also makes some astute observations about men and women, particularly in how the two sexes are different in dealing with being single. In her chapter talking about work ("Work Part 2: Hello Wisdom") where she discusses dissatisfaction and uneasiness in jobs or careers that are not fulfilling or that merely serve to pay bills or bide time, she notes something interesting:

With some of the single men I've known, this wilting manifests itself more obviously than with their female counterparts. For many guys, with neither wives nor kids to care for and with jobs that offer money but don't invite attachment to a bigger purpose, there lives degenerate into gadget getting -- wider screens for their TVs or cooler cars for their garage. Meanwhile, their energies to engage with life meaningfully seem to seep away; their souls get stuck in cul-de-sacs. (p. 181)

Just an excellent book, one I highly recommend for Christian single women of all ages. And you know what? Men, and married people should read it, too.

Visit Gilliam's web site for more excerpts and links.

Labels: book reviews, recommended reading

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I am legend. (And other stories.)

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I picked up a copy of Richard Matheson's 1954 book I Am Legend.

I shamefully admit that I bought the book because I want to see the upcoming movie based ("loosely", it appears, by looking at the previews after having read the book) on the book starring Will Smith. (This is not the first adaptation into film, mind you.) I generally try to not buy the books with the movie tie-in cover, since I am a book snob. Nevertheless, I bought the book yesterday and finished it by the time I went to bed.

It's one of those great "the world ends as we know it" stories that I seem particularly drawn to. What is amazing to me is that Matheson was able to essentially carry on an entire story with about 80 percent of all the "conversation" taking place in the mind of the main character since there was no one else to talk to.

The copy I purchased also had other stories by Matheson, which confused me at first since the book appeared to be only I Am Legend. Once I figured that out, I enjoyed the other stories, though at first, I was annoyed because I thought I still had half a book to go and that the story of Robert Neville had a chance to go past the ending.

The ending, which I won't give away (though I suspect many of you have already read the book), threw me. You should read all the way through to get to it on your own. If you simply don't want to do that, you can find out more about the story here. It's a shame, though. An engrossing and fast-paced read with the twist at the end like Matheson's story is something worth the time. You can purchase more of Matheson's books here.

Labels: book reviews, recommended reading

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The Great Giveaway.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

A blog reader recently treated me to a book off of my Amazon.com wishlist. (Always a happy day when that happens.)

The Great Giveaway: Reclaiming the mission of the church from Big Business, Parachurch Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism, and other Modern Maladies, by David E. Fitch, is turning out to be a real challenge.

It's a book I'm finding I have to go back and re-read paragraphs and really give thought to what Fitch is saying. It's not because he's a bad writer, but because what he is saying is challenging and very different from the way I've thought about the topics he discusses.

I wish I could elaborate more the general terms of "topics" but right now I'm just sort of wading in without a map. This is one of those annoying books where about every other paragraph has a sentence I need to use a highlighter on. Almost overwhelming, but not in a bad way by any means.

I can't recommend the book because I haven't finished it. However, from what I've read...well, do you like a challenge? The book is a fine one, if that be the case. I hope to be able to "review" it better when I'm finished, though I have a feeling I won't be up to such a thing after just one reading.

If you've read the book, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what Fitch has to say about the Evangelical church and it's regretful ties to modernity.

Links:

Labels: book reviews, christian books

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Children's books: Squids will be squids.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I very much enjoy looking at children's books. You ought to have a look through the picture book section of your bookstore -- you'll find some amazing art and quite often, clever stories.

One thing I appreciate about picture books, besides the often beautiful artwork disguised as "mere illustration", is that the authors are trim and tight with their writing. The stories are short in total length, and so the writers¹ have to write tightly. They have to use active voice, and strong but clear wording.

My most recent find is Squids will be squids: fresh morals, beastly fables, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. Not only are Smith's illustrations bizarrely fascinating and wonderful, but the one-page modern fables dreamed up by Scieszka are hilarious. Really funny. Grasshoppers who put off homework that consists of writing Broadway musicals until just before bed. Things like that.

I would encourage you to get your hands on a copy, but since many people balk at paying $15 for a very slender volume (unless you go the paperback route), at the very least, look for it the next time you're in a book store. Obviously, you can read it right there, in just a short while.

It's clever. And odd.

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¹ And not all authors are. There are a lot of really, really crappy overly moralistic shove-the-lesson-down-your-throat writers. Or the opposite end of the spectrum, where the writer thinks that just because it's a children's book, they don't have to think much on the story, throwing some sappy platitudes about puppies and butterflies out there. Yuck. Kids know a good story. If the story is boring or preachy or badly written, they aren't going to like it. In fact, kids are the best at knowing what a good story is. They haven't been fooled by all the smoke and mirrors yet.

Labels: book reviews, childrens books, recommended reading

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Reviewing the reviewer.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

My friend (and published author) Corrine reviews the reviewer.

Interesting.

Labels: book reviews

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America the beautiful: 100 places to see in your lifetime.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Time Life puts out a lot of large format, glossy, photographic-based books, and I picked up a copy of "100 places to see in your lifetime." There are, of course, precious few listings for North Dakota. Nevertheless, despite this obvious and glaring omission (ha), it's a decent book. It's not a travel book in that it tells you where to go to find great food or lodging, but is heavy on magnificent full-page photos and brief summaries to whet your appetite for travel.

I was mainly interested in it because it is not a book of world travel, but of American travel. I can't afford to hit all the global must-see sights often listed in such "places to go before you die" books, but many of these are fully within reach.

I was happy to see that I've been to at least a few of the places (noted below in red), though many of the places I've gone on my travels weren't listed (Mt. St. Helens, for example, etc.). My goal is to go to many, many more of the listed attractions..

The book is divided into three sections.

The Old Country: From the Atlantic to the Mississippi

The Maine Coast, ME
The North Woods, ME
Squam Lakes, NH
Stowe, VT
The Great Beach, MA
Concord, MA
Newport, RI
Block Island, RI
Mystic, CT
The Adirondacks, NY
West Point, NY
Niagara Falls, NY
The Cloisters, NY
Main Beach, NY
The Pine Barrens, NJ
Cape May, NJ
Longwood Gardens, PA
Fallingwater, PA
Independence Mall, PA
Gettysburg, PA
Winterthur Museum & Country Estate, DA
Chesapeake Bay, MD
Washington, D.C.
The New River, WV
Colonial Williamsburg, VA
Shenandoah National Park, VA
The Outer Banks, NC
Charleston, SC
Golden Isles, GA
Savannah, GA
Sanibel Island, FL
The Everglades, FL
The Florida Keys, FL
Bellingrath Gardens and Home, AL
Natchez, MI
The Great Smoky Mountains, NC and TN
Ryman Auditorium, TN
Horse Country, KY
Mammoth Cave, KY
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, OH
The Great Serpent Mound, OH
Mackinac Island, MI
Amish Country, IN
Galena, IL
Wrigley Field, IL
Door Pennisula, WI

Westward, Ho: Pushing towards the Pacific

Voyageurs, MN
The Amana Colonies, IA
Mark Twain National Forest, MO
The Buffalo River, AR
The French Quarter, LA
The Alamo, TX
Beavers Bend, OK
The Flint Hills, KS
Chimney Rock, NE
Crazy Horse Memorial, SD
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND
Glacier National Park, MT
Beartooth Highway, MT and WY
Yellowstone, WY, MT and ID
The Tetons, WY
The Great Divide, CO
Telluride, CO
Santa Fe, NM
White Sands, NM
The Anasazi Ruins, CO, NM, AZ and UT
Carlsbad Caverns, NM
Red Rock Country, AZ
The Grand Canyon, AZ
Monument Valley, AZ and UT
Canyonlands, UT
Bryce Canyon, UT
The Arches, UT
Zion National Park, UT
Lake Tahoe, NV and CA
The San Juan Islands, WA
Mount Rainier, WA
Multnomah Falls, OR
Umpqua National Forest, OR
Oregon Wine Country, OR
Cascade Lakes, OR
The Redwoods, CA
Pebble Beach Golf Links, CA
San Francisco, CA
Yosemite, CA
Big Sur, CA
Death Valley, CA
Balboa Park, CA
Joshua Tree, CA
Mission San Juan Capistrano, CA
Santa Catalina Island, CA

Out There: The Greats Beyond the Lower 48

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, AK
Gates of the Arctic, AK
Glacier Bay, AK
Kenai Fjords, AK
Katmai, AK
Denali, AK
The Big Island's Volcanoes, HI
The Na Pali Coast, HI
St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

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America the beautiful: 100 places to see in your lifetime.

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