September 2011

I started “reviewing” books in my half-assed way on September 6, 2011, so it has been a year now.  In that time I have talked about 74 books.  It was my intention to at least record every book I read, but cross-referencing on LibraryThing I see I’ve missed at least a dozen books, and it’s quite possible that some are missing from LibraryThing as well.  Here are the ones I know about, and perhaps I’ll catch up on them later:

Empire Falls, Richard Russo.

Gourmet Rhapsody, Muriel Barbery.

House And Home: A Practical Book On Home Management, Mary Elizabeth Carter.

It’s All Too Much, Peter Walsh.

Never Work Harder than your Students, Robyn Jackson.

Schoolgirls, Peggy Orenstein.

Home Outside, Julie Moir Messervy.

Late Nights on Air, Elizabeth Hay.

The Blythes are Quoted, L. M. Montgomery.

Jack of Kinrowan, Charles de Lint.

Treehouses: the art and craft of living out on a limb, Peter Nelson.

Sibling Rivalry, by Adele Faber.

There are also books waiting to go back to the library that are not reviewed yet, and not on this list either, since I’m in no danger (yet) of forgetting about them.  It’s safe to assume I read about 90 books this year, which is a little lower than some years, but not bad considering I was teaching at a new school.

Coloroso, Barbara. Kids Are worth It!: Raising Resilient, Responsible, Compassionate Kids. Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2010. Print.

It seems to me that Barbara Coloroso’s name has been big in parenting from the time I was in University, and when I had the urge recently to go back to basics on that topic, hers was a name that came to mind immediately.

This is a 2010 edition of the book that was originally subtitled “giving your children the gift of inner discipline”.  The library says that book came out in 1994, so I wondered if the advice might seem at all dated.  Fortunately it did not, and I came away with a new appreciation for Coloroso and her work.  I recognized some of the terminology (specifically, “backbone”, “jellyfish”, and “brick wall” parents) from Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families.  I recalled later that he mentions and credits her for those terms and examples.

This book is meaty enough that it deserves a chapter-by-chapter analysis.  There were a lot of good ideas, and a lot of points where it was painful to recognize things I’ve done or said in my years of parenting.  Unfortunately I read it too fast, and I’m not sure I absorbed enough of it, so this is a book I’ll have to revisit.  Highly recommended.

CMHC. Canadian Wood-Frame House Construction. 2005.

It’s difficult to know how to cite government publications!  Another odd thing is that Amazon says the best price for this book is $110.  I guess the library knows what it’s doing, letting this go out for circulation.

Anyway, I got it off the shelf at my local branch to solve a particular framing problem for a cross-gable roof I was designing.  It helped admirably, and although I feel a little guilty that I didn’t read the whole book, I was grateful that finding the information I needed was so easy.

My dad came to visit in the three weeks this was sitting on my desk, and he says he just bought the same book!

Stockett, Kathryn. The Help. New York: Amy Einhorn, 2009. Print.

What can I say about this book you don’t already know?  It’s #1 in books on Amazon.ca (as of today when I grabbed the link to left), and it has been turned into a top box office movie.

So, this is where I give up all pretense of “reviewing” a book and just record that I read it.  And loved it.  I started it one day and didn’t really get into it, but the next night I was up until midnight finishing it.  Then the following day I actually spoke to a woman in public – which I almost never do! – who I saw was reading the book on the GO train.

I even only read it by accident, because my Mom bought it on a whim at the Sudbury Coles (I’m not sure even realizes how popular it is right now) and left it at my house because she didn’t want to carry it on the cruise she was going on.  I’m glad I did, though – it was a perfect summer read, thrilling and thought-provoking.  It might not change the world, but I hope it spurs some nudges.

Jacobson, Max, Murray Silverstein, and Barbara Winslow. Patterns of Home: the Ten Essentials of Enduring Design. Newtown, CT: Taunton, 2002. Print.

I read Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language (but not the first or third books in the series) many years ago, before I was seriously interested in houses and building.  It came up, interestingly, in the context of programming, which was my career at the time, because of the interest in patterns.

This book is written by some of the original contributors, and is intended to provide a more accessible look at the most important patterns.  Instead of 250, there are only 10, and they are heavily illustrated with gorgeous full-page pictures, as you would expect from the Taunton press.  (In contract, I recall A Pattern Language having only a few small diagrams).  I didn’t initially think it would be very useful to me, but the more I read, the more it made sense.  The pattern of “Creating Rooms” is more than putting up four walls; “Sheltering Roof” made me realize why some places seem so home-like to me.

This is a great book for anyone is thinking of building anything new, whether it’s a house or just a patio or outbuilding.  I will definitely revisit it in the future.

Bainbridge, David. Teenagers: a Natural History. Vancouver: Greystone, 2009. Print.

I heard about this book through “Professionally Speaking”, the monthly publication of the Ontario College of Teachers, of which I am a member.  Since I have a teenager in the house, it seemed like a suitable book to read, and in fact he ended up reading it too.

Two things set this book apart; instead of focusing on brain development, puberty, behaviour, or evolution, it integrated research from all those areas to present a high-level, connected view of everything that happens between the ages of 13 and 19.  It was also remarkable in the positive and even joyful portrayal it gave of the teenage years.  It was refreshing for me to read, and also wonderful for my son, who gets a lot of jokes and ribbing about being a teen.  The chapter on drugs was sobering, showing how even occasional drug use can interfere with the chemical workings of the brain and cause permanent damage.  However, it was an even-handed discussion focusing on medical research, rather than a scare-mongering approach that would just make my teen roll his eyes.  Similarly but with an opposite flavour, the chapter on teenage sex showed that teenage sex is not necessarily permanently damaging, and is in fact a safer area for teens to take the risks that they inherently take.

This is an excellent book that I highly recommend, I will be certainly reading it again in the next few years as the teenage behaviour in my house gets more challenging.