5.09.2010

TSS: Fairy Tales and Austen

Good morning Saloners and folks in, around, and about. I have had an exhausting past couple of days. My mom had hip replacement surgery on Wednesday and I've been staying at her house ever since taking care of her three *darling* dogs. (*insert sarcasm* because I've barely slept a wink; they are worse than toddlers). Mom is recovery about how one would expect; she's in pain, of course, and stiff. PT and OT should be picking up this week and hopefully she'll be back with the toddlers in a couple of weeks.

This is Billy, Mom's oldest:


I have been reading a bit more than usual. All of the extra time on Wednesday waiting through surgery and sticking around the house to entertain the toddlers has freed up quite a bit of hours.

I also managed to finally catch the movie, The Jane Austen Book Club. I read the book last year (review here). I wasn't a big fan at all. I found the writing to be tiresome, tedious, and B.O.R.I.N.G. Plus, I hardly cared for the characters. The movie, however, falls into those rare cases where it is enjoyed more than the book. Mind you, one does not have to be paying full attention to follow JABC, the movie. It's pretty much a chick flick centered around the love of Austen. Similar to the book, the movie does not go into much character development, but at least the actors are not stiff like the writing. Idunno, I was pretty exhausted having just coming back from the hospital, and managed to stay awake until 11PM to finish it. In this case, movie over book, for sure!

Finally, I have found myself on a huge fairy tale kick. The Girl with Glass Feet started it, then even though I was disappointed in some ways with it, Arcadia Falls fed the fire. Since then, I've picked up a couple of contemporary, retellings, etc fairy tales. (Recently I finished Jane Yolen's Trollbridge which was definitely fun and a review will be coming in May sometime!)

I've ransacked my library and queued up a handful of fairy tale books.

Touch Magic: Fantasty, Faerie & Folklore in the Literature of Childhood by Jane Yolen - I am so excited about this one. Jane Yolen is an incredible young adult writer and I am dying to read her nonfiction analysis of fairy tales and folklore.

Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale by Catherine Orenstein - This is a feministic take on Little Red Riding Hood in past and contemporary times.

The Fairy Tale Cookbook by Carol MacGregor and Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers and Eaters By Jane Yolen - This is pretty self explanatory, I think. Each book takes a fairy tale, retells it, and then has recipes for the foods in the tale that you can make (i.e. the bear's porridge). How awesome!

Fairy Tales, Fables, Legends, and Myths: Using Folk Literature in Your Classroom by Bette Bosma - It's a wee bit late for me to expand my fairy tale unit, but I cannot wait to make some additions next year. This one has already been a pretty valuable resource.

There are tons more on my list, but I think that these are great starters.


2 comments:

  1. Ironically, I saw and read the Jane Austen Book Club in the reverse order as you, and felt about them the exact opposite. I remember absolutely nothing about the movie except for the one teacher that was completely changed from her character in the book. The book, on the other hand, I thought was clever as each section mimicked a different Austen book.

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  2. I'm please to say that our dogs sleep through the night. They do wake us up by 6 am each day. ;0)

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