Books Read in July

How to Read Literature Like a Professor - Thomas C. Foster
I mentioned in a previous post that I was in the process of reading this.  I have finished it since then.  It is written in a conversational style, so easy to read, with chapter titles such as Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It's Not).  I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to get more out of their reading.  Now I think I need to brush up on Greek mythology.

Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
By the same author who wrote Girl With a Pearl Earring.  This is about Mary Anning, the uneducated working class woman who was the first person to discover an ichthyosaurus fossil and a pleisiosaurus fossil.  The main focus of the story is on the friendship between Mary Anning and a middle class spinster who shares her love of fossils.  Highly enjoyable.

Unschooling Rules - Clark Aldrich
"If you look at class schedules and other school propaganda, you might think that (a) the students' entire day is filled with hour after hour of rigorous work, and (b) even more hours are needed.  But if you were to follow one student as an anthropologist might, actually keeping track of time spent under instruction and in practice assignments, the real number is a little less than 3 hours."


"Tests don't work.  Get over it.  Move on.


"And we want tests to work so badly.  We love the idea of a simple-to-deploy, objective mechanism that can sort, motivate, and diagnose - the equivalent of quality control at a car manufacturing plant looking for defects.  The only problem is that tests do everything wrong.  Tests only test the test taker's ability to prepare for and take tests.  For example, there is no skill worth having that can be measured through a multiple-choice exam."

Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
A re-read.  I was browsing in the library, looking for a light summer read when I saw this.  I first read it when Swimmah was a baby, so about 14-15 years ago.  That was also before I read Pride and Prejudice, so I missed all the references to that.  Funny as ever, and I enjoyed the references.  (v.g.)

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table - Roger Lancelin Green
I picked this up because we've been watching back episodes of Merlin.  Most of my knowledge of the Arthurian legends is from The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, which was not exactly faithful to the original legends.   I realize that everyone puts their own spin on old legends such as Arthur (including the show Merlin), but I wanted to know what the traditional tales were all about.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague - Geraldine Brooks
Based on actual events, this novel chronicles the events in a small isolated village in 1666 where there is an outbreak of the plague.  I'm not quite half-way through this one yet, but so far I'm finding it very interesting.

All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot
Still reading with Turtlegirl, a little at a time.