The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

It has been months since I last reviewed anything, even though I finished this some time ago. Wow.
I quite liked The Way of Kings, and it is a pity that I could not find a
picture that does it justice, although that may be physically impossible.
Setup:Very in depth, with at least five consistent viewpoints, and several oneshot viewpoints with their own sidestories. Note: Saying too much would spoil it. I did like it, though.
Execution:Fairly good, although it leaves far more questions than it answers, so perhaps a reason to wait until more have come out.
 Swearing/Crude Language:Fairly mild, with the most common expletive being Storming/Storm it, although I believe that there were a smattering of D-words making up a tiny fraction of the exclamations of a very long book.
Violence:Several fight scenes, lots of secondary character death, some surgery, so on and so forth. Perfect for Timmy!
Other: Fictional religion, several references to various gods also called Heralds, supernatural powers, several characters uttering things both strange and cryptic as they die, talk of special swords severing a persons soul if they cut you, a character is upset about being attracted to his brother's widow.

Children of an Elder God by John Biles and Rod M.

Another review!

I liked Children of an Elder God quite a lot, but I do need to warn you about some of the content.

• Setup: Neon Genesis Evangelion with the Pseudo-Christian parts replaced with the works of  Howard Phillips Lovecraft (and successors).
• Execution: Like I said, I liked it, but it is fairly faithful to both universes, so not exactly kid friendly all the time.
• Swearing: Bad, the main characters are both teenagers and soldiers, and it is handled mostly realistically, F-Bombs are dropped infrequently, as well as D-words and S-words, both English and German.
• Violence: Again, the Cthulhu Mythos and Neon Genesis Evangelion, together, portrayed fairly faithfully, so you should not be surprised that body horror, blood, and eldritch abominations being eaten by humungous mecha abound.
• Religious/Others: Talk of eating souls, "beings" called Outer Gods, talk of cults worshiping beings of great power, talk of being possessed by some of said beings, The whole Violator incident (and its aftermath), general amorality, none of this is portrayed as being good or right, although the soul eating thing is portrayed as a necessary (or at least unavoidable) part of getting stronger in order to defend humanity.

I did like it, and it is probably less disturbing than NGE apparently got near the end, but this is based on the work that brought you Post Apocalypse Stress Disorder (my nickname for it) and eldritch mecha, so if you take offense at enough of the previously listed things, you should probably give this one a miss.
Update: Last chapter has been published, but not available from the main page.

Something Under the Bed is Drooling by Bill Watterson

About : Calvin
Type of book : comic book.
I thought it was pretty funny.
It's about a 6 year old boy who can change his world with his imagination.

Literature course

As I think all of my readers know, I homeschool my children.  This year, we are officially doing a literature course.  The deal is this: children have to choose a certain number of books from my list (below) plus the same number of books of their own choice.  They write a review of each book they read.  We probably discuss it (especially the Shakespeare and Chaucer) both while they're reading and after.  They also each write in a journal.  Because as best I can tell, everything needed in an English course is encompassed in the regular, practical use of English - reading, personal writing, writing for an audience.  We'll probably cover persuasive writing and presenting when we get into politics and/or social studies.
Most of the books for the younger children we get from the library; most of the books for the older children are available for free online.
The list:

Up to age 9 - pick your age from this list, then the same number of others of your own choice
Rascal the Dragon (each book in the series counts as 1)
McCormick-Mathers challenge readers (each story counts as 1)
20th century children's book treasury (each story counts as 1)
Make way for McCloskey
Any Caldecott with words
Any scriptures (one chapter counts as 1)
Other options - just ask!

Age 10+ - half your age and half your age (so 10 reads 5 and 5; 11, 5 and 6 or 6 and 5, etc )
On the revolutions of the Spheres
French for Reading
Novum Organum
Shakespeare - Sonnets
Shakespeare - Plays
Peloponnesian war
Herodotus - histories
Canterbury Tales
Any Jane Austen
Any Louisa May Alcott
Frankenstein
Dracula
The Illiad
The Odyssey
Any scriptures - one book counts as a 1 (e.g. Genesis)
Other options - just ask!

Larklight by Phillip Reeve

Told from the viewpoint of Art Mumby, this is about the adventures that he and his sister Myrtle have across space. Set in the Victorian era and written as if the Victorians were right about everything that they thought about how science was going to advance (steam power for everything, alchemy, inhabitable planets, etc...) I really enjoyed this book.

Harry Potter And The Methods Of Rationality

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

By LessWrong

In light of my previous scathing review,
let me share a few words on something I actually like today.
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is Fanfiction of unusually* high quality**, here is the setup.

The Blurb: "Petunia married a biochemist, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction. Then came the Hogwarts letter, and a whole new world that had never heard of Science. And new friends, like Hermione, and Professor McGonagall, and Professor Quirrell."

While this is technically accurate, it leaves out some of the more awesome^ parts, like the extracurricular student battles, Harry^^ being a Chessmaster, or the sheer number of shout outs, references, and jokes that make it awesome.

Content Rating: I would put it at Teen/10+
Swearing: Mild to none (I honestly do not remember)
Anything Else: Mild, some battles between students with stunning spells,oh, and the (nonlethal) duel in azkaban
Recommended For: Audiences both mature and geeky enough to enjoy it.

*Not hard. Probably.
**Good writing, solid characters, no need for (drastic) rewrites after posting***
***Apparently, Miles Vorkosigan is still at Hogwarts.
^DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed are mine, and probably not laws of the universe.
^^And Draco, and Lucius, and Dumbledore, and Professor Quirrell.

Temple Dress Bag Pattern

My Relief Society asked me to make up this pattern; I thought this would be the easiest way to make it available to everyone who might want it. 

These images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.  If you want to use them for something outside the scope of that license, contact me by leaving a comment on this blog (this post or the most recent post), and we will discuss it. (Mostly this means: you can use it, but say where you got it, and ask me first if you want to charge.)

Tuesdays At The Castle by Jessica Day George

When princess Celie's parents leave to get her oldest bother from wizarding school they leave everything in her and her two older siblings' hands. It was light and funny but it nevertheless kept a hold of my attention the whole way through, and I quite enjoyed it.

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

This book is more of an overview than an in-depth look at any of the sub-facets it touched on - but as an overview, it was fantastic.  I now want to read through his references: about the cataloging of facial expression, the definitions of taste and texture, and the experience (and measurement) of unconscious prejudice. 

It was a very ambitious book - exploring the experience of unconscious decision-making, when it happens, when it can be relied on, and when it leads us to error.  And at the end of it, I feel like I do have a better idea of when it's useful to follow those lightning impressions, and when they really need to be re-examined.  It's not a complete picture - something I've been trying to sort out for a long time - but as far as it goes, it's a well-reasoned model.

The calendar I've been looking for

I don't usually use a planner with so much detail, but when I want an overview, it seems helpful.
As a homeschooling mother, the least flexible day of the week is often Sunday - it's also when I find out about most of the non-school activities and events for the coming week, month, etc.  Also, I like one column per day.
On the off chance that someone else has the same calendar requirements that I do, here it is (blogspot doesn't seem to allow the uploading of documents; tutorials purporting to teach one how just teach you how to join another blog-creator, so I've put it on google docs and here's the link:
1-column-per-day-Sunday-Saturday

I guess since this is my own creation, I should say this: feel free to use it for yourself, family, friends, etc.  If you're going to charge money, take the trouble to make your own - don't charge for something you got for free, and they could get for free.  (That's my short version of the Creative Commons license.)
The two other best fit free calendars I've found (we may still use the Edwardian one come fall) are:
http://www.studenthandouts.com/01-Web-Pages/Lot-01/Weekly-Hourly-Planner.pdf
and
http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/planner.htm

Leave it to Beaver

I was recently looking for something "mostly harmless" for my children to watch on netflix, when this caught my eye.  Now, I grew up with very limited TV viewing, so even if this show (or the reruns, more likely) were on, I don't think I ever got to see it.  And all I knew about it as an adult was the occasional scathing feminist criticism of June Cleaver, with her beautifully pressed dress, beauty-parlor hair, and immaculate housekeeping - and no apparent ambition to do anything other than what she is doing.
As a wife and mother myself, who has recently started enjoying this show, I have this to say:  the humor is gentle.  The parents love each other, and love their children.  The children like each other, and are kind to each other.  When they aren't, it isn't the cue for a laugh, it's the problem to be resolved in the episode. Does June Cleaver set an unrealistic standard for women?  Certainly no more so than shows which portray women working outside the home, raising children, and maintaining the same standards of beauty and organization that June Cleaver appears to spend her day on - with less outside help than she evidently hires.   It's an idyllic picture of childhood and growing up in America; I don't know if it's anything more than that - or if it was ever meant to be.  But as pictures - necessarily limited in their scope - go, it a pleasant one.

The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival : Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low

This book is delightfully silly, truly amusing, and a breath of fresh air in a world which increasingly descends to the crass and vulgar in attempting to entertain.  Such misguided buffoonery would clearly be beneath Petronella, a spirited, intelligent, stalwart heroine worthy of anyone's admiration.  In short, I loved it.  (Good for all ages; probably especially enjoyed by girls in the 9+ range.  A dignified alternative to "teenage girl" books  - a definite plus to my pre-teen girl.)

My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George

My Side Of The Mountain is about Sam Gribley, a 12 year old boy who decides to run away from his cramped home in New York, and learns to survive in the wilderness around his great-grandfathers farm up in the Catskill mountains. I found it interesting, well written, thought provoking, light-hearted, and enjoyable. 

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

The blurb: Post apocalyptic distopia, "mutant" psychics, Etc. Etc.

What it starts to look like: Enders Game/Neon Genesis Evangelion meets Carrie,
then edited until it looks PG(read: no aliens), if still depressing.

Plot Holes: Yes.
To name but a few:

• No space colonies(despite the bad guy having a space station)
• No underwater colonies
• The twin in the beginning not leaving anything identifying during her escape and capture(she has telekinesis for crying out loud)
• None of the "mutant" kids pulling a Carrie(except one, and he gets stopped by a glance)
• Convincing via television hoax * nearly two thirds of the planet to evacuate to the remaining third.

Premise: Great, 4 stars, could make for some excellent fanfiction.
Execution: Terrible, 1.9 stars, not as bad as it could have been, but there are better uses of my time.

*Spoiler, highlight to show.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

I was surprised at how much I liked this book.  I'm normally just frustrated with books which include magic which may not be magic at all - I like fantasy, I like historical fiction, I like to know what I'm getting into.  But somehow this was such a well-told story that it didn't bother me at all.  And as a coming of age, family reconciliation story it was beautiful.  Suitable for young advanced readers; there is some talk of ghosts and one death scene.  Set in the Great Depression with flashbacks to WWI, just before the great Spanish Influenza epidemic - there are some serious topics, but (I felt) very well dealt with.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I liked this book because even though at a couple of points I felt that it was somewhat unrealistic I thought that it did a good job showing how friendship can work, especially in a family setting. It was funny, interesting, and a light read---I think I would recommend it to just about anyone old enough to understand it.

Gardeners of Eden: Rediscovering our Importance to Nature by Dan Dagget

Many books about ecological responsibility leave you thinking there's no hope - that humans and a green, happy planet are antithetical to each other, or at least that technology and (planet) health are never going to work together.
This book did a remarkably convincing job of saying "it's not true." It's a slim volume, maybe half a dozen case studies, talking about how intelligent use of resources for humans can actually improve things for the other critters involved, too. Well!
I won't reiterate much of the argument here, only say that this has beautiful photos, lovely short stories, and made me feel that the idea of humans as caretakers - some would say stewards - for the earth is not such a bad one, after all.

Science Fair Season by Judy Dutton

Judy Dutton read a NYT article about a kid who was trying to train Madagascar Cockroaches in hopes of proving that they could be used as drug-sniffing-roaches instead of drug-sniffing dogs, and she was so surprised when he didn't place in the national science fair that she set out to find out why. This book-- with one chapter per project-- contains the answer to her question, which is basically that there were better projects out there. It also contains some of the most interesting science writing I've read in a very long time. My favorites are the story about the girl who taught her autistic cousin how to talk; the one aobut another girl who figured out a new and really cheap way to tell if(/that) DuPont was polluting the water in her town; and the Navajo boy who built a solar water heater for his house out of a radiator (didn't win, did get a scholarship to a much better school than the one he was at).

Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser

I did not always love the writing in this book (or, to be more precise, the editing) but goodness if it doesn't lay down a compellingly readable story. I mean, really: a formerly-dominant-world-religion, finding itself persecuted in a land where it is now a minority, has adherents who decide that terrorism-- specifically, destroying a major government building in an eye-catching ball of fire-- is the way to let the rest of the populace know that they are really serious about their demands. Of course, if you grew up celebrating Guy Fawkes' Day, none of that may be new to you; what is new about this book is that Ms. Fraser does a creditable job of describing both the situation in general and the personalities of the persons involved in such a way that you kind of know why they did what they did. The leader of the terrorists (who was not Guy Fawkes) was both charismatic and crazy; the one priest who was executed in connection to the affair had argued the entire time against terrorism; he did so when one of the plotters confessed what they were planning to do (and thought, at the time, that he had convinced the fellow not to go through with it) and he did so again, from the scaffold, just before he was hanged. You wouldn't think this would make for cheerful reading, but it kind of does.

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

I like this book because it is funny, interesting, informative, and furthermore informative in a way which I find extremely helpful in my every day life. Really, any book that mentions "Read Aristotle" right next to "Have More Fun" was likely to get me. Gretchen Rubin spent an entire year trying out something like sixty new-year's-resolutions to see which, if any, had an effect on her happiness. The very thought of someone doing this makes me feel exhausted, and yet as I read her account of her adventures, I felt encouraged and uplifted and perhaps even a little challenged: if she could have a happiness project, surely I could. So I have-- I am-- and while I haven't taken as many of her ideas for myself as you might think, this was still a very good read, and also a very good conversation starter.

Stalling for Time by Gary Noesner

Gary Noesner was not only the FBI's chief hostage negotiator for many years, but he was also a major player in developing their hostage negotiation progarm, period. Thus, he not only gives a lucid description of what makes for a good negotiation (stall for time, tell the truth, have firepower backing you up but not going in first)-- he also tells where this stuff comes from, mostly in the form of stories. (He doesn't never lie, by the way. It's just that he does so very, very rarely.) He also gives a believeable description of what happened-- what went wrong-- both at Ruby Ridge and at Waco. I've been waiting for that explanation for a while, mostly because these sorts of domestic problems (Waco, Columbine, OK City bombing) have happened  happen right around my birthday, in April. The writing is not always what I'd pick-- it sometimes feels a bit hodge-podgey to me-- but for the information it offers (not to mention the excellent storytelling) I found it well worth the read.