My child is a genius

[lunabee34]

1. Fiona placed fifth in the nation for extemporaneous poetry composition at the National Beta Club Convention Elementary Division. We are so proud of her!!!

2. I have already started to get glorious birthday presents. My SIL got me some elegant stationery from a shop in her hometown, amejisuto got me a gorgeous purple quill with ink stand and a journal to record the books I've read, and misbegotten sent me an Etsy gift card which I have used to buy some earrings. Our honeymoon was a cruise that left out of New Orleans, and Josh bought me a gorgeous garnet bead necklace and earrings set at the Riverwalk while we were waiting to board. But somewhere along the way, I lost one of the earrings, so I got some beaded hoops that are a perfect match! Thanks to everyone!

3. I've been rereading some books I've kept since childhood that Fiona has outgrown so that I can say goodbye to them.



The Boggart by Susan Cooper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this. I like the depiction of the Boggart as very inhuman and hedonistic while not being malicious. I also really enjoyed the depictions of late eighties/very early nineties gamer culture.



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The Prince's Players by Debra Doyle

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a book from the middle of a series; I acquired it in childhood (probably as part of the Reading Is Fun program in elementary school) and never read any of the other books in the series. So, there's context that is missing, but it reads fine as a standalone, and I would definitely have enjoyed reading more books in this series as a kid.



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The White Stag by Kate Seredy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The illustrations in this are exquisite. I remember being particularly struck as a kid by the illustration of the moon maidens.

I have no idea of the historical accuracy of this narrative; I suspect not very as Seredy says as much in her introduction.



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Sword of Egypt by Bert Williams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this as a kid--preteen saving the day when grown ups can't was little me's jam. I also really enjoyed reading about ancient cultures as a kid (and still do!).



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The New Poetic by C.K. Stead

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I know very little about W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot and very little about modernism, so this was very informative for me. I also like the author's writing style; for a book of literary criticism written in the 60s, it's very readable with clearly cited sources.

And then the author loses me in the last two chapters where he explains in-depth Eliot's theory of writing poetry and whether or not he thinks Eliot accomplishes it in specific poems. Some of it is just that I don't like Eliot, and some of it is that his ideas about the poetry writing process are incredibly opaque and bizarre to me.



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Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is so good. Atwood captures the cruelties of adolescence in disturbing and moving ways.

I think that what I enjoy the most about this novel (besides Atwood's always beautiful prose) is that the narrator always feels herself separate from other girls and then women; she feels more comfortable with boys and then men and feels contemptuous of many women. Throughout the course of the novel, though, she comes to realize that many, if not most, of her assumptions about about the other women she's known in her life have been flawed.



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Comments

[musyc]

Hooray Fiona!!

[lunabee34]

We are so proud of her!

[corvidology]

Congratulations to Fiona and a very happy birthday to you! ♥

[lunabee34]

Thank you thank you! <3

[troisoiseaux]

Happy birthday!! And congrats to Fiona!

[lunabee34]

Thank you on both counts!

[sholio]

Congrats to Fiona, and I'm glad the birthday is shaping up nicely!

[lunabee34]

Thank you thank you! :)

[teaotter]

Whoot! Fiona is, indeed, a genius!

I'm glad your birthday is going well, too. Happy birthday!

[lunabee34]

Well, the apple, you know . . . LOL

Thank you on both counts. :D

[sheafrotherdon]

Yay for Fiona!!

And when is your birthday!!?

[lunabee34]

Thank you!

It's the 19th, Juneteenth, a holiday I am extremely honored to share the day with.

[umadoshi]

Congrats to Fiona! And yay for lovely, loving things!

[lunabee34]

Thank you thank you! <3

[timespirt]

My congratulations to Fiona.

A very happy birthday to you coming up.

"HUGS"

[lunabee34]

Thank you thank you! :D

[gloss]

Fiona, upholding the family tradition of word-love! That's so wonderful.

I love Cat's Eye. I think it's my fave Atwood -- certainly it's the ine that has affected me most powerfully and for the longest time.

[lunabee34]

Word-love! That's it. :D

Many ages ago when in elementary school, I also placed for writing poetry at the Beta Club Convention, but I can't remember what place I got or whether it was the State or National Convention. I'll have to ask my mom.

I loved Cat's Eye. It was so so good--just raw. I think my favorite of hers so far is The Blind Assassin.

[china_shop]

Go Fiona, yay! \o/

*showers you with early good-birthday wishes* <3 <3 <3

[lunabee34]

Thank you on both counts, friend!

[makamu]

Go Fiona!

And you'll get your birthday wishes on the day because German folk superstions have it that saying them early brings bad luck, and I only want the best for you :)

[lunabee34]

Thank you!

And awwwww. *blushes* Thank you for protecting me. :D

[lyr]

1) Wow! Go, Fi! That's wonderful.
2) Aww, I'm glad. You deserve all the birthday goodness.

[lunabee34]

Thank you thank you!

[princessofgeeks]

I love your reviews. Hello.

[lunabee34]

I'm glad! I hope you find things you want to read sometimes. <3

[amejisuto]

WOW! That's great that Fiona did that well! You must be proud!

So glad you like the present, dear heart! You are a great friend and mean a lot to me!

[lunabee34]

We are very proud. She's such a sweet kid; being smart, too, is just the icing on the cake.

Right back at ya! I'm very glad to have you as a friend.

[executrix]

Go go go Fiona!
I forget everybody's birthday and accordingly forgot yours BUT will be at the St. Agnes book sale next week and hope to find some really interesting books for you.

[lunabee34]

Thank you!

No worries; you just sent me a box of books which I am eagerly devouring. That's a wonderful gift! <3

[kass]

Go Fiona, and yay for lovely birthday presents!

Oh, man, I haven't read Cat's Eye in decades. I wonder what I would think of it now.

[lunabee34]

Thank you thank you!

It's always so interesting coming back to books we read as kids or early in adulthood, isn't it?

[independence1776]

Congratulations to Fiona!

[lunabee34]

Thank you!

[spikedluv]

Fifth in the nation?!! That's wonderful! Congrats to Fiona!

Happy birthday!!! *hugs*

[lunabee34]

Thank you, friend. We are so proud of her.

Hugs!

<3

[sabethea]

Wow, Fiona is amazing! All the congratulations!

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much! <3

[jackandahat]

Congratulations Fiona, that's awesome!

[lunabee34]

Thank you! We are so proud of her.

[archersangel]

congrats to Fiona and a happy birthday to you!

[lunabee34]

Hugs

Thank you so much!

[scintilla10]

Yay for Fiona, and happy birthday! \o/

[lunabee34]

Thank you on both counts!

<3

[ariadne83]

I'm not sure if this would count as a birthday present, but my brain is obsessed with Nathaniel Hawthorne & Herman Melville at the moment. I keep having Thoughts about a queer reading of The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick as two sides of a debate about desire, social constraint, internalised homophobia...

And then when I followed down the rabbit hole, I found out that Melville's biggest fanboy was E.M. Forster, which, OF COURSE. Of course the guy who wrote Maurice loved the drama of relentlessly pursuing your heart's desire, even if it destroyed you.

And reading more about Forster led me to George Merill & Edward Carpenter, so here I am at 6AM reading Carpenter's thoughts on the prison system: https://archive.org/details/prisonspolicean00carpgoog/mode/1up

Tl;dr I would LOVE to talk to you some time about The House of the Seven Gables, and just in general how Gothic novels are infused with queerness that got overlooked/erased for obvious reasons

[lunabee34]

I just finished reading The Scarlett Letter, and I can totally see a queer reading of Chillingworth's obsession with Dimmesdale.

I read The House of the Seven Gables as a preteen and don't really remember what it's about, and I read Moby Dick in grad school (so I remember much more about that one but not the finer points). I remember enough about Moby Dick to see where you can make a queer reading of that text but not HofSG. Tell me about what you see there.