Russ Report post Posted December 19, 2012 I know. I tend to not like children's books that adults may "get" or enjoy more than children, but those two Klassen books are genius. I love how those two books respect the food chain, in contrast to most of the rest of the animal-personification genre. Plus, while you'd think THIS IS NOT MY HAT would just be a rehash, it's actually funnier than its predecessor. The disconnect between the narration and the action in the pictures never fails to get laughs out of my kid. Quote --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peter T Chattaway Report post Posted December 19, 2012 Willems... Klassen... boy, the Mennonites are sure representing in this genre, aren't they? Quote "Sympathy must precede belligerence. First I must understand the other, as it were, from the inside; then I can critique it from the outside. So many people skip right to the latter." -- Steven D. Greydanus Now blogging at Patheos.com. I can also still be found at Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. See also my film journal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Report post Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) My Christmas books: From my mother-in-law, bless her heart: Playing With Purpose: Tim Tebow, a paperback with a cover that exclaims "Game Changer: The Trade to the New York Jets." I guess that didn't really work out for ol' Tim. From my dad: Raising a Modern-Day Knight, A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood. I'm sure this one will go over like gangbusters in these parts. I'm OK with books like this; I do plan to finish reading it. But I notice it was written in 1997, around the time of the Promise Keepers craze, and I already find myself talking back to the book in the early chapters. "Why is the life of a medieval knight the model for modern-day masculinity, rather than the life of Christ?" Edited December 30, 2012 by Christian Quote "What matters are movies, not awards; experiences, not celebrations; the subjective power of individual critical points of view, not the declamatory compromises of consensus." - Richard Brody, "Godard's Surprise Win Is a Victory for Independent Cinema," The New Yorker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rushmore Report post Posted December 30, 2012 My younger sister gave me a pocket-sized collection of Herman Melville's poetry, and from the notes I've learned a rather frightening fact: Melville wrote an epic poem that's about the same size as Moby-Dick, half again as long as the Divine Comedy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anders Report post Posted December 31, 2012 Small book stack this year, since I'm in Thailand with family and don't want to carry a lot back in our suitcase, but I got THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE by Haruki Murakami, and THE PERPETUAL RACE OF ACHILLES & THE TORTOISE by Jorge Luis Borges (whose FICCIONES I would rank among my favourite books of all time). Quote "A director must live with the fact that his work will be called to judgment by someone who has never seen a film of Murnau's." - François TruffautTwitter.Letterboxd. Reviews and essays at Three Brothers Film. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Report post Posted December 31, 2012 (edited) After spending my gift money on a Nook cover and a few CDs, my book-purchasing plans were in tatters. But I put the $2.50 balance toward a Nook book purchase of Marilynne Robinson's When I Was a Child I Read Books. Does one virtual book a "stack" make? EDIT: Oh, hey, I forgot that I used an online credit to buy one book in paper and ink. I'm hoping Wendell Berry and the Cultivation of the Christian Life will be worthwhile. Awww, shucks. After all that, I forgot I wanted that newish book on Brian De Palma! But that $40 price tag for a paperback ... ouch! Edited December 31, 2012 by Christian Quote "What matters are movies, not awards; experiences, not celebrations; the subjective power of individual critical points of view, not the declamatory compromises of consensus." - Richard Brody, "Godard's Surprise Win Is a Victory for Independent Cinema," The New Yorker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Russ Report post Posted January 17, 2013 Apart from the books we gave the kids, I bought my wife Behind the Beautiful Forevers, which she blew through quickly and loved. I rec'd an amazon gift card from my in-laws, which I converted into the BFI Film Classics volume on Haneke's Cache, a trade collection of Captain America, the DC Showcase volume of Weird War Tales and Hanna Pylvainen's We Sinners, which I intend to read this weekend. My dad's always tough to shop for, but he likes John Grisham books, so I figured I'd find him a legal thriller for Christmas. I went for Defending Jacob by William Landay based on the book jacket and positive reader reviews. He read it while vacationing and confided to me last night that the bleakness of it made him angrier than any book ever has, and he contemplated throwing it in the ocean several times. Quote --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Report post Posted January 17, 2013 Russ' dad's reaction to his son's gift is one of the great gift-reaction stories. I remember asking my dad if he'd ever read a Paul Auster book I'd given him. It has a dog on the front cover, and my dad likes dogs, so I thought he might ... no, he didn't. Quote "What matters are movies, not awards; experiences, not celebrations; the subjective power of individual critical points of view, not the declamatory compromises of consensus." - Richard Brody, "Godard's Surprise Win Is a Victory for Independent Cinema," The New Yorker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darren H Report post Posted January 17, 2013 Biggest hit from the kids' book stacks was definitely Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, which my two-year-old has already mostly memorized. She gets a ridiculously-cute, serious expression on her face every time the little letters fall out of the coconut tree. "Oh no!" But her favorite page is when the capital letters hug the lowercase letters, because . . . well . . . my daughter is a hugger and she takes every opportunity to celebrate hugging. Quote Long Pauses Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Russ Report post Posted January 17, 2013 (to Christian) Yeah, I thought so, too. Apparently he kept getting visibly angry by the increasingly dark tone, and several times my stepmother told him to just stop reading it. He soldiered on, though, partly out of a hope that it would get better and out of some duty to finish it since I'd given it to him with the attached praise of a bunch of people on amazon who I've never met but who raved about the book. I guess those John Grisham books never end with a mom driving her car at a high rate of speed into a piece of infrastructure to kill herself and the son she helped to beat a murder charge when she learns he was guilty. (to Darren) "Chicka chicka boom boom. Will there be enough room?" Someday when I'm consigned to a bed somewhere, these things will remain embedded in my gray matter. Quote --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Report post Posted December 19, 2013 Bump. Is anyone giving a book stack this year? Quote "What matters are movies, not awards; experiences, not celebrations; the subjective power of individual critical points of view, not the declamatory compromises of consensus." - Richard Brody, "Godard's Surprise Win Is a Victory for Independent Cinema," The New Yorker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darren H Report post Posted December 19, 2013 Sort of. It won't be a typical stack, but I'm getting each of the girls one book and then they're getting the complete set of Little House books. Quote Long Pauses Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Drew Report post Posted December 20, 2013 Wow, I've never noticed this thread until now. Not a stack this year, per se, but I've made it a tradition to send my niece books at Christmas. Two years ago it was quite a collection. I passed onto her our family's Fireside Editions Dickens collection, which had originally been purchased for her great-great-grandmother in 1882. Last year I it was a bit more more modest. I ended up sending her The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art & Design. This year I'm picking up from last year with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles II: Creatures and Characters, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles: Art and Design (say what you will about the films, but these books are fabulous). Quote Formerly Baal_T'shuvah "Everyone has the right to make an ass out of themselves. You just can't let the world judge you too much." - Maude Harold and Maude Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Report post Posted December 25, 2013 The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai (the novel Werckmeister Harmonies is based on) Sky Saw by Blake Butler S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst The Wes Anderson Collection by Matt Zoller Seitz I've only paged through the Anderson book, but it looks terrific. Quote It's the side effects that save us. --The National, "Graceless"Twitter Blog Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Report post Posted December 26, 2013 No books for me, but a $25 Barnes & Noble card that I'm thinking of using on Terry Teachout's Duke. Quote "What matters are movies, not awards; experiences, not celebrations; the subjective power of individual critical points of view, not the declamatory compromises of consensus." - Richard Brody, "Godard's Surprise Win Is a Victory for Independent Cinema," The New Yorker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anders Report post Posted December 28, 2013 THE WES ANDERSON COLLECTION by MZS THE MAKING OF RETURN OF THE JEDI by J. W. Rinzler THE NARNIAN by Alan Jacobs A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R. R. Martin Quote "A director must live with the fact that his work will be called to judgment by someone who has never seen a film of Murnau's." - François TruffautTwitter.Letterboxd. Reviews and essays at Three Brothers Film. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christian Report post Posted December 26, 2014 We gave our kids several sticker books this year, as well as two Brian Selznick books and several Usborne books. (Does anyone else like Usborne books? Our kids have read several and have loved most of them.) No books for me today, but I still have some gifts from relatives to open. Not that I need any more books, mind you. Quote "What matters are movies, not awards; experiences, not celebrations; the subjective power of individual critical points of view, not the declamatory compromises of consensus." - Richard Brody, "Godard's Surprise Win Is a Victory for Independent Cinema," The New Yorker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peter T Chattaway Report post Posted December 26, 2014 I learned about sex from the copulating robots in an Usborne book. Quote "Sympathy must precede belligerence. First I must understand the other, as it were, from the inside; then I can critique it from the outside. So many people skip right to the latter." -- Steven D. Greydanus Now blogging at Patheos.com. I can also still be found at Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. See also my film journal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
