ANA Book Club?

[Jim Scott]

I have read a bunch of books for school ... books for 7th and 8th grade ready for some adult type reading ...

was giving a book Blindness by Jose Saramago to read for 8th and 9th grade ... a sudden outbreak of unexplained blindness in an unnamed city ... a hundred pages in and so far there are alot of people that have come in contact with each other ... from first man who was at stop light and went blind , to the man who took him home and then stole his car , to the policeman who found the thief and took him home ... the government rounds all the blind people up and put them in an abandon mental hospital and it doesn't take long for people to either decide to help those around them or to go into attack mode ... breakdown of society on a small scale ...not sure where it is going ...I guess I will have to finish reading to find out

don't really like the style ...kind of narrative but no real conversations ... everyone is talking over each other ...alot of commas and no quotation marks .... no character names ...just people .. ( the doctor , the doctors wife , the girl with dark glasses , the boy with squinted eyes )  ... I was told today that it was made into a movie but I don't remember seeing it advertised ...

Soundy ~

Although I'm not a member of the ANA book club (my reading tastes are too dissimilar) as a moderator, it's my obligation to look at all new posts.  I saw yours about the book 'Blindness' being incoherent but subsequently made into a movie, a concept that intrigued me, so I checked it out.  Here is a link to Roger Ebert's review:  http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081002/REVIEWS/810020302/1023  Hint: Ebert gave it 1½ stars.

Jim

[Soundy]

I looked up the book and read a bit on it ... seems like my take that what was happening in the mental hospital (social breakdown) also takes place on the outside as most of the city goes blind and crazy ... I rarely read reviews on books before reading them ... but from what I read I don't think this will be a keeper for the 8th and 9th grade ...I need to go on a search for books that are about real life situations and less fantasy based that would interest the kids without getting to graphic or violent ... and the books they are sending for approval are all over the place lately and most have either a death theme like the Hunger Games books or goofy like the wimpy kid books that are reading from 4th through 8th grade ...Blindness seems like a book for older audiences ...

I checked out that review and he describes what the book is doing to a T ... even though the book in my hands is not making noise , the way it is written is mentally noisy and distracting ... I know what I mean and that is the best I can put it ... I feel like I should finish it before reporting to the teacher my feelings but don't really want to finish it

I did notice that fellow ANer Mark Ruffalo played the doctor

[msmaggie]

Too funny about the casting!!

Priscilla

[cindyj]

Never heard of Blindness (the book or the movie), but I actually think it sounds a bit intriguing.  Will put it on my ever-growing list!  Currently reading a novel outside of my usual genre, but it's quite interesting so far - Island in the Sea of Time - anyone read it?  It's about the whole island of Nantucket and inhabitants being "thrown" back in time to 1250 BC...yes, a stretch

Priscilla, was it you who was talking about The Passage?  I think I came back and mentioned that I was disappointed in the ending...well, I've since learned that this is going to be a series and the next book is due out in 2012.  That explains the "left you hanging" ending  

Lori, come back more often, we haven't read anything as a group in quite some time.  Just informal talk about books we recommend (and don't recommend) these days.  Jim, feel free to chime in again also, we're always looking to expand our book horizons!

Cindy

[ddaybrat]

Just discovered this topic.  Wow!  Books!  I'm addicted to them and have been since I learned to read as a very small child.  My parents and older sister taught me to read when I was about 3, going on 4.  Today, I hit the library weekly and put away about 10 books a week.  Most are light mysteries...The Elm Creek Quilt Series, The Tea Shop Mysteries, and my favorite author, d*** Francis. I'm on disability and it's just me, so I have nothing else to fill my time...so I read.

Since my surgery, my brain doesn't seem to want to process anything very involved.  I lose my way and my interest in so many really good books.  I did notice some of the books on the brain that all of you have mentioned.  I need to pick up one or more of them and see if I can actually stick with one long enough to complete the book.  Maybe if I intersperse reading it with a book I really enjoy, I can make it through it.  I appreciate anything that helps me understand why my brain is reacting the way it is to the surgery I had.

I did just finish a very interesting book.  It's call 'Sing Me Home' by Jodi Pecault.  It brings up some very political and emotional issues that are faced in today's world.  Be aware that it deals with homosexuality, same-sex marriage, etc.  I wasn't when I started reading it and almost put it aside, but am glad I finished it.  The author doesn't try to force her views on the reader, but tends to offer several different views...both Christian and non-Christian, both radical and non-radical.  It's very well written.  The biggest complaint that I would have is that it's written in first person...by all the major players.  Thus, it jumps from one person to another and you have to adjust to who is actually doing the talking.  On the other hand, I think it is important for the book to be written in that manner so the reader is able to enter the mind and understand the emotions of each of the players.

Keep the suggestions coming for good books to read...Pat

[rayden1]

Hi

OMG16

Love reading currently about 200 unread book in my room and friends keep telling me about other good ones. So think it is great idea. Will post my favourites soon.

Ann x

i OMG16

[msmaggie]

 
For those of you w/upper elementary to middle school kids-particularly girls-I am reading an advance copy of a book called The Emerald Atlas, by Joseph Stephens.  The librarian at my school is a buddy of mine and she passed it on to me. I love it!  It is sort of a mix of The Dark Is Rising series, maybe some Narnia, and a lot of fantasy, obviously.   I don't know when it will be released, but I am really enjoying it.  It will most certainly be a series. Keep an eye out for it.

Priscilla

[Kaybo]

Hi Pat & welcome to our little reading nook of the Forum. I've read some of the Tea Shop Mysteries & like them for really light, fun reading. Have you read any of her others?

K 

[Soundy]

I did finish Blindness ... didn't like the way it was written but it did hold a message about human nature and how different people
would react in time of crisis ... some help others while some are all about taking care of themselves ...

[lori67]

Pat,

Jodi Piccoult's books are like that - in the beginning of them, I have a hard time keeping the characters straight, but eventually it gets easier.  I just finished Salem Falls by her and it was really good.  I've read most of her books and I really like them.

I also just swapped some books on swap.com and have The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry coming later this week.  It's gotten good reviews and I've read her other book - The Map of True Places - and loved it.

Lori

[G_Man]

I did finish Blindness ... didn't like the way it was written but it did hold a message about human nature and how different people
would react in time of crisis ... some help others while some are all about taking care of themselves ...

Soundy
When the movie "Blindness" came out the National Federation of the Blind, an organization which I am a member of, protested the movie.  I was part of a protest here in New York.  Basically we felt that it was supporting stereotypes of what it's like to be blind that were just ridiculous.  The movie actually turned out to be a bomb in theaters.  That's the funny thing about protesting a movie.  Sometimes you can have the opposite effect.  I think more people actually went to see it because they wanted to know what all the controversy was about.  As a person affected by blindness, I see how people are repelled by those of us who are blind.  The NFB strives to show blindness for what it is and that's not what was portrayed in that film.  I've found a sort of parallel in my disability and the AN in my head.  People don't seem to get either concept too well.  I have low vision.  I am a blind person.  Yes I have some vision.  I have vision that is so low that I AM A BLIND PERSON!  Being blind isn't just "no sight at all" and that's the definition that most people think about. 
I would be very upset to know that some teacher is using this book in a school to teach 7th and 8th graders unless it was a leasson on disabilities and part of the class consisted of various blind people visiting the class and to teach what blindness really is about.  By the way if any teachers in the US are reading this and would like to have a school visit from blind people I may be able to put you in touch with people who can make that happen.
Glen

[cindyj]

Hey, Glen, curious about your post...I haven't read the book or seen the movie (Blindness), so don't know any particulars about it.  What about the movie was offensive to you and the NFB?  I ask so that I can understand what you mean and then, hopefully, not offend anyone I may meet in the future.  Actually, I have a couple of relatives who are legally blind due to macular degeneration...I certainly don't want to offend them either!  One of these relatives (my husband's aunt) and I went to an "exhibit" in Atl called Dialog in the Dark - have you heard of it?  It was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had.  It was a tour in which blindness is simulated by total and complete darkness.  Our "tour guide" was a blind person.  We were taken through a series of rooms w/ miniature parks, grocery stores, street settings, a boat ride, etc.  I have a thread out here about it somewhere.  Anyway, I just want to be sure I am not inadvertently offending any one!

Thanks

Cindy

[G_Man]

Hey Cindy
Actually I never saw the movie either but the trailer really put a lot of people off.  Blindness is portrayed in the movie as a plague.  You know, the most awful thing that could happen to you, a disease, etc.  Every day of a blind person's life, if they are living life, is to prove that wrong.  It's a job we have whether we like it or not.  Movies like "Blindness" really don't help how we are perceived.  I just went to Netflix and pulled up the listing for "Blindness".  Here is how the description of the movie begins:
"After a plague of blindness overtakes the residents of a city, all sense of order breaks loose in the hospital where the victims are being quarantined."  Does that sound like a positive view of what it is to be blind?  When a blind person reads this description it doesn't make them feel really good, you know.
Anyway, I wasn't one of the people who really went nuts about this.  I know one blind woman wrote a book about the book "Blindness". 
I never heard of the event you went to in Atlanta.  The NFB has a convention every July.  It's been in Atlanta many times.  Actually my favorite place for the convention.  Sometimes at the conventions they have a setup where sighted people can put on a blindfold and be lead around for a few hours by a blind person through the hotel.  Just like it is with having an acoustic neuroma, blindness is different for everyone.  Some people take to it well and some don't.  Some people have loving and supporting families and other don't.  A very few of us have decent paying jobs that we can do and almost all of us don't.  The unemployment rate for blind Americans is over 70%.  That's a social security statistic and not something I just cooked up.  I'm always amazed how the simplest thing is lost on most folks in our society.  All people with disabilities really want is the opportunity to live a normal life like everyone w/o disabilities.  Sometimes the reactions I get from people is just absurd.  But schools don't spend any time educating kids on disabilities and I don't think parents even give much thought to it either.
I am glad to hear that some other folks are doing positive work like the NFB.  Do you remember who the group was doing the event you attended?

Anyway, hope to meet you one day. 
Best wishes
Glen

[CHD63]

Glen .....

I am so glad you posted this explanation.  I have not read "Blindness" nor seen the movie.  I also looked up the Netflix description and the premise of it turned me off immediately.  But your post described exactly what I was feeling.  Our society is woefully lacking in tolerance of anyone who is not like we want them to be.  And I agree that our school systems could be doing a whole lot more to educating people in understanding all kinds of life situations.

...... and now I consider myself even further educated on what it is like to be blind and our need to provide avenues for feeling "normal."

Clarice

[cindyj]

Ok, thanks, Glen, that makes sense...I must admit that I probably would not have thought of the premise being offensive, but I do see your point and am so glad you pointed it out to me/us.

Here's the link to the website about the Dialog in the Dark exhibit:

http://www.dialogtickets.com/exhibition.html

It's an experience I wish everyone could have! 

cindy