Lise's Ramblings

When the Swedish Academy announced Alice Munro earned the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature, stores scrambled to add her books to prominent online and in-store displays. As you can see from my bookshelf, I am among the legions of fans of Munro’s remarkable stories.      CBC will dedicate this week’s Sunday Edition to Canada’s short-story maven.  Congratulations, Alice, a deserved win.

At bedtime, children implore parents and grandparents to read another story. Sure, stall tactics may be involved, but I like to believe that the desire to have someone read a tale aloud is at the heart of most pleadings. After all, some books can be appreciated the most when you hear the words roll off someone's tongue. Dr. Seuss stories come to mind.  Before ebooks, printed books or even scrolls, people relied on storytellers to entertain, enlighten, connect, and hand down oral histories and cultural experiences.  Aside from broader communities, reading aloud can also serve to strengthen bonds within families.  At our house, my hubby rarely sits still long enough to read. When he picks up something to read it tends to be a short piece from a newspaper’s business section, a hobbyist magazine or an instruction manual (yes, he's a rare breed). More often than not, his reading schedule coincides with bathroom breaks, because he optimizes every minute of his ...

The world of the tiny is intriguing and mystical. Think of the staying power of mesmerizing stories such as Mary Norton's The Borrowers , John Petersen's The Littles , J.R.R. Tolkien's hobbits , the Lilliputians in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels , and of course, we musn't forget Alice's adventure in minisculeness after she drank from the "drink me" bottle in Lewis Carroll's classic tale .    Even Hollywood had a hit with  Honey I Shrunk the Kids . Not that I'm saying that movie is on par with the books mentioned above. Yesterday, I found toadstools in my garden. Their caps aren't red with white polka dots, but perhaps it's still a sign that wee folk, gnomes or other mystical creatures live in our woods. Granted they haven't formed a ring . All the same, I'll keep an eye out for Shakespeare's "demi-puppets" as I muck about in the garden. Toadstools and a fairy dusting of       AWESOME! Have an...

Following up on my any excuse to celebrate entry, this month I submitted my second guest post to the fan-led 1000awesomefriends.org site. This time I chose to write in a different fashion and my topic was how Dr. Seuss influenced and influences generations of readers. Here’s a teaser… Inspiring generations to read Long before we had blogs, Google, flickr and Tweets, Dr. Seuss introduced us to Blogg, Yertle, Once-ler and Kweets. Along Mulberry Street and Pompelmoose Pass too, down to Who-ville and over to Solla Sollew. He showed us odd kingdoms, near and far, fed our brains and created characters bizarre. Check out the continuation of my silly poem on 1000awesomefriends.org [scroll past the book covers to read extra verses and reach the concluding AWESOME ].

Hear ye, fair readers of mine own random ramblings, yesternight ‘twas the oft celebrat’d birth of good William. Methinks ‘tis happen’d four hundred and forty eight times o’er.    While his exact birthday cannot be confirmed, April 23 rd has long been the agreed upon date to honour William Shakespeare (1564−1616). And despite the mystery shrouding aspects of his life, and the controversy and intrigue generated by his art, everyone from historians, English professors and literary critics to conspiracy theorists and ninnies can agree that the Shakespearean works have staying power. For more than four centuries, Shakespeare's works have influenced theatre goers, readers, teachers, students and people from all walks of life. I know I’ll never forget my initiation, as a pre-teen bowled over by Shakespeare's language and wit. My mother encouraged me to read “Twelfth Night” and then we took in an incredible performance of that ...

Ever since 1999, January 27 th has marked Family Literacy Day in Canada . Family literacy is meant to help bring children and adults together to develop and maintain language skills. Families have many options available to them; they can choose to read books aloud, sing songs, play board or online word games, write letters or cards, type text messages or emails, visit library programs, and take part in other formal or informal activities to support listening, comprehension and literacy.   During the past few weeks, I’ve seen my sister, brother-in-law and mom reading English and French stories to my 18-month-old niece. She counts along, mimics sounds, anticipates parts of her favourite books, bonds, wiggles, giggles, touches, etc. According to non-profit group Literacy BC, kiddos are likely to enter grade school “with several thousand hours of one-to-one pre-reading experience behind them” if they’ve been raised by literate families and caregivers.   So ...

If you’ve ever felt challenged by something in a book, then congratulations! Consider yourself fortunate to have the right to read books, magazines, e-books and other works that make you think about a topic, culture, plight, event or person from a completely different perspective.   Our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ensures that you have the right to pick up any book you desire to read. Not sure that's important in this day and age? Think censorship is a thing of the past? WRONG. Sadly, censorship continues to rear its ugly head. The Canadian Libraries Association published an updated 2011 list of works people have fought to have removed from school curricula and bookshelves in this country during the past ten years. Those titles included: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , The Handmaid’s Tale , Lives of Girls and Women , The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz , and all seven Harry Potter books. Fortunately, Canadian teachers, librarians, principals...