Read of the Town: The Giver by Lois Lowry

I've got a review of the movie coming today, but I wanted to discuss the fact that the book, like most whenever a movie version is released, has been put on prominent display in most bookstores, thereby trying to get people to buy it. Duh!

I've read several reviews about the movie lately that suggest it is nothing like the book. The book was published in the early 90's and I remember reading it around that time. Almost a good 20 years ago, so I remembered very little about it when I saw the movie this past weekend. One thing it did do for me was make me want to go back and re-read (as if for the first time) The Giver. And maybe I'm alone in this discovery, but it turns out The Giver was one of four books written on the "dystopian" subject! So you know me, I had to buy all four books and to make it easier on myself, I decided to go with a newly published version that puts them all together for me.

It's beautifully bound and not as heavy as it looks since they used a kind of paper and binding that doesn't weigh much. And believe me, those days of carrying heavy books are OVER!

Have you read the Lois Lowry book? Just the first one or all of them? Were you like me and didn't know there were books beyond The Giver?

Look for my review of the movie soon!

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh (Childhood Classic)

Every now and then I like to go into the children's section of Barnes & Noble to see what they have in this 21st Century to read. I also like to see if they still have the books I read then I was little. And they do. But they put MY generations books in the "Children's Classics" section! Am I really that old?! I guess so! But, and I hope you agree with me, there are just some childhood books that we're never too old for. I think Winnie-the-Pooh would be an excellent example of that.

My first encounter with Winnie-the-Pooh, in literature form, I was too young to remember. My mom read to me all the time when I was little and this was one of the books she read when I was under the age of 10. My first encounter with Pooh Bear the cartoon wasn't long thereafter and I've got to say Pooh is my favorite when I compare him to such shows as the Muppets or Sesame Street which are also rooted in the fantasy of talking animals. I'll even admit that to this day I will watch ANY Winnie-the-Pooh movie and be absolutely mesmerized and taken to a place of calm and goodness that I think we all need sometimes. Especially as I get older I find myself seeking out books and tv shows of my childhood to remind me of a happier time when I wasn't being practically suffocated by bills and work and responsibilities!

What takes you to that place of calm and goodness? Where do you go, what do you do, to take you back to that time when your childlike mind roamed free?