Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder…also known as the book that changed my life. There have been other significantly influential books throughout the years, of course, but Little House in the Big Woods and the subsequent Little House books became a cornerstone of my childhood from the day my maternal grandparents gave me the first one.
My grandparents always sent books as holiday presents. It could always be counted on that there would be a book as part of my birthday and Christmas presents, as well as for Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Halloween. They particularly enjoyed choosing series to send, slowly but surely providing me with a complete set. There may have been series sent to me before the Little House books, and I know for a fact there were series after, but none had quite the same influence on me.
You can’t quite begin to grasp the influence Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books had on my childhood unless I publicly admit to a few things that nobody outside of my family and anyone who knew me during my younger years knows. Here goes:
Little House in the Big Woods let to a significant obsession with all things Laura Ingalls Wilder and Little House. This included celebrating a birthday with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s wedding cake, getting taffy stuck in someone’s hair at a birthday party where we tried to make a taffy recipe from the Little House cookbook, family road trips that included visits to every single related site and monument you can think of between Northern California and Chicago, a sunbonnet and nightcap made by my grandmother (worn often and nightly, respectively), and an after-school tradition of watching Little House on the Prairie TV show re-runs.
As you can tell, the adventures of Laura had a great impact on my childhood.
Aside from the obsession, Little House in the Big Woods was the book that really made me love reading. It showed me that a story just didn’t have to be words on paper, that it could be something deeper…that I could take the story and embrace it on many levels.
Even beyond that, it was the foundation of a bond, and eventual common love of reading and books, between my mom and me. While my grandparents sent the books, my mom was the one to read them to me every night before bed. Laura’s journey was a journey we shared, and I can guarantee that if I have a daughter someday, it will be a journey she will share in, too.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sorry Amazon, your e-mails just haven't gotten me yet!
I get lots of e-mail promotions. Most of them are a direct result of something I've bought online in the past, but so far, I can proudly say that I've never purchased something as a direct result of an e-mail promotion.
It's unfortunate for Amazon that I tend to shop for my leisure reading in person and that 95% of the book purchases I've ever made from Amazon have been school books. That has resulted in a rather skewed, and slightly eclectic, list of books that Amazon is convinced I will like.
In the few instances where I've bought non-school-related items off Amazon, I've bought a strange variety, including tire chains and a book on Christianity for my Mom. Combined with a random assortment of school books, I imagine I'm one Amazon customer profile that is decidedly inaccurate. Fortunately for me, this makes it rather easy to ignore the suggestions Amazon constantly e-mails me.
Somehow, though, Amazon has discovered my weakness for shoes and have recently begun sending me shoe-related e-mails. I've clicked through and browsed, but I've yet to succumb to the temptation...
Let's see how long I hold out.
It's unfortunate for Amazon that I tend to shop for my leisure reading in person and that 95% of the book purchases I've ever made from Amazon have been school books. That has resulted in a rather skewed, and slightly eclectic, list of books that Amazon is convinced I will like.
In the few instances where I've bought non-school-related items off Amazon, I've bought a strange variety, including tire chains and a book on Christianity for my Mom. Combined with a random assortment of school books, I imagine I'm one Amazon customer profile that is decidedly inaccurate. Fortunately for me, this makes it rather easy to ignore the suggestions Amazon constantly e-mails me.
Somehow, though, Amazon has discovered my weakness for shoes and have recently begun sending me shoe-related e-mails. I've clicked through and browsed, but I've yet to succumb to the temptation...
Let's see how long I hold out.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Mud Puddle That Is E-book Rights
What constitutes e-book rights? PDF distribution? Kindle distribution? iPhone app distribution? XML format distribution? Because of the recent growth of these e-book formats, the general term "e-book rights" is just not easily--or clearly--defined.
With Amazon's announcement last week about the February 24 release date of the new-and-improved, more user friendly, slimmer Kindle (known as the Kindle2) came debate over e-book rights. See, the Kindle2 has a built-in text-to-audio feature that has the Authors Guild concerned about audio rights.
The question is: where in the gray area of e-book rights does an electronic device's ability to read text aloud fall? Is it an infringement upon publishers' ability to release audio versions of their books or sell the subsidiary audio rights?
I'm not sure I see how the Kindle2's text-to-audio feature differs much from the text-to-audio available on my laptop. I doubt the Kindle2's text-to-audio software can recreate the experience of listening to a book recorded by a live person, particularly if the software reads in a similar manner as my GPS or laptop. I don't know about anybody else, but I couldn't stand to sit through an entire 75,000+ word novel being read back to me by an electronic, simulated voice.
But, I could be wrong. Maybe many people will clamor for the Kindle2 when it releases next Tuesday, and maybe they will all fall in love with it's audio feature. If that's the case, then I think the Authors Guild will have reason to warn its members about negotiating e-book rights in their contracts.
Until then, the Kindle2's voice simulator is simply another uncertainty in a developing tenet of publishing that only time will be able to answer.
With Amazon's announcement last week about the February 24 release date of the new-and-improved, more user friendly, slimmer Kindle (known as the Kindle2) came debate over e-book rights. See, the Kindle2 has a built-in text-to-audio feature that has the Authors Guild concerned about audio rights.
The question is: where in the gray area of e-book rights does an electronic device's ability to read text aloud fall? Is it an infringement upon publishers' ability to release audio versions of their books or sell the subsidiary audio rights?
I'm not sure I see how the Kindle2's text-to-audio feature differs much from the text-to-audio available on my laptop. I doubt the Kindle2's text-to-audio software can recreate the experience of listening to a book recorded by a live person, particularly if the software reads in a similar manner as my GPS or laptop. I don't know about anybody else, but I couldn't stand to sit through an entire 75,000+ word novel being read back to me by an electronic, simulated voice.
But, I could be wrong. Maybe many people will clamor for the Kindle2 when it releases next Tuesday, and maybe they will all fall in love with it's audio feature. If that's the case, then I think the Authors Guild will have reason to warn its members about negotiating e-book rights in their contracts.
Until then, the Kindle2's voice simulator is simply another uncertainty in a developing tenet of publishing that only time will be able to answer.
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