Fiction Friday: Challenging Edition

Recently, ACSD (=a certain Shiputzim daughter) had to write something about “challenges” for her school’s English newspaper.

Here’s her submission:

******

A Challenging Assignment

by ACSD

One day, my teacher told us to write a story about challenges for the school newspaper. It was a big challenge for me to think what to write.

I sat at my desk and thought what to write. I wrote and erased, wrote and erased. I crumpled up the paper and threw it out. I asked my mother, my father, my brothers, and my sisters for ideas, but they could not help me.

The deadline for the assignment was getting closer and closer, and I still had nothing. I wanted to write a story, but I did not even know where to start.

I moved to the computer room, but I had nothing to type. When I was lying in bed, I thought. On my way to school, I thought. During school, I thought. After school, I thought. But I still could not come up with an idea.

The night before the assignment was due, I stayed up late thinking. Finally, my mother said that I should go to sleep. I had no choice, and so I went to bed.

I realized that the next day, I would have no story about a challenge…

******

Great job, ACSD!

!שבת שלום ומבורך

Fiction Friday: “Don’t Go Near the Water” edition

In a recent post entitled, IDF battles should be scripted by... PR experts?, blogger Carl in Jerusalem discussed the inane suggestion of a certain newspaper opinion writer:

“[The writer] argues that Israel is losing the PR war because it's allowing the IDF to determine battle conditions. Instead, he claims, we should orchestrate IDF actions for the media.”

Carl correctly concluded:

“Sorry, but no. I'd rather win the military battle than the PR one given a choice between the two. The terror organizations can make PR [their] one priority because they are indifferent to loss of life - their own or others. We are not, not should we be. We must place military necessity first.”

Yet the logical fallacies and tactical and strategic absurdities inherent in the op-ed writer’s arguments aren’t the only problems with his claim.

You see, I’m no lawyer (nor do I play one in the J-Blogosphere), but I suspect that copyright issues may be involved in cases – such as this one - where life attempts to imitate art… ;-)

After all, the idea of forcing the military experts to defer to the PR guys is something straight out of one of my all-time favorite books: William Brinkley’s hysterical Don't Go Near the Water.

This wonderful, lighthearted, and hilariously funny novel focuses on a US naval PR unit based on Tulura (a fictional Pacific island) during World War II.

The unit’s commander earnestly believes that nothing is as important as PR and can’t understand why much – if not all – of the naval brass disagrees with him.

In other words, the aforementioned opinion writer has apparently run out of original ideas and has thus now resorted to out-of-print 1950’s bestsellers for inspiration…

BTW, if you’ve never read Don't Go Near the Water, I suggest that you immediately head over to your local library or preferred online source and get yourself a copy of this highly-recommended romantic comedy. Escapist reading at its best, it’s my vision of the ideal book for a long summer Shabbat afternoon…

!שבת שלום ומבורך

Fiction Friday: Betsy-Tacy edition

There’s certainly no shortage of excellent children’s literature out there.

But IMNSHO, nothing’s better than the classic – and highly enjoyable - Betsy-Tacy series.

Actually, these books kind of run in our family. Not only were they my mother’s favorites when she was a girl, but all the Shiputzim daughters love them as well.

In fact, when ACSD (a certain Shiputzim daughter) was in elementary school and had to do a project about a children’s author, she naturally chose Maud Hart Lovelace, the author of the Betsy-Tacy series.

Part of the assignment was to write a biography. ACSD chose to do it in the form of an [imaginary] “interview” and graciously agreed to share a few excerpts*:

An “Interview” with Maud Hart Lovelace

by ACSD

ACSD: Hello. How are you?

Maud: Oh. I’m fine.

ACSD: May I please ask you a few questions about your life?

Maud: Yeah. Sure.

ACSD: When where you born?

Maud: I was born on April 25, 1892, in Mankato, Minnesota.

…

ACSD: How did you get the idea of writing the “Betsy-Tacy” books?

Maud: I would tell Merian [Ed. note – her daughter] bedtime stories about my childhood, and that gave me the idea to write the “Betsy-Tacy” books.

ACSD: That means that these books are based on your own life. Doesn’t it?

Maud: Well, yeah.

…

ACSD: What year did the first book come out?

Maud: The first book, Betsy-Tacy, came out in 1940.

ACSD: And the last one?

Maud: The last one, Betsy's Wedding, came out in 1955.

ACSD: I have one last question. I don’t want to be rude or anything, but when did you die?

Maud: Oh, it’s fine. I died on March 11, 1980.

ACSD: Thank you for agreeing to talk to me. I enjoyed hearing about your life.

Maud: You’re welcome. Goodbye.

ACSD: Goodbye!

Thanks, ACSD! Every time I read this interview*, it makes me smile!

!שבת שלום ומבורך

________

*Readers are invited to come to TRLEOOB (=the real life equivalent of our blog) to see the project – including the rest of the interview – in its entirety.

Fiction Friday: Barsetshire Edition

Warning: This post may exceed the recommended daily allowance for literary discussions about obscure authors. Proceed at your own risk.

In the comment section to my comb-o-phobia post (Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Or, you could just read the post, and then you’ll understand what I’m talking about…), I referred to Angela Thirkell’s charming Barsetshire novels.

Specifically, I noted that in "Marling Hall", an old governess amuses her new charges with stories about one David Leslie, who used to - gasp! - cut the teeth off his comb (brush?) so he wouldn't have to comb his hair.

Since I wasn’t sure if it was a brush or a comb but didn’t have the book in front of me, I decided to do a quick search – to no avail. (“I’ll tell you what,” as Lucy Marling would say. Please leave a comment with the correct answer, if you have access to the book yourself.)

However, I did come across the Angela Thirkell Society’s site, which contains, inter alia (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase. Hopefully, I did so correctly… :-)), companions to many of the books and a very useful “dictionary” of all the characters.

Angela Thirkell fans should definitely check this site out.

And if you’re not yet an Angela Thirkell fan but happen to enjoy pure escapist reading – amusing storylines, delightful characters, entertaining prose, and, most importantly, happy endings – I highly recommend the Barsetshire novels.

Happy reading!

שבת שלום ומבורך!

Fiction Friday: Gone With the Wind edition

Warning: The following post may contain spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

The Resident Ulpanistit (TRU) recently finished reading Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind”.

Brief interjection: Please note that she BA”H read the entire 1037-page (but who’s counting) epic in the original English! Well done, TRU! </maternal boasting>

Anyway, she enjoyed the book immensely but was somewhat perturbed by the abrupt ending.

I assured her that everything works out – although I cautioned her that a certain so-called “anonymous” Swedish-speaking commenter will probably tell her otherwise.

Please help me alleviate TRU’s understandable concerns by leaving a comment confirming that Rhett Butler does, indeed, come back…

!שבת שלום ומבורך

 

Fiction Friday: “Eragon” edition

As part of her book report on Christopher Paolini's “Eragon”, the Resident Ulpanistit had to illustrate “an event from the book”.

She decided to make a comic strip:

Click on the image for a full-size view.

The Resident Ulpanistit reports that internationally-acclaimed auteur MAG helped her draw the dragon in the final frame.

!שבת שלום ומבורך