I was thinking a lot yesterday about those years and what I read and saw at the movies and caught on the tube growing up far away from major museums in a cow town--way before the internet thing invaded. And what blew me away and how I hold a lot of those books, the music--like dear little friends who I would defend against anyone--family friends in the fight against all that came through my life when I was a kid.

For me those books were ones like the Wind in the Willows, Pooh, Maida's Little House, At the Back of the North Wind, Nancy Drew and then seguing into Sherlock Holmes, the Bond books, all of Agatha Christie I could find, fantasy and science fiction.

And then today I read this and it made a lot of sense about what books can do for the young-- whether they have rotten lives or charmed lives or something in between. I've not been a big fan of Alexie but maybe I'll read this most recent book. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are- written-in-blood/

I had Kim read this because he had a class in 8th grade that taught books of this genre. His reply after reading it was that that is great if the people that would benefit from it do read it, but that the writing in and of itself is not necessarily literature and shouldn't be taught in a literature class. One case in point is Forged by Fire. Of course he, luckily, has not been subjected to any of these horrific circumstances, but he did go to school with kids that were.

I finished Catcher in the Rye and am not sure why it is such an iconic book along the lines of To Kill a Mocking Bird. Perhaps some male point of view would help.