Saturday, August 24, 2013

Read, Read, Read

Because I need to get borrowed books back on time I am often reading 3 or 4 books at a time.  Fortunately on a Kindle this is not a problem.   I am midstream on three books right now and just finished "The Dressmaker" and sent it back.

A journalist Kate Alcott wrote "The Dressmaker" about the sinking of the Titanic and the Congressional Hearings that followed.  These hearings led to laws being past that would help to prevent the tragedy of the Titanic.  It was all woven in with a sweet heroine who came to America on the Titanic to further her ambitions of being a dressmaker.  I really like historical fiction because you always learn something in such an easy and enjoyable way.

Learning history and geography the way we were taught in school is not necessarily an  easy and enjoyable way, too much memorization of facts and figures which are soon forgotten.  For instance we had a Current Events paper which we had to read in Junior High.  At the end of the week Ms. Corbett would ask questions about it and we did not get to choose which one was orally answered.  We had to stand and answer whichever question she asked.  If we got it wrong, she would say "Check It Off".  If you got three checks you had to write something, can't remember what.  But I was always terrified at these times.  And did I remember what I learned.  Not!

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