tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1027105660999256483.post688085510565325452..comments2023-07-31T06:39:35.966-04:00Comments on The Cranky Librarian: The Girl Who Doesn't CryLibrary Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10598292542165692366noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1027105660999256483.post-77588011555557642382013-06-03T12:35:12.192-04:002013-06-03T12:35:12.192-04:00"Just a story"? The very idea! What ma..."Just a story"? The very idea! What makes us human if not the ability of stories to move us, to change our behavior and challenge us to understand the world and our place in it in new ways? How does the divine mediate in human affairs more powerfully than through a story well told? But before I get all Joseph Campbell on you, let me get to the comment you were expecting. Way back in the olden days, my elementary school teachers would spend around 30 minutes a day reading aloud to their captive audience during fruit break. Where the Red Fern Grows brought even the 4th grade playground toughs to open weeping. Oh, for our youthful days, when the associations of femininity and/or weakness connected with tearful expressions were less taboo. That said, the only place I have ever seen either of my parents cry were in church - where tears can be a sort of offering, or at the funeral home. What is that, the plucky Brit in us? Or just dysfunction?DRossnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1027105660999256483.post-64434369804144528642013-05-08T10:34:48.821-04:002013-05-08T10:34:48.821-04:00Yes! That first book that doesn't have a happy...Yes! That first book that doesn't have a happy ending is a life-changer. I might have thrown Catcher In the Rye across Tammy Greenwald's car when I finished it. I had read unhappy ending before, but with books that happened in the Depression or war-time. It seemed to me Holden could have gotten his crap together. And since he didn't, what chance did I have? Library Ladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10598292542165692366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1027105660999256483.post-29612819995498721822013-05-08T07:26:55.336-04:002013-05-08T07:26:55.336-04:00I think I cried tears of frustration the first tim...I think I cried tears of frustration the first time I read 1984. I was a little too young for that book, and kept waiting for the part where the resistance saved Winston and overthrew Big Brother, because books always have happy endings, right?Robert K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01018504659598095947noreply@blogger.com