Kevin's Watch

My eldest daughter is reading LFB in anticipation of being surrounded by a bunch of Watchers at the DC Elohimfest next weekend. The younger one has read part of it but got sidetracked by schoolwork and never got back to it.

Eldest Daughter got home from work at about 11:30 last night, and the girls and I stayed up talking for at least a half-hour past that. I had fallen asleep on the couch before she got home, and was in that exhausted, fuzzy-brained, ought-to-be-in-bed state. We were chatting about work and school and whatnot, when out of the blue, Eldest Daughter says, "Oh, Mom, I got past the rape."

Mom: <blink> "Wait -- what??"

Daughters: <hysterical laughter>

Mom: "Oh -- *that* rape!"

And then I said that the key question is whether she kept reading, and she said she did. But will she finish the whole book? Stay tuned....

DOH!

I can imagine your first heart stopping response!

I had posted a while back entitled How old is old enough for TC?; my son is 10, fairly mature, but still too young in most peoples opinion, including mine. Too bad, I can't wait to have him read it and see his reactions throughout the book.

keep us posted on your daughter's progress. I hope she finds is as fascinating as I did the first time...

My best friend pick Runes of the Earth off my bookshelf last night, so I loaned him Lord Foul's Bane. Fingers crossed.

<crosses fingers for VS's friend>

Eldest Daughter is 19 and Younger Daughter is 17, so both are plenty old enough for Covenant. I think the younger one was 15 or 16 when she started LFB the first time -- still plenty old enough, I think. But it *is* hard to wait 'til they're old enough to enjoy it. The biggest problem is that by the time they're old enough, they're generally not interested in their parents' fuddy-duddy taste in books, arrgh. Never mind that every time I've recommended a book to my kids, once they quit stalling and finally tried it, they enjoyed it, double arrgh....

My son is mature, and he finally began appreciating and trusting my taste in books when I got him to read 'Ender's Game'.

He wants to read Covenant, but I wont let him. I think I want him to start the Hobbit and get through those, then at 13 maybe I will let him read LFB.

The Hobbit? Do you hate your son?

variol sone wrote:

The Hobbit? Do you hate your son?

I figure he will appreciate TCTC so much better after reading that!

He would even appreciate The Wheel of Time after reading The Hobbit.

variol son wrote: He would even appreciate The Wheel of Time after reading The Hobbit.

LOL!

I liked the Hobbit... then again, I didnt' read The Hobbit... I had it read to me. Yes, I was that young, and yes, I can remember the plot.

you mean Waste Of Time

I actually liked the first 4 books, but then things were just to friggin slow, and egwene kept tugging on her braids and the same silly conversations and plots. it just got so annoying I quit reading.

I've never read them, though i was tempted to start once. But then The Dark Tower came along, and then A Song of Ice and Fire, and then The Malazan Book of the Fallen, and well, I just never got around to it.

I have heard many, many complaints about braid tugging though.

iquestor wrote: He wants to read Covenant, but I wont let him.

To misquote the words of a certain Giant: Ah, that is as sad a tale in ten words as any you might have told me.

I don't have kids, but if I did, and they wanted to read Covenant, I would let them. Not that I'd want to have kids just to prove it. I'm simply indicating that as a parent, I would have a very liberal attitude about what my children could or could not read. That's the kind of person I am. Besides, I had read LFB when I was 12, so from my perspective it would be the height of hypocrisy for me to turn around and say to my kids that he/she couldn't touch the book.

No offense intended towards you, iquestor. I fully respect your right as a parent. The real question may be: would parents here respect me as a parent if I were to let a young one read Covenant? Would accusations of parental irresponsibility ring out against me? Unfortunately, I don't think this is a far-fetched scenario. SRD himself may disapprove, since he has often expressed being a little disturbed at the number of young teens who have picked up and read the Chronicles. So? What's the crime? That just means that there are actually young readers out there who are intelligent and capable of reading books ostensibly meant for "grown-ups." Shocking.

If I weren't so pathologically nice and sympathetic to SRD, I'd send a snarky message to him saying: Hey, Mr. D, I read LFB when I was 12 and guess what? I actually turned out fine, thanks. I didn't suffer the sort of deep trauma that required my parents to send me to psychiatric counselling. Sorry to disappoint you. Give kids some credit, okay?

Not from me...if the kid thinks he can handle it, good for him...if he can't, well, he'll find out for himself. The only thing is he might not be willing to try later if he can't the first time.

And nothing wrong with the hobbit. It's a great story for kids, (which it was intended as) and a great introduction to the Genre. It was read to me as a child, and if I ever have kids, I'll read it to them. I still read it every few years, (albeit at increasing intervals.)

--A

Give kids some credit, okay?

I do not withold because I fear that the book will corrupt him; there are two reasons:

1. He is barely 10, and doesn't understand rape. Now, He understands the mechanics of it (We have had the talk) but not the emotional impact and implications and consequences of it, which I feel is necessary in order to understand the book and enjoy it.

2. I also think I need to hold off for the same point Avatar brought up -- if it is too much book for him and he loses interest early, it will be harder for him to pick it up later. He has read all of the Harry Potter books, and also Ender's Game, which has some violence, but Donaldson doesnt write to that level, and he is wordy.

To me it isn't one of those multi-level stories where the top layer is a cute fantasy and the underlying symbolism can also be enjoyed by the dark and philosophic; SRD pretty much put it all out there on one raw level.

iquestor wrote:...if it is too much book for him and he loses interest early, it will be harder for him to pick it up later.

That's a fair enough point. Worth waiting the 2/3 extra years for I think. It's not that long.

--A

I read it at 12/13 (it was the 7th grade... can't remember if it was before my birthday). But I had more knowlege than a child should have due to some life experiences that are better left unexpereinced. My eldest is about to turn 11 and I just recently sat her down to explain about rape and child predators. This was because it needed to be discussed since she is beginning to do more things that do not involve me. Also, she came in the room when I was watching "SVU" and I used that as a conversation starter. She didn't seem shocked, so I guess as always she knows more than I think she knows. We have talked about her reading the Chronicles. I handed her a "Dragonlance" to see how ready she was and she read the first page, but had absolutly no clue what was said. She brought it back and told me she didn't understand enough of the words yet (I had to explain a cataclysm). I figure when she is ready, she wil let me know, most likely in a couple years.

That's a fair point, Soul Quest. SRD's vocabulary is hard enough for adult readers, never mind kids whose toughest reading to date has been Harry Potter. Yes, the books are long, but the vocabulary is not that hard.

Woman, the whole conversation was your own damn fault. If you hadn't turned to me after I'd had the book for all of, what, two hours and said, "So, have you gotten to the rape yet?" I wouldn't have replied days later when you were half asleep.

Someone hit her. She hands me these books, then proceeds to ruin stuff for me by saying, "Have you gotten to such-a-part yet?" then whines when we won't read what she suggests.

Everybody, meet Eldest Daughter.

It was *more* than two hours, missy. It was, in point of fact, more like a day. Maybe two days. Sufficient time to get to Chapter 7, anyhow.

(Whoo hoo, my kid joined the Watch! )