I don't think elitism is the same as arrogance. Oddly, his elitism would sell better if he was genuinely arrogant. Christopher Hitchens was arrogant, astoundingly so, and that was half his appeal. This three-week Writing Root begins by introducing the concept of dreams and how important they are in our lives. It continues by exploring the text through a range of activities that include explicit grammar teaching, opportunities for shorter written outcomes and book talk. Children create a story-map of the key events from the book to write a sequel and create a set of instruction to describe how their own flying machine works. Children finish by writing a longer story about an adventure in a sequel to the text. Synopsis of Text: It was fascinating to learn through the authors words and quotations extracted from Cook's logs the experiences that both the explorers such as Cook and the many indigenous populations experienced as they encountered one another. Title piece “Farther Away” documents Franzen’s pilgrimage to Alejandro Selkirk Island (where the real-life Robinson Crusoe was stranded) to experience solitude, find some rare birds, and scatter his friend David Foster Wallace’s ashes. Franzen believes Wallace was right to posit “fiction is a solution, the best solution, to the problem of existential solitude. Fiction was his way off the island.”

Farther by Grahame Baker-Smith is an enchanting picture book for older children about the love of family and the value of perseverance. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—A collection of essays and speeches written in the last five years. It covers various issues which are important to Franzen including the life and suicide of his dear friend David Foster Wallace. It traces the progress of Franzen's unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day. On Autobiographical Fiction” is an absolute must-read for any reader or writer. The autobiographical pieces here are, ironically, among the least interesting, though his whimsical interview with New York State is charming, and I prized this line from “Hornets” (about his hard-up house-sitting days): “Mowing lawns has always seemed to me among the most despair-inducing of human activities” (for me it’s washing dishes). However, as a whole this book is an excellent introduction to Cook and his quirky rise from farmer to sailor to navy officer, and his almost OCD level drive to discover literally ever land in the Pacific... and then every land in the Arctic as well. Ironically, his main quest throughout two voyages was to find Antarctica, and he never actually set foot on the continent, nor fully believed it ever existed.

I used to feel bad for Franzen because he was forever going to be known as DFW's less-talented friend but now I think I feel bad because he's so obsessed with birds?? Cook was a very appealing character (at first anyway). He was an ambitious lower class farm boy who, with nothing but his wits, work ethic, courage, and excellent character, rose to become one of the most famous sailers of all time. How easy and natural love is if you are well! And how gruesomely difficult—what a philosophically daunting contraption of self-interest and self-delusion love appears to be—if you are not!” This book tells the story of a father and son and a dream to fly. The father is possessed with an unrelenting desire to fly which he never achieves. When the father goes off to war and doesn’t return, the dream of flying passes on to his son.The self I felt myself to be that day was a self I recognized only because I’d longed for it for so long. I met, in myself, on my first day in New York City, the person I wanted to become." In "I Just Called to Say I Love You," Franzen beautifully captured the societal damage being caused by cellphones. He also draws the issue close to home, describing how his relationship with his late parents may have coloured his view of cellphones. My two favorite essays in this book were "Farther Away" and "On Autobiographical Fiction." The first described spreading some of David Foster Wallace's ashes on a remote Pacific Island where Franzen came to birdwatch, and the second is about autobiographical fiction, as advertised. In James Cook geval is hij de grote ontdekker van wat er niet was (terra incognita) sinds hij op zoek was naar het zuidelijke continent wat uiteindelijk niet bestond. Antarctica bleek heel klein en hij voer er rondom heen, en Nieuw Zeeland en Australie waren deels al ontdekt (Abel Tasman) en zelfs Tahiti waar Cook’s naam bijna synoniem mee is was al door een Fransman ontdekt. Paaseiland was ook al een keer bezocht (Roggeveen). Op zijn derde reis ontdekte hij hij wel de Hawai eilanden waar hij bij een tweede bezoek spijtig ook gedood werd door de lokale bevolking. A very enjoyable book that maintains good velocity from beginning to end. I was inspired to read this book by the vandalism that has recently been infected upon statues of Cook here in Canada as the country wrestles with the sad news of many unmarked Graves being discovered at the grounds of former residential schools.