books September 19, 2006
I checked out Karen Andreola’s Pocketful of Pinecones through Interlibrary Loan after seeing several rave reviews about it, a fictional account of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy in practice. Well…I’m disappointed to be checking it back in to the library unfinished. I’ve tried several times and really want to like it, but I just can’t get interested enough to keep reading. I added several of the recommended books to my Amazon Wish List and found the Supplement section very helpful, so I don’t regret giving it a look. It’s silly that I feel guilty for being bored by it, but I do. Ms. Andreola clearly knows a lot about Miss Mason, and I enjoyed reading more about her personal experiences in the book’s Afterword even though I didn’t care much for the fictional character Carol’s dry journal entries.
I tried to read this book. I thought the writing style was very stilted and amateurish. I felt like a teenager had written it somehow. I couldn’t finish it either.
Oh, it’s nice to read that someone feels the same way as I about this book.
I adore Karen Andreola’s CM Companion (I keep it by my bedside) but I really did not enjoy Pocketful of Pinecones. I wanted to, but just felt it was not written well – it was somehow thin, you know? It was all about appearance without any depth. And I felt the ending was shockingly abrupt and inconclusive.
The novelised adventures of a homeschooling family would make such an amazing book – and when you look at how many weblogs there are on the subject, you can see what a great audience it would have. But Karen just fell flat (in my opinion).
I like your blog, by the way