#el konigsburg

[cedarbookhs]

One of my favourite micro-genres, especially growing up, was books about kids or teens running away from home and living in unusual places. Some of these are more serious and involve leaving abusive homes. Others, the home life and excuse for leaving is entirely perfunctory and the adventure is the point. The common theme is that the kid leaves voluntarily (isn’t stranded somewhere, but goes there specifically) and then ends up living independently in some unique setting that gives the story a large part of its identity.

My Side of the Mountain — inside a tree in the Catskills

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maniac Magee — inside a buffalo house in the zoo, in a baseball stadium, and more

The Invention of Hugo Cabret — a grand Parisian train station

notabookbut The Kings of Summer — a homemade shanty in the Ohio woods

Last Sam’s Cage — the Calgary Zoo

The Boxcar Children — a freight car

Suggest more if you can think of any, I know there are lots of other examples.

[healerqueen]

reading game, 6!

6. Biggest surprise Thanks for the ask!

Looking at my reading list, I see a couple of surprises... All of them are books I was not expecting to enjoy so much. I was surprised by how much I LOVED The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg. It's a story about four smart kids and their teacher and their community, and the unexpected connections between them. I can see why it won a Newbery, but it's also simply enjoyable and entertaining. I also LOVED Princess Academy when I reread it for the first time in 10+ years. It became a favorite this time, when I merely liked it before. It's exactly the sort of book I want to read and write, with adventure, family, a coming-of-age story, and excellent themes and characters. Another book I was unexpectedly obsessed with was Bandit's Moon by Sid Fleischman. I was really compelled by the central character of the book--the titular bandit leader--and I was very interested in the history behind the book. I was also really riveted as I wondered how the book would end and what the fate of that character would be.

[frances-baby-houseman]

Alice is BIG into Judy Blume right now-- she started with (my personal favorite) Sally J. Freedman, then read Are you There God, and now she's reading Just as Long as We're Together and Rachel Robinson, plus she wants to read a few more I don't remember reading. I am so excited that she's finally here but I am trying to be COOL ABOUT IT bc she is almost ready for Lois Lowry and EL Konigsburg. How do I even know who to choose first? When do I introduce her to the Alice series, which was at least partly responsible for my naming her alice! Boxer shorts and chocolate covered potato chips remain the ideal gift to give a boy!

I read The Giver in 5th grade and it BLEW MY FUCKING MIND, but also it didn't exist before I was in 5th grade so I couldn't have read it earlier.

Maybe when she's done with Judy Blume I give her an Anastasia book, or maybe The View from Saturday.

WHEN WILL IT BE TIME FOR MIXED UP FILES?? I cannot be cool about this, I still read Mixed-up and The Giver!

[metricula]

I was talking to my husband about the Trump documents case and how many places they found document: boxes, storage rooms, his literal desk.

Me: “It’s like some Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler shit.”

Hubs: “…”

Me: “Maybe that’s an EL Konigsburg deep cut.”

Hubs: “…Okay.”

🤣

[doyouknowthisbook-poll]

welcome to do you know this book poll!

about:

This blog was inspired by RecommendMeABook.com—which posts first pages of novels before revealing the title and author—and by poll blogs such as doyoulikethissong-poll. The main goal of this blog is to expose people to books that they might like and read through posting snippets of different books.

how this works:

I post polls with excerpts from books—occasionally I post excerpts from novellas and short stories. Polls run for one week, so results are posted eight days after the original post date. Part of the fun is guessing/trying to figure out which book the excerpt is from, with some excerpts being more obvious than others. Feel free to leave suggestions for books you want to see posted (or suggestions for the blog in general) in the replies of this post 😊📚

I am one person running this blog so please be patient and kind. I currently post 1-3 polls per week.

submissions are now open, submit a book here!

current voting options:

A) I’ve read this book before, and I like it!

B) I can tell which book this is from based on this excerpt, but I haven't read it

C) I started reading this, but didn’t finish it (or I am reading it currently)

D) I haven’t read this book, but I like this excerpt!

E) I’ve read this book before, and I don’t like it

F) I haven’t read this book and I don’t like this excerpt

tags:

open polls you can still vote on: tagged/open

closed polls/revealed: tagged/results

all of this blog’s polls: tagged/poll time

fiction polls only: tagged/fiction

nonfiction polls only: tagged/nonfiction

all polls (includes polls from other blogs): tagged/poll

all posts that are not a poll: tagged/not a poll

resources to free reading, libraries, and posts about libraries: tagged/library

additional tags not listed here include names of titles and their authors.

a list of all excerpts that have been posted and revealed:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Six of Crows (part of the Six of Crows duology and the Grishaverse) by Leigh Bardugo

Beloved by Toni Morrison

“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

My Immortal fanfiction — this was posted for April Fool’s Day

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel von der Kolk

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

Silver in the Wood (part of The Greenhollow Duology) by Emily Tesh

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Holes by Louis Sachar

1984 by George Orwell

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy

The Giver by Lois Lowry

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

All Systems Red (part of The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsburg

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Aces Wild by Amanda DeWitt

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki (the results also discuss Memoirs of A Geisha by Arthur Golden)

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

The Alchemist by Paulo Cuelho

Mistborn: The Final Empire (part of the Mistborn trilogy and universe) by Brandon Sanderson

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Eve by Cat Bohannon

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Carrie by Stephen King

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

“The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

The Forests of Silence (part of the Deltora Quest series) by Emily Rodda — submission by @/pearlhoardingdragon

[mbti-sorted]

EL Konigsburg

[berternies]

“bodys,” car seat headrest // the view from saturday, e.l. konigsburg // “left alone,” fiona apple

[shutterandsentence]

Finish. The difference between being a writer and being a person of talent is the discipline it takes to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and finish. Don't talk about doing it. Do it. Finish.

E. L. Konigsburg

[authorstalker]

My August & September Reads

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han - I read this masterpiece just before the (A+++++) movie came out, and all I want is for Netflix to film all the cute Lara Jean/Peter Kavinsky scenes that didn’t make it to the movie. The estate sale road trip?! Come on, Netflix. Read the book, watch the movie, thank you Jenny Han for bringing Peter Kavinsky into my life. I haven’t obsessed over a dreamy celeb this much since Young Leo.  99 Days, Katie Cotugno - Despite following Katie Cotugno on social media for forever and loving her contribution to the Meet Cute YA story collection, this was my first time reading one of her novels. Guess what? I loved it, I texted Kerry a million times about it, I immediately put the sequel on hold. I don’t know how else to describe Katie Cotugno’s writing style besides casually perfect, like listening to your best friend tell you the most dramatic story about the hottest guy and coolest girl at your high school. She’s a must-read author for me going forward.

Sanpaku, Kate Gavino - This graphic novel made me miss my grandma and took me back to the days when I checked VH1 constantly to see if they were replaying JLo's (perfect) Selena movie. Also, the illustrations are incredibly cool and add a lot to the story. A funny, heartfelt, quick read for pre-teens to adults!

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, Christina Lauren - I brought this super cute rom-com to Paris for my first vacation read. Folks, it was such a treat. Hazel is an absolute delight and I’m happy to report that her description of Josh as the “blueprint for perfect” is accurate. More dudes should read romantic comedies, particularly this one, and aspire to be like Josh. 

The Lone Pilgrim, Laurie Colwin - I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this story collection is perfect. Every sentence is a dream! I borrowed it from the library but plan to buy my own copy so I can read it whenever I want. Laurie Colwin's writing just makes me happy. Almost every story will fill you with contentment—women falling in love, cooking delicious meals, making not-great-yet-very-fun decisions—but one of the rare sad stories, “A Girl Skating,” was so well done it honestly left me speechless. HOW CAN A PERSON BE THIS GOOD AT WRITING?! Ugh. 

Less, Andrew Sean Greer - I thought I was only semi-enjoying this novel (it’s sort of a travel book and I don’t love reading about travel), but then one night when I was a little more than halfway through, I started reading at my kitchen table and couldn’t stop. The last few pages made me smile so hard, like I was sitting in my kitchen actively thinking, “Whew boy am I ever SMILING right now, thank you book” and it was just nice. Apparently the Pulitzer Prize committee also enjoys a tricky love story. 

The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg - I got this after Jia Tolentino recommended it in The New Yorker and no surprise, Jia Tolentino is always right, it's an excellent read. The View from Saturday is a middle grade book in the same way that Paddington 2 is a children's movie; both are tremendously enjoyable for adults because they're beautifully told stories about the human experience. If that isn't a strong enough recommendation for you, the book revolves around a group of friends competing in an academic bowl championship, so you learn a lot of quirky facts. Example: I learned all about baby sea turtles and how their survival journey relates to a middle school girl trying to cope with her parents' divorce. Wonderful!

[saturdayreading]

prev. gardenbooknook

i changed my url again. i wanted it to be more to do with my childhood (and still now) favourite book ‘the view from saturday’ so here we are.

[whatsinsideawritersmind]

Finish. The difference between being a writer and being a person of talent is the discipline it takes to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and finish. Don't talk about doing it. Do it. Finish.

E. L. Konigsburg 

[lesbianfrannyglass]

Trying to find a copy of the view from Saturday in this household? Needle/haystack

[exeggcute]

books I read as a child that too emotionally intense for my nine-year-old brain and are partially responsible for the way I am now

kira kira

so be it

waiting for normal

the outcasts of 19 schuyler place

[acupofsubtletea]

I've been terrible about taking photos of my books for the PopSugar Reading Challenge, but I've been moving right along when it comes to reading them! • From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler - a book you loved as a child • Suite Scarlett - a book set in a hotel • Open Road Summer - a book with one the seasons in the title • The Gum Thief - a story within a story

[saturdayreading]

i have three books that i cycle through when somebody asks me this:

The view from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

and The disappearance boy by Neil Bartlett

Daily Booklr Questions!

What are some of your favorite books? Best book you’ve read this year?

[sophia-sol]

The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, by E.L. Konigsburg

A kids' book about a preteen girl who wants to save the outsider-art tower structures her uncles created, whose neighbourhood society wants to get rid of the towers for looking weird and driving down the value of the gentrified historic neighbourhood.

It's a reasonable enough children's book but I didn't really like it, which was disappointing given my previous experience with Konigsburg as an author. The disparate parts of this book didn't feel like they really cohered. I especially felt like it wasn't earned that the kids who had bullied the main character Margaret at camp ended up helping to save the towers.

The best part of the book was definitely Margaret's uncles, two brothers who live together and have lived together for many years and argue a lot but love each other, and love Margaret unconditionally. But a lot of the secondary characters didn't work as well for me.

Also: there were four separate instances in this book of uncritically mentioning stereotypes of different mental illnesses/neurotypes (for example: autistic people all bang their heads on things), which is a rather a lot, given that plenty of books get by without doing this kind of crap even once. What the heck was up with this?