Off my shelf

Hodgepodge

2011-01-18T12:30:00.002-05:00

It has been a while since my last posting and the reasons for that are myriad. For one thing, I had a cold, and for another we have had snow days which kept me at home doing things besides going online. Also, my grandmother passed away last weekend and the doings associated with that have taken up a considerable amount of time. I have managed to read a great deal though, and to try out a new recipe and that is what I wish to discuss.

First off the recipe. My father in-law sent me a great cookbook for Christmas called Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn. It was a great read and filled with recipes I wanted to try. The first one I attempted, with a great deal of help from my darling husband, was for hand-held chicken pies with a cream cheese pastry crust. They were fantastic! Many of her recipes make a large number of servings, and this was no exception. It was supposed to make ten, but I think we got our crust a little thinner than we were supposed to and we made twelve. Good thing too since Sunshine ate four for dinner and I put away three. (They aren't that big to be honest). At any rate, that only left five for the following day (today actually) so none are left to be frozen for a quick lunch one day which is what she recommends. These came into existence when one of her sons mentioned how much he had enjoyed Hot Pockets at a friend's house. Yeesh! I can't imagine telling my mother who was not a professional cook that Hot Pockets tasted good (since they don't, and they smell worse), so I shudder to think of her response to this. It worked out well for us though! I'm going to try another of her recipes tonight with the turkey burgers we are having. Parmasean topped baked fries.

I have also managed to read the following books since my last posting. I suppose I should have waited for Wednesday but what the hell. I've read: Nemesis by Agatha Christie, River of Darkness by Rennie Airth, Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. I also started A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin. I make no apologies for being an avid mystery reader, and it is not surprising that most of ones I read are either by British authors or set in England since I'm a quite the anglophile as well. However, I do wish to broaden my reading habits and read books set in other countries besides the UK and the states.

Oh, and I ran across this on the site Jezebel and thought it was fantastic! I only wish I was of the age to participate, or worked with children who were. And I would really like to meet the kids in the featured video. 90-Second Newbery.

And I really need to figure out how to insert multiple pictures.

Cooking experiment

2011-01-09T14:34:00.003-05:00

One of the types of books that I am constantly purchasing is cookbooks. I have a LOT of cookbooks, and I realized over my Christmas break that while I read them, I haven't actually made anything (or much of anything) from many of them. Certain books are in heavy rotation while others have languished. So this year one of my goals is to make at least one thing (preferably more) from each cookbook I own.
I started this off today with The Deen Brothers Cookbook. Previously I had only made a soup from this book which wasn't particularly good. Today I made bourbon glazed pork tenderloin and goat cheese grits. The tenderloin was good, but would have been better if I had marinated it, but the grits were fantastic! I hope that for future recipe attempts that I will remember to photograph the results to share. But take my word for it, if you like cheese grits, this recipe is great.

Call for reading suggestions

2011-01-07T12:35:00.002-05:00

While planning out my course of attack for the read the alphabet and read my name challenges I realized that I have a dearth of titles on my to be read list that start with the letters I, Y and Z. In fact, I only have one Y and one Z. This makes me nervous since if I don't like those books I would either have to admit defeat or continue reading something I dislike. And you should all know my philosophy on reading stuff you don't like. So, any suggestions? I like a wide range of books so feel free to suggest anything, as long as it isn't written by a Palin or Snooki.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

2011-01-04T10:25:00.002-05:00

This year instead of participating in a crap ton of challenges I am only going to do three. I am aiming to read 75 books this year, as well as retrying the Read Your Name Challenge since I didn't finish that one the way I had hoped. Technically I read my first name so I could count it. Finally, I'm doing a challenge of my own making. Read the Alphabet! Each book needs to start with a letter of the alphabet for a total of 26 books. The exception being x where words with x as the second letter count, like excellent, oxen, or axiom. Qualifiers like "A" and "The" do not count towards A or T, unless you are reading A if for Alibi. I'm very excited! At first I thought I would try to do it in alphabetical order, but I am hard at work on a K and want it to count.

What are your reading challenges going to be this year?

2010 book awards

2011-01-03T09:09:00.002-05:00

Ok, I don't have anything to actually give the authors of the books I've deemed award winning, but I like to acknowledge the books that I thought were the best in the genres I read this year.

Best cookbook: Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn. This was a Christmas gift from my father-in-law, and while I have yet to make anything from it the book was a very good read and is filled with recipes that I can't wait to try. Runner up: Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose

Best general nonfiction: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I found it to be really inspiring and a very entertaining read. Runner up: Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart.

Best travelogue: Stephen Fry in America by Stephen Fry. As fun as it is to experience another country via armchair, it is amazing what you can learn about your own as well. Runner up: A Year in the World by Frances Mayes.

Best novel: The School of Secret Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. It was a delightful read, the only drawback being that it makes you hungry. Runner up: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Best mystery: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant. I kicked myself for not figuring it out. Great creepy read. Runner up: Dead Woman's Shoes by Kaye C. Hill.

Best children's book: A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond. Why on earth did I not read this as a child? Runner up: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

I read 67 books in 2010, which is well shy of my goal of 100, but not too far off of 75 which is the most I've read when I've kept count. I completed all but two of my book challenges (read my name and the 100 book challenge) which I think is quite the accomplishment considering I got married. How about you? What are your favorite books from this year?

Four Christmas Reads

2010-12-13T13:13:00.002-05:00

Christmas books are a tricky thing. Sometimes the setting is only secondary to the plot which makes them not truly a Christmas read. Other times the author goes too overboard with Christmas and it winds up being overwrought. Typically my favorite holidays literary passages are one chapter in a children's book such as A Year Down Yonder or the Four Story Mistake. However, I have found a few Christmas books that are quite fun to read.

Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson. Yes, this is technically a cookbook, but Lawson's style is heavy on the narrative, and it is well written entertaining narrative at that. I don't know how many recipes I will make from this book considering I don't have ready access to goose fat and have no desire to eat a steamed pudding. It is a delightful read though.

Immoveable Feast by John Baxter. This is another food related book, but it is not a cookbook. It is a memoir of one Christmas where the author prepares the Christmas feast for his wife's French family. Each chapter focuses on the journey to obtain ingredients for a specific course along with related stories from Christmases past. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, unless you have food issues in which case you might want to pass it by. It will make you hungry.

Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. I've blathered on about how much I enjoy this book in an earlier post ages ago, but it deserves another plug. It is a sort of Christmas Story for the literary set. (Yes, yes I know, that's actually a book too! But Schwartz goes on to die in the book and who wants to endure that?) Only with zombies, profanity and lots of sex. Delightfully wicked. The extra bit in the 2.0 edition doesn't really add anything, but it is nice to spend more time with the characters.

The Twelve Terrors of Christmas by John Updike and Edward Gorey. At a scant 32 pages, and predominantly illustrations this book is a delightful little truffle of naughtiness. Many things at Christmas are cloying, and the expectations to do so many things and do them perfectly can leave folks overwhelmed to say the least. This book skewers many of those traditions in Gorey's well known macabre way.

W3dnesday

2010-12-08T09:22:00.004-05:00

It has been a while so this one will be interesting!

What have you been reading? Since my last post I have read the following books: A Year in the World by Frances Mayes, Clara's Kitchen by Clara Cannucciari, A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee, Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall, Stephen Fry in America by Stephen Fry, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones, A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant, and Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas.

What are you currently reading? I started Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve last night. I'm enjoying it, but not loving it.

What will you read next? I have the following books checked out: A Natural History of Love by Diane Ackerman, Dead Woman's Shoes by Kaye Hill, and one other mystery who's title escapes me.

5x5: First Holiday Edition

2010-12-07T12:29:00.003-05:00

Five Christmas Songs I Love
1. I Saw Three Ships performed by the Bare Naked Ladies
2. Step Into Christmas performed by Elton John
3. Christmas Wrapping performed by the Waitresses
4. Merry Christmas from the Family by Robert Earl Keen
5. Linus and Lucy performed by Vince Guaraldi

Five Christmas Songs I Hate
1. Feliz Navidad (mainly because it gets stuck in my head)
2. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (do I really need to elaborate?)
3. Is That You Santy Claus? (This one isn't a bad song, but it was playing in every store my sister and I went into when we were doing all of our Christmas shopping in one night back in college.)
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas (it makes me cry)
5. Twelve Days of Christmas (again, because of the ear worm effect, but also because of the aggravating repetition.

So how about you? What are your holiday musical loves and hates?

Challenge Updates!

2010-11-30T14:00:00.002-05:00

I have completed my Fantasy reading challenge and the 1st in a series challenge.

Fantasy:
1. Bite Me by Christopher Moore
2. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
3. Soulless by Gail Carriger
4. Savvy by Ingrid Law
5. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
6. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

1st in a Series
1. Still Life by Louise Penny
2. The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
3. Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan
4. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
5. Haunting Jordan by P.J. Alderman
6. Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

Still working on Reading My Name (only two more letters to go!) and What's in a Name which is proving to be very tricky.

Some food for thought

2010-11-23T12:47:00.003-05:00

This is taken from an article in Crosscut a daily guide to local and Northwest news based out of Seattle, on the recent banning of the book Brave New World at a local high school. The defenders of this action are saying it isn't a ban, just the the book is suspended from the curriculum until teachers have more training on how to teach it with more sensitivity. Ahem.

"Huxley imagined a world of genetically engineered, pharmaceutically controlled drones who wouldn't know much about books and literature, or anything unsanctioned, save consumerism and sensuality. The idea wasn't to ban books, but make them irrelevant, to suspend any interest or engagement with them (and much else). "

Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I think I'm going to make a point of reading tonight.

and this is why we are such a perfect match

2010-11-09T12:46:00.002-05:00

Here is a snibblet of a conversation my husband and I had the other day.

LW: You know who would be great to have in the zombie proof fortress? Pyro!
Sunshine: Ooh yeah! He could just torch them!
LW: Jean Gray and Cyclops would be very useful too.
Sunshine: Don't forget Wolverine!
LW: I don't think that would be a good idea! I mean, obviously we would want him in the fortress, but not as a fighter. What if he got bitten?
Sunshine: Don't you think his healing power would stop him from turning zombie?
LW: I don't know, but would you really want to risk it? Then we would need Magneto.
Sunshine: And nobody wants Magneto.

From the Shelves: Stephen Fry in America

2010-11-02T12:53:00.005-04:00

I read Stephen Fry in America this past weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is potentially risky to read a comedian's take of your country, particularly when you know that there is much to criticize or mock. However, while the book was funny, the humor was in no way mean spirited. Fry has a genuine affinity for the US but the book also wasn't fawning. He really did an amazing job of highlighting different elements about each state and giving pertinent historical information where applicable. I can honestly say that I managed to learn new things about each state and about my fellow countrymen. I will never get over the picture of a six year old riding a sheep at the junior cowboy rodeo he visited. (I will double check the book to get the exact name and location).

I did find it disappointing that he didn't truly visit three states (Delaware, Ohio and Idaho), and that he only visited Arlington Cemetery in Virginia and Asheville in North Carolina, but I realize that he did have time constraints. I'm sure anyone reading his book from other states will also point out things he missed in their home states. I do hope he does a sequel (I can give him tons of recommendations for Virginia and North Carolina), and I would love to see the footage he shot for the BBC special that was the point of the whole trip. At any rate, the book was a lot of fun and if you teach sixth grade social studies or state history in elementary school it would be a great place to start to discuss what he missed in his visit to either the country as a whole or a state in particular.

Random Thoughts

2010-10-27T15:20:00.003-04:00

This is a rather disjointed post, as I am feeling a wee bit disjointed myself.

1. We just got the DVD Lust for Life in at work and every time I see it (it is in my office waiting to be cataloged), I get the Iggy Pop song stuck in my head. Sadly, I only know the tune and that one lyric. Grr argh.

2. It is almost Halloween and I don't live some place that is considered tropical. It should not be 80 degrees!

3. I am having a horrible time finding plain ground pork in my town. It makes no sense, and I need it to make meatballs.

4. Christopher Nolan's third Batman film finally has a title. I was less than excited by it, but I eagerly anticipate the movie.

5. China's gross population imbalance (it is roughly 120 boys born per year to 100 females according to MSBNC) is going to cause a lot of problems in the near future. One that is minor in comparison to the others is "how will they craft their female sports teams with so few girls?" Granted, it probably won't matter that much considering the sheer astronomical size of their population, but it is something to think about.

6. I wish I could bring my dog to work.

Musing Mondays

2010-10-18T13:14:00.002-04:00

This question comes from the blog Should Be Reading.

Do you prefer hardcovers, trade paperbacks (the bigger ones), or mass market paperbacks (the smaller ones)? Why?

I vastly prefer trade paperbacks to either hardbacks or mass market paperbacks. They are the ideal weight and size, and fit nicely into the front pocket of my backpack that I routinely use as a carry-on bag when flying. Also, they are better quality than mass market and a better price than hardback. That being said, there are some books that I want in hardback to withstand the multiple re-reads. I am longing to get the Melendy Family books by Elizabeth Enright in hardback, and if they ever release Ballet Shoes and Dancing Shoes in hardback I will jump on those as well. But overall, I prefer trade paperbacks.

W3dnesday

2010-09-29T10:26:00.003-04:00

What have you been reading? I finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. I really enjoyed The Help, but I loved The School of Essential Ingredients. I gave up on The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber.

What are you currently reading? I am currently reading A Year in the World by Frances Mayes. I'm really enjoying it, but man does it make me hungry! All of those luscious descriptions of food.

What will you read next? Yesterday I checked out the following books: How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen, Clara's Kitchen by Clara Cannucciari, The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall, and A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee. I'll see which one strikes my fancy first after I'm done with the Mayes. If anyone has any suggestions for books whose titles start with either V or L I would greatly appreciate it.

W3dnesday

2010-09-15T15:02:00.003-04:00

No cute picture today, as my computer is being cranky.

What have you recently read?
I just finished reading Red Sky at Night by Jane Struthers and The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan.

What are you currently reading? I checked out The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber on Monday when I had to go the Social Security office to change my name. I'm finding it hard to get into.

What will you read next? I should read The Help which is this month's selection for my book club, but I might go with The School of Essential Ingredients.

Updates!

2010-09-14T14:01:00.002-04:00

I've managed to read 51 books so far this year, and my to be read list has swollen to 574. You might remember that when I first posted about my reading challenges that it was around 491. Never enough time to read!

Here is the status of my reading challenges.

Our Mutual Read: The Victorian reading challenge is done!
Fantasy: 5/6
First in a Series: 5/6
Read My name: 11/14 All I need is a Y, a V, and another L
What's in a Name: 3/6 I'm still missing a food, body of water, and a title
Typically British: 6/6!!! Hooray! Another challenge is complete. I read the following books for this challenge.
Red Sky at Night by Jane Struthers
Serpent's Tale by Arianna Franklin
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Bellfield Hall by Anna Dean
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

So Bob's Your Uncle!!!

5x5

2010-09-09T13:09:00.002-04:00

Five reasons I want to move to Asheville:
1. They still have four seasons there! You know, instead of cold, hot, and hotter.
2. Cultural opportunities abound. Music, theater, art, dance.
3. They have fabulous resturants. I miss having a choice of nice places to go to eat.
4. The downtown area is pedestrian, bicycle and dog friendly.
5. It is a great fit politically for us. I didn't see a single Palin sticker the whole time I was there, and I saw a number of things promoting buying local and recycling.

Five reasons to stay where I am:
1. The cost of living is much cheaper.
2. I would have to find a new hairdresser, dental hygenist, massuese and OB/Gyn if I moved. Don't laugh, good ones of those are hard to find.
3. My job is here.
4. We have a support structure in place here.
5. I would have to give up my book club and my dance class.

W3dnesday!

2010-09-01T09:22:00.003-04:00

After a month long hiatus, I return! The reasons for the break are copious, and don't truly need to be elaborated on beyond the fact that I am getting married this Saturday. So what have I been up to since my last W3dnesday post? Quite a lot actually.

What have I recently read? I read: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, The Serpent's Tale and Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin, A Fatal Grace and The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Never Trust a Thin Cook by Eric Dregni, Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, and Flow: The Cultural History of Menstruation by Elissa Stein (which I will review after the wedding-it will be a doozy!) I also started, but did not finish Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (I just wasn't in the right mood for it, but I plan to return) and A Yank Back to England by Denis Lipman because it got fairly repetitive and I found the author to be a tad annoying. I might return to it. This brings my total to 51 books counting picture books.

What am I currently reading? I am currently reading The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan, although I have temporarily set it aside because I was finding that bits and pieces were sneaking into my dreams when I read it before bed and the results weren't pretty. I typically have weird and vivid dreams anyway, I don't need any help there.

What will I read next? I have The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister packed in my overnight bag for the mini-moon.

5 x 5

2010-07-23T11:29:00.002-04:00

This week's topic: Five literary characters you hate/love

Five characters I hate!
1. Dolores Umbridge, from the Harry Potter series. Of all the villains in this series I loathe her the most. She is concern only with retaining her power and obtaining more. She cares nothing for the truth or fairness, and what's worse, she pretends to be sweet while doing horrible things. Plus, the bitch escapes punishment. HATE her.

2. Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Another person who is only concerned with her own power and who misuses it.

3. Fudge, first appearing in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I feel like I am alone on this one, since so many reviews of these books talk about how he is a typical little boy and how funny he is. I completely disagree. I think he is a horrible brat.

4. Debbie van Pelt, the Sookie Stackhouse series. She is a character with no redeeming qualities whose death can't come quickly enough.

5. Tinkerbell, from Peter Pan. I know that Tink commits an act of great self-sacrifice, but this is after a great deal of extremely bad behavior, including trying to murder Wendy. I don't find her sympathetic in the least, and am shocked by how many people seem to think she is wonderful.

Five characters I love!
1. Flavia de Luce, first appearing in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia is a precocious and entertaining narrator and sleuth. She's also a little scary at times which adds to her appeal for me.

2. Fred/George Weasley, from the Harry Potter series. Yes, I know that they are two characters, but as they are always together in the books I'm counting them as one unit. Fred and George provide the best examples of comic relief in the books, and I think that Rowling's choice to kill Fred in book seven is highly unacceptable and flat out wrong.

3. Miranda Melendy, first appearing in The Saturdays. When I was younger I harbored a desire to either be her, or at least be friends with her. To this day, I would like to be friends with her.

4. Gen, first appearing in The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. It is difficult to discuss why, precisely, I love Gen without giving away major plot points. Suffice to say that he is clever and talented, loyal, brave and very complex. If you haven't read this book you should. It is the first in a trilogy, but after what happens in the second book I became furious with the author and thus haven't read the third. The first book, however, is brilliant.

5. Abby Normal, first appearing in You Suck by Christopher Moore. This little goth teenager is one of the funniest narrators I have ever come across and two of her more colorful catch phrases (Fucksocks and Fucktard) have wormed their way into my vocabulary.

So what about you? Who do you love and hate? Or love to hate?

W3dnesday

2010-07-21T16:12:00.003-04:00

Everyone should know the drill by now!

What have you recently read? Since my last W3dnesday post I have read the following books: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, Still Life by Louise Penny, Folk Wisdom for a Natural Home by Beverly Pagram, A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie King, and Dinner at Miss Lady's by Luann Landon.

What are you currently reading? I am currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

What will you read next? I'm not sure what I will read next. I keep hoping my copy of A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny will come in, and if it does I will start it next, probably before I finish the Kingsolver book. We've gotten a ton of new books in here at work and I may cave and check one of those out before anyone else. The perks of being the cataloger!

Challenge complete!

2010-07-19T11:44:00.003-04:00

This weekend I managed to complete one of my challenges when I finally finished reading The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. I read four books for the Our Mutual Read: Victorian Challenge, hosted by Amanda from Blog Jar. The challenge has its own separate blog though, Our Mutual Read. I did level one participation which means I read at least two books written during the years 1837-1901, and the other two were either non-fiction or neo-Victorian.

Here is my list:
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard, published in 1885
Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, published in 1897
The September Society by Charles Finch, neo-Victorian
Below the Peacock Fan: First Ladies of Raj by Marian Fowler, non-fiction.

From the Shelves: Still Life

2010-07-15T08:36:00.005-04:00

I literally finished reading this book last night and it was wonderful! The plot concerns a suspicious death in a small town in the province of Quebec. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is sent to investigate. No one can quite believe that it was murder, who would want to murder retired school teacher Jan Neal? She was, by all accounts, universally loved. Surely it had to have been a tragic hunting accident? The reader knows better of course, this is, after all, a murder mystery novel.
The plot and characters captured my attention and held on to it from start to finish. I loved the character of Gamache, and how the author was able to flush out all of the characters, even fairly minor ones, into realistic people. I found the character of Yvette Nichol, a novice detective who has a massive ego, particularly interesting and aggravating. I wonder if she will appear in any subsequent books?
The mystery was tightly crafted and full of surprises. I loved all of the subplots and twists and how everything came together. (That is one thing I can't stand, when an author introduces minor mysteries or storylines and then fails to resolve them.) It was a thoroughly original in terms of how the mystery was solved, and the motives behind the crime, and it was exceedingly well thought out.
The book also provided for me an introduction into Canadian life, or at least a segment of life in Quebec. I know very little about our great neighbor to the north, and I loved noting the differences between American police work and Canadian. (I know that this is fiction of course, but those parts have to be based in reality or no one would believe them.) And those differences are pretty substantial at times. For instance, if the police were in the home of suspected murder in the states, the parents would have had the right to demand that they leave if they didn't have a warrant, and that doesn't appear to be the case in Canada. I don't know if this is just that Canadians are less paranoid/law suit happy than Americans or if the police really do have the right to stay until they crack you. See how little I know about Canada?
My only regrets are that Jane Neal's art doesn't actually exist, and that some of the inhabitants of Three Pines, more than likely, aren't in the other books in the series. This is an extremely well done mystery, and I extend a huge thanks to Tucker for recommending it to me. Highly recommended.

Edit: Apparently, the other books in the series also take place in Three Pines! Joyful day! Poor Three Pines, you are apparently like Cabot Cove Maine.

What are your favorite genres?

2010-07-13T16:49:00.003-04:00

Participating in a fun question posed by Lost in Books. What are your favorite genres to read? (Everyone has at least one favorite type of book that they gravitate towards, even if they read widely.)

1. Mysteries. I love them! I generally prefer cozy mysteries (ones without a whole lot of blood and guts), but have been known to read gritty ones.

2. Historical novels. I am embarrassed to say that I don't necessarily enjoy reading books written during the Victorian era, but I love to read books that are set in that time period. I don't limit myself to that time period though. Early 20th century, the regency period, and even the renaissance, middle ages, or ancient Greece/Roman times have all made appearances.

3. Fantasy. I don't really go for high fantasy so much, but I love magic and myths and that sort of thing. I should amend that statement, I'm picky about my high fantasy.

4. Memoirs. I love to read about people's lives and when they are written from a first person point of view they are even more fascinating.

5 x 5

2010-07-09T09:48:00.003-04:00

So I am modifying the traditional format of five loves/hates for this week's topic. The books I've selected are either not the best well known by a (fairly) famous author or are ones that I don't think get noticed.

5 Children's literature gems

1. Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. This book is not nearly as well known or as popular as books like BFG or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which is a shame. I read this book for my children's literature class, and it was the first thing to make me laugh after September 11th. It will forever hold a special place in my heart because of that. If you are a fan of Robin Hood stories you will appreciate Danny and his father's attitude and the crafty way they thumb their noses at the system. And as always, full of laughs and slightly twisted incidents. Classic Dahl in other words.

2. Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. This happens to be a Newbery Honor book and so comes marked with a highly visible and well known endorsement, but I still think it is under read. Actually, I think all of Enright's books are, but that is another post.* This story, and its sequel, revolve around the adventures that Portia Blake has with her cousin Julian when she and her brother Forest come to stay with Julian's family for the summer. Together they discover what once used to be a lake (and is now a swamp) and an elderly brother and sister who still live in the old lake houses. I loved this book as a child, and will still re-read it if I need something extra comforting.

3. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Lord. This book has an odd sounding title that on the face of things doesn't make sense. Or at least, it didn't make sense to me as a child. This is one of those books that I read as an adult and kicked myself for not reading it as a child. It is a fantastic and engaging story of a young Chinese immigrant making her place in American society through the use of that quintessentially American past time baseball. It is funny and touching and I loved it.

4. Murder for Her Majesty by Beth Hilgartner. I started this book one night thinking I would read a few chapters and go to bed. I read the entire thing instead. It has everything a book should have: engaging, memorable and believable characters, a tightly woven and plausible plot, witty dialogue, elements of danger and suspense, and a satisfying outcome. I recently suggested this book to one of my co-workers for her granddaughter. She absolutely loved it (the granddaughter), taking it on errands with her that afternoon because she didn't want to stop reading it. And once she was done she firmly informed her grandmother to thank me for suggesting it. Hurrah! It is such a great book.

5. One Hundredth Thing About Caroline by Lois Lowry. Lowry is probably best known as the author of the Anastasia Krupnik series and, more recently, as the author of the Giver and its sequels. This particular book, which also has two companion novels Switcharound and Your Move J.P., focus on the title character of Caroline, a young girl with a love of science and dinosaurs and an overly active imagination. Here's the plot synopsis from Wikipedia (there isn't one on amazon because the book appears to be out of print). "Caroline Tate discovers a note written to the mysterious man living in the apartment above her, telling him to "Get rid of the kids". Caroline jumps to the conclusion that she and her brother are going to be murdered, and she's even more horrified when her single mother starts to date the man." The book is a real joy to read, and if you can find it, I highly recommend it.

5 Adult literature gems

1. Cat Who Had 14 Tales by Lilian Jackson Braun. I used to love her Cat Who series, but it has gone on for far too long and the quality has really gone down hill. However, the early books in the series are great and so is this short story collection. They are very different in style from her Cat Who series, and this is an excellent choice for the beach or a long plane trip because of the length of the pieces.

2. Dog's Life by Peter Mayle. A light, humorous read by Peter Mayle. I think every dog owner imagines a voice for their dog, but rarely is it as well executed as it is here. Great beach reading, or a mid-winter pick me up. My sister also loved it and we don't always see eye to eye on books. This book really is hysterically funny. I think I may just have to re-read it.

3. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. Bill Bryson turns his attentions to Australia in this work (in case you couldn't guess by the cover which features a kangaroo). Highly informative, accurate, funny, and as always there is a large element of environmentalism. Bryson also has a knack for pointing out the alarming and dangerous parts of an area, and Australia is jam packed with deadly things for him to point out. Really well done and it taught me a lot about a country and continent that I knew very little about.

4. Little Heathens by Mildred Kalish. So many books about the Great Depression deal with the politics that swirled around it, and/or focus on the worst of what happened, so it was nice to read a first person account from someone whose life was hard, yet still happy and secure. I gave this book a glowing recommendation to both of my parents who grew up in the forties. I'm amazed at the body of knowledge that Kalish accumulated during her childhood and felt at times extremely inadequate in my resourcefulness and abilities. I cannot imagine what it was like to bake a cake on a wood stove, and thankfully, I will never have to attempt it. This book will make you admire the work ethic, resourcefulness and determination of that generation, as well as feel very relieved that, as a rule, the average person does not have to work as hard as they did on a daily basis. Great book.

5. Sunshine by Robin McKinley. I thought this was a great new take on the vampire mythology, updating it without stripping it of the sinister aspects. However, I felt as if I was missing some major piece of information, almost as if this was a sequel to another book. But it isn't. I do hope that she writes a sequel to this one though. Robin McKinley is primarily known for well written YA and children's fantasy, but this book isn't for intended for young children. I highly recommend it.

*Years ago I went into a Barnes & Noble looking for a copy of the third book in Enright's Melendy quartet series to give to my niece. (I owned the other three books and she had borrowed the first two and loved them). They did not have it or the fourth book, although they did have the first two books. I asked about ordering it and when the teenage girl helping me looked it up she said that it was out of print. I was aghast and said as much, which prompted the response of "kids today don't like to read books like that." OH REALLY? Who's laughing now that the whole set was reissued in hardback?

What have you been doing?

2010-07-08T08:43:00.003-04:00

Between January 1st and July 1st of this year I have done the following:

Read 38 books, counting picture books. 3 picture books, 1 graphic novel, 5 YA/Juvenile, and 29 for adults. 14 were nonfiction, 23 were fiction, and 1 was a fable. I also started, but did not finish, at least four books.

I have played numerous hours of video games as well, primarily Lego games. Sunshine introduced me to them with the two Star Wars Lego games. We have subsequently purchased Batman, Indiana Jones (that was actually a gift) and most recently Harry Potter. I also got Kung Fu Panda which has been fun, but not as much fun as the Lego games.

I have seen the following movies: Up, Wall-E, Fanboys, Office Space, Alice in Wonderland, A-Team, How to Train Your Dragon, Half-Baked, Wolfman, Capitalism: A Love Story, Kung Fu Panda, and a number of assorted documentaries and shorts that Sunshine was previewing for selection for our local film festival this summer. There are probably loads of other movies too, I'm just blanking right now.

I got engaged and started planning a wedding.

All in all, a pretty full six months. What have you been up to?

5 x 5

2010-07-02T09:18:00.004-04:00

As a child, I didn't have that many books that were assigned reading in school. Looking back I find this rather surprising, and it makes me wonder what some of my teachers were thinking. (Of course, I wonder what they were thinking for some of the books that were assigned.) However, this did enable me to read at whim, and I read a lot. A great deal of it was junk, but just as much of it was outstanding. This week's 5x5 reflects on childhood reading.

Five Children's books that I hated. (All were assigned reading)
1. Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. I was subjected to this horrible book not just once, but twice. First in fifth grade and then again in 7th. Why do I say it is horrible? For starters, it is painfully dull. Secondly, she wrote in southern vernacular which is fine for adults, but not at all appropriate for a children's book. Thirdly, nothing about it is memorable at all, except that it is ungodly boring.

2. Z for Zachariah by Robert O'Brien. Lovely, a book about a nuclear holocaust and a paranoid murderer. Seriously. Of the potentially last two people on earth one of them is a murderer and our heroine has to steal the nuclear fallout suit to save herself from him, thus leaving him alone in the valley with no way to escape which condemns him to a long, slow and lonely death. In a book for sixth graders? I think not! I know it is by the same author as Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, but come on! Thanks so much Mrs. Brundage.

3. House of Stairs by William Sleator. This one was not exactly assigned in the traditional sense since the rest of my class didn't have to read it. It was the book I chose from a selected list in 7th grade. A group of orphaned teenagers are selected for an experiment that confines them to an inescapable house filled with stairs. Ultimately they are conditioned to abuse first themselves and then each other in order to get the food dispenser to give them food. Our heroine refuses to participate and almost starves to death before the experiment is halted. WTF?!!!

4. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary. I love Beverly Cleary's work, but I really did not like this book. It utilizes epistolary writing, which in and of itself didn't bother me. It was the concept of who Leigh was writing to that bothered me. He is originally writes to his favorite author ONE time, and ends up writing letter after letter to this man. For FOUR YEARS. (Second grade through fifth). I asked the reading teacher, Mrs. Fox, why he thought the author would be interested or even bother to read his letters when they had never met, and why didn't he just write in a journal? She didn't give me a good answer. Additionally, I read this book because I was selected to participate in the "Great Books" program because I was a strong reader. What this meant was I got additional homework. I did learn the word hors d'oeuvres from this book, though I asked Mrs. Fox why he didn't just write appetizers, since it didn't seem realistic to me that someone his age would use that expression. Eh, she probably thought I was a serious pain in the ass.

5. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson. I know most people who are into children's literature worship the ground Katherine Patterson walks on, but I'm seriously ambivalent towards her. This is another one that I was assigned to read for the Great Books program. I couldn't understand why we were given this book to read in 4th grade. Gilly is not likable at all. She steals, she swears and is verbally abusive and cruel to her foster mother and the other foster children. Yes, she is a dynamic character (although I wasn't aware of that description at the time), but even at the end of the book she still isn't the type of person I would have invited over to my house after school. I remember asking Mrs. Fox about that too, I'm sure she wanted to throttle me. I get that teachers want to expand children's horizons and expose us to things we aren't exposed to during our day to day lives, but still. I guess it could have been worse, we could have been assigned Pinballs by Betsy Byars which is also about foster care. Thank goodness I was spared reading a book in which a father deliberately runs over his son's legs with a car. (The made for t.v. movie staring Kristie McNichol filled me in.)

Five Children's books that I loved!
1. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. This was not assigned to me to read, but was read out loud by my all time favorite teacher, Mrs. Primoli, in first grade. I read this book so many times that I practically had it memorized in third grade. Not even the ironic incident of one of my classmates throwing up right after Mrs. Primoli read "it was too late. Ramona threw up." could mitigate my joy of this novel. In my opinion, it is the best of all the Ramona books, which is saying something.

2. A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. Finally, one from fourth grade that I loved! I loved the dynamics between Chester Cricket, Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, and Mario's devotion to his pet cricket was very endearing. I would classify this book as magical realism since it isn't quite fantasy. Just a great read.

3. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. I was assigned this one in fifth grade, and it immediately captured my imagination. I find my love of this book to be a tad surprising, since Harriet is also not especially likable, but she won my sympathies quite early, and any meanness she dished out in her private notebook she was repaid for. Again, I'm surprised that I wasn't filled with righteous indignation at the treatment she receives from her classmates since they had no business reading her notebook, and everyone is entitled to their own thoughts, however awful they might be. Don't get me wrong, it made me mad, but not infuriated like I was when I read Ramona the Brave.* Now that I think about it though I'm irritated on Harriet's behalf. Fortunately, Harriet rallies and things right themselves in the end. I read the companion novel Sport which was also really good, but couldn't even make it halfway into The Long Secret.

4. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. At the end of each school year my parents would take me and my sister out to a fancy dinner and give us books as presents. I received this book at the end of third grade and I loved it. I'm really surprised how much character development and plot takes place in a book that is only 64 pages long. Stay away from the Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation. Christopher Walken plays the father and it is just wrong.

5. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. This was not assigned in anyway, nor was it given as a gift. My sister read this book as well as Dancing Shoes and Movie Shoes and when I got old enough to read them I read them too. I've subsequently read Theater Shoes and Party Shoes as well, and none of them compare to Ballet Shoes. (Dancing Shoes is a close second). It shocks me that after the very prominent mention of these books in the film You've Got Mail that they weren't all reissued in hardback. All in all there are 11 books that would be considered part of the Shoe series (although they aren't all interconnected like a true series), and only five are in print. Despite the title, very little dancing actually takes place in Ballet Shoes, it is much more about the relationships between the three Fossil sisters.

*In Ramona the Brave her first grade teacher is a piece of work and the favoritism she displays riles me up every time. Not as bad as the teacher's actions in Little Town on the Prairie, but bad enough. Sadly, this teacher was based on Beverly Cleary's first grade teacher.

W3dnesday

2010-06-30T09:00:00.003-04:00

Hopefully you all know the drill by now!

What have you recently finished reading? Since last week I have read Cat of the Century by Rita Mae Brown, and Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose which was a wonderful cookbook that I found at my public library. I started writing down which recipes I wanted to copy and filled up an entire sheet of paper, so I decided I would buy a copy of the book instead. However, it appears to be out of print! Since I still have the library's copy at home I may par my list down and copy off the ones that are my absolute "gotta try" recipes.

What are you currently reading? I did start the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells and am about halfway through it, but all of the books I had put on hold from other community college libraries arrived and I also started Dinner at Miss Lady's by Luann Landon. And of course, I still have Homer P. Figg going as well. Poor Homer. I may have to return him, or else simply skim the section where he gets grifted.

What will you read next? After I finish these three (or two depending on how things go with Homer), I will start one of the following: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie King, Animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Headless Males Make Great Lovers by Martha Crump, A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield, The Vitamin D Cure by James Dowd, or Still Life by Louise Penny.

From the Shelves: Cat of the Century

2010-06-28T08:31:00.003-04:00

Cat of the Century is the latest in Rita Mae Brown's murder mystery series that is "co-authored" by her cat Sneaky Pie. The series, overall, has been quite strong, although not every book is equally good. Occasionally, the motive for the murders has been very disturbing, and every now and again the method of murder rates high on the squeamish factor. However, Brown does a great job of letting her characters change and develop over time which is the key to longevity in a series.

Lately though, Brown has really started to use her characters as a way to express her political opinions, which are pretty liberal. Normally this doesn't bother me because 1)I tend to agree with her, 2)the opinions that are expressed are in keeping with the characters who express them, and 3)it is incorporated into the plot so as not to be jarring. That is, something has occurred that makes the character voice his or her opinion. However, in this particular novel, there seemed to be A LOT more of it than normal. Additionally, she chose to set a large part of the action at a real university in Missouri, William Woods University, for the express purpose of drawing her readers' attention to its existence. (She says as much in the afterword). Brown is an avid horsewoman and champion of animals, and William Woods offers a highly respected equestrian science, and she has formed lasting friendships with some of the professors and administrators. You get the idea.

The mystery was sound, and as I read the majority of this in one morning, it certainly kept me engaged. I did find the use of William Woods to be quite forced, especially since the rest of the action takes place in Crozet, Virginia where almost all of the other books are set. I also found the amount of politically infused dialogue to be over the top, making the characters more like mouthpieces instead of the characters I have come to love over the years. Not a bad read by any means, just distressing at times. If her next novel in the series follows this pattern, or worse, increases it, I will have to give up reading them altogether. Subtlety is our friend, and in this book, Brown passed right on by and got chummy with hit you over the head.

5 x 5

2010-06-25T10:38:00.002-04:00

Five Authors That I Just Don't Get:
1. Anne Rice. I've read five of her books, and I didn't like any of them. I gave her Mayfair Witches series three tries, and got incredibly fed up with her refusal (or inability) to answer questions that she had raised in previous books. Plus, she seems to really enjoy including sexual sadism in her novels.

2. V.C. Andrews. Why on earth does anyone want to read novels that revolve around incest? What's worse is that after she died in 1986, people kept churning out books in her series.

3. Lurlene McDaniel. Again, I don't understand why anyone would want to read novels where the whole point is that one of the main characters is dying a slow and painful death.

4. Nicholas Sparks. It isn't that I dislike romance novels, or even books that deliberately pull at your heartstrings, but I fail to understand the popularity of his books. They're ridiculously sentimental and maudlin.

5. LaHaye and Jenkins. The popularity of their Left Behind series scares and puzzles me.

Five Authors that I LOVE!
1. Christopher Moore. I realize his work would not be for everyone, but I find him to be uproariously funny, and his books to be filled with clever plots, witty dialogue, and highly memorable characters. Of his twelve novels, I have read ten. I should have paced myself better as I only started reading his books in 2007.

2. Jasper Fforde. Again, his work would not be for everyone, but I find his books to be incredibly clever and witty. I've read all of his Thursday Next books, both of the Nursery Crime novels and can't wait for the next installments of each. I haven't had a chance yet to read Shades of Grey which is a separate novel, but I will soon.

3. Neil Gaiman. I've only recently gotten into his works so I have a vast quantity left to discover, but I have loved everything I have read so far. It took me a while to get into some of his novels, but once they grabbed me, I was hooked good and proper.

4. Roald Dahl. For the longest time as a child I was unaware of how many books Dahl had written, and sadly didn't get past the major works such as BFG, Witches, Matilda and the like. And I certainly wasn't aware that he had written novels and short stories for adults. What a treat to discover this as an adult. One caveat: Dahl's work for kids is actually fairly dark and demented, and his work for adults is the same, only more so.

5. Bill Bryson. I haven't enjoyed all of his books equally, but he is one of my favorite nonfiction/travelogue authors. I'm very excited for his newest book which comes out this fall.

W3dnesday

2010-06-23T08:56:00.003-04:00

What have you recently read?
What are you currently reading?
What will you be reading next?
Brought to you by Should Be Reading. (I gave incorrect credit for this at least once.)

What have you recently read? Since last week I have read Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, Haunting Jordan by P.J. Alderman, and Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson. The brings my total of books read this year up to 32. I'm not exactly on pace to reach 100, but I'm feeling pretty good. If I get to 75 this year, which will be the most I've read in a year when I've kept track, I will be really happy. On a related note, I'm pretty sure I will be chucking my carefully constructed list and just reading whatever the heck I want. :)

What are you currently reading? I still haven't finished Homer P. Figg, and I have The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells on my nightstand ready to crack open tonight.

What will you be reading next? Looks like The Invisible Man, but I may also go with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

From the Shelves: Haunting Jordan

2010-06-21T10:06:00.003-04:00

" Jordan Marsh left L.A. for the quaint Pacific Northwest town of Port Chatham in pursuit of some much-needed R & R. As the prime suspect in her cheating husband’s murder, she had been hoping to immerse herself in the restoration of the charming Victorian she’d just bought—and put all talk of homicide investigations behind her. But as she soon discovers, the coldest of cases cry out to be solved, too. For this old house comes fully furnished—with two garrulous ghosts who have a century-old murder of their own they’d like her to look into. Now, if Jordan can keep the L.A. police at bay, and sort through a suspect list of shady characters circa 1890, she might just clear a wrongly accused man’s name—and her own."

I thoroughly enjoyed Haunting Jordan by P. J. Alderman. It was exactly what it presented itself to be, and I came to care about the characters quite readily. I really enjoy a well-crafted mystery and I admire an author who can keep two different mystery narratives running in the same book. Did it bother me that I could figure out who the murders were slightly in advance of the heroine? Not particularly for the following reasons 1)for the historical murder it was fun watching how she figured it out and where she found her evidence and 2)for the present day murder, while I guessed who did it, I didn't know WHY. Plus, the climactic fight scene was something to be enjoyed.

I found the plot point of Jordan being able to communicate with and see ghosts to be handled fairly deftly. She was not at all happy to discover that she could do this and it takes her quite a while to adjust. She is not someone who had demonstrated psychic powers in the past, nor was she someone who makes her living dealing with anything supernatural or new age, which I found refreshing. This, combined with the fact that all of her neighbors readily accepted the fact that their town was heavily haunted and were excited that there was someone who could actually speak to the ghosts in their midst made for some very amusing passages.

I do have a few quibbles though. I thought that the loyalty and almost unnaturally good nature of her new friends was a bit much and a bit too soon. I realize that there was a bit of a time crunch in order to keep the narrative running in a realistic time, but to have developed such fast friendships like these seemed unrealistic. Additionally, there were a few loose threads that did not get tied up in this book. At the time I was unaware that this was the first in a new series so I was irritated, but now that I am aware of this fact I am less so. Finally, there were two different times when a major error took place, (the repetition of a phrase in the same sentence and calling a major character by the wrong last name) which made me wonder a bit about the editor. These are pretty minor quibbles though. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, whenever that may come about. The only information I can find on the author's website is that the second book (no title) will be published sometime this year. Highly recommended.

A Salute to My Father

2010-06-20T20:19:00.004-04:00

Since it is Father's Day I decided I would do a post in honor of my dad. I know that many people think highly of their fathers (and just as many have low opinions of theirs as well), but I really think I hit the jackpot in terms of fathers. I've chosen three different stories to illustrate my dad's character and personality.

My grandmother once told me "your father was the nicest, dearest, sweetest little boy." She proceed to elaborate by telling me about her dog Candy. Growing up my father's family had a number of dogs, but Candy was Meme's dog and she was extremely fond of her. One day, when Meme came home from shopping, my dad met her at the door (he was about ten) and told her that Candy had died in her sleep while she was out and that he had already buried her in the backyard so that she wouldn't have to do it.

I sort of hesitate to tell this story as it reflects poorly on my grandfather, who held certain prejudices. To be fair, he was born in 1906 and had a jerk for a father himself so it was definitely learned behavior, but that isn't much of an excuse. At any rate. When my father was in high school he was getting ready to go out on a date with a young lady whose last name was Rosenbaum. My grandfather asked who he was taking out and when he shared her name my grandfather said "but Peter, she's a Jew." My father calmly replied "no Dad, she's a girl," and then left.

And finally, as a child I only remember getting spanked by my father one time and it was for being horribly rude to my mother at the dinner table. I was not very old, maybe five, and was sent from the table in disgrace for making my mother cry. I got spanked one time, burst into tears, and my dad grabbed me in a fierce hug and told me he loved me but that my behavior had not been acceptable and to never do it again. Dad was crying while this took place too. I admire him for giving me the punishment I deserved (although my older sister got off scott free and she was the one who goaded me into saying what I thought of the meal which still bothers me), even though it pained him to do so. I also admire him for supporting my mother so much and not tolerating such attitudes.

Dad, I know you don't read my blog, but you're fantastic, and Sunshine loves and admires you too. Love you!

Fat Friday

2010-06-18T09:21:00.003-04:00

Yum, yum, yum! Once again it is time for Fat Friday. I know I originally stated that I was going to do this once a month, and that is still my intent, but I fully acknowledge that I missed doing one in the month of May.

A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman is an outstanding baking book. The first chapter is all on baking secrets and should not be skipped. She also includes at the end of the book a source guide so that bakers everywhere can find some of the rarer ingredients she uses. I've only made a fraction of the recipes in this book as many are yeast doughs and I have zero experience with traditional yeast doughs. However, the recipes I have made have all been fabulous.

From the Giant Sweet Cheddar Biscuits, to the Pralines and Cream Pecan Caramel Muffins, to Pumpkin Pocket Cookies, this book is jammed with wonderful recipes. The Caramel Swirl Hunks (which are essentially giant chocolate chip cookie bars with homemade caramel) are out of this world. The Best-Ever Little British Butter Cake is the best shortcake I've ever had and the directions for it are extremely easy. I'm dying to try the Chunky Cheese Bread, the Double Garlic Fougasse, the Brittany Butter Cookies, and the Toronto Blueberry Buns. I'm getting hungry just thinking about these things!

The book has chapters on the following: Loaves, Rolls Baby Breads & Buns, Pizza & Other Flatbreads, Scones & Biscuits, Muffins, Cookies, Biscotti, Bars & Squares, Quick Breads & Coffee Cakes, Pies Tarts & Pastries, Sweet Yeast Baking, Cakes, Cheesecake, Holiday Baking, Grainy Goodness (which has the healthier fare), and Baker in a Hurry.

One of the pitfalls for cookbooks is incomplete directions which fortunately is not the case with this book. Nothing is more aggravating when you trying out a new recipe than to get to a point in the directions and have no idea what the author is talking about. This could be because you have no idea what "soft ball stage" is, or because they simply aren't specific enough with the steps. The only time this comes into play in this book is when she offers alternative baking options (making something smaller, making in a loaf instead of muffins etc.), because she does not always include alternative baking times for these options. (And also, there are no carrots listed in her carrot cake recipe. I thought at first it was simply a typo on the ingredient section, but no, there is no mention of them anywhere in that recipe. Can't exactly be carrot cake without them now can it?). Overall though, I find her directions to be quite complete and easy to follow.

The book is not for everyone. Many of the recipes are fairly labor intensive, although none of the techniques are exceedingly advanced. I'm a primarily self-taught baker and if you take the time to read the chapter on baking secrets you'll be just fine. But if you are looking for quick and easy recipes seek them elsewhere. Also, most of the recipes are not cheap to make. She uses high quality ingredients, and these recipes are laden with butter, eggs, sugars, extracts and where applicable, fruit, chocolate and cheese. However, that's really what I'm looking for in baked goods, explosions of flavor with great texture and heft.

I fully endorse this book, and while I will possibly let friends borrow my copy, (I'm pretty possessive of it, and frequently read it at breakfast) I won't share any of her recipes on here. Recipes can't be copyrighted (which is a whole other issue, and one I profoundly disagree with*), but I still won't do it. I don't think it is fair to her in the least and you really should have the entire book. If you want to check out some of her recipes I can recommend going to her website, Better Baking, and seeing some of the freebies she puts up there. The rest are obtained through subscription or paying per recipe like on itunes. Like the title of the book says, she has a passion for baking, and it shows. Now I want to go home and bake something.

*It makes sense that an ingredient list can't be copyrighted, but I think the procedures that are detailed (which frequently make all the difference) should be. I know that two people can independently come up with the same methodology and I understand that it would be an extremely thorny issue to try and regulate, but for professionals to not be able to protect their work is grossly unfair.

Double Post!

2010-06-17T13:00:00.003-04:00

I don't typically post twice in the same day, but I was just reading an article/interview about/with Charlaine Harris in Writer's Digest and she puts somethings really beautifully:

"I really admire good writing no matter where I find it, or even effective hokey writing," she says. "You know, there's gotta be something that grabs you and pulls you in. Even if it's not literature, there's something about it that gets you viscerally, and that really attracts me in understanding that." (page 54 of the July/August edition of Writer's Digest).

Also:

"If it pleases you and you can write at all, it's gonna please somebody else." (also page 54).

And that's really what reading is about isn't it? Finding something you connect with and that you enjoy. To me, reading is so personal, that while you can find others that share similar tastes with you, you are never going to find someone whose taste is exactly the same as yours. And that's fine.

5x5

2010-06-17T10:35:00.003-04:00

Five Academic Regrets I Possess
1. I wish I had had a different third grade teacher. Don't get me wrong, Mrs. Kent was an extremely nice woman, but I don't feel I learned all that much during third grade, beyond how to spell mountain and bacteria, cursive handwriting (mine has never been pretty), and multiplication tables. I was in a very fortunate position at my elementary school in that not only did I have an older sister who served as the guinea pig for the teachers, but also because my mother was able to request which class I was placed in. For two years in a row though, I was placed in the less challenging of the two classes. In second grade she made the right decision, even though I was terribly bored in Mrs. Smith's class. (The next year she went on to teach kindergarten). I laugh to imagine the chaos and scenes that would have ensued had I been in Mrs. Stedham's class though. The first time she told one of my classmates that the question he/she had asked was stupid I would have been up in arms, raising Cain. However, I think my mom missed the mark in third grade as I got on really well with Ms. Green when three years later she was my social studies teacher. I know my sister hated being in her class, but Bird went on to major in art, while I did not. We have very different personalities, and I think I would have been fine. Although, my childhood nemesis was in that class.....hmm....third, sixth, and tenth grade were the only years I had a break from him. Maybe Mom made the right decision after all.
2. I wish I had not taken GT English in 7th grade. Seems counter- intuitive that I would express a desire to have been in a less challenging class in 7th grade when I just expressed a desire to have been more challenged in third. The thing is, that English class wasn't very challenging, nor were the assignments especially clever. I disliked the teacher, particularly after she told me that "feline is the word for female dog," and being in that class meant I was forced to take pre-algebra with the absolutely worst teacher I have ever encountered as a student. Ever. In my entire educational experience. Had I been in a regular English class, I would have taken pre-algebra with Mrs. Mehal, who wound up being my teacher for regular 7th grade math for the second half of the year after I switched out of the class from hell. Of course, that would have meant I missed out on one of my all time favorite teachers, Ms. Hartley in 9th grade. Oh well.
3. I wish I had studied Latin. The more I learn about it, the more I feel cheated that I didn't study Latin. Not because of the extra boost my verbal scores on standardized tests would have received, but because it is the primary origin of our language. Also, had I studied Latin I could have majored in Classical Civilizations, which brings us to number four.
4. I wish I had majored in Classical Civilizations. I ended up with a minor in the program because of how many of the courses I took to fulfill my elective and feminist studies requirements. I was inducted into their honor society my senior year, three of my favorite classes in college were in that department (Hellenistic Greece and Republican Rome, Greek and Roman Myth, and The Classical Tradition), and I had a great relationship with three of the professors, as compared to one in the department for what I actually majored in.
5. I wish I had taken the opportunity to study abroad during college. I honestly never even looked into studying abroad because I was a Speech and Communication major and the two didn't seem to make sense together. I felt you needed to be majoring in something international to justify it. Had I only known! Still, if I had studied Latin and therefore had a different major I could have gone to Italy or Greece.

Five Academic Joys I Have
1. I am so happy I studied French. I know that in this day and age that Spanish is far more practical, but I adore French and I'm glad I took so many years of it. Sunshine and I really wish we could afford Rosetta Stone for French so that I can refresh my memory and he can learn it.
2. I am so happy I took creative writing in 8th grade. Not only did it give me an opportunity to become friends with the person who would be my closet friend for the next three years, but that is also where I met Sunshine! (No, we haven't been together since that time, but we are getting married on the 20th anniversary of when we first met.)
3. I am so happy that I took AP English in high school. As I stated in my last post, this course was as hard or harder than anything I took in college until I was a junior. I think I would have had a much harder time in my classes had I not had this experience. Thanks Mrs. Rennar!
4. I am so happy that I had a difficult instructor for Core in college. Core was this hideous course in college that all incoming freshman were required to take. At the time of my enrollment the teachers were allowed to teach it however they saw fit, as long as they had us read all of the same books. Therefore you had the art instructor who allowed his students to make clay pinch pots (you know, like you did in elementary school) as their final, and the philosophy instructor who gave everyone A's because he resented being forced to teach the course. My professor taught Russian and he had us write papers (bare minimum of two pages) for everything we read, and we read a lot! At the time, I really disliked him, but he really made us think and for that I thank him. Here's to you Joe! (I can't remember how to spell his last name. I wonder if he still teaches there? I will look him up.)*
5. I am so happy that I have parents who not only valued education, but encouraged me to take classes on other things besides academics, such as art and dance. Do I need to elaborate more? They made me a life long learner and for that I am eternally grateful.

*Troncale! And he still teaches there.

A Bone to Pick with Newsweek

2010-06-15T10:29:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I encountered an article in Newsweek that really got my hackles up. Newsweek creates a list every year of America's Best High Schools. This, in and of itself, is not what bothers me. No, what bothers me is how they determine the rankings. Newsweek uses tests to come up with their rankings. Not just any tests, but AP and IB tests. In their FAQs the creators of the list explain it thus:

"We take the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge (AICE) tests given at a school each year and divide by the number of seniors graduating in May or June. All public schools NEWSWEEK researcher Amy Novak and I could find that achieved a ratio of at least 1.000, meaning they had as many tests in 2009 as they had graduates, were put on the list on the NEWSWEEK Web site. Each list is based on the previous year's data, so the 2010 list has each school's numbers for 2009."

Waiting to find out what they use? Nothing. That's it. They don't even look at passing rates of these exams since schools can skew those results by only allowing the best of the best to take the exams. Um....call me crazy, but don't you think passing rates reflect on how well the teachers did their jobs? Sure, every senior at a school may take an AP exam, but if only five of them pass I would not say that this is a great high school. But wait, it gets better! (Or worse, depending on how you look at it.)

Also from their FAQ section:
"5. How can you call these the best schools or the top schools if you are using just one narrow measure? High school is more than just AP or IB tests.
Indeed it is, and if I could quantify all those other things in a meaningful way, I would give it a try. But teacher quality, extracurricular activities, and other important factors are too subjective for a ranked list. Participation in challenging courses and tests, on the other hand, can be counted, and the results expose a significant failing in most high schools--less than 6 percent of the public high schools in the United States qualify for the NEWSWEEK list. "

Wow. Just wow. Really? You can't think of any way to evaluate other areas in a non-subjective way? What about using any of the following:

Age of the facility.
Student to teacher ratio.
Graduation rates: which can be done two ways 1) by comparing enrollment at the start of the year with how many graduate, or 2) going back four years to freshman class size compared to how many graduating seniors they have.
Number of scholarships awarded to graduating seniors
Number and variety of electives offered
Number of foreign languages offered
Number and variety of extracurricular activities offered
Number of computers per student
Crime rates for the area surrounding the school
Number of registered sex offenders living nearby
Number of lockdowns the school had to have in one year
Amount of money spent per student
Are they ranked in their state or nationally in any of the following programs: art, band, chorus, debate, drama, sports?

The last time I checked colleges look for well-rounded students, not just academic excellence.

The creators of the list further explain why they chose such a limited criteria:
"I think that this is the most useful quantitative measure of a high school. One of its strengths is the narrowness of the criteria. Everyone can understand the simple arithmetic that produces a school's Challenge Index rating and discuss it intelligently, as opposed to ranked lists like U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges," which has too many factors for me to judge for myself the quality of their analysis."

Really? So having a chart that show the scores for the different categories would be confusing? Ideally the top schools would score highly in those areas I mentioned. This is how Consumer Reports does rankings and people understand those. Now, I'll admit, that finding this information will be a lot trickier than simply getting the statistics of two areas that schools are happy to divulge, but almost everything I mentioned is something you can find out by looking at either the school's website, or through the websites for the county schools. As for crime rates and such, the local police can provide that, as can a number of websites that allow you to type in an address and get information.

But wait, there's more!
While they have restricted their list to public schools, and they didn't include any charter or magnet school "that draws such a high concentration of top students that its average SAT or ACT score significantly exceeds the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country," they did include charter and magnet schools. As in, schools that don't have to take everybody who lives in a given area. No surprise that all of the top ten are either magnet or charter schools, and that only two in the top twenty are regular high schools. That's hardly comparing apple to apples now is it? Take for instance, their number one school The School for the Talented & Gifted in Dallas Texas. It has been number one on their list for last four years. According to the Dallas Magnet School website "To be eligible, students must show good conduct and meet academic and assessment entrance requirements." Lovely. I'm sure my school would score a lot higher if we didn't have to take all the kids who were kicked out of private schools for bad behavior, or who didn't care about school. (And by the way, my high school came in 179th.) In my opinion, there should be two lists done: one for regular public schools and one for charter and magnet schools.

Also, they don't take into consideration programs like the one in place here in North Carolina where students take a course through the community college that counts towards both high school and college. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of that program since I feel it short changes the students, but for people looking at the list who are wondering why there are so few North Carolina schools on the list, compared to say, Northern Virginia, that's your answer.

I'm really not trying to dump all over the creators of this list. I think their goal is admirable. I agree with their statement that "AP, IB, and Cambridge are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations. " My AP English class was as hard or harder than anything I took in college until my junior year, and I didn't attend a school that was considered academically lightweight. And I think it is a shame that more schools don't offer these courses, but you also have to have teachers who are willing and capable to teach these classes, and they don't get paid more for the extra work.
I find their stance regarding the criticism about not using passing rates or scores as a factor, to be admirable. They say:
"(T)hese are all schools with lots of low-income students and great teachers who have found ways to get them involved in college-level courses. We have as yet no proven way for educators in low-income schools to improve significantly their average tests scores or graduation rates. Until we do, I don't see any point in making them play a game that, no matter how energetic or smart they are, they can't win."
But ultimately, it makes their list misleading. These aren't the best high schools in a America. These are the best high schools in terms of academically rigorous curriculum being available and utilized in a very defined way (ie AP and IB) with no regard to performance.* To view the list click here.

*Although, I am sure, that many of the schools that score highly on this assessment will also score highly in the areas I listed.

Book Review: Twenties Girl

2010-06-14T09:12:00.003-04:00

So, I finally managed to finish reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and while I didn't hate it, I certainly didn't love it, and I was left feeling highly disappointed by the ending. Don't get me wrong, the book uses beautiful language, but overall it is fairly cold and then once you finally start warming up to the characters-wham! Badness. But this isn't a review of that particular book. No, this is a review of the book I used as a palette cleanser: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella.
Sophie Kinsella writes what most people call Chick Lit, and while I hate the term, it is rather fitting. I first became familiar with Kinsella (like most people) through her very popular Shopaholic series. I've also read her stand alone novels, Can You Keep a Secret and Undomestic Goddess. Suffice to say that she tends to be a tad formulaic in her writing. Typically, things are only going okay for our heroine, something happens that brings her world crashing down in some sort of comedic way, and ultimately she ends up finding love, happiness and a better paying/more fulfilling job. Happiness ensues. Pure cotton candy. And every once in a while you need some cotton candy.

I purchased this book at a bookstore that was going out of business for a ridiculously reduced price. I kept it tucked away for when I needed something really frothy, and fortunately my sister was able to return it to me this week because I really needed something frothy after Hedgehog. Twenties Girl does in fact contain the parts of Kinsella's formula (or more accurately, the chick lit formula), but she changed things up a bit with this one. The comedic disaster that causes our heroine's world to come crashing down is the ghost of her great aunt Sadie. Sadie needs Lara's (our heroine) help to find her missing necklace or else she can never rest. Madcap adventures and a pretty good mystery follow. The dialogue between Lara and Sadie is delightful and funny. I wasn't bothered at all by seeing some of the plots points clearly illuminated as other plot points were clever surprises. Kinsella's books aren't for everyone, but if you enjoy a comical romance with a touching and happy ending you will like Twenties Girl.

WWW Wednesay

2010-06-09T15:05:00.003-04:00

What have I finished reading? Savvy by Ingrid Law. I started this while proctoring an exam for a friend and ended up reading the rest of it in one day. I really enjoyed it, although I felt the author overly used metaphor. It counts towards by 100 book challenge and Newbery challenge.

What am I currently reading? I'm still plugging along with The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I'm having a hard time with it though. I've been told that the book really picks up once the new tenant at the apartment building moves in, but it is difficult for me to enjoy a book where I don't like the characters, especially when the author appears to be using them as mouthpieces for her own philosophy instead of actually having a plot for the first half of the book. I truly don't understand all of the fuss, and I'm a little disconcerted that my boss (who loved the book) said it reminded her of me. Perhaps she meant it did in the sense that she feels I hide my light under a bushel, and not that I'm a smug know-it-all with a chip on her shoulder. Considering we're friends and socialize away from work I'm guessing it is the former. Oh, and I haven't had a chance to go back to Homer P. Figg yet either.

What will I read next? I'll finish Homer P. Figg and then I'm unsure. My sister returned three of the books I had lent her, none of which I have read, so I might crack open Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella. After The Elegance of the Hedgehog I will need something light.

So disappointing.

2010-06-08T15:15:00.002-04:00

This week's topic: what are three books you thought you would like, but ended up hating? Once again, thanks to Lost in Books for this idea.
For this topic I stuck with books I actually finished, as opposed to ones I stopped reading because I disliked them so much.

First up, we have The Ghost Writer by John Harwood. The problem I had with this book was the ending. I literally said "What the hell?" and then went back and reread portions of it trying to figure out what had happened, and if I had missed something. I was never able to figure it out. Extremely disappointing and confusing.

Next we have Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. I had never read anything by Grisham and I thought this short little funny book about Christmas would be a good place to start. Wrong! First of all, it isn't funny. Secondly, none of the characters struck me as either likable or sympathetic. In my review on Shelfari I called the book pure drivel.

Finally we have Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews. Hoo-boy! This book suffers from a horrible identity crisis. The cover synopsis presents it as a tale of jilted woman gets revenge and finds true love, but this is not the case. The book starts off that way, and then turns into a lame murder mystery, and then has the main character end up with the dullest and stupidest leading man ever, after virtually no sparks whatsoever. Absolutely awful book.

Hmm. Interestingly enough, I read all three of these books during my miserable time living in Fayetteville. I don't think that really played a role in it though since I read so many books there that I loved, including A Year in Provence and A Walk in the Woods. But these three were stinkers.

5x5*

2010-06-07T16:41:00.003-04:00

or I felt like making lists!

5 Things I am Sick and Tired Of
1. Back pain. Yoga and massage therapy are helping, but I still have a grouping of constant knots in my back muscles concentrated around my right shoulder and at the bra level. I know I am lucky that it is muscular in nature as opposed to skeletal or nerves, but it really stinks.

2. Feeling under-appreciated at work. This is more from the standpoint of the faculty members and students themselves instead of my boss. It may be primarily in my head, but it isn't a nice feeling.

3. Politicians who pay lip-service to valuing education but then refuse to fund it or other educational organizations.

4. Worrying about money. There never seems to be enough.

5. The fact that being a conscientious shopper means paying more for just about everything so that you can get products that don't support slavery (chocolate companies), or companies that treat animals inhumanely (most meat companies), or the company that brought us Agent Orange and now brings us GMO (Monsanto), or the petroleum industry (plastics).

5 Things I've Loving Right Now
1. The new season of Doctor Who. I just hope that the final episodes aren't weep fests waiting to happen.

2. My local farmer's market. I wish that we had one year round, but I know that's really hard for such a small area. I go almost every Saturday, and the roast chicken I made yesterday with the locally, organically, and humanely raised chicken was the best I've ever had.

3. My sister and her adorable children are in town for a visit this week! Sadly because of work I will only see them in the early evening when they are cranky, but they will still be fun.

4. My dog. I love him all the time of course, but he just got groomed and so is extra soft and fluffy right now, making him more like a living teddy bear than normal.

5. We have a chipmunk colony (well, there are at least three of them) living in the backyard and they are so much fun to watch.

*Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference.

Anybody want a cookie?

2010-06-05T10:33:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite books as a child was The Tiny Little House by Eleanor Clymer, which is, sadly, no longer in print. Clever monkey that I am, I still own my copy and it is in pretty good shape, all things considered. On a whim I pulled it out of the closet the other day and reread it. For those who are unfamiliar with the book the plot revolves around two little girls who love the tiny house that is sandwiched between their two apartment buildings and who wind up turning it into a cookie shop for an old woman. It is a very cute book with great illustrations, and it renews my love of the girl's name Alice. And of course, it makes me want to eat cookies. I remembered that peanut butter and chocolate cookies both were featured in the climatic scene where they convince the irate landlord to allow them to transform the neglected little house into a shop by stuffing his face with cookies, and I also remembered that there were recipes at the end of the book. Sadly, there is only one, for sugar cookies, and I already have a fabulous recipe for those.
At any rate, the book got me to thinking that perhaps this is one of the reasons I love to bake. Here, in my of my first loves (books), is the story of how homemade baked goods not only calmed an extremely angry man down, but also enabled a little old woman to be self sufficient. Behold the power of baking! I really do think that this book helped sow the seeds of the idea that homemade baked goods have the power to bring people closer. I could wax very philosophical about the symbolism of breaking bread together, but it is a Saturday morning after all, so I won't. I may have to bake some cookies this weekend though. If you have children and happen to come across a copy of this book in a used book store, by all means, snatch it up. (My copy originally sold for fifty cents; the book is tiny too, perfect for a child's hands, so look carefully.)

Confessions of a Librarian

2010-06-03T09:10:00.002-04:00

As I have mentioned before, my job consists primarily of ordering and cataloging the new materials for my library. In addition to this, I'm also responsible for doing the majority of deselection or weeding as it is known in the library world. My confession is this: I enjoy weeding as much, if not more, than ordering the new books. Gasp! I love, love, love unpacking the new books when they come in, but the actual ordering process can be rather tedious. Weeding on the other hand consists of me spending large spans of times happily exploring the stacks, analyzing the collection, and pulling the outdated or damaged books from the shelves.
We have a small library and have no room currently to expand the bookshelves. This means in order to make room for the new stuff I have to get rid of the old and outdated. Many librarians hate to weed, which is not something I understand. I get that some people love books so much that the thought of getting rid of one is hard for them, but books with inaccurate information or offensive terminology don't help anyone. And in my opinion, having a bunch of outdated books on a topic is the same as not having anything. They won't go out and your patrons will think that your whole collection is outdated.
It is possible that the reason I so enjoy weeding is that my library was not weeded for years prior to my employment so I find all sorts of interesting and almost comical content loitering on our shelves. But then again, I loved weeding at the public library too, but that was primarily because of how shabby and sometime down right nasty the books could get. I bring all of this up because I recently came across the following book: I Try to Behave Myself: Peg Bracken's Etiquette Book. It has a copyright date of 1963 and is hysterically funny. This is because it does not stick to the main points of etiquette but includes chapters on how to get rid of guests when the evening is over, and when not to have sex.
Here's a quote from the back of the book:
"No man who calls his wife 'Mother' or 'Fats' all day can justifiably expect a bonfire that night--or has Henry Fielding put it, 'a warm partaker of the genial bed.'"
Now, if I worked in a public library I might consider keeping this, despite the fact that it has not gone out once in ten years. However, since I work in an academic library an outdated, albeit comedic, etiquette book doesn't have a place here. But fear not, I ponied up the book sale price of $1.00 for a hardback and have taken it home with me.

WWW Wednesday

2010-06-02T11:13:00.003-04:00

What have I finished reading? I finally finished Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, which I ultimately ended up enjoying, but can't give the same sort of effusive praise as others since 1)I still found the character of Zeke to be annoying, 2)I dislike ambiguous endings, and 3)it took me so long to get into. I also read Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, which is every bit as good as anyone has ever said it was and more. So good in fact that I feel I have to read the sequel to find out what happens next. Not want to read it, have to read it.
What am I currently reading? I have two books going at the moment. The first is The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by W.R. Philbrick which I am reading in pursuit of my ridiculous Newbery goal. I set it aside for the moment for two reasons though. 1)Homer and his newly appointed doofus of a guardian are about to get scammed which I was not in the mood for and 2)because my book club book this month is a chunkster and I wanted to get going on it. That's the second book I am reading right now: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I'm not sure how I feel about it. The vocabulary used is out of this world, but right now I don't enjoy either of the main characters. Perhaps at this point in the novel we aren't supposed to.

What will I read next? Quite possibly Persepolis 2, but other contenders are Graceling and The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.

Harold Bloom can suck it

2010-05-27T15:11:00.003-04:00

While reading a list of the 50 best author on author insults (found linked on Bookshelves of Doom)I came across this gem from Harold Bloom on J.K. Rowling:

How to read 'Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone'? Why, very quickly, to begin with, and perhaps also to make an end. Why read it? Presumably, if you cannot be persuaded to read anything better, Rowling will have to do.

Frankly, I think Harold Bloom has an overinflated opinion of himself (as most professional critics do), and is an incurable snob. And that's really all I have to say on the subject.

Just a plain old Wednesday

2010-05-26T10:53:00.003-04:00

I would do a WWW Wednesday, but sadly I haven't read much since last Wednesday. In fact, I have only read one book since then, Bite Me, so I figured it would be a rather redundant post. Lots of stuff has been going on the prevented reading such as baking, jam making, movie watching, and playing Kung Fu Panda the video game. I have read a little more in Boneshaker and now that the action has increased I am liking it more. I have had it checked out for a really long time though and should probably return it. Plus, I have a hefty stack of books at home in my TBR pile, including the next book for my book club, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which is a chunkster of a book so I should get on that.
I also have my dance recital this weekend, and I confess to being a wee bit nervous about it. I haven't danced on stage since I was 18, oh so long ago, and I'm out of practice. Not only that, but our costumes still weren't ready as of last week, which adds another whole layer of worry. Hopefully, after Saturday, I will get back to reading and will have a great WWW next week.

Three Books You Thought You Would Hate

2010-05-25T11:13:00.003-04:00

This week's topic is three books you thought you would hate, but that you ended up loving. Once again, The Book List comes from Lost In Books.

Oh boy. This one was challenging for me. I generally avoid books that I think I will dislike. My TBR list is 532 books long, there's no time for stuff I have no desire to read. In fact, the only things that make me read books I am disinclined to read are when they are assigned course readings (and I've been out of school for seven years now-yeesh, I feel old), or were selected for my book club. (And even then if I really don't want to read it I don't. More on that later). But there have been a few that fit this bill.

First off is Holes by Louis Sachar. I ended up reading this for my Children's Literature course in graduate school, and I have to say that left to my own devices it is highly unlikely that I would have read it. This is the beginning of the product description on Amazon:
"If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy." Such is the reigning philosophy at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention facility where there is no lake, and there are no happy campers. In place of what used to be "the largest lake in Texas" is now a dry, flat, sunburned wasteland, pocked with countless identical holes dug by boys improving their character. Stanley Yelnats, of palindromic name and ill-fated pedigree, has landed at Camp Green Lake because it seemed a better option than jail.
Ahem. This does not produce a burning desire for me to read this book. In fact, this makes me want to run in the opposite direction. However, Holes is NOT a problem novel. It is, instead, an adventure story and one that I can highly recommend.

Another book that I approached with trepidation was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It is, after all, a book about a rundown circus set during the Great Depression, both topics which give me pause. (I don't like sad. I cry easily and it is not an accomplishment to achieve this reaction.) At any rate, I read this book because my beloved aunt recommended it to me. We don't always see eye to eye on entertainment (she loved the film the Accidental Tourist, I hated it), but when it comes to books I trust her. So I read this and I LOVED it.

Finally, we have The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This one was selected for my book club, and while the title had intrigued me repeatedly, the subject matter did not. I found it to be very well written and surprisingly compulsive reading. After reading it I made a point of thanking my parents for everything they had ever done for me. I'm really glad that I made myself start reading this, since as I mentioned previously I sometimes commit major avoidance with the book club selections. However, while I would recommend this book, I wouldn't reread it. Hmm....I guess it doesn't truly qualify in the love department, but I liked it when I thought I would hate it.

Discount Knightery!

2010-05-21T20:09:00.004-04:00

Today I earned two Discount Knight badges.

First, I found a fun video game that, with my Game Stop discount card, only cost $7.00. And then, I got Bite Me by Christopher Moore for %50 off! Huzzah! I tell you, fortune was smiling on me today, because I also did not get a ticket when I got pulled over. I had just put my new inspection sticker on the car and stuck my new registration in my wallet this morning. Wow. What a day.

Updates

2010-05-20T13:25:00.002-04:00

My "to be read" list is now up to 529. It was 491 only a few weeks ago. Clearly I need help.

I have read a total of 23 books this year, not counting picture books. I had a moment of panic when I was counting them up on my list since the total only came to 21. However, there are two major fluff books that I read this year that I couldn't fit into my categories. I suppose I could count them in the "my choice" category, but at the expense of what? Very puzzling. But as far as my tally goes it is 23 and I'm sticking with that. I may end up chucking my carefully planned list altogether at some point, since I have revised it approximately five times already. The most recent overhaul was to get rid of "Scare Myself Stupid" and replacing it was "Book Blog Recommendations." It was the only category I hadn't read anything from, although I did leave three of the books on the list.

I have added another challenge. (More evidence that I need help). This one is called "What's in a Name?" and it is from Tales of a Capricious Reader. This one is a little different from the others in that you have to read six books with specific title qualifications. There has to be one of the following things included in the title: a food, a body of water, a title (such as King or Major), a plant, a place name, and finally a music term. I've had a lot of fun picking out the books to meet these parameters. I have read 1/6: The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag.

Other challenge statistics:
Our Mutual Read: 3/4. Just The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells left to go!
Fantasy: 2/6
First in a series: 1/6. I was looking at my list and realized I had six of them on there in different places so I went with the higher level of participation.
Typically British: 2/6
Read My Name: 5/14 I've covered the following letters: ELBOH.

I am having so much fun with this!

WWW Wednesday

2010-05-19T09:02:00.004-04:00

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

* What are you currently reading?
* What did you recently finish reading?
* What do you think you’ll read next?

What am I currently reading? I haven't completely given up on Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, although it has been set aside for the reasons I gave yesterday. I just started The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and though I am enjoying it the book hasn't really grabbed me like I had hoped. It counts towards the 100 Book Challenge (obviously), the Read Your Name Challenge (for my soon to be last name), the First in a Series Challenge, and also towards another long term goal of reading a book set in or about each of the recognized countries in the world. (I got this idea from another blog, but now I can't find which one. I thought it was Fizzy Thoughts, but I can't seem to find the link on her blog for it, so it was probably someone else. Egads. My apologies to whomever it was, I clearly thought it was a fabulous idea.)

What did I recently finish reading? I finished The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley, and Obit by Jim Sheeler. Both count towards the 100 Book Challenge and Obit counts towards the Read Your Name Challenge (again for the soon to be last name). For those keeping track I've read 23 books for the 100 Book Challenge, almost a quarter of the way there, although fairly off pace considering it is mid-May.

What am I going to read next? I hope to go to the bookstore on Friday and purchase Bite Me by Christopher Moore. I will probably read The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg next.

Why doesn't book pooper exist?

2010-05-18T10:25:00.003-04:00

After all, there is a website called movie pooper, where you can go find out the endings of the movies that you don't want to sit through, since sometimes the surprise twist is the only thing that is interesting about it. I mainly utilize the site for horror films since I am a terrible wuss about those sorts of movies but am frequently curious as to the outcomes.

I wish that there was something similar for books. I know I can look up classics in reference works like Masterplots, but there doesn't seem to be anything for current fiction. The source for this desire is Boneshaker. I want to know the truth about what happened, but I have very little desire to finish reading the book, primarily because the two main characters annoy me. Zeke because he's a naive and at times moronic teenager, and Brier because she's doing the whole martyred woman thing. I get it, their lives are impossibly hard, but really, if my husband had been blamed for destroying an entire city, and unleashing a horrible poison gas that caused people to turn into zombies you bet your ass I wouldn't have stayed outside the same city with the rest of the survivors trying to eke out an existence. Walking south to California couldn't have been any harder than working 12 hour shifts and living in a community where everyone hates you.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to finish it or not. I really want to know, but man these characters irritate me.

Mystery Monday

2010-05-17T10:55:00.003-04:00

If anyone were to give either my to be read list or my have read list even a cursory glance, it will become painfully obvious that I thoroughly enjoy mystery novels, especially ones that involve amateur sleuths. I also tend to prefer ones that would be classified as cozy mysteries, that is, no graphic sex or violence, but I have read others that are not cozies. I simply love a good mystery and I'm always on the look out for a new series to satisfy my craving.

I bring all of this up because I just recently finished reading The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley and I absolutely loved it. This is the second book in his Flavia de Luce series, after The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia is unlike any other heroine I have come across, not only because of her age (almost eleven), but also because of her obsession with chemistry and unhealthy interest in poison. And just so we are clear, even though she is a child, these aren't books for children.

Bradley does a fantastic job of breathing life into all of his characters, who are quirky without being caricatures, and with crafting mysteries that a wickedly intelligent and observant child could solve given an absence of parental supervision. And again, these aren't your garden variety safe mysteries, such as who stole a pie off of a kitchen window, but are in fact murder mysteries. Bradley also has a wonderful gift for language and many a turn of phrase in his books have found their way into my daily language. To give you an idea of his writing style here are some examples from Hangman's Bag:

"I have to admit, though, that Cynthia was a great organizer, but then, so were the men with whips who got the pyramids built." (page 31)

"God blind me with a fish fork!" (page 85)

"I wanted to throw my arms around this dotty old bat in her George Bernard Shaw costume and hug her until the juices ran out. But I didn't. I couldn't. I was a de Luce." (page 203)

The books are just wonderful, and I can't believe I have to wait until next year for the third book in the series. I'm hoping to find some other mystery series to tide me over, as I need them in my reading just like I need a nap every once in a while. I highly recommend both of the Flavia de Luce novels to any and all who enjoy a good mystery.

From the Shelves: Obit

2010-05-16T19:23:00.003-04:00

I just finished reading the book Obit by Jim Sheeler. On the surface one might think that a book that is composed of obituaries would be at best morbid, and at worst, horribly depressing. It is neither. The subtitle is "inspiring stories of ordinary people who led extraordinary lives" and it lives up to that billing. Each chapter is an obituary, but it is also the story of that person. In short, Sheeler breathes life into them one last time and makes the reader wish they had known the people and mourn their loss at least in part.
The essays, for really that is a better description than simply calling them obituaries, are celebrations of lives well lived (and in some instances cut too short) as well as memorials to those who have passed on. They are touching and moving and extremely well written. We should all be so lucky as to have Jim Sheeler write our last story. It makes me wonder what sort of stories my family would tell about me when the time comes (hopefully far off in the future). I expect most of those stories would be about my vivid power of recall, or perhaps my ridiculously strong sense of smell. Who truly knows what others find to be especially memorable about themselves?
At any rate, this is a beautiful book and one that I highly recommend. However, it might be better to dip into it from time to time instead of reading it all at once because, while it isn't depressing, it will leave you quite subdued.

On My Wish List

2010-05-15T17:04:00.005-04:00

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books that you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

There is supposed to be a way to link my post to her website, but unfortunately I was unable to locate the Mr. Linky. At any rate, I thought this would be fun, since there are so many books that I want. I found this on Lost in Books, and one of these days I am going to figure out how to insert multiple images so that I can include book covers, but I am technologically inept sometimes and can't get them to appear anywhere but at the top.

First up is Bite Me by Christopher Moore. I'm a big fan of Christopher Moore's work, and have read all but two of his novels. Hmm, actually I have read all but three since I haven't read this one which is his latest work. Bite Me is the third installment of the love story that began with Bloodsucking Fiends and continued with You Suck. Now it seems that a vampire cat is stalking San Francisco and the plucky human Abby Normal has to call open the assistance of the vampire lovers Jody and Tommy to save the city. I almost bought this yesterday but since I spent an hour in A.C. Moore and I had an hour's drive ahead of me I did not go to the bookstore.

Next is The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz. This is also part of a series (fourth and final installment) and the books are uproariously funny. The Spellmans are a family of private investigators and as a result are fairly dysfunctional with each other. The first book in the series, The Spellman Files, won an Alex Award (book written for adults with high teenager appeal), and started a grabbing war at my book club's paperback book exchange a few years ago.

I'm also hoping to acquire How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. The title is mostly tongue in cheek, but she's caught a lot of flack from individuals without a sense of humor over it. At any rate, this is her best selling baking book and I have been coveting it for a while now. I love her show whenever I happen to catch it on t.v., and love her writing style.

And finally, I am hoping to buy I, Zombie by Chris Roberson. This is a first in a series of graphic novels, and it sounds hysterical. It is being presented as the story of Gwendolyn “Gwen” Dylan, zombie girl detective. Think graveyards, ghosts, vampires and werewolves with a twist, according to the website Graphic Content. I first found out about it from the folks who do the library comic Unshelved.

So there you have it!

I may be out of my mind

2010-05-13T10:36:00.002-04:00

because I am actually considering participating in this challenge.

The 48 Hour Book Challenge. In reality it is actually less hardcore than the 24 hour read-a-thons that get hosted twice a year. The object here is to read as much as you can in a 48 hour period, while with the 24 hour ones the object is to try and read for 24 hours straight. Yikes! It is highly doubtful that I could accomplish that as I need lots of sleep. Last night I fell asleep while watching a new Eddie Izzard program. How does that happen? I love Eddie Izzard, he makes me laugh until my sides ache, and yet he was talking about firefighters and the next thing I knew I was waking up and he was talking about Yemen. Sunshine sent me to bed.

Speaking of Sunshine, he is now addicted to Doctor Who. We will most likely be having a Who marathon this weekend, watching seasons 1 and 2. But back to books and challenges. I'm not sure why I am so taken with reading challenges, but I imagine it is because 1) it makes me feel less like I am reading in a void and 2)because it focuses my reading. So, if I can arrange it, I plan on trying this challenge.

WWW Wednesdays

2010-05-12T08:39:00.004-04:00

I really meant to post yesterday, but somehow things just got away from me. I was going to do Teaser Tuesday, but alas and alack, I failed on that. I think it had something to do with the nasty gray weather making me very tired, or perhaps because I had to bake a cake, or because my beloved Sunshine found a tick on my neck. Shudder. I think I have thanked him ten times since he got it off and ignited the nasty thing on the patio. (Man, I love my dog, but his tick taxi service has got to stop. They don't bite him, he has preventative on, they just hitch a ride into the house. I'm making myself feel sick just thinking about it.)

Anyway! About books.

What have I read lately? This weekend I finished Educating Alice by Alice Steinbach and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, both of which I loved.

What am I currently reading? On Monday I started the second book in the Flavia De Luce mystery series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley. I'm absolutely loving it, which isn't surprising since I loved the first book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. It jumped ahead of the books I was thinking of starting next when it arrived along with my gift for my mother for Mother's Day. Plus, I had to go to the allergist on Monday and I needed a book I knew I would love.

What will I read next? Boneshaker is at the front of the list followed by The Serpent's Tale, but I also have the following books checked out and one of them may leapfrog ahead. The Mostly True Stories of Homer P. Figg (Newbery), No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (1st in a series challenge), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Typically British challenge), The Blind Side, Obit, and The Affair of the Poisons, all of which are for various categories in my 100 book challenge, and the read my name challenge. Speaking of the 100 book challenge, my total is now at 21 books, not counting picture books. With only seven and half months remaining reaching one hundred is not looking too good. Clearly I must either read faster or read shorter books.

Childhood is calling

2010-05-10T10:35:00.006-04:00

or at least the books are. It is no secret that I really enjoy children's and young adult literature. I am not embarrassed in the least to be seen reading a children's book in public, and I still consider Beverly Cleary to be one of my favorite authors. Way back in graduate school I took both a children's literature course and a young adult literature course (both of which I thoroughly enjoyed), and during that time I made the decision that I was going to try and read as many of the Newbery medal and honor books as possible.

Unlike some enthusiasts, I am not going to attempt to read all of them. For one thing, there are just too many. There are 89 winners so far, with 294 honor books. Why so many honor books? Well, they frequently select more than one book as an honor. For example, in 2010 there were four honor books selected and in 1931 there were 8. They were really honor happy from 1930-1959. At any rate, besides the prohibitive quantity of books there are many that I just have no desire to read, and I'm not going to force myself to read a book I'm not interested in just for the sake of having read them all. I might be persuaded to read Up the Road Slowly if you paid me a lot of money, but otherwise it is not going to happen. That being said, there are an awful lot of them that I stretched myself to read and found I really enjoyed, such as I, Juan de Pareja.

While I wouldn't go so far as to say that the award committees select books that are too difficult for children, or that they only select boring books, I do think that this award suffers from well meaning adult syndrome in the sense that they select books that they think children should like, not necessarily ones that they will. A good example of this is the book A Single Shard. I loved this as an adult, but I know that as a child I would not have appreciated it on the same level. I also think that the Newberys suffer from Oscar syndrome as well, where books about serious topics are deemed more worthy than say humorous books. And while I certainly wouldn't hand over the list to a reluctant reader as a finding aid, there are plenty of books on there that have long lasting and wide ranging appeal. A number of Little House books won honors, as did Charlotte's Web, A Cricket in Times Square, Mr. Popper's Penguins and Ramona Quimby, Age 8.*

But why am I rambling on about this? I stayed up late last night to finish When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, the winner for 2010, and I loved it. It is difficult to write a review without giving away spoilers, but it is a great hybrid novel with a well paced and interesting plot, believable characters, and a nice mystery. Newberys that I haven't read is one of my categories for my 100 book challenge. So far I have read three of them, although I counted one in my recommendation section. This brings my total of Newberys read to 93**: 47 Medal winners and 46 honor. Interestingly enough many of the honors from the 1930s are no longer in print, which is a shame since generally that is where there is more variety in subject matter. My ultimate goal is to read at least half of the honors, and over 60% of the winners. Wish me luck!

*Like anything with voters, the results are subjective, and sometimes there are make up awards given (The Midwife's Apprentice comes to mind here. The author's previous book, Catherine Called Birdy was so much better than Midwife, yet Catherine got the honor while Midwife won the award the following year. Pretty much a make up), while other times personal politics interferes. The year Charlotte's Web won an honor a committee member happened to personally dislike E.B. White and admitted that he would never vote for his work to win the top prize so the committee had to compromise and awarded him an honor instead. In fact, a new award was created to recognize books and authors that never won the big prize because of this gross unfairness. How many of you have even heard of The Secret of the Andes, let alone read it? (That would be the book that won instead of Charlotte's Web). Hmm? That's what I thought.

**Edit: I have actually read 94, with 48 medal winners. I had forgotten that I had read It's Like This Cat by Elizabeth Neville. Doesn't speak too highly of it does it?

Fantasy Friday

2010-05-07T10:03:00.002-04:00

So as I mentioned on Wednesday, I recently read Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris, which for those of you who don't know is the tenth book in the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series. And I managed this because my grocery store did, in fact, put it out for sale in advance of the sell by date. Oh noes!
One of the dangers with a successful series is the reluctance of the author to change anything about the characters since readers fell in love with them as the are. However, this eventually leads to boredom and repetition. Fortunately, this is not a problem that Harris has. Sometimes these changes are quite good, while other times they are very upsetting. Major changes started happening in book six, with all sorts of shit hitting all sorts of fans in book seven. Book eight was a rebuilding novel and then more crap hit even bigger fans in book nine. Book ten was another rebuilding novel. This is not to say it was bad, in truth, I liked it a lot more than book nine. However, it was a bit low on action and the cover synopsis was a tad misleading.
In this book we learn an awful lot about vampire politics, and Were politics (there are more than werewolves in this world, all collectively called Weres, which is confusing when writing a blog since it is spelled the same as the past tense of are), and to an extent, people politics. And there was a fair amount of vampire nookie which is always fun if it involves the fabulous Eric. Sigh.....
Overall, it was a good read, and it made me very curious about where she is taking the series and left me wanting more. Admirable qualities in a series, indeed, admirable qualities in any book. Provided there is more of course.

That's always the danger with a series, especially an open ended series. I mean, it was hard enough waiting for book seven of the Harry Potter series. I spent the whole time with this nagging worry at the back of my mind hoping nothing bad would happen to J.K. Rowling, not only since I don't typically wish ill on people but also because I had to know what happened. HAD to know. At any rate, with an open ended series the potential for disaster is much higher. Something might happen to the author, or the quality of writing will take a turn for the worse at some point and you're left all pouty over it. But I digress.

I give Dead in the Family four out of five stars. I counts towards my 100 book total, and towards the Fantasy challenge. And it has already been loaned to another fan.

WWW Wednesday

2010-05-05T17:39:00.002-04:00

Being sick is not fun, but this type of illness has enabled me to read a lot in the past few days. It is essentially the only activity that my constant trips to the bathroom doesn't truly interfere with. But you don't want to hear about that.

What have I recently read?: Since last Wednesday I have read King Solomon's Mines, Dead in the Family, and Woof!: Writers on Dogs. The last one was a collection of essays that I started last night after watching a disturbing episode of Law & Order SVU (I know that is sort of redundant as almost every episode of SVU is disturbing, but this one especially so, IMHO). I enjoyed some essays more than others, skipped one entirely, and skipped the remainder of one when it became obvious that nothing good was going to happen. I found Dead in the Family, the latest Sookie Stackhouse book, at the grocery store of all places, and I think they had it out in advance of the sell date. Oops!

What I am reading now?: At long last, I have resumed Educating Alice.

What will I read next?: One of the following: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest or The Serpent's Tale by Arianna Franklin.

Books You've Read Over and Over and Over Again

2010-05-04T11:28:00.002-04:00

Anyone who knows me knows I like lists. Grocery lists, packing lists, book lists, all sorts of lists. So I have been wanting to join in on this meme from Lost in Books for a while, but have finally found a time when my posting and her posting can coincide.

This weeks topic: 3 books you've read over and over again

It's hard for me to pick just three, as there are numerous books from my childhood that I read repeatedly. And if things have been particularly trying for me I will re-read an Elizabeth Enright, Noel Streatfeild or Beverly Cleary book. But I didn't think that was in keeping with the spirit of this list so I'm going with books that I re-read as an adult.

The first is A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. I promise not to start writing in French like I did oh so long ago when I reviewed it. I typically read this every year at some point. It is the book equivalent to comfort food. Interestingly enough I didn't re-read it last year. I guess there was too much to be happy about.

The second is The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore, also reviewed earlier on this blog. I re-read this every year (just about) at Christmas, for the same reasons I watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Story.

Finally, I would re-read each of the Harry Potter books after getting and reading the latest installment. Most people would re-read them before, but usually for me I would re-read them after to get more of that world, since that is how the books always left me feeling, wanting more.

Book Review: King Solomon's Mines

2010-05-03T12:55:00.005-04:00

I apologize for the lack of posting. Mother nature has decided to wage war with my body by recruiting my sinuses to commit hostile attacks against me. (I have horrid allergies and must wait until the 10th of May to see a specialist). So with my breathing severely curtailed I hadn't felt much like blogging. I did, however, get some reading in. There wasn't much else I could do this weekend in my state.

At any rate, I finished King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard on Saturday. It qualifies for the Our Mutual Read challenge. I enjoyed this book, for the most part. I did want to say "get on with it" a number of times when Haggard would lapse into great descriptive detail of unimportant things, or would needlessly draw out action by describing it in massive detail, including details that don't relate to the action themselves. This trait seems to be symptomatic of literature of that time period in general though. Or at least in my (limited)experience this is the case. Additionally, the wanton destruction of big game animals for the joy of hunting and/or their tusks made me heartsick, and the condescending manner in which most of the native peoples were treated by the English men made me very uncomfortable.

I realize that the book is a product of its time, and that that to decry it for these faults would be imposing modern day sensibilities to a time over one hundred years in the past, but still. Still. It bothered me, and it mitigated my enjoyment of the book somewhat. Fortunately, these occurrences were fairly infrequent, and thus allowed me to move past my feelings. I also took comfort in the fact that it was a work of fiction and while these behaviors did take place, I was at least not reading a first hand account of these events. I doubt I could read an entire journal of someone who was in Africa at that time, or really, any other time or place when racism was so widely embraced.

Overall, I found King Solomon's Mines to be an entertaining story, but lacking in polish and subtlety. I figured out all three plot twists well in advance of the characters which I never like. My edition also happened to come with a copious amount of end notes, many of which gave unnecessary information, although many more proved quite illuminating. I am not sorry I read the book, but I doubt I will read more of Haggard's work.

WWW Wednesday

2010-04-28T14:36:00.002-04:00

Once again, the three W's of reading.

What did I just finish reading?
What am I currently reading?
What will I read next?

I just finished reading The Lost City of Z.
I am currently reading King Solomon's Mines. I know, it should be Educating Alice, which I have started, but I was so intrigued by Mockingbird's comment that her best beloved (and soon to be hubby) FryDaddy LOVED the Allan Quatermain novels that I started reading it instead. I'm loving it by the way.
I plan to read the rest of Educating Alice when I am done, although Boneshaker might jump ahead in line.

2010 is a year of book challenges

2010-04-27T12:37:00.007-04:00

As I have stated before I have a HUGE TBR list. It currently stands at 491 books*, and it increases almost everyday, despite how much I read, for a number of reasons. For one, I enjoy series, and frequently if I enjoy the first book I add all the remaining books to the list. Also, as I have mentioned before, I am in charge of acquisitions at work which means I am constantly reading book reviews and blogs looking for good things to buy. Naturally, this swells my TBR list considerably. So what does this have to do with challenges you ask? A great deal.

Where does a person start with a list that is 491 items long? Lately I have found that I have been a naughty reader, ignoring books that have been on the list for years in favor of something brand new that has just come out. I'd also become bogged down in series, reading scores of those books, gobbling them up like popcorn, while other worth while titles sat by patiently waiting to be picked up. So when I came upon an article discussing the 10-10-10 reading challenge I was intrigued. You read 10 books in 10 categories in 2010. I had long harbored the desire to read 100 books in a year, and have managed to hit 75 without resorting to counting picture books, so that part got my competitive juices following. It was the second aspect of the challenge that really piqued my interest though. You need to select ten different categories for your books with the intent to stretch yourself as a reader. A-ha! Here was a way to focus my TBR list and work towards a massive reading goal. I was in, although I didn't sign up at their blog.

There have already been a few roadblocks with this challenge. I was very ambitious and chose "Classics" as one of my categories, but that quickly was replaced after it became clear that I was not going to pick up the copy of the Pickwick Papers I had checked out. Some of the books I chose were not enjoyable once I started reading them and so they were set aside and replaced with something else. And finally, my pace has been fairly slow this spring (I've only read 14 books). But I have renewed interest in seeing this through to the end, and plan to get out of my reading rut this week.

In case you have noticed, there are a few more challenges listed in the sidebar besides the 10-10-10 challenge, each being run by a different book blogger whom I have stumbled upon. Once I figure out how to properly join/link to their pages for the challenges I will provide links. Here, though, are my brief descriptions of the challenges.

Fantasy Challenge: run by the Royal Reviews. You have the option of four different levels of participation: curious (3), fascinated (6), addicted (12), obsessed (20). You just need to read any variety of fantasy book. I'm going with fascinated on this one since Fantasy/Sci Fi is one of my categories.

First in a Series Challenge: also run by Royal Reviews with the same participation levels. This time, however, you are reading the first in a series. Not the whole series mind you, just the first in the series. For this one I am going with curious since I am trying to reign in my series reading this year.

Our Mutual Read: Victorian Reading Challenge. This one is run by Amanda at blogjar, but she created a whole separate blog for the reading challenge. This one has three levels of participation: Level 1 (read 4), Level 2 (read 8) and Level 3 (read 12). The catch with Our Mutual Read is that at least half of each amount has to be a work of fiction written during the time period of 1837-1901. The other half can be historical fiction or nonfiction about the time period. I've chosen to go with Level 1. I can easily do 8 that are set then, much harder to do four that were written then, at least for me. But who knows, I may love King Solomon's Mines so much that I read everything else by the author.

Read Your Name: I found this one on The True Book Addict's blog, but it is hosted by Phantom Inkheart. This challenge requires you pick books whose titles start with letters that corresponds to the letters in your name (first, last, full, nickname whatever). Originally I thought I would just go with my first name, making my total 5, but then I thought, why not use my soon to be married last name too? I threw in my middle initial and that brings it up to 14.

Typically British: hosted by Book Chick City. This one has four levels of participation as well. Put the Kettle On (2), Gordon Bennett (4), Bob's Your Uncle (6) and Cream Crockered (8). I'm aiming for Bob's Your Uncle since I'm an Anglophile. The trick here is that all of the author's have to actually BE British, not just set their books there.

Ah! I do love organization. Now I have a plan and won't be reading willy-nilly. Next year I hope to create and host a challenge of my own, but with SO many already existing in the book blog world I don't know what it will be.

*I don't actually own all 491 of them, mores the pity.

From the shelves- The Lost City of Z

2010-04-26T09:28:00.003-04:00

I just finished reading The Lost City of Z by David Grann yesterday for my book club, and I have to give it a qualified glowing review. Why qualified? Because there are some rather graphic descriptions in the book of horrific things that were done to the people of the Amazon basin as well as detailed descriptions of the myriad ways insects and other wildlife in the Amazon can kill you. So for those who are squeamish I would not recommend it. Otherwise, I found it to be a fast and entertaining read.

The book is a nonfiction account of the explorer "Col." Percy Fawcett, who along with his oldest son and son's best friend, disappeared in the Amazon jungle in 1925 while searching for El Dorado, and all of the subsequent people, including the author, who went in search of any evidence of the missing explorers. And there were tons of them, most of whom didn't make it out of the jungle themselves, or if they did, died shortly afterward from the illnesses and wounds they sustained in such an unforgiving environment.

I had never really given much thought to the Amazon, other than disapproving of the deforestation that is taking place there, and not harboring any desire to venture inside of it. (The comparatively benign variety of insects we have here in the states already think I am an all you can eat buffet. I would be devoured within minutes in the Amazon. No really. If you read the book you will realize this is not hyperbole on my part.) I knew (and still know) very little about it other than a passing knowledge of some of the more notorious types of wildlife and the fact that the Amazon river runs through it. It really is a fascinating place, and although I still don't harbor a desire to visit it, I do wish to learn more about it.

For me, that is one of the hallmarks of truly great nonfiction. It opens up an aspect of our world that you had never given much thought to and makes you desire to learn more. And in truth, that is one of the best things about my book club. It makes me read books that I would never have picked up on my own (or ones that it was very unlikely I would read it on my own), and more often than not I find I really enjoy them. Such is the case with this book. It was well written and entertaining. Grann cleverly interspersed the oldest part of the narrative, that concerning Fawcett and his history of amateur exploration, with his modern day quest to discover as much as he could about Fawcett's secretive route before setting out on his own. This could have been annoying, but instead made each section more interesting and vibrant. Additionally, Grann was able to breathe life into these long dead characters, as well as many others, not only through the use of their personal letters*, but also through his deft turn of phrase. Here is one of my favorite passages:

"Now, as Fawcett slipped away from the secluded base in Ceylon with his treasure map in hand, he suddenly found himself amid verdant forests and crystalline beaches and mountains, and people dressed in colors that he had never seen before, not funeral blacks and whites like in London, but purples and yellows and rubies, all flashing and radiating and pulsating-a vista so astonishing that even the arch cynic Mark Twain, who visited the island around the same time period, remarked, 'Dear me, it is beautiful!'"

While he didn't succeed in making me want to visit the Amazon, I certainly would like to see Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). The Lost City of Z is an excellent read, and I highly recommend it. Just be careful if you're squeamish.

*I find the disappearing art of letter writing to be most distressing and disappointing. I know it is cheaper and more environmentally friendly to use email, but the romance and personalization of letter writing is lost with it.

Fat Friday

2010-04-23T09:12:00.004-04:00

Hello, my name is Librarian Who, and I have a cookbook addiction. Well, actually, I have a cookbook and food book addiction. I like to eat and I like to cook and I like to read about food. There are worse habits one can have. At any rate, this is the inspiration for another reoccurring feature on this blog, Fat Friday. Once a month I am going to profile a book that deals in some way with food.

First up is Fruitless Fall by Rowan Jacobson. This in not a book I would have chosen to read on my own, but it was selected for my book club and so I gave it a shot. I was initially apprehensive about reading it because I thought it would be all doom and gloom and depress the hell out of me. After all, the subtitle is "the collapse of the honeybee and the coming agricultural crisis." And to be fair, there is a certain amount of that in here and it is well deserved. Awareness of what humans are doing in the pursuit of more, more, more and the almighty dollar is extremely important.

However, the majority of the book is not a sermon. It is filled with information about bees, honey, and the pollination of plants, all presented in a manner in which the average person can understand. Most importantly, it was not dry or boring. Additionally, the author gives information about good things that are happening as well as the information and resources for how the average person can help, such as bee friendly plants and flowers to plant.

For our club's meeting that month we had a local non-commercial beekeeper come and speak to us about the book and keeping bees in general. In some ways, the pests that can lead to colony collapse can be a good thing, as it weeds out sick and unproductive bees and leaves you with the hardiest of your stock. Unfortunately, so much of the commercial pollination of plants is dependent on the activities of commercial beekeeper's bees that for them it is a horrible disaster. I have learned to buy only local honey as it tastes better, costs less, doesn't support the trucking of bees, and will help with allergies if you eat some everyday. Oh yes, you are also assured that it is, in fact, honey and not some sort of imitation product from China.

I've learned to not purchase beeswax products* as the bees have to work extremely hard to produce even a little bit of wax. I have also learned why almonds are so darn expensive. Almond trees are prima donnas when it comes to pollination, and thus commercial almond growers have to go through this ridiculous planting and pollination scheme every year. I've also learned that honey can be used effectively for a number of home remedies including as a cough syrup. After reading this book I have a new found respect for honey bees, and a renewed commitment to being as much of a localvore as I possibly can.

I highly recommend Fruitless Fall to any and all. And the next Fat Friday will have a much happier topic.

*I admit that I still buy beeswax lip balms, but that is because I am trying to eliminate petroleum based products from my life. I figure they are the lesser of the two evils.

Dusty Shelf

2010-04-22T14:24:00.004-04:00

So this is an idea I snagged from the online version of Library Journal. One Thursday a month I will dust off an older book that I have read and give it its day in the sun. This month's books is Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns.

Here is the description of the book from amazon.com:
"On July 5, 1906, scandal breaks in the small town of Cold Sassy, Georgia, when the proprietor of the general store, E. Rucker Blakeslee, elopes with Miss Love Simpson. He is barely three weeks a widower, and she is only half his age and a Yankee to boot. As their marriage inspires a whirlwind of local gossip, fourteen-year-old Will Tweedy suddenly finds himself eyewitness to a family scandal, and that’s where his adventures begin."

I first read this book in the ninth grade and absolutely loved it. I re-read this book in eleventh grade and I liked it just as much, if not more, the second time around. So many authors who write Southern fiction tend to make their characters so off the wall or eccentric that they go beyond being colorful and into the realm of completely unbelievable. Frequently I want to ask them 1) if they realize that they have reinforced a lot of the stereotypes about the South, and 2) who they knew in real life who came anywhere close to the characters they've written about. This is not the case with Cold Sassy Tree. While the characters in this book are certainly unique and the events are mostly humorous, you never get the feeling that the author is trying to make fun of them. Or that she was trying to win first place in "craziest Southern family" contest. This is an easy read, but with more substance to it than what would be classified as a "beach read." Highly enjoyable.

If you are looking for a pleasant, fun read, I highly recommend Cold Sassy Tree.

w.w.w. Wednesdays

2010-04-21T10:45:00.002-04:00

One thing about reading these other book blogs is that I can steal all sorts of fun ideas. I have no problem in admitting that I am enhancing my own creativity with inspiration from others. Why try to reinvent the wheel? Anyway, here is the first one. I took it from Should Be Reading

What did you just finish reading?
What are you currently reading?
What do you think you will read next?

I just finished reading The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn.
I am currently reading The Lost City of Z by David Grann. This is for book club and I really like it, although I do get a sense of dread and claustrophobia during the descriptions of the perils of the Amazon rain forest.
I will finish reading Educating Alice by Alice Steinbach once I am done with Lost City of Z as it was usurped by the book club book.

I used to think I was a serious book nerd

2010-04-19T09:38:00.002-04:00

now, I'm not so sure. You see, while I still love to read, and certainly read more per year than the average person, I have run across some great book blogs by women who put my reading tally to shame. Two of them do a Sunday round up each week and recap all they have read that week. One of them missed a Sunday so she had two weeks worth today. Seven books which for her is super, super low.
I realize that I shouldn't compare myself to these lovely literary ladies, but I can't help it. On the one hand, they inspired me to start blogging again and reading more, but sadly I haven't been able to keep up with the second part of that inspiration. I fully understand that all our lives are very different and I'm doing and/or experiencing things that they aren't. But still. My reading tally for the whole year is woeful compared to theirs. Poo.
They also seem to have access to this reading fanatic community where they participate in all sorts of day to day reading challenges and two 24 hour read-a-thons. Mon dieu. I am simultaneously filled with a mixture of envy and wistfulness as well as a huge sense of relief that I am not consumed by any one passion to that extreme. I would share the links to their blogs but don't want anyone else to feel they are as an inadequate reader as yours truly.

So now I have a thing for paper flowers

2010-04-12T11:19:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I watched a mind blowing documentary called Between the Folds, and it was all about origami. Not your little kid variety, but mind-blowing, super complicated and realistic origami. Of faces, and dragons, and animals of all kinds. I said "holy crap!" and many similar variants repeatedly while watching. Mind-blowing I tell you.

This particular documentary is one I purchased for work and I really can't sing the praises of PBS enough. They have all kinds of cool and amazing works that certainly never aired on my local PBS stations. But they have them. And what's more, we have them at work. Hooray!

If you get the chance to watch it, please do. Of course, you may start wishing to make origami flowers for people to wear like yours truly. If you can't, at least check out the website for my favorite of the artists that were featured.
http://www.ericjoisel.com/home.html Mind blowing!

Is 100 books possible?

2010-04-10T10:25:00.002-04:00

A few months ago I decide to really challenge myself and try and focus my reading list into some sort of order by doing the 10-10-10 reading challenge. The point of it is to read 10 books in 10 different categories in the year 2010. (Well, actually, the real version of it is by October 10, 2010 but there is no way that is going to happen.)

I picked my categories out and wanted to read one book from each category before writing about it. That so did not happen. I discovered that one of the reasons I hadn't read so many "classics" is that frankly the majority don't appeal to me. Scandalous I know for a librarian to say something like that. But it is true. So I changed one of my categories thinking that would help, but it really hasn't. In a bit of a panic I allowed myself to count the books I had read prior to deciding to undertake the challenge in an attempt to bolster my confidence. After all, I had read a fair number of books before deciding to try for 100 books in a year and by golly they should count. However, I'm still only at 13. That's right, four months into the year, when I should have read close to 25 books, I am at 13. Ahem.

The reasons behind this sluggish pace are multiple. I have rediscovered other hobbies that take up some of my reading time. I have just gotten engaged and am planning a wedding. I work full time and do try and clean my house (no matter what my parents say on that subject). And finally, I've never been good at forced reading. I really do try and adhere to the rule that if, after 50 pages, the book hasn't grabbed me, I stop. It is possible that I miss out on some ultimately good books, but I'm okay with that. Unfortunately, my stubborn streak comes into play more than I would like. Despite the fact that I picked out the books myself I seem to have developed this attitude that "oh, I'm supposed to read these books" and therefore, I am disinclined to read the. Le sigh. I face a similar problem with diet. If I tell myself I am going to improve my eating habits so that I will look and feel good on my wedding I immediately want pizza and fried chicken. Does anyone else struggle with this sort of contrariness? If so, please send along any advice you've found works for you.

Musing about authors

2010-04-07T12:44:00.004-04:00

I find that it is very difficult when you have fallen in love with a particular set of works by an author (typically a series) to branch out to their other works. You run the problem of the other books either being derivative (such as Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich), or being radically different from what you fell in love with (such as anything by Rita Mae Brown that was not co-authored by Sneaky Pie Brown). I can only think of one adult author who have found this type of transition with, and that is Christopher Moore. (Children's authors are another matter, there are a loads of them where I managed this such as Elizabeth Enright, Beverly Cleary, and Richard Peck just to name a few).
I bring this up because I just read Deanna Raybourn's latest book The Dead Travel Fast, and while I liked it, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I enjoy her Lady Julia Grey series. This really surprised me since I love Ms. Raybourn's blog which covers a huge range of topics. However, I think it is more that I don't truly enjoy Gothic novels. I like elements of them, but generally find that even the best ones tend to be over the top and many of the characters a tad absurd.
That being said, I did enjoy TDTF. I read it in one day and was left with the simultaneous reaction of "what?!!! and "but of course!!!" This reaction is the hallmark of a good mystery novel to me and she really hit the mark. However, I don't think I can give it a complete and caveat free endorsement. If you aren't a big fan of Gothic novels you might want to look elsewhere. Other than that, but especially if you LOVE Gothic novels, give it a whirl.

Mixed Media Round Up

2010-03-29T15:18:00.003-04:00

Here are some of the things I have been enjoying lately.

A Century of Quilts is a dvd of a PBS broadcast that profiled quilts and quilt makers featured in a quilt show of the 100 best quilts of the century. It doesn't sound terribly exciting, but the work is absolutely incredible. If you enjoy art and aren't a snob about your definition of art it is well worth watching. You will be amazed by what was accomplished with cloth and thread.

Offbeat Brideis a blog that was started years ago to advertise a book by the same name. It has evolved into something much more than that though, creating a space for individuals who, for whatever reason, don't adhere to traditional expectations. It is such a positive site and Ariel, the woman who runs it, gives absolutely fabulous advice on so many things. I love, love, love Offbeat Bride. Certainly not everything featured on their site is up my alley, but the levels and varieties of creativity that are featured will blow you away. It never ceases to amaze me how many different ways people have come up with to celebrate their unions. Obviously it will be of greatest interest to those folks who are getting married and want to do something out of the ordinary, but it is a pleasant diversion for anyone who enjoys creative displays and love stories. And if shows like Platinum Weddings and Bridezillas turn your stomach like they do mine then Off Beat Bride will provide a much needed balm.

Life in Cartoon Motion by Mika. I had thought I had lost this CD and recently found it in a basket full of cards. Just really fun music.

New Who!

2010-03-25T18:35:00.002-04:00

As you can see there are two important details about this blog post. 1)I have modified my display name to be less sexually charged, and 2)this is the first post in over a year!!! Yes, I took slack blogging to a sloth inspired art form, but a lot happened last year and I chose to not be introspective at the time. (That and Facebook gobbled up a great deal of this sort of thing). I really did miss this, and now I have a much clearer focus for the direction I want this blog to go in.

One of my more ambitious projects for this year is to attempt to read 100 books. 10 books in 10 categories in 2010. I can't take credit for the idea as I read about it in a online article for Library Journal. I like the challenge aspect of it and it gives me a way to focus my obscenely large to be read pile. (It really is rather out of control; if I actually owned or had all of the books on the list an entire room in my house would be needed to store them. But I digress). At any rate, I am going to hone my book reviewing skills here. I'm also thinking that I will post roughly twice a week to begin with and see how that goes.

So there you have it. The blog won't be exclusively about books, but I intend that to be my main focus, at least for now.

In defense of vanity

2009-01-29T19:09:00.002-05:00

Let me begin by saying that I am not talking about narcissism or self-absorption here. I am talking about your garden variety vanity. Frankly, I think it gets a bum wrap. Many of the things we do that will help us to live healthier, longer lives are really outgrowths of vain behavior.
For instance, say a woman is concerned about sun spots and wrinkles. She therefore uses a moisturizer with sunscreen in it, tries not to tan, and regularly visits the dermatologist. These behaviors will help prevent skin cancer and/or catch it in an early, preventable stage.
Another example would be that a man who is concerned about getting paunchy, so he watches what he eats and goes to the gym. These behaviors help reduce, among other things, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
I think we all need a little vanity in our lives. After all, if you don't care about how you look, well, then frankly, no one else will care about you either. Harsh, I know, but true.

And now for something (slightly) different.

2009-01-22T18:11:00.004-05:00

As my friends continue to point out, I am indeed most slack about this blog. Therefore, I have worked to devise a plan of recourse. On the one hand, one of my new year's resolutions is to try new things, which should provide some excellent fodder for posts. On the other hand, I intend to focus on doing short recommendations of various forms of entertainment that I have enjoyed. I'm not quite sure how this will all work out, but do intend to try.

So to start the recommendations off on a great foot I am going to start with something very old school. Home Entertainment Center by Steven Banks. I sadly do not own this in it's original format. However, someone has very kindly put it up in it's entirety on YouTube. Years and years ago, my sister's high school boyfriend had taped this off of HBO and it stayed at our house for roughly a year, during which time I watched it repeatedly. It is hysterically funny. If you don't think so then 1)something is wrong with you and 2)what on earth are you reading my blog for? Click on the link only if you have time to watch the whole thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62EePXzshX8

Pithy observations

2008-11-13T19:11:00.002-05:00

1. There is no dignified, let alone graceful, way to exit the back of a mini-van as an adult. Once you are too tall to stand upright in it and walk out you proceed into the realm of comedy.

2. Knee highs are the single most unattractive article of clothing that is regularly worn. Sure, sock garters are seriously dorky, but really, who actually wears those? And don't say panty hose because have you seen some of the styles in the Victoria's Secret catalog? Oh my! No, it is the knee high that wins the most unattractive award.

3. I wish there was a way to fast forward hair growth. I am currently trying to grow out the previously mentioned pixie cut and it is taking forever! And what is worse, there is the danger of developing a slight mullet. Alas and alack.

5 by 5

2008-10-16T09:55:00.002-04:00

Five Things that I am really tired of:

1. Hot weather. It is almost Halloween, and the temperatures in the afternoons here are in the 80s. It's not like I live in Miami! Let it be fall good and proper, and not just in the mornings. Please!

2. Cooking for one. This is maddening. Even if you cut recipes in half it still makes too much. Fresh fruit and other produce tends to go bad before it can be eaten. So aggravating.

3. Mosquitoes. This goes along with the hot weather. They are a scourge. If I could keep a bat house I would, but they aren't allowed in the city limits. The Old Farmer's Almanac has promised a cold, severe winter. Bring it on and kill these nasty things.

4. Tooting your own horn. I know, I know, this isn't supposed to be a bad thing. But it always feels weird to me, and sadly it has become a necessity where I work.

5. Election campaigns. Why oh why isn't it November yet? I'm so sick of both sides getting up and talking crap. They are all dishonest and overly ambitious. That's why they are politicians. It goes with the territory. The trick is to find the one who is the least dishonest. We desperately need campaign reform that prevents them from a lot of what they do in ads. Makes me sick.

5 things I am enjoying right now.

1. Dillard's. I don't know if this is true at every Dillard's, but the last few times I have been shopping there it has been a wonderful experience. The staff in all of the departments I visited were very helpful and I found a lot of things that I really liked. They even have call buttons in the dressing rooms. It was a lot like the way I imagine shopping in the 50's was, when customer service actually existed.

2. The woman's magazine Lucky. Most magazines that focus on fashion and style are filled with things that normal people cannot possibly afford. Lucky is different. Sure, there are some high end items in each article, but there is a much wider ranges of prices. What's more, they feature clothing that you can actually wear. They also have a whole section in the back of the magazine with the Lucky deal's. These are products or companies that will give you a discount on select merchandise online if you put in the codes from the section. And every issue comes with a sheet of page tabs so that you can mark what you like. How fun!

3.Pushing Daisies. I will admit to having missed the first two episodes of this season because I was watching Bones which airs at the same time. However, thanks to baseball, I was able to watch last night and I was reminded of how much I enjoy that show and how adorable Lee Pace is. Must get my Tivo working!

4. Progressive Dinner. To be fair, it really isn't a "progressive" dinner since we don't advance from house to house. It's more of a communal dinner, but that sounds funny. Recently, a group of my friends started having dinner together once a month. We pick a theme and each party prepares part of the meal. It is a lot of fun, and hopefully we will be able to continue with it. Food prices get a little scary.

5. Pandora. For those of you who don't know Pandora is an online radio station that allows you to heavily tailor the type of music that is played. I absolutely love it and I have found a lot of really cool music through it. It has a few problems; occasionally a song will stop and skip to the next one, and you can't replay a song, and of course, not everything is in their music library. But it is free and totally worthwhile. So thanks Squirrel for telling me about it!

Onward to London! (or rather Vancouver)

2008-08-28T20:18:00.004-04:00

Yes, despite the fact that during the closing ceremonies of the Beijing games they passed the Olympics onto London, the next Olympic games will be the winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. I'm still not sure how I feel about having the winter Olympics moved to a different year. Yes, it is nice to spread it out, but were the 1994 games truly an Olympics when an Olympiad had not passed since the previous games? It's a puzzle.
For those who don't know, or couldn't guess, I thoroughly enjoy the Olympics. I like to see the sports that aren't televised when there isn't an Olympics going on, or that aren't shown much during the "off" years. Overall I found the Beijing Olympics to be very well done, and with the exception of the horrible murder that kicked them off, one of the least scandal filled Olympics in my life time.
There were many things to applaud about the Olympics this year. Very few doping incidents. Only one or two incidents of suspect scoring. Records set left and right. Great weather and beautiful scenery. But being me, I can't help but notice a few things that could stand some improvement.

The first thing is not so much the Olympics themselves, but rather how NBC shows them. The coverage this year was a mixture of taped and late night live action. But instead of showing us finals of events that had been taped they instead showed us round after round of qualifying of taped events, or the entire men's marathon because it was live. What? Qualifying heats should only be shown if something unusual happens: someone who is a predicted medal contender doesn't qualify, someone gets hurt, or a record is broken. That sort of thing. The first week of coverage was much better than the second. I don't know what needs to be done to get them to move out of their box like thinking. Ah well.

Age Limits. Much ado was made over the suspected age requirement violations of the Chinese women's gymnasts. I think both the FIG and the IOC handled that badly, but if a government is willing to cheat (and I'm not saying that China did, although it looks like) you can't really prove it. Age violations are nothing new. The Soviet block countries did it all the time in the 1980s. I'm not condoning it. I disagree with the age limit rule, but a rule is a rule and everyone should have to abide by it. I'm sure the Russians would have loved to have Alina Mustafina on their team this year. What I really have a problem with is the age limit is only in place for women's gymnastics. If it isn't safe for a 14 year old girl to do acrobatic tricks, it isn't safe for a 14 year old boy to launch himself head first off the equivalent of a three story building. Yet, that is okay. If there is going to be a minimum age for one sport then that should be the rule for all sports. Personally, I think if you are good enough to make it onto an Olympic team at the age of 14 more power to you. Fourteen seems old enough to me.

Tie Breakers. I can understand why the IOC implemented tie-breakers for judged sports. The medals aren't cheap to make and a host country shouldn't have to stock up on them in case the judges are wishy washy. I don't even mind breaking a tie based on execution score in gymnastics. The person who did their routine the cleanest should come out on top. However, if two, or more, people have the same difficulty score and execution score the tie should stand. You don't move on to an additional decimal point, or re-average their scores or any other stupidness. In 2000 during the men's 50 meter freestyle event there was a tie for the gold medal and it stood. They allow ties during round robin play in soccer and other sports. With the new scoring system in gymnastics it is very rare for two people to receive the same score when they have the same difficulty level and execution score. Let the tie stand.

Road racing. This is either a team sport or individual. A country with more depth shouldn't be allowed to have it's lesser athletes go out hard in order to tire out the competition and then drop out themselves so that their countryman can win. That's totally unfair.

Limiting qualifiers. Ages ago, in order the level the playing field in certain sports they restricted the number of athletes each country could send, or have advance to finals, so that the strongest countries couldn't dominate. Well, with the exception on China in diving and men's gymnastics, the field is darn close to level. Or as level as any playing field can be given the differences in population, coaching, and resources between countries. The Olympics should be about the best competing against the best. Shouldn't there be an footnote for someone who medals in a event when the person with the third fastest posted time can't compete because he or she has two teammates faster than him or her on Olympic trial day? Sure, I wanted someone to beat the Soviets or Romanians or East Germans but not because those teams were handicapped. This is a rule that needs to be scrapped ASAP.

Dropping Baseball and Softball. The premiere international competition for these sports was the Olympics. And they are dropped? What the? And tennis, whose entire season is international events, remains? Why? Oh yes, because the Cubans and the Americans were too good. They didn't get rid of men's gymnastics when Japan won five in a row. They didn't get rid of women's gymnastics when the Soviets won 10 of the 11 contested bewteen 1952 and 1992. (The only one they didn't win was 1984 when they boycotted) It's ridiculous.

Ack! It's almost September and I'm only at 45!

2008-08-21T18:00:00.002-04:00

I take part in a 50 book challenge on Shelfari, and while the group bills itself at 50 books you can make your own challenge whatever you want. I had done 61 last year and so I set myself a loftier goal of at least 75. I would be reading more, except, the Olympics have me entranced at night, although not right now as NBC has been totally blowing the programming during the taped portion. Show us finals! Not qualifying rounds unless something major happens! But I digress. (There will be an Olympic blog at the conclusion of the games btw.)
I would really like to read 100 books this year, but I don't know if I can achieve it. I shall do my best though and see what I can accomplish. If anyone has any book suggestions please let me know!

Martha Brockenbrough just doesn't get it

2008-08-04T09:07:00.005-04:00

I read an article by the aforementioned Martha Brockenbrough (aka Cinemama, no I am not making that up) that questioned the value of the Twilight series. http://movies.msn.com/movies/pmg/twilight/ I would say debated the merits of the series, but that isn't what she achieved. I don't have a problem with people not enjoying the same books I do (although at times I do question their taste depending on what book they don't like) because reading is a deeply personal thing and not everyone enjoys everything. But I have a serious problem with Ms. Brockenbrough's article and arguments.

Let me be perfectly frank. I think romance novels are escapist fantasy, and that is what the Twilight series ultimately is; a paranormal young adult romance. I also happen to think that there is a place for romance novels. Sure, there is an awful lot of tripe in the genre, but then again, there is an awful lot of junk published across the board. I don't think that the Twilight series, however much I enjoy it, is a paragon of great literature, but it is darn good and certainly entertaining. So here is the rub.

There are many reasons for me to disagree with Ms. Brockenbrough. She claims that she enjoys the books and in fact has read the first three installments twice. But despite her enjoyment of the books she does not want her daughters to read them. This in my view, qualifies her as a hypocrite. Despite her purported familiarity with the texts she filled her article with factual errors. I can think of four of the top of my head, which is pretty shabby for a two page article where a portion of it was written by someone else. She also calls the books creams puffs and yet fails to offer a single suggestion of books that are "better." But never mind all of those factors. The purpose of this post is not to dissect her writing capabilities or take her to task for these failings. Ms. Brockenbrough does have one valid point. Edward and Bella's relationship is unequal, not just because of their biology (Edward is a vampire after all) but because of their financial status (the Cullens are loaded). This is a fairly typical trait of romance novels, it creates an internal level of tension that the couple has to deal with. It is not unique to Twilight. This imbalance bothers Ms. Brockenbrough immensely though, because in her eyes, it makes Bella a weak character.

This conclusion is faulty. Yes, she is physically weaker than supernatural beings, she is human after all, and comparing her to Hermione is an apples to oranges comparison. (So is comparing her to Buffy as one responder did on the message boards because Buffy was also not a strictly human girl). Writing Bella off for being human is unfair, and discrediting her for not bringing anything to her relationship with Edward demonstrates an absence of thought on the part of the reader. Bella is a hugely humanizing influence on Edward and his family. She is a loyal friend and daughter, intelligent, brave, and frequently makes very mature and difficult decisions. She also accepts the consequences of her justified "bad behavior" without complaint. But this is apparently not good enough for Cinemama. She thinks Bella sets a bad example for teenage girls. She sees no reason for Edward or Jacob (a werewolf)to be interested in this human girl accept that it brings out the hero complex in them. Please.

What is more dangerous? A story where a normal girl gets an extraordinary guy? Or a story where an extraordinary girl gets an extraordinary guy? How is the Twilight series any more dangerous or unrealistic than Pride & Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre and the like? All three of these books feature unequal relationships where the female is in the inferior societal position. Where is the bile for Jane Austen and the Brontes? Oh wait, those books are literature whereas the Twilight series is young adult fluff. (I cannot abide a double standard).

Why do so many feminists espouse this concept that any female who does not adhere to their ideals is somehow not just inferior, but dangerous? Ms. Brockenbrough just loves Hermione, waxes poetic about her virtues, but completely disregards her short comings. (And she does have them. That's why she is a complex character). Reading about Hermione will empower young girls according to Ms. Brockenbrough. Reading about Bella, on the other hand, will cause teenage girls everywhere to sit around waiting for a boy to bite them on their neck. Thank you so much Ms. Brockenbrough, for insulting the entire female population. Do people not realize, that when you criticize entertainment for "giving girls the wrong idea" (not factual errors mind you, or promoting genuinely dangerous behaviors, but more abstract concepts) that you are implying that girls are too stupid to make critical judgments about their lives? Do they seriously think that a perfectly well-adjusted girl is going to watch Grease and think "that's it! I'll compromise myself to fit in with his friends!"? And if a young woman isn't well-adjusted it has to do with way more than a fondness for romance novels or musicals. (Notice that no one gets up in arms over My Fair Lady because Eliza changes for the better). No one says these things about Batman. Think how absurd they would sound if they went around saying things like "Bruce Wayne is a psychologically damaged character and young men shouldn't be exposed to this sort of thing, or they will emulate him."

Yes, the media does influence us, but more often than not it is subtly, a slow permeation if you will. But instead of criticizing the media for the sexualization of pre-teens and teenagers, the glorification of trashy behavior, and the promotion of the self-serving sense of entitlement that is so prevalent in today's society, Ms. Brockenbrough chooses to dump on a popular series of books because the heroine isn't "tough" enough. How is that helpful? Women having been worrying about adhering to their society's ideals for millennia. This is nothing new. Putting down a character who is very much like your average teenage girl only makes it worse. Because what Ms. Brockenbrough has just said in her article is that the girls in this world who relate more to Bella than Hermione aren't good enough as they are and that it doesn't make sense to her that a guy would be interested in a girl like that. And frankly, I do not hold with that. That attitude, especially in another woman, a mother, and one would gather from her sentiments someone who considers herself to be a feminist, is far more damaging and dangerous than any romance novel could ever be.

Reflecting on the shelves

2008-07-17T18:22:00.002-04:00

I was just re-reading some of my previous posts (there's that introspective streak again! that, and I'm also a bit bored) and feel compelled to comment on earlier statements.
1)If you want an opportunity to read fairly non-stop book yourself a transcontinental flight. Not only will you have ample opportunity to read on the flight, but with layovers, delays and arriving well in advance for your departure time you will have a ton of time to read. This is especially true if your flight gets canceled due to mechanical failure and you have to wait for five hours for the next flight they could get you on. Thus, during my trip to Anaheim for the ALA conference I was able to read nine books. Unfortunately, most of them were not already on my aforementioned reading list and thus I didn't really make progress there, but it was still enjoyable.
2)My recent visit with my sister means I spent a lot of time with my adorable nephew. He is currently on a Thomas the Tank Engine kick. Nay, obsession. It isn't a bad show, but there aren't that many episodes in rotation and he wants to watch them again and again and again. I must say that I prefer Alec Baldwin's narration to whomever currently does (or last did) it. Is Thomas even still in production? I don't know, and some genius has block IMDB on this computer. (Finks!) And it tickles me to hear the Bambino say "troublesome trucks" as he has that little boy speech impediment. Sometimes though, I wonder if the writers for the show have gotten confused. The plot seems to be moving towards one moral and then switches gears rather quickly. Odd.
3)When I mentioned that my natural resting state was "serious and introspective" I didn't think about the fact that it might come across that I take myself seriously. I really don't. It's just that when you come across me, whether I am working, or reading or whatever, I wear a serious expression on my face. Unless, of course, what I am reading or watching or what have you is funny, in which case you will probably think I am a nutter.
4)Being thought of as a nutter is par for the course for me. It runs in the family you see. Or rather, it runs on my dad's side of the family. (That reminds me, I never did the companion post to the female side of the family tree. I really should tell you about great-uncle Hugh. He's really a post in and of himself though.) My mother's family had to work too hard to indulge in eccentricity and quirk. Of course, one branch of hers was wild in a different way. Ah family. It is a brave person who ventures to join my family. For some, it is quite a good fit. Others, not so much. If you can't handle exuberance, don't bother with us.
5)Voracious craw (used in Step into my stream) is part of an ever growing lexicon between yours truly and Mockingbird. With some concentration we could have an entire conversation that no one would understand but us. It's an amusing prospect, and one that we will have to try out one day.

Feeling philosophical

2008-07-16T13:26:00.003-04:00

I recently engaged in an interesting conversation with an old friend. He commented that Love in the Time of Cholera was a must read and we proceeded to try and come up with a list of "must reads." He contributed more titles than I did for one reason. I don't think of anything as being a "must" read for everyone, just "should" read. It's different if we are getting specific about a person's likes and interests, then I can give you short lists of must reads on a topic or in a given genre. But overall, for everyone? The only book I can think of as being close to a "must read" is To Kill a Mockingbird.
So naturally, as my normal state of rest is serious and introspective, this made me think about whether or not I had any "musts" in other areas. Again, not so much, although more than with books.
1. Learn to read.
2. Learn to cook at least one really good meal.
3. Develop a life long hobby.
4. Be passionate about something.
5. Learn to swim.
The last one is tricky, because one could argue that if you live somewhere where there is no place to swim (like a desert) or where the temperature prevents swimming (like the Arctic Circle) that it is irrelevant. Perhaps. But nevertheless, having that skill in your repertoire even if you never need it, is better than the other way around.
I thought about adding learning to drive, but that isn't as vital as the other things. Learning to drive is definitely a "should," as is learn to type. Although that is almost a must in this day and age.
Hmm...I hadn't really thought about how to end this post. I've been sort of a mental jumble lately. I think it is because of all the traveling I've done recently (having gone to California for the ALA national conference) and then to visit my sister. It could also be the end of the fiscal year crunch and corresponding chaos I've been wading through. It could be that I currently have the outlook that the community I am living in is slowly chipping away at my soul. I don't know. Maybe all of these things.

Of book lists, and other things

2008-06-13T09:23:00.004-04:00

It seems that no matter how many books I read a year my overall reading list never gets any smaller. It's not quite to the point where for every book I read I add two to the list, but almost. Part of this is a natural outcropping of my job description. As a technical services librarian I am in charge of collection development, which means browsing through catalogs and reading book reviews on a regular, if not daily, basis. And as a person with a wide range of interests it is inevitable that many of the books I select for purchase here at work wind up on my reading list.
Part of it is also because I belong to a book club, and inevitably there are a number of books that make it onto my list from our yearly slate that I would never have thought to pick up. Some of these are great, like Shadowdivers, and others are not so much, like Refuge. Naturally, I am quite pleased when a handful of books that were already on my list make the cut, but as we are limited to recommending two apiece, and only pick nine books for the year, a large portion selected aren't on my list.
Part of it is also that I enjoy a number of series, and for most of them there is a new book each year, or if (joy of joys!), I discover an established series, there is a large influx of books to the list.
Ultimately though, the reason my reading list never gets any smaller, is that there is not enough time to just read non-stop. And to get through my 200 plus list of books to read would necessitate non-stop reading. But where is the fun in that? When something you enjoy becomes a chore it ceases to bring pleasure. This is part of the reason why even avid readers lose interest in recreational reading in high school and college, because of the sheer amount of reading for school. The last thing most people would want to do after slogging through A Tale of Two Cities is to curl up with another book.
This line of thought made me think back to those years of my life and examine the other reasons my book consumption tapered off. Besides the fact that reading was too much like school, I had a very hard time finding anything to read. This isn't to say that good books didn't exist at the time (I'm not that old!), but simply that I couldn't find them in the vast public library of my youth. It seemed to me that everything for teenagers was a "problem novel" (gag!) and that so many of the books for adults were too "adult" (boring and/or violent). The resources that exist today that enable me to find so many of the great books I've read recently and/or purchased for my place of employment were not available then.
There was a time of course, in college, when I felt compelled to try and make myself more "well-read." Despite the vast number of books that I have read, and my familiarity with famous authors and their works, I don't consider myself particularly well-read. This is not to say that I read crap, on the contrary, I think I have a very good mix of some well done fluff and good, current, popular fiction and non-fiction. But if you compare my reading lists (both the I have read and want to read) with something like 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die I perform fairly poorly. And honestly, that doesn't bother me all that much. I don't like the idea of reading something because I am supposed to. I read something if I enjoy it. And now that I am not in school I have the luxury of saying "screw it" if I am not liking a book. (Of course, I occasionally did that in school too, to varying degrees of success). There is no martyred reader award. No one is keeping score. If one of your goals in life is to read all 1,001 titles in that aforementioned book then more power to you. I wish you the best of luck. But it's not for me.

Brought to you by the letter "A"

2008-05-15T16:05:00.004-04:00

My sister has a two year old son whom I adore. Consequently I have become very familiar with children's television. Children's entertainment is BIG business these days, but sadly that has not produced really high quality programs. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a wasteland by any means. There are actually a number of shows that I would watch without the bambino's company. Charlie and Lola for instance, or Jack's Big Music Show. I even enjoy the Wiggles, but that's mainly because of Anthony. Umm....wait, where was I going with this? Oh yes. However, there seems to be the general impression from most children's entertainment producers that super bright colors, loud music and dialogue, and psychedelic backdrops or characters are all you need for a program. Seriously, some of the characters look like they were dreamed up by someone on a bad acid trip. And even stalwarts of my youth have been compromised by this trend. Sesame Street is really just Elmo these days. And what is up with teaching Cookie Monster that cookies are a sometime food? I hate to criticize the longest running children's program, but wouldn't it be better if the kids were doing something active instead of watching t.v. if you are that concerned about childhood obesity? And yes, cookies are a sometime food, but that's the point of Cookie Monster. He's our collective childhood Id, devouring cookies at the expense of everything else and missing out on the other great things out there. Focus on that lesson, which is so beautifully demonstrated in Bread and Jam for Frances, instead changing the integrity of a beloved character for the sake of political correctness. But I digress. For those who are interested because they have little ones in their immediate or extended family here is my list of the best kids programs.
1. Classic Sesame Street (available on DVD)
2. The Wiggles
3. Jack's Big Music Show
4. Charlie and Lola
5. Handy Manny (an enjoyable alternative for learning Spanish to Dora the Explorer)
6. It's a Big, Big World
7. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Step into my stream

2008-04-29T13:57:00.003-04:00

No, that isn't a come on. You'll get the reference in a moment. Be patient!

So, as my good friend Mockingbird pointed out last night, I have been incredibly slack with this blog. This has been for a number of reasons. In the first place, I have been very busy at work and don't have a computer of my own at home. Secondly, when I have thought of topics for a post, they have all been four to five sentences at most, and by golly, when I post I want it to be more substantial than that. Thirdly, stress is still a fairly big companion of mine as of late, although it has gotten better. I've been incredibly scattered this past month or so. How scattered? Let me take you through all that ran through my head on my way to pick up my lunch last Thursday.

Singing along with whatever song is playing. "My god! Who would choose to own anything in that color, let alone a mammoth SUV? I don't think I have seen anything in that lurid and violent shade of orange." Shudder. Back to singing. "Hummers really are the most ostentatious of all SUVs." More singing. "Come on light! Change! I'm hungry!" Hit replay. "Hmm....I know people who live here with that last name. I wonder if their family owns the septic service on that port-o-potty?" "It is almost two o'clock! Why are there so many cars?" "Please oh please let there be a parking space around the corner. Success!" Make small talk with employees of restaurant. Scurry back to car, feeling like the Voracious Craw. Zipping along, singing again. "What is this Explorer's problem? Drive your car!" "So hungry!" "Nice! It isn't my fault that my lane was moving so slowly! It was the honking white SUV! Oh and look, both of you are students! You should thank your lucky stars that I don't have access to the license plate info! Grr." Mellow out. "Hey I think that's Kenny!" "Please, oh please let there be a parking space near the front! Success!" "Oh look it's Shane! I would pitch a piece of mulch at him, but he's in class." "Please oh please don't let anyone else be in the break room! I am victorious again! And what's on t.v.? Ace of Cakes! Sweet! I love Duff! Hmm...I have a large amount of suspect lettuce in this salad."

Well you get the idea. So how did you like your dip into my stream of consciousness?

pop culture smackdown

2008-03-20T16:32:00.004-04:00

Or, clearly SL has been watching too much t.v.

I've been a bit stressed as of late, and consequently have spent most of my free time vegging in front of the television. I realize that there are message boards expressly for this purpose, but frankly I don't care. Here goes.

Typically, I enjoy Project Runway, but I must protest the way the series ended this season. In the first place, Chris deserved to remain in the competition instead of Rami. Don't get me wrong, Rami is very talented and likable, but I find it disheartening that he was given so many chances to demonstrate another skill and style besides his beloved draping technique when others were eliminated for far smaller transgressions. Rami did a draped piece on almost every challenge, the candy and men's apparel challenges being the two examples that come to mind when he didn't do drape. He even did draping during the WWE challenge for pity's sake! But more important than this bias on the part of the judges, the final winner was wrong as well. Again, don't get me wrong, Christian is very talented, but Jillian should have won. Chris was eliminated for his work being too costumey and yet Christian wins with a collection that contains a dress made entirely out of feathers? What? Consistency please!!! Every single piece was an avant garde item. That was not the challenge!

We are all geared up in my family for the annual March madness of NCAA basketball, as are many others. Does it bother anyone else that despite the fact that it is called March madness that the tournament doesn't end until April? What with the pre-season tournaments and the post season these students have been playing since November. Is it any wonder that so many athletes bolt from college to the NBA before finishing their degrees?

The Real Housewives of New York City is hopeless addictive and not nearly as repulsive as the Real Housewives of Orange County. Yes, they both feature hopelessly rich women and their ridiculously opulent lives, but at least in the NYC series they are aware of the fact that they live a rarefied existence. And they all have jobs so they are at least earning some of the money they spend. You wouldn't catch one of these socialites doing a keg stand. That being said, Ramona really should listen to her daughter's fashion advice. That way she would go out looking sexy and classy, as opposed to looking cheap. I don't care if the top is Dolce & Gabbana, it looked like hooker wear.

Apparently, critics have taken Diablo Cody, the woman who penned Juno, to task over the dialogue, claiming that teenagers don't speak like that. Now, I haven't seen the movie, but I have seen enough clips of it to get the idea of how Juno speaks in the film, and I have one thing to say to all of those critics out there. Screw you. Just because the average teenager doesn't talk like that doesn't mean that no teenagers do. And furthermore, no one is ever as witty, or concise, or clever, or articulate as the characters in a movie (with the exception of Dorothy Parker). You flub your line in a film and they cry "cut!" and you do it over. In real life if you muff the delivery that's it. Dialogue in films and t.v. shows has to be better than what you hear at your local coffee shop or grocery store. That's why it is called entertainment. Newsflash here all you critics out there, no one looks like the people in movies either, not even the actors who were in the movie! They have makeup and lighting, and fantastic costuming, and editing to make them look fabulous. And we want them to look fabulous (unless the part calls for something else). So get over yourselves. I think what really bothers them is that someone who worked as a stripper was able to come up with such a great script.

Finally, I came to the realization that if I were a car I would most likely be a Volvo. This thought depresses me. Safe, reliable, dependable. Wonderful things for a car to be, and overall, not bad for a person. But I always thought I had more personality and dash than a Volvo. Not that I think I am a Bugatti or anything, but I had hoped I would be something with more swish in it than a Volvo. This isn't a slam against Volvos or Volvo owners, but in life, when people see you almost solely as being reliable and dependable, they take you for granted. And that really sucks. But perhaps I have just been watching too much Top Gear. Richard Hammond rocks!!!

a surfeit of emotions

2008-02-20T08:36:00.003-05:00

I have too many emotions. It's not that I think I have more than other people, or that mine are stronger, although in a lot of cases this is true. Truth be told, I really don't know what anyone else feels, nor do I particularly care if the emotional bouillabaisse I routinely find myself in is commonplace. I only know that I dislike it. It wearies me, and more and more I find myself wishing that I could turn a switch and stop the incessant flow of emotions that churn within, so that i may pass through life as indifferent and dispassionate as so many others.

Ordinarily I would find a statement such as this alarming. After all, a hallmark of sociopaths is that they are devoid of emotion. But the vast and relentless current of feelings I am subjected to day in and day out is slowly eroding me, and it hurts. It isn't that I wish to stop feeling altogether, but to be able to stop some would be heavenly. I feel as if there are tiny fissures all about me, leeching emotional ooze at every turn like radioactive waste, polluting everything. I simply cannot contain them all, and there seems to be nothing that I can do to stop it. I want so much to not care, to blithely ignore, to forget, to sail through life unruffled and undisturbed by the human condition. Placid. Serene. Not bouncing back and forth between vexed, bored, lonely, irate, sad, chagrined, and concerned, all within the same hour. (And that is just one example).

How glorious it would be to just not care-about a job well done (which produces stress, vexation, resentment, although occasionally it does produce satisfaction), the past (which produces regret, sorrow, longing and a dash of shame), the future (worry, worry and more worry), in short, any myriad number of things and people. How delightful it would be to never again experience the hand-clenching, gut wrenching, blood pounding jealousy that lurks like a tightly coiled viper deep within the recesses of my heart that strikes unexpectedly and as viciously as it ever did. I should not care, I hate that I care, when clearly so many people don't. It is an exercise in futility. But that seems to be my lot in life, to care about people and things disproportionately to their significance and/or worth.

And it would be nice, if just once, I could cry prettily, instead of with great heaving sobs that comically cause my dog to raise his head in alarm, and which leave me looking like a trainee clown who has failed her final in make-up application.

From the Shelves 8

2008-02-11T14:57:00.001-05:00

I've had a hard time picking a book for this month. Should I go with a classic of African-American literature like Their Eyes Were Watching God? Or should I go with a tragic romance, like Possession? Nothing seemed right. And then it hit me. Since February is the "love" month (more on my disdain for that later) why not make it a mini list of the books I loved as a child? So here they are, in no particular order.

1. The Ramona Books by Beverly Cleary (some more than others of course, but no series is equally strong for every book).
2. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (I read this so many times the pages of my copy are falling out).
3. Dancing Shoes, also by Streatfeild. (This one also has the pages falling out).
4. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. (My copy of this, that was inscribed by my mother, got ruined in our move to North Carolina. That year for my birthday she replaced it, complete with identical inscription. I burst into tears).
5. The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright. (This is the second book in a series of four and I just love it, and will re-read it now when I need a pick me up. I always wanted to be Miranda.)

I was a very girly girl when it came to reading material, but I loved playing with Legos, and the G.I. Joes and/or He-Man action figures that my friends (or their brothers owned). Odd child, that was me.

a snapshot of time

2008-01-24T10:05:00.000-05:00

The sun is shining today, though it is diffused by clouds that make the sky appear to be gray and white, as if suddenly we were living in a black and white movie. Or at least such is the case at this moment as I view the world outside through the picture window of my living room.

From here, wrapped up in an afghan to ward off the perpetual chill that afflicts this room of the house, I can almost delude myself into thinking that spring has arrived. Squirrels scamper about in the yard, song birds twitter, their happy tunes reaching me despite the absence of an open window, and daffodils have sprouted in a long neglected planter.

And yet, I know it is not spring. It is still winter. This thought saddens me, although the sun is brighter now. The warm white light makes me long for prisms to hang in the window so that rainbows can dance all over the room and tease my dog. And once again clouds obscure the sun, washing out the landscape.

Time has slipped away from me, and I must leave for work. The view from the window has already changed, as a patch of blue appears above the tree line. But my melancholy lingers, as it does every January. I wonder how long it will last.

A new year on the shelves

2008-01-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

I'm cheating a bit today. Ordinarily I would have blogged much sooner about the new year and left my book recommendation for the month to a separate post but as my free time has been consumed by stage managing duties and household chores and work has been hectic with the start of a new semester this will be a two-fer. (And my god but that was a run on sentence! Eh.....cringe away English professors!)

The one saving grace of the month of January is the potential for snow days, and joys of joys we had one yesterday. I spent the day doing what you should do on a snow day: curling up with a good book and a cuddly dog under a blanket and only paying attention to the clock when I was looking for a specific television program. But snow days are a rare thing here and everything is virtually melted now. There are rumors that more winter precipitation will materialize tomorrow but I'm not holding my breath, although I will swing by the store and pick up a few needed items. I don't need to stock up on books as I have an ever growing stack waiting for me as it is.

One of the things I had been looking forward to in January was the publication of the second book in a delightful new series I discovered, but in a cruel and yet delightful twist of fate the book was published in December and I promptly devoured it. I now will have to wait until the end of the year for the third installment (crosses fingers that it will arrive by then). I only hope to find others books on my list to serve as appropriate diversions. What series is this that has inspired such anticipation? The Lady Julie Gray mysteries by Deanna Raybourn.

The first book in the series is Silent in the Grave and it contains what is probably the best opening lines of a book ever. "To say I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." After reading the book I had to share that line with just about everyone and have thus committed it to memory. The second book in the series, Silent in the Sanctuary was every bit as good as the first, if not better. Set during the 1880's in London the star of the novels is the aforementioned Lady Julia Gray. She is not a professional investigator, nor a super-genius, although she is smart and inquisitive. This allows her to retain an air of believability and makes her much easy to relate to. The mistakes she makes when she is thrust into the world of murder investigation are the mistakes a real person would make, and the frustrations she faces while dealing with the stubborn and dashing Nicholas Brisbane are all too real as well. Both books are filled with witty dialogue, vibrant and interesting characters (both primary and secondary) with nary a whiff of a cipher, well paced plots that never override character development, oodles of details peppered throughout, and final reveals that make you say "oh my god of course!!! How did I not see that?!" I highly recommend both, but you must read them in order or else the mysteries in the first will be spoiled.

It is rare for me to find books for adults that are filled with characters that I would not only like to meet, but also who I would like to be friends with. I dearly wish that I could be friends with Lady Julia and her wonderfully eccentric family, The Marches. Granted, I might encounter some unpleasantness if I was friends with them, but I would never ever be bored.

A year on the nightstand

2007-12-30T13:52:00.001-05:00

Here is a list of all of the new books I've read over this year, with a short reaction for each.

1. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (fun gothic mystery)
2. She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb (eh)
3. A Fool's Gold by Bill Merritt (hard to believe it is non-ficiton)
4. The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore (hysterical)
5. You Suck by Christopher Moore (my favorite of all the Moore books so far)
6. Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore (funny, but not as good as it's sequel)
7. Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore (the author is demented)
8. A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (touching and maddening)
9. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats)
10. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (great little action/suspense novel)
11. Who's Afraid of Beowulf? by Tom Holt (a Christopher Moore recommendation)
12. Puss 'n Cahoots by Rita Mae Brown (murder mystery where you can't tell the villain)
13. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (great graphic novel on a complex issue)
14. Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey (good but not great)
15. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (absurd and badly written)
16. Plum Lovin by Janet Evanovich (fun bit of fluff)
17. Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (one of those melodrama novels about dysfunctional people that women seem to eat up)
18. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (cute children's book)
19. There's a (slight) chance I might be going to hell by Laurie Notaro (okay)
20. A murder for her majesty by Beth Hilgartner (great historical mystery)
21. Pleasing the Ghost by Sharon Creech. (children's fluff)
22. The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde (nobody twists fiction like Fforde)
23. Nicky Deuce: Welcome to the Family by Steve Schirripa and Charles Fleming (entertaining diversion)
24. Grayson by Lynne Cox (would have made a nice magazine article)
25. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (great read, slightly disturbing)
26. Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich. (a series that stays strong)
27. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling (the middle lagged and the epilogue left me most unsatisfied but overall a strong finish)
28. The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis (interesting but not captivating)
29. Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz (loved it!)
30. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (love finding a new series!)
31. We're Just Like You, Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark (not quite what I was expecting)
32. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (would have benefited from an tighter edit, it was like she wanted to show off all she knew)
33. The Color of Water by James McBride (fascinating)
34. Sex with Kings by Eleanor Herman (a bit repetitive, but interesting)
35. Sex With the Queen by Eleanor Herman (makes me relieved to live in the present)
36. Bones to Pick by Carolyn Haines (another strong showing in a fun series)
37. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (I'm beginning to develop a thing for one of the characters)
38. First Among Sequels by Jaspar Fforde (don't read without reading the first four books!)
39. Permanent Rose by Hilary McKay (I want to be friends with the characters in this series)
40. The Lady and the Panda by Vicki Croke (mind boggling-the story itself, not the book)
41. Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman (great example of an author re-imagining established characters)
42. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris (yes, I do have a thing for Eric)
43. I am the Messenger by Markus Zasuk (I really liked, until the end)
44. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (it is a brave man who skewers himself as completely as Sedaris)
45. Marley and Me by John Grogan (read with a box of tissues nearby)
46. West with the Night by Beryl Markham. (Highly recommended)
47. Villain's Guide to Better Living by Neil Zawacki (a satire that actually has good advice)
48. Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn (read a borrowed hardback and want to purchase it)
49. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris (can you tell I enjoyed this series?)
50. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris (the author does a great job of interpreting the vampire myths to her own world)
51. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris (I just love Eric)
52. Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn (you know how when a book ends and you are sad to leave the characters behind? Well the Lady Julia Grey mysteries are like that. The next one isn't due out until December 08 or January 09. God's teeth! I can't wait that long!)
53. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (I hope she writes a sequel)
54. Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (first in a trilogy. I enjoyed it, but I think it will be a bit of a stretch to flush it out into three books)
55. Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss (disappointing)
56. Caddy Ever After by Hilary McKay (please don't stop with the Casson family stories!)

For those who have paid attention some of the books that appeared in the "on my nightstand" section (including the one on there now) are not on this list. It is because I haven't finished them. Some I will go back to, others not.

From the Shelves 7

2007-12-10T10:07:00.000-05:00

It is well into the month of December and soon we will be overloaded with saccharine sentimentality and the cloying treacle that is most holiday entertainment. That is why I offer up this antidote, The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. Read it now as a preemptive strike or read later as a palate cleanser, but above all read it. It is a hysterically irreverent novel, complete with a twisted yet touching version of The Gift of the Magi, lessons about love and community unity, granting wishes for children, and oh yes, zombies. It sounds absurd, and in some ways it is, but it is wildly entertaining and funny.
A few caveats though. Do not read this in public. You will laugh out loud starting with the author's note and keep right on laughing throughout the book. For some reason other people find the sight of someone reading and laughing hysterically to be disturbing. Moore's books are filled with quotable dialogue. If your friends will look askance on you for saying things like "he no likea the light," then perhaps you should give it a pass. The Stupidest Angel features many of the characters from previous Moore books so in one way it spoils some of the suspense of some of his other novels, but that is a trifling concern.
But if you are already sick of the maudlin pap that is heaped upon us during the Christmas season, and/or A Christmas Story is one of your favorite movies then you will thoroughly enjoy The Stupidest Angel. Read up!

sometimes......

2007-12-04T09:44:00.000-05:00

Observations, no matter how nicely stated, still come across as criticism.

You leave the house and you just know it is going to be a rough day.

It just might actually kill you to smile.

You feel like a freak for no discernible reason at all.

White noise is actually really loud.

Nothing is better than a warm chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk.

You wonder just what on earth you have gotten yourself into.

Sometimes, all these things are true.

collection of random observations

2007-11-29T16:57:00.000-05:00

My mother is amazing. Every year my parents host Thanksgiving and every year, mainly because of her hard work, the meal is a roaring success. This year was a small Thanksgiving for us, only thirteen people, but we had enough food for twenty-four. My sister has already nominated me to take over the actual turkey and gravy preparation when the time comes when Mom flat out refuses to do it. I find this an intimidating prospect.

Family traditions are funny things. Sometimes something becomes a tradition without anyone meaning for it to become one. Like, my cousins and I always watched Clue over the Thanksgiving holiday when we lived in Virginia. That "tradition" was one that ran its course though. Not having Thanksgiving with my cousins because they live too far away now on the other hand, that is a much more bitter pill to take.

Speaking of bitter, why is it that so many of the things that are good for you taste so nasty? I'm talking green vegetables here people! Sure you can make them palatable by pouring dressing or butter or cheese on them but doesn't that defeat the purpose?

I wish I didn't have such a sweet tooth. I've been working on limiting it, but with the Kingdom of Sweets (aka Christmas) looming on the horizon it's hard to do. I need to work on selecting the best thing. Much better to get those fat and sugar grams from something truly worth while than a bunch of middling desserts.

I was really hoping to go and see a live performance of The Nutcracker this holiday season, but time got away from me. Apparently the tickets have been on sale since August and other commitments have gobbled up the month. I guess I will have to get my fix by popping in my trusty video of American Ballet Theatre's production with Mikhail Barishnikov.

I really wish I could speak Russian.

Russian tea is one of my absolute favorite beverages in the whole world. I can't wait for it to get cold enough to make some. Maybe I can convince my mother to make some. She is really the only one who has a pot big enough. It makes the whole house smell of Christmas when it is simmering.

Is it just me or have they started airing the classic Christmas specials really early this year? Already A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas have aired. What gives? It isn't even December. Show those programs when they aren't competing with first run t.v. episodes! What with the strike and all it will only be another week before they've all aired. If all the good Christmas shows have aired too then we will be in a vast wasteland of television programming. Or course, it could be argued that we already are in one, what with all of the reality t.v. and all.

One reality t.v. program that I really enjoy is Project Runway. The best thing about it is that the contestants actually have to do something that requires skill, not just a cast iron stomach and a weak gag reflex. However, sometimes the judges say things that really annoy me. Well, more precisely, Michael Kors says things that annoy me. Honestly, he is the most inconsistent man. If you criticize one designer for something, don't praise the exact same thing in someone else's work. Duh.

Tail-gaters also annoy me. As do drivers who come to a complete stop when making a right hand turn (when there isn't a stop sign or stop light).

Stoplights remind me of that song lyric in Silver Bells "even stoplights blink of bright red and green." They sort of are in perpetual Christmas mode.

Doing Christmas cards for your co-workers is a lot like doing Valentines at school was. Maybe you don't want to give one to everyone, but you feel like you should. Sigh.

A Long Line of Sass

2007-11-11T07:54:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me that I frequently mention that if you spent time with my family you would understand me more completely, but I also realize that this is not necessarily a feasible thing for everyone. So, in keeping with my whole November=family thing started yesterday with my book review, I thought I would share some information about my family. But where to begin?

I come by many of my personality characteristics quite honestly. The competitiveness, the smart-ass wit, the stubbornness, the sweet tooth, the dramatic flair, the slightly skewed sense of humor, the independent thinking, and yes, the temper, have all been thoroughly documented on both sides of my family tree. In both the men and the women. (Really, there was no hope at all for me to be a sweet, demure little thing). But it is the women I'm going to talk about today.

The first recorded example of the long line of sassy women is with Eleanor of Aquitaine. I know that it is very popular to claim royal connections, and it is quite possible that I am not descended from her, but as it cannot also be disproved I'm going with it. Eleanor of Aquitaine was a formidable woman who went on Crusade, was highly educated, managed to get her first marriage to the King of France annulled, remarried a man eleven years her junior, became queen of England, owned more of France than the king did, and gave birth to ten children, two of which became kings of England.

Moving right along to her great-granddaughter, Joan of Acre. Joan of Acre was the daughter of Edward I and was married twice, the second time in defiance of her father's wishes, and to a man not of noble rank. Considering that Edward I's nickname was the Hammer of the Scots I would say that was pretty nervy. But what do you expect of a child born while her parents were both on Crusade in Palestine? Supposedly I am descended from a child from each of her marriages. Best not to dwell on that too much.

Of more concrete proof is my descent on my mother's side from Priscilla Mullins, the wife of John Alden. Both John and Priscilla arrived in New England on the Mayflower, and after the first winter both of Priscilla's parents and her brother were dead. Young, alone and in a very foreign country, Priscilla withstood it all. And when John Alden came to speak on behalf of his friend Miles Standish for her hand in marriage, Priscilla told him to speak for himself. A smart man, John did and the two were married and had "many children."

I'm sure that over the years there were more sassy women on my family tree, but the record does not show it. However, once we get into living memory the tree is jam packed.

On my father's side we have:
Charlotte Cope (my fourth great-grandmother) who was a member of the landed gentry in England and married a shoemaker. Considering the time period this was just scandalous. How did they meet? Upper class women were very sheltered and protected at that time, and strange men didn't just start chatting them up.

Her daughter in-law was Anna-Maria Higgins, a woman who was born just shortly after her parents landed in New York from Ireland. She married an English Episcopalian shoemaker and went on to have seventeen (yes, that's right seventeen) children. Imagine telling your Irish father that you not only wished to marry a Protestant but an Englishman to boot? She outlived her husband and eight of her children, and wasn't disowned by her father.

Her oldest child was Marcella Agnes Collinson. Nana, as we call her, was born in 1857 and died in 1953. She outlived all three of her husbands, all but three of her brothers and sisters, and one of her grandchildren. She lived through the Civil War, the outbreak of the Spanish Influenza, World War I and II, the flu epidemic of 1918, the assassination of two presidents, the Great Depression, and the Great Blizzard of 1888. Her first husband died sometime in the 1880s, and she remarried in 1891 to Charles Conover, a man who was almost thirteen years her junior, and they had one daughter, my great grandmother, Isabelle Katherine Conover. Then in around 1901 she divorced Charles, retained custody of their daughter, and stayed on speaking terms with his entire family. I can only imagine that Charles had done something horrid, and perhaps one day I will get up the nerve to write New Jersey and get the divorce papers.

Isabelle (aka Gam) and her daughter Barbara (aka Meme) were less overtly sassy. Gam loved dirty jokes, had hands that could span an entire octave on a piano, and was married twice, both times to a man named Frank. My memories of her are few as I was slightly intimated by her regal bearing and posture, even more so because of her penchant for flashy jewelery (un-beknownst to me it was mostly paste) and fur coats. Gam broke her hip when I was in the third grade, and upon learning, when she came round after surgery, that she had had to have a blood transfusion she quipped "God I hope they didn't give me AIDS." Sadly, she suffered a stroke while still in the hospital.
Meme told me once when I was in the fourth grade that "sometimes you just have to say damn it, it makes you feel better." She loved scary movies and got a bit of a perverse pleasure out of telling me the plot synopsis of each one. It took a lot to make Meme mad, but look out if you did. One of my favorite stories is how she retaliated against her oldest son when he was an intractable teenager. Dennis did not want to be awakened in the morning and one time he swatted his mother in a groggy and grumpy state. The next morning when he didn't wake up when she called his name she slapped his rump with her hand, a hand that had a straight pin between two fingers. Dennis never had to be called twice to wake up in the morning again.

On my mother's side:

Amanda Jane Covington, my great-great grandmother, was widowed and remarried. She spent a week with her new husband, found him not to her liking, packed up her belongings and went home.

Sarah Elsie Gold (aka Mammy), my great grandmother, and Amanda's daughter in law, gave my mother a cast-iron skillet when she graduated from college. She told my mother, and I quote "that if a man ever hits you he has to go to sleep sometime." One time her husband had over indulged in alcohol and as he laid in the bed groaning she presented all four of their children to him and said "see what happens when you drink?" Mammy could spin a story better than anyone I have ever met, and loved telling her grandchildren and great grandchildren scary ones. "Riger, riger marow! I want my big toe!"

Margaret Falls (aka Grandma Warlick) my other great grandmother, survived a car accident in the 1930s that broke her pelvis and killed her husband. The doctors had told her there was a chance she wouldn't walk again. However, when the time came to leave the hospital she laced up her corset and went out under her own power. I never met Grandma, but all of the pictures and stories make me think of a girded iron vessel. She also married outside of her religion (Baptist and Methodist in this case-hey it was a big deal to her!) on the condition that any girls they had would go with her to church, while the boys would go with their father. Perhaps my favorite of all the Grandma stories is the night the chimney caught fire because it features two other sassy women in my family. Grandma was in bed nursing her youngest child, and sent my grandmother, the second youngest to fetch their father who was upstairs. She warned Gammy not to tell her father why she wanted him because Grandma knew that it would cause panic. Being only about four, Gammy held out for as long as she could and blurted out that the house was on fire. Grandpa yelled out "Lordy the house is on fire!" causing all sorts of turmoil. Grandpa sent his son Lester to fetch the neighbors but Lester didn't want to run through the woods at night by himself so Gammy, little four year old Gammy, went with him. By the time they had returned the fire was out because the oldest child, Vera, had done the smartest and simplest thing, which was to pour the water from her washstand through the grate of the upstairs fireplace, dousing the flames that had ignited the chimney column.

Another sassy woman, who I'm not descended from was my great Aunt Edna. One day she was watching a basketball game that her brother, my grandfather, was refereeing. Some woman in the crowd disliked the way he was calling the game and was heckling him. Edna stood if for as long as she could and then got in the woman's face. "My brother's a gentleman and he won't hit you, but I will!"

So as you can see, the women in my family tree didn't put up with a lot of crap.

From the Shelves 6

2007-11-10T14:55:00.001-05:00

As it is November, the month dominated by the most family oriented of all holidays Thanksgiving, I felt it only prudent to select a book that has something to do with family. To be fair, the connection to family is tenuous at best in My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl, but after reading it we can all either give thanks or bemoan the fact that he is not our Uncle Oswald.

Some of the more literate amongst you will recognize the author's name immediately, and you might assume that this is a children's book. You would be very, very, very wrong. My Uncle Oswald is the set up as the twentieth volume of Oswald's diary as published by some unnamed nephew. (It would have to be a nephew as no niece would brag about this man as her uncle.) Oswald is described on the back of the book as "aside from being thoroughly debauched, strikingly attractive and astonishingly wealthy, Uncle Oswald was the greatest bounder, bon vivant and fornicator of all time." And believe you me, Oswald lives up to that billing.

The book is raunchy, politically incorrect, naughty, decidedly odd, and hysterically funny. Basically take everything that makes one of Dahl's children's books so enjoyable, take out the creatures of fantasy, and mix in a great deal of sex and voila! While most people will be relieved that he is not their uncle, if you are anything like me, you will be a tad disappointed that this man never existed.

Reflections on Halloween

2007-11-01T20:32:00.000-04:00

Halloween just isn't what it used to be. I'm sure that this is how many people felt when homemade treats fell from grace in favor of pre-packaged candy (and incidentally I think that most of those urban legends involving razor blades were started by the candy companies), but the fact that this assessment of this festive night of revelry has been shared by others before does not mitigate the accuracy of my viewpoint.

Some of it has to do with the absence of sidewalks in the neighborhoods of my town. Some of it has to do with the fact that for far too many people Halloween is synonymous with satanism, at least in this part of the world. And some of it may have to do with the fact that Halloween was on a Wednesday this year, and Wednesday is of course the second Sunday in the Bible Belt. But it is truly a sad state of events that Halloween is reduce to such pathetic dregs.

First of all, the concept of being in costume for trick or treating seems to be regarded as a suggestion, and not a mandate. Trick or treating itself seems to be regarded as a maybe activity. People just don't seem to have that fever pitch of excitement anymore. I clearly remember eagerly anticipating trick or treating each year, and how sad I was when I was too old to take part in that activity. It also seemed like a lot of homes didn't even bother with being there to dole out candy since the anticipated turn out is so low.

I love costumes, and in fact have come dressed up to work the last two years. This year, only my best friend Mockingbird was dressed up, and she had to tightly reign in her creativity because of her teaching commitments.

Additionally, most mischief that takes place these days is criminal, mean spirited, and/or violent in nature. This is probably what led to the deplorable practice of driving your kids door to door for trick or treating. Well, that and the absence of sidewalks. Neighborhoods need sidewalks people!

Nobody seems to have much Halloween spirit anymore (no pun intended). I mourn the passing of Halloween as I knew it on this, the Day of the Dead.

Glee manifests itself atypically

2007-10-29T09:12:00.000-04:00

She smiled inwardly when he said it, a growing sense of satisfaction spreading throughout, warming her in a way that she was not fully accustomed to, as it was coupled with a wave of relief and no small amount of vindication. Rarely did "I told you" moments present themselves so beautifully, or without any angst of a decision gone wrong to spoil the moment. And here it was, laid out almost like a gift on the table that stood next to them, a moment that she had not allowed herself to believe would ever appear. But she did not say "I told you so." Instead she fixed her face into a sympathetic and reflective expression, nodded in support and made a non-committal noise before changing the course of the conversation. On the inside though...oh, on the inside, her soul danced a jig.

From the Shelves 6

2007-10-10T15:46:00.000-04:00

As this is October and thus the month of the creepy, kooky and altogether spooky holiday Halloween I have chosen a book that fits that genre. Or rather, a series of books. I am talking about the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris. So far I have read the first three in the series and it is a fun, new take on the whole vampire mythology. In this world, vampires are real and have gone public, seeking rights etc. like normal people. They are able to do this in part because of the invention of synthetic blood. However, vamps aren't the only supernatural beings that exist.

The books revolve around Sookie Stackhouse, a blond barmaid with telepathy who happens to fall in love with a dead man (read: vampire)named Bill. Chaos and mayhem ensue as Sookie is thrust into the dangerous supernatural world, doing favors for big shot vampires, fighting off fundamentalist groups that wish to kill all vampires and their supporters, cavorting with shape shifters and catching murderers of the human variety.

The first book is Dead Until Dark, the second is Living Dead in Dallas and the third is Club Dead. The supernatural elements are well done, building on the ground work about vampires that we know so well, but adding creative touches here and there. The books are filled with humor, literary and mythological references, complex and interesting characters (human and otherwise) and a number of really good sex scenes. Sookie really comes into her own in the third book and I am tempted to go out and buy books four and five this weekend. (I really shouldn't since I need to re-read the book for my real life book club).

This series is pure fun but not altogether fluff. Sink your teeth into them. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the opportunity).

Puzzle pieces

2007-10-08T08:12:00.000-04:00

It is always disconcerting to come to the realization that you do not "belong" at all in the place where you have chosen to live. This isn't really shocking, in fact, I've known I don't exactly fit in here for quite some time, and generally speaking I'm okay with that fact. However, this past Saturday I attended something that demonstrated to me that not only do I not fit in here but I never will. I don't find it depressing exactly since I am secretly relieved that I am not the type of person who would enjoy a tractor pull (nor, for that matter, know exactly what took place at one), but it did get me thinking. And what is disconcerting is that I also felt this way in college and to a lesser extent, in high school.
Ordinarily feeling different isn't such a bad thing, provided you can find a few other people who feel the same as you do, or who can at least relate. Fortunately I do have some friends who fit that bill. But spending your life feeling like you don't ever fully belong anywhere is not comforting. If I was radically different, with no common ground to speak of, maybe it would be easier to deal with because then it could just be chalked up to being in the wrong place. Rather like a puzzle piece from one box that had found it's way into another puzzle altogether. You'd know that the correct puzzle existed somewhere. Unfortunately, I am like a puzzle piece that looks like it should fit in a spot and it does, almost. Maybe one of the arms is too thick, or the angle of the spoke isn't steep enough. Minor things. So it gets tried this way and that, and occasionally pounded, in an effort to make it fit. And stubbornly the piece will not go. Thus it is left on the edge of the table while all the other pieces fit together forming their picture. At least I don't have to worry about being knocked off the table and eaten by the dog.