Books & Beaches

2 for 2 for Sandra Dallas

2011-12-17T21:39:00.000-08:00

I tried Sandra Dallas's Chili Queen. Not so much. So she's 2 for 2. Yes on Tallgrass and Persian Pickle. No on Chili Queen and Alice's Tulips.

Although, I do like an author who can use the adjective "rascally" and get away with it. And a main character who says, "When it's raining porridge, hold up your bowl." But the storyline didn't appeal to me---just couldn't jive that the main plot revolved around a house (ahem) of ill repute. And then I skimmed to the end and it just didn't seem worth getting there . . .

Day After Night by Anita Diamant

2011-12-16T21:25:00.000-08:00

People should do what they do well. And Diamant proved herself capable, with The Red Tent, of being able to move a story line along while taking the viewpoints of four different women.

And she did it again, well, with Day After Night, a novel set in post WWII. The main characters are Jewish women who have escaped (in different ways) the concentration camps. And now find themselves in a British compound while governments figure out where they should go. But it's also about mourning, and hope, and healing, and grief. And friendship and secrets. My favorite things are:

1. Diamant never, not once, plays into the "women are so catty/fickle/backstabbing" stereotype. Please, that would insult her. Diamant's women have deep and meaningful women friendships that get them through.

2. There's this beautiful and artistic scene at the end with Zorah, one of the characters. All about how Zorah can finally taste her food. Meaningful to me because I remember grief so deep of my own that the color left the world, food lost its taste, and flowers lost their smells. But I also remember tasting food for the first time, smelling smells that had been absent, and seeing color again . . . part of my healing. So I had one of those moments where this author I do know now and will never meet plucked at the heartstrings of my heart and put it in this character.

3. I knew nothing about the topic. And now I know more.

It's a savoring book. Not a beach book with lemonade. More like a good winter break book where you can find a deep couch and a solid quilt and read late into the night when everyone else is asleep.

Some sensuality. Little language, some violence. But nothing to put it on a "no" list for me.

Find a copy and let me know what you think. Sarah, this might interest you because you like to read about Jewish heroines, and Melody, because you will appreciate the character development. Mel, didn't you say you like Poisonwood Bible? Or was that someone else? I couldn't get through PB, too dark for me . . . but this takes dark themes and lets the light shine through.

Just a little bit of holiday silliness with a cute song

2011-12-13T22:26:00.001-08:00

Especially for Mariann, in honor of your recent Muppet movie sighting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBuBjFwDj-E

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

2011-12-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

Though I loved Persian Pickle Club, I didn't get too jazzed about Alice's Tulips. So I was hesitant to give Sandra Dallas another shot, but I did anyway.

And she came through for me. I read her Tallgrass, a story about a little fictional town that's set near one of the historical Japanese Internment camps.

I find this part of our country's history perplexing. I read Journey to Topaz, but never taught it in my years as a teacher. But the topic is haunting.

The book started slow for me, and I had to will my way into the plot, but I got there. And found some excellent characters. Dallas is strong with characters and plot. The dialogue drags a little in some places, but the other strengths compensate. Loved the end. Didn't see it coming and I can usually guess the end before I get there. So good job on that one, Ms. Dallas!

I would recommend this. Good for book groups. Ample fodder for discussion.

Katy, you don't do WWII now, but if you do, this would be good extra credit. Tough themes, good writing material. And it hasn't been made into a movie that I know of so they'd really have to read it. If you have a really sensitive soul in your class, probably not for him/her because of just a few lines of violence description. Pretty mild, but there.

The Outside World by Tova Mirvis

2011-12-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

The trick about writing about the other is to make the foreign familiar and the familiar foreign. So that we can see ourselves in the other, and the other makes us see new things in ourself.

Kind of like when My Big Fat Greek Wedding came and and everyone could relate to it. One of the first things I heard about the movie was, "Well . . . it's about this Greek family and their daughter getting married. But you'd think they were Mormon!" A few days later one of my students was talking about the movie and she said, "It's about this Greek family. But they are just like my family. Except we're Chinese." It was a game I played: seeing how many times I could talk about the movie so more people would say this Greek family was just like their own family. And most people could. Maybe because it's about a single daughter who's getting older and she has adoring parents, relatives with opinions about how to wed her off, and therefore there's conflict and drama. It's pretty universal.

Well Tova Mirvis's The Outside World is about a daughter. Who's getting older. With a meddling family. But they are Orthodox Jewish. It's all about dating and mothers and fathers and religion and faith and finding the right spouse. It's about first dates and bad dates and worse dates. It's about finding a perfect soulmate and then realizing the soulmate isn't so perfect. It's about starting anew and then starting anew again. It's about finding meaning in religion and finding the meaning for yourself.

And Mirvis is a master at what she does. How she writes. The characters she develops. The humor she finds. She shows the human imperfection of people trying to live perfectly---all the while being respectful and non-critical. And she has some great one-liners like "The matriarchs would have made quite a stir in Brooklyn." Classic.

She made me see the foibles in my own life as I try to live religiously. And she made me laugh and laugh with some of her descriptions of dating talk among young women at a all women's school in Jerusalem. Orthodox women, but the conversation is almost word for word what's said in the BYU women's dorms. There I was, set in Jerusalem, and I could have in Provo.

If I were to pick my top 10 bookclub reading suggestions, this would be on the list.

Find a copy. I really think you'll like it. And if you want to compare and contrast, then read Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith, about a young couple in a totally different time and place.

No essay. I promise. Just come back and tell me what you thought.

Kristen C, I think you'll like this one. You'll jive with the voice and the irony. You'll get it.

How very Marianne Dashwood of me

2011-12-05T14:57:00.001-08:00

Last week, Eric was out of town on business for part of the week. Then on Saturday he had an all-day scout training. Yesterday he had meetings early in the morning, meetings after church, and tithing settlement until 8 PM.

All the kids were sick.

I stayed home from church yesterday with the kids so my second son could sneeze and snot on me and not in Primary. My little girl had the croup, so I was a breathing treatment diva. I've gotten really good at holding her on my lap on the rocking chair in her room while giving her a breathing treatment while we watch ourselves in her long full-length mirror that's on the other side of the room. I sing "Little Peter Rabbit" in different voices with big actions with one hand to keep her entertained while I hold the Nebulizer in the other hand. I'm actually pretty good at fish voice, which is the most requested version.

So while the kids were supposed to be having rest-time, I ran out the front door to take the garbage out. And I tripped. And sprained my ankle. Pretty badly. So I dusted myself off and sat in my overstuffed red chair in the front room with my ankle in the air. I thought, "I have just sprained my ankle. How very Marianne Dashwood of me."

And then I started to think about the fact that Marianne Dashwood had someone come to her rescue. Ah, Mr. Willoughby. He was there to pick her up. Take her home. Bring her flowers and poetry. Say witty things. Give her an excuse to make her hair all curly. And I thought that it would be nice to have someone come and rescue me and try to tame the children who were THUMP! CRASH! BANGING! around upstairs during quiet time.

But I did not marry Mr. Willoughby, and it's a good thing because Mr. Willoughby was lacking in fortitude. Mr. Willoughby couldn't take it. Mr. Willoughby didn't stick around. Mr. Willoughby was a jerk. I am glad I did not marry Mr. Willoughby.

And sitting there, on my red chair, with my ankle puffing, I realized no one was going to come rescue me. I got up. Hobbled around. And then Eric came home at 8 PM and took care of the kids for an hour before they went to bed. And then he changed his plans for this week so he could be around to help me in my inability to walk. I love that man.

I called my sister after I'd sprained my ankle and told her about my Marianne Dashwood insights. And she said profound words. She said, "And what do with learn from Sense and Sensibility anyway? We learn that the right man will eventually come along. But in the meantime, your sisters will get you through." Liz and I talked about how we'd love to live on the same block for moments like the one I was having. I could call Liz and say, "I sprained my ankle. Up all night with a croupy child. Eric won't be home until later," and she'd say, "I'm going to the front door. Send the kids over and I'll be standing right here watching them come down the street."

My right man did eventually come around. But it's tricky---I married the right man and now work/church/his job/the world realizes what a good thing I have and they need a part of him too. So he goes. Because he is a good man.

So I call in the troops of women in my life---my mother who is here with my kids today, entertaining them and being her usual fairy godmother grandma self. I will call my sisters who live too far away and they will laugh with me or let me cry. Tomorrow when the kids are over their colds, I'll call on my sisters at church and they help.

And Eric will go and do what needs to be done and help everyone, including me.

And I will be here.

And my sisters will get me through.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

2011-12-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Have you read this one yet?

I checked it out of the library and then bought myself a copy so that I can read it again and loan it out. This is a keeper.

This is one of those delightful books that's labeled "adolescent literature" so it's sold for less on Amazon.com. Yet, in reality, it has universal appeal. Story is pretty canned: coming of age. Early 1900's. Girl trying to figure herself out as she grows up. Becomes great friends with her grandpa. They both like plants and bugs and other things considered unfeminine. It's a story that's been told a hundred times in a hundred different ways.

And this retelling is a gem. The writing is great. It is FUNNY! I treasure books that make me laugh out loud, and this one did. The characters are worth knowing.

It's a great read on its own. It would be a great book club read, especially if you are looking for something to do in a church book club and you need something clean.

It goes right along with Limberlost, which is where I'll put it on my shelves.

Sarah, this would fun for Sophie, Amy and Liz put this on your list for Millie and Ella for eventually.

And enjoy.

P.S. Does anyone have my copy of Ladies Auxiliary? Or Garlic and Sapphires? I let them swim out on loan into the big wide reader ocean and I can't remember where they are. If you have them, tell them to swim home.

Ode for Getting People to Sign up for PTA Luncheon

2011-11-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

There's no real reason to post this, other than that Kristen C might see it and laugh. She and I spent many hours creating some very silly verse while we were in college. It's a talent.

I'm not sure where is a good use for this talent, but a talent indeed.

So here is the ode that I wrote to get people to sign up for our PTA luncheon. You have my full permission to use it anywhere anytime. You can even claim you wrote it.

Ye Olde Annual Staff PTA Luncheon Sign Up Sheet Ode

'Tis time in the year to give thanks where it's due

To our staff at _________, so loyal and true

We want to say thank you and we have a hunch

That they'd like our thank you, but that they'd love some lunch.

With soup and with salad! With cookies! With treats!

With bread and with snacks! With beverages! Sweets!

So please read the sign-up and then volunteer

The staff holiday luncheon just comes once a year

So look over the list 'til something catches your eye

Decide what you'll bring, and then hit "Reply".

See? A skill for sure, but where to use it . . .

Another tip for working with Pediatric specialists

2011-11-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

I've had two more thoughts to follow-up on my last post of what I've learned about working with medical specialists. These are things I'm glad I did and found to be effective:

1. I find it very effective to be polite and thankful. Calm on the phone. Courteous in person. If a specialist has gone shown particular attention or fit us into her schedule, I write a nice thank you note on lovely paper. I remember to thank the workhorse doctors on our team at appropriate times: holidays, at times when Danielle is doing well at time-milestones that we've been given, etc. I send pears at Christmas to one doctor who is a particular star---she tells me that it's not necessary, but that her kids gobble up the pears. I send movie tickets as a holiday thank you to nurses in the office who have had to go above-and-beyond as they have cared for my daughter. In short, I acknowledge to our care providers that I know they are "just doing their job", but I recognize it's a tricky job and I try to express that I am thankful.

2. I do PR for my kid, conveying that I believe she's a well child, not a child whose life is compromised. Medical treatment is a sidenote, not her identity.

After my daughter had been hospitalized for the second time, and things were crazy (again), that is when I dressed her up in a princess costume and sent out birth announcements on Halloween. I sent them to my doctors, so that they would have this cute, happy, darling child in their heads when they saw her chart or came across her information---not the image of a baby in a diaper/blanket combo, tethered to wires in a hospital. When I have taken her to appointments, I dress her up in cute outfits, and if the outfit isn't cute enough already, I put a tutu over her pants and that does the trick. My message that I'm conveying is that we are going on with childhood, not sitting home sulking.

My friend Lindsay did something similar with her child when he was in the hospital. She took a marker and wrote all over his bedsheets: I AM WELL! I AM HEALTHY! I AM STRONG! I AM HAPPY! She drew suns and flowers and happy faces.

And that's what I try to convey with my actions to my doctors: My child is strong and happy. She has a great life! Thank you for helping us!

Working with Doctors, especially specialists

2011-10-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

The beautiful thing about a blog is it's randomness. The topic has nothing whatsoever to do with anything I've written about before.

As I've mentioned, our daughter surprised us at birth with needing to be seen by a kajillion pediatric specialists. Which we did. Her medical mania is coming to a close now; all of her issues are resolving and she is, today, a precocious little lady who is developing right on track. Seeing her, you would never know that she's been the Superstar at many doctor's appointments. And the specialists are now bidding us good-bye: they say she's doing great and we don't need to come see them anymore. She'll have a few yearly follow-ups but she's doing so well that there's no future expectation of more medical drama in the future. Not now, not ever. For this we are grateful.

And I emerge a smarter, wiser, and more empowered mama bear. Here are some ways I've found to be the good patient/parent of the patient. (My brother who is a pediatric dentist has a colorful metaphor for parents who do their medical coordinating well. I certainly can't repeat it here in print. But I'll let you guess . . . )

1. I have learned that I must dress like a professional when I go to the doctor. When I dress business casual, the front office people pay more attention to me. They apologize more when I have to wait. The nurses take more time with us before we see the doctor. When I do see the doctor, he/she seems to listen to what I say with more attention and takes more time to explain the issues at hand. When I show up to an appointment in Mom jeans and snot on my shirt from where a child has sneezed on me, no one takes me very seriously. But when I wear a skirt, nice shoes, and I look professional, the office staff and the doctor seems to treat me more like an equal.

2. I have learned that doctors do want me to be a part of the decision making process. But first I have to prove to them that I am intelligent and informed. I have to do my homework---I have to be willing to ask about medical terms I don't understand. I have to be willing to read medical journal articles until I understand. If I appear to be an emotional wreck, the specialist will stop communicating with me and take over and make all the decisions even if I am vehemently opposed to them. But. If I am calm, rational, and obviously well-informed . . . and if I propose another method of treatment, usually the doctor will give my idea a serious consideration. I just have to prove that my thinking is rational, based on current medical theory, and non-risky. If I can do that, I can have what I want.

3. I have learned that it is the doctor's job to propose more tests and more scans---the doctor wants to do this to have all information possible. It is my job, as the parent, to question whether these scans are necessary, especially if there's a radiation risk involved. We all need to do our jobs. He/she needs to propose a test be done. But I get to ask if it's really necessary. If I'm not convinced, see 4.

4. I have learned that I am the captain of my child's medical team. Me. I am the captain. And I get to decide which doctors are on the team, and which doctors are off the team. Just recently I replaced Doctor A with Doctor B. I made the change because I disagreed with Doctor A's management and Doctor B was a better communicator and has more experience in the area we need it in. Doctor B in. Doctor A out. Me. I am the captain.

5. I have learned that doctors do much better if I hand them a typed paper with all the information on it. Doctors learn through printed words. They are words-on-paper people. If I just talk, I'm getting half their attention: 1/4 is examining my child while I talk, and the other 1/4 is thinking about their last patient or their next patient. But when I hand them something to READ, I get all their attention. I include things like: update since our last visit, my questions, current meds, current treatment plans of other specialists, etc. I make sure I have copies of scans or bloodwork in my hand---a copy I can give to them. I do all the homework I can, anything I think they need to know and anything that I want to know and I type it out. Marvelously effective.

6. I have learned that in cases like my daughter's, eventually specialists do tell us we don't have to come back to follow up anymore. Eventually they sometimes say, "Your child is normal, healthy, and thriving. Have a great life and send me a Christmas card with her picture in it every year so I can watch her grow up."

And that is the best lesson of all. All the medical mania, the questions, the time, the money, the worry, the fear, the uncertainty . . . it's all so that I can give my child the best shot at the best possible life she can have. Doctors sometimes have to be part of this. And to those who have helped us, I tip my hat. And when possible, bid a very fond farewell.

Arranged. It's a Movie. And I liked it.

2011-09-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

I saw a great movie about the fictional friendship between a Muslim woman and an Orthodox Jewish woman. It's called Arranged, and you can check it out here.

I will pay this movie two high compliments.

1. You could show this at a Young Woman church event and not be scandalized. It's educational, interesting, and uplifting. You could even have an interesting discussion afterwards. About real issues, imagine. Issues such as modesty, agency, conservative living in a liberal world, questioning ones' faith and finding faith is what you really want, peer pressure, choosing a spouse, different religious cultures, etc.

2. I read a critique that a New York Times film critic did of this film and I disagreed with just about everything he said. The writer did not "get" the movie. I think you have to have some experience with trying to follow a religion's tenants to understand.

So I liked it. I'd watch it again. It's not jazzy like Tangled and there's zero action. So don't go into it expecting snaz. But still. Worth watching.

Summer Booklist

2011-06-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't compiled my summer book list yet, except for the fact that I want to re-read Summer of the Monkeys.

What's on your list? I need ideas.

What was that? Flying clothes?

2011-05-23T18:30:00.001-07:00

I was in the mood for some good historical fiction. True to the times, insightful about the conflict, solid research on dress of the age, interesting characters, and good acting. I put the Civil War North and South on our queue and hoped for the best.

Boy, that was a mistake. There were just too many clothes flying off of people. Not squeaky clean for my taste, that's for sure.

So I'm going to try for something else. And hope my next copies of Lark Rise to Candleford, Season Three get here soon.

Sound and Fury, Hobart Shakespearians

2011-05-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

I loved the list of documentary recommendations from the last few posts! We watched Sound and Fury, a documentary about cochlear implants and we really liked it. Very well done. I thought the producers did a great job portraying how complex this issue is and how emotional, especially to deaf people who value and treasure deaf culture. 9 out of 10. Universal appeal.

We also liked Hobart Shakespearians, about a teacher in LA who inspires his 5th grade classes on to greatness. While not as engrossing as Sound and Fury, still good, and a powerful example of the power of one teacher/one mentor/one educator.

How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman

2011-04-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

I finished How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman. Good read.

Since our family has had much more face time, email time, phone time, and hospital time with doctors in the past year than I ever could have hoped for, I've developed a new appreciation for good doctors and nurses and they work they do.

My greatest criticism in our medical voyage has been that doctors only seemed to be treating the numbers of my daughter's tests. I worried they weren't treating my daughter---just treating to the numbers. This is a big theme of the book: what criteria doctors use to make decisions.

The book isn't meant to be an expose of doctors, just an examination of doctors doing what they can. The message of the book is: doctors are doing the best they can. Patients are doing the best they can. Modern medicine is doing well, but can do better. We can all do better.

A good book if you are interested in the subject.

And . . . I must make one more comment before I venture off. Groopman was ruthless in his examination of drug salesman. I relished his comments, having met many a tight-bodiced, cleavage-showing, perfumed drug saleslady, as well as many slick, shiny-shoed, sweet-talking drug salesman man during my time working in a doctor's office. I'm sure there are some drug salespeople who have integrity and make an honest living and are good at what they do. I just think the whole drug manufacturing business is crooked. Like health insurance companies, it makes money on people who are vulnerable because of illness or circumstance. Groopman and me: we have little tolerance for this.

It was enough to read the book and find a kindred spirit in Groopman, who sliced and diced the drug reps and their industry. But that was just a sliver of the book. The rest of it was worth reading as well.

Keep them Coming!

2011-04-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

I love all the movie recs in the comments. Keep them coming! Our Netflix queue needed a facelift.

Katy, either comment or email me and tell me what you teach again. I've been doing some more YA historical lit (I'll have to blog about it) and I'd love a reminder what topics you do. Would be fun to help you have lots of historical fiction suggestions at your fingertips.

Documentaries Take Two

2011-04-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comments! Fun suggestions! Katy, I would love to have your list of historical documentaries.

We also watched Babies, Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, and Wordplay. We liked all of those and thought they were worth the time.

Stacey, I would be so, so interested in your charter school experience. There aren't charter schools where we live for elementary, but there is a math and science charter school for junior high that's opening. If there were a waiting list, even so early in the game, we'd be on it.

Documentaries we watched. Some we liked.

2011-04-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we get on documentary kicks. Sometimes we find some good stuff. Sometimes we just send the movie back.

Here's a sampling of some of what we've been through that we thought were really good.

1. Waiting for Superman, about the public education system in the US. Fabulous. Really truly well done.

2. Mad Hot Ballroom, about the ballroom dance program for elementary students in New York? I think New York. Hilarious. A riot. I loved it.

3. Spellbound, about the National Spelling Bee. Good stuff.

4. Nursery University about preschool in New York. We liked it.

Other things we watched and thought were interesting:

1. The food movies. Like Supersize me, the reason that I cannot frequent McDonalds---seeing the movie obliterated my McD business forever. We also did Food Inc. (interesting).

2. The oil movies. King Corn and Fuel for example. Good.

3. The homebirth movies. Like Being Born in America. Interesting---ironic that almost every movie makes hospitals out to be BAD and then there's an emergency and that's where the BAD hospital homebirthers end up going. Eric and I always find that ironic.

I'm sure we'll find more topics. We like documentaries. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Temple Grandin. It's a movie.

2011-04-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

We saw the best movie! Go find a copy of Temple Grandin. It's a great story about Temple's life. Temple was born in the 1960's. She has autism. (Nice choppy sentences, there, Deborah.)

Saying, "It's about this woman with autism" is about all I can come up with because that really is the plot. But the story is intriguing and the movie is SO well done. Claire Danes plays Temple and it's been ages since I've seen such good acting.

After you watch the movie, watch "The Making of Temple Grandin" in the additional features. You'll get the meet the real Temple.

I have been thinking about this movie ever since we saw it. Because it's also about teachers and the powerful role of positive mentors. It's also about finding similarities where it would be easy to only see differences. And it's about becoming more human.

Just find a copy. Words fail me.

But watch it before you let your kids see it. I would let young adolescents watch it, but not little kids.

Netflix series we love

2011-04-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

1. BBC productions of Dickens. Bleak House with Gillian Anderson is fabulous. We also liked Our Mutual Friend and Little Dorritt was great as well.

2. Lark Rise to Candleford. Starts slow, picks up.

3. Foyles War.

4. All the Poirots mysteries.

5. Monk.

6. The Elizabeth Gaskill ones. North and South. Wives and Daughters. And Cranford, which I forgot to add.

7. Victoria and Albert (two disks). We thought it was good.

8. Berkeley Square . . . We just can't seen to get enough of turn of the century British drama.

Anyone else have any series suggestions? I'll do documentaries and movies in other posts.

A Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd

2011-04-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

So it's actually a book review today!

I piecemeal read A Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus. I read half, then skipped to the end, read the end, then skipped back and piecemeal read the rest. Never did get around to putting in a bookmark, that's why. Never thought about a bookmark until I was settled, feeding the baby, thinking, "Should've found a bookmark."

The book is great. Along the delightful lines of These is My Words and with enough romance for even Guernsey fans. The plot is that women (of their own accord) are given to the Cheyenne nation in the 1800s to be brides of the Cheyenne men. Jim Fergus did a lot of fantastic research into the Cheyenne culture---I know because that's where I went after I read the book.

And it. Is. Funny. Of course, I'm drawn to any book where the women are intelligent, sassy, plain-spoken gals who have brains and wit.

It would be a great book club book. Truly fun to both read and discuss.

It is about marriage. So there are consummation scenes. Blip. Blip. Move on with the plot. But if those will offend you, skip them when you see them coming.

I think I'm going to buy this one. I'd enjoy reading it again and picking up the pieces that I missed the first time.

Read it before you give it a friend or daughter to read, then you can make the call.

OK, Caveat to my last post

2011-04-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

So I had some response about my air duct post and I wanted to clarify:

Having the ducts cleaned out was WTM to me because we had stuff and smells that we needed to get out. The EPA says that it's debatable whether most people, who don't have problems and don't suffer from allergies, really do need to have the ducts cleaned out at all.

The other thing is that it stirs up the yuck in the ducts. Can't be good for breathing. But I was stuck. I didn't want to leave a stranger in my house and Eric was at work. So for part of the time, the kids were playing outside where they didn't have to breathe the stuff. Things you learn.

So there you go. More info.

Handbook to Life. Air duct Cleaning.

2011-04-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I need a handbook to life. I mean the practical aspects of life. (I just had flashforward of someone giving in a talk at church, "I read this woman's blog saying she needs a handbook to life and I thought---the scriptures! That's what you need!" Yes, I know. And I do need them.)

I was speaking about the more mundane aspects of life. Like cleaning.

I'm good at doing what needs to be done, once I know what needs to be done. For instance . . . because of some questionable (and we think illegal) smoking habits of our neighbors, I've been annoyed (alarmed, etc.) by the fact that some second-hand smoke was wafting into our house. You know, the place where my children breathe. So the neighbors finally moved away and I decided we needed to have the air ducts in our house cleaned out. COIT came with their mighty vacuums.

I learned all sorts of things when I did this, some of which I wish I didn't know concerning just what possible yuck can be hiding in a furnace or air conditioning unit. The yuck we found is now gone. In it's place is left the residual Mom Guilt that I didn't know to get the yuck out sooner.

So, for the three people that actually read this blog (thank you, you are so devoted), here are my two cents about what I learned.

1. When you run our air conditioner or furnace, the air goes through the AC or furnace. If the AC/furnace is dirty inside, the air will be dirty when it comes out. I knew that before, but now I understand why.

2. Before we move into a new place in the future, one of the first questions I will ask will be "Has a smoker of legal or illegal anything ever lived here?" If the answer is "yes", we will walk away and find someplace else to live.

3. Before we move into a new place I will ask when the last time the air ducts were cleaned out. If I'm met with a blank look, I will ask if anything has ever happened to make this necessary. I'm not sure that ducts always need to be cleaned out (it's debatable by the EPA), but I want to make sure there's no yuck there.

4. Air conditioner filters should be changed every three months. Good thing Eric knew this one because he's been changing them---I'm so lucky he's so clever.

5. If there's a stinky smell coming from the furnace or air conditioner, this isn't just house smell. It's yuck. Get it out.

6. Getting air ducts cleaned out was WTM to me because it's good to have all that stuff out.

There. Now you know more than I knew up until yesterday. Now you know.

And knowing is . . . well . . . you know. (Thank you, GI Joe.)

WTM: Worth The Money

2011-04-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

My sister Anjanette and I love the part in Sleepless where the girl writes the note and uses "MFEO": Made For Each Other. So, in honor, here are some things that I think are WTM in my mom life: Worth the money.

Frog potty. How we love frog potty! Frog potty is funny, so my potty training son likes to use it. Frog potty is two pieces---lift that blue bowl out and rinse rinse. Not like the last potty we had that had a ring and this other piece and this other piece and this other piece and it was always filthy because it was hard to clean. Enter frog potty. TADA!

Shoes my children can get on by themselves. I spent too much of Son One's life trying to get his shoes on him. But I have learned. Only buy shoes they can put on themselves.
Rain boots. This is the first year I bought rain boots---heretofore I just let the kids splash around in their shoes. No, no, no. There is a better way. Boots, oh yeah.
A bagel slicer. This would fall under "useless gadget" for many. But since I have a bagel slicer, I don't cut open my hand trying to cut up bagels in the few times a year that we actually have bagels. Saves me an Emergency Room bill. Sits up flat next to the cupboard wall. It's works like a bagel guillotine, but gives you two perfectly sliced halves. I've heard of a pineapple slicer, anyone tried that? Anyone have one?

The other thing that's worth the money is a good babysitter. We pay ours really well and hope that she'll come back. But a good babysitter isn't WTM; a good babysitter is WWWTHM---way, way worth the money.

Conference

2011-04-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

Didn't you just love Conference? And was my husband the only one who grinned at his wife (me) when Elder Scott told the story about how his wife asked him to please go play with the children? Someday, another post will be about conversations I think we're all having with our spouses and kids. Different houses. Different times. Different people. Different places. Same conversations.

And President Uchdorft's reference to the fact he didn't make an aviation analogy. Hilarious!

It wasn't just the amusing that touched me, although it did feel good to laugh well at clever things.

I was really touched by how many people shared experiences of brave/amazing/inspiring children who have endured medical mania and touched the lives of those who care for them. I loved the story about the patient who asks, "Will I be different after this treatment?" and the reply is, "Yes, you will. You will be stronger. You will be awesome!"---I'll find the real quote for you when text is available this week.

Like my sister Liz, I was reminded to behold my little ones. To treasure these moments I have with my children. To soak it up. To make my home a place where they know they are loved and wanted. To help happiness to permeate into their souls. To let their souls permeate their light out to me. To help them feel the love that God has for them.

Conference was indeed a feast for me.

"What's for dinner?", Oh, it's right here

2011-03-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

And, to follow yesterday's post. Here are some of our favorite "OK, OK, I'm doing the shopping. Here I am in the store. What will we have for dinner? Oh, it's right here" meals.

Trader Joes: Pasta and one of their yummy pre-made spaghetti sauces.

Savemart: The Rotisserie Chicken dinner

Costco: Bagels, turkey rolls, grapes. More of a lunch, but definitely dinner if Eric is going to be gone.

Chocolate Covered

2011-03-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

Here's my MVP list of the chocolate covered items in some of the stores we frequent.

1. Costco. Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Fillings

2. Target. Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds

3. Trader Joes. Milk Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels

Just in case you haven't tried one of those. They come recommended.

The last one on the list, the milk chocolate peanut butter pretzels, are actually my "no guilt" reward to myself for when I give birth. Some women get jewelry, I get those pretzels. If Eric and I start considering whether or not to have Baby Number Four, you can bet the pretzel reward will be up there in the "Why Deborah Should Have Another Baby" column.

Mom Trick Number One

2011-03-29T16:53:00.000-07:00

Eric makes pancakes for the kids on the weekends. Makes a lot. Then we freeze them. Pop them in the toaster another day and presto! Breakfast!

See? It took me a long time to figure that out.

(So, you wonder. Is the trick about freezing the pancakes, or getting the dad to make the breakfast?)

Confession Number Two

2011-03-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the other confession (I knew there was another one at least!) And this confession, I fear, will offend many.

I used to cook a lot with cream of _______ . Especially in college when I lived with Kristen C. and we roommates all cooked together. (I could never really get it to work, the "let's all take a night" thing, unless I lived with Kristen. I tried. It just never worked without her.)

Anyway. Cream of blank. Used to use a lot of it, but gave it up about the time I got married and realized that 1) Cream of blank is just a poor excuse for a good white sauce or cheese sauce 2) Making those big casseroles with cream of blank was doing nothing for my hips and 3) I find cream of blank rather disgusting, the way it slurps out of the can. SLURP! So good-bye cream of ______. Gave it up, haven't looked back. We manage.

So a few Sundays ago, the women's group at church needed a sign-up for a dinner they were hostess-ing. The last thing on the list, oh yes, funeral potatoes. When I balked at bringing them, the Sign-er-upper said, "Oh, it's easy. I'll give you the recipe. It's just hash browns, a tub of sour cream, a can of cream of chicken, and a few other things."

Hash browns, sour cream, cream of chicken. That's nutrition!

I had to explain, with a straight face, that, oh, I could figure out how to make them. I just didn't like to do it. In the end, I found a mix for Scalloped Potatoes at SaveMart, did my duty, and took the dish on time. Hot.

But I didn't eat it.

Blech.

P.S. Eric and the kids liked it though, when I left some for them as I went to deliver it. Later, I will teach my boys that scalloped potatoes should mean real potatoes, some cheese other than Cheddar, and milk.

P.P.S. Let me add, as a final note, that I will use cream of _________. When camping. With a Dutch oven. Then I think it's just fine. But there better be some real vegetables in there.

The vacumm cleaner and the legos. A good place to start.

2011-03-27T21:53:00.001-07:00

I'm going to be posting some new stuff on the blog. Still books, but more about stuff.

Just stuff.

I have all these writing ideas, and I need someplace to put them. Seems like this blog is as good a place as any. For example, I've had this confessions trailing around in my head for ages:

I enjoy buying my five-year-old son new legos. It makes me feel good to nurture his spatial development. But I also enjoy vacuuming the legos up on days when I'm sick of picking them up or stepping on them. It's the GRRR! CRUNCH! sound they make in the vacuum cleaner that I find especially cathartic.

See? I just needed a place to write about that.

There might be more of those random things coming. Get ready.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. Amy's request cont.

2010-12-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

And how could I forget Mrs. Piggle Wiggle? Thanks, Malissa, for reminding me of her.

Sorry, Mrs. P.

Answer for Amy's 7 year old

2010-12-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Jenny, Sarah, Amy, Denise and Anjanette for your help with suggestions for Amy's daughter.

Here's my two cents, in addition to the great comments that were on the last post.

First of all, I agree with Jenny that every kid is different in terms of what they can handle with content. The best thing is for parents to be very involved in what their children read in terms of subject matter. But kids should read what they like---I took lots of teaching reading classes and the conclusions were all the same: kids learn to read by reading. Kids should read what they like to read, especially at this age. (Amy, I know you agree. I'm preaching to the choir. Just wanted to say I agree with Jenny, that's all.)

You want to catch a 2nd grader and hook him or her onto reading because there really is good stuff coming up: Amy for your daughter, I'd eventually suggest the Shoes books by Stretfield and the All of A Kind Family books and all of FHBurnett and GCLevine and Richard Peck, but she won't be ready for those for a little bit.

I checked out the Katie Kazoo books to see what your daughter's teacher is suggesting. Love Amazon.com where I can look inside the book! I don't have an opinion about KKazoo, but it gave me a gauge as to the level of your daughter's reading. So here's my top five authors/series suggestions:

1. Beverly Cleary. Love this woman for this age group. The Ramona books are great. Start with those, and then see if your daughter would like the rest. I just requested the Ralph books on CD for my boys. Can't wait. Cleary is such a nice, witty grandmotherly type. I bet she makes a mean oatmeal cookie and gives large candy bars to trick-or-treaters. What a sweetie.

With the next three, I don't know the series thoroughly, but well enough that I'd say you should peruse them and see what you think.

2. Box Car Children.

3. ABC Mysteries.

4. Magic Treehouse series.

5. And lastly, I would suggest some good non-fiction. Find a topic she likes, and see what your library has in her grade level.

There are lots of library websites that will suggest books for this grade level, but you can't tell about content. For that, if you get a minute, I'd suggest perusing some home school mom blogs about their curriculum for this age. Find a homeschooler who has values that match ours, and see what she has her kids read. Gotta LOVE homeschooler mom blogs for their resources---and once they find a good thing, they like to share.

Happy reading! If none of this works, message me again and I'll keep looking. This should get you started.

2nd or 3rd grade. Squeak. Squeak.

2010-11-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

My friend Amy is looking for books for her 2nd grader, age 7, who reads above her grade level.

Amy wants squeaky clean books. Judy Blume was recommended to her, but you know about Blume. Good writer, can't trust her content. (Are you there, Reader? It's me Blume, and sometimes I'm sketchy.)

I have some ideas, but I'd love some more before I post a list for Amy. Can anyone with kids this age give us some ideas?

little this

2010-11-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

I've been in a "little this, little that" mood, reading here and there. Garlic and Sapphires, Guernsey . . . the kids have been sick and I've been having a short attention span.

But long enough to read Harry Potter 7.

Which was good.

Again.

More books to resume soon. Soon I'll be able to think more than just, "Who sneezed? I know that was a BIG sneeze, now where is it?

Chattering Crow

2010-10-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

If you haven't noticed, I've put a link to the blog Chattering Crow in my blog list.

Louise Plummer writes it and she makes me laugh. Plummer is a YA writer, a writing teacher, and an honest soul who wouldn't judge me if she walked into my house and found grime on the kitchen floor.

If you're looking for a good blog, check it out. Her last few entries have been DEE LIGHT FUL.

What I Eat by Menzel

2010-10-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I get a hankering for some good non-fiction documentary-type reading.

This will do it. I heard about What I Eat, by Menzel, in the Food Section of the San Jose Mercury News. Since the food section is really the only non-biased, not-so-liberal place in the Merc, it's the one section that I read and don't call out to Eric, "Hey, Honey . . . Listen to how ridiculous the slant on this article is!" I'm disgressing. The food section. I like it. Heard about this book.

In What I Eat, which is beautifully written with gorgeous pictures, Menzel examines the daily diet of 80 people around the world. An acrobat in China. A housewife in Iran. A trucker in the USA. A lifeguard in Australia. An art restorer in Russia. A baker in Germany. In every selection, Menzel talks about how food "works" in the life of the person who eats it. Fascination. Interesting. It's rare that I want to actually buy, rather than look at, a coffee table book. But Santa might just show up with this book for me. It's one of those books you can go back to. I scanned most of it, read some of it, skipped the essays for later, and marvelled at all of it.

I'd say, find a copy. That's what I'd say.

And if you are wondering about my picture to go with this, the food pictured is just a sampling of food from today's diet in this house. Samoas from the Indian restaurant we got take out from last night, some apples and tomatoes from my parents farm, string cheese from Costco, and the beginnings of my favorite banana shakes (ingredients: frozen bananas, skim milk, and a dash of cocoa).

Audio books and good bloggers

2010-10-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

I would love three recommendations from you:

1. What audio books would interest my preschoolers? They love Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little and Dr. Seuss and I am getting sick of all three so I need more ideas. Must have clever dialogue and a good, wholesome, non-violent plot.

2. I would love good bloggers who write write well and are funny. (Because you can write well and not be funny, or you can be funny and not write well.) I'd like some bloggers who are both. Or, if not funny, then witty or charming. Or interesting. The topic isn't as important to me as the quality of writing.

3. Does anyone follow any other book blogs? Because I'd love to find a handful of blogs who have good book recommendations. Requirements: they can't read smut. No smut. And no froof. And If these bloggers tell me that Nicholas Sparks or Jack Weyland is the best author that they've ever read, I will say, "No thank you." I will say it nicely, but I will say no.

Best Way to Find New Books

2010-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

My favorite way to find new books is to go the bookstore. There they will be, lined up, ready for you to purchase.

I usually don't want to buy books, I'm just looking for a good read. So I make a list and head to the library---or better yet, a list and I get online and request them from the library.

The problem with the library is that they don't want you to buy the books, so they don' t have to market them. In that way, a library is like a secret club, waiting for you to indoctrinate yourself.

The downside of looking for new books at the bookstore is that the bookstore people usually haven't read them. "Is Little Bee any good?" I ask.

"What?" says the minimum wage clerk.

"Little Bee," I say. "It's right here."

"Oh. I haven't read it."

Thanks a lot. That's helpful.

A librarian could tell me more is my guess. So look at the bookstore, find it at the library, and then come back---right here---and tell me if you found anything good.

By the way, Mel, I know you are out there. Dash me a list sometime of the things you like. Long, long ago you were filed in my Hard-to-Get-On list of women with good literary taste. I'd love to hear your suggestions.

The Forgotten Garden

2010-10-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

Go find a copy of The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Sigh before you open it. Relax. Stretch out in down dog if you must to get all limber. Breathe in, open the book, and read to your heart's content.

It's like knowing you like tulips, and sending you to Filoli in April. It's like having you tell me you are craving dark chocolate and guiding you to Ghardelli Square. It's like knowing you are a cupcake fiend, blindfolding you, and landing at Kara's Cupcakes.

It's like The Secret Garden for grown-ups. It will take you back to the first time you read The Secret Garden by Burnett, and the childhood bliss of learning about Mary and Collin and all the rest. You will go back to the bliss, but not to your gangly phase, and that will make you so happy.

Good plot. Lovely writing. Hint of mystery. Madmen. Old castles. Secret keys. Lost loves. Found loves. Wicked Stepmother figures. Fairy tales. Secrets buried. It's got it all.

I do believe Anne with an E would like this book. I certainly did.

Forest Lover

2010-09-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

When I was doing some grading a few years ago, grading 8th grade essays . . . I went nearly crazy because some of the kids couldn't get away from some idiotic way they learned in the 4th or 5th grade to start essays: Their intros were. Three. Words. Like:

Faith. Hope. Love. This is what it's all about.

Adventure. Confusion. Mystery. This book had it all.

Life. Death. Chocolate. What more is there?

Boring. Boring. Boring. I'd ding these for lack of originality.

Ding.

Dong.

Sometimes I find books that rely on what the author thinks is a tried and true method. I always ding them in my head . . . like the old "the main character comes to an understanding of ________ as she discovers her own sensuality."

It's been done.

It's been overdone.

It's burned to a crisp and smoking up the kitchen it's been done so many times.

And, so sorry to say, this is what happened with Susan Vhreeland's Forest Lover, about the artist Emily Carr who painted the art of the people who inhabited Canada. I really was interested in the art. The people. The culture. The conflict. The change.

I could care less, truly, about what Vhreeland thought was going on with Emily's sensuality discoveries.

As far as the book goes, the prose is uninteresting. Word choice is unstellar.

In other words . . . what I thought was . . .

Too much lover, not enough forest.

Laura asked

2010-09-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

Laura asked whether I'd recommend Hotel on the Corner or Middle Place for a book group. I'd say it depends. If you are looking for a book that everyone will like to read, do Hotel: this is for the "That was so nice, where are the treats?" book group. But for the group that likes to discuss, do Middle Place. Strong, good themes to talk about.

But with Middle Place, you might have to skip around page 90 if you edit for content. As always, not sure what . . . I skipped what I saw coming.

Resume

2010-09-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

We now resume our previous book broadcast.

I see from my stats that the people in the United States have given up on me and think that I've quit blogging. Seems most of my readers are in India.

Hello, India readers.

I actually have been reading lots of books, even though I haven't been blogging about them. I know that I was purposefully vague about what was happening, exactly, with my daughter. That was intentional. I'm shy about revealing everything to people that I don't know---I'm even shy about giving all the details to people that I DO know. But I will tell you this: prognosis is good. We are winning our medical battles. The road will be long, and the way hilly, but we will make it. Nothing that my daughter has will hinder her life. We just have to get through this next little bit.

Enough said. On to the matter at hand: BOOKS!

Here's a summary of what I've read in the past four months.

1. The Gift of Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. I can never get all the way through this one when Potok starts getting really technical about abstract art, which is about in the middle of the book. Then I have to put it down because my Humanities 101 class in college only covered so much. I do like the continuing story of Asher Lev, though, as this is a sequel to My Name is Asher Lev, which I loved. This reading, I especially resonated with Asher's wife, Devora, who asks again and again: Do you think there is a plan, my Asher? There must be a plan.

I was asking myself the same question at the time about the plan. With Devora, I hope there is a plan.

2. The Secret Life of Bees by an author I can't remember. But the book is popular enough. You can find the author. This was my second reading of Bees, and I got it this time. In the book, a young girl longs for her mother, named Deborah. Since I was reading this on the nights that I'd left my daughter in the hospital, I was longing for my daughter.

I understood the longing in the book this time. I understood it really well. Good book. Find a copy.

3. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell. Unlike me, Vowell is a political die-hard liberal.

She and I see just about every issue in politics from completely different perspectives. But she is one mighty fine writer and I liked reading this book of essays about her reflections on events in American history. She's funny. I especially liked her essay on the presidential libraries.

Katy, have you read this? If not, find a copy. You'd probably be able to use some in your class if you ever teach American history.

4. Sarah's Quilt by Nancy E. Turner. As you'll recall, I loved These is My Words, the prequel to this book. When I started Sarah's Quilt, I almost put it down because . . . alas, alas, there was no Jack, why read the book at all? But it didn't take me long before I was hooked again, reading this fictional narrative about Sarah Prine in the 1900 Arizona territories. Loved it. I laughed. I cried. Writing is good. Story is good. Two thumbs up.

5. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins---a trilogy on the YA scene. Plot, all plot. Writing gets better as the series goes on. But GOOD. I'd recommend it if you are looking for a roller coaster literary ride. SHWOOSH!---there you go. I was captivated, and that's hard to do.

6. Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama. I was expecting absolutely nothing from this book because it's been on the NY bestseller list, and I usually find that I strike against the book. I find that what appeals to the masses usually doesn't appeal to me. So I was pleasantly surprised when I actually liked this book. In it, a mother/daughter pair deal with the daughter's illness and their husband/father's passing. Takes place over a twenty-four hour time period, which is an interesting convention to use for a novel. And here, it works.

Like I said, I didn't expect much. But was pleased to get quite a bit.

7. Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire, about a boy in Cuba, growing up in 1962 when there was a lot of political turmoil. The story was interesting enough, but I got bored with Eire's way of telling it. Didn't finish. If you are interested in Cuba, try this. If not, don't bother.

8. Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration by Sam Quinones. Although I don't agree with some of Quinones conclusions about the immigration issue, I did appreciate his treatment of the subject as he told the stories of individuals who leave Mexico to come the US. I read the chapters about the people that I found interesting. Some people I found boring, so I skipped them.

Solid writing. Good subject choice.

9. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. I had tried this before, and couldn't get through it, but I gave Space another shot.

Another shot which missed.

It just has so much potential, this story, about two women from vastly different lives and castes in India. My problem is that you know who the father of Maya's baby is by the time you are on page twenty. And since that's the main "mystery" of the book, what's the point?

10. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. This book is about Joan's husband dying and how she deals with it. It was too depressing for me because of where I was in our medical journey. So I put it down. The writing is delicious, though, and satisfying. I'll go back to this one, and enjoy it. Later.

11. Still Life with Rice by Helie Lee, about a young woman's Korean ancestory, And The Street of A Thousand Blossoms by Tsukiyama. I wasn't especially impressed with either. Can't remember why--that was how little impression they made. Don't feel the need to go back.

12. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, about a woman who writes for jingle contest in the 1950's. There's nothing of literary substance in this one. It's cute. Like dogs who wear sweaters are cute. It's cute like smiley face stickers are cute. It's cute like "Baby on Board" signs on cars are cute.

If you are at a beach house one day, and you are suntanned and drinking a lot of orange juice and club soda, and you are expecting nothing but fluff and you find this on a bookshelf, give it a shot.

13. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I made the mistake of reading all the criticism that people posted on the reviews on Amazon.com about this book. Lots of people didn't like it because of the anachronistic errors (like the Internet in 1986). And I can say, yes, there are errors like that in this book. It just shows that Ford has a lousy editor who didn't check for that stuff. But I liked the book anyway. Good story---about a man who once was a boy who watched his love go to a Japanese internment camp. Good characters. Endearing. Developing writing---good for a debut. Ford will get better.

I'd recommend this book. I liked it. Good book club selection, too.

14. The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan. Here is a gem! Corrigan explores what it means to be a daughter. And a parent. At the same time. What it means to fight cancer. What it means to watch your father fight cancer. What it means to dream. To have your dreams come true. To have your dreams dashed. To fight. To surrender.

Sometimes in my reading, I find a book I need to buy.

This one I need to buy . . . so I have something lend when people ask me for a good book.

***So there you go. That's where I've been, more or less, for the past four months. Hope there are one or two to intrigue you. Enjoy.

Blessings

2010-05-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

In the city of San Felipe, on the island of Fogo, I never saw a Catholic priest. I heard their voices transmitted via radio waves every Saturday night. The only people who had radios were the people who owned the bars---mass coming out of a bar, great. So I knew the Catholic priests were on the island. What I did see, occasionally, was the work of the matriarchs of the Catholic parish. Usually women in their 50's and 60's, usually women of some means, usually educated, always respected. They rarely let us in their homes, but I saw their faith and their work.

Once I saw one of these women walk the road where we were. The children clamored around her and she smiled down at them. I was close enough to hear her interaction with one of the children there. He was five or six, and squirrely. He obviously wanted to be near her, but wasn't paying rapt attention. She got his attention and said to him, "Recebe bencao." Receive the blessing. He raised his chin and she touched his head. It was holy, that touch. I didn't understand the culture behind it, but I understood the meaning. Receive the blessing.

When women meet Danielle, like the lovely chaplain at Lucille Packard's Children's Hospital, or the wonderful woman who brought me dinner from her daughter (my friend) two nights ago, so often, in parting, they reach out to touch her. They put a hand on her little chest and say, "Blessings. Blessings to you."

Yes, Danielle, receive the blessing.

So often on this road that won't end in the foreseeable future and which has a blurry past, I have had people tell me that they are praying for my little lady. People I know well. People I don't know well. People who love my parents. People who have only seen me once. Or twice. Or every day. They pray.

My daughter, receive the blessings.

The only time I've snagged on the word "blessing" on this journey is when people hear of what we're going through and they say, in sincere compassion, "We were just so blessed to have healthy children. I can't imagine what this is like for you," and "It's a blessing my child never had to go though this." And it is a blessing to have healthy children. A blessing for us that our two boys just came home . . . no surgery . . . no IV's . . . no agony.

But what I want to say, and eventually will find the words to tell these blessed people is that God has blessed us with Danielle. She is a blessing, come how she did. I'm not at the point yet where I think this experience is a blessing. I may never get there. What I want to tell them is that it is, indeed, a blessing to have Gerber baby born to you. But it also a blessing to have a child who comes to you who needs something more.

When I remember this, the doubt and fear that has swirled so fiercely, parts for a moment. And that is when I feel closest to God. For a moment there is quiet and peace. For a moment, I'm not afraid. And for a moment, I feel Father say to me: "Deborah, my daughter, receive this blessing."

Receive the blessing.

Receive the blessing.

Receive the blessing.

Three before the New Babe

2010-03-08T09:53:00.001-08:00

I have three book reviews for you. Blogging about them is on the to do list of things that need to happen before Baby Girl arrives. She may come soon.

1. I read The Hardest Worst Time by Tim Egan, which chronicles the lives of the people who stayed in Oklahoma and thereabouts during the Dust Bowl days. TADA! This is how history was meant to be taught! Egan is a great writer and has chosen a fascinating angle (the lives of people) to explore this time. I need to find what else Egan wrote because he's funny, insightful, and interesting. I had zero (ZERO) interest in Oklahoma or the Dust Bowl, but Egan drew me right in. Fabulous. Liz, give this one a try.

2. My Life in France by Julia Child is my latest most delightful find. Child writes about (guess what) her life in France. But it's really about food. Good food. And enjoying food---and life, really. This will be on my list of "Could recommend a good book?" books to pass on and relish. Usually I go on and on about good books, but that's all I have to say about this one. It's good. Anjanette, this would be a good one to recommend for the Merced girls, especially Debbie Fire who says that she has just discovered cooking.

3. I'm almost done with Wallace Stegner's The Gathering of Zion, The Story of the Mormon Trail. (Pause. Deborah is gathering her thoughts . . . Pause. Deborah is trying to figure out how to say what she wants to say. Pause.)

I'm glad I came to this book in my 30's. That's about the right time. For some, earlier or later would be better. Stegner is clearly an admirer of the Mormons and their determination. But he looks at the Mormon migration through the lens of a non-believer. A respectful non-believer, but a non-believer still. I think this would have jarred me had I read it younger. Now it's easier for me to sort out where Stegner may be right and where he's probably wrong in his perspective. Like Refuge, by Terry Tempest Williams, which I did read too young. I could go back to it now.

On the up-side, Stegner is Stegner. This isn't as polished as Angle or Crossing to Safety, but it's still solid writing, which sprinkles of wit, charm, humor, and lovely word choice. And I was charmed by the introduction where he writes:

"That I do not accept the faith that possessed them does not mean I doubt their frequent devotion and heroism in its service. Especially their women. Their women were incredible."

See? I claim that. Incredible Mormon women. Pioneer stock. I come from some of those. I know some who are alive today.

On the down-side, Stegner trusts sources like Fawn Brodie, who I don't trust at all. (Ever noticed how there are are no Mormon baby girls who are named Fawn? Thank you, Ms. Brodie, for purging that name from our Primary rolls. You can have sole credit for that one.)

The only downside is a cleaner bathroom

2010-02-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

Finally, a book worth reading in one day!

Yesterday, I devoured The Help by Kathryn Stockett in a twelve hour time period. I read while the kids had a rest time---it was a long rest time yesterday, they both slept. Good thing, because I wanted to read. Then I read while the two-year-old read Where's Waldo after he got up from his nap. Then I read again when the kids went to bed.

What a great day. What a great book. Great writing, great characters, great plot. Humor. Life. Strong women. Sassy dialogue. Complex, struggling, real characters. All the things that keep me reading. The setting is Mississippi in the 1960's. The book is about the black women who serve in the white households and raise the white kids. About about the women who employ them.

Stockett is good. Her non-fiction research (and experience) makes for some mighty fine fiction.

I think you'll like it. The tone reminds me of the Secret Life of Bees, but I think this is much better.

If I had to point out a downside to this book, it would be that after reading about these women who worked so hard to keep these houses (and kids) clean, my bathroom looked shamefully neglected. So today I yielded my oh-so-pregnant body around my bathrooms and gave the toilets and the floor a mighty scrubbing. They look a lot better. Aibileen (one of the characters) would be so proud.

But that's the only bad thing about this book. It might make you think about cleaning your bathroom. That's not a bad downside, really . . . and while you clean, you can mentally chew on the book's plot. So, yes, you may want to clean your bathroom, but you'll also have something else to think about.

And truth be told, the "Deborah Wants to Scrub Everything" is probably just pre-birth nesting. Probably didn't have anything to do with the book.

Probably.

Probably doesn't count. The carnation post.

2010-01-22T22:23:00.000-08:00

Before I lost my concentration to the third trimester of this pregnancy, I was doing a nice side-by-side comparison of The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone and Il Gigante by Anton Gill, both about the life of Michelangelo. Agony is historical fiction (and nicely researched at that), and Gigante is historical, period. My comparison was short-lived, but interesting, and I read about half of Agony (Does it drive anyone crazy that I sometimes critique books that I only read part of?). The part I read is good. You can skip the love scene if you are into censoring what you read---you'll see it coming. I need to go back someday when I can concentrate academically and give these two books a solid read. I know very little about Michelangelo and Italy during this time, and these books are well-written and worth the time.

What I was in the mood for, however, was a re-read of These is My Words by Nancy Turner, and a "I've lost count how many times I've read this" read of Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith. Both were just about my speed during this "Where is my brain? Oh, it's making a baby" last few months before girl baby arrives.

I need to find more books that give much and don't require much intelligent analysis on my part.

Since I don't have anything new to recommend, does it count if tell you what I've been thinking about lately? Probably not, but here you go . . . if I were in a creative writing class and had to write a personal essay, I would write it about my latest realizations about carnations. You know, the flower.

Last Sunday, I was wandering the church during the last hour because it's too uncomfortable for me to sit for three hours anymore. The Braxton Hicks hit and I have to get up and move. So as I was roving, I passed a lovely spray of flowers, left from a funeral the day before. Since I didn't know the person who died, I could be objective, and not sentimental, about the flowers. I was looking at the roses (lovely), the irises (beautiful), etc. What stuck out where the carnations.

I realized that I don't now, nor have I ever, liked carnations at all (aside from when I was six years old and carried them when I was flower girl for my Aunt Kit). Carnations have no personality---they just look like a flower sneezed and a carnation grew there. Achoo! Florists use them to fill space. Boring. So carnations are a boring sneeze flower. Which CAN be used if you are a gangster and need a red one for your lapel---but other than that, I can't think of a good use for them. It's no surprise to me, in hindsight, that I married a man who never once gave me carnations. Eric is a roses man. He was so clever about that, even from the start. No wonder he won.

When I die (in sixty years), please find something else to have at my funeral. If you want inexpensive, try daisies. Or better, yet, don't have flowers at my funeral at all. If you are looking for a symbol of life and beauty, just leave bouquets of books and books and books around my coffin. Slip a copy of something I haven't read into my hand before you close the lid. If I like it, you can think of me smiling from the great beyond.

If I don't like what you choose, I'll come back and let you know why. You'll see me in a dream and I'll have my reading glasses on my nose and your book in my hand. I will have flowers in my hair---lilacs perhaps, or maybe honeysuckle. But no carnations.

Here's What Santa Brought Me For Christmas

2010-01-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

Books. Santa brought me books. Santa reads my blog so he knows which books I adore, but don't own copies of. He brought me:

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston
Through the Children's Gate by Gopnik
Essays of EB White by EB White
These is my Words by Turner
Griffin and Sabine by Bantock

Santa brought me that last book because I do like the book, and I do like name Sabine. If I were pregnant with a girl, "Sabine" would be on the list for a girls name. Not as in "Sabine" as in "Sabine women/passive/captured/exploited" but "Sabine" as in reminds me of the verb "saber" as in "She who knows with conviction/understands/comprehends."

Wait! Since I am pregnant with a girl, I can put Sabine on my list. TADA!

That Santa. The longer I live, the more clever I think Santa is.

P.S. My children also punctuate things they say with "TADA!" Ah, the sweet echoes of linguistic Deborah quirks.

I Capture the Castle

2009-12-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

Found another good coming of age novel: I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (The same Dodie Smith who wrote A Hundred and One Dalmations).

Fun book. An old castle in England, an impoverished genius, gargoyles in the kitchen, a practical pastor with a refreshing view of faith, an older sister with secrets . . . and a younger sister trying to figure them all out. While she tries to figure herself out. And figure love out. With occasional references to Bronte and Austen. Nice, very nice.

And the writing's not bad either. No clever phrases turning necessarily, but lovely images and nice snapshots of personality. (Gotta love the bohemian Topaz.) I'm going to find a used copy somewhere and put it next to my new copy of Guernsey. When I sleep, I'll imagine that the two books could have each over for tea, crumpets, and lovely, lively conversation.

If you are looking for a good holiday read, try this one. Take some cocoa with you and enjoy.

A Girl of the Limberlost

2009-11-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

Just finished A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter. Published originally in 1909, it's a coming of age novel about Elnora Comstock in backwoods Indiana at the turn of the century.

Somewhere I missed this one. I would've loved it during my Anne of Green Gables years. After the Little House on the Prairie Series, after the Stretfield Shoes books, after A Little Princess and the Secret Garden. Right there. Right after those. That's when I would've loved this book. Next to Daddy Long Legs. That's where it should be kept.

I like it now, and I need to buy a copy to have on my shelves for Unnamed Daughter. (Some mothers find out they are having a girl and buy Girl Fetus hairbows and shoes. I plan which books I need to have ready for her in fourteen years.)

The writing is dated, of course. There's preaching and moralizing and passages of philosophy. Elnora, the main character, has very few flaws. She gives away her lunch to orphans, works hard and never complains, and isn't even tempted by the Unattainable. Her motives are pure. She loves moths, especially the ugly ones. She's polite to mean girls. Gag me already.

But yet. She's feisty and determined and overcomes difficulty. I had to like her, even when I thought she needed to save her lunch for herself.

Jenny, get this one for Emma. Liz, get this one for Amelia. And both of you will like reading it for yourself. And Meg in Sheridan, see if your library has this one. You'd probably like it, too.

Hero of the Ages

2009-11-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

I tried to jump into Brandon Sanderson's Hero of the Ages, the last in this sci fi trilogy.

But I couldn't remember the nuances of the characters so I'm going to have to read the first two books before I can proceed. Since I liked these books, this will be no chore.

Maybe over the holidays. This would be a good holiday trilogy to escape into. Since I skip over the fight scenes, battle scenes, war scenes, and creepy monster creature description scenes, it probably won't take me very long.

Four books

2009-11-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

1. So after recommending My Antonia to Katy, I went back and read it again. Delightful. I'm glad I own this book. The more I see of life, the richer this book becomes to me. When I read it the first time, at the sagacious age of twenty, I didn't get much of it. Or, rather, I hadn't met even real people to see the truth in Cather's characters. But experience is a powerful magnifying glass: so reading about people who grow up and move away, and ambition that comes to fruition, and memories of past friendships that grow sweeter with the passage of time, and some women who are happy to make hearty meals and have people eat them . . . true, all true, I say. If you haven't read My Antonia in the past five years, give it another go.

2. I am happily making my way through Essays of E.B. White, by the same E.B. White of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. No children's book, this one. But charming and poignant all the same. Charm, really, and strong, graceful writing. Non-fiction, personal essays of E.B. White's musings. I'm going to buy a copy of this for my shelves. It's going to be on my "Can you recommend a good book?" list. And the format is fun because you can sit down and read an essay all by itself, and feel like you've had a good literary feast.

Liz, go find a copy. You'll love this book.

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. When my sister Liz told me I should read this one and described it: a woman tells of her neglectful parents and deprived childhood, it sounded too dark for me. Liz tried to tell me that no, really, there was light in it . . . I was silly and put off reading it. I just couldn't handle an "I hate my parents and I was a victim growing up" book.

But I finally read it, and Liz was right (Liz usually is right, and she usually thinks that I'm right, yet another reason that we get along.) This is about Walls's neglected upbringing. But it's also about the innonence of the world through the eyes of a trusting child. And as Walls grows up, that innocence melts away. But what is left is compassion and love, not bitterness. (OK, a little bitterness, but in a justified way, not in a whiney way.)

And the writing is just plain good.

So thumbs up on that one.

4. Queen's Own Fool by Jane Yolen and Robert Harris (probably mostly by Harris). YA lit, fiction. Good. Jenny, Emma might like this since she's been having such fun with Shakespeare. Might be nice to have her read some historical fiction from the time period: 1559-1568. This novel is about Mary Queen of Scots, and about her fool/jester/confidante/friend. I liked it. I've never been driven to dive deep into Scottish history, and this was a tantalizing taste. A perfect place to start.

Clean, not sketchy. I'd let my kids read it (both my own and my students). The writing is better than most YA lit writing, and the story moves along. Not too history heavy. Just right.

Katy's post, postscript

2009-10-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Months ago, Katy asked me to come up with some historical fiction that could be used in a history class. I didn't forget, I just had a tough time getting to it. But now that I'm feeling better, I can finally reply. Or start to reply. This entry is the postscript, which I'm doing first, so that I can take this pile of books off my dresser. Really, that's the reason. After three months, I want to clean off my dresser---and these books sit, waiting to be blogged about.

I'll do the real list as soon as I can find it. It's in a notebook. Somewhere.

So here's the postscript. Postscript because I'm not sure this is what you need, Katy, but here's what else I was thinking about. It's not necessarily historical fiction and I'm not sure you can use it, but you might find something here.

For ancient Japan: The Tale of Gengi is your best bet. VERY ancient Japan courtly love. Very classic poetry and music themed. Very romantic, if you will. But I wouldn't use the whole book, or assign the whole book. Just assign the first chapter and have them do a short answer on it. Maybe a question about how this reflects the importance of the arts in ancient Japan. Honestly, I don't think most high schoolers could get through the entire book. I still want to keep looking for good historical fiction of ancient Japan. This isn't it, but the only thing I could find.

Late 1880-early 1920's in American history: You can't overlook Cather's My Antonia, about the immigrant family on the prairie. Cather is a genius writer, and the story is great. I'm still unclear what "progressive" is in American history, so I wonder if this is the time period you want. I would think that you AP juniors could handle this. Don't dizzy the freshman with it.

Ancient Islam (I think that's one you were looking for). This one stumped me. I tried all sorts of historical fiction---there isn't much, and I couldn't find anything to recommend. So give them snippets of the Koran. I studied the whole thing in a history of civ class and I really enjoyed it. I think most religious writing is absolutely beautiful, and the Koran is a shining example of lovely language.

You could do an extra credit assignment with your upperclassmen where you chose a few passages and asked them to compare the concepts in these passages with their own belief (or non-belief) in the Divine. Tell them you wouldn't be grading on their belief (or lack thereof), just on their comparison and their understanding of the concepts in the Koran. Hey, if you'll make the assignment due before February or after April, I'd even grade them for you. :)

To elaborate further on other religions (which have to be a topic if you are dealing with the cooresponding historic time periods)

Zen Buddism: Well Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig, of course. I could never get through this one myself, but I'm sure you could find a student or two who would eat this up. Not for the whole class, I don't think, just as an extra credit option for someone who wanted to tackle it.

And Taoism: The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff. Again, you'd have to have students self-select into reading the entire works. But they are worth the trek to understanding Taoism.

And, incidentally, the best commentary/contrast explanation I've ever read, the most succinct yet interesting, about the differences between Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, is found on pages 1-7 of The Tao of Pooh, in the chapter called The How of Pooh. Excellent contrast. That chapter would be worth taking in your classroom.

So that's the tip of the iceberg so far, Katy. I'll post the rest of the iceberg when I can unearth it.

Good Earth

2009-10-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Also in the beginning weeks of my morning sickness, I read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I'd heard of this book---mostly from women rolling their eyes and alluding the birthing scenes in which O-lan, one of the main characters, gives birth alone in her hut and then goes back to work.

Simply put, The Good Earth is a classic. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get to it.

If I were still writing papers for my English classes, this would be an easy novel to write about. Using a historical approach, I'd say this novel, published in the late 1930s, is a reflection of the depression-era American psyche realizing its link to the land. Then I'd trace the resurgence in popularity in the 1970s to the Age of Aquarius "The Earth is our Mother" and "Rise up, Women, and stop being oppressed" thinking. Piece of cake analysis. If Kristen C. would proofread it for me, I'm sure it would get an "A".

Because there are a LOT of "The Earth is our Mother/The Earth is everything/The Earth is a being" undertones. Which is fine. It's also a classic tale of the rise and fall of Wang Lung, a farmer who rose because of hard work, and fell because of lust and greed (mostly lust).

There's fodder for a hundred research papers in this novel. For many, many book club discussions, and blog posts.

There's also (shocker) a prostitute. If that offends you, you'll see it coming long enough beforehand to skip it.

(Confessional: I didn't read all of this book either. But I read most of it. I really enjoyed reading about Wang Lung's rise, his struggles, his strength. I skipped over most of his fall---I was morning sick and in no mood for actions of a morally declining character which made me want to puke. I wanted to puke enough as it was, I didn't need any help. Someday when I can stomach the fall, I'll go back and read that part. But not the prostitute scenes. I always skip those no matter what the state is of my quease.)

Last note: The writing is brilliant. Truly. And the characters are superb.

Sarah O., if you haven't read this one yet, I think you'd like it. Glad you liked Ender's Game.

Vindication

2009-10-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

So a recent study out says that airline pilots who ate a high-fat diet did better under stressful conditions that pilots without the high fat in their diets.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iyc_OWa8mklMHzd6ERMgFTr72WNgD9B5QI100

You mean that the brain, consisting of fat, does better when the body has some fat in its system? Go figure.

No wonder why I just wanted Wheat Thins and tubs of cream cheese when writing my thesis. See? It was all about my brain.

And no wonder pregnant and nursing moms crave fatty foods---the moms' bodies are making the brains of their little babes.

So you can just pass those Guittard bittersweet chocolate chips right over here.

Dogs, Hamlet, and Lessons Unlearned

2009-09-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Weeks ago I read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Well, most of it. I got bored at about page 300 and skipped to the end. Once I read the end, I found no reason to go back and read the part I skipped. (So if there's anything questionable in that last chunk, I can't tell you.)

The writing is what makes the book worth reading. Wroblewski obviously beat his draft over and over until it came out shining. Here's a sample from page two: "Past the turn he spotted the lantern, a gourd of ruby glass envined in black wire, the flame within a rose that sprang and licked at the throat of the glass, skewing rib-shadows across the door."

"Gourd of ruby glass?" "Envined?" "Rib-shadows?" Who is this guy? Marvelous.

The other thing I liked was the development of the dog characters. Surprising, since I don't even think pet stories are all that funny.

So good book. Well written. Worth reading. If you need a plot summary, go to Amazon. I wouldn't do it justice.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! I am now going to spoil the book for you. Turn back if you don't want me to do so.

There were two things I did not like about the book.

1. The main female character, Trudy, is married to a good man (not perfect, but good). They have a good (not perfect, but good) marriage. They are the parents of Edgar, the main character. But then Edgar's father, Gar, dies mysteriously. Spoiler: Gar's brother, Claude, killed him.

Claude is slimy. Claude is a liar. Claude leeches. Claude is a jerk.

So then, with Gar gone, Trudy hooks up with Claude. The author gives all sorts of excuses as to why Trudy made this decision---she needs a man to help her run the farm, Claude reminds her of Gar. Claude is fun.

No excuse. I wanted to yell at her. Didn't she learn anything in her dating years? Stay away from men who lie. Don't stay with someone who cons you. There are really good guys in the world---those are the ones you count among your dearest friends. Eventually, you marry one of them. And there are other men who have the integrity of jello (wobble, wobble)---those are the ones to kick in the shins. Run away! Run away!

And after being married already to Gar (a good guy), why on earth would she saddle herself with someone less?

Didn't make any sense to me. Not at all. Any woman of sense knows it's better to lose the farm than to lose her dignity.

2. The whole plot was too Shakespeare for me. Uncle. Nephew. Mother/Sister-in-Law/Wife. The men kill each other in the end.

It was like Hamlet, only with some interesting dog characters thrown in.

(pause)

Yet still, I leaf through the pages and I know that I liked reading this book. Too long, yes, (thus the Deborahskip), but a stellar first work for Wroblewski. I hope to see more from him. I'd expect great things.

Comfort Food

2009-09-21T10:15:00.001-07:00

Someone should do a study about the correlation between food cravings and literature cravings.* They should use pregnant women: what are the women craving---Spicy? Bland? Familiar? Exotic?---and see if there is a literature/food connection. Because there is with me. All I want is comfort food in both areas.

Here's what I've been craving (or able to stomach): Greek avgolemono soup, potato chips, and chocolate ice cream.

Here's what I've been reading: Guernsey, The Red Tent (avoid that one if you are hypersensitive to content), Ender's Game, most of Xenocide, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and snatches of both Jane Eyre and The Tao of Pooh. I'm sure if my nausea continues that I'd move right to Daddy Long Legs, The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and through the Anne of Green Gables series.

See? Comfort food, all.

But I'm feeling better, I think, at least for today, so I have some other ideas. At least four books come to mind.

So moving on to new books. . . anyone have any suggestions for my list?

*Maybe no one else gets literature cravings. Maybe no one else wakes up and thinks, "What I really need is a good dose of Valentine Wiggin" or "I think I need a shot of Robert Frost poetry---perfect!" That's OK. You can settle for just having chocolate ice cream cravings. That's probably more normal.

Dallas trip

2009-09-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

I rarely post pictures on this blog, but here's one of my family for those of you who know my siblings. We were all together in Dallas for my brother's wedding a month or so ago. Here I am, just beginning to show my pregnancy.

And here is one of me and Eric.

After a long hiatus, it's not even about books

2009-09-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

TADA! I'm finally posting again. I've been out on maternity leave: not a baby now, but one coming early next spring (or late winter---is March spring or winter? It's certainly spring where we live. But in North Dakota, it's probably still winter). At any rate, it's been quite a first trimester, and I haven't been blogging. I have been reading, and I'll update you on that soon, but I wanted to do another random post of the things that our family has been reviewing: all the ready made frozen foods from Trader Joes. Here's what we thought:

1. Their pizza. Not bad. I'm not a pizza person anyway, but this is passable. I give it a 7.

2. Frozen burritos (with salsa verde). Eric was so unimpressed, I didn't even try them. 4.

3. The chow mein. Too syrupy. 5.

4. The chicken empanadas. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. These were great. The boys didn't want them---too bad, more for us. 9.

We've also been eating a lot of ready-made frozen pot pie from Save Mart. 6.

And Eric's meal of choice to feed the boys is Costco corn dogs. I give them a 2 (blech), but the boys (all my boys) adore them and would give them closer to an 8.

There you go. I'm signing off now. Even writing this blog post is making me queasy.

I hope my body gets the message that my second trimester is upon us. It's about time.

The Last Lecture

2009-08-07T13:40:00.000-07:00

I found a gem.

Go read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Mellon when asked to give his last lecture---not because he's retiring from work, but because he's diagnosed with terminal cancer. This book is his lecture, and his thoughts, about his life and living.

Perhaps it's because my father-in-law just passed away that reading this book came at the perfect time for me.

It's good. Funny. Upbeat. Sincere. I laughed during the book, I bawled at the end. Not that emotional response necessarily an indicator of good writing, but in this case, this book got to me.

Not as heavy as Tuesdays with Morrie, but along the same lines. I think you'll like it.

Mystery Book Revealed

2009-07-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

The Mystery Book that's been taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R for me to finish is The Omnivore's Dilemma by Pollan. Pollan tracks the origins of four meals: one from McDonalds, one of "organic" food, one of non-organic food, and one that he hunted and gathered.

The book is long.

Pollan is thorough. With the exection of the fact that he talks about corn for half of the book, I thought the thoroughness was warranted.

But book is very good. Pollan is a good writer, witty, charming, conversational, intelligent.

The reason that it too me so long is because there are definite agendas about this book and it's hard not to internalize them. I had to pause when I found myself seriously considering applying all of Pollan's agendas. For example: corn syrup . . . bad. So I was checking all labels. Industrialized meat: bad. So I was balking at buying frozen chicken breasts at Costco. Lentils from my favorite Indian supermarket: bad, they've been shipped overseas. See? I had to read a little while, pause, let my food habits stabilize, and then go back and read some more. I have changed my buying and eating habits some---I think that's the point---but I didn't want to push myself into culinary neurosis.

Here are some of the changes that I have tried to make:

1. I do, actually, avoid corn syrup. Why does it need to be in processed tomato sauce anyway?

2. I do cook more vegetarian meals. Lentils, beans, that sort of thing.

3. I do try to buy local. I make exeptions for important things like pineapple and chocolate.

4. I do eat free range beef. It's the beef that wanders my dad's back pasture, actually, so I know exactly where the cow was raised.

Here's a sample of food that I think Pollan would approve of:

1. Strawberry jam, made by my mother, from the berries she bought down the road from her house.

2. Beef from my dad's cows. He raises them. Names them---I once had a roommate who wouldn't eat my beef because it had a name. Better than having a number in a feedlot, I say.

3. A nectarine from the farmer's market by my house.

4. Yogurt with no corn syrup.

So now Mystery Book has been completed. It was a lovely feast. Enjoy.

Blackbird Pond

2009-07-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I did a top ten post on young adult literature that I thought was worth reading as an adult. I could only come up with nine, and some readers suggested The Witch of Blackbird Pond as a possibility for number ten.

So I finally read it again (while reading another book: you'll still have to wait for that one---Why is it taking Deborah so long? Why doesn't she just finish Mystery Book and get on with it? What's the deal? You'll have to wait and then I'll explain. I'm almost done with Mystery Book. Stay tuned.)

Blackbird Pond was great, of course, and I think it should be read again and again. This is one good example of historical fiction that makes me wonder why more middle school/high school history teachers don't teach historical fiction when they teach history. There's some really good stuff in Blackbird Pond about pre-revolution America, Quakers, Puritans, etc. Had this been an extra credit option when I did American history as a junior in high school, I would have done it. And liked it. And learned from it.

Jenny, I think Emma might be old enough for Blackbird Pond. Certainly as a read-aloud. Would be a good basis for early American history discussion.

I think we miss some of that now

2009-07-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

The biography bug hasn't hit me yet; I'm still a fiction gal. But I like to peruse biographies every now and then to see if I've developed a taste for the genre. I recently pored over Linda Lear's Beatrix Potter biography. Titled Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. I didn't read all of it, but enough to know that Lear is an interesting writer and a solid researcher. I was most fascinated by how much of Potter's life was spend studying and observing and drawing animals---Potter paid the price for her ability to draw creatures and make them life-like and fantastic at the same time. I think we miss some of that now---it's not in our culture for people to take time to "just" draw and watch. Pity. I think we're missing something.

So then the biography led me, of course, to Potter's fictional children's stories. I knew she wrote Peter Rabbit, but I had not met Timmy Tippytoes or Jemima Puddleduck or Duchess the Dog. These books are adorable! I'm going to put them on my Amazon.com wishlist and collect a bunch. They are not flashy (think: not David Shannon, whose work I adore). They are clever and charming. If you don't want to read the biography, at least venture into some of Beatrix Potter's lesser known fiction. It will delight both the child and the adult in you.

(But Liz, check out the biography. I think you'll like it.)

The problem with blogging about books

2009-06-14T15:58:00.001-07:00

The problem about blogging about books is that it takes me a long time to have something to write about in a new post. It's not like a recipe blog where, poof, I can whip something up and TADA! Blog entry!

I'm currently reading three books simultaneously and I'll report on them soon. Some people think this is akin to book adultery, to read three books at the same time. I don't think it's disloyal, just interesting. It's like having three good friends all on speaker phone.

But I can tell you about Schwartz's bestseller, The Commoner. It amazes me what gets on the bestseller lists sometimes. I'd call The Commoner "good", but it's not enough to trip over an electric fence for, which is what "Bestseller List" conjures in my mind: stampeding readers willing to throw themselves in the path of danger just for a glimpse of chapter four. Schwartz writes in a 1st person female voice about the fictional life of a commoner in Japanese society marrying the crown prince.

The story was good, the writing was lovely (artistic even), but it was the voice that threw me off. I haven't yet encountered a male writer who can do a first person female voice that sings for me. Potok tried to do it in Davita's Harp, but it wasn't quite there. I could never put my finger on it in either book: but the narrator in both cases was missing . . . . something. But what it was, I could not say.

But still. Good work, readable. Interesting.

Saddle up

2009-05-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

I finally found a book to give hope to Guernsey fans. Honestly, I was worried that I'd never find another good book again and I would wither away, pining.

But saddle up, cowgirls, and get ready for a wild ride. I've found a book that will put the spice back in your chili.

Read These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner. This came recommended from two sources: one, my friend Lys-An, who always finds the good stuff and two, from a woman on a plane who overheard me mention the title and turned around in her seat to tell me that she LOVES this book.

I liked it from the start, and by page eight, I was hooked. The passage that did it was when the narrator, teenage Sarah, is describing how she shot a deer and some other girls in her wagon train are shocked. Sarah says, "They said so many times oh my, oh my, that I thought I might of stood on my head and sang a song it was so strange to them. Well I lived in the territory all my life and I got four brothers and a girl has got to get along."

Hook. Line. Sinker. Right til the very end.

Just trust me. Go find the book. Meg in Sheridan, request that your library buy it.

Religion was the theme. But I wasn't expecting it.

2009-05-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

I recently finished the next two books in the Ember series, The Prophet of Yonwood and The Diamond of Darkhold, as well as The Language of Bees by Laurie King.

The Prophet of Yonwood was well written and had an interesting plotline---jumping back to pre-city-of-Ember days. Ah, delicious twist, to take a book in the series backward before you go forwards again. Like a flashback, but with an entire book. Good story, good characters. But anti-religion, so I won't be keeping a copy on my shelves for one of my future teenagers to find. The anti-religion theme isn't overt, which is why it was scary, just as scary as the underlying (but obvious) anti-religiousness of The Subtle Knife by Pullman. DuPrau wouldn't admit that she's anti-religion, but that would be denial.

The Diamond of Darkhold was good. Recommendable if you like the rest of the Ember works. I liked the wrapping up at the end. Left me with a nice sigh of, "Oh. How nice." Since I am usually more likely to argue with an author's ending, this was a pleasant surprise.

As for Laurie King's The Language of Bees: I was excited about this one. Waited for it. Bought the hardback so I could read it on the plane (sans children, thus the reading material). And King clipped right along. King is blindingly intelligent on a range of subjects so it's refreshing when she wanders into places I wouldn't expect: Beekeeping anyone? Norse mythology? Celtic sites?

A joy.

My first complaint, though, is that King (again) played on the "religious organizations/leaders are underhanded" generalization. She's done this before (in Regiment) so I didn't think she'd go there again. Yet off she went.

Trite.

Worse than "The butler did it".

Well written. Well researched. I thoroughly enjoyed the new characters she introduced. But I won't keep a copy on my shelves---for the reasons above, but also because there's more sexuality in this book than I've seen in the others in the series, and legitimizing of relationships with which I don't agree. If any of the above will offend you, skip The Language of Bees. I'll find something just as good for you, but less questionable.

War and Peace

2009-04-21T22:38:00.001-07:00

Has anyone actually read Tolstoy's War and Peace? It's sitting on my shelf, daring me to try to get through it again. Meaning: I tried to read it once and stopped. Not meaning: I'm trying to read it another time.

Anyone besides JoBecka.

Because if you can tell me that, really, it's worth reading, I'll try again. If not, I've got a few sci fi that look more interesting.

People of Sparks

2009-04-12T23:12:00.001-07:00

I read the sequel to The City of Ember. It's called the People of Sparks. I thought it was better than the first book. If I were teaching a history class, any history class, this is the book I'd have my class read.

It's good. I was pleasantly surprised.

Guernsey pouting

2009-04-02T13:28:00.001-07:00

I've been away from my book blog for a while, trying to find something to recommend that as good as Guernsey. I would stay away, I vowed, until I could wow you with something fabulous.

Finally I concluded that I need to stop looking for Guernsey reincarnated. It's not to be found. But if you are still pining for Guernsey, and want something like it/sort of, then try 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. Delightful non-fiction letters between Hanff and a bookseller on 84 Charing Cross Road. Hanff is sassy and fun. Quick read.

If you are looking for a great book, however, try Fleishman's Seedfolks, the narrative about a fictional community garden and its gardeners. Poignant. Inspiring. It will make you want to put your hands in humus and get to know your neighbors. If you are looking for more Guernsey, this is like recommending Beethoven to you when you are looking for Bach. Sorry. But if you want a good book, do read Seedfolks. Short. You can read it in an afternoon or two. (Anjanette, really, this is just SHORT short, not Deborah short.)

I can also recommend The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis, which was recommended to me by the darling and daring Sarah Comin Baker. The main character, Bathsheva, a Jewish convert, comes to Memphis to surround herself with the Jewish orthodox community. That's the plot. It's good. The writing is delicious. Written partly in the first person "we" (as in "we the ladies of the town"), you'll hear all the small towns/religious communities/church congregation concerns and cares. Confessions and complaints. For me, this book was part Turlock, CA; part Montpelier, CA; and part every-ward-I've-ever-been-in. Funny in parts, heart-breaking in others. Mirvis doesn't shy away from serious themes: outward vs. inward religion, repentence and forgiveness, how to teach children to be religious while letting them develop their own religiousness. Good book. I liked it. Read it and come back and talk about it with me. This would be great for a book club book.

And lastly (the next in my line of YA novels), I read Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth. About a Brahmin child widow in the time of Ghandi. But great window, really, into India of that time and the Brahmin culture. Good. I would not have liked it as a teenager, but I get it now. Since I know very little about India of Ghandi's time, this was a nice introduction. Nothing scandalous. Clean. Decently written.

For Jenny Baker: The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

2009-03-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

Jenny asked if I'd read The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau and I hadn't, so I did.

It was good. Plot was good. Character development was good. Ending was good---I skipped to end by about page thirty. Read it. Nice! So I went back and read the book. The writing is decent---not art, but decent. (Stephanie Meyers proved that artistic writing isn't what sells anyway. Plot sells. Character sells.) Jenny, Emma can read this and be fine. Nothing questionable. I'm not sure that I'll go on to read the rest of the series today, but someday I'll own the series for my kids when they are tweens.

It reminded me, actually, of Margaret Peterson Haddix's Running out of Time. Similar plotlines. Young hero and heroines find themselves in the middle of a community experiment gone bad. The adults won't solve the problem, or admit there is one, so it's up to the youth. Who face danger head on and, with cunning, face the problem. I think that Ember and Running would be nice compliments for discussion. You could have Emma read both and then talk about the similarity in themes. That would be good, actually.

The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs

2009-03-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

I just finished The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs. Subtitle: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I had already read Jacob's The Know it All (One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World). Here's what I can tell you about Jacobs:

1. He's a decent writer. Witty. Clever. Intelligent.
2. He isn't afraid to talk about his own insecurities and neuroses, which is nice, because his issues make my own insecurities and neuroses look farily normal. Comforting to find such humanity.
3. He obssessively pores over the Internet looking for blog posts about what people think about his book. (AJ, if you are reading this, leave a comment and I will send you and Julie and Jasper and Zane and Lucas some of my killer vegan peanut butter cookies. They're good even though I am not a vegan.)
4. He is the editor of Esquire, so he can not be depended on to edit out sketchy ideas or sketchy scenes or even his own sketchy thoughts. Since I am something of a prude about what I'll read---I skip passages when it looks questionable. I can't tell you for sure, but I'm usually correct, and what I skipped was sketchy.
5. I laugh out loud when I read his work. He is funny. Funny, funny, funny. If he were put in the same room with my brother Aaron, he would find his match for funny. So funny.

Having said that, I enjoyed the book. My favorite theme was that religion can't be something we just do and study---it really is about what we become because of what we know. And that holiness is found in the mundane.

Marianne, I think you'd like this one.

If you liked Guernsey

2009-03-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

If you like Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Peel Society, you should try The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. It's delightful. Not as good as Guernsey (in my opinion), but good all the same and worth reading. I'm going to try more Sandra Dallas someday and report back. I tried to do her Alice's Tulips and didn't care for it. But maybe that book was the runt of the litter. I'll give Dallas another chance.

*Have you met Charlie Ravioli? If not, you should. He's one funny guy.

2009-03-03T21:40:00.001-08:00

There are many things I studied in graduate school that I haven't thought about since. But there are a few pearls that come back every now and then. One is the theoretical work of Wayne Booth, who wrote The Company We Keep. The gist is that when re read, we create a relationship with characters or authors, etc. Like . . . once you've met Alice in Wonderland, they you have a relationship with her, of sorts. That's the way simplified version, buy you get the idea.

But on that note, you need to meet Charlie Ravioli. He's one funny guy. I found him in the book Through the Children's Gate, by Adam Gopnik. Gopnik is a fantastic writer. This guy knows how to capitalize. He gets a little parenthesis happy---which is like speaking my language becuase I am (unedited) the queen of dashes. In this book, Gopnik writes a series of personal essays about his experiences returning back to the US after living in Paris for five years. I haven't read the whole book, but what I have read is superb. Funny. Insightful. Intelligent. Witty. Entertaining. Thought provoking. Good stuff so far. Can't vouch for all the content, but what I have seen is just fine.

Anyway. Charlie Ravioli appears in the essay "Bumping into Mr. Ravioli." It's worth finding the book in the library or going to Borders to sit in their comfy chairs just to read this chapter. Really. It's good.

So go read it. And then come back and let me know that you know him so I can say something like, "I felt like I was talking to Charlie Ravioli . . . " and you'll know what I'll mean and we'll both sigh and say, "Yeah. That Charlie Ravioli. It's like that sometimes."

I do this with Emmanuel Levinas and my cousin Dave. We nod. And we get it.

But trust me. Go meet Charlie Ravioli.

Seer and the Sword, City of Masks

2009-03-03T21:14:00.001-08:00

I don't get much time to browse in the library anymore. When I take the kids, I spend most of my time trying to keep the kids from pulling the books off the shelves. So when I want new books, I have to look fast. Usually I come up with duds, but sometimes I find some good stuff. Which is what I was lucky to find on my last trip---really good stuff. I was in the mood for more YA lit, so I pulled two from the shelf. Both good. Both well done.

The first is The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley. Fantasy, with a good strong female character---which isn't what you always find so that was a nice suprise. Nice writing. Good plot. Little nuggets about human nature. Good. Perfect for a tween, nice escape if you are an adult and you just want a pleasant YA fantasy. There are more in the series and I'm glad. If I get lonely for the characters, I'll go read the rest.

The second is The City of Masks by Mary Hoffman. Fantasy again, this one with an alternate world much like Venice, Italy. The fun thing about this book is the it delves into 1700 Italy (sort of). Not history heavy, which wouldn't work in a YA novel anyway, but there's enough truth about the past to make it authentic and interesting. Hoffman likes Italy and you can tell. This book also had another delightful heroine with a strong mind and spirit. Yet another book in a series. Yet another series I wouldn't blanch to read.

So there are two books that I would've recommended to the tween crowd who want something clean, well written, interesting, and worth reading.

Bravo, Hanley and Hoffman. Well done.

(End note: If you don't like fantasty, don't understand fantasy, and don't ever want to read fantasy, skip these. It's OK. The authors will never know and I won't be offended.)

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

2009-02-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

I've been plowing through Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang for some time now. Writing is good, and Jung's insights, about humanity in general in the context of Chinese history, are good as well.

But it's long. It's way long.

It's way, way, way long.

I don't have a problem with long books, just as I don't have a problem with long conversations. But both need to end when it's time to end. And when I'm falling asleep either having a conversation or reading a book, it's probably time to just say, "Oh, that was lovely to see you. I'll be going now."

The basis for the book is that Jung's grandmother was a concubine during the end of the reign of the warlords in China. Her mother was a part of the Communist revolution, and Jung herself experienced Mao's cultural revolution and the aftermath (as heretofore mentioned in the bland Red Scarf Girl). Jung chronicles their lives and loves, their living and their struggles. Their determination and their strength. Great plot.

It's not that I'm bored with the book, I've just had enough. I've eaten all the turkey and stuffing I can hold and gone back for seconds on chocolate pie. Finite. Ja acabou. Ja esta. I'm done, thank you, that was lovely.

If you are a purist who needs to know how it ends, I'll tell you because I've skimmed it. Jung's family gets old and dies and Jung moves to London. Where she is happy.

Once again, if you are interested in Chinese history, this would be good for you. And it's fine with me if you stop at about page 360. That's about where the meal ended for me.

Meg in Sheridan

2009-02-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

Meg in Sheridan,

I keep meaning to mention . . . if your library doesn't have the books that you are looking for, you can write them a letter and suggest they purchase specific titles. (Some libraries have this feature in their library websites.) I find that most libraries (and Netflix, for example) are looking for things that people want to read (or watch). So if you suggest, maybe they will listen.

Good luck!

Transferring * books

2009-02-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

Pre-entry note: As most of you know, I have a blog about our family that's on a private distribution list. On that blog, I have previously written entries about what I was reading. I'm going to transfer all the book entries to this blog. So if you've been following that blog, and those entries, you can skip these. You already read them. I'm putting them here so all the book entries are in the same place---as requested by Kristen. Now all the book entries will be in the same place. I will mark them with a * in the title.

Laurie R. King is one of my new favorite authors. I've been re-reading her Mary Russell series (just finished books one and two, now I'm on to three), and they are absolutely delicious. Great plots. Crisp dialogue. Intelligent references. Fantastic main character. King has brought to life a strong, witty, determined main character in Mary Russell. I always like it when I find stong, well written female protagonists in any genre, but it's all the more satisfying to find them in mystery/suspense. But I wouldn't call it a "woman's book" any more than I'd call other books "men's books". It's just a good book.

But on that note . . . here are three "women's genre" books that are stereotypically marketed to women and drive me crazy.

1. MEN ARE ALL EVIL books. A few months ago I chose seven books from a recommended reading list put together by the San Jose Book Club Convention. I got them from my library and began to skim. They all sounded the same. Unhappy, depressed woman in India. Unhappy, depressed woman in Mexico. Unhappy, depressed woman in Minnesota. And all of them had serious, serious "We hate men" undertones. This deeply bothered me. I returned all the books.

2. WOMEN ARE OBSESSED WITH FOOD books. I've found this in two places---a well known mystery series and one of the books that Dessert Book lauded last summer as a good book for book clubs. The second book was formulaic. There are five women. Chapter one: Woman one has a problem. Gets together with the other four. Long descriptive passages about what everyone is eating. Women solve the problem. Chapter Two: Another woman has a problem. Gets together with the other four. Long descriptive passages about what everyone is eating. Women solve the problem. Chapter Three: Woman three has a problem . . . etc.

I got sick of reading what everyone was eating. Does the author thing that her readership are perpetual dieters who can vicariously get satisfaction from the food that other people ingest? Or is the assumed readership subsisting on funeral potatoes and jello and therefore entranced with words such as "proscuitto", "tarragon", and "escarole". I didn't finish that book either.

3. WOMEN WHINE books. Here I have to mention an unfortunate experience with one my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card. I really, really like Card's writing. But not in his Women of the Covenant series. I came to these books hoping to see what I knew Card was cabable of giving: well developed, strong, interesting characters.

But in the book I read, the one about Bilhah, Zilpah, Rachel, and Leah, I grew more and more flustered as the novel wore on. The characters just weren't very interesting. The only one who seemed to have two functional synapses in her head was Bilhah. Leah just whined and whined. After about chapter three, Leah would start in on her emotional blathering and I would skip to the next section.

I felt like Card had betrayed me. Why didn't he include intelligent characters in this series as well? He's fully capable. I've seen him do it with women and with men. I think I'll give one more of the books in this series a try. But if I don't find an intelligent heroine, I'm going back to the Ender series. (Maybe he should tackle the story of Deborah, the prophetess. No whiney women there, neither in Deborah nor in Jael.)

Another author, new on the scene, that I'd recommend is Brandon Sanderson. I met Brandon in a writing class at BYU and he has developed into quite an author. His first book, Elantris (which I had the pleasure to peek at in manuscript form) was good, but his second book, Mistborn, is even better. Yet another intelligent, captivating female main character. I look forward to seeing great things from Brandon, and I can't wait to read the sequel to Mistborn.

But I digress. Back to Laurie R. King. She's great and I give her series two thumbs up. I found very little questionable content (if there is some, I either can't remember it or I didn't find it offensive). I hope there are more books to come.

And one on Netflix

2009-02-20T16:42:00.001-08:00

If you Netflix, put the BBC production of Charles Dickens' Bleak House in your queue. The one with Gillian Anderson.

I've never read Bleak House, but now I want to.

This three disk series is great. Positively fabulous. We loved it. We stayed up way too late watching it. We started Disk three on Thursday at 10:30 PM, telling ourselves we weren't going to watch all three hours. We lied.

The production is fabulous. FAB YOU LOUS. And Dickens is a master. Look for the themes of bondage and redemption, forgiveness and grudge, secrets, being a child, being a captive, being a deliverer, and so forth.

I could write a paper on Bleak House. Actually, I could write more than that.

Kristen C., now that you are done with Foyles War, try this one. Then call me so we can talk about it.

Try these again

2009-02-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

If you read these as a child, or if you haven't discovered them yet, try these.

Deborah's Top 9 (see number 10) that are worth Rediscovering as an Adult

1. A Little Princess by Francess Hodgson Burnett

2. The Secret Garden by Burnett

3. Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery. Montgomery is clever and witty. I missed that when I read these before.

4. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books. If you don't want to do them all, just read These Happy Golden Years.

5. Peter Pan by Barrie

6. The Jungle Book by Kipling. Shocking to read these as an adult and find such strong themes of atonement and redemption. I thought it was just a cute story, but no, no, no. There's depth there. Who knew?

7. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers

8. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson

9. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

(10. This would be a better list if there were 1o. I'm going to have to come back. I'm sure I'll think of a tenth at a random time. Like scrubbing the kitchen floor. Or while changing a poopy. THis is when my mind wanders.)

You can pass on Judy Blume. Pass, pass, pass. If you were already subjected to her, you don't need to go there again. Ditto on Cynthia Voight. Dicey will just have to be depressed somewhere else, but not in your library.

Factory Girls, Enna Burning

2009-02-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

I read Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie Chang. Not bad. Good writing. Worth reading if you are interested in the topic, pass on it if you aren't. With a crisp writing no-nonsense voice, Chang explores the lives of young women in China who have left their rural countryside homes to work for the factories of China. I found it interesting for the most part---the boring parts I skipped.

I'm also breezing through Enna Burning by Shannon Hale. Much, much better than Austenland, thank you Shannon. This genre is where Hale shines. I ruined some of the book for myself because I already read the next in the series so I know the storyline of this one. Nevertheless, not bad.

Austenland, Striped Pajames, Guernsey Literary

2009-01-29T20:23:00.000-08:00

So I picked up Austenland by Shannon Hale with low expectations, having heard from my friend Mariann that it was a disappointment.

I hate it when my low expectations are met.

Hale can write. She has great characters, and she can do a great plot.

But she didn't.

Austenland started fine and then crashed in flames. Ashes were all that were left at the end.

Here's a list of just some of the problems with this book: too many make-out scenes. I skip these anyway (my husband is more fun to kiss than reading about someone else kissing their paramour), but there were a lot. The themes are good: what's real and what's illusion in the game of love, but there's no development. And the last scene when Jane leaves WITH a man was unnecessary. The point of the whole book was that she could learn to be a whole person by herself, in reality. So it would've been better had she left---whole---to find another whole person. Together they might've had a chance. But the Mr. Nobley shows up at the airport at the end thing---pointless. Mariann pointed out it would've been better had she found someone on the plane. At least he would've been a whole, real man who wore jeans instead of breeches.

So four thumbs down for Austenland, which is the two thumbs I have, and two more thumbs because Hale can do better than this.

But. The Boy in the Stried Pajamas by John Boyne was fabulous. Really honestly fabulous. Subtle. Powerful. Shook the plate techonics of my mind. It's about a nine year old boy and his experiences being the son of a Commandant of a concentration camp in WWII Poland.

And it's just plain good. So different from say, Elie Wiesel's Night, which I taught my 8th grade English class. My problem with Night was that it was so shocking and graphic. Something to read alone, painfully, but not something that I wanted to journey with 8th graders. But Striped Pajamas I would teach. All the meaning, all the power, all the message, all the atrocity, but gently.

Yes, Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Boyne is one of the best authors I've ever read, ever, who can speak in another person's point of view and make it authentic. I can't say enough good about this book. It should be required reading for everyone. (Wouldn't that be a concept---a Universal Required Reading List---Want your driver's license? Want to buy groceries? Not yet, you haven't done your reading.

But I digress.)

I also loved, loved, loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Peel Society by Shaffer and Barrows. It's been a while since I've been so charmed by a book. Completely and utterly mesmerized and charmed. I didn't read it---I inhaled it. S and B are fantastic writers and they are masters of character. Takes place in WWII London and thereabouts. Deals with the war, yes, but that's the backdrop. It's really about life and laughter and friendship and love. Go read it and then come talk to me about it. Or we can go play Dead Bride (That's from the book. If you don't read the book, you'll have to play Dead Bride with Charlie Ravioli.)

My only problem with Guernsey is that it ended.

I wish there were a sequel.

Shannon Hale, Red Scarf Girl, Daughter of Destiny

2009-01-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

I didn't jump on the Harry Potter bandwagon until Book two (or three?) had already come out. I'd heard the hype and finally read one. And I was thrilled there were more in the series and they'd already been published! No waiting! Yes!

This is how I'm feeling about my latest authorial discovery: Shannon Hale. Grand, grand, grand. YA writer and good at what she does. I wasn't too impressed with her first book, Princess Academy, even though it was a Newberry Honor book (what do they know?). But I adore her Bayern series. Goose Girl was great, River Secrets was fantastic, and I expect great things for Enna Burning and any other Bayern books. Hale also wrote Austenland for adults, and that's on my list.

So thumbs up for Shannon Hale. She writes for that hard-to-write-for tween audience. Old enough to cognitively understand "grown-up" writing, but too young for adult themes. I lean conservatively as to what I think it appropriate for tweens, and Hale does just fine. When I have a daughter, I'll buy her everything that Hale has written. I think my sons will like her work as well. And she is great for adults who want a good novel. (Anjanette and Liz, try this one. Start with Goose Girl. Then let me know what you think.)

Thumbs down, on the other hand, for Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang. I was expecting great things from this book because it's one of the novels taught at a sister school in my previous school district. The English teachers there love it. Personal narrative about a young girl experiencing the cultural revolution of Mao Tse Tung in China. Fascinating topic. Good characters.

But poor writing. Bland:

"Shut up," she said.

Thank you very much. BOOORRRRING.

Sad, because it had great plot potential. Fell flat. I think it would be fine taught in a history class, but as literature . . . no way. Just didn't have it.

But speaking of historical narratives---I've also been perusing Benazir Bhutto's Daughter of Destiny. Bhutto was the first female prime minister in Pakistan and was assassinated in 2007. I know so little about Pakistan, but this is a compelling read. I have been skimming it, but I need to just settle down and read it from the start. She's a good writer. I like it. I'd recommend it.

The Wednesday Wars

2009-01-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

I just finished The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt.

It's great. I laughed and laughed during the book and cried at the end. Not that an emotional response is the best way to judge a book, but this one I enjoyed.

Schmidt is a good writer to start with, but when he writes about something that I know---7th grade English class, for instance, it's a winning combination of reader and author.

The plot is, basically, a student spends Wednesday afternoons with his 7th grade English teacher while the rest of his classmates attend out-of-school religious instruction. And the teacher (can you imagine) uses the time to teach him Shakespeare.

But the book really is a classic coming-of-age novel. Usually these bore me (think Julie of the Wolves) just a little, but this one is choice. And Schmidt can really tell a story and come up with a good plot.

I was destined to love this book. It starts slow, but it doesn't take long to pick up speed. I read it in two days. Two thumbs up.

Tale of Desperaux

2008-12-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

Finally, I am back to reading. Finally! And I'm armed with lists from well-reading friends. The Tale of Desperaux was on my list from my sister Liz. Disclaimer: I heard about it long before the movie came out.

So yesterday I breezed through The Tale of Desperaux. Not that it's light-weight reading, it's just that it was a pleasure and so the time flew.

This is my new "Can you recommend a good book?" pick. Good writing. Nice plot. Written so that children can understand it, but so that adults appreciate it. Heroes. Villians. Rats. Princesses. Brave servant girls. Unlikely heroes. Castles. Betrayal. Kings who cry. Fathers, mothers, daughters, friends. You'll like it. Worth the read. Worth the time.

Santa brought me a copy.

That Santa.

He's so clever.

Book Slump

2008-09-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm in one.

Anyone have a book that will get me out?

The Rainmaker by John Grisham

2008-09-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

I skimmed half of The Rainmaker by John Grisham. Got what was coming to me.

At the beginning, there's a young lawyer who befriends a grandma, meets a girl, and files a case against a big insurance firm.

By the end, he's helped the grandma be loved by her family, gets the girl, and wins the case.

Tada.

The end.

Mom says that movie is good.

Hope so.

Book was boring.

Grisham is Grisham. The writing is what you'd expect.

This is a perfect poolside book. If you dose and skip a few pages, you'll be able to figure out what's going on. If you spill lemonade on a section, you won't miss it.

Low/moderate sketch. But I didn't read it all.

Book Reviews

2008-07-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have a stack of books that I'm returning to various places, so here's a smattering review of them.

1. Duty by Bob Greene.

Excellent. Non-fiction account of Bob Greene, who examines the men and women of the WWII generation. Greene interviews, among others, Paul Tibbets, who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. The book is well written, the subject matter intriguing. Worth your time.

2. Proof by Dick Francis and The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman.

Pocket fiction. Mystery. Good. Not mind boggling or earth shattering. The kind of thing you want if you aren't asking much from a book. Not difficult reading. Just plot. Hillerman has some interesting Native American content. Might be the kind of series (both of them) that would be a good suggestion for a teenager who was looking for a summer book. I can't remember questionable content.

3. A Light in the Window by Jan Karon, the second in the At Home in Mitford Series.

Quaint fiction about small town. Charming really. If books were comfort food, this would be homemade chicken pot pie. Someday I will read the entire series in one, long, contented swoop. Worth reading. Worth recommending. Squeaky clean.

4. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Fiction. Standard structure---boy is born, grows up, tries to find his identity, loves, loses, gains, grows, his parents age, he learns. But the writing is superb. Artistic word choice that could make you weep if you got weepy over that sort of thing. Wonderful insight into Bengali culture, which I knew virtually nothing about at the onset of my reading. Written in the present tense---the only novel I've read that could carry that off. Some adult content. I wouldn't recommend this for a church book group, but if you don't get offended easily, give this one a try. (Final note: When I started this book, I wasn't really into it by the first thirty pages, so I skimmed to the end. It was good enough to read the whole thing, so I did.)

5. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver.

Anyone who gardens, buys local, or has ever canned should read this book. Kingsolver and her family live off the produce and animals that they can grow on their farm or buy locally. Kingsolver wrote The Poisonwood Bible, which I didn't care for (too oppressive-man-
oppressed-women for me), but she is one doozy of a writer; the prose is delicious. This book will go on my recommended for all list. Liz, have you read this yet? You'll love it.

6. Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

I should've read this this a long time ago. So good. I wouldn't recommend it for teenagers necessarily, which is the audience this book is marketed to in the schools. I think you need to be an adult, and removed from adolescence, to understand the themes that Frank addresses. Another book for everyone. I need to buy it and own a copy.

Books for 14 and up, Especially Girls

2008-05-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

1. Jane Eyre

2. Sense and Sensibility

3. Diary of Anne Frank

Worth the Effort

2008-05-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

These books, in my opinion, take effort to get through. But it's worth it.

1. Brothers Karmozov

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

3. The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

Books for ages 10-14, Especially Boys

2008-05-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

Teaching 7th grade English, I was constantly asked for recommendations for boys. Here are some of my top picks---girls will like them, too, of course.

1. The Great Brain Series by Fitzgerald

2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

3. Lemony Snicket series. Kids love the irony in this. Some adults don't get it.

4. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Books for ages 10-14, Especially Girls

2008-05-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

If I had to come up with a required reading list for girls, ages 10-14, these would be on my list. I've put an asterisk next to the ones that I think are revisiting well into a woman's adult life.

1. *The Laura Ingalls Wilder Series

2. *Anne of Green Gables Series

3. Shoes Books by Noel Stretfield. Unlike Meg Ryan, Dancing Shoes is my Favorite. After that, I like Theatre Shoes. Skating Shoes was OK.

4. *A Little Princess

5. *The Secret Garden

6. The Great Brain Series by Fitzgerald

7. Daddy Long Legs by Webster

Mystery Series I Like

2008-05-26T20:29:00.001-07:00

1. Laurie King's Mary Russell series

2. Number One Ladies Detective Agency

3. Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

I just realize that all of these have strong, intelligent women as their heroines. None of these women focus on food-- (revise)

"Can you recommend a good book?"

2008-05-25T22:15:00.001-07:00

Here are my top ten for when people ask, "Can you recommend a good book?"

1. AJ Cronin's Keys of the Kingdom

2. Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

3. Jacques Lusseryan's And There was Light

4. Sue Bender's _____________

5. Olive Ann Burn's Cold Sassy Tree (Not too keen on the sequel. The sequel is dumb. She took the best characters and made them bitter.)

6.

Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies

2008-05-25T22:06:00.001-07:00

I just finished Miep Gies's book, Anne Frank Remembered. Fabulous. Read it.

Gies is the woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family in WWII. I must admit, first off, that I've never read A Diary of Anne Frank---it's one of those books like Man's Search for Meaning (haven't read that either) that has changed the life of other people but that I haven't gotten around to yet.

I'm glad I started with this one. My friend Pat loaned it to me and now it's on my list of books to buy. This one I need on my shelves. Fabulous insights into the lives of people in Holland during the occupation of the Germans.

From her writing, I can tell that I would've liked Gies in person. Strong. Opinionated. Doing good in her own realm. I think we could've been great friends.

5 stars. Excellent. Find a copy and begin.