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September 2007
Vinegar Hill: 09/30/07
Vinegar Hill is one of the most disturbing books I've read this year. It follows the year or so of Ellen Grier living in her in-laws' home with her children and unemployed husband.
This uncomfortable time in this house uncovers long forgotten family sins and abuse committed in the name of God.
The experience of reading Vinegar Hill has left me split brained on how to review it. A. Manette Ansay wrote these scenes vividly, always managing to chose the right words to set the stage and to build the characters. But these characters are so despicable and Ellen is so slow to react that I come away hating the book but loving the author's story telling enough that I would read another book by Ansay in the future.
fiction | books | a manette ansay
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Eggs: 09/30/07
Art is a made up of compromises. Sometimes its in form and sometimes its in color. Even when trying for a perfect copy it is still a representation.
One way to focus on the craft is to set limits. In the case of "Eggs" the limits are on the palette. The scheme is almost monochromatic.
My version of eggs and the monochromatic palette. are both inspired by Michael Naples's "Eggs on White" painting. Naples notes his enjoyment of finding the "subtle difference in temperature the eggs have versus the cloth." He shows the warmth of the eggs by adding a faint yellow cast to the eggs.
In my set up I didn't think to consider the temperatures of the textures. Instead I was thinking mostly of the lighting, trying to give a hint of color in a gray and white scene. I used a couple faint pink lights and blue lights. I think I probably should have used more to soften the effect on the cloth but I'm still pleased with the results.
Commander Toad in Space: 09/30/07
Commander Toad in Space is another of the set we borrowed for our trip to South Pasadena.
In this story the crew go to a watery planet to explore. In true amphibian fashion the crew deploys inflatable lily pads to land on.
What the crew doesn't know is that danger lurks under the surface. Fearing that they will either be stranded or killed, Commander Toad must think of a way to rescue himself and his crew. What he does is rather clever.
While Commander Toad in Space doesn't have as many puns and jokes as the other book in the series but the book makes up for it in terms of good science fiction.
fiction | books | childrens | jane yolen
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The Long Valley and Nanowrimo: 09/30/07
My favorite part of the drive down to Santa Barbara along the 101 is the stretch between Salinas and Kings City, known sometimes as "the long valley." This hour long stretch of road is almost completely straight and is boxed in by mountains that look intimately close even though the valley seems infinitely wide.
For as long as we've lived in the bay area I've had an idea for science fiction story that is set in a much larger version of this valley. The world would be defined by two large cities (Uptown and Downtown), a smaller town in the middle (the Cantina) and would be walled in by impenetrable mountains. A highway and railroad connect these three cities together, running the length of the valley.
What the average valley dweller doesn't know is that there is only one mountain range and one big city. Cutting over the mountains (a rugged and treacherous journey) or going through either massive city will eventually wrap around too. In other words a world that appears flat is of course round but is defined by culture as a linear space.
This summer when I realized I was without ideas for this November's Nanowrimo, I decided to fall back on my Long Valley idea. My first question was: Who would notice that the land was different than what history taught? My answer: a surveyor. To save myself the trouble of last minute cramming, I bought and read two books this summer: The Practical Surveyor and Shooting Polaris (review pending).
Among my own collection, I knew I had a copy of The Long Valley by John Steinbeck. While I don't always like his stories for their preachiness, Steinbeck is still the author who has best captured the Salinas area in fiction. Since I will now be trying to do my own version of the valley, I want to read Steinbeck's collection of stories first.
Unfortunately the "book gremlins" have borrowed the book and in three months of looking, I haven't been able to find it. Since I want to read The Long Valley before November, I decided to buy my own personal copy. Rather than get a new paperback probably with those annoying "reader's notes" at the back, I decided to get as old a copy as I could find. Through Alibris I found a well read first edition with a glorious cover and the wonderful aroma of years of reading. At one point my "new copy" was owned by a Mrs. James H. Cullen (1955) and then it became a bookmobile book in Charleston Massachusetts.
So far of what I've read, I've thoroughly enjoyed the book. Regardless of how this year's Nanowrimo turns out, I'll be keeping this book.
fiction | books | nanowrimo | salinas | john steinbeck
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The Graduate: 09/30/07
I love The Graduate (1967) directed by Mike Nichols and scored with the wonderful music from Simon and Garfunkle. Young Dustin Hoffman will forever be Benjamin Braddock just as Anne Bancroft will forever be Mrs. Robinson.
I've had a copy of Charles Webb's book on my shelf for about two years now. I decided it was time to finally read it for the Books to Movies Challenge and I'm glad I did. Reading the book has made me appreciate the film even more. The screenplay is extremely faithful to the book but the cinematography and the music enhance an otherwise dry plot.
I had hoped the novel would give a peek into Benjamin's mind to see what makes him tick. Why does he come home feeling so disillusioned? Why does he decide to lounge around at home for six months when his parents clearly drive him up the wall? Why does he suddenly fall for Elaine (or for that matter, why does she fall for him?) None of those questions are answered in the book. In fact, the bulk of the book is the dialogue of the film with very little else except for a few segue paragraphs between scenes (what in the film become musical montages).
One question that I really wanted answered and wasn't: where does Benjamin's family live? It seems to be close to Los Angeles because there are "business partners" from Los Angeles Yet the drive to Berkeley is described in the book as trivial. Yet later he has to fly down to Santa Barbara for the wedding. My best guess is somewhere near Santa Barbara but I wish I knew for sure. It's a silly thing to get bothered over but the random geography of this book (and therefore the film) bothers me.
The Graduate is the rich-kid-from-the-burbs version of On the Road. There is even a scene in the book (which I don't remember being in the film) where Benjamin hitchhikes up to Redding to put out a forest fire before heading home again having tried to experience what is described in the Kerouac classic.
fiction | books | dvd | charles webb | jack kerouac
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Animals that Live in the Sea: 09/29/07
My grandparents signed me up for a subscription to the junior version of National Geographic when I was a child. One of the books that came with the magazine was Animals that Live in the Sea. It was a favorite book of mine then and is now one of Sean's current favorites.
Animals that Live in the Sea takes advantage of National Geographic's amazing photography. Each page is a full color photograph of some under water scene. A few bits of text here and there explain the scene in simple terms that young readers can understand.
Sean's favorite page is the one that explains the cover illustration. A garibaldi fish is picking up a starfish to move it out of its territory. Sean thinks its very silly that fish will pick up other sea creatures to get them out of the way. He compares it to him always shooing Caligula the cat out of his room.
nonfiction | books | childrens | sean
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Olives: 09/28/07
I'm not much of a drinker but I love using alcoholic drinks in my artwork. Back in 2001 I created Martini completely out of Bryce primitives. It still remains one of my favorite models all these years later. If you are a Bryce user, you can download a copy to use in your pieces.
As part of that original Martini, I created a green olive. The olive is probably the weakest bit of that original modeling, especially the textures. They're too flat and don't glisten the way an actual olive does. Olives, especially ones used in cocktails, are wet. Wet things reflect light but not in such a uniform way as metallic items do.
So when I saw Delilah Smith's lovely painting "Olives on the Loose" I was immediately inspired to bring out my olive model and update it. I wanted to see if I could develop materials that would survive scrutiny in my larger and more photorealistic pieces.
The result is "Olives" and I'm rather pleased with it. The specularity and reflections aren't still quite right but I think they look enough like olives to not be mistaken for metallic Christmas ornaments.
Roast Beef: 09/28/07
When living on a tight budget, cooking in bulk and cooking from scratch saves both money and time. With Ian back in school and working on his thesis, I've taken over much of the cooking. My most recent endeavor was roast beef.
Ian usually takes care of the "hunk of meat" cooking but this time it was my turn. I have to admit that I asked his advice before starting it. His instructions were: "put herbs on it, put in the oven at noon set to 200° F to cook all day." So that's what I did.
I used more of our freshly grown herbs: parsley, time and rosemary and then some garlic from our pantry. The result was a medium cooked roast beef that was tender and delicious.
dinner | roast beef | family
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Japanese Fairy Tales: 09/28/07
Japanese Fairy Tales: Kaguyahime the Moon Princess and Other Stories is an a collection of Japanese stories, translated and adapted by J. Robert Magee. Magee lives and works in Japan and the book was published in Japan with lovely illustrations by Kazumasa Miyamoto and Hiroko Kanzaki.
This short book has eleven stories and a short explanation of various Japanese terms. These stories involve magic, transformations, gifts from various gods and battles with demons. The emphasis though on all of these stories is on the importance of family.
Where extra explanations might be needed, Magee is really good at giving them but he doesn't weigh the stories down with lengthy explanations. He mostly sticks to explaining names that are puns or perhaps some bit of culture that would seem very different to a western audience.
japan | books | fantasy | j robert magee
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Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys: 09/27/07
Although I've never heard of Dave Barry, I have ended up with two copies of this book. In the spirit of BookCrossing, I wanted to read it before I released it.
So I came to this short, silly book without expectations. It's a quick romp through history and societal norms as seen through the eyes of a typical "guy." This book is not another men vs. women book. Barry defines his guys as a subset of humanity. They are usually male although women with certain levels of immaturity would qualify too.
This "complete guide" made for the perfect read on a day when both my children were sick with colds. They both needed lots of attention and snuggling and I needed something to do while I was being a big pillow. This book can be read over the course of an afternoon.
dave barry | books | nonfiction
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Stacked Cups: 09/27/07
As I've mentioned before, a recent favorite source of inspiration for my digital art is the Daily Painters' Blog. There are so many different styles and subjects that I have dozens of pieces starred in Google Reader.
Earlier this month I saw Carol Marine's lovely painting "Stack of Cups" and wondered why I had never thought of rendering something as straightforward but visually interesting as a stack of cups.
I chose to do mine in purples against a cream background because purple and yellow is my favorite complimentary color combination. I am still working with the chiaroscuro lighting. I first started using them last year with "Tomato", a piece inspired by a photograph by Kat Colorado.
My digital art is a form of sketching and with building upon previous experience and pieces. I like to reuse items, techniques and themes.
Mouse Soup: 09/27/07
Along with the Commander Toad books, we borrowed Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel from the library. We are fans of Arnold Lobel's offbeat stories and cute illustrations.
Mouse Soup is a sequel to Mouse Tales (1978). A little mouse who is captured by a weasel to be cooked into soup. To save his life, the mouse (like Shahrazad) tells four stories to teach the weasel how to make the perfect mouse soup.
These four stories are the bulk of the book. They are: "Bees and Mud", "Two Large Stones", "The Crickets" and "The Thorn Bush." Each story has the classic surreal humor of Lobel at his best. Bees try to make their home on a mouse's head, two rocks wonder what things lie beyond the mountain, a group of crickets serenade an unwilling audience and a woman grows a rose bush in her chair.
Booking Through Thursday: Friendship: 09/27/07
Booking Through Thursday
Suggested by Marsha:
Buy a Friend a Book Week is October 1-7 (as well as the first weeks of January, April, and July). During this week, you’re encouraged to buy a friend a book for no good reason. Not for their birthday, not because it’s a holiday, not to cheer them up–just because it’s a book.
What book would you choose to give to a friend and why?
And, if you’re feeling generous enough–head on over to Amazon and actually send one on its way!
As an active BookCrosser, I am often times sending books to friends (or even complete strangers) if I have a book that is on a BookCrosser's wishlist. In BookCrossing terms, these "gifts" are called RABCKs (random acts of BookCrossing Kindness). Some recent RABCKs include:
Since though the question is about buying books for friends, specifically, I have plans to give my best friend a copy of Black's Beach Shuffle by Corey Lynn Fayman because the book takes place in the areas of San Diego where she lives, works and where we grew up. I'm not getting it for her in October; it will be a birthday present.
Another friend I regularly buy books for is Sean's teacher. She own and runs the school and is always in need of new books for their small library. One recent purchase for her library is Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle.
#25: 13 Reviews of Books I've Hated This Year: 09/26/07
Normally I like to keep my Thursday Thirteens upbeat but I thought it would be fun to revisit some books that I've wanted to throw across the room this year. Click on the image to read the reviews.
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| 1. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee | 2. Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux |
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| 3. The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning | 4. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir |
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| 5. Amara by Richard Laymon | 6. The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde |
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| 7. Marker by Robin Cook | 8. When the Wind Blows by James Patterson |
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| 9. My Friend Mac by May Yonge McNeer | 10. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth |
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| 11. Skye Cameron by Phyllis A. Whitney | 12. Fondling Your Muse by John Warner |
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| 13. Abduction by Robin Cook |
In the Spotlight: 09/25/07
I picked up In the Spotlight at one of this year's BookCrossing meetings. I am a sucker for animal stories but this book's focus on animal celebrities wasn't my cup of tea. The book was just too schmaltzy.
As is typical with these types of compilations, the book is divided up by theme. The first section is "Doing Their Best" where animals "devote themselves to reaching their goals." The second is "Close to Home" which pays tribute to "local celebrities." Then comes "Business Partners" which is mostly about animals in show business. "Traveling Companions" covers animals who travel the world with their human companions. Finally it's back to show business for "On Stage."
This collection of stories is best suited to fans of movies and television who have a particular fascination with the various animal stars who crop up from time to time.
Fire + Ice: 09/24/07
Last night I spent a lovely few hours with my BookCrossing friends from the Tri-Valley group. It was our first dinner together since last year's meal just before Christmas.
Ten of us showed up and we had the patio to ourselves. While the inside of the restaurant has more atmosphere, I don't think any of us wanted to sit on the high bar chairs or have to yell over the loud music. It was nice outside, not to hot and not too cold. It was also quiet other than our own giggling and the sound of traffic.
Fire + Ice is to Mongolian barbecue as P. F. Chang's is to Chinese food. The food while tasty isn't anything special (other than the coffee which is delicious!) and is over priced unless you want to eat yourself to the point of vomiting. It's not a place I'd recommend or go back to unless I was going to see my friends again.
The highlight of the night was Deb's penguin joke:
A police officer sees a man driving a truck that has ten penguins in the back. Convinced that it couldn't possibly be legal to have ten penguins in a truck, the officer pulls the truck over.
"You can't have all those penguins in the back of your truck. Go take them to the zoo."
"Okay," the man says and drives off.
The next day the police officer sees the same truck. The penguins are still there but now they're wearing sun glasses. The officer pulls the truck over again.
"I thought I told you to take them to the zoo!" the officer says.
"I did. Today I'm taking them to the beach."
fire+ice | bookcrossing | penguin joke
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The Dharma Bums: 09/24/07
The Dharma Bums was published the year after On the Road and like its predecessor is a semi-autobiographical novel. Where On the Road focuses on the city scene and the wild parties Beat Generation, Dharma Bums goes out to the countryside in search of peace, tranquility and enlightenment.
The Dharma Bums has all the charm, irreverence and wackiness of On the Road. It has train hopping, Chinese poetry in Berkeley, Buddhism in the Sierras, enlightenment in the snow and self imposed isolation in the Cascades. Over the course of these adventures, Ray Smith (the stand-in for Kerouac) grows as a character, finding peace in the simple quiet moments of life, preferring to sleep in a gully or live in a shack than partying in the big noisy cities he has fled from.
Except for the long and drawn out going away party for Japhy Ryder (inspired by poet Gary Snyder), I loved the book. The last fifty pages or so drag a bit, as if Kerouac was reluctant to reach the natural end of his story.
fiction | memoir | books | jack kerouac
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Pajamas: 09/24/07
On Saturday before the kids were too sick with their colds, I took them out shopping. Besides needing to get birthday presents for Sean's friends, we needed to get pajamas for Harriet. She has outgrown most of her footed pajamas but hasn't grown into Sean's hand-me-downs. She clearly enjoys wearing two piece pajamas but I knew I had to get some in her own size.
Harriet had birthday money from great-grandpa Eddie and it seemed perfect to use to stock up on pajamas. Better yet, Target has some adorable four piece sets of pajamas. Sean and Harriet had a good time picking out pajamas for her. She ended up choosing dinosaurs (because she likes Sean's new pair of dinosaur pajamas), a set of flower pajamas and a set of butterfly pajamas, making for a grand total of six new pair!
Sean also saw a cute 4 piece set of apple pajamas. Since he's out grown most of his as well, we got the apple set for him. Now both children are able to sleep comfortably.
pajamas | harriet | sean | birthday
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Underground London: 09/24/07
For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by old buildings, abandoned places and the hidden aspects of city living. Underground London by Stephen Smith covers all of those things in just under 400 pages.
Smith's book is a tour and a history of London as seen by what lies underneath the streets. Smith took a number of tours (some of which are open to the public, and some which aren't) under London. He begins with modern life, looking at what he calls "the vertical city": all the conduits that city needs: phones, power, sewers and so forth.
From there he goes on a tour of the sewers which is one of my favorite chapters in the book. Anyone who has read The Truth by Terry Pratchett, should read "Monster Soup" in Underground London.
From the sewers, Smith goes back through history with the next bunch of chapters. These chapters are interesting but they didn't captivate me as much as the first two did. The exception to this is the one on the plague.
The book, though, ends on a high (or low?) note, covering what probably comes first to a reader's mind: the London Underground. Subways are another favorite subject of mine, so I really enjoyed his history of the tube and his description of his tours of the closed stations.
nonfiction | books | stephen smith
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Commander Toad and the Space Pirates: 09/23/07
Over the Labor Day holiday we checked out three Commander Toad books from our local library for the trip down to South Pasadena. Commander Toad and the Space Pirates is another of that set.
Space travel can be boring. The crew finds itself between assignments. They've watched all the movies on board, read all the books and are suffering from a serious case of boredom.
Fortunately for the crew, they are attacked by space pirates. Commander Toad is tied up by sword point! Will he and crew survive?
This Commander Toad ends on a humorous twist. I don't want to give it away here. Go read the book and enjoy the silly puns and the delightful ending.
Big Cold, No Party: 09/23/07
Friday and Saturday night Sean was coughing in his sleep. Today he woke up sounding like he had a bull frog in his throat. He was also running a low fever. All he wanted to do was curl up on the couch under some blankets and watch videos.
He was supposed to go to his friend's birthday party being held at our local mini golf course. We had the presents picked out (having spent much of yesterday shopping for just the right thing). Tomorrow we'll take the wrapped presents to school and ask Sithy to give them to the parents after class ends. That way Nicholas can get this birthday gifts.
Harriet is also still grumpy. She has come down with a cold and has a slight fever too. I know her immunizations can cause fever for up to a week so I don't know if her fever is cold or shot related.
Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy: 09/23/07
Over the Labor Day holiday we checked out three Commander Toad books from our local library for the trip down to South Pasadena. Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy is one of that set.
The Space Toad is sent on its most dangerous mission, the rescue of super spy Tip Toad, a master of disguise who happens to be Commander Toad's cousin. It is up to Commander Toad to identify his cousin as he's sure to be in disguise. The crew can't afford to bring on board an enemy spy!
After a few hiccups in their search, Commander Toad comes up with a brilliant test to put all the spies through. Only his cousin will be able to pass it. Does he find the right spy?
For previous Commander Toad reviews, please see:
Turkey Stew: 09/22/07
Now that the summer heat has turned to autumn fog, it's time again for stews. I love spending the day slowly putting together a stew. Ingredients I love to use include: ground turkey, butter beans and tomatoes. Since this year's crop of herbs is thriving, I was able to spice it completely with what Sean and I have grown.
For this first stew of the season I used zucchinis, an ingredient I've only recently started to enjoy. I had to eat so much zucchini as a child that it was hard to want to cook with it as an adult. Ian was the same way. We started by chopping it up into very small pieces and cooking it into sauces where the taste was fairly well disguised by the other flavors. Now we are bolder with how we use zucchini but my inner child is still sticking her tongue out at it.
Sean managed to eat half a bowl of stew. He isn't a fan of tomatoes and we cook with them all the time. For this stew, I didn't pierce the tomatoes so most of their juice stayed inside and didn't get into the stew. He managed to eat all the pieces of the stew but didn't want the broth. I didn't make him eat any tomatoes.
Harriet, on the other hand, loves tomatoes, so she got a tomato, chopped up. She also loves zucchini. So I mostly gave them to her.
Hello Kitty, Hello Numbers! 09/22/07
Back in August Sean discovered Hello Kitty. So on a recent trip to Borders we brought home Hello Kitty, Hello Numbers! Sean likes the book because it focuses on counting, is about a birthday party and has the cute Hello Kitty characters. At the end of the book are flash cards that can be removed and used for study. We plan to glue an envelope in the back of the book for the cards but haven't done that yet.
The book teaches counting from 1 to 20. Sean doesn't really need help counting those numbers any more. I think these counting books are more "comfort food" books for him.
I have to agree that the illustrations are cute. I also like the story even as simple as it is. It emphasizes friendship and family. It's basically a very happy book.
hello kitty | books | childrens
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Harriet's 12 Month Checkup: 09/21/07
Yesterday Harriet had her well baby check up and five immunizations. She's still feeling the effects of the immunizations with a low grade fever. Apparently one in five children get a fever from the varicella vaccine when it's mixed with the standard MMR.
Her doctor was impressed with how well she's doing with learning words. Harriet has around a 30 word vocabulary. Her vitals put her exactly where she was on the curve last time. She weighs 20 pounds 3 ounces (31%), is 29 inches tall (50%) and has a head circumference of 18 1/2 inches (95%). So she's a skinny, medium height girl with lots of brains.
Since she's only barely heavy enough to sit forwards in her car seat, we're holding off on switching her around. She'll stay sitting backwards until at least her next appointment in March.
I asked about Harriet not wanting to hold a bottle or a cup and the doctor says this is normal. By March (a year and half old) she should be willing to hold a cup and drink by herself. Since Harriet always seems to be a month behind on physical milestones, that probably means early April.
I also asked about her not walking or doing much in the way of pulling up. The doctor held her up to see if she was willing to bear weight on her legs. She was and her legs have lost their infant bowing. The doctor did notice that her feet still show signs of infant jointing, meaning that they aren't as rigid as in older children and adults. That rigidity helps in walking. Apparently that should also sort itself out around March.
Life on the Mississippi: 09/21/07
Life on the Mississippi is one of those books that has stuck with me from the time when I was first discovering my love of books. I first read it in 7th grade (21 years ago). As it was the year before I started my book diary, I can't pinpoint when with any greater accuracy. Rereading the book was like visiting with a long lost friend. I surprised myself at how well I remembered the "good bits."
A vacation tour up the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Paul, detailed in the second half of the book, serves as the inspiration for his memoir about his training and career as a riverboat pilot. Besides his own training, he outlines the history of the river, it's geography, geology and its fickle nature. The piloting and river bits are my favorite parts of the book.
Twain also includes some tall tales and sketches about the people who live and work along the river. There are also essays on the changing political and economic climate along the Mississippi. By themselves, these asides are humorous but they breakup the flow of the book.
A New Toilet: 09/20/07
Over the weekend, Ian noticed water on the floor of our upstairs half bath. After further investigation, it was obvious that the toilet we installed the summer we bought this place had sprung a leak. So we turned off the water behind the toilet until we could get a plumber in.
I ended up requesting service from Roto-Rooter because they have an online request form. Yes, their home page has their stupid jingle on autoplay but that's the only annoying thing about their service.
Within minutes I was able to schedule and appointment and get a confirmation number. The website promised a phone call within the time frame I had selected to give a better estimate of when the plumber would arrive.
Yesterday when I hadn't gotten a call and our time frame was rapidly approaching, I decided to give Roto-Rooter a call. Amazingly, a human being answered my call after only two rings (no phone tree!). After giving my city and my address, the woman on the phone confirmed that time frame had been accidentally pushed back from 12-5 to 5-7. Fortunately she was able to quickly get me a 12-2 time frame.
The plumber, Ron, showed up shortly after noon and quickly determined that our toilet had a hairline crack below the waterline. Damn. Fortunately though he was able to go back to his shop, get a new toilet, bring it back and install it all within our two hour window. He made toilet installation look easy. He even took away our old toilet.
If we ever have another plumbing problem, we will definitely go back to Roto-Rooter.
toilet
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Woo! The Not-So-Scary Ghost: 09/20/07
Halloween books are very popular at Sean's school. Woo! The Not-So-Scary Ghost is the most recent of these books we've borrowed. Like Little Pea, Woo is a story of reversals. Woo teaches the importance of family and of going to school in this cute story of a ghost who runs away from home.
Woo is a ghost and a child. Like most children, Woo wants to be taken seriously and wants to be seen as a big kid. For a ghost, that means being as scary as possible to non-ghosts. And like many children, Woo doesn't want to go school. Woo decides to set out on his own and prove to the world what big ghost he is. Woo runs away after bedtime (sunrise to sunset) and spends the day trying to scare creatures and only manages to befriend a dog.
What really caries this story are the adorable and colorful illustrations. The cover art is a good hint at the cute pictures inside the book.
Booking Through Thursday: Sunshine and Roses: 09/20/07
Booking Through Thursday
The reverse of last week's question:
Imagine that everything is going just swimmingly. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all's right with the world. You're practically bouncing from health and have money in your pocket. The kids are playing and laughing, the puppy is chewing in the cutest possible manner on an officially-sanctioned chew toy, and in between moments of laughter for pure joy, you pick up a book to read . . .
What is it?
If it's a perfect day and the children are actually giving me some time to think for myself without one or both of them crawling into my lap to read one of their books then I would read whatever is next on my TBR pile. At the moment, that would be: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Barren Lives, or Dharma Bums but it could be anything.
I am least likely to be reading any of the following: romance, erotica, true crime, paranormal or chick lit. These aren't absolutes as I have read some from each of those genres but they are my least favorite genres.
The Practical Surveyor: 09/19/07
I've had an idea bubbling around my head about a surveyor working on a world that is just one long valley walled on the northern and southern ends by a mountain range. I've decided to take my idea and use it for this year's Nanowrimo.
Knowing next to nothing about surveying, I did a quick search on Amazon for books. One that caught my eye, is this reprint of a book first published in 1725, The Practical Surveyor by Samuel Wyld. The book was pieced together from a extant copy in the Boston library and microfiche copy at the Museum of London. Although this book was re-typeset (and not photocopied as some "reprints" are), the font chosen keeps the old style of lettering so that it reads very much as it would have in 1725.
I realize that the technology modern surveyors use has changed since 1725 but the information contained in Wyld's brief manual still gave me an incredible appreciation for the science and mathematics behind surveying and filled my head with lots of ideas for my steam punk Nanowrimo. Although this book is heavy on geometry it still is one of the most interesting books I've read this month and I tore through it in about four hours.
nonfiction | books | nanowrimo | samuel wyld
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#24: 13 Photographs from Lawrence Hall of Science: 09/19/07
Over the weekend Sean's friend celebrated his 5th birthday at the Lawrence Hall of Science. This party was a strain on our schedule because I misremembered the date as being Saturday when it was actually Sunday. So we schlepped out there on Saturday only to find no one there! I was feeling like a complete idiot for causing my son to miss the party and Sean was of course disappointed.
So then we head home and I check my email only to see that the party was scheduled for Sunday! In the end we didn't miss the party and Sean had a good time. It was a fairly subdued party because half the kids (including Sean) were recovering from a stomach bug) and the other half were in the process of coming down with it.
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| 1. Alex, Sean and Ethan look at the birthday cake. | 2. It was a Lightning McQueen cake. All the kids are into Cars right now. |
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| 3. Ethan and Sean comparing notes on the cake. | 4. Harriet got to go too. |
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| 5. Lunch was pizza, chips, salad and juice. As you can see, Sean's still not found his appetite. | 6. Harriet practiced walking a little. She's still not interested in walking. |
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| 7. More friends arrived and the party took off. | 8. Time to blow out candles. |
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| 9. Then it was time to do an experiment in the chemistry lab. Harriet listened in too. | 10. The kids learned about solids, liquids and gases. |
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| 11. Harriet and Ian had a pen duel while the kids did their experiments. | 12. There is the chemistry teacher giving her lesson. Sean is on the far right by the green doors. |
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| 13. Time to go home. "A good time was had by all." |
Sunflower Seeds: 09/18/07
At the start of summer, I discovered a stray sunflower that Sean must have planted. When the plum tree was laced, the sunflower thrived under the added sunshine. Now that it's September and the sunflower has lived its life, we harvested the seeds. It's the first year that one of Sean's sunflowers has grown big enough to produce seeds.
The sunflower ended up growing slightly taller than I am. My guess is the flower grew to be about five and half feet tall. It sure made a lovely addition to our patio garden this summer.
We plan to eat most of the seeds but Sean wants to save a couple seeds to plant next spring. Stay tuned to see if we get a flower from these seeds!
sean | garden | sunflower
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Bleach Volume 1: 09/18/07
In Bleach Volume 1, Ichigo Kurosaki, aka "Strawberry" who is an average kid except that he can talk to ghosts. A late night encounter with a hollow introduces Ichigo to Rukia Kuchiki and the Soul Society. Before he knows it, he's a shinigami, enfused with Rukia's power and charged with chasing down Hollows.
I come to Bleach having seen the first few DVDs of the anime series of the same title. It's fun to spend a little more time with the characters and get more involved in the story and in Ichigo's world. We watch the anime with the Japanese language track and I don't always read all the subtitles, so it's nice to read the translated manga.
Chicken: 09/18/07
I have been really lucky, blessed with a husband who loves to cook. Right now, though, he needs all the time he can spare to work on his thesis. He needs to have it complete in about six months. To free up some time for him, I'm taking over the bulk of the cooking.
Tonight I took over the baking of a chicken. To save money we buy whole chickens and chop them up ourselves. By "us" I mean it's usually Ian who chops them up. After thirteen years, he's very good at it. In all those years together, I've done it maybe a half dozen times. Whenever I do it, I usually mangle the cuts, as I did again tonight.
The cooking bit, though, I can handle. Rather than use Ian's combination of favorite spices, I chose to use the fresh herbs Sean and I have been growing all year: thyme, parsley, oregano, rosemary and basil. Over all of that I squeezed fresh lemon juice. The chicken was tender and savory. Sean even ate it with gusto!
Free Food for Millionaires: 09/18/07
There are two good things about Free Food for Millionaires: the title (taken from the free lunches offered to investment bankers) and the cover art. That's about it.
The remaining 500 pages drag through endless chapters of Casey and her acquaintances trying to get on with their lives. Some of the characters grow and learn over time but the main character, Casey, doesn't do a damn thing in this book. She's apparently good at investment banking and good at millinery (free food for milliners?) but terrible at making decisions and even worse at running her own life. Although she has a number of people falling over themselves willing to mentor her, she never sticks with a plan long enough to see it to completion and to get some stability in place. Instead she just burns through her friends, mentors and potential employers like the numerous cigarettes she chain smokes throughout the book.
Without a likeable central character, there is very little motivation to suffer through endless pages of product name dropping, lengthy descriptions, and sex scenes that fail to titillate. When I finished the book (and still nothing had happened by the last page), all I could do was give a sigh of relief to move onto something more interesting.
Slaughterhouse Five: 09/17/07
There are many classics and well known books that I haven't read. I'm trying to make amends with that. I can now cross Slaughterhouse Five off my list.
Slaughterhouse Five is two stories in one. There is Vonnegut trying to explain his desire to write the great Dresden bombing book and then there is the story of Billy Pilgrim who is "unstuck" in time and keeps finding himself back in WWII (among other times and places).
Unlike the men in The Time Traveler's Wife and The Man Who Folded Himself, Billy has no control over when he jumps or where he'll end up. Billy doesn't seem to care either that he jumps through time living his life (and death) at random. Billy's philosophy on the absurdity of life (and his life in particular) is summed up repeatedly through the book: and so it goes.
I'm not sure how I feel about Slaughterhouse-Five, having now finished it. I can understand why it's a novel with literary merit but at the same time, it didn't capture my imagination the way The Man Who Folded Himself did.
Read the review at Things Mean A Lot.
Locked Rooms: 09/17/07
In The Beekeeper's Apprentice (1994) Mary Russell is introduced as an orphan, fleeing America for Britain to get away from the unpleasant memories of the deaths of her parents and brother. Now in Locked Rooms, having matured by ten years and presented with the opportunity, Russell decides to confront her past head on.
Mary's past is rooted in the San Francisco in the time of the 1906 quake and the months and years following. The clues are still there, buried away in the family home, left untouched for years. The clues are there among the dust and among Mary's own nightmares.
Of the three Mary Russell books I've read this year, Locked Rooms is by far my favorite. King's depiction of San Francisco and the peninsula both during the earthquake and in the 1920s, brought the mystery to life for me.
Seven Blind Mice: 09/16/07
The last few months, Sean has been raving about Seven Blind Mice and how much he likes the different ways the mice "saw" the elephant. Recently he borrowed it from school to read it to me and I enjoyed it too.
Seven Blind Mice retells the story of the three blind men who mistake an elephant for a tree, a snake and a rope. There are apparently numerous versions of the story throughout history as it's a perfect way to explain the danger of misconceptions. Ed Young's version seems to follow most closely a Buddhist rendering of the tale which involves nine interpretations of the elephant.
In Ed Young's colorful version, each mouse (represented by a different color) has a go at examining the elephant. They come up with ideas such as: a fan, a pillar, a snake, a shovel, a cliff and and so forth. It's not until the white mouse stops to think about what the others has described that he's able to put the pieces together and come up with "elephant."
Listen to the Warm: 09/16/07
Listen to the Warm is a slim volume of poetry written by composer and singer Rod McKuen. I'm not familiar with his music but I liked the cheery cover and snatched it up from the Dublin library discard shelf. I read it almost immediately and enjoyed it thoroughly.
The poems cover McKuen's life in New York, his love life over the years and his appreciation for his one true friend, his cat. The poems are often times not much more than mood pieces but they still paint vivid but brief glimpses into life in New York City. It's like looking at the different layers of a cat scan and it's not until all the images are looked at in context can you piece together the person being studied. So it is with Listen to the Warm.
Some of the poems McKuen used as lyrics in his songs. Since I've not heard his songs (to the best of my knowledge) I didn't have the added benefit of being able to sing along but I could still appreciate the rhythm to them. They are more lyrical than the other poems which border on being free verse.
Riding the Iron Rooster: 09/15/07
I like trains and recently I've had some good luck with reading travel memoirs as part of the Armchair Traveler Challenge but this book was a huge disappointment.
Riding the Iron Rooster chronicles Paul Theroux's train travels from England to and then through China in the late 1980s. Here he is traveling a fascinating route through numerous countries and a constantly changing landscape and all he does is complain. The entire book is one long-winded winge about his passengers, the trains, his schedule, the countries and so forth.
The only interesting item in the entire book is his account of the Chernobyl melt-down as he heard about it while in Mongolia compared to what he heard about upon returning home.
armchair traveler challenge | books | nonfiction | paul theroux
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Sixteen Short Novels: The Reviews: 09/14/07
I accomplished my goal of reading all sixteen short novels before the September BookCrossing meeting. I wrote my first review in April and finished writing them in September (although I finished reading the book in August). I am glad I finished the book and read each novella thoroughly enjoy to write reviews for each one but I am also glad to be done with the whole process. I'm also happy to have the book off my shelves as it took up the space of three hard cover novels.
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Title |
Author |
| Andrea | John O'Hara |
| The Old Maid | Edith Wharton |
| Tortilla Flat | John Steinbeck |
| Mario and the Magician | Thomas Mann |
| Pudd'nhead Wilson | Mark Twain |
| Ward No. 6 | Anton Chekhov |
| Notes from Underground | Fyodor Dostoevsky |
| The Fall | Albert Camus |
| Old Man | William Faulkner |
| Youth | Joseph Conrad |
| The Lesson of the Master | Henry James |
| My Mortal Enemy | Willa Cather |
| The Ghost Writer | Philip Roth |
| The Ebony Tower | John Fowles |
| Catholics | Brian Moore |
| The Blacking Factory | Wilfred Shreed |
The Blacking Factory: 09/14/07
I have actually finished reading Sixteen Short Novels and I wild released this 1000+ page tome at this month's BookCrossing meeting in Dublin.
"The Blacking Factory" was written by Wilfred Sheed, the editor of Sixteen Short Novels. Named for Dickens' time working in a blacking factory, Jimmy Bannister sees his enrollment in a tiny English secondary school as his personal "blacking factory."
Jimmy Bannister first strives just to survive in the school, suffering from culture shock. As time passes and he becomes more miserable his plan moves to getting out of there as quickly as possible.
After some of the heavier hitting novellas in the middle of Sixteen Short Novels, "The Blacking Factory" was a rather light hearted ending.
sixteen short novels | books | bookcrossing | fiction
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Hangman's Root: 09/13/07
Hangman's Root is the third in the China Bayles series by Susan Wittig Albert but the only one I've read but I want to read more. It is a cozy mystery in vein of Miss Marple, the Cat Who books and so forth but it manages to avoid being too cute or too depressing.
China Bayles is an ex attorney who has switched careers to run an herb shop in a small town near Austin Texas. Her friend who works at the local university and runs a cattery for strays is accused of murder when a biology professor is found hanged. Besides Dottie, there are a number of suspects who had reason to want to see Harwick dead. Can China help defend her friend and figure out who really committed the crime?
For a short book (only 260 pages), Albert introduces enough red herrings to keep the story interesting. While I had a number of theories on who had committed the murder and why, the actual criminal took me pleasantly by surprise.
mystery | books | susan wittig albert | china bayles
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Ganzy Remembers: 09/13/07
Ganzy Remembers is a book that makes me scratch my head. Most books aimed at a pre-reading and early reading set tend to be silly. They also tend to be heavy on fantasy.
Ganzy though is firmly set in reality with a grandchild taken by her grandmother to see her great-grandmother once a week at the nursing home where she lives. Back in the 1970s, I was that grandchild. The story blends together the present of Ganzy's mundane life in the home with her recollections of life somewhere rural where she rode a horse to school and carried her lunch in a bucket.
I think it's important for children to know that they will some day grow up and grow old and that their parents and other relatives were once children too but this book's view of what it means to be old just seems bleak.
Booking Through Thursday: Comfort Food: 09/13/07
Booking Through Thursday
Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It's cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you've just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you're coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a good book, something warm and comforting that will make you feel better.
What do you read?
Back in 2003 when I suddenly found myself unemployed and our financial situation suddenly dire, I didn't reach for a comfort book just as I don't reach for comfort food when I'm depressed. I don't read when I'm sad. I have twenty years of reading data to prove that I don't have comfort books for times of crises.
Rather than wasting time reading to escape the situation, I prefer to roll up my sleeves and work towards improving my situation. In the case of being unemployed, it meant four months of sending out resumes, improving my website (since I'm a web designer) and interviewing for jobs.
Now in times of minor crises where I'm basically stuck waiting for things to sort themselves out (like when my daughter was hospitalized for jaundice), I turn to adventure stories for distraction. While Harriet was hospitalized and I had to stay there with her (to nurse her every three hours) I read through Inca Gold by Clive Cussler.
Children's Books: 09/12/07
With two young children who are both as addicted to books as I am, I read a large number of children's books. This year I have been attempting to review every single book I read this year. I'm currently running about two weeks behind in my reviews.
In the next few weeks I'll be reviewing about a dozen children's books on top of the regular books in my back log. At last night's BookCrossing meeting I was able to pick up a large pile of children's books. Half of them I am keeping for Sean and Harriet and the other half have gone to Sean's school for their very small library. Back at the beginning of summer I was asked to find some books for the library now that the oldest students can read and have read the current selection to death. This is the first month of looking that I've actually been able to find books suitable for the school.
Before sending the books to school with Sean this morning, he and I read through them. I always like to prescreen the books I donate the school. Since I've read them, I figured I might as well review them on top of everything else.
The Bookman's Promise: 09/12/07
The Bookman's Promise
is the third in the Cliff Janeway series but the only one I've read. I picked it up at the start of the year at our local BookCrossing meeting because the premise sounded interesting.
Cliff Janeway, a retired cop turned book collector / book detective is put on the trail of a hidden journal by Francis Burton. In the process of hunting down the book and verifying the story behind it, a person is murdered and Cliff can't help but try to solve the mystery too.
The book didn't grab my attention. The characters seemed wooden and there was too much emphasis put on the minutiae of Cliff's day to day life. Reading through him describing the ins and outs of his days made me feel like the bored child at the back of the car: "Are we there yet?" and never getting a "yes!" from the front. When the mystery was finally solved it was an anticlimactic ending that was obvious from the earliest chapters.
#23: 13 Creations by Sean: 09/12/07
Here are some of Sean's art projects from this year.
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| 1. Beetle lunch bag | 2. Turtle |
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| 3. Sand dollars | 4. Ocean |
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| 5. Leaf | 6. Ladybug |
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| 7. Fish | 8. Bee |
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| 9. Happy Bug | 10. Zoo sand t.rex |
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| 11. Swimmer | 12. Star Fish |
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| 13. Flower |
Little Pea: 09/11/07
Sean has excellent taste in books. Earlier this summer he picked out Little Pea by Amy Krause Rosenthal.
This cute little book about a family of peas has already become a family favorite.
Little Pea, the title character, reminds me a lot of Sean. Little Pea every night is forced to eat food he doesn't like (because it's good for him). His exasperated parents ask him to eat five pieces. Little Pea reluctantly does what they ask but pulls the most wonderful faces as he takes his bites. These scenes replay the typical dinner for us. Sean is a picky eater and we often times resort to counting out bites to get him to eat.
Little Pea is the second book by Amy Krause Rosenthal that I've read. I was first introduced to her humorous writing through her autobiography: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Now that we've enjoyed one of her children's books, I will keep her in mind for future book purchases.
Cake: 09/10/07
On September 2 we celebrated all of our summer birthdays with a beautifully baked and decorated cake from Federico's. Sean had wanted a white cake with fresh strawberries and that's what Judy found. She also got ice cream: vanilla and mint chip.
The cake was decorated with a 5 and 1 for Sean and Harriet's birthdays. It was Harriet's first taste of cake and although she didn't eat much of it she enjoyed the bit that she had. She also had fun squishing it between her fingers and making a mess with it. Unfortunately when the heat got to Harriet later she ended up barfing up most of the cake she had eaten. Hopefully her second birthday won't be as hot.
Homework: 09/10/07
Today Sean turned in his first packet of homework that he's ever been assigned. I don't remember having homework in kindergarten but then I also don't remember being as capable a reader as Sean is either.
His teacher had the homework set aside for each kindergartner in a blue folder where we sign the children in and out. On the way home on Friday it took a while to explain to Sean what homework means and why its important.
Fortunately we got him excited enough about having homework that he eagerly agreed to do his homework first thing when we got home. I sat with him for the first half and then Ian took over when Harriet needed my attention (she'll only take a bottle from me if I'm home).
The homework packet had two pages of reading where Sean had to match the starting sound with the correct image and then the correct word to the image, a page of arithmetic and a page of writing (copying a sentence three times). Sean carefully worked on each piece and didn't need much in terms of help from either of us. He was done in about half an hour.
To make sure we remembered to take his completed package in this morning we put the folder by the front door where I keep my keys (and the original door knob that locked me out this summer). Sean says he did such a good job on his homework that he earned a star!
sean | school | kindergarten
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Innocent Traitor: 09/10/07
Take my review of Innocent Traitor with a grain of salt. I am an infrequent reader of historical fiction especially ones based around monarchs. So I came to this book already feeling skeptical.
Innocent Traitor covers the life and death of Lady Jane Grey, known sometimes as the "nine day queen" for her brief reign before Mary. With all the political machinations on the various sides all vying for the throne should make for an interesting novel but throughout the novel I found my attention wandering.
Weir chooses to write both the narrative and dialogue with a stilted and formal way that for me broke the natural flow of the novel. She also allows for a number protagonists which balloons the story to 416 pages. Had it only been written from Jane's point of view, the novel would have been shorter, more suspenseful and more interesting.
In the Pool: 09/09/07
The last bunch of trips down to South Pasadena we've planned to swim or to jump into the hot tub but it's either been too cold or too wet. On our last trip there was no way we could avoid the tempting waters. The constant heat and humidity made just basic things unbearable.
Harriet took to the water immediately. She mostly hung out with my mother, floating in her UFO while gleefully kicking her legs and giggling. Sean however decided to stay in the spa (with the temperature turned down). He had forgotten the few lessons we'd managed earlier in the summer and was feeling shy about the water. I think when we're more financially secure I'm going to have to give up and pay for swimming lessons for him.
Jane Eyre: 09/09/07
After blundering through the Thursday Next series which begins with The Eyre Affair, I thought it best to go back and reread the book that inspired the series. I also read it for the Classics Challenge. My initial thoughts on Jane Eyre are: I loved the book, Jasper Fforde's depiction of Jane doesn't do her justice, it ends just like Harry Potter 7.
Jane Eyre for the most part reads like a modern novel. I suppose if Charlotte Brontë were publishing now her book would end up with a line drawing of some shoes and a pink cover and put with the chick lit. The story is told in first person by Jane with full commentary on her thoughts and reactions during scenes but done in an actual humorous and ironic fashion.
She breaks her autobiography into three parts with a short coda to tie up loose ends. Part one covers her childhood and education. Part two covers her employment at Thornfield Hall and her romance with Edward Rochester. The final part covers her disgraceful flight from Thornfield and her finding her family and fortunes. The coda then wraps everything up in a nice happy package with the sacrifices being made by Edward rather than Jane (as would be the case if it were a modern chick lit).
Who should read this book? Anyone and everyone. It's a classic and it's well deserving of its status. It's a damn good story!
classic challenge | books | jasper fforde | charlotte bronte
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Book Traffic Control 2003: 09/09/07
I finally have an entire year of data put into my BTC database. My first year is a fairly accurate look at my BookCrossing activity because it was a year where I was only registered books I intended to release. Since our move in 2004, I have been registering all books including ones meant for our private collection (text books and such).
In my first year of active BookCrossing I took in almost two books for every one book I released. At the end of the year I ended up with a surplus of 291 books!
The easiest way to end up with a surplus are the relays. A book is offered by another member and accepted by a new member by making a new offer. That new offer can be for a "to be read" book which means the chance of receiving more books than one is able to read in the same period of time.
Although I still have a backlog of relay offers, I have learned better on how to pace myself. I currently have a backlog of 20 books, down from my highest backlog of 75 in 2005. Most of my current relay offers are books I am already planning to read for one or more blog sponsored reading challenges.
The numbers for October and November reflect my acquisition of four crates of hardbacks I got via Craigslist from a man who was moving and couldn't take his books with him. I am still reading and releasing through this pile of books and have been enjoying the process.
btc | books | bookcrossing | database
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South Pasadena: 09/08/07
After the two part stop near Harris Ranch we stopped once more at Tejon Ranch to switch drivers. I had done all the driving that day because I actually enjoy driving that stretch of the I5 through the central valley.
We arrived in South Pasadena an hour earlier than expected. It had been hot the entire drive but what we hadn't counted on was the stifling humidity and temperatures 15 degrees hotter than normal.
Even with all the windows open at night the house never cooled. On the first night there wasn't much to do about the heat except take either lukewarm baths or showers. Harriet was the most bothered by the heat and was only happy when eith