A quote I've been struggling with -- Willa Cather

Where there is great love, there are always miracles.
~Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop


Somehow this rings of prosperity theology to me -- if you just love enough, miracles will happen.  But does it follow, then, that if miracles aren't happening in my life then I'm not loving enough?  (With the understanding that you can find miracles (blessings, good things, silver linings) anywhere if you look hard enough... Maybe when I'm saying "miracles" what I mean is "solutions" or "smoother sailing"?)

Friday 56 & Book Beginnings on Friday

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.

"Maybe today was the day I wanted a fucking burger."  ~ From Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult -- my husband's current read.

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading. If you like, share with everyone why you do, or do not, like the sentence.

 Family curses never die, they just mutate.  ~Wicked Game by Jeri-Smith

Just started this one last night and it's fun -- even though I'm not normally a vampire-genre-kind-of-girl.   From the back cover:

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job.  She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, '60s psychedelia, '80s goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair.  Ciara soon discovers just how the DJs maintain their cred:  they're vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

 

The Simple Woman's Daybook -- Friday, July 30, 2010

As always, with thanks to Peggy.

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...green trees and solid white clouds
I am thinking...that life is hard to figure out
I am thankful for...chances to start over
From the learning rooms...new cookie recipes
From the kitchen...yummy South African meatloaf that my husband made last night
I am wearing...the same clothes as yesterday -- must take shower soon
I am going...to keep working on being humble
I am reading...Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready
I am hoping...to keep hoping
I am hearing... Light at the End of the Tunnel by The Bloodsugars from the hopeful playlist on stereomood.com
Around the house...dishes to do before my shower
One of my favorite things...rain
A few plans for the rest of the week: dishes and a shower ;), farmer's market, maybe go and see Irish Step Dancers at my library tomorrow morning

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Don't Know Where, Don't Know When by Annette Laing == Time Travel

I was so pleased to receive, from the author, an autographed copy of Don't Know Where, Don't Know When (The first book in the Snipesville Chronicles!) by Annette Laing.  From the back cover:

What a nightmare.  Hannah Dias, California Girl with Attitude, and Alex, her laid-back brother, have moved from exciting San Francisco to boring Snipesville, Georgia.life doesn't improve when they meet Brandon, a dorky kid who is plotting his escape from the Deep South, and the weird Professor, who has a strange accent.  

Suddenly, the kids are catapulted thousands of miles and almost seventy years to England during World War Two.  They fall into a world of stinging nettles, dragon ladies, bomb blasts, ugly underwear, stinky sandwiches, painful punishments, and non-absorbing toilet paper.  They learn so much more than they could ever learn in a history class.  Not that they want to learn it.

But they can't go home unless they find George Braithwaite, and whatever it is that he has to do with Snipesville.

This is one of those books that it would be a pleasure to re-read, to catch all the little connections you didn't catch the first time around.  I'm a big fan of time travel (and parallel worlds -- I love the movie Sliding Doors) and this book was definitely a hit for me in this area. 

I appreciated the discussion that Brandon and the professor have about what is different because it's 1915 and what's different because it's London (versus the United States).  The distinction makes total sense to me and I could see myself wondering the same thing.  In fact, I have wondered something similar -- I grew up in small-town Indiana.  Before moving to Denver four years ago, most big cities I'd spent time in were located in another country (China, Guatemala, Costa Rica) and I often wondered what was "big city" and what was "different country". (If we were talking in person this is where I'd probably lapse into the mildly amusing story about the butcher shop in NYC, but we'll just all try to stay on task, shall we?)

In her acknowledgments Laing thanks her friends for encouraging her "'not to worry about the P.C. People.'  You're right:  the past is not politically correct".  There were a few parts of the book that did indeed rub me the wrong way and perhaps it was those very things that Laing is referring to as politically incorrect.  At one point, after breaking a neighbor's window, Hannah is beaten with a leather belt. The professor's explanation?   "Mrs. D. doesn't think like the adults in your world, or at least like the adults in your world tell you that they think.  In her world, unlike ours, almost everyone says it's fine to spank children now and then, but it is not considered a good idea to burden kids with grown-up worries.  So Mrs. D. reckons that kids are kids, and her two only needed a simple lesson today . . . She hopes they will learn their lesson so she never has to repeat it." This makes sense to me as an explanation, but not as a justification, if that makes sense.  It was also a little disconcerting to me when Hannah thinks to herself, after being approached by an older woman, ". . . the lady would probably look quite a bit younger if she wore makeup, dyed her hair, and got her wrinkles ironed out with Botox" (p.137) and goes on to mention facelifts and dental work.  I think this was another attempt to point out the differences between the two time periods but this is the kind of thing that makes me cringe -- just the whole idea of someone "needing" Botox.  But these are just small quibbles.

Some fun or humorous parts -- Hannah and Alex find a Monopoly board and discover that it's all London landmarks -- So Park Lane instead of Park Place, etc.  I liked it when they played "pass the parcel" at a birthday party, as we did that a few months ago at the birthday party of a dear (English) friend. Laing is good at this type of detail.  On page 105, after the professor has been speaking with Hannah outside a classroom -- "The other girls think I've been scolding you, so try to look upset and angry.  Oh, I see you already do.  That's helpful."  And the Scooby Doo reference on page 178, "'All thanks to us meddling kids!' Hannah said cheerfully, to blank looks from everyone except Alex, who put his hands over his eyes" is a classic.

The book closes with the professor back in London, examining an artifact in the Victoria and Albert Museum and leaving the reader to wonder what part the artifact will play in the next book -A Different Day, A Different Destiny!  I will definitely want to learn about the next adventure and I am curious about whether the characters will stay the same.  

I hope to have a young friend also read this and write a guest post with her reactions.  I'll be interested to hear what someone closer to the target audience thinks.

Oh, and check out Imaginative Journeys! 

 

Marilynne Robinson talks to John Stewart about science, religion, and her new book

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Marilynne Robinson
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Anyone read Absence of Mind yet?

Cathe's Kitchen: Genetically Engineered Chili Peppers!

Cathe's Kitchen: Genetically Engineered Chili Peppers!: "Looks like the next food on the GE agenda is New Mexico chili peppers, which inspired the award-winning film, “Genetic Chile,” which examine..."

I <3 Cathe Olson! Check out her blog post about GE chili peppers.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Cover via Amazon

The Red Pyramid begins a new series by Rick Riordan -- the author of the now complete Percy Jackson series. The story's first-person POV alternates between Sadie and Carter Zane, siblings who have been living apart since their mother's death six years ago -- Sadie with her maternal grandparents in London and Carter traveling the world with his archaeologist father.  Each sibling is somewhat envious of the other's life.

On Christmas Eve, Carter and his father, Julius, arrive in London for one of their twice-a-year visits with Sadie. When a trip to the British Museum goes terribly, horribly wrong (think exploding Rosetta Stone and disappearing father) Sadie and Carter are thrust into an adventure that spans three continents and teaches them much about their heritage while they struggle to save their father, figure out who they can trust, and come to terms with their own powers.

What kept me coming back to the Percy Jackson series, in spite of the fact that its target audience is 4th grade boys (I'm a 34 year old woman) was the humor.  Somehow the brand of humor Riordan uses in the series is just my style.  I didn't feel the same connection with the humor in The Red Pyramid and I'm not sure why.

Throughout the book I found myself flipping back because there was something I didn't remember or missed the first time.  I'm not sure if this was due to my lack of knowledge about Egyptian gods and history, the distractions in my life, or actual flaws in the narrative.   At one point Carter and Sadie are told that no one can cross a certain bridge without meeting a challenge and that the challenge is different for each person.  And yet, in the following pages, only Carter is challenged and the rest of their party just sort of follows in his wake.  I'm not sure if I just missed something here or if it is a true inconsistency. 

While unrelated to the main plotline, I appreciated the way that Riordan incorporates Carter's experiences as a dark-skinned youth into the book in a very natural way -- experiences such as being carefully watched by shopkeepers and police officers and being told that he needs to always be just that much more neatly dressed in order to prove himself.  Opening up this subject for discussion is always a positive thing, in my opinion.

My favorite turn of phrase?  When Carter is describing the rarity of an equal partnership between a god and a human he says it's "like the one time when the coin doesn't land heads or tails, but stands on its edge, perfectly balance" (p.457 in the hardcover).

Riordan does a good job of putting in little details to remind us that Sadie and Carter have spent the last six years in very different places -- British terminology, Carter's lack of friends his own age, etc.  I also appreciated a few twists at the end -- a showing of mercy, a stunt double, the return of . . . well, I should probably leave that for you to find out.  :)

Here's another review -- I waited to read it til I was finished with mine.

I feel very flattered (and a little skeptical).

I write like
Leo Tolstoy

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

Cover of The Wednesday Sisters: A Novel

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton


Clayton's book opens in late 1960s Palo Alto, California and follows the lives of five very different women.

From the bookflap:

Defined at first mainly by what their husbands do, the young homemakers and mothers are far removed from the Summer of Love.  These "Wednesday Sisters" otherwise seem to have little in common:  Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago, brutally blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete, Kath is a Kentucky debutante, quiet Ally has a secret, and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett wears little white gloves with her miniskirts.  But the women are bonded by a shared love of literature -- Fitzgerald, Eliot, Austen, du Maurier, Plath, and Dickens -- and the Miss America Pageant, which they watch together every year.

As I read this book, I realized how little I know about the 10 years before my birth (I'm 34) --- Clayton is great at including those exact tiny details that make me feel like I was right there -- and making me want to learn more.  Some examples:  Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics, the March for Peace in San Francisco, the protesters at the Miss America Pageant.  The way the characters respond to the events happening all around them helps us understand what it was like to be a part of the majority culture of the time, while at the same time showing us the ways that some people began to slowly change their way of thinking and their preconceived notions.


Clayton's portrayal of marriage and motherhood spoke to me at several points -- probably especially so as being a mother is a big part of my life right now and marriage stuff is really, really hard.  At one point, Frankie thinks about her children going off on their own:  ". . . though I would always be their mother, I would cease to be their mother in the every-moment way I was now, in the way that Danny would continue to be an every-moment engineer even without the children at home.  And who would I be then? "  Each woman's marriage is different from the others'.  It's amazing really, how many different types of relationships can exist between two people.  And what similarities remain.

I didn't love the two scenes of rough sex and I thought the mystery behind Brett's gloves was a little anti-climatic but finishing the book, in bed with my sleeping daughter, I wept and held her closer and closer.  The Wednesday Sisters has too much substance to be called chick lit.  Check it out for some insight into the late 60s and 70s and to ponder what has changed and what has stayed the same.

It's Monday, July 26, 2010 -- What are you reading?

It's Monday, what are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It is a chance for us to share with other book bloggers what we have just finished reading, what we are currently reading and what we are reading next.

Just finished:

• Word after Word after Word by Patricia MacLachlan

Sweet, short juvenile novel about an author who visits a fourth grade class. From the book flap:

. . . an honest, inspiring story about what is real and what is unreal, and about the ways that writing can change our lives and connect us to our own stories -- word after word after word.

Cover via Amazon

• How Pleasure Works:  The New Science of Why We Like What We Like by Paul Bloom
•  The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
  
•  The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett  (this month's book club book -- enjoyable enough and I was glad to read such a well-known book, but I probably don't need to pick it up again any time soon.) 
• The Lost Children by Carolyn Cohagan 
•  The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

Currently Reading:

• The Accidental Billionaires:  The Founding of Facebook -- A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich  (Who knew they were making a movie?)
• The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

Up Next:

• Don't Know Where, Don't Know When by Annette Laing
• All Other Nights by Dara Horn

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

It's a fun read -- it was this month's book club book -- enjoyable enough and I was glad to read such a well-known book, but I probably don't need to pick it up again any time soon. While I appreciated Hammett's dry sense of humor, my husband enjoyed the book more than I did.  I must share my favorite quote, however:

She stared at him dully and said:  "I don't like crooks, and even if I did, I wouldn't like crooks that are stool-pigeons, and if I liked crooks that are stool-pigeons, I still wouldn't like you." (p.90)

This quote makes me laugh and I want to memorize it and use it regularly in conversation.  :D

Tattoos, Stereotypes, and Evolution

I've been pondering a recent post on a dear friend's blog.  You may want to read it before continuing.

Tamie wrote about feeling like people were putting her in boxes.I started pondering ways that I put people in boxes, both unintentionally and completely consciously. 

Image via Wikipedia

For some reason I started thinking about people with tattoos.  My picture of a person with a tattoo includes someone who is laid-back, politically aware, down with me not wearing a bra, and all about LGBTQ rights.  I don't think I'd ever actually put that picture into words before, it wasn't quite on the surface, but it was there.

My next thought was that somebody else's picture of a person with a tattoo might be more along the lines of someone with an American flag on the lawn, some experience with the military, lots of muscles, and a Harley.


Of course I realized immediately how limiting both of those pictures were.  Someone can be both patriotic and pro-LGBTQ (see the flag image from Wikipedia for proof;))  All sorts of people without tattoos drive a Harley and are politically aware and laid-back.  :) Etc.  And it certainly highlighted the impossibility of describing a person with a few short words.

When I think about the pervasiveness of stereotypes and/or the behavior of putting others into neat little boxes that we've constructed, I wonder how much of all of this is straight up evolutionary.  Our brains are such categorizing machines -- and in fact, it's one way to assess a young child's development -- can you put all the green things/animals that walk on four legs/things you can eat together?  You can see how this skill would be helpful evolutionarily speaking.  These are the berries that Sam ate right before he died, the sun is in that part of the sky -- it will be dark and cold soon, the people who are on that side of the hill trade with us frequently, the people who live in the valley are easy to anger, etc.

Clearly, these days stereotypes do amazingly more harm than good, across the board.  I wonder how we can combat the tendency to put people in boxes  -- maybe our brains need new ways of categorizing....