Almost Sunday in Colorado

I want to focus on the positive and I want to smile more frequently.

I think, because my car accident settlement and our divorce paperwork are both unfinished, in some ways I am living in the negative out of necessity -- I need to itemize how being hit by a car has affected my life so that the jury has the full picture and we need to be thinking about lots of worst-case scenario what-ifs with regard to the divorce and the future so that we can cover those bases now and make the best possible future for the two of us and for our daughter.

But I am getting closer to leaving both situations, closer to figuring out next steps, closer to getting out of crisis mode.  In the meantime I can still be aware of the goodness of life and choose to keep smiling, hoping, living and laughing. I need to be with positive, forward-looking, kind people.  I need to be a positive, forward-looking, kind person.  After all, as my lawyer said of me in his letter to the insurance company,

Based on her life expectancy as set forth in the Colorado Statutes she will likely live another 44 years.

I'm willing to consider that the good news of the day.  :)

Tomorrow I will be able to spend some time with my daughter, her good friend, and her friend's lovely family.  I will be glad, grateful, and content.  I will be okay.  And so will you.

Friday 56 and Book Beginnings -- Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie & The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker

Hosted by Katy.

How to participate: Share the first line (or two) of the book you are currently reading on your blog or in the comments. Include the title and the author so we know what you're reading. Then, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line, and let us know if you liked or did not like the sentence.

"It was dusk when he came to the ferry. 

He could have been there much earlier."

~from Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

This beginning definitely caught my attention -- I wanted to know what he was putting off and why. The speaker is Dr. Arthur Calgary, just returned from two years in Antarctica.  An old newspaper article brought the realization that his amnesia directly before leaving for his expedition has put an innocent man in jail.  In his desire to "make things" right, he is traveling on the ferry to share the news that he assumes (incorrectly) will be a relief to the convicted man's family.  An interesting premise a bit out of the norm for Christie.  Enjoyable.






Hosted by Freda.
Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it here.

Anyone familiar with Yiddish knows a better example, the ultimate riposte to someone reasoning from improbable premises:  Az di bobe volt gehat beytsim volt zi geven mayn zeyde, "If my grandmother had balls , she'd be my grandfather."

~The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker

Funerals Are Fatal by Agatha Christie

Not one of my favorites.  From the back cover:

Batty old Aunt Cora didn't watch her tongue at a family funeral.  The next day, another corpse was found.  Was it coincidence that it happened to be Cora?

I'm not sure why, but this book just doesn't appeal to me the way many of Christie's do.  It has some of the same elements -- wills, family intrigue, loyal servants, etc.  Maybe that's part of the problem -- those elements are what draw me toward her books in the first place.  I didn't feel sympathetic to any of the characters and what should've been a big surprise didn't feel like one -- though I'm willing to blame that on the fact that I think this was a re-read.  ;)

11 Permissions for 2011

The Organic Sister had a great post at the beginning of the year that has been up in one of my browser tabs ever since.  She says:  "What are you giving yourself permission for? What will you be creating in the New Year? And are you living according to your own organic nature?" and goes on to list 11 things for which she is giving herself permission in 2011.  I wanted to attempt my own list.  Here it is...

I hereby give myself full, unapologetic permission to….

1. Continue to grieve the ending of my marriage, to feel the loss and to cry -- but only as I continue to walk towards peace and healing.

2. Hope.

3.  Finish living in crisis mode.

4. Learn new skills -- both crafty and practical -- even if they don't come easily.

5. Speak more slowly, and be quicker to listen.

6. Be kind to myself while learning to be kinder to others.

7. Accept compliments gracefully and allow them to sink deeper than criticisms.

8. Focus on being the person I want to be and let go of trying to convince others that I'm likable.

9. Be optimistic even when others would prefer the word "naive".

10. Be scared out of my wits as I take the first step over the abyss that this new life feels like right now.

11. Take that first step nonetheless and attempt to take it with panache.  

 

So there they are.  I'll need some friendly reminders, throughout the year, I believe.

Anyone Can Die by James LePore

Anyone Can Die is a collection of three short stories, each one featuring a different character from James LePore's debut novel, A World I Never Made.  In LePore's introduction to this collection, he explains that in the process of writing A World I Never Made he developed quite a bit of history and backstory for each of his main characters but realized that there isn't really a place for that in your standard thriller.  Anyone Can Die is his chance to flesh out that bigger picture he'd imagined.

The three stories(descriptions from the back cover):


"Till Death Do Us Part" -- A young Pat Nolan and his wife are on their honeymoon in New Mexico when they find a bond they didn't know they had as they are forced to confront trouble in the form of a surly trio of locals.

"God's Warriors" -- Megan Nolan, a cynical American woman on her own in Europe makes a life-changing decision that both reveals and belies her true character.

"Max" -- Max French, a quirky, deadly and, in his own eyes, oddly lovable FBI agent faces a personal drama that will set the course of his future.

I was intrigued by this idea, a sort of prequel in the form of a short story collection.  As I read, I wasn't sure what to make of the fact that each story made some reference to ethnicity, with varying degrees (in my opinion)of stereotyping and/or generalizations.  I may be hyper-sensitive at this exact instant, as I've been reading about perceptions of racism in Agatha Christie's books, but nonetheless it was a distracting element for me.  Yet even in the midst of writing this review, I'm still waffling on my desire to read A World I Never Made.  I do sort of want to see what happens with these characters -- I want to know what "the Megan Nolan affair" is, I want to learn what happens in Pat and Lorrie's relationship, and I want to know how Max's experiences as a child and young man have affected the middle-aged FBI agent.  I may just pick up A World I Never Made in spite of my reservations about this collection.

Quote of the day

Image via Wikipedia

Never give up.  No one knows what's going to happen next.
~L. Frank Baum (quoted in Blackout by Connie Willis)

The Big Game's On -- Post-Game

Getting very sleepy around here!

I'm glad I participated in the read-a-thon, even if my participation wasn't quite as full as I might have liked.

I didn't really have much in the way of snacks but had some black tea, leftovers for lunch, and pizza for dinner.

Cover via Amazon

I did indeed end up spending most of my time with The Language Instinct:  How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker with Toto's Tale (by K.D.Hays & Meg Weidman) as
a close second.  I had thought I might read some Agatha Christie as a break from my immersion in a weighty non-fiction tome, but I never actually picked up Funerals are Fatal.  I am on page 333/448 in The Language Instinct and Fiona and I are on page 201/230 in Toto's Tale.  We  may finish it up right now, but I'm guessing she'll actually be asleep before we get that far.  :)  I'm not loving Toto's Tale, but then, Wizard of Oz in general has never been one of my favorites. Fiona likes it well enough, it seems.  And as for The Language Instinct, I'm glad I'm reading it and it makes me miss my college linguistics class, but I'll probably be ready for a break from non-fiction when I'm finished!

The Big Game's On -- Halftime!

Lots of interruptions to my reading, but largely important things (aka people) that take precedence anyway. I've still made progress in the giant work of non-fiction I've been working on --  I'm on page 324/448 in The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker.  It's an interesting book if you like linguistics (which I do), but it's not a book that you can just buzz right through, if you know what I mean.  Focusing on it today means I can finish it up soon and go back to fiction for a while. 

After Fiona, Mark, and Lilly have their bath, I'm guessing that Fiona and I will read more Toto's Tale before bed.

The Big Game's On -- 5:42 p.m.

Lilly woke up from her nap and had an unhappy 1/2 hour before salami and Eric Carle's Brown Bear were deemed suitable.  Everyone else came back from Costco and we all put groceries away. 

Then it was time for a sledding expedition and bless Tim for finding boots for Fiona -- she was thrilled to be able to go along.  I was able to read more of The Language Instinct, and, now that the game has actually started, I'm on page 281/448.

When the sledders returned, it was time for blankets and cinnamon toast by the fireplace.  When toast preparation was over, I put pizza in the oven while everyone else was watching the musical beginning of the Superbowl.  Now I'm off to eat pizza with them and see how the night progresses!  :)

The Big Game's On -- 1:43 p.m. -- Mini-challenge #1

Well, we all had oatmeal with walnuts and craisins for breakfast and then the three children started some intensely imaginative play.  I moved with my book from room to room, staying close enough to hear them.  Sadly, The Language Instinct is not an easy book to read with lots of background noise! I'm on page 237/448.

After a giant uproar over possession of the ladybug pillow -- and some first aid on a cut calf -- Fiona and I came back down to the basement for a while.  She did some drawing and cutting while I read Toto's Tale aloud.  We are on page 153/230.

Now Lilly is asleep upstairs and Fiona has gone with Tim, Amy, and Mark to Costco.  So I'm alone in the house and will do Jenn's first mini-challenge before returning to more of The Language Instinct.

Jenn asks:  For this challenge, take a look at the books you plan on reading today.  Which do you predict will come out as the winner and why?  Do a post to answer this question.

I wasn't totally sure how to interpret "winner" but I decided it's whatever book I spend the most time with today. I'm guessing that it'll be a toss-up between The Language Instinct  and Toto's Tale -- depending on how much Fiona wants to be read to when she gets back from Costco.  We'll see. :)

The Big Game's On Read-a-Thon Start-Up post

(See details here.)

Here we go.  :)

My almost seven-year-old daughter is here with me today after all.  So it'll be a different read-a-thon than I was expecting, but still quite lovely.  I was waiting to make my kick-off post til she woke up.  She is now beside me in bed, reading Momo by Michael Ende.


We have housemates, Tim and Amy and their lovely children Mark (3 years old ) and Lilly (1 year old).  We also have Nico, their cat.  We'll see how much we interact with them during the day.  They've been talking about sledding and may watch the Superbowl as well.

Cover via Amazon

I'm reading The Language Instinct:  How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker.  I'm on page 141/448.  I'd love to finish it up today and move on to Funerals Are Fatal by
Agatha Christie for the Vintage Mystery Challenge or perhaps A Lonely Death (the latest in the Ian Rutledge series!) by Charles Todd or Troubled Waters  by Sharon Shinn for the Futuristic/Sci-Fi Challenge (though I'm not sure yet that it counts).


In addition, Fiona and I are reading Toto's Tale by K.D. Hays and Meg Weidman. We are on page 129/230 and will definitely be reading from it today.  If we finish, we may start Cat Running  by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.

Cover of Cat Running

Fiona is ready for breakfast, so we'll take a reading break and figure out what to eat.  :)

Have a lovely morning, everyone!