Things my seven-year-old has said lately

• When asked how she is feeling about the divorce and living in two different houses, after thinking for a minute, "Well, it's not what I was expecting to be doing in 2011...
• To a friend we'd just moved in with, "Since the divorce, I've realized that kids dream of living with their friends, but when they do, they just fight and fight."
• After a long discussion of what the term "biological father" means, "So if you got married again, I could have two biological fathers because, maybe, the man that you married would also combine his sperm with your egg."  Me: "Well, but it wouldn't be the egg that made you."  Fiona:  "Oh, I get it." (And that was the end of the discussion.)

Book Beginnings & Friday 56 -- How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by A Few More Pages. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence, or two, of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

 As an astronomer, I have long had a professional aversion to waking up before dawn, preferring instead to see sunrise not as an early-morning treat, but as the signal that the end of a long night of work has come and it is finally time for overdue sleep.

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice. Check out the rules and join in the fun.

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.

 

It was 2001, and though perhaps Arthur C. Clarke's predictions of space tourism and obelisks on satellites of Jupiter had not come true, it was finally time to get rid of the hundred-year-old technology of the photographic plates.  To some, it was a sad day when the photographic plate handling system at the 48-inch telescope was dismantled, though anyone who had ever had to work in the absolute darkness of the nighttime dome, moving plates from their holders to the telescope to the darkroom, could not have felt too bad to see it all go.

 

 

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown is my latest non-fiction love (not quite a rival to Dan Ariely's place in my heart, but good stuff).  Brown does an excellent job of talking to non-astronomers about his discovery, in 2005, of a tenth planet and the turmoil his discovery brought to the world of astronomy and the world at large, eventually bringing the number of planets in our solar system to eight rather than ten.  I really really liked this book.  Accessible, humorous, and personal.  5/5 stars

Theme Thursday -- Facial Parts -- The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages

Rules:

*A theme will be posted each week on Thursday
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading that features the theme
*Post it and don't forget to mention the author and title of the book
*Event is open for the whole week
*Link back to Reading Between the Pages

This week's theme is facial parts.

His skin was much less white than hers -- or perhaps simply much dirtier -- but his brown eyes shared a similar severity, equally intelligent but more watchful than the girl's, less distracted.  Younger had the feeling the boy saw everything.

~page 69, The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld

This was an incredibly action-packed novel -- the kind where, just 20 or 30 pages in, you are already glad that you are that you aren't one of the main characters!  I really enjoyed learning more about 1920 New York -- Rubenfeld bases his story on the true-to-life Wall Street bombing of September 1920 and while the main characters and events are invented, much of the peripheral people and details are historically accurate.  The author wrote his undergrad thesis on Sigmund Freud.   The book takes its title from Freud's work and Freud himself shows up as he attempts to help the boy described in this quote.  One last little tidbit -- do you know the origin of the word "lobbyist"?  Read this book and you will.  :)

The Simple Woman's Daybook -- July 6, 2011

Hosted by Peggy.

Outside my window... not such hot weather today -- I'm glad!

I am thinking... about what kind of new housing situation I will find.

I am thankful...for bathtubs and for rain and for the donuts my boss bought!

From the learning rooms... Settling into my new job - today was my fourth day, there's lots to learn and I'm enjoying it!

In the kitchen... making more crackers.

I am wearing... olive carpenter-ish capris and a brown polo -- still wearing what I wore to work.

I am creating... a flyer about what I'm looking for, both second job- and housing-wise.

I am going... to try to keep taking steps forward while staying peaceful and trusting.

I am wondering...when I will next see someone I knew pre-Denver.

I am reading... Wicked, for my book club -- I didn't love it the first time, we'll see what I think this time.

I am hoping... I win the Nook in the library's adult summer reading program.  :)

I am looking forward to... this is a hard one for me today.  Guess I need to plan something I can look forward to!  For now, I'll say . . . Gosh, I don't know.

I am hearing... Whispers Among the Stars by Aeoliah playing on my Pandora QuickMix

Around the house... still not sure how much unpacking I should do, since I'm not sure how soon I'll be moving. 

I am pondering... my need for a haircut.

One of my favorite things... when Fiona does something kind for me unasked -- she carried my backpack on the way to the bus the other day, because she knew I was sore.

A few plans for the rest of the week: hang with Kellan and Josie tomorrow while Jen has appointments, work on Friday, maybe see Angela and Isaac on Saturday morning, chill with Fio, Kel, and Josie on Sunday while Jen plays soccer.  (Fiona calls Kellan "Kel" and he calls her "Fion" -- how cute are they?)

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

My friend Tamie took this picture in Ireland recently.  I'd love to be there.

Teaser Tuesdays -- A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!

Cover via Amazon

At that moment, Jenkins reappeared in the doorway.  "I've got the fiance, James, in the kitchen.  Mr. Barnard was none too pleased to have him pulled away, but I -- what did you find out?" he said.  "About the body?"  


McConnell looked pointedly at Lenox.

~page 23, A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

This is Finch's first novel, as well as the first book in the  Charles Lenox series.  Set in Victorian England, A Beautiful Blue Death is a murder mystery -- Lenox's good friend, Lady Jane, is distressed when she learns of her former housemaid's apparent suicide and asks Lenox to investigate.  I'm giving it 3 out of five stars, but I do plan on continuing the series.

Theme Thursday -- July 4th -- The Midnight Tunnel by Angie Frazier

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages

Rules:

*A theme will be posted each week on Thursday
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading that features the theme
*Post it and don't forget to mention the author and title of the book
*Event is open for the whole week
*Link back to Reading Between the Pages

This week's theme is July 4th (celebrations, independence, freedom, flag, fireworks).

He stood by the hearth, surrounded by men in dinner jackets and women in glittering dresses.  Uncle Bruce was in stitches over something Mr. Ogilvie was saying, both men's faces red with laughter.  Pipe and cigar smoke circled up into thin patterns above their heads, the music rising to the room's vaulted ceilings.  Ice clinked around in tumbler cups and a cork popped somewhere from a bottle of champagne.  The mood was festive, as if Maddie had been found and everyone had a cause for celebration.

~page 169, The Midnight Tunnel by Angie Frazier

This is one Fiona and I read together. It's 1905 and Suzanna Snow's parents run a hotel in New Brunswick and her uncle is a well-known detective in Boston in whose footsteps she'd like to follow.  When a young guest of the hotel goes missing during a thunderstorm, Zanna's Uncle Bruce is called in to solve the mystery.  In the process of her own investigation Zanna's impressions (and adoration) of her uncle are greatly altered.  The Midnight Tunnel is the first in a new series by the author of Everlasting.  Fiona says, "It had a very good plot and whenever we stopped reading it, it seemed more mysterious."