Amalgamation #4

Today I offer two sad stories from the literary world, both from the New York Times.

Brian Jacques dies

Powell's forced to lay off workers

Amalgamation #3

People With Small Vocabularies Also Have Small....Brains

Megan McArdle has the best description for Michelle Bachmann I have come across yet ... "what do you get when you cross a motivational speaker with an eighth grade social studies teacher? I'll tell you what you don't get: any serious proposals to fix our budget woes."

And more from The Atlantic on the future of writing and reading.

January Revisited

BOOKS READ

Wolf: The Lives of Jack London - James L. Haley
Non-fiction. Easy and immensely readable bio of a great autodidact. Proof that passion and a good book can take you anywhere and can save you.

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Fiction. Classic. I enjoyed the translation, but I did not like her. At. All. Maybe in my great happiness with my marriage and life, I find it to difficult to imagine forsaking my children. Maybe Madame is just a little too much like some of the "ladies who lunch" in my neighborhood.

Blindness - Jose Saramago
Fiction. This is the best book I have ever read. Ever.

Shakespeare's Sonnets and Poems - Folger Shakespeare Library
No Fear Shakespeare - Sonnets - Spark Notes
Poetry. A year ago, I decided to expand my horizons with The Sonnets and try one a day. I finally had time to start. So far I have made it through number 25. One of my favorites has to be number 2.

How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use
If thou couldst answer, "This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,"
Proving his beauty by succession thine.

or, from No Fear Shakespeare

"The effort I spent raising this beautiful child explains the sorry old state I'm in."

The New Testament - NIV
This is my husband's pet project, but I got drafted as well and it has turned into a family project. We will read one chapter of the New Testament every weekday. The goal is to finish in a year ... so far we have made it through Matthew 21.

Apologetics for the 21st Century - Dr. Louis Markos
Non-fiction. Apologetic. Dr. Markos brings together some of the great apologists of the last century and distills their basic arguments into an accessible overview. I have attended Dr. Markos' lectures on C.S. Lewis for 5 years now and I am excited to say that he is as great a writer as he is a speaker. I feel extremely blessed to count him as a friend.

Have A New Kid by Friday - Dr. Kevin Leman
Non-fiction. Our Sunday-school class is watching Dr. Leman's series on Value Packed Parenting, and my husband and I are enjoying it. Dr. Leman has a great sense of humor; so, when someone handed me this book, I took it and read it in about 2 hours. We have had the end vision of what we want our kids to be in mind since they were born. The book didn't offer me much as we tend to agree with Dr. Leman on quite a bit (no TV in bedrooms, 11 year old boys don't need cell phones, controls on the internet), but did give me a few great ideas. My favorite - unless there is blood, let them work it out on their own. So when the boys were fighting this morning, they went into a room on their own with the door closed. They figured it out and I didn't have to mediate ... or hear it.

Bread Givers - Anzia Yezierska

Fiction.

MOVIES VIEWED

The King's Speech - Theatre
I had no idea what this movie was about, but friends invited me and I needed a night away from the liars and stupid people who have been populating my life lately. Who knew a movie about the King's speech impediment would be so pleasurable. But then again, Colin Firth never disappoints.

Yogi Bear - Theatre
The only good thing about this movie was that it ended. But not soon enough.

The September Issue - Home
Well done documentary about putting together the September issue of Vogue. Anna Wintour did not seem as scary as I thought she would. I liked her creative director. And her daughter. Girl Detective, thanks for the recommendation.

UP - Home
This was a gem. Emotionally and visually satisfying. I did not expect this from animation.

Julie & Julia - Home
I felt like this was two movies. The movie with Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci was worth 4★.
The one with Amy Adams and Chris Messina was worth about 2★.
By the end, I was fast-forwarding through the parts about the modern Julie to get to the parts about Julia. I read the Julie book a few years ago and didn't much like it either. I think I'll put Julia Child's My Life in France on my someday list.

Expelled - Home
Issues are meant to be wrestled with.

By the way. I am a Christian and that does affect my beliefs. Right now, I believe that there is some truth in Creationism. I believe that there is some truth in Darwinism. I believe that there is some truth in Intelligent Design. I believe the whole truth rests in the person of God and will only be revealed at the end of the world ... whenever that is. I DO NOT believe that the population of our planet was seeded by aliens. It truly surprises me that Dr. Dawkins would think that is any more a viable answer than that there is a God.

In the interest of fairness, here is a link to Scientific American's rebuttal.

Singin' In The Rain - Home
Ahhh. This is how movies were meant to be. All the boys in the house said it was a "chick flick," but the next day my younger son came down the stairs singing, "Good Morning. Good Morning to you."

Toy Story 3 - Home

The best of the trilogy. Why is it that the best movies I have seen this month were animated? Or older than me?

Meet Me In St. Louis - Home

Our new subscription to Netflix has allowed us to watch a few of the classics recommended in The Best Old Movies for Families by Ty Burr. No one was singing songs from this movie the next morning, but the husband and I enjoyed it.

PROJECTS COMPLETED

Christmas Put Away - You laugh, but this is a bigger project than you think. I love Christmas and all the trimmings. Maybe next year I will buy a pre-lit fake tree. No. Maybe next year I will scale back on the decorations. Not likely. Maybe I won't host that tea for my friends. Come on. As long as there is one person who BELIEVES in this house, we will DO Christmas.

J's 5th Grade Bottle Bio Project - I know. Parents aren't supposed to do homework for their kids. It is a learning process. But when someone tells me the value of making a person out of a 2-litre bottle, I will stop "helping out" quite so much. The research paper complete with a "real" bibliography. That made sense and he did that entirely on his own.

DH's birthday present - I made him a Blurb photo book of our 2010 adventures. The books chronicles our lives last year and encompassed 92 pages of photographs. We were blessed with travel opportunities last year and visited Colorado, Glacier National Park, and The Field of Dreams. I am starting now on 2011 and I also want to start going backwards in time. 2009 included a week in Disney World. 2008 had us in Reno for the National Championship Air Races. If I eventually make it back far enough the books will include our trips to Beijing, Chile and Normandy.

Planned WEBELOS Arrow of Light ceremony and Pack Pinewood Derby - This is one of the activities I am in the process of shedding. I have been with these boys for five years. I have watched them grow up and they are a part of my life. And while I will miss them, running a Cubs Scout den and pack are huge time sinks and I will not be sorry to see the responsibilities go. I will still be minimally involved as M's den leader, but that will be a joy.

Finished the *@# Drivers Course

Statistics You Need if You Have Kids

Less than one year ago, Katie Granju who blogs at Mamapundit lost her 18 year old son to a drug overdose. I have followed her journey since then and read as she has struggled and survived. Hers is a moving story. But go read her blog for yourself. Not only will you cry, but you will laugh. She is a great writer with an amazing life.

A week or so ago, she posted a link that has really made me think. The CDC released a report on drug-induced deaths for 2007.

38,371 drug-induced deaths occurred in the United States in 2007
Rates for males exceeded those for females.
In 2002, rates for whites surpassed those for blacks.

This change occurred as prescription drugs, especially prescription opioid painkillers and psychotherapeutic drugs, were prescribed more widely by physicians.

I couldn't find the statistics, but Katie says that drug overdose now kills more people than gun violence, alcohol or auto accidents.

When my kids spend time with their friends at our home, I am often asked to make sure they wear their seatbelt. Because my husband is a hunter, I am also always asked where the guns are. Are they locked up? No one has ever asked me if I keep my prescription medication locked up. Ever.

Amalgamation #2

Very interesting article on Chief Justice John Roberts in Fortune. More so than any President or House Speaker, he has the power to shape our nation's future.

On the flip side of the court system ... Judges who stay to long.

Oscar nominees have been announced. Of the best picture nominees, I have seen ONE. The Kings Speech. But I intend to see Toy Story 3, The Social Network and True Grit. When they are available on Netflix.

I have been a Republican as long as I can remember. Granted, a moderate Republican. I do not like Sarah Palin. Apparently that makes me a member of the educated, wine drinking, intellectual elite. How badly do I want a Republican in the White House? Not enough to vote for Mrs. Palin. Perhaps that is something the Republican Party should also take under consideration this year.

Huge Change for Our Family

Until a few weeks ago, we had a television set that looked like this:



Yes. We. Did.

Don't see too many of those around anymore. I am not even sure you can buy one. I am thinking about donating it to a museum.

It was a great t.v.

There was nothing wrong with it.

Except that we got one of these:



For free.

Well, with points from AMEX. Yes, my husband travels a lot.

Now, we haven't historically watched a lot of t.v. There really isn't that much on. Most of it is mind numbing carp.

But once you have the t.v., you might as well get the HD cable receiver.

You know, so you can appreciate the one or two PBS documentaries you manage to catch.

And since they have a special, you might as will upgrade to the receiver with the DVR.

Because really, who likes the commercials anyway.

And since you are upgrading so much technology, you might as well add a wireless router to your home. (Yes, we also were a completely wired family up until a few days ago.)

Well. Your son's 6th grade, school issued laptop will need a wireless connection so he can turn in homework.

And as long as you are at the Apple store to purchase the wireless router, why not pick up an Apple TV?

Cause you do love all things Apple.

And hey, Netflix offers a one month free trial. So, since your husband is out of the country (earning more points so we can upgrade to surround sound next Christmas ... it totally trumps the dishwasher) why don't you try it.

Well, I have the answer. You don't do these things because you turn into a t.v. watching lump who never leaves her house. That is why.

I almost called in sick today - to my VOLUNTEER position.

For God's sake people. Don't you know I have 29 shows to watch in my instant queue. I cannot be bothered to stuff envelopes. I don't care how good your cause is.

And I know that I have attended your benefit every year for the past 6 years. But I have to get caught up on my English history and watch The Tudors.

And I found The September Issue. Who recommended that one? It was pretty good.

Pinewood Derby. Sorry. I have to watch the entire first season of Friday Night Lights.

Stop me. Somebody. Tell me the magic of my new t.v. will wear off. Promise me I will tire of Henry VIII. Assure me that the new technology will enhance our lives.

Cause I am addicted to the carp right now.

Amalgamation #1

You know how some words always stick with you? For one reason or another you just like them. Amalgamation is one of those words for me. I like the word. And since an amalgamation is "a process in which things are combined" it seems to fit what I want to do here. I want a place to store links I might want to go back to. I want a place where I can just list things that interest me without really commenting on them or by just minimally commenting on them. Maybe you want to click through and read the stories that also interest me. Maybe you don't. We are all different. That is what makes the world such a beautiful amalgam. Enjoy.

The New York TImes wrote an excellent piece on the new AP courses/curriculum. Interesting since we begin the AP journey next Fall when my 6th grader will be taking all pre-AP courses.

My Dream House

A friend of mine has written a screenplay for a movie about the life of C.S. Lewis. Huge fan. Of both. Watch this space for more info.

Christina Green. My college roommate was best friends with her father.

A Comment on Media and Society

For whatever reason, our world is populated by a small but significant number of psychopaths and sociopaths....Since Freud, our society has suffered from a sort of mental and moral amnesia. We really have come to believe that normalcy no longer exists and that everyone has a phobia or a neurosis. It is not so.

Apologetics for the 21st Century by Dr. Louis Markos

My interpretation. There are more good people out there than we think. The media just focuses on the bad people.

Blindness

Blindness by Jose Saramago is the best book I have ever read.

I feel very strange making that statement. My best friend and bull-shit detector called me on the statement when I said it to him.

"That's like saying the best drink ever, or the best sex ever, or the best ice-cream ever."

Yes. Yes. Yes.

This is the best book I have ever read. Ever.

It may be the best book I will ever read in my life.

It has changed how I view all the books that have come before this one and I am afraid that it will impact my reading for years to come.

It is the first book that I have ever finished and then immediately begun reading again from page one.

This is the first time I have EVER read the ending of a book before I got to the end. I had to. I had to know if what I was going through while reading this book was going to be worth it. I had to know if the emotional highs and lows I was experiencing had an ending I could deal with. And knowing the ending did not change the experience of the book at all.

I said to the same friend that "knowing the ending of War and Peace and what happens to Prince Andre would have changed the experience of that book for me." Knowing the ending of Blindness only allowed me to go on.

What is Blindness? Simply, it is a story of individuals and collective society losing their sight. More deeply, it is a story of people and collective society losing their vision.

The Boston Globe said this book is "A shattering work by a literary master."

Shattering is the word I was searching for as I read this novel.

It is brilliant. It is dazzling. It is staggering. It is shattering.

This is the first time, at least that I can remember, that I felt a physical reaction to written words on a page. I felt pain. I cried. I was emotionally drained. While I was reading, I had people stop me and ask if everything was o.k. They could see the terror and agony and heartbreak on my face. I was shattered.

I must explain that this was not a horror movie terror. This was a visceral terror. A vision of our society at its worst.

Yet, I could find - and it is what kept me going - a shimmer of hope and a crumb of humanity. For this is also a vision of people at their best.

But I don't know if you should read Blindness. There are very few people I would recommend this book too. I know few people who could handle the emotions I endured. Or better said ... there are few people I know who would want to handle the emotions I endured for a book.

Read Blindness only if you are willing to admit what you cannot see.

Many, many thanks to Myla Goldberg and NPR for introducing me to this book through their series "You Must Read This."

Daily

I wake up. I make coffee. I bring a cup to the office and sit at my computer (a Mac) and check my mail and my top sites.

Every morning.

I love my Mac for so many reasons but my favorite feature is in Safari. I can click a square in the top left corner and my 12 favorite sites are graphically displayed. Those with new posts have a lovely blue star in the top right corner. I always know what is new.

What is always on this screen?

Amazon and Scouttrack are there for ease of navigation.

Next are Mental multivitamin, Girl Detective, and 11D. These hve been there the longest. Mental multivitamin has been a steady read for at least 4 years.

Next are Joanne Jacobs and Mamapundit. Katie Granju of Mamapundit became a regular in April or May when she lost her son to a drug overdose. Her story, well-written, has moved me and made me appreciate how I have been blessed.

A recent bookish site addition is Nonsuch Book. She is a little intimidating, but in a challenging way. And she buys more books than anyone I have come across on the web.

Food blogs I read include The Homesick Texan and Gluten-free Girl. Texan is a new find that helps a "yankee" like me cook like I have lived in Texas my whole life. And while I do not have celiac or gluten intolerance, Gluten-free Girl is a wonderful story and has great recipes for anyone.

Rounding out the top 12 are The Ivory Hut and Copy Cat Chic. These are new finds. Copy Cat Chic was added when I thought I wanted to redecorate 4 rooms in my house. It is growing tiresome and will probably be replaced. Ivory Hut is filler right now, but it has potential.

I have a few other sites I really enjoy, but I only check those about once a week.

I can be done in 10-15 minutes. It fits with my live more simply rule for 2011.

Get off the computer. Read (books) more.

Happy New Year 2011

As I take a moment to review 2010 I am filled with gratitude. This year brought more blessings than curses. Those moments I felt despair this year were few and far between. Even the dark clouds had silver linings. I remain ever grateful for my husband and two growing boys. They are alive and healthy and that is all I can ever truly wish for.

I am not one to live in the past. I really do try to live every day in that day without regrets. I believe what I say on my blog ... life has no dress rehearsals. Yet, I also know that there is room for improvement.

I would like to live 2011 more simply. The thoughts that have been wandering through my head were very well put into words by Girl Detective who also quoted what is one of my all time favorite blog posts by Mrs. Mental multivitamin.

I make time for the things without which I could not live -- my family, my work, and my studies. And then I make time for the things among all the rest that will enliven my sense of self; and, of course, this has and always will include involvement with my community. But -- and this is essential -- it will be on my terms, not someone else's.

I have already begun this process. I will be relieving myself of two-thirds of my commitments to Cub Scouts this Spring. I will be doing only the part which I love doing. I have already resigned from the PTA board. I will stop substituting at the boys' school. I will not be a Team Mom for baseball or DI. Because of a run-in with an absolutely crazy person last Spring, I have learned to appreciate my misanthropist tendencies.

In 2011, I want to read more and think more. I also want to gain a little more of an upper hand on my ADD and finish the projects that I start (photo books and de-cluttering here I come). I want to spend more quality time with my friends - the real ones I have learned to appreciate even more this year. I want to take naps and do yoga. I want to learn to make homemade pasta and corn tortillas.

This year, I will make no hard and fast resolutions about the number of books I want to read or a promise to post on this blog more. I won't swear to run a half-marathon or learn to fly the plane. I don't want specifics, just a promise to myself to live more truly. I want to find more time to enjoy my wonderful life and to breathe.

52 (now 53)

A friend posted this on my facebook page. Play along and give me your number in the comments. See my thoughts on this below ...

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses. :)


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

These lists are silly. This one made me feel pretty good.

Who is the BBC to decide which 100 books should or shouldn't be read?

Whether or not I agree with this list, I am proud that I have read (all or parts of) these 52 books. 

Twenty-on have been attempted or completed since college.

I have never even heard of thirteen of these.

I never intend to read six of them.

Four are on my list for next year.

My 11 years old has read 13 of them.

New Year

Already. It is only November, but I have come up with a reading project for next year.

Each month of 2011, I will read that book. You know the one that you were supposed to read in high school or in college and that is referenced and referred to in other classic and modern works of literature, but that just somehow got away from you. Yeah, THAT book. Here are the 12 I have chosen:

Ulysses
Madame Bovary
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Mrs. Dalloway
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Absalom, Absalom!
Moby Dick
Vanity Fair
Invisible Man
Doctor Zhivago
Farewell to Arms

Most of these, by the way, are sitting on my library bookshelf. Two just arrived this week from Amazon.

All of these, except Doctor Zhivago, are on The Novel 100 list, but that is not why I picked them. Interesting to note however, that a number of books that I finished this year are also on the list including, Middlemarch, Great Expectations, Don Quixote, and War and Peace. Some are long time favorites including Huck Finn, Lolita and Pride and Prejudice.

Oh yes, lest I forget, my 11 yo son and I will also be reading The Hobbit. Yet another one that got away!

Hopefully, I will have time to throw in some lighter reading as well. You know, The Atlantic or The Bible? Please tell me you get the sarcasm.

Bad Habit

I have a bad habit.

Ever since I purchased Amazon Prime last year, I buy books without even giving them a second thought. No waiting for them to arrive at the library for me. I don't even have to wait for my total to equal $25 to qualify for free standard shipping. Any book. Any time. Free two day shipping. My latest purchases are due to arrive Tuesday.

Thanks to Girl Detective, I followed a few links to New Century Reading and Nonsuch Books. After reading a few posts I decided I had to have Doctor Zhivago. A few more clicks and I was at Amazon where I could buy that AND Madame Bovary. People buy these books together. So I guess I should too. $40. But free shipping.

But when the hell am I going to read them? Maybe I will wrap them up and put them under the tree. They look like good January books.

The Package

UPS delivered a much anticipated package last night at 6:15 PM. It is now 6:27 AM. My husband finally gave up on all conventional means of opening it. He is in the garage with a hacksaw. No wonder it cost $11.50 to package and ship.