Greetings from Gatlinburg, TN, located in heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s beautiful here despite the rain and I’ve enjoyed seeing my parents (I haven’t see my mother on Mother’s Day for at least 10 years), siblings, in-laws, nieces, and nephews. The kids did a great job on the drive. Even if they hadn’t, it’s just nice being out of the Roanoke Valley.
Although we’ll be away from home for 9 days, I’m planning on getting some good reading in:
I snagged the latest book by Patrick McGrath, Trauma on the way to the checkout desk I was at the library.
The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block, which I received through a trade with another Early Reviewer on LibraryThing.
I picked up The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani for under $5 at Barnes and Noble last week. I’ve been wanting to read this since I read a review by Divia on HistoricalFiction.org.
Finally, I’m finishing up The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir. I’d love to say that I’m loving it, but it’s just okay. No offense to Last Night at the Lobster, but I shouldn’t be looking forward to my next book. I should be savoring this one. Sigh…
Devourer of Books posted this meme earlier today and it was so inspiring to me. We might even come up with a way to make it a friendly, book blogging competition.
We both are fans of LibraryThing and this the list of what at least was once the listing of the top 106 unread books (annotated to match my experience as modeled by Dev):
Asterisk – I own the book
Bold – I’ve read the book - w/link if reviewed
Italics – I’ve started the book
Stricken – I hated the book
Underline – on my current TBR list
Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell *Anna Karenina *Crime and Punishment *Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude *Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion *Life of Pi: a novel
*The Name of the Rose *Don Quixote (read in Spanish, own in English) *Moby Dick *Ulysses *Madame Bovary *The Odyssey *Pride and Prejudice *Jane Eyre *A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
*War and Peace *Vanity Fair *The Time Traveler’s Wife *The Iliad *Emma
*The Blind Assassin *The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway *Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius *Atlas shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
*Memoirs of a Geisha *Middlesex
Quicksilver *Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West The Canterbury Tales
The Historian *A portrait of the artist as a young man *Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
*The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
*The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
*The Poisonwood Bible *1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses *Sense and sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray *Mansfield Park
*One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
To the Lighthouse
*Tess of the D’Urbervilles
*Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay *The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
*Dune
The Prince
*The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
*The God of Small Things
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
*A confederacy of dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything *Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved *Slaughterhouse-five *The Scarlet Letter *Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion *Lolita
*Persuasion
*Northanger Abbey The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
*Gravity’s Rainbow
*The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White teeth
Treasure Island *David Copperfield
*The Three Musketeers
So I own 44
I’ve read 35
I’ve started 2
I’ve hated 2
And 5 are on my TBR list
How do you fare against the 106?
I don’t usually post about my children, but today I cannot help it. My oldest daughter, Emma, took her kindergarten assessment test this morning and my heart is just gushing with pride. She recognized 9 out of 10 rhyming words, knew all of her uppercase letters and 23 of her lower case letters. After being read simple sentences, she was able to correctly identify words such as “rain” in sentence each time. She knew her shapes and could demonstrate 4 out of 10, 6 out of 10, and 9 out of 10. By the end of kindergarten, they want students to score a 24 in regard to their ability to conceptualize words. Today Emma scored 12. The Assistant Principle said, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she started reading over the summer.” Did I mention that my heart is bursting with pride? My eyes are brimming with tears just writing this post. I cannot wait to be reading along with my daughters.
On top of all this, Emma brought home this card that she made in school for Mother’s Day:
What makes it so special to me was the inside (highlighted below):
Does she know me or what? I also like my beauty being compared to a butterfly, but that has nothing to do with this blog…
Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there!!!!
I had forgotten about the tragic accident that struck Taylor University in April of 2006 until happening upon an interview with the Van Ryn and Cerak families on Dateline NBC. This story is incredible and almost unbelievable. The authorities identified the bodies based upon the location of a purse. This shoddy work led to them claiming that the surviving student was Laura Van Ryn. Instead, the survivor was Whitney Cerak. It took five weeks for the truth to come out. When you hear the entire story it breaks your heart for both families.
Grand Rapids is a conservative, Protestant city. There are times that the self-righteousness of some gives Christianity a bad name. Watching Dateline gave me the opposite feeling. It made me glad that there are people of faith like these families. I was especially awed by Lisa Van Ryn, Laura’s sister, who comes face to face with the knowledge that her sister is dead and that another young woman was in her place. Her poise and composure at that time, so as not to alarm the women she was certain was not her sister, was heroic to me. I knew after this show that I had to read the book.
I don’t often read Christian books and memoirs, other than random lives of saints. The last such book I remember reading was back in junior high. The book was entitled Joni and told the story of Joni Eareckson, a young woman who becomes a quadriplegic as the result of a diving accident. She grew up in a devout family, but it was her coming to grips with her disability which led her to a faith of her own. I found Joni’s story inspiring, even if the expression of her faith did not match my own.
Mistaken Identity, which is told from various perspectives and through excerpts from a blog and Laura Van Ryn’s prayer journal, was a different experience. The opening emphasizes that the book was written to glorify God. The faith of both families was definitely at the forefront throughout the book. Most of this did not interfere with the story for me, but there were sections where I felt like I was in the middle of a hard sell. This is a shame because the story alone carries the message they wanted to deliver. For me, actions have always spoken louder than words. Lisa’s interview on Dateline, especially when she spoke of the moment when she realized that she had been caring for Whitney instead of her sister, exuded the strength and calm that her faith brings her. Some of that was lost for me in the book.
Mistaken Identity is not a bad book. It was just self-conscious. In their focused attempt to make God the focus, God was not allowed to reveal himself from within the story. I am glad that I read the book and I look up to Lisa Van Ryn. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things are heroes to me. I wish her well in her pursuit of physical therapy.
I’ve been seeing these a lot lately, so I’ve decided to join some of my favorite book blogging buddies.
Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?
There is a part of me that longs to write a novel. I wrote my first short story in the second grade and I still proudly remember how my mother typed it up - exactly how I spelled everything (I remember because being spelled incorrectly - but I can’t remember how). It was about a lazy cat who almost gets kicked out of the family for not catching mice before he becomes the cat he ought to be. I read it in front of my class. So, I do have several how-to writing guides. I get suckered into them and never get further than about 50 pages. There is one exception. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is incredible.
As a (now former) technical writer, I have bought several manuals of style, etc., that I’ve read at least part of for work. There is one grammar-related book that I’ve bought and am about a third of the way through that is absolutely fabulous and hilarious - and yes, it’s about grammar - Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss. I’m rather behind the curve on this one as it was published a while back now. The good thing is that you can purchase it relatively cheaply at this point. I would highly recommend it thus far. I can’t imagine how the author would critique my blog… Scary. I know I don’t meet her standards.
I am not a fan of Ellen Page. Although I’m in the minority, I didn’t find her performance in Juno very realistic or endearing (I hate that I have even just linked to it’s Wikipedia page…). People at work have attributed this to my age. I thought perhaps my experience of adoption colored my views of the movie as well. Certainly my experience is just that, my experience. Still, even though Emma’s first mother firmly made her adoption plan early in the pregnancy, this was an emotional experience for her, her family, and for us. There was no sarcasm or flippant jokes about her being irresponsible. The only aspects of that movie I found close to ringing true were the scenes where she had to decide whether to continue her adoption plan and after the baby is born - and those were noteworthy only because she was actually acting, not just being herself. They weren’t Oscar worthy.
Imagine my surprise when I ventured on to Pop Candy this evening before leaving work to discover that Ellen Page, who essentially played the same sarcastic young female character in Smart People, has been cast as Jane Eyre for a BBC Films production of all things! Whitney, who loves Page, can’t even see her in this role. Seriously, what are they thinking over there at BBC Films? Jane Eyre doesn’t have a sarcastic bone in her body. Do they have any expectation that Page can pull off ‘mousy’ or, more importantly, sincere?
I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a film or TV adaptation of Jane Eyre, but look at what is already out there. What reason could there possibly be to cast Ellen Page in this role? There is a 1944 version that stars Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, and Elizabeth Taylor. A&E produced a television starring Samantha Morton as Jane. Who could really be more perfect than that?
I have no idea what really makes the film business tick. I’m sure that I’ve misspent many an entertainment dollar in my life and am reaping this as my reward. I would rather be struck blind like Mr. Rochester than even watch the trailer.
I found out about this book from Pop Candy, my favorite pop culture blog written by Whitney Matheson. As soon as I found out what this memoir was about, I had to buy it.. It tells the story of a man’s life and, more specifically, his love life, through his mix tapes. Rob Sheffield sounded just like my husband to me. I bought it for Danny, but I knew that I would eventually read it myself. So, when I found myself without a book I had to read, I plucked this off of the bookshelf having no idea what type of impact it would have on me.
A little background…
I “met” my husband in 1995 on Dreamscape, an Internet talker that required users to enter commands to do or say anything to anyone else. At that time I was obsessed - there is no other word for it as much as I care to deny it - with Michael Stipe. As ZenLauda, I would go on and see how fast I could get everyone to say something - anything - about Stipe. Of course, if someone said something nasty, I excommunicated that person from my persona. One time I brought Stipe up and HoneyPoison said, “Stipe is unripe.” I nearly axed HP, but then I didn’t and I don’t know why. I’d banished others for less. This started a long conversation about R.E.M. and music in general (Danny was in a band called “Ancient Astronauts” in 1989) that continues on to this day. I fell in love with him at an R.E.M. concert in Greensboro in 1995 and I moved to southwest Virginia 8 months later. The rest is history.
The first thing I remember Danny giving me was a mix tape entitled 24 in honor of my 24th birthday. Most of the music on it was new to me and stuff that I still love today - Julian Cope’s “China Doll,” Died Pretty’s “D.C.,” and Miracle Legion’s “You’re The One Lee” were my favorites, but the rest was great. Reading this book made me very nostalgic for that tape. Sheffield’s descriptions of the time and energy he puts into his mixes rings true to this woman made to another mixer. You know that you mean something to a man or woman like that when they make you a mix tape. In fact, one of the first things Danny thought to do after meeting our oldest daughter’s birth mother was to make her a mix tape for when we saw her after Emma was born. Knowing all of what goes into a mix, it’s one of the saddest things ever when a person being gifted with a mix tape doesn’t understand the significance.
Back to the book…
Sheffield grew up in Boston in a world of his own where all outside stimuli filtered into him through music. He loved music like nothing and no one else. From school to Catholic summer camp he tried to impress his peers with his mix tapes or, when necessary, he escaped into them. It wasn’t until he was in college that he made himself break out of his shell. And it is in grad school at the University of Virginia that he met Renee Crist, an Appalachian girl who stole his heart from the very beginning.
When you live in southwest Virginia, it’s not every day that you pick up a book and it starts talking about places you’ve been or places you live. Renee was born in Georgia, but she grew up in Pulaski and attended Hollins College (now University) where I earned my Master’s degree. She lived in Roanoke for a time before heading to Charlottesville, where she met and feel in love with Rob. As he describes when he fell in love with her, the connection to Danny grew even stronger than I ever could have expected:
I squeezed into a booth next to her and we talked about music. She told me that you can sing the “Beverly Hillbillies” theme to the tune of R.E.M.’s “Talk about the Passion.” That was it, basically; as soon as she started to sing “Talk about the Clampetts,” any thought I had of not falling in love with her went down in some serious “Towering Inferno” flames. It was over. I was over.
While in Roanoke, Renee met Danny and hung around in the same circles with him. At one point, she was roommates with Claudia, the wife of Danny’s good friend from high school. While in Roanoke, Renee heard the Ancient Astronauts play “Talk about the Clampetts,” a song Danny, the lead singer, mashed up himself. Danny is responsible for Rob and Renee getting together and, therefore, responsible for this book being written!
Click here to listen to a live performance of “Talk about the Clampett’s” performed by the Ancient Astronauts in 1989:
When we figured out that this book was about Renee Crist (at midnight on a work night - I didn’t end up getting much sleep), Danny went into his closet and pulled out his shoe box of pictures. In that box he found a picture of her with Jimm (with two Ms), the same person who was seeing when she moved to Charlottesville.
After seeing the picture of her at a New Year’s Eve party, this book came alive to me in a way I’ve never experienced before. Not only was it a reminder of the time when I first fell in love with my husband, my reading of Love is a Mix Tape became a couple’s project. It set us off on a mini archaeological dig of Danny’s musical past, and I’ve always wanted to be an archaeologist.
Reading Sheffield’s memoir made me feel very happy to be alive in a world of music and mix tapes. If you love music and have ever made a mix tape - even if you ever just taped songs off of the radio, you will enjoy this book.
It’s May and spring is finally here. I’m in the mood to do some spring cleaning and I thought I might provide my readers with the gift of a new book.
This year I’ve received several Advance Reader’s Copies of books and I’ve reviewed them here at Literate Housewife. Five of them are part of this book give away:
What do you need to do to get one of the free books? If you live in the US or Canada, simply leave a comment to my review of the book(s) you are interested in and let me know why you would like to read it. For each book, I’ll draw a winner at random from all of the comments posted on Tuesday, May 20th. I’ll let the winner know by email. If I get the addresses, I’ll have all of the books in the mail that Thursday or Friday.
This is a win/win situation. My bookshelves will be just that much tidier and you might find yourself with a free book.
When Tracy left a comment that she had a copy of The Lady Elizabeth, the latest novel written by Alison Weir, book lust set in to my reader’s heart fast and furious. Were I the Incredible Hulk, I would have ripped through my clothes and turned green within minutes of reading Tracy’s comment (which wouldn’t really be so bad - green is my favorite color). I read Innocent Traitor last May while I was vacationing at the beach and absolutely loved it. So, I couldn’t stop thinking about the book and how wonderful I am hoping it will be. Thankfully, a merciful 15% coupon arrived in my email from Barnes & Noble and I immediately put it to good use. My very own copy of The Lady Elizabeth will be arriving today. Although I’m about a third of the way through Mistaken Identity, I don’t think I’m going to be able to wait. I’m afraid thoughts of any other book are going to be lost the second I see that package on my door step.
One of the main reason’s I’m curious about this book is to see how I feel about Elizabeth I as a result. Although I love Philippa Gregory, The Virgin’s Lover was not my favorite book in her Tudor series. I also had really been looking forward to Elizabeth: The Golden Age and was sadly disappointed by how boring it was. So much so that I was never able to muster up the motivation to write my review of the movie afterwards. Yet, I’ve enjoyed novels where Elizabeth is not the main character. I’m wondering if this is because I didn’t find Elizabeth that interesting or was it the treatment she received in the book and movie? I’m hoping it’s the later. How can Elizabeth not be an intriguing character?
For the past week it seems as though all it’s done is rain, and I’m without an ARC. Please don’t read that as a complaint, though. I have two on the way: Love Marriage by V.V. Ganeshananthan through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers for April and Songs for the Missing by Stewart O’Nan through Barnes & Nobles’ First Look Book Club. Even if those books weren’t somewhere in the mail, I am still happy to be without an ARC. While I absolutely love getting to read free books (who wouldn’t), there is a special commitment made to read and review them in a timely manner. From the moment they arrive in the mail, they become my first in line to be read. Books I’ve actually purchased sit gathering dust on my bookshelf. So, right now, I feel pretty foot loose and fancy free - and my current choices are proving to be very interesting and very personal.
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield - I bought this book at some point last year for my husband. At that time I bought the book, I knew nothing about the author. I had no idea that the author lived in Charlottesville around the same time as my husband. Last night, after midnight, Danny and I discovered that he knew Sheffield’s wife when she lived in Roanoke!!!! I won’t reveal any more here, because it will be repeated in my review. Suffice to say that I kept saying, “It’s a small f*#!ing world!” over and over again. I’m really excited to write my post about this memoir. It’s going to be a lot of fun!
Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope by the Van Ryn and Cerak families. I remember when the story about this tragically deadly car accident hit the news. At the time, I must have registered that the Van Ryn family was from Grand Rapids, but I was surprised again to hear that familiar accent when I happened upon their interview on Dateline NBC at the end of March. The story was as beautiful as it was heart wrenching. This isn’t typically the type of book I would buy or read, but the hometown connection and the goodness of these people made it impossible for me not to buy.
So, I’m not fretting how long it’s taking Love Marriage to arrive. I’m basking in the glow of my own choices right now.
