the one I read while in a coma.

I just finished The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass.  I'm not sure how.  I read the novel in fits and starts while nursing little Miss Maren.  I read the book in the midst of a 104 degree fever and at all times of day and night.  At one point, it was covered in bits of Raisin Bran and spit-up.  Gross.

Julia Glass is one of my favorite authors.  I love the language she uses in her books.  Words like fortuitously and hyperfastidiously.  She won the National Book Award for Three Junes and I have been smitten with her work since that time.  She writes like Anna Quindlen and Maeve Binchy.  Knows character development and how to spin a tale. 

I really can't in good conscience review this work.  I loved the stodgy old character of Percy Darling, the "Stars Hollow" town of Matlock and the idealistic preschool called Elves and Fairies.   But my head is just not working right now.  This novel is deserving a space on my shelf and another good read someday. 

the one movie I can't wait to see.

I just finished Mockingjay and have to say that I. Loved. It.  Katniss is so real to me.  I get aggravated by her whining (at times) but I adore her stubborn streak.  I can't wait to see her on the big screen!

I listened to an interview with Suzanne Collins on the NYT book podcast.  Turns out she is a screenwriter.  I think that helps explain why her books are so all consuming and action packed.  She has helped write the screenplay for the movie that will begin production in January 2011.  Here's hoping that it will do the books justice and not glorify the violence the book is meant to critique.

There is a lot of heart to this trilogy and Suzanne takes risks making analogies between modern day society and her country of Panem.  I'm an unabashed fan of what Ms. Collins has done with her work.

the one I read on my last day.

Revelation: Today is my last day married w/out children.  It's not that we're having the baby immediately.  Simply, it's Friday of workshop week and I had the day entirely to myself.  From now on, I will be working, with Matt or watching Little M.

So, I relished today.  A decaf latte and peach & cherry crumble at Swede Hollow.  Caught up on my google reader and read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

What a lovely book.  It was deep, funny, compelling and sweet at times.   I was crushed by page 10 when Oscar the dog died and then Alexie completely had me by page 59 with the phrase "emotionally erect."  This man has a way with words that completely draws you in.  My favorite scene is when Arnold Spirit Jr wins the basketball game and realizes what he really lost.  the NYT says that Alexie has mastered YA fiction and I completely agree.

This is the kind of book I would want my teacher to read aloud because it sounds so conversational and engaging.  There are so many themes to discuss: generational poverty and alcoholism on the rez, coming of age and the role of family and fathers.  I fell in love with so many characters despite their flaws and faults: Gordy and Rowdy and Penelope.  I wish I could attend the next book club to discuss them all. 

Really, really good pick Kerri!  The perfect way to spend my last day. 

the one by ayelet.

Ayelet Waldman was on Oprah a few years back.  I saw the episode.  This was before Oprah starting Skyping and her shows got weird.  I have never seen Oprah viewers get quite so upset as when Ayelet sat Oprah's couch.  Ayelet tried to defend her strong belief that she loved her husband (well known author Michael Chabon) more than her four children.  Quite the Oprah controversy.

Ayelet's response to the backlash is her book Bad Mother.  According to Waldman, this book "is about the perils and joys of trying to be a decent mother in a world intent on making you feel like a bad one."  It reminded me a little bit of Anne Lamott's books and was a refreshing read considering all the hippie, attachment parenting books I've been reading lately. 


I have some worries about being a good parent.  That dinner will be Red Savoy's pizza and Subway more often than not.  That the occasional Bachelor episode and KDWB song will invade our home and our little girl's self esteem.  That I won't sew the beautiful Halloween costumes that my mother did or read the prescribed eight books a day that will help my daughter develop a love for learning.  Gasp.


I'm just going to do the best I can to love my husband and my little girl simultaneously.  My husband will have to make up for my mistakes and I'll make up for his.  And, hopefully, when we're all old and gray we'll laugh together about each and every one of them.


Next on deck . . . Mockingjay, Alexie and childbirth. 

the one our book club should have picked.

There's this little book called Little Bee.  It's really incredible.  I'm not supposed to talk about it.  The cover actually admonishes readers from revealing too much of the plot.

People who have read the book comment that it sticks with them.  Some call the book depressing.  They're right.  It is depressing.  But the book is written with an intelligent audience in mind and made me reflect on how often and easily I turn away from what's uncomfortable in our world.  There are violent scenes in this book but fortunately they are not gratuitous.  The telling of this violence serves an educational purpose (unlike in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).  Others may disagree.

This book has been all over the Target shelves and paraded around the internet.  One of my favorite books of the summer.  But according to Chris Cleave (or his publisher) I'm not allowed to talk about it.

A Simple Poem

 


















The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.

I don't think ahead to loss and let it color the fullness.

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I am content in the here, the now.

Be. here. now. Rest in the grace of the world and be free.

Wendell Berry

the one that follows the first.

I just finished the sequel to The Hunger Games.  Love.  Love.  Love.

Suzanne Collins is going to be dirty, filthy rich when they make these books into movies.  The second book was as compelling as the first.  It absolutely drew me in.

Waiting for August 24th now to find out what happens to Katniss and the country of Panem.

my favorite one in a long while.

This is a trilogy I can actually get behind (vs. Twilight & The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo).  A book that totally consumed me and seemed completely novel and unique.  This book should even capture the attention of my 17 yo nephew who hates to read (gasp!) and much prefers audio books.

Normally I am on top of book phenomenons and internet crazes but I feel a bit behind on the Hunger Games series.  My friend Kate reviewed it recently on her blog so I'll refer to her spot on comments:

Kate's Review

I am now racing through the second book and eager for book three (Mockingjay) to release on August 24th.  I would love, love to see Suzanne Collins at Wild Rumpus on Friday, October 1st but may be otherwise occupied at home. Drat!

Info on Suzanne Collins Event

I love when good books find the shelf at just the right time.  Cure your book slump, encourage blanket reading in the dog days of August. 

This book was a winner! 

the one that makes me scared for the kids.

I just finished Deep Economy by Bill McKibben.  This book brought about many realizations.  It also reaffirmed that what I really want is to own a cheese farm in Vermont and live amidst what seems to be a utopia of creative and independent thinking folk. 

Deep Economy brings together the ideas of the environmentalists and foodies and nutritionists and politicians that have scared the beejeezus out of us lately talking about our dismal future.  McKibben plants seed of hopefulness and I was rather intrigued to hear about ideas that are working round the globe in getting people to think smaller and think local.  I loved the year of eating seasonally and locally section and it made me want to re-read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle book.

I'm wishing that my husband would read this book but know that I owe him a read off his bookshelf first.

I wish I could say more.  It was a profound book but perhaps a little too profound for a pregnant lady just trying to beat the heat in August.   Go to http://www.350.org/ if you want to hear more about 10/10/10 - a day set aside to fight against global warming and save our precious Earth.  

Eager for the book club discussion.

the smart one about cancer.

This book got me. 
Eating Pomegranates : A Memoir of Mothers, Daughters, and the BRCA gene.

Lest you think I only read books about food and babies, I devoured something with a bit more depth and purpose.  The author of this book, Sarah Gabriel, was on Kerri Miller's Midmorning show a few weeks back.  She is brutally honest, literary and informative about her experience with breast cancer.  Her mother died of breast cancer at the early age of 44.  Given the significant family history, Sarah decided to embrace genetic counseling and have several proactive surgeries to mitigate her risk.  And yet . . .

What I enjoyed most about this book is how candidly she discusses the family disease.  She discusses the origins of the disease and the first ever mastectomy in 1802.  You learn about the statistics and current developments in treatment through Sarah's eyes.  Although the cancer word is not as dreaded as it once was, people still shy away from it.  They yearn for you to speak positively about the experience and fill them with hope.  It's not what one discusses at the grocery store or at the neighborhood barbecue.

This is a tough book to talk about. It made me think about my legacy, my future and my decisions.  

I can't find the words but luckily Sarah Gabriel does quite well.