Filed under: Family, General, Marriage, books, home, ladyhood, politics, pop culture, technology, words
Did we ever think it would truly be 2007? It still sounds futuristic, or maybe, I’m just confusing “futuristic” with awkward. Really; what are we going to call this first decade?
Is there a better way to spend a few hours before the new year then blogging, listening to good music, and drinking tea made in my new teapot? (Drop blogging, add a cardigan sweater and a pregnant wife, and I’m Dustin Smith! Funny!) I for one (and I know I’m not alone) have loved this respite from the Winter-Smack we usually have. My neice and nephew were here for 10 days, and I think Zach got to see one short snowfall, which is good. Not that he’ll remember, but it’s good for us family to have a memory to hold for him.
Speaking of family, I’ve discovered the great solution for my distaste for my mother: my brother! He drives both of us absolutely nuts, and if he and his family moved here, my mum and I could unite in commiseration. Healthy? No. But…something? Yes. I know I sound heartless in describing my brother like this, but not all are as lucky as some of you are to thoroughly enjoy your siblings. It is what it is, I guess.
A small collection:
The Top Ten Films of 2006 That You’ve Never Heard Of from PopMatters
Top 100 baby names of 2006 (BTW, we had a 36 hour pregnancy scare last weekend. Hallelujah: imagine Rizzo’s joy at the end of “Grease” when I say: I’m not pregnant.)
I read the 9/11 report in graphic comic form this year – it was good AND an idea with merit. Now, an NRA graphic novel? No thanks.
We leave for Mexico in 6 short days, to spend a week with Mr. S’ family on the beach, eating, drinking, and reading. I have a Stephen King book to take with me (I love being scared, esp. in hot weather. For some reason, they seem very dichotomous. To me, terror is cold.) plus Velvet Elvis and Mountain Man Dance Moves.
I’ll end with a meme, and hope you all take the time to at least 1 answer in the comments.
1) What’s the most fun work you’ve ever done, and why? (two sentences max) – I really enjoyed working at church when it involved knowing who people were – I love that.
2) A. Name one thing you did in the past that you no longer do but wish you did? (one sentence max) – Work out regularly!
B. Name one thing you’ve always wanted to do but keep putting it off? (one sentence max) Learn to play the piano.
3) What two things would you most like to learn or be better at, and why? (two sentences max) Makeup application (to share it with other people – this world appreciates beauty so why not learn to be the best at it) and thinking before I speak (no explanation necessary!)
4) A. What three words might your best friends or family use to describe you? Informed, curious, practical.
B. Now list two more words you wish described you…Interesting and wise.
5) What are your top three passions? (can be current or past, work, hobbies, or causes– three sentences max) Pursuing knowledge, existing in and enhancing healthy relationships, and living beyond my origins.
Happy new year!
Filed under: books, college, food, home, ladyhood, music, politics, pop culture, reviews, words
NON-FICTION
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert: This the one this year, my #1. I wanted to eat it, lick it, sleep with it, give it to everyone I know with a wink. I did kiss it at least once. (I am jealous of Naomi who just read it in Italy. She said it was perfect for her there.) There’s food, sex, spirituality, bike riding, travel, an author who calls herself “a tall blond (the color of) shrimp”…nothing to not love.
Michael Ruhlman’s Trilogy- The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef, The Reach of a Chef: Not only did I thoroughly enjoy these books, I learned from them. With a chef brother-in-law and a culinarily-gifted husband, I can now talk the talk of the kitchen because of these books. The author has now co-written many cookbooks, including The French Laundry’s.
Everything I’m Cracked Up to Be: A Rock & Roll Fairy Tale by Jen Trynin: The author had a top hit in the 90s (“I’m feeling gooooood for now!”) and then…nothing. She writes about the whole process and the industry is just sickening, but I found her admirable.
Crossing Myself: A Story of Spiritual Rebirth by Greg Garrett: I am so, so biased about this one – Dr. Garrett was the sole professor to hug me after I returned to college after my dad died. Here he writes about his crash into depression (which happened 2 years after I graduated). His family is mentioned; his writer friends; his colleagues at Baylor; the church we both attended; mututal friends, etc etc. I read this the weekend of my initial grad school class, which was a retreat at a monastary, and it was a God-given book at a God-blessed time.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel: This is how a good graphic novel should be: a great story, engaging people, and emotionally interesting. Tons and tons of people love this book.
Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement by Lauren Sandler: Jewish woman goes to Cornerstone, hangs with pro-lifers, interviews Driscoll, rolls with kids at Patrick Henry College, chills with the David Crowder Band….(essentially she investigates a good portion of the atmosphere of my life) and is never judgemental and even sometimes likes it. Excerpts from this book ran in Salon.com, and began my resurrected interest in Driscoll buffoonery. Sandler did a bang-up job on this book, and I am always glad to have a new author to watch for.
Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford: In another year I would be more enthusiastic about this one, but alongside its competition it teeters between good and great. Nonetheless, there’s some anecdotes in here that are priceless. The best include stories of Mario Batali’s staggering tolerance for alcohol (like 4 magnums of wine per dinner) and Buford hauling a pig up his Manhattan walk-up. Yeah, that’s good stuff.
78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might by Pat Walsh: This is how I like writing advice: bold, straight to the point, even with a tinge of A-hole. This guy’s got it, plus the expertise and non-flowery examples to back it all up. (The antithesis of the Francine Prose book listed at the lower part of this post.)
The Sinner’s Guide To The Evangelical Right by Robert Lanham: I think I laughed out loud more during the reading of this book than any other. It was published pre-Haggard scandal, so that colors the reading of it even more. Like Sandler, Lanham recognizes the “next generation” of good-hearted religion leaders: Wallis, McLaren, and even Rob Bell (our DP even gets a mini shout-out). At the very least, it’s worth a thumb-through at the bookstore for the “Evangelical Hairdo” section towards the back. (I also subscribe to his blog: http:// www. evangelical right.com.)
FICTION
After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell: If I hadn’t read “Eat Pray Love” this year, this would be my favorite. It’s definitely my favorite fiction book of the year. A completely surprising find from a Zoe Heller interview (she wrote the book that the movie “Notes on a Scandal” is based on); Heller mentioned O’Farrell, and this book was O’Farrell’s highest-rated on Amazon, so there I went. It knocked me out. I finished it on the couch, while Mr. S was cooking dinner, and I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but he did have to come in and check on me at one point.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: I read this after seeing a quote from it on PostSecret (Googling the quote to reading way too many profiles on MySpace to find the source), and I am so glad I did read it. It’s a YA (young adult) award-winner, deservingly so. The story takes place in the early nineties, so the music references are fun, but mostly it’s the main character’s experiences with depression that make this good. (It really should be under “non-fiction”, but Chbosky took the correct, non-James Frey route.) I bawled and bawled while reading this and loved every minute.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story: A Novel by Ned Vizzini: Another YA, another depression memoir masked as fiction. This book tackles 1 of my 3 greatest fears (being admitted to a mental hospital) and makes (mostly) everyone there sound normal.
The Ruins by Scott Smith: A spring break trip gone awry. I read this with my hair hanging over the back of the couch, and I had to move it because I got paranoid at something coming up and grabbing it. It’s not a terribly intelligent read, but it got me plowing through paragraphs of descriptions, which I usually skip. I love me a scary book, and this one did the trick.
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin: Another winner from the author of the reading at our wedding AND my catalyst to get my butt in grad school. It’s YA, but a little sexy for anyone younger than 16 IMHO.
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, Material World: A Global Family Portrait, and Women in the Material World by Peter Menzel et al: Absolutely the most inspiring, damning, interesting, and entertaining books we read together this year. The first one (in the list above) gave us the impetus to try guinea pig at a street fair on Lake Street; all of them – I sincerely believe – made us better global citizens. Really good to read with kids.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
The Accidental: A novel by Ali Smith: Imagine the most infuriating thing about your (my) favorite tv show (Why the poo don’t they ever talk to each other?), then put it in an over-hyped British novel. That is The Accidental.
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill: I am too Midwestern, too pratical, too “pull-yourself- up-by-the-bootstraps” for this trainwreck-snowball-havin’-it-oh-so-hard FICTION story. It made me tired. I much prefer my hard-knock lives expressed in a memoir.
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose: “Hi, I’m Francine Prose. I have a lot of writer-ly friends. Do you know John Doe and his work? Oh my goodness, he is so talented. Fab-u-lous! Say, here’s a writing rule. Commas, commas! Here is how my buddy John did it. Comma fabulousity! Twitter twitter, I love him, he’s Fantastic!” Rinse. Repeat. Barf. (Good cover, though.)
The Three Incestuous Sisters: An Illustrated Novel by Audrey Niffenegger: I know us LLTTY (Ladies Love Time Traveler’s Wife), but this was seriously mediocre at best. The story is decent, but her drawings have a certain “post-menopausal-woman-discovering-herself-through-art” bent to them. Ya know what I mean?
100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed by Melissa Panarello: Here’s my naivete: I wanted a sexy book to read on my honeymoon. I got porn.
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With that, I’m probably going to break from blogging for at least a week or so. I miss you all, and would rather see you than blog for you. Merry merry, and hope to see you soon.
