Books to Drool Over

Welcome to Books to Drool Over, in which I share the cookbooks that have struck my fancy over the past month.

This month I'm going to share some of our favorite kid cookbooks, one that we own, and two that we've gotten out of the library again and again. But first, I have to show you this one so I can take it back to the library:

The Ex-Boyfriend Cook Book: They Came, They Cooked, They Left. I've never really had an ex-boyfriend so I have no idea why this book appealed to me--I guess because I like the social aspect of sharing recipes. The stories in it are funny and at times a little disturbing, and the pictures are quirky.

Will I use it? Some of the recipes looked yummy . . . until I read the stories behind them. Frankly, reading about Donald's shroom incident and the cat giving birth on the author's stomach turned my stomach enough that I'm surprised she could ever eat enchiladas again, much less his recipe. So, back to the library this one goes, untested.

My mother-in-law got Kids Can Cook for my oldest son a few years ago. She's legally blind, and I don't think she even noticed it was a vegetarian cook book. My son (who is a big fan of the carnivorous fare) hardly notices, either.

Do we use it? There are recipes for cookies in here he makes over and over again, and he's enjoyed making some of the other things, too. The recipes are clear enough for him to follow with no help from me, and let me tell you, there's nothing sweeter than a cookie that starts with "Can I make cookies?" and ends with, "Here, Mom. Want one?" with very little work in between. We haven't tried the recipe for vegan cheese sauce, but I think we will because both boys love the Mac & Chreese they get at their vegan friend's house. Best of all, anything in this cookbook is healthy enough that I feel good about our family eating the results of his labors. Cookies included.

Okay, these Star Wars cookbooks are silly, and we first checked them out because Ben was a Star Wars fan who wasn't allowed to watch any of the movies because he was five and we were mean like that. But I'm here to tell you that Yoda Soda is one of the most delicious drinks we've ever made (it has lime sherbet, lime juice, and Ginger Ale, among other things). The pictures are hilarious, complete with Star Wars action figures rappelling off the food, although they can occasionally be misleading. Evan was very excited to make Opee Sea Crunch, until he realized the picture was showing fried fish instead of a cookie or bear claw. And the Darth Double Dogs are cool-looking (like a double light saber) but two foot-long hot dogs for each biscuit center? Who's going to eat all that?

Do we use it? From the first Star Wars cookbook, we made the Yoda Soda, Greedo's Burritos (which were quite good if I remember right), Tie-Fighter Ties, and the Skywalker Smoothie. From Star Wars cookbook two we have plans to make Pit Droid Pizza, Protocol Droid Pasta (with a bread topping that looks like C3PO!) and possibly the Nabooli Forest (it's basically tabouli, with celery stalks sticking straight up out of it to make trees).

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Loved the flyleaf blurb on this John Boyne book:

The story of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about.If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn’t a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter such a fence.

That said, starting a book with literally no idea of anything about it turns out not to be the best strategy for me. I like an inkling of time and place. Spending the first dozen pages of the book going, "Okay, I got it, it's Germany! But wait: is it war-time Germany? Which war?" impedes my entrenchment in the Land of Make Believe. Add to this the fact that young Bruno gets the names of people and places wrong--which was a cute device, until he saw it written down and still wouldn't share the proper name with the reader. Then I was annoyed.

Bruno annoyed me quite a bit, come to think of it. In fact, I was livid with him a couple of times. This isn't necessarily a bad thing--his naivety is one theme of the story, and while it protects him, in a sense, from the anti-Semitism that surrounds him, it can also make him unintentionally cruel and callous. In an era where many Americans prefer not to look past their front yards, there's an important message in this story where a child is blind to the prison camp that's literally in his own front yard.

The Soundtrack: I chose 1921, from The Who's Tommy because these lyrics kept running through my mind when I was writing this review: "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it! You won't say nothing to no one never in your life. You never heard it. Oh, how silly it all seems
Without any proof.and because of the haunting last words, "What about the boy?" Listen to it in the sidebar.

Life Gets in the Way

Our family took an unexpected trip to the Oregon Coast with friends this weekend, and had a great time digging in the sand and climbing on the large rocks at the beach. The beach house turned out to be much more plush than expected. My friend, who is normally The Most Laid Back Mom Ever, transformed into Just a Regular Mom as soon as she saw the furniture and the light, fluffy carpet in the house her former client (who used to be the Milwaukee Brewers' manager, back when I lived in Wisconsin!) had loaned us for the weekend. She made everyone take off their shoes in the house, and banished wrestling on the king-sized bed. It was great.

Unfortunately, we had to leave at 7:30 Sunday morning for the 3-hour drive home to get to church on time--which is sort of funny for Unitarians, who have no guilt about spending a Sunday morning going for a hike or marveling at the magic of tide pools. But I had a class of 8th and 9th graders to teach, and Ben's 6th grade class was filling orders for composting worm bins so he wanted to be there to help with the drilling. Sunday night Ben and Chris had a father-son class and Evan came and helped me at the ticket table for the Homeschool Prom.

When Chris told me Monday morning that I was turning the pages of my book too loudly for him to make the pain of his sinus headache go away, I immediately headed to the drugstore for sinus meds for him. Figured I'd better get the boys out of the house for at least part of the day so he could rest enough for me to make it to my rehearsal that night, so we went to a friend's house for the afternoon and I never did get to the end of my book.

So, if you've come here for the blog tour of Joanna Scott's Follow Me, allow me to direct you to reviews on S. Krishna's Books, Medieval Bookworm, and Bermuda Onion's Blog (she has a giveaway, also, as does Red Lady's Reading Room) along with many others. [Please let me know in comments if you'd like a link to your tour post included here]. I could have managed to post a brief summary of the book and not much else, but that's not me. Do check back for a full and honest review of Follow Me, coming soon!

On Aging Gracefully (plus a giveaway!)

I've never been one to spend a lot of time on my looks. When I first tried make-up as a teenager I felt like I was pretending to be someone I wasn't. (This was in the days of blue eyeshadow...) And I didn't want to waste time trying to make it look right. I just wanted to get up and do the basic shower and deodorant, run a brush through my hair and be on my way. A good haircut, to my mind, is one that looks halfway decent without requiring styling. When my big sister put highlights in her hair I scoffed, "I'll never dye my hair."

Lesson learned: never say never. Also, never scoff at your big sister. She doesn't forget a thing.

Undeniably in my forties now, I've truly never felt better, but my perspective on certain things has changed. I still don't style my hair, but could I maybe stop it from thinning so much? Still don't want to wear make-up, but I now accept the need to moisturize. And if I'm going to moisturize every morning, might it be a good idea to find a product that also evens my skin tone? And, what the heck is my skin tone, anyway? I stopped reading those articles in Teen magazine when I was 15.

And also, fashion. Help! When I was younger I knew what was in, and I either wore it or didn't. Now I know what's in, but if I wear that I'll look ridiculous. How are forty year old women supposed to dress these days? Not like my mom did at forty, that's for sure. (Now a lovely seventy-something, Mom wouldn't be caught dead in those clothes either.) When I shop, I see skinny teen clothes and old-lady-on-a-cruise-ship clothes. I don't see a clothing section that reflects who I am.

Here are two books that offer different perspectives on aging beautifully without resorting to drastic measures like plastic surgery.

Bobbi Brown's Living Beauty adds quotes from and lots of pictures of real-looking women in their forties and up. There's also a chapter on dealing with menopause, and another on late-life pregnancy (not to be an issue chez Worducopia, I trust). The sections on eating right and clothing choices are brief, while more of the 204 pages are allotted to those fun "before and after" makeover pictures and problem-solving tips for things like darkness under the eyes, uneven skin tone, and droopy eyelids.

Charla Krupp's How Not to Look Old deals with similar issues but with a no-nonsense "You don't want to wear that, darling," tone that readers will either find refreshingly honest or mildly judgmental, depending on their own perspective. Krupp has been Beauty Editor for Glamour magazine, and offers specific advice: lists of clothes that look dated and "forbidden fashion items for every woman past the age of thirty;" products for everything from skin care to tooth whiteners; and three levels of interventions for various beauty issues. Both of these books prominently feature women of different shades and ethnic backgrounds but How Not to Look Old gives more specific advice for women of color.

So, what kind of time do you spend on your beauty routine, and has that changed as you've gotten older? Do you care about looking chic or hip? Does your mom/aunt/grandma/daughter?

All comments about this topic (hint: Do you want a free book isn't the topic) will be entered to win one of these books! (if you're interested in one and not the other, let me know). Hachette Book Group is offering three copies of each, to readers --or their moms, wives or grandmas!--with U.S. or Canadian mailing addresses (sorry, no P.O. boxes, please). Winners will be chosen by random drawing on May 4th.

The World of Oscar Wao--the Dominican Republic

The question is this: Choose a country or region and tell us a little bit about it, including, of course, an author or two who hail from there, and you can add a link to your response here.

The question was inspired by my listening to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which takes place in the U.S., but both the author and his characters are of Dominican descent. As I said in the initial post, my lack of knowledge was interfering with my enjoyment of the book. So, I did a little digging and here's what I found out:

The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. It was inhabited before being "discovered" by Christopher Columbus, but unfortunately the native Taino population was completely wiped out by disease and slavery. The Spanish (and the French, in what would become Haiti) then brought thousands of African slaves to replace some of the 400,000 natives who had died. The Dominican Republic gained independence from Spain in 1864.

Here it is, just south and a little east of Florida, U.S.A.:

View Larger Map

-Junot Diaz (pictured at right) educates Oscar Wao readers a bit about former leader Trujillo at the beginning of the book. [I had mixed feelings about this--on the one hand, I should know this stuff. On the other hand, the book is long and it is fiction, where I prefer to have relevant background info dropped in where it fits with the characters and plot. I wanted the story to get going. I'm halfway through the book now and I'm still not sure the story has quite started. I think it has.]

But I was talking about President Trujillo. He was this horrible, power-hungry guy who ruled the D.R. for 30 years. Lonely Planet says, "Though he was himself partly black, Trujillo was deeply racist and xenophobic,"--you know, I'd say ordering 20,000 Haitians "exterminated" takes racism to a psychotic level, but maybe that's just me.

As for my initial question of what the characters might look like, you can see from the photos along the side that Dominicans are as varied as Americans in appearance. They are, from top to bottom: Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Drown, Julia Alvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, and Sammy Sosa, one of the all-time nicest pro baseball players ever. Even at the height of his career, he never failed to blow kisses to his mom whenever he was caught on camera.o

I added a Dominican American song to the soundtrack in my sidebar. Here's Donde Estan Esos Amigos, by Chaval.

Flygirl--Sherri Smith (Book Review)

Ida Mae Jones learned to fly from her father before he died; now her dream is to get her pilot's license. That dream must be shelved when the U.S. enters World War Two following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But when her older brother goes off to war and Ida Mae learns of an opportunity to help by flying planes with the Women Airforce Service Pilots, she knows she can't pass up the opportunity.

Even if it means forging her pilot's license. Even if it means not mentioning the fact that she's not exactly white. "Passing" isn't unheard of in Ida Mae's world, but, as Ida Mae learns, it leads down a road that's not as easy to follow or to backtrack from. Can she really be herself with new friends if they can never meet her darker-skinned family? And who is she really flying for--her brother, her country, or herself?

This book is fabulous in its depth and character development. In many ways it reminded me of Christine Fletcher's Ten Cents a Dance, another YA historical novel set on the homefront during World War Two. They're very different books, but both feature strong female young women who are so drawn to something that they go against their mothers' wishes to do it. Both protagonists walk a fine line between two worlds and end up in over their heads. Both risk losing their sense of identity in a world that's foreign to them. Both books offer a historical perspective with contemporary appeal, and neither one shies away from the racism that underlies so much of what happened during that era.

Sherrie Smith is the author of three additional YA books. More information about Smith and her books (including discussion guides) can be found on her website, SherriLSmith.com. There's also a Myspace page for Ida Mae!

The soundtrack: When Ida walks into the Avengerette with her friends (past the sign that says Whites Only), the song Dream a Little Dream of Me is playing. I decided to use this rendition, by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

Alpine America--Don Mellor and Olaf Soot (book review)

Coffee table books are so much fun to look through, but often they have a lot of pretty pictures without a lot of substance. Alpine Americas definitely has its share of pretty pictures--photographer Olaf Soot captures enough gorgeous vistas throughout the book to make a dozen calendars. But the essays that make up the balance of the book offer perspective on the widely varied cultures and regions that are connected on a deep, geological level.

The mountain range spans the length of the globe, from the Arctic, down through North and South America, to Antarctica. Mellor and Soot start with Arctic peaks and skies, and an article about the phenomenon of mountain climbing as a hobby. Moving further south, these upper elevations become populated, and both photos and essays move into the realm of local culture and how it interacts with environment.

Olaf Soot is a multi-faceted fellow. As well as being a photographer, he's the engineer behind one of the Cirque du Soleil shows and several theme park attractions. Don Mellor is a mountain climbing guide, chiefly in the Adirondacks, and has written practical climbing guides in addition to another collaboration with Soot, Adirondacks Alive.

For more information about Alpine Americas check out your local bookstore or the book's website.

Readathon Wrap-up

Any guesses on how long I lasted after turning out the lights last night?

I woke up again at 4:30 and thought to myself, "I could turn on the computer, do the last mini-challenges, maybe read another few pages, and say I made it through the whole thing with a 4-hour nap in the middle!"

Then I thought, "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

Total pages read: 689, that's $68.90 for GrowingGardens.

Here's the survey requested by the wonderful folks who pulled this thing together:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? The hour when I was trying to pull a stubborn splinter out of my son's foot. At one point I asked him, "Can I read during this?" (He said no).
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The books I read kept me engaged but if I had it to do over I'd save The Boy in the Striped Pajamas for another day.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? No, it was great!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Twitter!
5. How many books did you read? See #6
6. What were the names of the books you read?
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (complete)
Flygirl (complete)
The Ranger's Apprentice, book 3 (last 2 chapters)
The Ranger's Apprentice, book 4 (first 5 chapters)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (first 4 chapters)
First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria (first 6 1/2 chapters)
7. Which book did you enjoy most? I read Ranger's Apprentice out loud to the whole family so we were all snuggled on the couches laughing together--that was my favorite reading experience of the day. But Flygirl was my favorite of the books.
8. Which did you enjoy least? Probably Oscar Wao, but I did enjoy listening to it.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Just to know how important you are to the process. The comments here were great, of course, but also, I didn't want to visit blogs yesterday because I knew it would distract me from reading, so it was good to know there were folks picking up the slack.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I definitely want to read again!

Readathon Update, midnight

This will be my last update until a wrap-up after the Readathon ends, because my plan now is to turn out the light and "rest my eyes" while listening to Oscar Wao. Yeah, I know, I'll fall asleep doing that, but I'm hoping to get in another hour before that happens.

I forgot to bring my page numbers upstairs with me, so I'll do my final numbers in the morning as well. It's been a great day (well, apart from that splinter fiasco) and while I didn't get as many pages read as some people (okay, I may be in the running for least number of pages read) or as many hours in, I'm declaring it my own version of successful readathon!

Readathon Update, 10:00 p.m.

Well, the evening didn't go as planned. After a nice dinner break, I read a bit more and we all started choosing songs on Napster for our music night. Then my 8 year old announced that he didn't want to do family music night after all (his own tradition!) because his foot hurt too much to dance.

I took at look at the foot and found a big ole honking splinter that he's been walking on all day hoping it would go away. So, we set about taking it out.

Oh, the screams! The sobbing! The accusations of child abuse! Luckily we had the curtains wide open so that any concerned bystander could peek inside to see that, far from than beating the child, I was holding him and stroking his head while his dad gently tended to the foot. 45 minutes later, the splinter was out and the boy was unhappily eating ice cream.

Then I took him upstairs to collapse into his bed and held him some more. Funny faces and faux mind-reading games cheered him up a bit. He had a late night last night, so I'm sure he'll be asleep in moments, if he isn't already.

All this to say: I finished Flygirl (finally!!!) but I'm not going to do my page count, etc., until the next update because I really want to get back to reading. Just as soon as I check on that sweet, sad boy one more time.

P.S. I meant to say thank you! For all the comments all day, that is. I feel so . . . you know . . . cheer-led!

Readathon Update, mid-event survey

The Readathon is more than half-way done! I'll be stopping long before the end (5 a.m. my time) because I have to lead a class tomorrow morning and things go better when the teacher isn't a zombie.

1. What are you reading right now? Still working on Flygirl.

2. How many books have you read so far? One full book, pieces of several others

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I think First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria is next for me, and I've heard it's funny so I'm looking forward to that.

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Just going to bed earlier than usual.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I've been pretty lucky so far, but I'm taking a break in a few minutes for dinner with the family and a Saturday night dancing tradition started by my 8 year old a few weeks ago.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How fast it's gone by!

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Not that I can think of, it's been awesome.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Can't think of anything yet.

9. Are you getting tired yet? My brain is starting to feel a little mushy. The dinner/dancing breaks will do me good.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Audiobooks were a great way to start the early morning, and have been great for giving my eyes a break, though it's slower and feels a little bit like cheating. And reading aloud to my family has kept them from feeling ignored. I won't win any prizes for most books or pages read, but I don't care about that part of it.

Pages read since last update: 83
Running total of pages read: 563
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1 hour
Running total of time spent reading: 10 1/2 hours

Readathon Update, 5:00 p.m.

Well, my reading has been constant since the last update, but going slowly because my kids wanted to start the next Ranger's Apprentice book with me. I'm glad to involve them in my reading in whatever way they're interested (neither of them is excited about reading to himself today), even if it means I don't get as much read. After 5 chapters they've gone outside to skateboard and I can get some serious reading in while Chris makes dinner. I'm looking forward to getting back to Flygirl.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Flygirl and Ranger's Apprentice, book 4
Total number of books read so far: Still have only finished the one!
Pages read since last update: 131
Running total of pages read: 480
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 3 1/2 hours
Running total of time spent reading: 9 1/2 hours. Wow, really?
Mini-challenges completed: Not completed yet, but I'm heading over right now to join Bookcrossing for Debbie's mini-challenge. I'm really excited to see this challenge because I've been meaning to join Bookcrossing for a while. So, here I go!

Readathon Update, 1:30 p.m.

My kids came home from their sleepover, happy but tired, so after they'd satisfied themselves that there was nothing compelling on TV, we sat down together and finished the last two chapters of Ranger's Apprentice Book Three: The Icebound Land. We have Book 4 all ready to start, maybe later this afternoon, but for now I'm switching back to Flygirl.

Title of book(s) read since last update:Portions of The Icebound Land, Oscar Wao, and Flygirl
Total number of books read so far:1
Pages read since last update:36 (reading aloud goes much more slowly!)
Running total of pages read:349
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1 1/2 hours, most of it audio or reading aloud
Running total of time spent reading: 6 hours
Mini-challenges completed:Love Your Library mini-challenge, below.


Love Your Library mini-challenge:

1. What is the name of your local library? What city is it located in?
Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon.
2. How often do you go to the library? If you're a regular, do the staff know you?
We go about once a week, sometimes twice. My husband works at the downtown branch (not the one we usually go to) so some of the staff know me from that.

3. Do you browse while you're there or just pick up items you have placed on reserve?
Gotta browse!
4. What is your favorite thing about your local library?
It's hard to choose one favorite thing, because we're lucky enough to have a large, active well-supported library system. If I had to pick one thing, though, I'd probably pick the amazing selection of books, DVDs, etc. I can get almost anything there, or if they don't have a book I can get it on inter-library loan.

Readathon Update, noon

Went for a walk, listening to Oscar Wao along the way. I didn't feel like bringing a camera for the mini-challenge, but it's a gorgeous day out and everybody and their dog is outside. It felt great to let my eyes do some distance-focusing for a change!

Title of book(s) read since last update:Oscar Wao
Total number of books read so far: 1 and several pieces
Pages read since last update: 57
Running total of pages read: 313
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1 1/2 hours
Running total of time spent reading: 4 1/2 hours
Mini-challenges completed: Kind of completed the hour 7 challenge, although I didn't take pictures.

I'm going to listen to a little more Oscar Wao while fixing lunch, then I need to charge my mp3 player so I'll switch back to Flygirl. Also: the kids are on their way home.

Readathon Update, 10:30 a.m.

Title of book(s) read since last update:The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Total number of books read so far:1
Pages read since last update:152
Running total of pages read:256 (Thanks to Nymeth and Wordlily's help, I found out I started on page 30 of Oscar Wao and stopped at page 134)
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1 1/2 hours
Running total of time spent reading: 3 hours
Mini-challenges completed:Jodie's and Bart's (but I only got 3 of the covers for Bart's) and for Sarah's funnies you-tube challenge I'm currently watching the Brotherhood 2.0 Vlog posted by Drea, and I posted this one that makes my kids crack up every time they see it:

Readathon Update, 8:55

For Jodie's mini-challenge, I attempted to recreate the character from Flygirl, by Sherrie S. Smith. I'm hoping to get to this book later today. It's about a girl who serves with the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War Two.




I've been doing mini-challenges and taking a shower this past hour. Have only read 12 pages of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Back to my book!

Readathon Update, 7:30

OK, I might have fallen asleep a little bit in the middle of Chapter 3, because that last hour zipped by pretty fast and I found myself suddenly thinking "Who the heck is Belly?" (The chapter is about Oscar's mom as a girl)

Title of book(s) read since last update: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Total number of books read so far:
Pages read since last update: Just finished chapter 3. Still looking for someone to help me with page numbers, since I'm listening to an audiobook.
Running total of pages read:
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 1 1/2 hours, minus about 2 minutes.
Running total of time spent reading:
Mini-challenges completed: Going to attempt one right now.

I'm ready to move on to something else, so after the mini-challenge I think I'm going to read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

Readathon begins...

I'm up.

I've been listening to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Diaz since 5 a.m. Audio books make it hard to keep track of pages! If anyone has a paper copy of this book, can you tell me what page it is where Oscar goes to Santa Domingo to stay with his abuela, near the beginning? That's where I started, near the end of the first hour of audio.

Going to lie down and listen with my eyes closed a little longer. I promise not to go back to sleep.

Edit: Mph, just noticed I'm supposed to do an introductory thing.

Where are you reading from today?So far, my bed.

3 facts about me …
1. My husband and I learned to salsa dance last night.
2. Learned that after 15 wonderful years of marriage and 10 years together before that, we still can't read each other's minds on the dance floor.
3. My 2 kids slept at a friend's house last night. I didn't plan this for the Readathon but it's nice not to worry about waking them up right now.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? 14

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? Well, I'd like to finish The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, since it's overdue at the library. Other than that, not really. Just to keep reading.

Roll Call: Around the World

For this week's C.O.R.A. Diversity Roll Call, let's travel around the world together! Choose a country or region and tell us a little bit about it, including, of course, an author or two who hail from there.

My inspiration for this idea: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Dominican-born author Junot Diaz. I started reading this book months ago and couldn't get into it, but I keep hearing how great it is so I decided to try it on audio to kick off the Read-a-Thon tomorrow morning. Hoping to start the Read-a-Thon with new material, I've been listening to get to the point where I left off (about fifty pages in), and last night it struck me why I couldn't get into the book: without knowing the history of the Dominican Republic, much of the introductory narrative was confusing to me. I couldn't even picture the characters. Diaz himself is fairly light-skinned and so I was picturing Oscar looking like him, but then the narrator keeps calling him the n-word (in a friendly way, as in, "Dude"), which mystified me. My husband pointed out that my favorite Chicago Cub, Sammy Sosa, is Dominican and rather dark. Maybe Oscar looks like him, only fatter.

So, for this week's Roll Call I'm going to do my homework on the Dominican Republic and share it with you between now and next Friday. I hope you'll do the same, with a part of the world or foreign-born author that intrigues you!

Ready....set.....read-a-thon!

On Saturday, I'll be reading for as much of 24 hours as I can, for the 24-hour Read-a-Thon. (It'll probably be more like 18 hours). I'm reading for charity, donating 10 cents to GrowingGardens for every page my family reads. Here's some info about them:

GROWINGGARDENS gets at the root of hunger in Portland, Oregon. We organize hundreds of volunteers to build organic, raised bed vegetable gardens in backyards, front yards, side yards and even on balconies. We support low income households for three years with seeds, plants, classes, mentors and more. Our Youth Grow after school garden clubs grow the next generation of veggie eaters and growers! Through Learn & Grow workshops and work parties, we teach gardeners all about growing, preparing and preserving healthful food while respecting the health of the environment.

I don't have much of a garden myself, because we don't have the sun or the patience to grow much here, but it's my goal to find some shade-tolerant veggies (lettuce, maybe? berries?) to grow this summer. I love this idea, though, of teaching people to grow their own food and/or helping them with the resources to get started. Imagine the empowerment of going from not having enough to eat, to having enough veggies to share with the neighbors!

If anyone else wants to pledge with me, I'd be happy to pass along donations to GrowingGardens or you can donate on their website. If you're local, they also accept volunteer help. I know for a fact they don't want my help, unless they're looking for an example of What Not to Do. So, I'll give them my money instead!

Now, as to what I'll be reading, I was going to take a picture of my book stack, but I can't find the cord that connects my camera to the USB port of my computer! I'm hoping my husband knows where it is so I can post the picture on Read-a-Thon day, at least. For now, I'm just going to post a list.

Downloaded audiobooks:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri's

One of those will start me off at 5 a.m on Saturday. Once I'm ready to open my eyes, I'll be choosing from the following books:

From My Review Pile:
First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria (which I keep wanting to call Love in the Time of Malaria so please somebody correct me if I do that in the review!) by Eve Brown-Waite
Sweet Mandarin by Helen Tse

Graphic Novels:
Janes In Love by Cecil Castelucci
Aya by Marguerite Abouet
Freddy and Me by Mike Dawson

From My Library Shelf:
Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Flygirl by Sherrie Smith
ADHD and Me by Blake Taylor
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
My Life As a Rhombus by Varian Johnson

Think I can get them all read in 24 hours? Ha! But at least I have a lot to choose from!

Or I may just toss them all to the wind and pick up the copy of John Green's Looking for Alaska that I won from Fizzy Thoughts a few weeks ago. I'll be posting updates throughout the day on Saturday to let you know what I'm reading, how many pages I've read, and what distractions have kept me from actually reading during the read-a-thon.

And if you're interested in signing up, head on over to the Read-a-Thon site for more info!

The Housekeeper and the Professor--Yoko Ogawa (Book Review)

I'm not a big math fan. I mean, I'm not anti-math, but it's a means to an end, for me--stellar for balancing a check book or doubling a recipe, but a thing of beauty? A reassuring constant in an ever-changing world? Not so much.

Maybe I just need to make friends with more math geeks. It works for the nameless Housekeeper, who learns to delight in math as she becomes friends with the professor she keeps house for. Math has become a constant companion for the Professor, since a car accident thirty-five years ago that caused his short-term memory to re-set itself every eighty minutes. Needless to say, this can be a barrier to making new friends. He has to write down "the new Housekeeper," with a little sketch, on a slip of paper he pins to his suitcoat so he'll understand who the Housekeeper is when she arrives each morning. And each afternoon when her son arrives from school, the Professor dubs him with the same nickname, day after day.

Stephen Snyder's translation from author Yoko Ogawa's Japanese flows beautifully, while maintaining a Japanese flavor. Parts of the narrative posed complicated challenges--in one segment, for example, the Professor helps the housekeeper's son come up with a palindrome for a homework assignment. Editor David Rogers said, during a Twitter bookchat, "Palindromes are untranslatable, so we worked with Ogawa to invent a new one. Actually, the original palindrome was (in phonetic Japanese) "reito toire," which translates 'frozen toilet.'"

The new palindrome? "I prefer pi."

I don't normally announce how I receive a book, but this was so fun I had to share: I never would've read this if I hadn't won it through Picador's Weekly Book Club on Twitter. For the next one (this Friday, probably around mid-day Eastern Time), author Augusten Burroughs will be on Twitter to discuss A Wolf at the Table. Even without having read the book, that should be interesting!

The Soundtrack: First, a quote from the Professor, as he explains the history of the concept of zero:

"A ruler begins at zero. All you have to do is line up the edges of what you want to measure with the zero, and the ruler does the rest. If you started with 1, it wouldn't work. So it's zero that allows us to use a ruler, too."

As soon as I read this passage (the full section is too lengthy to quote here) I got the Schoolhouse Rock song My Hero Zero in my head. I prefer the more modern version by The Lemonheads, so that's the one I put in my Soundtrack, but for nostalgia's sake here's the original cartoon as well.

TSS: Poetry Month

I decided to focus on reading more poetry for a mini-challenge, without even realizing the timing worked out so that the mini-challenge led me right into National Poetry Month. I love when life converges on itself that way. Anyway, I've been listening to more poetry.

I also went to a talk on Tuesday by Sage Cohen, who has a new book out called Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry. Sage firmly believes that poetry should be enjoyed by everyone and that we cheat ourselves by deciding we're not "good enough" to write poetry. I can't wait to read her book, because I do like writing poetry but I don't know enough to be able to tell whether any of mine are any good. Sage's point is to write them anyway. I like that.

In that spirit, I've been working on a poem about my kids and my old cat who was very ill last week and spent all day every day at the vet getting IV fluids to save her kidneys. The cat is much better now, though not out of the woods completely. The poem, on the other hand, may be dying a slow and neglected death. Time will tell.

This week's C.O.R.A. Diversity Roll Call is about poetry as well. The full post and Mr. Linky can be found on Color Online this week:

Complete one or all of the following:

1) Post a poem by a woman of color. Your choice must be a poet who has written in the last forty years. Do your best to avoid the most anthologized, popular poets unless poetry is new terrority for you. In that case, check out why the popular poets are well loved.

2) Tell us why you like the poem you chose. Don't worry about the technical aspects of writing poetry, devices or forms. Give us your reader's response. How does it make you feel or what does it make you think about? What questions does it raise for you?

3) If you are a poetry reader and you can recommend a contemporary woman poet of color, who do you recommend and why? I would really love to hear about emerging or lesser known poets. Introduce us to poets from around the world.

Please remember to provide citation for the work you post. Provide links and interesting trivia if you like. Be creative.

Susan makes it easy to get started by offering names of a half-dozen poets you can Google.

I decided to focus on January O'Neill, a.k.a. Poet Mom, whose first book of poetry, Underlife, will be published in the fall by CavanKerry Press. It's hardly fair to feature a poem written for NaPoWriMo, a challenge to write a poem every day in April, but I'm doing it anyway. Please click on the titles to read the poems.

A Mother's Tale shares a moment in which O'Neill teaches her young son how to experience the world as poetry.
Tea With My Husband begins with the buzz in the author's mind left over from the day's business, moves through the physical sound that ends that portion of the day, into the sound that signals the beginning of reconnecting with her husband.

What do you think of these? And, is anyone else doing anything special for National Poetry Month?

Are You Fool Hardy? (Book Review--Christopher Moore's Fool)

Having read a very mixed bag of reviews about Christopher Moore's new book, Fool, all I knew for sure was that if I didn't hate it like Fizzy Thoughts did, I'd probably love it (like Books & Other Thoughts did). And now that I've read it and loved it, that's the wisdom I'll pass along to you: you're going to either love it or hate it. Real helpful, right? But fear not, dear readers! I've made a handy-dandy flow chart to help you determine which camp you'll fall into.

Fool is, roughly, Shakespeare's play King Lear, from the fool's point of view, and here lies the crux of the issue. Much of the shock value of Shakespeare's fools is lost on modern readers and viewers, because our standards of propriety have changed over the past five hundred years. Moore modernized his fool just enough to make me say, "Oh, no you didn't just say that!" at least once every few pages. For the first time, I truly understand the irreverence of the fool's role.

You have to be in the right frame of mind to find this guy funny, though. (In fact, he gets banished from Lear's kingdom for speaking his mind too plainly). Moore's irreverent sense of humor is in the same camp, to my mind, as Monty Python, so I think an appreciation for Python is a pretty good guage of whether you'll find this book the least bit funny.

I'm thankful I saw King Lear a couple years ago, because having that frame of reference really helped me appreciate the story. You can watch a good version from PBS's Great Performances online. If you're not familiar with the play, or it's been a while, I recommend this.

Which leads me to my flow chart. Start in the upper left-hand corner to determine whether you'll like Fool as much as I did, or you'd be a fool to waste your time with it (click on the image to view full size):



So, what do you think? Will you be reading Fool? Or, if you've already read it, do you agree with the flow chart's assumptions?

TSS: Reading diary

It's been a glorious Sunday here in Portland, the sun finally found its way through the clouds for more than an hour at a time! My boys spent the afternoon selling homemade felt cat toys at a homeschool craft bazaar and I think they did a respectable business, though with half the proceeds going to charity it wasn't a big haul in the end. Fun, though!

I'm currently reading Christopher Moore's Fool. Expect a whole post later this week to help you decide whether it's the right book for you or not, because it's definitely not for everyone! I want to make a flow chart but I'm not sure I have the software to do that right. In any case: it's probably going to be my third favorite Moore book, after #1, Fluke and #2, Lamb.

With my kids, we're on the third book (The Ice Bound Land) in the Ranger's Apprentice series. As read-aloud series' go, this one rivals Harry Potter in how much it's captured all of us. I love when we find a series that has equal appeal for all the age groups represented in our family, and this one just keeps getting better with each book in the series. It's realistic fantasy (no magic, no dragons, and more emphasis on the adventure than the mystical creatures that do show up every so often), the characters are richly loveable, and they make us laugh.

If you haven't seen the new C.O.R.A. Diversity Roll Call weekly meme, I hope you'll check out this week's posts and participate in its debut week. (And if you have seen it, sorry to keep harping on it, but I'd like to have at least 10 participants this week and we have...let me check....three. Including me. But the next question won't be posted until Friday, so you have all week to join in!

Diversity roll call: My response

My answers to the C.O.R.A. Diversity Roll Call questions. (Want to play? Answer these two questions on your blog this week and add your link, or answer in the comments.)

1. Which is the character who's the most different from you? (And how? Use this as an excuse to tell us your own background and anything else about yourself that's important to your self-identity).

The character who first came to mind was Chief Bromden from Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He was a huge half-Native American man, I'm a petite caucasian woman. He was a man of few words, taken for a deaf/mute for years; I'm pretty chatty and don't identify as having any particular disability. He was in a mental institution, I consider myself to be fairly steady in that arena. I remember feeling empathy for the Chief, and yet his skewed world view jarred me.

Thinking about the Chief made me think about Junior, the main character in Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Junior is a Native American teenaged boy who feels stuck on the reservation. When he decides to attend high school in a local town, it's a huge undertaking. When I was a teen, I felt like I could live anywhere, go anywhere, be anything. The sense of freedom I was raised with is something I took for granted throughout my childhood and, admittedly, still do today.

Junior is an artist who loves basketball; I'm not and don't. He's also in frail health, while I've always considered myself pretty robust, health-wise. His family and community is tortured by alcoholism and hopelessness, and the fact that he survives at all, much less thrives, seems a miracle by the end of the book. I had a hard time connecting to Junior. In fact, I didn't review this book when I read it last summer, because I didn't know how. I realized that my difficulty with it had more to do with me and my privileged place in the world, than with the book itself.

2. Which is the author (this could be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.) who is (or was) the most different from you?

When I read Alex Haley's Roots, I was 13 years old. I'm sorry to admit that as a girl I had shied away from books with pictures of black characters on the cover because I didn't think they were written for me. Haley was the first author whose skin color I was aware of as different from mine. So, me: white girl from the midwestern suburbs; Haley: African American man my grandparents' age. At the time, that was profound.

I still remember the moment I finished the epilogue, sitting on my grandparents' deck in California, awed by Haley's ability to make a world that had been so far outside my realm of experience, real for me. All the controversy I've read since then about how much truth may or may not be in Haley's story has always been overshadowed by that fact.

Introducing....the C.O.R.A. Diversity Roll Call!

I'm excited to announce that Black-eyed Susan of Color Online and I are co-hosting a new weekly meme, starting today!

The C.O.R.A.* Diversity Roll Call will alternate between Color Online and Worducopia each week, with a question that explores and celebrates diversity in literature. Different weeks may focus on racial diversity, ethnicity, abilities, sexual identity, social class, and so on. No need to officially sign up--join in each week as you wish. Starting now with these two questions:

Think about all the books you've read--and I'm guessing that's a pretty high number so this may be tricky!

• Which is the character who's the most different from you? (And how? Use this as an excuse to tell us your own background and anything else about yourself that's important to your self-identity).
  
• Which is the author (this could be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.) who is (or was) the most different from you?

Be creative, be wild and crazy, be traditional--just be yourself. Add a link to your post anytime this week (if you don't blog, or don't do memes on your blog, feel free to answer in comments) and be sure to visit other people's posts as well.

The Girl She Used to Be--David Cristofano (Book Review)

Oh, The Girl She Used to Be, what can I say about you? You hooked me from page one, like the perfect roller coaster ride--just enough twists and turns to keep you unpredictable, but not enough to leave me squeamish. I didn't like your protagonist's habit of making up danger so the witness protection program that failed to save her parents will help her start a new life, again, but that was okay. . . because she finds herself "rescued" from this aimless life by the very criminal the program is supposed to be protecting her from. It's a fantastic premise, and Jonathon's mesh of bumbling nice guy and dangerous criminal leaves plenty of room for a madcap anything-can-happen adventure.

But, then you went and got all Edward-and-Bella on me. Switch out sparkly "perfect" Vampire for scarred-but-handsome Mobster; whiny 15-year-old for whiny 26-year-old; Vampire Baseball for ... well, okay, your plots are pretty different. The similarity is in the,
"Ooh you're so strong and dangerous and yet I feel so safe with you! Can we have sex now and I'll become a vampire? mob wife?"
"No because I must protect you from all harm, especially myself."
"Okay, how about we just sleep next to each other tonight and we'll do it tomorrow?"

Is this truly what women are looking for in a fictional relationship? Because it's not what I'm looking for. It really isn't.

But for readers who like that kind of thing, or can get past it without cringing so hard they lose a filling, your madcap adventure is funny at times, never predictable, and the ending, well I haven't decided how I feel about your ending. But anyway: thanks for the ride!

Love, Ali

P.S. The Soundtrack:

I turn to the last slot in the case and remove Hot Fuss by the Killers and wave it in front of him.
"Funny," he says, snatching it from my hands and pushing it in the player.
And for the next hour the car is screaming up the conifer-lined highway and so is the music and the wind is tugging my hair and the sun is making me melt and Jonathon keeps steering and shifting and passing and zipping side to side and all I know is that we are driving north and I have no idea where we are heading but I hope and pray this road will never end.

From Hot Fuss, here's Mr. Brightside.