Fib Poetry

I ordered two books about Fibonacci number sequencing. We are supposed to inspire our college students in the math and science areas. Personally, I’d rather inspire them to read…

Read!
Read!
Pick Up
Book and Read!
Mississippi Read!
Let’s stop brunt of joke harassment!

Painting by Margot Hutcheson http://www.wattersgallery.com/

Fib Poetry

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/fib-poetry.html

Being Dead is No Excuse (copy)

Years ago, I attended the funeral for my childhood babysitter. A next-door neighbor to my grandparents since 1945, Mrs. Baber was always eager to keep us. She possessed many talents like doodling on paper and gossiping on the phone simultaneously while my brother and I banged away on her sturdy upright piano. Only one rule was strictly enforced. We had to be quiet when As the World Turns came on.

It was a rather lovely service, loads of flowers and tasteful music, plus an enthusiastic new Church of Christ minister. As the minister spoke eloquently of Mrs. Baber I must have looked slightly confused. “Sweetheart,” my grandmother leaned over to me and asked, “Who is he talking about?” Our tears were a respectful yet guilty pleasure.

This is how I feel about the book, Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. It is a guilty pleasure we all need to read. Had Mrs. Baber received traditional burial in the Mississippi Delta by a St. James rector, we may have missed the “nudge-producing eulogy” on page 30.

Although the title hints at advice for planning a funeral “to die for” it is really a “learn from our mistakes” and laugh book. Don’t be “caught dead” with lackluster flowers and dull dirges. Let the authors suggest a song from the “Delta Funeral Hit Parade” or staples for the well-stocked “Eternal Pantry”.

Recipes to enhance any after-funeral buffet table follow each chapter. Included are comfort foods like Healing Cheese Grits, Liketa Died Potatoes, and Tomato Aspic with homemade mayonnaise. If you are reading the book just for fun, don’t skip over the recipes. The authors have included fun jabs at the Methodist cooks whom enhance their specialties with canned soup.

Being Dead is No Excuse (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/being-dead-is-no-excuse-copy.html

5 Rules of Library Science

• Books are for use.


• Every reader his book.


• Every book his reader.


• Save the time of the reader.


• The library is a growing organism.

The Five Laws of Library Science by S.R. Ranganathan

5 Rules of Library Science

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/5-rules-of-library-science.html

Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Copy)

Quite baffled, I finished the book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. I was looking for a fun read-aloud, full of adventure, for third through fifth graders. What I found was a story brimming with Christian symbols of Easter. Not at all what I would say a “pleasure to read aloud” unless you like the tissue inducing sniffle sound.

Our hero, Edward Tulane, is a rabbit commissioned by a grandmother for wealthy young Abilene. His china body is delicately white and hollow with beautiful fur ears and tail. His intelligent eyes shine sea-blue but his calm exterior mask a flawed personality. Edward is unable to love, instead preferring to fuss and preen with his own finery.

What makes Edward uncaring? Mistress Abilene extends quality time to him every morning. Paying extra attention to straightening his hat before leaving the house to attend school, she places Edward in the head-of-the-house chair, where he awaits her happy return. He is never alone, as she sets a pocket watch on his lap to help pass the hours. Abilene loves Edward.

Sound like a sweet unassuming story, right? I mean a child could read the book and cry a little when Sarah Ruth dies and move on. The pre-teen may never see the Christian parallels because they remain understated. Therefore, I do see the need to read it aloud between adult and child, but not to a classroom.

Author Kate DiCamillo never admits to the real nature of the book in interviews. She does state that children can handle death and it should not be a forbidden subject. She even tells reporters she wrote Edward’s story before her Newbery Medal winner, The Tale of Despereaux, but waited to publish it. She was afraid fans would not take to Edward’s plight otherwise.

With success comes confidence and DiCamillo instructed her publishers to release the book for spring, a season coinciding with Easter celebrations. If you do chose to read it with children, please scan it first alone. This will help you explain Edward’s sad body on the cross. The illustration by Bagram Ibatoulline is quite haunting.

Edward’s miraculous journey starts when he falls overboard an ocean liner in the Atlantic. It is here, where the china rabbit becomes a metaphor for man lost at sea. I do not feel Edward represents Jesus rather us sinful humans. Then again, you may read the book and decide; hey, he’s just a bunny.

Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/miraculous-journey-of-edward-tulane.html

Staff Pick #2

Ran across this review still on First Regional's webpage. I'm sure this will be lost when they finish revamping.

Shadows of Ghadames won the Batchelder Award for 2005 and it deserved it! I was also lucky enough to read this years winner, An Innocent Soldier by Josef Holub. Both galleys were in my eager hands prior to winning the awards thanks to Dr. Atkinson from UofA.

The following reviews and suggested books have been compiled by members of the First Regional Library staff. If a title is highlighted, click on it to find more information about the book. **Last Updated 3/11/05.**


The Shadows of Ghadames by Joelle Stolz & Catherine Temerson (Translator) Reviewed by Maggie Moran, Como Public Library

The old city of nineteenth century Ghadames comes alive in this historical fiction set in North Africa’s Libya. Malika at the awkward age of twelve straddles the world of grown-ups and children. Her brother Jasim shares the same awkwardness and will soon be banished to the ground level of Ghadames. In this Muslim country which edges the Sahara desert men use the ground floor passageways while the women travel on the rooftops. For fun the children decide they will race on the rooftop like when they were little. Aware this race may be his last Jasim is quick to claim the side closest the ground. Younger sister, Malika, is forced to take the steeper, three story side. As she mounts the four inch wide edge she experiences slight vertigo. So, she takes off her sash and ties it over her eyes to block the view. With a quiet whisper, “Oh help me, great goddess Tanit,” Malika is off. This is a well written tale that brings both culture and country into focus. One experiences the confined spirit of these women which looks like Malika’s unfortunate destiny. This book will be a collection must have for the everyday life of average Muslims.

Staff Pick #2

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/staff-pick-2.html

Just Thoughts

I’m currently reading Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and am disappointed.  I was looking for a read-aloud to encourage teachers, but this is far from it.  I especially had high hopes since her “dear reader” story was engaging and Booklist’s Ilene Cooper said, “This will be a pleasure to read aloud.”

Why?  Too slow to start?  Too sad?  The flow is just awkward to me.  I do think this is a great book for parent-child reading and an excellent starting point for discussion on loss of pets.  

Just Thoughts

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/just-thoughts.html

Heaven is a Library

I have always imagined
that Paradise will be
a kind of Library.

Jorge Luis Borges

See artist at...
http://www.diegomanuel.com.ar/

Heaven is a Library

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/heaven-is-library.html

Something 2 Call Home About!

What a week!

• Monday, the Sun-Sentinel of Tallahatchie County, MS called the PR department and asked for my bio and weekly booktalks.


• Tuesday, President Gary L. Spears introduced himself and requested I work on a special project for the school.


• Wednesday, the Beta Kappa Chapter of Beta Phi Mu asked me to join. It is an honor society for librarians.

http://www.beta-phi-mu.org/

• Thursday, I got the lovely surprise from DeSoto County Tribune. See 4/6/06 entry below…


• In the mail today, I received a package from Ole Miss. It contained the spring issue of Mississippi Libraries with my review, news announcement, and photo inside. See website below…

http://www.misslib.org/

Something 2 Call Home About!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/something-2-call-home-about.html

Tribune Surprise! TY!

This booktalk written in the summer of 2005 for the Southern Reporter appeared in the DeSoto County Tribune today. My picture was on the cover, inside "Life" cover, and with the article. I think someone is trying to encourage me…Thank You Tribune!

http://www.dctribune.com/

You may not know this, particularly since I scramble the English language regularly, but my mother is a retired English teacher. So, you will be assuming right if you think she’s a stickler for the King’s English. I remember distinctly the first time she used her powers of correction on me.

I was 5 years old when I excitedly announced my grandfather’s appearance in the tobacco field. “Here comes Papa! With a load of ‘mators thru tha ‘bacca field!”

A swift, “Margaret Carol! Say that right!” was issued from my mother.

Now in my stubborn head I thought, ‘what is her problem?’ “Um…Here comes Papa thru the ‘bacca field with a load of ‘mators?”

As she shook her head in disgust, she could only be thinking, that’s my child.

Enter British stickler, Lynne Truss and her entertaining little book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Her crusade is much needed in our world of slang and short-handed e-mails. I’m particularly guilty of the usage of CU later and […], she calls ellipsis.

Author Truss came about the idea for this book after seeing one too many grocery store signs misrepresenting the English language. We have all seen, ‘Egg’s $1.29 doz.’ and wondered what does the egg possess? Her boiling over point was the American movie Two Weeks Notice. Those lackadaisical Americans had no right removing the apostrophe even in their own language.

Truss has given us an engaging look at the history of certain punctuation marks and their common use and abuse. Readers will not only find this book an informative read, but surprisingly funny. It is only after reading the book that I realized she didn’t actually tell the panda joke…

A Panda walks into a deli and orders a sandwich. After eating the sandwich, he pulls a gun and fires two warning shots.

The manager, stunned but otherwise unhurt, asks him, “Why?”

The panda replies with, “I’m a panda!” and throws a badly punctuated wildlife manual at him.

As the grumpy bear leaves, the manager flips to the explaining entry: Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.

Tribune Surprise! TY!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/tribune-surprise-ty.html

Gone Tomorrow (Copy)

The first official Earth Day occurred April 22, 1970 in our country. Since then, school children have developed posters, teachers have created displays, and citizens have picked trash from local waterways and roadsides to celebrate. How will you observe this year’s eco-friendly date? Might I suggest books on the environment?

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is held as the catalyst for early environmental reform. The 1962 book explains the ill-effects of DDT. First debuting as a series of articles in The New Yorker, editors insisted the advantages of pesticides be included for a balanced argument. DDT was the miracle that eradicated malaria-causing mosquitoes in the Pacific during World War II.

It is hard to imagine spring without birds singing and flowers blooming. Carson’s vision, in the chapter titled, “A Fable for Tomorrow,” is haunting. We read of a small town void of life—streams without fish, skies without birds, and backyards without children, all creating an eerie silence.

Heather Rogers’ new book Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage not only explains how garbage is disposed, but also provides an excellent history of American trash. Rogers reports that even though we grew-up with slogans like, “Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without,” we still lead world production in trash.

Rogers does an excellent job explaining and proving planned obsolesces—goods built with failure in mind. As early as 1939, General Electric manufactured light bulbs to burn out fast. A Fairchild representative said, “It is wasteful to make any component more durable than the weakest link, and ideally a product should fall apart all at once.”

After WWII, industries were over producing products, led by an abundance of man-power, cheap materials, and postwar factory machines. One just needed consumers. Author Vance Packard of The Waste Makers said, “The way to end glut was to produce gluttons.”


Personally, I prefer the word consumer to glutton. In our current consumer culture it is cheaper to buy new products than replace parts. Think about the vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, and microwaves we replace instead of repairing. With the parts being made of plastic, it’s a wonder appliances work at all.

Gone Tomorrow (Copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/gone-tomorrow-copy.html

Italian Angle on Trash

Working an angle for the Gone Tomorrow book…

Italians are ingenious with their garbage. For one, they don’t do fast food! We ran across Mickey Ds four times during our three weeks. Even at the Milan airport, once you left the main terminal full of fast foods, it was Italian service only.

Italians recycle their wine/water bottles. We know this because our hotel rooms, although swank, were always located above the bottle bins. Thank Goodness, Italians like to sleep in! Mr. Ashman didn’t wake us until after eight.

As far as water, soaping up is not an option. Does that make the water hard or soft? The smell of lavender in the air isn’t from the flowers but the laundry. Pete wore a button down last week, five months after our trip, which still had the lingering smell.

Italian service is all about the wait, which was so annoying to this get-it and go girl. Be prepared for a two hour lunch, unless you want to belly-up to the bar. Standing and eating, no wonder these folks are so thin and sinewy. Garbage wise, not much to discard when you are served on china with metal utensils.

As far as the bathroom situation, be ready to wipe with sandwich wrap, otherwise bidet.

Italian Angle on Trash

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/04/italian-angle-on-trash.html

Early Escapades (copy)

Did you scrapbook as a child? Did you save photos, art work, poems, cards, mementos and then place and paste them in themed order? Silly hobby really, but if you ever start, it can be addictive. Oh, and the pleasure you get later, looking back at the smiling tinsel teeth of youth.

What if you were given the opportunity to look at the childhood keepsakes of someone famous? With the new book edited by Patti Carr Black titled Early Escapades, we are given more than mementos; we are privy to her earliest works. We get a taste of young Eudora’s humor, wit and turn of phrase. This precocious child, then lively teen, was placing pen to paper as early as the age of eleven.

The book opens with editor Black’s essay on Miss Welty’s early years. She provides the background story to Eudora’s pen-and-ink sketches, poems, articles and short stories. Then, like an accomplished scrapbooker, Black arranges the works in timeline fashion, pleasing to the eye and fun to read.

Young Eudora’s first story, “The Glorious Apology,” is a hoot. We see our hero, Fitzhugh H. Green, struggling with the meaning of life and a wife feigning interest. One pictures Nick and Nora of the Thin Man series. Welty hams up the thirteen chapters with magazine cut-outs and imagined reviews like pretend critic Andrew Volstead, a man who had this to say about the book, “Never heard of it.”

In the 1930s Miss Welty contributed feature columns to the Jackson Daily News. In one such article titled “Vacations Lure Jacksonians,” she demonstrates a delightful wit, “In the days of the cave man, the vacation was extremely simple. Only the men went on them. No man is going to drag a woman 40 miles.”

In interviews with Miss Welty, she never admitted to being a poet. She probably means a serious poet because she did love to write limericks and rhymes. For a friend traveling to Chicago via Illinois Central, she made a limerick for each station on the way. One starts off, “There was an old girl of Winona. Who lived in a pongee Kimono.”

If anything, do pick up this book to see the hilarious caricatures in the back. In 1933 Miss Welty drew them to cheer-up a homesick friend. They include notables like Faulkner, Mae West, Hitler, and Eleanor Roosevelt. They will surely have the same cheering effect on you.

Early Escapades (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/early-escapades-final-draft.html

Optimist's Daughter discussion

Today we discussed The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty. This makes three of her books now under my belt. Maybe, by retirement, I will have read and discussed them all with fellow Mississippians. One can only hope.

Miss Welty originally suggested “Poor Eyes” as the title. Although, I like the optimist idea, I think "poor eyes" is more fitting and a proper tell-tale title. (Note: Bookmark dealing with eye troubles, i.e. The Tell-Tale Heart, Sees Behind Trees, Double Vision) By the end of the story it’s obvious all the characters are having or have had vision troubles.

Laurel becomes the optimist when she drops the breadboard and looks to her future. She doesn’t need the mementos of past lives; let them go to another family’s future. She takes only the things needed and instilled by her parents and grandparents, values.

Optimist's Daughter discussion

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/optimists-daughter-discussion.html

The Optimist's Daughter Notes

Setting:

• Late 50s early 60s


• New Orleans during Carnival in March


• Childhood home Mount Salus, MS


• Clay County, WV, Grandmother’s farm

Characters:

• Judge McKelva


• Laurel McKelva Hand


• (Wanda) Fay McKelva


• Becky McKelva

Plot:

• Only child Laurel Hand returns to family home in MS when she hears her father, Judge McKelva, is having trouble with his vision.


• The Judge dies and new wife Fay inherits the home and all its belongings. Laurel will be given money.

Themes:

• Good vs. Evil


• Materialism vs. Personal Values


• Class/Caste/Status/Cultures


• Death


• Rhythm of Life including below list...

A. Counting booties/pages/time/friends

B. Traffic outside motel/hospital/carnival

C. Reading aloud/daughter to father/parents

D. Ticking of the family mantel clock

E. Chopping of wood in the mountains

F. Wind and rain that summons the ghost

G. Flapping of the wings/beating of the heart of the small chimney swallow

Style:

• A light comical feel, to a somber mode, then reflective and finally an explosive ending

The Optimist's Daughter Notes

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/optimists-daughter-notes.html

5 Rules

1. Write as booktalk
2. Edit for mistakes
3. Edit from reader’s perspective
4. Let others edit without loss of meaning

5. Let Jane Proof!

5 Rules

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/5-rules.html

Victorian Houses of MS (copy)

We’ve all seen the classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Before NBC bought the rights, you could watch the film on many channels at the same time. I remember actually watching the movie four nights in a row in the late ‘80s. Needless to say, I can quote some lines.

One of my favorite ideas from the movie revolves around the Granville house, a warped, frustrated, old Queen Anne in need of repair. We find Mary Bailey, babe in arm, wallpapering the foyer or scrubbing the wooden floors as she transforms the house into a home.

Nothing is more romantic than returning a run-down Victorian to its original grand state. I use the word romantic because everyone knows “practical” would not be appropriate. For it's true, you will spend more money when you are in love.

Contemplating such a dream? Victorian Houses of Mississippi by Sherry Pace is the first step on your long road to restoration. Pace has photographed 143 distinctly different Victorian homes throughout the state. She has taken great pains to provide color details of the infamous wooden spindles and gingerbread trim associated with this architecture.

Tour the State of Mississippi alphabetically as you flip through this coffee table-size reference. Towns included in our area are Batesville, Como, Hernando, Oxford, Sardis, Senatobia, and Water Valley. One could tour smaller towns and discover these beauties on foot, then relax with a meal from local establishments.

Before you go, be sure to read the essay included in the front of the book. “Late Victorian Residential Architecture in Mississippi” is written by Richard J. Cawthon, an architectural historian for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. His authoritative knowledge includes why “Victorian” may not be the correct word and the difference between styles like Italianate and Queen Anne. He will have you looking through the book as he provides visual examples to match descriptions.

I ran into Mrs. Pace serendipitously when she and husband John stopped in Como to photograph the United Methodist Church. This photo session will be included in her new book for Mississippians titled, Historical Churches of Mississippi.

So, if in the middle of your romantic restoration you discover a lack of money, leave Uncle Billy alone and include this book when you appeal to Mr. Potter.

Victorian Houses of MS (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/victorian-houses-of-ms-copy.html

Lucy (1991-2006)

Our cat died last night.

I dug her grave and planted red spider lilies over her.

Lucy was special and our first pet as newlyweds.

Lucy (1991-2006)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/lucy-1991-2006.html

Spring
Has
Sprung!

Wishing
everyone
a lovely
spring break!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/spring-has-sprung-wishing-everyone.html

Talk 2 the Hand (Copy)

Picture a 1970s avocado kitchen, when a phone rings. Two teenagers set into action, from far corners of the house, a Super Bowl moment complete with sprints, hurdles, tackles and tumbles. As they turn the corner, into the phone nook, a very tired mother intercepts the play.

The caller wishes to speak to the lovely daughter of the house. With a smug smile, the phone is now taken on a journey, through lush jungle and arid desert (past the pantry and into the laundry room) where it rest behind two closed doors. Ah, the cords of a ‘70s phone.

Now, within the lair, two 13 year-old girls hash-out some dastardly plan. Although the lair is behind closed doors, the conversation is hushed, for brother could be lurking.

What has happened to the privacy aspect of phones? Cell phones are everywhere and people seem to feel they have the right to yap in the most public of places. Why are we subjected to overhearing these banal exchanges? Do we really care if you fed the dog or picked up the dry cleaning?

In Talk to the Hand by Lynn Truss, the author writes of prolific ill-mannered habits employed by the masses. You may remember the author’s 2004 title, Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Her hilarious look at our lackadaisical treatment of the English language spent 25 weeks on the bestseller’s list. It has been suggested her next book be titled, Presses, Pants and Flies.

I love the way she opens her new book, Talk to the Hand. She actually gives thanks to the “nameless people who were rude” to her. She gained free research from all those who cut her off in traffic, forgot to say excuse me, or let a curse word drop into her normally curse-free ears.

She never had a topic so “in her face” and a title so easily obtained. The title originates from our Jerry Springer culture that insists you talk to the hand because the face isn’t listening. Although the gesture is passé, the attitude continues. For it is my observation, you have to talk to the hand because the face is talking to the other hand, which is curled around a cell phone.

Talk 2 the Hand (Copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/talk-2-hand-final-draft.html

Talk 2 the Hand Notes (2)

“It’s as if we now believe in some spooky virtual way, that wherever we are, it’s home.” 102p

How did this happen? One minute we are dressing for dinner at Krystals (’76) the next we are trotting around Wal-Mart in our rollers and house slippers. When did casual wear become everyday, sloppy week-end and morning wear?

“People of all ages evidently think nothing of reaching into a bag, discovering something surplus to requirements, holding it out at arm’s length and then insouciantly letting go.” 104p

One of my many summer jobs were cleaning parking lots at different establishments. My favorite assignment, the spa and its five rows of sixteen spaces eachalways welded treasures. In this Sunday after church chore, I walked up and down the spaces picking up trash. Nothing was too small or too gross in my boss’s opinion. Every Sunday without fail I found cigarette packs, money and diapers. Cigarette packs and pocket change understandable, but diapers?

“Surely a technology so miraculous deserves to convey communication that’s a bit less banal?” 116p

Wal-Mart conversations, where the shopper is yelling into his hand, “Did you mail the Visa bill?” Really, you pay minutes to discuss whether the cat’s been fed? Couldn’t it wait, post dinner table question, “How was your day?”

Just where did we lose the secrecy and privacy phones used to demand? I know I’m not alone in the phone call you took in the laundry room with door closed so no one was wise to your plans. Sometimes the 12 foot cord wasn’t long enough as you crawl into the dryer pulling yet another door shut.

I really think people want you to hear them chat on the cell. Proves they are popular with many, many cell phone friends. You feel extremely important when callers hound you for advice. “Wear the green one it looks good with your eyes.”

What happened to the “got to justify purchase” attitude? I need one in case my car breaks down or I fall and can’t get up. How did my grandfather work the farm 12 hours without cell phone back-up? We finally broke down and bought one when I started driving to Alabama. Well, we still have it and my commute is 15 miles.

I’m eager to read Stephen King’s new book, The Cell. We need someone with his twisted mind to make people afraid to use them. That’s the only way to stop their world domination. Oh, if The Cell has the same effect as Jaws we will be in library heaven.

Talk 2 the Hand Notes (2)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/talk-2-hand-notes-2.html

Notes: Talk to the Hand

Lynne Truss in Talk to the Hand gives thanks to the “nameless people who were rude” for there would be no book. Probably got most of her material from the local Wal-Mart.

“I don’t like that” or as Truss calls it, the elbow skin test. (p4) If a pinched elbow takes more than 2 seconds to pop back into place, you may be old. Old and intolerant of cell phones or other new techie rudenesses found in our current pop-culture world. Also, rudeness is a universal flashpoint. p7

Reminds me of the teenage employee who liked to just burp (large & loud) for no other reason than she could or so she thought she could. Oh, the embarrassment I suffered when she let one rip in front of the FOL president. She did not adhere to Truss’s, “Remember you are with other people; show some consideration.” p12 “Manners are based on an ideal of empathy, of imagining the impact of one’s own actions on others.” p14 Truss leads us to equate good manners not only to virtue but with positive heroism. What this employee thought was funny, was seen as disgusting and very immature. She hardly envisioned her act as indicative of young and dumb, or she wouldn’t have done it.

The coin is turned when we, well-mannered humans think of ill manners. “Everyone else has bad manners; we have occasional bad moments. Everyone else is rude; we are sometimes a bit preoccupied.” p19

Pete and I got a kick out of this sentence. “When we exclaim at the standards of courtesy on the roads, we ought to remember what it’s like to drive in Italy.” (p38) The Italians are so crazy; they will pass people on turns, not knowing if anyone is on the other side. When we were out in the country, we noticed how drivers pulled over, almost into ditches, to let those behind them pass. Funny, most Americans aren’t sure why a rearview mirror is even installed in cars.

I like Truss’s equating politeness as a ritual of tennis. We bat, back and forth, niceties until someone gets tired. Perpetual motion has been discovered as two well mannered gents exchange an unending array of thank you(s), sorry(s) and you’re welcomes. p43

Notes: Talk to the Hand

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/notes-talk-to-hand.html

Book Club Options

I was thinking of adding Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking to our book club readings. The discussion would be totally different from the NYT forum’s current string.

The ladies in our club are older and possibly facing or have faced the death of a spouse. I can predict, without wavering, they will want to know why Didion did not seek solace in religion. (Please, this is not my point of view, but rather I’m gearing up to prepare for certain conversation.) She mentions attending church, both Catholic and Episcopal, so they will assume she is religious. They will question, “Why not turn to the Lord in your hour of need?”

I would also like to add to my certainty; they will think the memoir self-serving and egotistical. Didion relied on no one else for answers, and sought grief release from within. Just like Frey couldn’t allow help from the AA teachings (the Bible) and knew he would beat the addiction using internal fortitude.

I’ll counter with memoirs being the ultimate in self-expression writing, a way of understanding the world through one’s own perceived life.

Book Club Options

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/book-club-options.html

Mardi Gras Readings (copy)

Mardi Gras continued as planned this year even after hurricane Katrina ruined some traditional floats and costumes, just six months earlier. Yet reports from the newspapers indicate crowds, although smaller, were still reveling with the old pre-disaster glee.

The oldest of krewes, Rex, was forced this year to make anew or make do. For example, their royal accoutrements were damaged beyond repair, and the mud-baked and mold-caked floats received fresh paint. This monarchy has remained “chin-up” with King Rex advocating marshland conservation and his Queen “working-out” so as to manipulate the new heavier gown.

Some critics felt the celebrations should have been postponed this year, others suggested Mardi Gras venues like Mobile and Biloxi as replacements. Fat Tuesday isn’t really “fat” unless it occurs in the original den of debauchery. There is no substitute for the purple, green and gold streets of N'awlans.After Katrina hit, the publishing world went to work on producing collections of stories about the Big Easy. Don’t think of these books as rush jobs, most were written during an extended period of time and just compiled after Katrina. Four of these books are quite stellar and bring the New Orleans experience to life.

New Orleans, Mon Amour by Andrei Codrescu chronicles the authors twenty years in the city. You may recognize his name from NRP’s All Things Considered. Codrescu moved to New Orleans from Transylvania, trading one seemingly creepy home for another. These short, easy to read vignettes, begin with his initial acclimations to the south and end with his day by day thoughts of Katrina. His honest reporting leaves you feeling his pain.

Roy Blount Jr. will have you whistling tunes as you ramble through his New Orleans with Feet on the Street. Blount visits eight different areas in the city where, “He captures all the wonderful and rich history - culinary, literary, and political - of a city that figured prominently in the lives of Jefferson Davis (who died there), Truman Capote (who was conceived there), and Zora Neale Hurston (who studied voodoo there).”

Author Rob Walker is successful at explaining the oddities of the city through his Letters from New Orleans. In his first letter he begins, “Random bullets are a problem in New Orleans, especially on New Year’s Eve. Apparently it’s something of a tradition among certain locals to step outside and pop off a few rounds.” Walker is fun to follow as he avoids these falling bullets and other urban troubles.

Lastly, Why New Orleans Matters by Tom Piazza will inspire you to help in the city’s recuperation efforts. We all know the city had a spirit found in no other place. Piazza says, “That spirit is in terrible jeopardy right now. If it dies, something precious and profound will go out of the world forever.”

Mardi Gras Readings (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/03/mardi-gras-readings-final-draft.html

My Lord, What a Morning Notes

Marian Anderson’s quote on racism, “There were times when we heard our relatives and friends talking, and we knew we might come in contact with this, that, or the other thing.” p39

What a nice way of thinking of such ugly treatment, undeserving of a name. This reminds me of a universal self-preservation tactic. We tend to forget the names of those people who are rude or hateful when discussing them amongst others. For example, “oh, what’s her name” or “what’s his face” instead of saying the offending name. Is it because, to say the name, it conjures the person? Could Marian Anderson be experimenting with the same magic? To say the word is to cause it to happen?

“…if one only searched one’s heart one would know that none of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin, and that we could not change it if we wished to, and many of us don’t wish to, and that this fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath.” p42

Amen!

“‘Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep,’ the realization comes to him that there is Someone else to whom he can commit his soul when he cannot take care of it himself.” p96-7

For when the child’s bedtime prayer becomes the adult’s touchstone in crises, habits have meaning.

My Lord, What a Morning Notes

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/my-lord-what-morning-notes.html

Color of Water (copy)

James is eight years old when he notices something different about his mom. As she stands alone, away from the other mothers, he sees it. “Mommy, are you white?”

“Why no child, I’m light-skinned.”

He then looks around to his brothers and sisters and notices their skin. Okay, that seems possible. Some of his brothers and sisters are dark and some are light.

Days later James decides to consult an older brother and his reply, “You’re adopted.” Adding insult to injury, “Your real mom is in jail.”

Fast forward to James’ junior year in college at Oberlin and he’s filling out forms requiring his mother’s maiden name. Right away James knows this is going to be like pulling teeth. His mother has always avoided questions about her background and this will be no exception.

After much hemming and hawing, Mrs. McBride Jordan reluctantly drops a bombshell. “My maiden name is Shilsky.”

Through the silent shock James fumbles out, “Can you spell that, Ma?”

“You’re in college,” she snaps. “You can spell. Figure it out yourself.”

James is just one of twelve siblings who struggle in the depressing conditions of New York City’s Red Hook Projects during the 1960s. It doesn’t help that his mother is the only white woman in the area. He worries for her safety, but she has three rules for her and her children’s success. Always put church and school first, and never tell anyone about your home life.

She may be evasive about her past, she may speak a different language when haggling with shopkeepers, she may even be poor and white, but Ruth McBride Jordan manages to see all twelve children through college. Her life is an incredible story and now that James has become a successful journalist it’s time to work that interview magic on Ma.

James is author James McBride and his moving memoir is titled, The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother.

Color of Water (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/color-of-water-final-draft.html

Talk vs. Discussion

Today, Margaret and I attended the Senatobia Book Club meeting at noon. The discussion, led by Carolyn Head, focused on the book The Color of Water by James McBride.

I thought great! I’ll finally get the chance to read and discuss this book with others. Well, maybe another time…Out of a room of twenty only five had read the book.

This presents a library lesson learned without pain or embarrassment. As presenter one expects the group to read the book before the meeting. My talk, including author’s biography and a short synopsis, would have lasted 15 minutes at the most. Then the floor would be open for discussion. Silence.

So, in essence, know thy audience or be prepared to do both book talk and discussion. In order to save time, I should make sure my weekly articles are more book talk slanted than review oriented. If called upon to speak, just add more to an article already written then practice, practice, practice.

Margaret raised this idea after suggesting Marley and Me as a book I could present to this group. I’m sure she doesn’t know that the first book talk I ever heard was her humorous and touching Jan Karon book, At Home in Mitford.

Man, the stampede for that book after the club let out was awe inspiring!

Talk vs. Discussion

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/talk-vs-discussion.html

Color of Water Notes

“Love didn’t come naturally to me until I became a Christian.” p38

I was so shocked when I read this. How sad, to turn away from your early religious teachings. I now see the attraction to reading this in my Mother’s second Sunday reading group.

“She never spoke about Jewish people as white. She spoke about them as Jews, which made them somehow different. It was a feeling every single one of us took into adulthood, that Jews were different from white people somehow.” p87

You still come across that same confusion when talking about the differences in the races. It never fails that a person will mention a Jew under the subtext of races when it's a religious matter. Reminds me how some people consider Africa a country and not a continent.

“Race was something he never talked about. To him it was a detail that you stepped over, like a crack in the sidewalk. He was a person who never seemed to worry.” p125

Mr. Hunter Jordan was from that generation where talk could only do so much. Why waste time yapping over things you can’t control or change. He had the mentality like most people his age to have fun where you could find it. A sort of depression era thinking, play the hand you’re dealt.

• I used to walk in the shade, with those blues on parade…


• I’m not ashamed, this Rover crossed-over…


• If I ever had a cent, I’d be rich as Rockefeller…


• Gold dust at my feet, on the sunny side of the street…

Color of Water Notes

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/color-of-water-notes.html

Guild @ the Grille Gang Pose

All I need is the latest gang sign..
Pat Clifton, facing camera and Anne Davis's hands/lap.
Camera weilder Donna Taylor (My sista girls!)

Guild @ the Grille Gang Pose

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/guild-grille-gang-pose.html

Old Job/School Review

The following review was written for Dr. Joan Atkinson's class in the fall of 2004. The book along with, When Marian Sang, were my inspiration for the Marian Anderson Birthday Bash grant. It is so exciting to see it coming together.

Oh, the review is in Booklist form. They want you to pack info in 250 words or less, one block paragragh. You have a couple of choices, book talk or compare to another simialr book then wrap it up with "worthy or unworthy" purchase suggestion.

Click on the book and it should take you to the announcment for our February events!

Staff Picks...The following reviews and suggested books have been compiled by members of the First Regional Library staff. If a title is highlighted, click on it to find more information about the book. **Last Updated 3/11/05.**

The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman Reviewed by Maggie Moran, Como Public Library

It was a blustery Easter afternoon in 1939 when Marian Anderson sang to a crowd of 75,000. They came to hear her voice and as she ascended the platform built on the Lincoln Memorial the crowd hushed. The gray day seemed to fall away as the clouds broke open to accept the first song, “America.” Why was she singing outside on the Lincoln Memorial steps? Adequate indoor spacing could be found in Washington DC’s Constitution Hall, which as a DAR establishment unfortunately did not allow black artists to perform. Ironically she had just returned from a tour where she sang to mixed race audiences in all the major cities of Europe and South America, but was unable to perform in her own nation’s capital. Freedman brings this “rags to riches” story to life with the incredible photos of the time. This book reminds us that this woman’s struggle, which she handled as graciously as an operatic aria, should be revisited and hailed as a true heroine. No collection should be without this “sure to win an award” selection.

Old Job/School Review

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/old-jobschool-review.html

Devil's Teeth (copy)

Sad news for the literary world, Peter Benchley, author of Jaws passed away February thirteenth. He was only 65 and touring with his latest book, Shark Trouble, when he succumbed to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Jaws swept the reading public’s imagination in 1974, remaining on the New York Times bestsellers list for 40 weeks. This, Benchley’s first novel, not only made him famous it also made first time director Steven Spielberg a household name.

Benchley had regrets, although the book escalated his wealth, it also gave sharks a bad reputation. He was always quick to remind people it was a work of fiction, “real sharks don’t hold grudges.” Actually he became a shark conservationist and studied the prehistoric creatures extensively for Shark Trouble.

Remaining ever active in the sea world, just last year he descended the abyss in another steel cage along with his wife of forty years. Benchley had this to say about his Mexican coast observation:

"We went at a time when the females came in and the females were much larger than the males. And at times we would have 4 or 5 of the most gorgeous female torpedoes drifting by the cage. We were thrilled, excited. We'd been around sharks for so long."

These female Great White Sharks are described as “Sisters” in Susan Casey’s new book, Devil’s Teeth. Sisters, a nickname given by biologists Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson, are groups or “sisterhoods” of female white sharks that cruise the coast off Farallon Islands during shark season. The seventeen foot long behemoths have earned names like Betty, Mama and the Cadillac.

Farallon Islands (pronounced fair-alon) located just 27 miles east of San Francisco, can be considered within, “delivery status for a pizza.” During shark season, up to twenty white sharks may be circling these islands hunting otters or seals. Can you imagine 120 acres packed full prehistoric eating machines?

Devil’s Teeth exposes a secret society of sharks unheard of, beyond the sea legends of California. Biologist Pyle and Anderson have enjoyed fourteen years of uninterrupted studies, actually motoring out to the kills and filming the underwater drama. They refer to their little skiff, usually half the size of the circling sharks, as the “dinner plate.”

This non-fiction book is as informative as it is fun, packed full of harrowing, close-encountered shark stories. A book that would make Benchley proud, but still keeps me on dry land. A close encounter with Cal Ripfin, I can miss.

Devil's Teeth (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/devils-teeth-copy.html

Peter Benchley dies at age 65

Peter Benchley died yesterday at the age of 65. His first novel Jaws enjoyed 40 weeks on the NY Times bestseller list. More importantly the book and movie nurtured a primal fear we all have of unseen things in cloudy waters.

This passage is from Newsday.com’s Benchley obituary by Valerie J. Nelson:

Originally titled "Silence in the Water," the book got its concise name after Benchley asked his father, children's author Nathaniel Benchley, to help him think of a title. His 200 suggestions included "Wha's That Noshin' On My Laig.' "

Another obit by Hillel Italie from Newsday.com reported that for their 40th anniversary the couple went into the ocean in one of those steel cages:

"We went at a time when the females came in and the females were much larger than the males. And at times we would have 4 or 5 of the most gorgeous female torpedoes drifting by the cage. We were thrilled, excited. We'd been around sharks for so long."

Maybe they saw the Sisterhood on their way to the Farallon Islands.

Peter Benchley dies at age 65

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/peter-benchley-dies-at-age-65.html

Cal Ripfin & other Shark Names

Male and female sharks are extremely hard to tell apart, unless you get a good look at their bellies. A lot of times it is their length that gives the first hint of sex: So what do you think? ---->>>

“It might be Betty or Mama or the Cadillac, one of the huge females that patrolled the east side of the island. These big girls, all of them over seventeen feet long, were known as the sisterhood. Or it might be a ‘smaller’ male (thirteen to fourteen feet), like Spotty or T-Nose or the sneaky Cal Ripfin. These sharks were called the Rat Pack.” p3

Okay, there is this guy that is diving for urchins around the Farallon Islands that has seen possibly 3 to 4 hundred sharks during his time in the water. Wouldn’t a sane man after seeing his first, vow never to enter that area of the water again? Dude, are you mad?

“‘Ron’s all about competence,’ Peter said. Scot agreed, and marveled at Ron’s fearlessness. ‘People cry on the evening news if they see a dorsal fin in the surf,’ he said. ‘And here’s a guy who’s around them all day long and doesn’t want to tell anyone.’” p40

Ron, the urchin diver, will run out of luck at some point in his life. He’s already survived one “too” many close encounters, once actually jumping off his boat and landing on top of a seventeen foot Sister. A short documentary on his occupation as lone Farallon urchin diver has been produced and more information can be found at…

http://www.devilsteeth.com/

It just boggles the mind, how these prehistoric behemoths are cruising around the Farallons, as the book says, within pizza delivery radius of San Francisco. Will they still cruise the waters once their 777,000 neighbors start “Jaws” tours to the islands? Won’t this book entice curious readers to take a peek for themselves?

Some things might be better left unsaid, or in this case left unwritten.

Cal Ripfin & other Shark Names

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/cal-ripfin-other-shark-names.html

Hooked by Sharky Tale

I started Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey a couple of nights ago, having read its review for best books from Booklist. I told you I read anything…even non-fiction books about sharks. Well, I was hooked from the first sentence in the introduction:

"The killing took place at dawn and as usual it was a decapitation, accomplished by a single vicious swipe."

Wow! What the heck is going on, just who or what has been beheaded? How could anyone walk away from such a violent start? The book continues:

"Blood geysered into the air, creating a vivid slick that stood out on the water like the work of a violent abstract painter."

I would think any reluctant male reader would at least finish the paragraph before looking around to see if anyone judged him un-cool. Maybe, actually reading three, lost in the book, before remembering his surroundings.

Does YALSA know about this book?

Hooked by Sharky Tale

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/hooked-by-sharky-tale.html

Birthday Blues...

Lets Eat Cake!

Birthday Blues...

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/birthday-blues.html

Threading the Generations (copy)

Since the dawn of time, parents have handed down family treasures to their offspring. Often these heirlooms have a significant story attached. The children then accept responsibility for two legacies, the object and the story.

What if you found yourself in possession of not only one family heirloom but fifty? All objects possessing unique stories, from different family members, and different time periods. This is the surprising dilemma faced by Mrs. Elizabeth (Libby) Hollingsworth, one fall afternoon in 1996.

According to Carol Vickers, co-author of Threading the Generations, Libby was just one of thousands of Mississippians who participated in a statewide Mississippi Heritage Association Quilt-Swap. Yet, her quilts were the highlight of Vickers two year quest to document and photograph Mississippi quilts.

Libby arrived early that morning, with five quilts (the limit) from her home. It was a slow day for the Port Gibson event, so Libby went back home and got five more. By the end of the day 29 of her family quilts, spanning four generations, were documented out of a personal collection of 50.

Authors, Mary Elizabeth Johnson and Carol Vickers, took Libby’s quilts and created a unique book that tells the story of one family’s Mississippi life through a timeline of their quilts. Four generations threading tales just as unique as their hand-made pinwheels and nine patches.

The first tale begins in 1813, when A.K. Shaifer dismounts his horse with great relief at Gibson Landing. His rheumatism is flaring and he happens to have friends on this leg of his Natchez Trace journey. The Humphreys take him in and he never returns to his East Tennessee home, instead marrying their daughter Betsey.

Energetic A.K. is quite successful and builds Holly Hill Plantation in 1826. Unlike his fellow farmers dealing in cotton, A.K. plants a variety of fruits and vegetables, becoming known as the “bread basket” of the area. His other successes include incorporating present day Port Gibson and establishing the first public library in Mississippi. Now, was it really a "bout of gout" or true love?

Threading the Generations: A Mississippi Family’s Quilt Legacy is a wonderful day read with beautiful quilt photos by Clarion-Ledger photographer, J.D. Schwalm.

Threading the Generations (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/threading-generations-copy.html

Work in Progress

Since the dawn of time, parents have offered offspring objects from their past.  We refer to them as heirlooms.  Attached to the object comes a story of great importance to the elder.  The offspring then become owners of two gifts, the object and the story.

What if you found yourself in possession of not only one family heirloom but fifty?  All objects possessing unique stories, from different family members, and different time periods.  This is the surprising dilemma faced by Mrs. Elizabeth (Libby) Hollingsworth, one fall afternoon in 1996.

According to Carol Vickers, co-author of Threading the Generations, Libby was just one of thousands of Mississippians who participated in a Mississippi Heritage Association Documentation Day.  Yet, her quilts were the highlight of Vickers two year quest to document and photograph Mississippi quilts.

Libby arrived early that November morning in 1996, with five quilts from her home.  It was a slow day for the Port Gibson event, so Libby went back home and got five more, the set limit.  After documenting those, she returned with five more and by the end of the day had documented 29 of a collection numbering in the fifties.

Authors Mary Elizabeth Johnson (Huff) and Carol Vickers, took Libby’s quilts and created a unique book that tells the story of one family’s Mississippi heritage through a timeline of their family’s quilts.  

Work in Progress

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/work-in-progress.html

9 Patch Difference

Just finished Threading the Generations by Mary Elizabeth Johnson (Huff) and Carol Vickers. I was struck by two, nine patch quilts photographed. They were so elaborate versus the Amish 9 patch which is described in Plain and Simple by Sue Bender. Both quilt types are made from scraps of shirts and dresses yet the Amish have a background laid with only nine patches and the MS quilters have nine patches per block. One such MS 9 patch creates an H design by placing a lighter color in the second and eight slot.

Johnson and Vickers traveled the state of Mississippi in 1995 through 1997 documenting quilts in the different regions. Their goal was to locate rare quilts made before 1946 and record their designs, fabrics, dyes and stitches per inch. I personally remember one of their last stops on the project was Batesville, MS.

In 1996 the Mississippi Quilts Association sponsored a quilt-share in Port Gibson and Libby Shaifer Hollingsworth brought five (the limit) to be documented. It was a small turn out so Mrs. Hollingsworth went home and got five more. By the end of the day she brought in 29 quilts, spanning four generations, and a book idea was born.

Both Johnson and Vickers with their respective husbands came to the Como Library in 2001. Through a grant from the MS Humanities Council we sponsored a book signing and MS quilt program. I was totally embarrassed with the meager turn out but the ladies were gracious and presented a fascinating program.

From the program:

• Rare to find quilts in the Delta region because of flooding. Most were used to sop up mud and water when the Mississippi overflowed.


• Quilt batting could be an indication of quilt origin. I have some wool stuffed quilts indicative of Middle Tennessee where my great-grandmother Maggie carded her own wool. Mississippi quilts were usually stuffed with cotton and a wool quilt may be older, having come from another region.

A surprise to us all, Ovid Vickers, Carol's husband is a syndicated columnist and wrote about the B&B. Kay was pleased and my hope is she generated some business from the free but well deserved praise.

9 Patch Difference

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/9-patch-difference.html

Marley and Me (copy)

We were mere newlyweds in 1991 when we strolled into the Memphis Humane Society’s shelter for animals. Eager to start a family, we first intended to raise healthy, happy pets. The goal that day was a puppy, one who would fit well into our current family. A family already ruled by one cat.

We never made it past the entrance into the cages. Located on a table in the hall we caught the eye of one black hairy fuzz ball. The tail wiggling so pronounced we watched as the wire cage worked its way to the edge of the table. What an eager greeting and we hadn’t even been introduced yet. Keeper!

A more experienced dog owner might have continued past the black flurry of motion for a calmer more bumbling pup. A wiser person would recognize this behavior might not be the “peaceable kingdom” we foresaw. If we had known this energy ball would eventually redecorate our whole home with one feathery tail, being three parts Labrador and one part Springer, well…

Marley and Me by James Grogain is an outstanding book for dog lovers. People tend to place their beloved dogs in the category of sainthood once they pass. Grogain is no exception with his memories of childhood Saint Shaun, the dog who could do no wrong. Then he obtains Marley, the Labrador whose, “default setting was stuck on eternal incorrigibility.”

Marley maintains the same tail gyrating infliction that our puppy produced. In Marley’s case it is called the Marley Mambo and he is particularly active when trying to engulf a “not on the menu” item. Author Grogain goes into hilarious detail on the loss of a new 18K necklace from point of digestion to elimination.

Marley and Me is a surprise bestseller, number two on the New York Times list, and steady. Who knew the “world’s worst dog” would be held in such high esteem? This is not the idealized dogs of Willie Morris’ My Dog Skip or Jack London, but a down and dirty, roll in the stench, mistake-laden mess.

This book makes a perfect read-aloud for children and/or elderly parents. The book presents a great opportunity for dog owners all over America to reflect on “man’s best friend.” We all really had a dog more like Marley than Lassie, sometimes it is just hard to admit.

Marley and Me (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/marley-and-me-copy.html

Million Little Pieces

Frey Makes Millions with a Million Little Lies!

Million Little Pieces

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/02/million-little-pieces.html

Marley and Me (notes)

Upon arriving at the parking lot full of canines waiting for obedience class, Marley bounds from the car and commences smelling crotches, dribbling pee and flinging drool.  It’s a dog party and he’s the birthday boy.  As the author states, “So many genitals, so little time.”  p60

Marley is having a little trouble adjusting to thunder storms. He has actually torn-up the garage trying to escape during the last storm.  So he is hauled off to the vet to see what can be done.  While there the vet suggests he be neutered and author Grogain thinks, “For the sake of future generations, we must contain this genetic mistake at all costs!”   p74

Our own Reba was a little hard to maintain at times.  She needed a lot of exercise, so I would run with her, take her out to the bike trails for exercise and let her swim in the Wolf River after thrown sticks.  

One Saturday morning I had entered into a race at Shelby Farms and we all decided to pile in the car and go.  Pete agreed to go down to Patriot Lake while I ran and we would meet after the race for a picnic brunch.  I was feeling really good about this race, in a pack of moderate runners and nearing the end of the 5k when I hear some commotion in the back of our pack.  Little barking and little yelps and before I knew it Reba was at my side panting away.  One guy in the group hollered about the Park’s leash law and I steered Reba to the outer side where I saw Pete coming up fast.

Apparently Pete was giving her a little heel training and thought her good enough to not need the leash.  They were alone on the east hill over looking the road below when Reba spotted me.  He said she turned and looked at him with a malicious smile and then bolted.

I remembered this incident after reading, “If I towered over him and barked stern orders, he would obey, sometimes even eagerly.  But his default setting was stuck on eternal incorrigibility.”   p96

Marley and Me (notes)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/marley-and-me-notes.html

Where's my Bun and Glasses?

The Readster! 
Nice "caught in the headlights" look, huh?

Where's my Bun and Glasses?

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/wheres-my-bun-and-glasses.html

Sunrise Over Lake Como!

After all the excitement yesterday, I rose this morning with a flutter in my heart. I'm going to enjoy being a columnist. Such big fancy word.

I wanted to thank Dr. Joan Atkinson for all the faith, grace and kindness she has shown me and countless others who have been lucky enough to take one of her master courses in children's/YA lit. From her first class, we had to read new books and write reviews and/or journal entries weekly. This is when I got the idea to do this for newspapers.

The best way to let people know about a good book is to just tell them about it, but what if they don't get the chance to come in your library to chat? How do you reach them? You write an article for the paper, not necessarily a review, one person reads and likes said book(s) then they tell a friend. Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth.

I also want to thank my new mentor Margaret Rogers. It is so nice to have a boss that encourages you to develop as a librarian. To expand the definition of my duties and change the way people perceive this job. We are hardly a stuffy group of folks!

I'm so psyched!

Time for more coffee and my new favorite book, Marley and Me.

Sunrise Over Lake Como!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/sunrise-over-lake-como.html

Cold Comfort Farm (copy)

January is typically a time to organize, de-clutter and start anew in one’s life. Why? I have a sneaky suspicion it’s all those Christmas gifts.

My theory, after Christmas we organize just to make room for these new toys. Our recent gifts sit around the home in places of honor while older stuff is moved to the closet, which is shuffled to the garage, which is relegated to the shed, which is demoted to the lean-to, which is tossed to the curb.

At first I picked up Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons because my holiday guests praised it so. Imagine my surprise as this parody on the dreary lives of ignorant country folk points out a basic human condition; we organize in order to be more civilized.

Author Gibbons wrote this funny little book in 1932 because she was tired of authors like Mary Webb portraying country folk as suffering from inner demons caused by ignorance. What if someone like herself, young smart and full of manners, visited the farm and began to tidy it up? Would they become more civilized and in turn more successful?

Young Flora, the heroine of Cold Comfort Farm, is actually Stella Gibbons herself. We first meet Flora, living with a friend, Mrs. Smiling, and worrying about her future. Flora’s parents have died and left her with a meager 100 lbs a year. Although Flora has received her education from the finest of British schools she lacks basic job skills. When Mrs. Smiling mentions she could learn secretarial skills, Flora remains unimpressed

Flora’s solution is to live off distant relatives. This passage from Flora’s mouth is priceless, “there still lingers some absurd prejudice against living on one's friends, no limits are set, either by society or by one's own conscience, to the amount one may impose upon one's relatives."

I do love Flora and her quest to tidy the country folk of Cold Comfort Farm. She has her work cut out. For example, 60 year old Adam is more at home with the cows than people. Elfin, wispy and young, spends her days amongst the fields and woods dreaming of romance. Aunt Ada Doom is confined by a self-imposed exile all because she witnessed something “nasty in the woodshed” as a child.

Flora, through a selfish need to be more comfortable, changes twelve characters lives by the end of the book. Not only that, she secures better living conditions for the cows, Pointless, Aimless, Feckless and Graceless. One has to wonder as they read this tickling tale, is she tidying or taking over?

Cold Comfort Farm (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/cold-comfort-farm-copy.html

9 Patch Quilt of Amish Living

Patch 1: Valuing the Process/Product
When doing work both process and product are of equal value

Patch 2: Living in Time
No rushing to get tasks done, just living in the moment of the task.

Patch 3: Celebrating the Ordinary
“The Amish honor the daily practices; work, like objects cared for in the home, can turn into a shining thing.”

Patch 4: Home
Home is truly where the Amish heart and soul resides.

Patch 5: Community
“Recreation and chores aren’t rivals.” The same enthusiasm enters into a quilting bee as harvesting the fields.

Patch 6: Life as Art
The beauty of the process and/or project is the art within the Amish persona and they do it without the artist’s ego.

Patch 7: Limits as Freedom
The Amish know who they are and what they can do. Their religion limits them to certain choices, which in turn allows for contentment when choosing what’s right.

Patch 8: Power of Contrast
Many contrasts like the Amish and their outside neighbors, car versus cart, mule versus tractor, etc. lends a power in knowing you can do things more than one way.

Patch 9: Choice
Choose the essential in life and let the clutter fall by the way side.

Notes from Chapter nine of Plain and Simple by Sue Bender.

9 Patch Quilt of Amish Living

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/9-patch-quilt-of-amish-living.html

The Tidy Life

I started Sue Bender’s Plain and Simple: A Woman’s Journey to the Amish in preparation for this month’s NWCC sponsored Reading Round Table. A book similar to Cold Comfort Farm for its praise of tidy living.

Everyday life is made easier by the fact the Amish keep it simple, plain and tidy. The Amish life is beautiful, unlike the Starkadders of Cold Comfort. The Starkadder clan seems to wallow in their self created mire. It isn’t until Flora’s visit that they start to tidy-up and see little successes.

Plain and Simple begins with Bender finding herself entranced by some Amish quilts which hang as backdrop in a men's suit display. The deep blues, purples, maroons, the simple square patterns, the worn yet vibrant compositions all stir her senses. Who are these people, which turn worn clothes into works of art?

Intrigued she then takes a sabbatical from husband and two kids to spend a year living amongst these artists. Her first thoughts, clean and tidy, each piece of furniture has a place, nothing of show clutters the tables or desks, for this is simple living. She is quick (by chapter 4) to discover their lives, their homes, their land are all canvases in which art emerges.

Note...

I love this passage in P&S:

“Manure is our crucial crop,” Eli joked. “Tractors don’t make manure!” A horse reproduces itself, he explained, and a tractor only makes debt.

What farmer sense and cents!

The Tidy Life

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/tidy-life.html

Town Mouse Country Mouse

I do love Flora and her quest to tidy the country folk of Cold Comfort Farm. She has the gall to tell the men folk to hush up she is trying to sleep and demand Adam keep the door closed while indoors. She is changing all she can (surroundings and people) to satisfy her own need for civilized living.

Flora decides the room and the water in her wash basin are adequate given her primitive situation, but the curtains have to be cleaned. She then enters the hut of the hired girl Meriam, who has just given birth to her fourth child, and asks if she can wash the curtains in a day or two. Furthermore, Flora takes the opportunity to explain birth control to the obvious information lacking Meriam, before returning to the house.

Is Flora tidying or taking over?

Pointless, Aimless, Feckless and Graceless are the farm’s cows. Which made for a quick chuckle, but I laughed out loud when Graceless dropped a leg on the way to the pasture. I thought the passage about Pointless’ gangrened flank was just alluding to the cow’s soiled nature; poetic license to relate how the animals were unkempt and possibly unwell not actually ill.

I guess poor Pointless is next!

Town Mouse Country Mouse

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/town-mouse-country-mouse.html

Back to Cold Comfort Farm

I love the characters of Flora and Mrs. Smiling. Both like things tidy and in order and uncivilized actions of people tend to irk them.

They are such silly snobs!

Mrs. Smiling actually collects brassieres, so odd, and Flora sees work as just not necessary. She would rather mooch off unseen relatives and make a life of tiding up their messes. She, lacking in messes herself, the model of civilized living, is game for the challenge.

Flora does state she wishes to write the next Persuasion by Austen, when she is fifty-three. Filling her time for the next thirty years "collecting material" for the book. So, in essence her job as a material collector sounds very much like a librarian. Cool job!

Speaking of Jane Austen, Cold Comfort language shares the same flourishing style. The conversations between characters is embellished and hautey. This possibly is why I had a hard time settling into a time period.

Back to Cold Comfort Farm

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/back-to-cold-comfort-farm.html

Year of Magical Thinking (copy)

Would you like to add more books to your life? Maybe read something other than work policies or school assignments? There are so many books out there, ready to entertain and delight you. Why not start the New Year by resolving to read one extra book a month just for fun? A book you might like to share with a friend or read-aloud to a little one.

It is so easy to add more books to your life if you just pick interesting ones. Here is where I would like to help. Let me be your guide to what is on the shelves at your local bookstore or library. Possibly, tempt you with a read aloud for your children or inspire your book club to tougher discussions. Maybe, reacquaint you with a classic or introduce a new author. I read a variety subjects and all types of books.

In honor of the New Year, I would like to suggest Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking. A book that grabs grief by the neck, strangles it, and then tries to discern why. From the very first chapter you are thrown into Didion's year of madness from the death of husband John Dunne. A devoted spouse that edits her writing, finishes her sentences, completes her in every way.

Didion's year of disbelief begins December 30, 2003. She and John are returning home from a very stressful visit with hospitalized daughter, Quintana. Didion moves quickly to build a fire and start dinner. Her main goal, provide a decent night after the horrible day. She hands John a Scotch and leaves him to forget his daughter's troubles in a new book. As she tosses the salad, John makes a comment about the Scotch. He then raises his hand in a gesture she mistakes as a joke. One minute they are smiling, comfortable, on the edge of relaxation then life ends.

By the third chapter we begin to understand Didion's book title. She magically doesn't believe her husband is dead. Yes, she is there when the heart attack occurs. Yes, she greets the case worker that tells her John is dead. Yes, she even watches as they inter his ashes at St. John, yet still doesn't believe. Where is her shock, her grief, and just where is her husband?

Although, I paint a grim picture, the book does have some lighter moments. It is as intimate as CS Lewis’ A Grief Observed yet not something you want to recommend to a recent widow. Read it if you are in a place where reflection is welcomed, set aside if emotions raw.

Year of Magical Thinking (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/year-of-magical-thinking-copy.html

Cold Comfort take-1

Love It!

My favorite quote so far is in chapter 1 by Flora:

"I am only nineteen, but I have already observed that whereas there still lingers some absurd prejudice against living on one's friends, no limits are set, either by society or by one's own conscience, to the amount one may impose upon one's relatives."

This is funny! Yet, we could debate on if this quote is still relevant. I think most families aren't that close and the southern "visit" is going the way of the dial phone.

Cold Comfort take-1

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/cold-comfort-take-1.html

Geranimal Help!

My first week of work and it was great!

The people I work with are all smart and loads of fun. The work I do is different, but I see little changes occurring to suit my style of librarianism. I've been given an area to do theme displays, more computers in the front are being converted from catalog to regular usage and I've been encourage to help overflow from the back lab. Very exciting!

Now, the collection. I've got to find a way to learn it! The stacks are set up in identical rows and there aren't any cues to help me distinguish one row from the next...other than signage. Yesterday we had a biography question, Million Little Pieces by James Frey, and I hadn't a clue. Normally, I would walk to the biography section and look under FRE, but bios are absorbed into Dewey and could be in more than one number classification. The book deals with his recovery from alcohol and drug usage, but it is also a humorous memoir. Because it deals with two separate recoveries (alcohol/drugs) it could be cataloged within two different areas of 362s. This makes locating it by sight almost impossible, the 360s occupy 3 rows of books.

At this stage of my learning, I truly need geranimals to match row to subject. :-)

Geranimal Help!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/geranimal-help.html

Draft, draft, draft...

I wish someone would pour me a draft!

It is so hard to edit my drafts using blogger.com's word processor. A lot of back and forth (write, read, publish, reread, see mistakes, rewrite, etc.) when...if I could just write in Word then paste, well...

I've started Cold Comfort Farm and I love it! Although, I'm having a hard time placing the story in a certain time period. The book was written in 1932, yet the language sounds so late 1800's or early 1900's. The author claims it is set in the "near future". Explanation Please!

I must read more, ta-ta!

Draft, draft, draft...

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/draft-draft-draft.html

Year of Magical Reading...(draft)

Would you like to add more books to your life? Maybe read something other than work policies or school assignments? There are so many books out there, ready to entertain and delight you. Why not start the new year by resolving to read one extra book a month just for fun? A book you might like to share with a friend or read-aloud to a little one.

It is so easy to add more books to your life if you just pick interesting ones. Here is where I would like to help. Let me be your guide to what is on the shelves at your local bookstore or library. Possibly, tempt you with a read aloud for your children or inspire your book club to tougher discussions. Maybe, reacquaint you with a classic or introduce a new favorite author. I read a variety subjects and all types of books.

In honor of the new year, I would like to suggest Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking. A book that grabs grief by the neck, strangles it, and then tries to discern why. From the very first chapter you are thrown into Didion's year of madness from the death of husband John Dunne. A devoted husband that edits her writing, finishes her sentences, completes her in every way.

Didion's year of disbelief begins December 30, 2003. She and John are returning home from a very stressful visit with hospitalized daughter, Quintana. Didion moves quickly to build a fire and start dinner. Her main goal, provide a decent night after the horrible day. She hands John a Scotch and leaves him to forget his daughter's troubles in a new book. As she tosses the salad, John makes a comment about the Scotch. He then raises his hand in a gesture she mistakes as a joke. One minute they are smiling, comfortable, on the edge of relaxation then life ends.

It is in the third chapter we begin to understand Didion's book title. She magically doesn't believe her husband is dead. Yes, she is there when the heart attack occurs. Yes, she greets the case worker that tells her John is dead. Yes, she even watches as they inter his ashes at St. John, yet still doesn't believe. Where is her shock, her grief, and just where is her husband?

Note: You know a book is good if it broaches such a depressing subject yet remains in the top ten NY Times bestsellers list for 12 straight weeks.

Year of Magical Reading...(draft)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/year-of-magical-readingdraft.html

Happy New Year!

Tonight I shall eat, drink, and be merry
for tomorrow I shall diet! :-O

Happy New Year!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2006/01/happy-new-year.html