a bit of lit: quick quotes edition

A couple of things I'm currently reading...

"By the time the shade had reached the river, Augustus would have mellowed with the evening and be ready for some intelligent conversation, which usually involved talking to himself." -- Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry

"Bully has nothing to do with a bull: it comes from the Dutch for 'lover,' boel." -- The Joy of Lex, Gyles Brandreth

I'm not really sure what to do with the information in that second quotation. Is there some kind of a tough love mindset going on? Actually, I doubt it; I figure someone thought the word sounded appropriate in a situation when one person was pushing another person around, and, although the word didn't really fit the situation, it stuck, despite the cruel irony.

a bit of lit: elizabeth jackson to her son

Still reading Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present, edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J Adler. Still reading it very slowly.

Another good mother-to-son letter. Another letter to a to-be president. Elizabeth Jackson wrote this to her son, Andrew, when he was fourteen. She died the year she wrote this.

Excerpt:

If I should not see you again I wish you to remember and treasure up some things I already said to you: in this world you will have to make your own way. To do that you must have friends. You can make friends by being honest, and you can keep them by being steadfast. You must keep in mind that friends worth having will in the long run expect as much from you as they give to you.

...

In personal conduct always be polite, but never obsequious. No one will respect you more than you esteem yourself. Avoid quarrels as long as you can without yielding to imposition.

...

Never wound the feelings of others. If ever you have to vindicate your feelings or defend your honor, do it calmly. If angry at first, wait till your wrath cools before you proceed.

a bit on lit

A couple of quick things:

Happy Banned Books Week! I'm still trying to figure out which book to read to celebrate this. One for me, one for Pic, actually.

I'm disappointed that I won't be able to attend the "I Read Banned Books" event at UNR tonight. It's at 6 in the Knowledge Center, if anyone else can/wants to go.

Upcoming: Booksale Bonanza! October 28-November 6. I cannot wait, although, yes, I have to. I wonder if homeschoolers count as teachers for the last day?

a bit of lit: a multiplicity of chat

Currently, Cardo and I are very slowly working our way through Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present, edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler.

We're still in the Revolutionary War era.

First, why did I never know that small pox was such a big problem during the Revolutionary War? Did I know that at some point and forget it?

Second, I love reading these letters.

There're a couple by Sally Wister, a teen, to her friend Deborah Norris. Sally is writing about the soldiers quartered at her home. In the second of Sally's letter included, she goes on for a bit, detailing both a soldier's and her side of a conversation, before she admits that she can't detail the entire conversation. She says to Debby, as she calls her, "'Tis impossible to write a regular account of our conversation. Be it sufficient to say that we had a multiplicity of chat."

I'm working that last phrase into my lexicon.

There's also included a pretty great letter from Abigail Adams to her eleven-year-old son, John Quincy, in which she goes on and on about how he should live out good morals and make good choices. He was with his father in Europe. The letter is seven not-short paragraphs long. In the seventh paragraph, she tells her son, "But, to quit political subjects. I have been greatly anxious for your safely, having never heard of the frigate since she sailed, till, about a week ago, a New York paper informed, that she was taken and carried into Plymouth. I did not fully credit this report, though it gave me much uneasiness. I yesterday heard that a French vessel was arrived at Portsmouth, which brought news of the safe arrival of the Boston but this wants confirmation. I hope it will not be long before I shall be assured of your safety. You must write me an account of your voyage, of your situations, and of every thing entertaining you can recollect."

a bit of lit...kind of

Quite a while back, a friend wanted to create a kind of online book club. I'm not sure how it ended up; I read the book, but I never posted anything about it. (Wait, that might not be true. It was so long ago, I can't even remember.)

Anyhow, the book was Sense and Sensibility. I read the book and even took notes, but what I remember most about the experience was the following song being stuck in my head continuously throughout my reading:



"Dion & The Belmonts - A Teenager in Love"

a bit of lit: veela edition

(Warning: potential Harry Potter spoiler. Not a topic from the books, but something that was later revealed about a character. I don't know if I should warn y'all about that, so there we have it.)

Cardo and I are on Goblet of Fire and, of course, we reached (and passed) the part with the veela at the World Cup. I've always (okay, since 2000) wondered how the veela work. Do they only affect people with Y chromosomes? Do they also affect anyone attracted women? Do they affect adolescents more? What do you think?

On the topic of sexual attraction, we also had an extended discussion about Dumbledore's being gay. What exactly was Rowling doing with this decision? Why did she choose to complete the series and then announce that Dumbledore is gay?

We don't often talk about sexuality (except our own), but this was an interesting conversation.

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Although I love the books, I don't do much outside reading and keeping up. I've never been much of a fan of anything in that sense. I did a bit of poking around the Harry Potter website (um, I can't even remember what exactly that is/was) and Muggle Net and I plan to check out Pottermore, but I'm not too good at keeping up with what's going down. Rowling might well have had an extended discussion/line of reasoning behind announcing that Dumbledore is gay and I could have missed that whole conversation.

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(Warning: this time it is a spoiler)

Same book: When Harry's name comes out of the goblet, Moody suggests that perhaps someone entered Harry's name under another school so he'd be guaranteed to become a competitor. The other students wrote their names and their schools on their slips of paper. Was it only Harry's name on his slip?

a bit of lit

Pic and I have definitely been catching up on our reading lately. And, oh, children's books are often oh-so-fun...especially the older books and stories.

We are reading about things like luncheon and pick-a-back rides and tigers who run circles so quickly that they turn into butter. Seriously weird stuff sometimes lurks in those pages.

Take, for instance, "The Village of Cream Puffs," by -- wait for it -- Carl Sandburg. Oh, how lacking my education has been that I didn't know he wrote such weird kid's stories. Stories in which freckles are painted on to remind you whence you came. Actually, there is more to the story than we have in our anthology, which I only just found out in looking for the link I included here.

Then, there's "Little Red Riding Hood." The version we have has the wolf eating both Little Red and the grandma. A lumberjack comes along, cuts the sleeping wolf open with his ax and removes the people, filling the empty cavity with heavy stones. The wolf lives through this but falls down dead due to the weight of the stones in his stomach. Certo!

We also just started reading another Jack Prelutsky collection. Good times!

the stuff not bought

Oh, such a day of thrifting. Actually, it was a day of being up until six-thirty in the morning (reading, taking a bath, watching Clueless...not sleeping) and then sleeping for six-and-a-half hours. Thanks be that Cardo didn't work today.

So, we flitted from thrift shop to thrift shop looking for several items, some of which we found. Two of those table lamps with metal shades and flexible necks? Check. Metal measuring spoons (minus the 1/2 tablespoon)? Check. More rubber stamps? Check. (Hadn't really been looking for those.) Some of those silicone baking cups/molds? Check. (Okay, so those weren't really on the list either.)

I also picked up World's Best Card Tricks. Let the good times roll!

We did, however, leave some things for everyone else. I left the Angela Lansbury exercise video. The book All My Friends Are Dead (you can read the first several pages at that link.) I also left the following pictures, although I really didn't want to:


(What? What's that? Whose very white leg is that there? Um, no comment.)

Sorry about the low photo quality. I feel really weird taking pictures in stores, so I just got a quick shot and walked away.

'can your name be mutton-chop or crooked knees?'

Tonight, Pic and I eased back into a couple of books we haven't delved into in a while. Actually, our entire leisurely reading time routine has been somewhat nonexistent for enough months that I don't want to think about it. Mainly, we've been doing late, late night, very tired reading. (I might always and forever be questing for balance.)

We read some poetry, 'City Mouse and Country Mouse,' 'Rumpelstiltskin' and 'The Little Match Girl.'

I have never understood how 'Rumpelstiltskin' ends up well for the miller's-daughter-turned-queen. I always imagine that, sooner rather than later, the king will want more gold thread from straw. How long until he demands his wife stay up for three days straight to quell his greediness? And, now that Rumpelstiltskin has been swallowed by the earth (or whatnot)...well, there's going to be no more queen.

As far as 'The Little Match Girl,' I remember being about eight or ten reading this story, tucked into a spot on the floor between the end of the couch and the bookcase in the family room. I read and reread it mainly because it freaked me out. I suppose the story ends on a high note, which is totally what Pic got out of it, but I could only ever focus on that fact that the girl froze to death and was finally noticed only when she was a frozen corpse. There's the hunger and cold leading to her delusions, and then death. Geez.

As for my other reading, I'm very slowly making my way through One Hundred Years of Solitude. Very slowly. I should probably already have finished it yesterday, but I still have a hundred and four pages left. I'll get there. I was reading it aloud in the car today and Cardo cracked up every single time I read 'Jose Arcadio Segundo' after the first time. So, that made a war sequence much more amusing than it should have been.

book love antici...pation

Oh, one more month. Yes, one more month and then I'll delve into the incredibly huge, can't possibly get to it all in this lifetime booklist I'm compiling. And, I'm adding to it. Just yesterday, I read "Three Books for the Grammar Lover in Your Life and immediately added these books to my list: The Power of Babel, The Lexicographer's Dilemma, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage.

I'm also taking some suggestions from the comments on that article.

I just caught up on reading the Kinsey Millhone series and I'm back to waiting for "V" along with everyone else. I'm deep into some other books and I've just started a book I've been wanting to get to and I'm not nearly as enthralled as I thought I would be. I'm actually a little disappointed. Ah, well. I realize I'm not really part of the target audience and I'm keeping that in mind.'

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Perhaps here is the place to admit that I used to read my MacMillan's Children's Dictionary. I didn't just use it to look up words, but I read the front matter and then I'd browse through the dictionary part itself. I am still compulsive about looking up words, even when I know that I know them.

what the what?!

I am lamenting that 30 Rock is not available on Netflix Instant. Also, I have to subscribe to Hulu Plus (whatever that is) to watch it there. Ah, well. I probably shouldn't be taking time out to watch that now anyhow. Give me a couple more months, though, and I'll burrow into the couch and probably watch the entire season in, um, a day.

I also just caught up on reading through angry chicken's archives and I loved every moment of it. I'm only sad that I'm caught up and now have to wait for current postings. I bookmarked about seventy gazillion posts to revisit in a couple of months. Pic and I will be mad crafters il quest estate. I love the blog beyond words.

Until then, I'll be getting by on required reading aplenty reading galore and not nearly enough sleep.

Oh, I almost forgot about Kinsey. (For shame, I know.) So, I do still have one good distraction. However, I'm currently reading Q is for Quarry, which leaves only four-and-a-half books before I'm caught up.

a bit of lit

From Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God:

"Some people could look at a mud-puddle and see an ocean with ships. But Nanny belonged to that other kind that loved to deal in scraps. Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon -- for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you -- and pinched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter's neck tight enough to choke her."

a bit of lit (and a little look at language)

From Kenneth C Davis's Don't Know Much about Mythology:

"Most scholars believe that the Greeks translated the Egyptian word Hewet-ka-Ptah, which literally means 'Temple of the Spirit of Ptah,' as Aeguptos, and it was eventually transformed into the word we now use as Egypt."

He has a lot of these fun notes in the book. (And, yes, I realize how nerdy I am for calling this bit of information "fun.")

a bit of lit

From William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:

O serpent heart hid with a flow'ring face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!
Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st,
A damned saint, an honorable villain.
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace!

-- Juliet, on learning from the Nurse that Romeo has snuffed out Tybalt

Romeo as book = fabulous

a bit of lit: on the power of the word

From The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (which is really a misnomer of The Book of Going Forth By Day) -- translated by R O Faulkner:

"As for whoever knows this book, he shall go out into the day, he shall walk on earth among the living and he shall never suffer destruction. A matter a million times true." -- from Spell 68

"As for him who knows this book on earth, he shall come out into the day, he shall walk on earth among the living, and his name shall not perish for ever." -- from Spell 70

a bit of lit

Oh, the things I think about when I can't sleep. Several weeks ago, I was trying to come up with blog category titles when Insomnia was visiting.

I'm a bit compulsive about jotting down or underlining bits of text that stand out to me, but what to do with these words? I haven't kept my own great lines copybook regularly in about a decade. So, I thought I'd just note striking lines/phrases/whatnot here.

And, when I refer to 'lit,' I'm not necessarily only talking Literature as in Belonging-to-the-Canon,-Demanding-Pompous-Capital-Letters kind of lit. More like 'written words,' except that 'a bit of lit' has a kind of fun ring to it (especially when it's going on four in the morning and my mind refuses to chill) that 'stuff I've read' doesn't.

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From Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone: "In cases where you don't see your way clearly, hold your tongue."

what's on your reading list?

As you can (kind of) see, this morning Cardo was studying his car manual and Pic was catching up with Kinsey. I was relegated to the RN&R.

when harry met kinsey

I've been so restless lately, dreaming about finishing up obligations that haven't really started so I can move on to more dreamy endeavors.

I am yearning for warmer days when I only need a windbreaker at most. I miss my sandals and being able to walk around without three layers of clothes and at least one pair of socks in the condo. I want to be able to spend seven hours outside without freezing into a human popsicle.

And, I can't stand when I do this: wish away the days. I'm not doing it on purpose. I'm trying to remind myself to savor each moment of each day, but I'm just sucking at that lately.

I have been doing a lot of reading, though. There are about a million billion zillion books I want to get to, but at times like these, I fall back on the familiar. I have made it through "F" in the Kinsey Millhone series and I think that's about as far as I'm going to get for now. I have a lot of required reading that I'm also doing and I need to pick that up even more. So, for the next five months or so, I'll be sticking to a required reading list. Ah, well.

Sometimes I'll be traipsing around here on the interweb and I'll see that others sometimes resolve to or wish to read more. There are moments when I'm so overwhelmed that I almost (almost) wish to read less. I have read about eight of my own books in the last month. This afternoon, Pic and I read for about an hour-and-a-half.

Among other books, we read I Miss You, Stinky Face written by Lisa McCourt and illustrated by Cyd Moore, which I love. I love the imagination on both the part of the child and on the part of the mamma. And, I love the illustrations. Lots of love here. I'd really like to know why "Stinky Face," though. Hmmm.

Pic is also very into Smelly Socks written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko. This is not one of my favorites, but I'm really trying to be very hands off when it comes to what Pic chooses to read. The pictures are nice and bright, but I'm just not that into the story. I do so very much love Munsch's The Paper Bag Princess, though. (And, I like Martchenko's illustrations there more.) I'm definitely not one of the many, many fans of Love You Forever. The mom creeping across the bedroom floor freaks me out more than I can convey. I glanced at a few of the amazon reviews (too many to even begin making a dent there) and some people were upset that others didn't like it, saying that we dissenters were reading the book too literally and that it's just a representation of unconditional love on the mother's part. However, it's presented as literal...there she is creeping across the floor. And, that image brings to mind The Yellow Wallpaper, which, I've admitted before, is the scariest thing I've ever read. (Do I have a nice set of my very own issues? Why, yes, I do. I'm glad the so many love Love You Forever, but I'll continue to steer clear of it.)

So, as I said, I'm attempting to just let Pic find her own when it comes to reading material, although I will let her know when I really don't like a book or character (hello, Dora the Explorer, I'm looking at you). I'll read those books once, if asked, and then move on.

Anyhow, Cardo's new thrift shop scavenger hunt entails finding all of the available Harry Potter movies on DVD. He only has the first two, I believe. In the meantime (in between time), he's renting the others from Netflix. Last night, we watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Actually, it was more like he watched it and I tried not to. I have a hard time not pointing out where the movies diverge from the books (just ask Cardo...I'm sure it's his favorite part of watching the movies with me). I think he's finally, finally convinced that he wants to hear the books in full. I have no idea how long the wait is for the libraries' copies of the Jim Dale audio versions and I'm thinking these are items we just might end up buying new (gasp!). Actually, we can probably find some decent used ones online somewhere.

(If you haven't read/viewed the Harry Potters and you plan to, you might want to skip below in case I give something away that you didn't want to know beforehand. In other words, there might be spoilers forthcoming.)

Last night, though, I just couldn't get over how subdued some of the parts of the movies were. The beginning of Order of the Phoenix, for example, with the dementor attack. I thought everything would be much more frantic. And, Mrs Figg was way more laid back than she ever is when I read the books. And, when Ron drinks the poison in Slughorn's office? I would have been freaking the crap out if Poke had just been poisoned. (It may be that I'm just a tad overly dramatic, no?)

We made it partway through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before Cardo declared he was heading off to bed. We might watch the rest this evening. Give me about five more months and I'll sit down and read the books again. (I thought I might do that this month, but I opted for Kinsey instead.)

il quest weekend, in five acts

-- photo shoot at Tahoe (with fabulous friends)

-- 5th St. Bakehouse

-- Mamma's Night

-- booksale!

-- Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths

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P.S. Half-off day at the Friends of Washoe County Library Booksale Bonanza today. (I thought it was $6/bag day, but it doesn't seem to be so. Ah, well.)

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Edited to add: It was $6/bag day! I wonder when Cardo is going to start having nightmares that our books are closing in on him?

on being almost frugal

I was checking facebook updates the other day and a friend posted that she had stopped at a thrift store earlier in the day to drop some stuff off. I responded that we can never stop at a thrift store to just drop things off. Today, in fact, we headed over to one of our favorite haunts and picked up a fair share of items. For $21.11, we got a movie (VHS, Shrek), a video game (something Cardo picked up for his gaming system) and seventeen new (to us) books.

* The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan (This one's for me. I've been told a lot lately that I should read this and I'm interested.)
* For the Love of Autumn, by Patricia Polacco
* The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, written by Linda Williams and illustrated by Megan Lloyd (We might already have this one, but I am really not sure. If we do have it, we'll send this one along to someone else.)
* The Patchwork Quilt, written by Valerie Flournoy and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
* Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?, by Eric Carle
* Saint George and the Dragon, retold by Margaret Hodges and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
* Ox-Cart Man, written by Donald Hall and illustrated by Barbara Cooney
* Trivia Trackdown: Challenging Questions to Sharpen Research Skills, Grades 4-6, written by Linda Schwartz and illustrated by Beverly Armstrong (This one is kind of, um, dated. The cover has a collage of pictures and one is a country outline labeled Czechoslovakia. I still think it could be an interesting book.)
* The Usborne Book of Dinosaurs, by Susan Mayes and illustrated by Luis Rey
* More Bugs in Boxes, by David A. Carter (This is the one Pic chose.)
* A House Is a House for Me, written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Betty Fraser
* The Berenstain Bears the Whole Year Through, by Stan and Jan Berenstain
* Everything You Need to Know about American History Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents, by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly
* Teaching Writing through Differentiated Instruction with Leveled Graphic Organizers, by Nancy L. Witherell and Mary C. McMackin (I have no idea what "differentiated instruction with leveled graphic organizers" means, but I'm always intersted in texts on writing.)
* Step-by-Step Collage, by Jim RObins and Philip Steele
* The New Astrology: A Unique Synthesis of the World's Two Great Astrological Systems: The Chinese and Western, by Suzanne White (Cardo chose this one.)
* Computers Don't Byte!: Family and Kids Edition, written by Linda Pereira, Tim Haag and Jessica H. G. Schroeter and illustrated by Karon Walstad and Wendy Chang (This one is also dated, but I'm hoping some of the websites are still active.)

I often find myself buying "educational" texts even if I don't know how or if I'll use them. I am somewhat compulsive about this and generally obsessed with the topic. And, I love children's books, so I usually pick up a good number of them. Okay, who am I kidding? I love books in general.

We also stopped at the library today, where we picked up a few new books to browse. Mainly, when it comes to library trips, I pick up anything and everything that looks interesting. Pic and I have been visiting the library together regularly for most of her life (before, we'd just rely on the books we had at home) and we've read untold numbers of books. I'm amazed, every single trip, at how many books we haven't yet read. O, if only sleep were unnecessary!

We also went to 5th St. Bakehouse for a late breakfast. It was good and the company was pleasant, as always. That wasn't one of our frugal activities, but it's a factor in a great week around these parts. Our other not-so-frugal outing was a trip to the Apple store, where we bought some new software and where I decided that I really want the National Geographic software, which includes every issue since 1888. (I'm not sure what year the software was created, so I'm not sure where the issues end.) Alas, that's $60 and isn't in the budget right now.

Pic has been requesting a trip to Cabela's to look a los animales muertos. I'm not exactly sure what the fascination is, but she's been insistent, so we headed over there. We spent a good long while checking out the animals on display and the live fish in the giant fish tank. Pick explained to us that the animals that ended up as meals were called "prey." Then, I re-introduced the word "predator" to her. (She used to pronounce it "creditor.") We didn't buy anything at Cabela's, so our only expense was the gas we used to get there and back.

After all these outings, we have spent a good long time at home. Pic had wanted to go out and try her bicycle senza training wheels, but she later decided against this. We'll have to try this tomorrow, as I really need some time and the park and out on a nice long walk.

Domani.