A Boy of Good Breeding

Clever poignant little moments:

#1) "I knew it," said Hosea. "And I do love you." He looked at his hands, at his tapered fingers. They were pudgy, he thought. Why? The rest of him wasn't fat. Could he lose weight in his fingers? They looked childish to him.

#2) He passed a couple of kids walking down the street. Their jackets were open and they were wearing rubber boots. "Hello there," he said, "beautiful spring day, isn't it?" The kids smiled and said, "Hi." They knew who he was but the didn't respond to his comment about the beautiful day. As a rule, thought Hosea, and he must remember this in the future, kids do not respond to comments about the weather.

#3) They lay there quietly for a long time and watched the purple fade from the sky. They saw some lights go on in town and saw Johnny Dranger's yard light go on and they heard his dog bark a couple of times and the slam of a car door and Johnny yelling at the dog. If they hadn't lived in Algren all of their lives they would have smelled the liquid fertilizer on the fields. They were used to the smell of shit.

I thought reviewing books for an online journal would be easy. Until I received a Christmas picture book in July. And actually, I originally requested teen literature. I thought the book was terrible, and had a hard time being even-handed in my response. After all, who wants to read a negative book review - usually they don't get published -in print. As a result, I fallen behind on my blog, not feeling the impetus to review any more books. And furthermore, I just worked 6 days in a row, and believe it or not, nothing particularly strange or funny happened! That may in part be due to the fact that my efforts were concentrated in the children's departments and at this point in the summer, things are "readers-advisory-intensive" as parents drag their reluctant pre-teen readers in for some "good quality literature"...

All I can say about the above excerpts ... A Boy of Good Breeding, by Miriam Toews - it doesn't quite hit the mark like her more recent Governor General Award /Giller Prize winning novel, A Complicated Kindness...but it is still a meandering thoughtful read, rich with quirky characters and the dry sarcasm we have come to know and love from this author. Her novels are fully of clever moments and character that think thoughts that anyone could think but never share...their weaknesses are so real that even when the plot falls through the cracks of credulity, the strength of the story lies in the incredible characters that people it. What's with the title? Well, Hosea Funk, mayor of Canada's smallest town, was the illegitimate child of a mother who gave birth to him during a trip to the outhouse and then claimed a man on a horse gave her the baby, and so he grew up, a mystery child "kindly" cared for by a selfless young woman.

Started But Not Finished...

Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hide (YA)
--- opens with a back alley rape scene, and portrays two street youth: a traumatized girl running from the abuses of countless group homes, and a gay teenage boy with a mysterious welt on his head...felt too heavy for such a sunny day.

Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme
--- "the seamy and quirky stories behind favorite nursery rhymes" by Chris Roberts (A British librarian!) - really interesting, but again, just too much to read right now!!

In Progress...

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
--- seems everyone has read this book but me, and those who haven't cast a derisive eye on it, seemingly unable to get past the word "Lolita" which actually has tragic parallels to the lives of many Iranian woman - for example, those forced to marry at age 12??

Tapas on the Ramblas: A Russell Quant Mystery by Anthony Bidulka
---Comforting like a Nancy Drew novel. Aaaah. Well, maybe Hardy Boys. Well, actually gay Hardy Boys. This was an addition to a Canadian mystery writer booklist I created - I am now trying to read all the books I annotated!

A Boy and His Bunny

This was a success in storytime. Slow start but once the kids begin to get it the absurdity of living life with a small animal on your head becomes kind of interesting...all the possibilities. The chuckles didn't really start until we got to...

"And not only that, the boy said to Fred," "You could ride a bobsled with a bunny on your head..."

"You could build a tool shed with a bunny on your head."

"You could drive a moped with a bunny on your head." And can you picture the bunny's ears blowing in the wind perched atop a helmet? Yes, quite simple and quite cute. Keep and eye out for his sister, who has a 'gator on her head!

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi

On the cover: "author of Persepolis"

One the back: "Praise for Persepolis and Perspolis 2" followed by vague literary quotes that allow the less than alert reader to become confused and think the praise is for this exact book...rather than previous accolades. Very Annoying.

Plot: an afternoon of Iranian woman discussing "love, sex and the vagaries of men."

Significance of Title: How to fake virginity for one's wedding night.

My response: Read it in one afternoon, feeling repelled and fascinated. It was a light change from something I was struggling to finish. I feel that it can't even be compared with Persepolis however...felt somewhat disappointed in the short format and lack of plot and really felt as though the author was just trying to make a quick buck and again, perhaps **some people will be mad about this** pimping out her culture. The stories that women share when coming together in any culture can be rich and powerful, or silly and humorous. It reminds me of the movie, How To Make an American Quilt with Winona Rider, an old favorite of mine. However, I think many of these stories were simply titillating rather than conveying any messages like the plot summary actually eludes! ("teach us all a thing or two"??)This is just my take, I know a lot of people will disagree! Anyways, I wonder if any teen readers will go hunting for it....

While We Were Out

While we were out, we placed a tiny piece of navy blue thread across the door...just to see if our neurotic disturbed possibly disbarred lawyer landlord entered the suite in our absence. The results were inconclusive so we choose not to frighten ourselves by suspecting the worst! All the same it felt a little more Nancy Drew than Veronica Mars who is probably closer to my current detective ideal...

It has often frequently been the case that we have forgotten the bunny out of her cage. So far the wires have been safe as she mostly sleeps away her afternoons under either a sofa chair in the living room, or under my bed (maybe she likes the company of the other bunnies...ah the dust bunnies).

What happens when we go out and the bunny is on the loose? After reading While We Were Out, by Ho Baek Lee I began to ponder the possibilities presented... For all I know she could be powdering her nose and testing my lipstick (kind of ironic considering my feelings about animal testing)...One of the best lines in this book is accompanied by an image of the rabbit sitting at a desk in the study using a reading lamp...

"The next room is full of books. The rabbit opens one, but she doesn't understand it."

A few pages along...

"There are interesting things in the closet, too. Even skates! The rabbit has wanted to try them for a long time."

I love how all these thoughts and feelings are prescribed to the creature, and the creature is still quite simple and lovable. Very Beatrix Potter in it's way. And the dialogue is straightforward in the way it addresses the reader...making observations and even asking questions...The illustrations are simply delightful in their simplicity, and my only disappointment here is that only a few are in full and beautiful colour!

Strange Weeds

Weeding today, I came across another great find:

The Art of Aluminum Foil by Jane Hinton and Hugh Olleer (1974).

The introduction:

"Of the many new materials that offer a challenge to the artistic imagination, one of the most appealing is aluminum foil.

It is inexpensive and readily available.

It is not essential to know what foil is in order to make things with it, any more than it is necessary to understand the nature of pigments in order to paint pictures.

Among the fascinating projects described...making a model bird, a fairy princess costume, a popcorn chain (this was the best- imagine scrunched up tin foil balls on a piece of string - thank goodness we have the step by step instructions!!!)

Three small tumbling boys come trotting into the library. They survey their surroundings, zigzagging in a rag tag manner back and forth jostling one another. One spots something on the staff picks book display, and literally drags his pals over, saying "Put on your goggles" (they are fresh in from the pool) One boy does, yellow goggles in place, he stands in front of the book display, as his companion chants, "Look look!" All three boys burst into simultaneous expressions of disgust, exclaiming, "Eeeewwwww!" The boys boys swing away as if stung, with mischievous grins....

Bewildered I wander over to see what part of my newly replenished display of staff picks has offended them! This is the book cover! Oh. I hadn't even given it a thought when I put it on display...!

Gilgamesh

Rural Australia, 1937 as the world awaits a war, struggle and hardship take their toll on the surviving wife and daughters of man who was never meant to farm. As he lay dying, he thinks, "There has to be some point to it...perhaps it worked itself out in the following generations." His daughter Edith is seventeen when the visitors arrive. Her English cousin Leopold and his Armenian friend, Aram. Full of tales beyond her narrow horizon, they relate their travels beyond to an archaeological dig in Iraq. Two years later, Edith travels in search of Aram, traveling to Soviet Armenia when the war begins trapping her son Jim and herself, for the duration.

My single criticism of this fascinating novel is that the protagonist, Edith writes several letters to her dear cousin, they are long flowery and even quite literary letters. Up to this point in the tale she is actually portrayed as a mindless disappointment to her intellectual father, a girl who doesn't go beyond the eighth grade. It's hard to dispel this image as her inner life is revealed only in the third person narrative...The richness of the writing sets an seductive mood as a girl on the cusp of womanhood embarks on an epic adventure. Suspense builds as through the creation of taunt relationships intertwined with world events, geography, a melding of space and time. The environment, rugged and harsh echoes the inner struggles of each character, the relentless pace of time. Moments of clarity spin the plot hither onto interesting avenues, yet unexplored.

"It was then as Jim lay on his bed and heard their voices in the kitchen, that he realized that these sisters, the Clark girls, beneath all their travails, their air of martyrdom, their touchy pride, had never denied themselves anything that they really wanted. They did what they wanted to do , and always had, and they had a good time in their own way.

He thought of the generations of nameless dogs in the family, trained to stay at home and guard the women.

He had to get away."

~Gilgamesh by Joan London

Is this book for you?

"Is this book for you?

Think about it:

For yourself:

A. Get out of a rut
B. Break a habit
C. Earn a bit of income
D. Become more popular
E. Travel and meet interesting people
F. Or just have a challenge..."

What you may ask, is this incredible book?!?!

Silhoette Cutting for Fun and Money by Ann and Deidre Woodward.

Yes, really, silhoette cutting may change your life! The younger one has a BA in Graphic Design, so it looks like mom (a former research asst. with the US Congress!!) roped her into this! Lucky girl! It gets even better...

"This book is dedicated to the thousands who have asked, "How do you learn to cut a silhoette?"

Apparently thousands have not asked this question in our library, in fact, only eleven people in the last 19 years have pondered the possibilities of silhouette cutting...Furthermore, this is purportedly "a craft that holds the fascination of a Mona Lisa..." I love how she says, "a Mona Lisa" as if there are many...do you feel the fascination, are you being swept away by it?

By the way, this image is NOT from the actual book. The images in the afformentioned publication would only alarm or bore

The Kindness of Strangers

I had a transportation crisis this morning.

Today of all days! I've been awaiting my big chance to do my first family storytime at the downtown library. Of course at 2:00 am last night I was polishing off my preparations, having procrastinated most of the week on this, but no matter.

About two blocks from my house, the chain disengaged and became jammed on my bike when shifting gears (my bike is such an old school road bike that I try to change gears as little as possible, I think the burn is good for my figure!). After a near accident I managed to dump my heavily weighed down bike (books! books! puppets!) on the side of the road. Grease smeared up my arms and across my leg, which is tremendously bruised at this point. In near tearful frustration, knowing I would surely be late after returning home, and getting all my stuff to the car and searching for parking downtown...I in total desperation asked a nice looking couple if they knew anything about bike gears. Obviously I shouldn't be riding a bike!

Dressed quite nicely and out for a stroll, I had a feeling this muscular fellow wouldn't want to look bad in front of his lady. Soon he had my bike flipped over and was as grease smeared as myself, exclaiming, "What did you do to this thing!?"...the best is yet to come. A curious older man wandered out of a nearby apartment building and inquired if we needed anything. The couple smiled and the grease smeared fellow said, "Hey daddy, do you have a screwdriver or something that we can knock this with?" The fellow took a look, nodded and headed off, after a bit of discussion. The fellow helping me out shouted, "Thanks, daddy!"

Okay, well that 's interesting I thought. Friendly folk. The girl wandered closer and said, "Uh, do you know that guy?" He replied, "Heck no, I'm just trying to see how many times I can call him daddy!" I looked from one to the other in utter astonishment and burst out into laughter.

They had me up and running in no time at all. I have to admit that I probably pressured the guy into helping me and he was a little reluctant to actually get dirty at first (I don't blame him). I have to say things really started to happen when I said, "Oh dear, I'm going to be late for storytime down at the library!" He looked at me in surprise and said, "Are you a librarian?" On an affirmative answer, he really kicked it into high gear! And his partner asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

...One librarian back on the road in a mere fifteen minutes, with the help of three random strangers. Only five minutes late, grease smeared and sweaty. I think I made a terrific impression. Well, I was asked to do two more sessions there, but alas I'm already working. And this storytime was my best yet. Maybe I was still high on adrenaline!

I've never asked so much of strangers before. I feel so much gratitude towards these people who I don't even know...I would do the same but somehow you don't expect it of others.

It was the Title...

...that piqued my interest. Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots, by Alanna Mitchell. I recently started reading the Weathermakers but got lost somewhere in the first few chapters. Too much was happening in my life and it seemed to be a book written by a man for men. I'll come back to it later. A quick perusal of the book jacket and inside pages revealed more endorsement than I have ever encountered. Powerful Men. With names like Blair, Suzuki, Kennedy. There were others but those are the ones that I recall, which also says something.

If environmental degradation interests you, climate change etc., and you are perhaps more interested in the peoples, societies, cultures of the world and their interactions with the environment thus far, this book may be more up your alley. Allana Mitchell of the Globe and Mail was named best environmental reporter of the world in 2000, by the World Conservation Society and the Reuters Foundation which resulted in a term of study at Oxford and this publication. She travels, visiting: the evolutionary incubator of Madagascar, fossils and oil fields of Alberta, the parched land of Jordan, sunken graves in the Arctic, the rainforests of Suriname, the innovative energy options in Iceland, and the scorched lava landscape of the Galapagos. Lyrical and romantic at points, veering into the personal but staying focused on the essential humanity of the problem, the very nature of humanity which has triggered such catastrophe. A few excerpts...

"The scary thing is that the business of species conservation is sometimes just that fragile. Sometimes, it's just a question of being in the right place at the right time. Miss the plane, cancel the trip, get a touch of malaria and, bam, a species goes extinct or gets that much closer to the brink. Mittermeier has been telling me about the Bali mynah. It's a brilliant white bird with a blue eye that lives only in Bali. There are just a handful left in the wild because the birds have been caught so efficiently for the trade of live birds.

But they breed well in captivity, and there's a program at Bali Barat National Park to increase their number. For some reason though, the program wasn't working well. Mittermeier was in Bali and happened to have some time to check it out. It turned out that the wardens who were supposed to stand guard over these mynah birds were so poorly paid that they didn't have enough money to buy gas. That meant that they couldn't keep up with the armed poachers who kept invading the mynah breeding center. A check for $6000 (U.S.) was all that was needed to make the breeding program a success."

Another example...

"Iceland's secret is that it is not a land of inert ice but of kinetic steam. It is one of the few places in the world in the throes of constant geological creation, driven by the force of heat far below the surface. Volcanoes spew lava, and geysers boil water on this metamorphic island. Earthquakes daily crack open new fissures in the land, exposing the inner workings of the planet. In ancient times, the island was thought to contain the maw of hell, a voracious opening to the eternal fires of the netherworld."

And another....

"Just beyond is a broad, flat stone the circumference and height of a table. It has the feel of a sacrificial altar. I stumble and touch it to steady myself. My guards stiffen and the other guards swirl fiercely around. Mittermeier tells me urgently to take my hand away. Then I notice the dominant carving, repeated everywhere. It is a single, wrenching face, eyes wide open, mouth stretched in terror."

Gonna read it?

Firsts and Favorites

So much has happened in the last few weeks!

My first baby time (for at-risk mothers!)

My first round of booktalking (summer reading program!)

First roomate (a good friend and no more living/drinking alone! Kidding!)

First funky old apartment (as opposed to simply old/ugly/neutral).

First time having an ocean view from my BED (small glimpse of water).

True love.

Oh yes, and my first webcam! The last two go hand in hand. Don't get the wrong idea.

Amidst all this happy fuss, I needed to unwind with something, familiar - I tend to revisit authors when there's too much going on. I laughed my way through Sue Townsend's Number 10 Downing Street a few years ago...I do love British humour, but particularly when entwined with news headlines, which she does perfectly! I recall reading about the life of the adult Adrian Mole, a somewhat pathetic anal man whose life is constantly spiraling out of control ... As a woman who in the last few weeks managed to break a toe jumping a fence in the middle of the night, and who also recently fell up a unmoving escalator, and who upon moving managed to forward my mail to the wrong address...I identify, slightly. The last little while I have enjoyed reading The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.

Old classics dating back to the early eighties, they never failed to produce an uproar with the older classes as I booktalked and read excerpts. Two teachers muttered in disgust afterwards that they had hoped to learn about brand new materials at the booktalks. WELL. I was in clear listening distance. Let's clarify that the books were a hit. I had kids coming up afterwards to try and take them away. These teachers just wanted a shortcut for selecting read aloud materials. I was a teacher, been there, done that. But lets not forget that good literature transcends time and is new for each generation. Shall we toss Peter Rabbit? Gosh, I was a toddler when Sue Townsend wrote these books. Ah well, I leave you with some pleasing excerpts from the Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.

Sunday October 24th

The dog went bezerk and ripped the Sunday papers up today. It had no explanation for its bizarre behavior.

The hall was covered with pieces of newsprint saying "Ken Livingstone today defended" ... "Falklands upkeep rockets to 700 million" ... "Israeli soldiers watched helpless as" ... "trouser zips enquiry" ... "Fireman will accept 7 1/2 % but mood is explosive"...

I swept up the pieces and put them in the dustbin and put the lid on the outside world.

Wednesday November 10th

My mother has gone mad cleaning the house from top to bottom. She has taken all the curtains and nets down. Now anybody passing in the street can look in and see our most intimate moments.

I was examining my spots in the living-room mirror tonight, when O'Leary shouted from the street: "There's a fine pimple on the back of your neck, don't miss that boy."

It's taken me fifteen years to appreciate the part that curtains have played in civilized English life.

Monday June 7th

My mother
Clair Neilson's cat
Mitzi

What have the above all got in common?
The fact that they are all expecting babies, kittens or puppies. The fecundity of this suburb is just amazing. You can't walk down the street without bumping into pregnant women and it has all happened since the council put flouride in the water.

By the way, there are actually Adrian Mole computer games (old school!) hence today's graphic!