ANGRY HOIUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik - I kept seeing this title pop up in the various places I see titles pop up, and was intrigued until I picked up the book at the library and saw that it was in the shape of the casual beach reading paperbacks I used to read in the 1990s. Complete with super small print. I put on my reading glasses and decided to dig in. No wonder it was popping up on book lists. Angry Housewives is about a group of neighbors who form a book club and sisterhood, and the story follows their lives for 30 years. Faith, Audrey, Kari, Slip, Merit, and then Grant are all of us. They define friendship, love, loyalty and sisterhood. What could be more beautiful?

Summer is here! The past two days were super hot and sunny and Peter helped me to open up our screened porch. A few years ago I bought new fabric with which to cover the chair cushions, and yesterday I started the project. The first two are finished and look great. At some point I'd cut into the main fabric, so I have to do a little patching and piecing to get the third cushion finished, but all in all I'm happy with the fabric which is a black background with colorful parrots as the print. I have solid fabrics in three of the colors from the print with which to make coordinating pillows. By finally using this fabric, I've freed up some shelf space in one of the fabric closets, so some of the fabric that is here and there (on the bed and nightstand in the guest room) can now be put away. As soon as I've finished, I'll post pictures of my happy little porch.

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE

Martha Marcy May Marlene - This is a movie that the Chicago Tribune reviewers have been raving about for months. Last night after it finished, I had all sorts of critiques for the movie and those reviewers. I only read enough of the review to know whether it is a must see, and whether the the story line will interest me. The movie unfolds slowly, and even moves slowly. Flashbacks allow the viewer to form their own version of what happened to Martha when she was Marcy May. I wanted both more and less from this movie, and maybe that's what made it a good movie? Although once over, I was glad it had finished, albeit unsatisfactorily. This description and my feelings about this are as troubled and searching as the story. So was it a good movie? I have no idea. I suppose it could be discussed and discussed. Maybe this is one that needs discussion, if only to say "what would you, as any of these characters, have done?"

WHEN MOLLY WAS A HARVEY GIRL

When Molly Was a Harvey Girl by Frances M. Wood - I arrived all the way to my job as a Realtor when I first heard about the Fred Harvey restaurants. So when I was subbing in the library the other day, and this new book came across the desk, Barbara checked it out for me so that I could be the first to read it. The story takes place in the late 1800s, and it's about Molly, a 13 year old girl having a normal life in a small Illinois town when it all turns upside down. Her experiences and adventures as well as her courage and spirit make for a wonderful book. The geography, variety of characters and their professions and backgrounds as well as the town of Raton round it all out. I recommend When Molly Was a Harvey Girl to readers of all ages, especially those who admire a spunky heroine.

I did some online reading to learn more about the Fred Harvey Restaurants....here is a WSJ book review.

A GROWN UP KIND OF PRETTY * STILL PURGING

A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson - Is there such thing as an Identity Mystery genre? If so, then that's what this is, and I really enjoyed the voices in this novel about a young grandmother, her wild daughter and her sweet granddaughter. It's an easy and quick read, a bit of a page-turner and very modern with the old-fashionedy (as either the grandmother or granddaughter would say) feel of the deep south where it takes place.

On the purging front, I am having a difficult time. One of my Freecycle friends came by and offloaded a few bags, and after chatting with Valerie about this madness, we decided that she (the freecycle friend not Val) would be a great person to just pick up the rest of the stuff. I emailed her and she responded that she had found homes for all the other stuff, and that she could probably pick up the rest of it this afternoon. I'm determined to go big here. Wish me luck. I need it. Once she takes another load, I hope it will make a difference and inspire me to go all the way with this.

FAR FROM HERE * PURGING

Far From Here by Nicole Baart - During a dry spell, I checked this out of the library based on it's pretty and clean cover. Oops! If you liked The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shrieve, you'll like this one, also about a pilot's wife. You'll know this girl inside and out before it's over, but do you want to? I didn't. So I skip-read it until the end, found out what happened, and was done.

And then there was less.....Last weekend, I had my last-for-awhile-I-hope annual driveway sale. Friday was beautiful; I sold a lot of stuff, and then it rained Saturday, so I had this weird day of occasional people stopping by between the raindrops to browse the waterproof things on a single table in the drive, and then perhaps step into the foyer to browse the books and paper/cloth stuff in there. Made a little bit more money, and this week I've been pairing down the leftovers, stressing about whether to save anything for the possibility of a friend having a sale in the next few weeks. It's getting better every day, although yesterday I took a load to the Salvation Army in Evanston on Kedzie. I've been going there as customer and donor since I used to walk by it on my way to the EL when I first moved here.
It was gone.
The entire block of buildings has been torn down, and something big is going up. It derailed me for the rest of the day. I loved that it was an easy and impersonal place to drop things off, and that it was a constant in my life. Good bye Salvation Army on Kedzie. I'll never walk your cracked tile floors again, smelling that funny thrift store smell which was never as bad at your store as it is at some others. Remember when I found unusual serving pieces to Mom's Johnson Brother's Feather pattern china? And went around to some other Salvation Armys and found even more? It started with you. And how about the time you had beautiful lamps and shades from Fredrick Cooper for $10 and $15? There was more, but not a whole lot. Still, it was my local and it's gone. RIP.

SO BIG

So Big by Edna Ferber - Today is Mother's Day, and I started out by treating my self to leisurely finishing So Big. Edna Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel about a woman named Selina and a city called Chicago. It takes place at the turn of the century, and although the story covers many years, and many lives, it's compact and musical. You'll never hear the phrase "Cabbages are Beautiful" again without thinking of Selina. Reading this was a real treat.

YARD SALE!

5-13-12 - I just wrote a book here about my yard sale, then deleted every word. Here's all we need to know:
1) It was literally exhausting this year.
2) I sold a ton of stuff on Sunny balmy Friday.
3) Saturday was crazy with people knocking on the door and then buying stuff out of the boxes in the foyer because I didn't want to take too much outside since it was overcast and occasionally drizzling.
4) I still have half again as much stuff to sell.
5) Half of what I have left is good, and half is not so good.
6) It was literally exhausting this year.

So....will someone have a yard or garage sale? Here's what I will do: Run your ad on Craigslist, bring over a few signs, help you price stuff so that it all sells that day, and bring over my stuff which makes your sale look more full no matter what you have.

6-27-12 - After I wrote the above, I spent the next week slowly going through and giving away most of the left-overs. It felt great to unload and as the space was reclaimed around the house, I had less and less desire to have another sale. I put a lot of things on Craigslist and sold a few, and then one Friday, I went to a sale and there was my friend Meg, having HER annual exhausting event. She said I could bring the rest of my stuff to her house the next day to sell at her sale. So instead of going home and getting ready, I spent the rest of the day moseying around town...went to some awful sales, visited Valerie T, went to the antique mall, stumbled upon a vintage jewelry yard sale and bought an art deco pin. I was supposed to go out that night, so pretty much I was guaranteeing that I wouldn't be able to sell the rest of the stuff at Meg's the next day. When I came home, the plans were cancelled at the last minute, so I read the paper, and ate dinner to avoid some more. Then all of a sudden, I was loading up my car. By 8:30 everything was in there for the next morning. Steve and I walked over to Wallace Bowl and saw the Abba tribute group sing a few songs. The next day I got to Megs, set out my wares, and the people came. We had a fun day, got some cash, had some laughs, and at the end it took me about two minutes to pack the few things that remained back into the car. So....it's finally over. The leftovers are some interesting clothes, my vintage dolls, some vintage linens and an upholstered wrought iron bench. It's all going on Craigslist this week, and at some point it's going out the door regardless. Meg and I swore we would not do this next year. She was as tired as I was. We each retained a small box of things as the starter (kind of like sourdough starter) for next year's possible sale. We know ourselves.

GETTING DOWN TO THE WIRE ON THE YARD SALE

I am going to have a yard sale soon. The massive purge continues. The living room and foyer are so full of stuff that I can't add any more to the piles until they are organized for transport out to the driveway on the morning of the sale. I've started pricing each item (including the price of free on a lot of stuff) and grouping it with like things to make set up as easy as possible. Setting up is a pain. I'm methodical, but at some point the early birds arrive and start going through stuff which messes me up. They always buy, and then generally get the best stuff and pay full price. The thing is, you never quite know what that stuff is going to be. It's nice though, because right away first thing in the morning, I get some money and I know that the day will be a success. Today I am determined to get on with this job so that I can double the amount of stuff I'm selling by next weekend. The sale will be a pop-up, based on good sunny weather and other sales in the area as an additional draw. I hope it will be in May so that I can get this stuff out of here and get on with enjoying the summer.

THE FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT * EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE

The Five Year Engagement - Hmmm. How to talk about this one without giving anything away? I'll say that it's quirky and the characters are likeable, and it takes place in two beautiful cities, and one of them was great to see on film because I had a great time there. So yeah, it got great reviews, most of my friends are also loving it, and I hope that you will too. It can wait for your home screen, but you won't regret seeing it at the movies. And the doughnut thing from Thinking Fast and Slow is in there too!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Tom Hanks plays the dad (who has a minor physical presence in the book) which is your first clue that movie is not book. This was an adaptation of sorts, and it was OK, but I don't think anyone who hasn't read the book would follow the movie very well. It would seem shallow and hollow and reaching. I think they might have been better off to leave this one alone. I will forget I saw the movie, and keep the story from the book in my heart. The little boy did a good job with what the adults gave him, though.

THE NIGHT CIRCUS * THINKING FAST AND SLOW

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - This is an unusual story about a magical dreamlike circus. To say much more about it would ruin the experience of reading the story originally and with no preconceptions. I loved everything about it....Celia and Marco and Baily and the twins and Chandresh and the look and feel of the circus. The author's narrative voice enhances the reading in such a way that when you've finished it really is as a dream. Were you there? Did it happen? What was it like? Suspend belief and read it.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - So then I went exact opposite and read a non-fiction analysis about all the ways that psychologists try to figure out how and why people think and form ideas. It's not that difficult to plow through, but it's all about measuring and labeling everything, which is mainly about keeping these guys in business. I'm a skeptic when I read statistics because the first thing I'll do is see whether the number of people who were surveyed is included in the statistic. If they try to tell me that I have some percentage of getting a disease based on a telephone sample of 2000 people, I object! How can anything about a sample of 2000 people predict anything about anything? There are millions of people in the world! To his credit, Kahneman actually addresses this. Thinking fast is when you just give an answer off the top of your head, and thinking slow is when you analyze a situation before giving an answer or reaching a conclusion. Somehow, the title doesn't completely match up to the content although he writes about it on every page. He's a good writer though, and it was interesting to read about all the different ways that psychologists test people. The doughnut test was actually used in the movie I'll review next. Read it if you enjoy non-fiction. Not if you don't.

LARRY CROWNE

Larry Crowne - This movie came and went. From fun looking previews in the theaters for a second, and then, seemingly just like that to HBO. Tom Hanks plays a super nice middle aged regular guy, former military, who decides to go to college. Julia Roberts plays his losing-her-enthusiasm-and-personal-life-going-to-hell teacher. Although I'm not a big Julia fan, I'm pretty sure she did not let loose that signature laugh even once in this movie, which made me like her and the movie a little bit more. It's a super sweet story, with wonderful peripheral characters. No reason not to catch it on HBO for little movie respite when you want to relax for a couple of hours and not think too much.