skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Dear Mr. You by Mary-Louise Parker - Dear Mr. You received rave reviews in the mainstream sector, but since I don't read them, I didn't know exactly why. Now I do; Mary-Louise Parker is an amazing writer. She writes with sophistication but not pretension. By the time you're to the third chapter/letter, the words in your reading flow. The best thing about it is that you've never read a book like it. In all ways it's a personal journey through the men in her life - who they were or are and how they've played a role in who she ultimately is as she takes something of them into her heart and mind. It's labeled Biography, but it's Bio and Auto and Memoir and Ode.
Vinyl - Gotta love HBO - they've done it again. This time it's Vinyl, and the new series takes place in New York City in 1973 in the music business. Specifically the record business. I loved my records and still do. There was nothing like bringing home a new 45 or LP and playing it over and over again for days and weeks until the next one. We'd buy them at Korvette on Telegraph and Joy Road because albums were $3.74 - the best price in town. Who knew what was behind the music and that round black vinyl disc? Watch Vinyl for the 1970s and a look back at what was a simpler time, even though it wasn't really. Bobby Canavale is amazing as Richie Finestra; his supporting cast is all over the board, but the story and Bobby are so good that it doesn't matter.
The Girl Who Came Home A Novel of the Titanic by Hazel Gaynor - I've loved Titanic stories ever since I watched A Night To Remember for the first time at my grandmother's house when I was a little girl. It was in black and white, and we ate toasted in the oven pumpkin seeds from a foil pie pan as we watched. My grandmother had probably seen it many times, and by the time I was an adult, I could say the same. Now it's been years, and the big Titanic movie, the discovery of Titanic on the ocean's bottom, and even museum exhibits where those discoveries could be seen have made Titanic into some kind of modern thing. There's nothing like the first time, though, and this book is more the first time than it is the hype. Loosely based on some truths, the story is personal and sweet, as a great granddaughter learns about her great grandmother's life.
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling - Keep writing Mindy! I love reading Mindy Kaling because she's super smart and knows all about the Titanic (although possibly from only the modern references not the black and white) but she also knows about modern Hollywood life and doesn't mind dishing about it and making it fun. I could seriously read this stuff every day.
The Giver by Lois Lowry - Even though (unusual for me, I know, don't ask) I am reading two other books at the same time right now, when I was subbing yesterday, the 7th graders were writing essays about The Giver and it sounded really good. And it is. It's sort of a mild City of Ember meets Hunger Games with a dash of 1984. (and did you hear that George Orwell is upset: "I wrote 1984 as a warning, not a f-----g instruction manual"). But I digress, I'm glad I read The Giver, but if you're going to read something, choose Girl Who Came Home or Why Not Me this week. Unless you like small tween distopian novels, then by all means, do The Giver. Steve and I just returned from a great little trip to California. We saw Peter run twice for Cal Poly, spent time with family named Peter (Peter George, Peter Jr. and Peter Freeman) and our niece and nephew and my friend Maggie in SF, had three Swenson's Sticky Chewy Chocolate ice cream cones, walked in San Francisco (the only way for me to learn a place and know where I am in the world), sailed in the harbor at Marina Del Rey while Steve worked on the boat's engine, (yes, this really happened), stayed on a horse ranch and walked around Santa Ynez (sweet but very small), ate pizza at the new pizza place in SLO, and did many beach walks and other walks, among them, Berkeley, Stanford and Palo Alto, Tiburon and Sausalito, and made new friends everywhere we went. Home now to the cold and windy weather and the general grind, where I do a lot of "I want to do this...." and then don't do it. But this time I feel invigorated, so I'm hoping to spend at least three hours today in the back bedroom moving forward, finding a place for everything and getting rid of it if it doesn't have a place. Good luck with that! Here we go again! I hope the perfect amount of stuff sparks joy and the other doesn't!
