Saturday, April 9, 2016

THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME * WHY NOT ME? * THE GIVER

Image result for Girl Who Came Home GaynorThe 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.

Image result for why not me mindyWhy 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.

Image result for the giver lowryThe 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! 

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