THE GIRL WITH THE LOWER BACK TATTOO * Extra Extra!

The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer - Trainwreck was sweet, but usually Amy puts me off with over-the-top "inappropriateness". I enjoy inappropriateness as much as the next person, but we all have our delivery preferences, and I'll take South Park over Amy. That said, I enjoyed her book! She's fresh, irreverent and honest. About everything. And then she's funny. About everything. She gives you chapters with titles then delivers. It's a very organized book and I appreciate that.

Lately I've really slowed down on the blog - in part because my computer has really slowed down. It's 9 years old, and Firefox no longer works on it. It takes a minute to fire up (I remember the days when a minute to fire up would have been excellent!) and I haven't configured it to the cloud, to photo stream or even my phone. And now bringing a picture onto the blog is a crapshoot. 
I'm still subbing, and still enjoying it. It's a close to home job, students are great, teachers and staff are dedicated to excellence, and most days I feel like I might have made a small difference for being there. And because it's teaching, it's not really a job, it's a calling, so the days that I actually impart information are the best. My favorite sub jobs are the specials: library, tech, music, gym, english, social studies and instructional aid positions where you work with small numbers of students to help them do well in their classes. 
I've also started a new job as Background Talent (that's what we call Extras in the business) on TV shows and movies that are made in Chicago. It takes me all over the city at all hours, and sometimes I work and sometimes I wait to work. It's not glamorous but it appeals to my flexible schedule. Two jobs isn't easy though. Especially if you want to do anything else. I've been on Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, worked Chicago Med but didn't appear as far as I know, worked Chiraq but my scene was cut even though I eventually saw it on Facebook, worked on Patriot, waiting to see if I'll be seen, worked on Exorcist, waiting to see if I'll be seen, worked on a little post pilot comedy, waiting to see if it will even be on let alone whether I'll be seen (I think I would be seen if it ever hits a screen). Worked on Empire, waiting to see if I'll be seen. Working on the new show, Chicago Justice tomorrow, as a lawyer. It's cut into the beach walks, the shopping, the organizing, the creativity that I claim to crave, and even the TV watching. The DVR was up to 98% at one point. I've watched it down to 71 as of last night, but tonight is Sunday, so here we go again!  One night I was really tired, and made a reservation to go to Myanmar with my friend Nancy and her family. It's going to be an amazing trip, and I hope it jump starts my old love of travel. So that's the latest - now let's see if I can get the right size picture of Amy Schumer's book to upload in the right place. Why does simply continuing to write my blog have to be stressful? Why? Oh, I forgot to mention that she's got a fabulous title and book jacket, and I like the Tiffany blue inside cover pages, too. Thanks, Amy. I liked your book a lot.

MOLOKA'I * SISTERS

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert - This is the story of Rachel, who started her life as a carefree child in Old Honolulu in the late 1800s. When she was 7 years old her life took a drastic turn; she was forced to start an entirely different life on her own and apart from those she loved. She's one of the most resourceful characters you'll ever meet, and her story and adventures, told against the background of true events in Hawai'i in the early 20th century are remarkable. I loved this book, its characters, and its history.

Sisters - Amy Poehler and Tina Fey rarely disappoint, and while this movie wasn't a box office smash, it's one to catch on HBO - Sisters is sassy and sweet and quirky and dumb and funny. Think Stepbrothers meet Project X. 

A HOUSE FOR HAPPY MOTHERS

A House for Happy Mothers by Amulya Malladi - This was a fine book to read on vacation when I didn't need an excellent story holding me back from getting up and out to breakfast. It's the story of a couple who use a surrogate mother to carry their baby, only the surrogate is in India, at the House for Happy Mothers. I'm happy to know what I learned here, but the best readers for this book are people who are considering using an Indian surrogate. It's modern and sweet.

Said vacation consisted of Steve and I driving a car to SLO, and then helping Peter to make a few changes to his new room for Junior Year. It turned into a sweet transformation - new paint, carpet that we laid right over the old, new desk that I scored on Craigslist, took off the closet doors and recessed the dresser, etc. It was like a Design on a Dime episode, and I hope Peter now knows how to do it for himself in the future. That's a vacation for us. I also played a lot of Pokemon Go after Steve left, and it was great company, not to mention fruitful, since there are different common Pokemon out west. I'm up to 94/150 on my Pokedex!

THE ROAD

The Road by Cormac McCarthy - For some reason, I thought this would be a novel of southern families and disfunction. Instead I found myself reading a novel about love and goodness in a time unimaginable. Is it possible to survive in a post apocalyptic world? How would it be done? What would the dangers be? This novel, another of Peter's high school english reads, attempts to answer those questions. It's written with a richness and thoughtfulness that lends itself to many themes and discussions. Couldn't put it down. 

AMERICAN MYSTERIES

American Mysteries Great American Mystery Stories of the 20th Century - The Franklin Library - This book has been on my shelves for years! It's a beautiful leather bound volume with gold trim, but it's really the words on the pages that make it so good. These short stories are from my favorite era before technology but after cars and telephones - the 1920s - 50s. The stories are simply but richly told and each one is unique and truly ends. If you read it, make sure to read the bio about the author right away either before or after you read his or her story. I didn't know that the bios were there until I finished the book and found them, but they would have enriched the experience even more. I savored this one. I'm trying to choose a favorite story or two, but cannot - they all stand the test of time and great storytelling. 

The Basic Eight

The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler - Another and I hope my last for awhile, teen read. Not sure who mentioned it - Laura? - but since I read it you don't have to. Unless you like a San Francisco sophisticated-and-think-themselves-witty high school clique who push the envelope at every turn. Flannery Culp is the narrator and protagonist along with her friend Natasha and the remaining six: Jennifer Rose Something, Lily, Gabriel, Douglas, Kate, V._______ and interlopers Flora and Adam. It's way too long considering the story, so have at it if you still would. 

Doubt  A Parable by John Patrick Shanley - The small cast is composed of two nuns, a priest, and a mother of a catholic school middle school student. This is a disturbing play on many many levels. It's about mistrust and intuition and lying and suspicions. And then on top of that it's about race and religion. I think it's good and it goes fast. At the end, you think you might not be in doubt, but then you think about it and wonder about the shadow of a doubt.  I wish I had read it closer to the time that Peter read it for high school english class. The discussion on this one had to have been impassioned. 

We Were Liars * Dare to Disappoint * The Story of a New Name

We Were Liars by e. lockhart - This is what teens are reading and I might have loved it myself back in the day. In the nowaday, not so much! The premise of a family island and the map and family tree helped launch me into the story, but I didn't love the narrator. One thing I will say though, is that if you hang in there to the end, you will get a big surprise.

Dare to Disappoint Growing Up in Turkey by Ozge Samanci - My second graphic memoir and I hope to discover more. Ozge is delightful and thoughtful and observant of her family as she grows up in a society that is sometimes a double edged sword. She persevered and I love where she ended up. This is as special as Persepolis. 

The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante - Book Two of the Neopolitan Novels. I'm reading these in order because supposedly Book Four is wonderful. We'll see. Our narrator is growing up, but still annoying to me. Will she break out of her provincial way of thinking? What will become of her old friend from the neighborhood? Will I care? These are the questions.

I'm writing today through the Blogger app on my iPad. If I can successfully get pictures if the books onto this post, it may mean the end of desktop computers for me. Which will mean that desk upstairs away, and I could operate with one desk rather than two. Why can't I just do that now? I don't know.

It's a beautiful summer Sunday with the house to myself, kitchen cleaned up and windows open. Desk full of work, lists like you wouldn't believe and all I want to do is play Pokemon Go.  

STATION ELEVEN * LOVING AMY

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - Station Eleven is really good. It's the story of a group of characters connected by the most unusual and distressing of circumstances. One of the main characters is only featured for a minute at the beginning of the story, so it's fascinating to me that connections to his life might have been what the story was about were it not set in such an unusual time. I was thinking it's science fiction, but on second thought there is no science fiction here at all. Read it and decide for yourself. 

Loving Amy A Mother's Story by Janis Winehouse - Amy Winehouse was like this flash of music and voice and style - here and gone. But to her family, she was a daughter, granddaughter, sister and cousin. Wayward and wary of authority on the outside, so that she wouldn't have to reveal whatever she was feeling on the inside. What did come out in her music was beautiful and powerful. This biographical memoir fills in some of the blanks about her life. I know my book reviews aren't particularly inspired today, especially since I liked both books. I'm still preoccupied with getting things in order, though. I participated in a neighborhood yard sale on Saturday and moved a lot of stuff out of here. What didn't sell isn't going back in the cupboards, either. Half of it is packed for Goodwill in the car. The other half is annoyingly gracing the dining room table while it waits for me to list it on Craigslist or one of the Facebook virtual yard sales. I also started playing Pokemon Go which is fun and a huge escape from the concerns of life on any given day. It's fun to be outside walking around with a goal, and when I find a particularly darling Pokemon, it's even more fun. I like searching for things to collect, and the Pokemon don't take up any room! (Just time.) Today I'm going to clear off the dining room table if it's the last thing I do. And it might be. 

KITCHENS OF THE GREAT MIDWEST

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal - This is pretty much the best book I've read in ages no matter what I said or wrote the last few weeks. First of all, it's not depressing and sad and emotional like the others. The writing is much more streamlined, not designed to artificially pull at your heart, but if it does, it's on you. The only reason I'm depressed is because it's over! I want to keep reading these short stories where each main character might appear as a supporting character in the next one's story. Today I'm going to make Pat Prager's award winning Peanut Butter Bars. I'm not normally a bar lover, but the ingredients are few and fast to put together, so even though it's going to be 90 out there, I'm going to bake since we're sailing tonight, and a little chocolate something something is a very happy thing. Eva Thorvald is someone you will know because you knew her when she was young, except that you won't know if you know her, will you? It's modern and moves along and I can't say enough about this book. Thanks to Laura D. for the recommendation and thanks to J. Ryan Stradal for writing it. I could turn around and read it again right now.