a simple Sunday

...of laundry on the line, and a trip to the farmer's market, and working around the house.

(A humid, breeze-less day means long drying times.)

(Forgot to take pictures at the market, but here's some of what came home with us.)

(We're replacing the shutters because they're faded and cracked and just downright ugly. After Rich took them down, a major scrubbing was in order.)

(It's nice to have such cute little helpers.)
























...of baking dog biscuits, and baking bread, and baking raspberry crumb cake.

(And while Rich had his cute little helper outside, I had my cute little helper with me in the kitchen. In fact, the whole reason we're even baking dog treats is because my little helper wanted to.)

(Italian Herb Bread. By far the best recipe I've made in the bread machine so far...even if the picture is lousy.)

(Again, the picture does not do this justice. This is what became of those purple raspberries from the farmer's market. Mmmmmm.)


...of lesson plans for fall, and crocheting, and a bit of fun reading.

 (Okay, not a lot of progress was made on this front. I just can't seem to get motivated. But every little bit is something...or at least, that's what I keep telling myself.)

(The start of a new bathroom rug.)

(And I even finished a book. I may just meet my summer goal this year.)

passing the buck yet again

Well, this is overdue. Of course, just about everything in my life is "overdue" these days. Seems to be the state of normal around here. Anyway, I'm not sure why I even make these posts, except that I have such fun keeping track of when I picked up a particular book...and whose to blame for it. Yes, I'm very easy to amuse. ;)  But hey, I've always figured that was a good thing.

So, in no particular order, my recent acquisitions:

Whiteout: Volume 1 by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber. Murder mystery type graphic novel set in Antarctica. I read about this somewhere, but can't for the life of me remember where (so someone may be getting let off the hook on this one). Anyway, our local B&N had all their used books half off the other day...so this is one of several books that made its way home with me.

A Woman Like That: Lesbian and Bisexual Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories edited by Joan Larkin. Title sounds pretty self-explanatory. Another from the half-price used book sale.

Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori. A previously unheard of by me book. Gotta admit, it was the cover that first drew me in. The numerous references to Lemony Snicket in the review blurbs kept my interest. And well, the fact that it sounded like a book the boys and I would love to read together--that cinched it. Well, that and the fact that it only cost $1.50 at the book sale.

Rosalind Franklin & DNA by Anne Sayre. This book has been on my wish list for ages! I can't believe I found it (actually Rich found it) at the book sale for just $2.00. :D

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Now this is what I call good timing. I'd never heard of this book until just days ago when Pat reviewed it. I knew immediately that I wanted it...and then there it was in the used section on sale. POINT FOR PAT.

Bachelor Girl: The Secret History of Single Women in the Twentieth Century by Betty Israel. This one popped onto my radar thanks to Ana. She talked about it in a coveting post. While I wish she would write coveting posts more often as she always talks about the most amazing books I've never heard of, her coveting leads to coveting of my own. ;)  And this was the last of the books bought at the half-price sale. POINT FOR ANA.

The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan. Okay, so blame for this falls squarely on Chris. He emailed and told me all about this amazing book. (And Chris, if you don't mind, I'm now going to skip the part of the story about my feeble brain. :P ) Rich actually ordered this one for me because he knew how badly I wanted it. POINT FOR CHRIS.

Urban Farm: Summer 2010. Okay, so I've never dished out blame for a magazine before. But then, no one has ever made me want to buy a magazine like this before.  And it cost more than all those half-price used books, so why shouldn't it count, right? (Sorry Chris, but I'm just not taking responsibility for this one. :P) POINT FOR CHRIS.

Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker. Total impulse buy. Just sounds ridiculously fun. And Rich thought so, too. So we sort of shared blame for this one. It's about a college professor turned zombie who is on a crusade for peaceful coexistence with humans. Described as dark and humorous. I'm looking forward to it.

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan. Oh, poor Chris. He didn't even love this book, and here he is taking the blame. ;)  What can I say, he still made it sound good to me, so when I saw it at the library, I just had to bring it home with me. POINT TO CHRIS.

Recycle This Book: 100 Top Children's Book Authors Tell You How to Go Green edited by Dan Gutman. Uhhh Chris, you might want to take it easy on me here. If our library decides to cave in during your visit, I'm afraid it will partially be falling right where you're sleeping. :P  In other words, stop filling my house with books! This review is at fault...picked it up from the library shortly after reading it. POINT FOR CHRIS.

Get Crafty: Hip Home Ec by Jean Railla. A total impulse grab from the library. Looks like it may be one of those rare craft books that I actually read cover to cover--yep, it looks that fun! (No idea why the picture came out so blurry when I added it.)

Junk Beautiful by Sue Whitney & Ki Nassauer. As soon as I read Carl's post about this book, I went immediately to our library website and ordered this. All the photos he shared, not to mention his review, made me knew immediately that I would love this book. POINT FOR CARL.

Junk Beautiful: Outdoor Edition by Sue Whitney. Fair or not, I'm also blaming this on Carl. If I hadn't gone looking for the first, I never would have run across this one. So I'm saddling him with the blame for both. POINT FOR CARL.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. How is it that I've never heard of this series before? Or have I, and I've just forgotten about it? I really don't think that's likely though--it sounds so up my alley that I can't imagine forgetting about it. But then again, my brain is not what it used to be. Whatever. This is the first book in a series about a group of teens fighting back after their home country, Australia, is invaded by unspecified country. Anyway, this was a total impulse purchase.

Incantation by Alice Hoffman. Saw this in a used book store. While I couldn't, from the back cover description, get a good feel for what it's about, it definitely sounds intriguing. And I absolutely adored the one Alice Hoffman book that I have read (Green Angel). Figured for the price, I just couldn't go wrong.

Cobwebs by Karen Romano Young. Talk about not having a clue what it's about! But the combination of the vague description, the cover, and the price had me picking this one up at the used book store as well.

The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier. I read his book, After the First Death, a couple months ago and really, really enjoyed it. In looking into his other books, this was the one that most caught my eye. (I know The Chocolate War and I Am the Cheese are much more popular, but they just don't interest me.) I've kept my eye out for this one at the bookstores, but they just don't seem to keep it in stock. So I was extremely excited when I not only found it at the used book store, but found it for practically nothing.

She Looks Just Like You: A Memoir of (Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood by Amie Klempnauer Miller. A book that Rich just surprised me with out of nowhere. Isn't he sweet?

Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World edited by Robyn Ochs & Sarah E. Rowley. Another one Rich just surprised me with out of the blue. Though this one had been on my wish list.

Love & Lies: Marisol's Story by Ellen Wittlinger. Been on my PaperbackSwap wish list for a while, and it finally became available.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It was actually something in one of The History of US series by Joy Hakim that made me want to pick this one up. And lucky for me, it was immediately available at PBS.

Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala. Been getting a lot of requests for books from PBS lately. While this is a very good thing--I love getting books out of here--it's also a dangerous thing. Because when I log into PBS to print the mailing labels, they display all those books there that can be mine just for the asking. ;)  Yep, that's what happened with this one (and the next one). I've never heard of this book before, but it seems like a book I should have heard of. Anyway, it's a novel about a child soldier in an unspecified African nation. And I needed it because having two (non-fiction) books on the subject, that I can't seem to make myself read because I know they're just going to be so heartbreaking, just isn't enough. ;)

Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict by Michael T. Klare. Sounds fascinating. But of course, it is bound to be somewhat speculative, which makes me extra wary. I was happy to see an extensive notes section at the end when it arrived though. Anyway, I eager to read it, though I'm sure it will be unnerving.

 An Open Book by Michael Dirda. Hmm...again with the blurry picture. :(  Well, Ms. Ana is to blame for this. Not that she reviewed this book in particular. But she has reviewed a couple of his other books. And I ended up adding every single one of his books to my PBS wish list in the hopes of eventually getting my hands on one of them. And it finally paid off. POINT FOR ANA.







Note to self: Stop waiting so long between these posts, you idiot!

babbling...

So I'm on this mission to put some organization back into this household. (I talk all about it over here. It's a tad frustrating...because I want to do it all RIGHT NOW. Which obviously is not possible. I've made good strides in some areas this past week, but it comes at a price. For one, this blog. Not that that's really a big deal. Just more of a way of explaining why I've disappeared somewhat.

I also moved most of my bookish musing to a different blog. But it's not really reviews or anything. More just a personal journal of what I'm reading and my thoughts on it. I'm going to leave the blame game here for now though...simply because I'm too lazy to move it right now. I do have a pile of acquisitions sitting here, with a few points to dole out. Hopefully tomorrow.

I know...here I am, trying desperately to get more organized, and yet I seem more scatter-brained than ever. Maybe I should just accept that that's who I am, huh?

why fight it

I keep telling myself that it's time to reenact that book accumulation ban...but I just can't seem to get serious about it. And you know, I think it's just time to say to hell with it. Don't I have enough to stress about in life? Why yes. Yes, I do. So if I can't get control over this book acquisition addiction, so be it. As long as the vast majority continue to be used books as opposed to new books, I'm just done beating myself up over it. So there.

And with this new attitude, I can now show off my new acquisitions and dole out the blame without even the tiniest tinge of guilt. Really.

From the library:

*On Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar Bear by Richard Ellis. I've been wanting this book ever since it came out. When I saw it at the library yesterday, I told myself, "Don't check it out. You don't have time to read it right now anyway. You can always get it later." Hmmm...and yet somehow it came home with me. ;)  I've told myself that it can be my reward for finally finishing up the school year at the end of the month. Problem being, I've said that about a few dozen books already. :P

Polar bears are such beautiful, majestic creatures. I just can't bear to think of this world without them. I'm hoping desperately that this book will offer at least a few glimmers of hope. But I fear it won't.

*Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization by Steven Solomon. I had even less business checking this one out than the last one. Seriously, when exactly do I really think I'm going to squeeze in a nice 500 page book in the next several weeks? I blame the library though--they really shouldn't put up these lovely tempting displays of their new arrivals.





Books that became available from my PaperbackSwap wish list:

*Hole in the Sky by Pete Hautman. Post-apocalyptic YA. Need I say more? POINT FOR STACI.

*Far from Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters. It was Julie Anne Peters.












And from our little local used bookstore:

*The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez by Philip Caro. Okay, so when I was in the bookstore, I was convinced that I was in the mood for a true crime book. But honestly, I was flipping through this book earlier, and I might just be too creeped out to actually read it. We'll see.









*A Walk in the Wood: Rediscovering American on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson. I probably shouldn't admit this, but this is actually the third time this book has made its way into our house. (Well, not this exact copy of the book, of course.) I bought it for Rich long ago, because hiking the Appalachian Trail is how we spent our honeymoon. And then he received it as a gift from a friend of ours. So we gave that copy away. Rich read it and loved it, and I always planned on reading it myself. But then I read Bryson's Notes From a Small Island. And well...it was sort of a love/hate thing. I found him to be hilarious and annoying all at the same time. Annoying ended up winning out, and I decided not to keep A Walk in the Woods. Silly, silly me...as I've now changed my mind...what can I say--it's fun to be fickle.

*The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Blame coming for this one...yep, Ana made this sound sooooo good! I just hope it doesn't take me ten years to get around to reading it. POINT FOR ANA.

*Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong. Do you ever get the feeling that you're the last person on Earth to hear of a certain book? That's the sort of feeling I get with this one. I don't even know why. It just seems like a book I should have heard of before. So--has anyone read it, and is it as good as it sounds?

*Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood is one of those authors that just scares the crap out of me. I have this feeling that I'm not smart enough to "get" her books. Where I pick up these ideas, I have no idea...but I do this *a lot*. Anyway, Oryx and Crake has long intrigued me, and after reading Care's review, I decided this was the book I needed to venture into the writings of Atwood. POINT FOR CARE.

*Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie. I've been wanting to read something by Alexie for a long time. And when I came across this one, I knew it would be the perfect place for me to start. It sounds absolutely incredible...alienation, racism, and a serial killer.

*The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery. Okay, I'm going to pass off the blame for this one onto Eva. Not because she reviewed this book. In fact, I'd never even heard of this book before. But because she reviewed another book by Sy Montgomery (can't remember the name off the top of my head, but it was about tigers), and she made Montgomery sound like such an awesome writer. So when I saw her name, it made me pull the book off the shelf. And the book sounds utterly delightful. A happy sort of read. POINT FOR EVA.

*Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness: Radical Strip-Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia by Erik Reece. This is actually a book I've been wanting to pick up for Environmental Science this year, so it was mighty gratifying to find it at the used book store. It's pretty unlikely that we're going to get to it though, as the school year has only two weeks left it it. But I'd really like to read it anyway, and Annie just might want to read it on her own as well.

crank...random thoughts

Crank by Ellen Hopkins.

Okay, so I knew going into this book, it wasn't going to be a pretty read. I knew the general story--"good girl" turns "not-so-good girl" thanks to drugs. (Quotes signifying that I know nothing is ever so straightforward.) What I didn't know is how much this book would leave me feeling physically battered. How much I would relate to these issues, to these scenes, to these feelings.

See, I could have been Kristina. No, our stories were not identical. No, our family circumstances were not the same. And no, my fall was not nearly as devastating. But it could have been. And I'm smart enough to know how very lucky I am. And here I'm only talking about the drug use.

But I could relate to other details of Kristina's life, too. For example, her rape. Again, different circumstances. Different outcomes. But also again...I found her voice so believable.

And speaking of believable, Ellen Hopkins wrote this story based in part on the experiences of her own daughter, her own family. This knowledge had a way of breaking my heart even more...I found myself time after time thinking, "Oh no...I hope this part is purely fiction" because I didn't want to think about the reality of this or that happening to a real live human being. And of course, the sad truth is, all these things do happen to real live human beings every damn day.

You know what made it all the scarier? Being a mom.

This book is written in free verse. A thought that scared me a bit before I started reading. But I loved its style. And it certainly made it a very fast read for a book of over 500 pages.

If I have any complaint about the book, it would be the ending. After spending over 500 pages spanning just a few months time, the last few pages cover the rest of an entire year. Yes, I think I understand why Hopkins wrote it this way...and I can't really talk about it without giving things away...but I really would have loved to have heard more about what Kristina did and thought and felt during that time.

There is a sequel to this book. And I believe a third coming out later this year. Will I read them? I haven't yet decided. Not because I didn't think this was a great book. But more because it just hit me so very, very hard.

enchanted night random thoughts and vivid visuals

I can say without question that I've never read a book quite like this before. Seriously, what a unique little book it is. I'm not even going to try to review it...Chris and Carl have both done so recently, and have done so far better than I ever could. Instead I just want to share a few short little bits gathered from throughout. Steven Millhauser paints quite a visual. So many times I found myself somewhat taken aback by the pictures that would spring to life in my mind. Taken aback because they were so real and clear and vivid. It's not that I found his writing exquisitely beautiful in the way I do Ray Bradbury's (yeah, I know, I know--I *always* use him as my example of writing that takes my breath away). But there was something about Millhauser's words that brought things so vividly to life. I'm not sure if they'll have the same power plucked from their little vignettes, but I'm going to share them anyway.

*So green, the grass, so strangely moonly green, that it looks greener than green: silk-blouse green, eyelid green, the green of transparent childhood marbles rolling in sun and shade.

*Moonlight lies on her cheeks, on her long fingers and half-parted lips. She feels the moonlight penetrating her fiberglass skin, soothing her, lulling her will; she feels a swooning languor combined with a secret excitement, a loosing of the rigorous bonds of her nature.
(The "she" in this passage is a mannequin.)

*Janet runs barefoot across the lawn turned gem-green by the moon, a fairytale green, the green of lost cities at the bottoms of lakes in the depths of dark forests...

*She ripples into moonlight, her nightgown fluttering, her tanned legs shining under the moon--she swings with flung-back face, looking at him upside down, laughing suddenly into the moon-mad sky.

*In the small secret place, tree-walled, a little room among the trees, Laura steps into the patch of brightness and lifts her face to the moon. The moon is so bright she has to close her eyes. She stands with her face turned up, the way she's seen people in Indian summer, leaves yellowing on the trees, stand with their eyes closed and their bright faces turned to the sun. Her sun in the moon, feverish-cool. Ice-flames ride down her arms.

*The music takes her by surprise: it sounds like the kind of music you might hear on a merry-go-round, a sad and jaunty music, a wooden-horse tune shot through with the smell of cotton candy and the distant clatter of rides. In the moonlit dark living room she watches the loony lady begin to turn slowly, her arms outspread, her eyes half close, her mouth smiling as she turns and turns on her bare feet on the dark rug with its pattern of peacocks.