Tagged for a meme

1. What book are you reading right now?
Planters, Containers & Raised Beds, A Gardener's Guide, by Chuck Crandall and Barbara Crandall

2. What was the last book you read on a plane?
I last flew a month before 9/11, but I don't remember the book. It was probably a true-crime book, though.

3. What was the last book you read on a roadtrip?
Driving gets in the way of my reading on road trips. :)

4. What was the most unusual place you found yourself reading?
Oh, let me see....that might be The Petrified Forest. We took a big family vacation when I was a teenager, and I read a lot while we drove cross-country. I recall being scolded by my grandmother for being so lazy as to try viewing The Petrified Forest from inside our car, with my book on my lap. NB, I said "try;" Grandma routed me out of there for at least a little while. No wonder the Forest was petrified - - Grandma was there!

5. What books would you take to keep you occupied on
a two-week vacation to the beach?
I adore the seashore! I'm a leisurely beachcomber who also enjoys just watching the eternal pull and thrust of the ocean. I don't read there, although I tried it once (got sand in my book).

Teabird tagged me for this. I hereby tag all comers.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Beware...

see more crazy cat pics

...the Ides of March! Maybe you *should* look behind you!

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Still out sick; will post after this cold-flu hybrid is over.

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

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A perfect time to read

"Headcold" is an eye-catching, swollen-looking font. Headcold is not, to my knowledge, the name of a musical group but it should be. Headcold is also not a quaint, little English town near the real town of Mousehole, but, again, it should be. Headcold is what I have. I hate headcolds.
Symptomatic relief is all one can aim for, but not all home remedies are equal. I know many people praise the neti pot, but I can't bring myself to try one. I am much more comfortable with piping tea with honey through the day, and with tea toddies at bedtime. A couple of other remedies I've not tried include (for sore throat) hot milk in which an onion has been simmered, and (all-purpose) milk warmed with black pepper, turmeric and a little sugar. Of course there is always chicken soup, and recipes for it are legion. As a soup lover, I admit to making pots of it for any reason and for no reason, so why not make some to ease a headcold? I am having soup tonight, and I laid in a generous supply of oranges and grapefruit. Have they any particular value when one has a cold? I don't know, but I craved them. I did not crave Haagen Dazs coconut sorbet, but I bought a pint of it. A puzzle magazine and a book are at hand, so I am well-stocked in headcold comfort supplies and in self-pity, so I'm ready for this seige.
I wish *you* a cold-free season.

Be sure to order your

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in time for Easter!

Samuel Adams on virtue

"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more
surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force
of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot
be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be
ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or
internal invader."

-- Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 12 February 1779)

The weekend's almost here!

see more loldogs are funny dog pictures!

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

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"Like the pine trees lining the winding road..."

"...I got a name." (Jim Croce) Here we are, smack-dab in the middle of Celebrate Your Name Week. CYNW began in 1991, though this is the first year I heard of it. Its purpose is obvious, and probably more welcomed by people with uncommon names just because it gives them one week per year to take pride in having to spell their names to everybody every time they use them. I wish it were also the one week per year when we uncommonly-named people don't have to hear things such as, "Wow, where'd you get a mess like that?" If you are one such person, I give you my permission to carry and use an airhorn on everyone who says that to you this week. Then go off to celebrate your lovely moniker.
Some towns have clubs or annual gatherings for people who have the same first name. There is a Lois Club, and a Betty Club. But I suspect those clubs will not exist in the next generation as unique and unusual names grow in popularity. As you know, if you read the newpapers' new baby announcements, names - - like so many things now - -have become customized. People employ different spellings of ordinary names, and they create names, too. Sometimes people are named after things in pop culture. I once lived where there were people named Lexus, Camry and Nautica, not to mention those who aspired to the aristocracy and royalty by naming their children King, Prince, Princess, Queen, Marquise and Marquess.
I know of people named Spider, Uniqua (a very popular name for a while), Stormy, Misty Bay and Karma. And two altogether one-of-a-kind names belong to siblings, YuhHighness and YuhMajesty. But my all-time favorite name has to be Aphrodite Chuckass. What a hard row to hoe she must have had.

Your secret desire

Many of us who love to read also enjoy writing. Some of us are published authors while others daydream of being published...and successful...and able to write full time, slamming the door behind us as we leave our current day jobs. So, if you had absolute knowledge that you would be succesful, what kind of book would you write? Don't trot out your standard answer that you give at parties and in letters. What is your secret desire for your book?

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

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Dr. Seuss would have been "this many" today: 104 years old!

Happy Leap Day!

"Ladies have a full and absolute license to propose marriage to single gentlemen on February the 29th; and if the gentleman is so rude as to refuse, he is infallibly bound to give the spurned lady a present, which is usually a pair of new gloves on Easter Day."

from The Arbiter of Polite Comportment, published in Great Britain in 1710

Wordless Wednesday

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You knew it!

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You knew it, you just knew it, didn't you? You knew that working puzzles and games for thirty minutes a day would keep your mind sharp, right? You knew that www.thinks.com offers free online games and puzzles, too. And you even knew that thinks.com has links to other game and puzzle sites. It's fun, it's fast and it's free. And because you knew all this,I know I'll see you over there right now!

Not a sentence I would say out loud...

You Are From Uranus

You shine with brilliant creativity, and you're more than a little eccentric. You love everything unusual and shocking. You're one far-out chick or dude. Anything unconventional excites you - and you have genius potential. Just don't let your rebel side get the best of you, or else you'll alienate everyone. Your original thinking and funky attitude is all you need to be you.

What Planet Are You From?

Weekend recipe

banana bread/muffins
1/4 C. oil
2 eggs
1/3C. honey
3 bananas, mashed well
1t. vanilla
Heat oven to 350'F. Combine these wet ingredients well and set aside.

1-1/3C. whole wheat flour
3/4t. salt
1/2t. baking soda
1/4t. baking powder
3/4t. freshly grated nutmeg

Sift together. Stir in wet ingredients until combined completely, but do not over-mix. Pour batter into a small, greased loaf pan. Bake for about fifty minutes, until golden brown and fragrant. Let cool completely. If you want muffins, ladle 1/4C. of batter into each of eight-ten greased muffin cups and bake for about twenty minutes, keeping an eye on them near the end.

Options: You can add one cup of crushed nuts or a cup of finely diced, dried fruit, or a half cup of chocolate chips. You can add one teaspoon of cinnamon and one teaspoon of powdered ginger to the nutmeg, if you wish. If you do this, let the bread/muffins sit overnight for the flavors to develop fully.
You can even buck this up with a little dark rum or whiskey while it's cooling. When it's cool, wrap it well and refrigerate it for at least two weeks.

This makes excellent toast, and is especially good, toasted, with peanut butter or almond butter on top for a quick breakfast. When it's stale, it makes outstanding French toast.

Witty knitters!

Please take a moment to visit a new site, The Inside Loop. My dear friend, Diane, along with her friend, Kate, just launched this site. Although its aim is to provide greater resources for knitters in the U.K., knitters everywhere will enjoy seeing what they have to offer. Diane is a gifted knitter, spinner, designer and writer. You can be sure this won't be her only project.
You may also like to visit the site Diane and her mother have, Kurrajong Handcrafts. Heather, Diane's mother, lives on a farm in Australia, Diane's home until a year and a half ago. Heather raises alpacas; turns out, alpacas are pretty darned cute!
Enjoy!

Booking Through Thursday

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

All things being equal, I would probably fill my library with handsewn, first-edition hardcover books. Why? Because, as Frank Lloyd Wright said, "Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities." I have a sensuous love of luxurious items such as beautiful books. This kind of books would add to my reading enjoyment.

For tonight's eclipse...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twVlodqgNUQ&NR=1

because a lunar eclipse is a Moonshadow, after all.

Wordless Wednesday

A most delightful place!

My very dear friend just introduced me to ahappymiscellany, and I wish to pass along this blog to you. It is definitely worth your time to visit Merryville!

Poetry redux

"On this moonlight night
on Hansan Isle
I sit alone in the watch tower.
Great sword worn on
the side,
I feel weighed down by
worries.
From somewhere the sad
note of a pipe rends my heart."
(Yi Sun Shin)

Poetic Monday

"The vanity of men
they would like to retain
this passing winter moon."
(Issa)

Spiritual Sunday

Two small books are my dear, daily companions, augmenting my spiritual journey. Daily Strength for Daily Needs and Joy and Strength are long since out of print, but are available at places such as www.abebooks.com. I found my first copy at a used-book sale, quite by chance.
The books are compilations of quotations from secular sources as well as from Holy Writ. Both are edited by Mary Wilder Tileston. There is one page for each day of the year, about two minutes' worth of reading, but a day's worth of contemplation and fortification of the spirit. Quotations come from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gerhard Teerstegen, St. Teresa, Charles Wesley and many more sources. A Scripture quotation begins each day with the additional passages relating to the day's Biblical theme.
My Daily Strength... bears a publishing date of 1897. My Joy... is a 1929 edition of the 1901 orignal. I find it both comforting and interesting that the issues of those times relate to our own issues and feelings. I also find it interesting that, very often, the day's topic will be just what I need when I need it. These books have been, and are, wonderful resources for my Christian life.

Quotable Saturday, on Action

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is the lightning that does the work." - Mark Twain

"Action is eloquence." - Shakespeare

Magazine cat

moar humorous pics

Booking Through Thursday

I had a post ready for today, but I liked this suggestion from Chris even better, so … thanks, Chris!

Here’s something for Valentine’s Day.

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?


Agatha Christie! When first I read her, I was in high school and eager to impress myself with my marvelous brain. Oh, deluded adolescence! I enjoyed Agatha Christie's books but always felt cheated out of the chance to solve the murder from the clues given in the book. Came the day I read a book where the murderer was "obvious" because of his resemblance to someone who was, supposedly, unrelated to him. I still remember my exasperation upon reading something such as, "The moment I saw you I knew you were his son!" But the reader was never told anything about that and could not conclude as the detective did.
I threw the book, and Agatha, aside for years, only picking her up one day when there was nothing else to read. Thankfully, maturity had brought perspective; I understood that, in life, the journey is the thing while the destination is almost beside the point. I enjoyed Agatha as never before. I was particularly impressed by her mastery in suspense and her economy with words, something I still can only hope to achieve.
Years later still, an estwhile penpal in Great Britain sent me a bundle of Agathas, first editions, but paperback and tattered. I loved them. I wish I could write one hundred pages of crackling, good mystery as she did.

Wordless Wednesday

"The Love Letter,"
Carl Spitzweg

What kind of sandwich are you?

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes. In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun. You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it! Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

For the record, I certainly don't *feel* like a cheese sandwich, grilled or otherwise.

A Word a Day

Another winter day brings another thick snowfall if not a blizzard. But if you feel like being pleasantly snowed in by a blizzard of words, check out The Dord, The Diglot and An Avocado Or Two, The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words, by Anu Garg.
Mr. Garg is the brain behind www.wordsmith.org, an international community for those who are madly in love with words (online since 1994). Subscribers to the free AWAD (a word a day) newsletter get exactly what it promises, a word every day in their email boxes with pronunciation, definition and example of usage. There is also a quotation every day. AWAD has to be the best part of my daily email. In addition to the word every day, there is a weekend digest, a round-up of the week's words with reader commentaries, plus recommendations and announcements of new books for word lovers.
Mr. Garg's previous books are A Word a Day, A Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English and Another Word a Day, An All-New Romp Through Some of the Most Intriguing Words in English. All three of his books drop veritable blizzards of words upon the reader, perfect snowstorms for the linguaphile. I can't think of a better way to get through the last weeks of winter than by jumping in to these books and wallowing in all those lovely, fascinating words.

Monday is for poetry OR Even though it's Monday, cheer up, things could be verse

"Valentine week

Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,

Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!

Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,

For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain..."

(Emily Dickinson)

Do you like to carry poems with you, as I do? I recommend the lovely gift which TeaBird sent me during a year of upheaval, The Essential Dickinson, selected by Joyce Carol Oates (The Ecco Press, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers). Its size is pocket- and handbag-friendly, making it just the thing to take along when you need a spot of tranquility in your day. I have been known to keep this on the passenger seat of my car for making red light waiting more bearable. It's good for doctor's office waiting rooms, too.

A Winter Brunch

It was 1' F when I crawled out of the covers this morning. I takes a while for me to begin my day, but when I did, I made this out of odds and ends:
Winter French Toast
I tore apart seven or eight slices of very old, stale bread and scattered them in a nonstick pan, 9"x 13". I chopped two good-sized, elderly pears, skins and all, and strewed them across the bread. I grated about one quarter of a nutmeg onto the fruit. Then I beat four eggs with the last of the milk - - between ten and twelve ounces - - until it was pale and creamy yellow, and poured it over all. I baked it for about forty minutes at 425'F until it was golden brown and fragrant. Housemate and I ate it with smidgens of butter melting on top. There are leftovers for a weekday breakfast on the run, or for a brown-bag lunch. The Republic of Tea's Vanilla Almond would make a lovely accompaniment to this dish. Ordinarily we don't eat rich food, but once in a very great while, we splurge.

Spiritual Sunday

"Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way."
Psalm 119:37

This verse has been useful since it jumped out at me during a daily devotional reading early this winter. I posted it near the computer to remind to stop wasting time on junk reading. I also think of it when I find myself tempted to watch junk television. As a reinforcement of this verse and as reminder of what I ought to do is this famous verse:

"...Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virture and if there is anything praiseworthy - - meditate on these things."
Philippians 4:8

I find it all too easy to fall into the habit of dwelling on the ugliness in the world, but these two verses stand as clear and bright markers to a better path for me to take.

Philosophical Saturday

"There is more to life than increasing its speed."
(Mohandas K. Gandhi)

Booking Through Thursday

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

Well, in my spare time, I read. Oh, wait, this is about my other spare time. I knock back oceans of tea; I dine on small portions of darkest chocolate; I help someone manage an unmanageable household; I make up recipes for cooking and baking (I'm quite the muffin expert); I rest a lot; I garden; I listen to music; I walk for exercise in and around my home; I work word puzzles; I read newspapers augmented by online news; I plan and scheme and dream, recording all ideas in a slim, leather-bound volume; I write in a journal; I play with my cats; I write to friends (though not as well as I ought to do); I watch Korean television programs (with English subtitles); and occasionally - - rarely - - I venture from home for a museum visit or similar outing.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Tea-break time waster

Here is a little puzzle for your next tea break. It's very simple. You just fill in the words that go with the numbers. I give you the first letter of each word. The topic is classic children's literature. For example, if I said, "1,001 A N," the answer would be 1,001 Arabian Nights. The first ones are the easiest but none is difficult.
1. S W and the 7 D
2. G and the 3 B
3. A B and the 40 T
4. 3 B M
5. The 7 V of S the S
6. The 5 L P
7. 4 L W (or, 4 M S)
8. 4 B C
9. 2 pairs of B T
10. 4 B T M
If you want the answers, post a comment and I will email you.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

A winter poem

We had a fast, thick snowfall last evening, which brought to mind the following poem.
Housemate and I have no fireplace, but we did sit around the radiant television.

The Snow-Storm
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come see the north wind's masonry.
Out of an unseen quarry
Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer
Curves his white bastions with projected roof
Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.
Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work
So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he
For number or proportion. Mockingly,
On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;
A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;
Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall,
Maugre the farmer's sighs; and at the gate
A tapering turret overtops the work.
And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Cherry baby

The Republic of Tea makes a very nice Vanilla-Almond black tea. It's perfect after dinner, especially - - for some reason- - if the dinner was Chinese. Sweetened or not, this is is lovely "book tea" to be sipped while reading, too.
Here's what I do when I want variety: brew a cup of Vanilla Tea; warm two ounces or so of tart cherry juice (currently in vogue for its health benefits); add the juice to the piping hot tea and stir. If you love the taste of cherry vanilla, as I do, you will love this tea blend. This fits beautifully into a snowy day tea break; some teas just do that.
Side note: The Republic of Tea makes a vanilla bean-infused honey just for tea. If you tried it, be sure to post a comment. I would love to know if it tastes as good as I imagine.
Tart cherry juice also blends well with tisanes to make delightful and richly-colored iced drinks. Try it with a cherry- or berry-based tisane.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Peanuts and survival

Peanuts make frequent appearances in my daily diet, usually in the form of peanut butter, which is easier for me to manage than roasted peanuts. I enjoy a treat common in Dixie, boiled peanuts, but just try to find those outside of the South. Yesterday I made peanut butter-ginger cookies. Yes, peanuts and I are dear, old friends.
Here in America, the natural association with peanuts is Dr. George Washington Carver, who found about 350 ways to use that humble legume. He also worked with cowpeas and sweet potatoes, among other things. Not only was he a brilliant scientist and teacher, but he was a poet, a painter, an athletics enthusiast and a generally cultured gentleman. If he were still alive, he would be somewhere around 143 years old (his birthdate is estimated). If you feel like reading a book about him, you will have to make do with a children's textbook. There may be a boigraphy in book form for adults, but a casual search turned up nothing. N.B. to aspiring writers, here is a subject that is ripe for your attentions.
This means I have no book to recommend for you, but I do have a Website that is hemi-semi-demi-related to Dr. Carver because the topic is nutrition from peanuts. Visit http://www.projectpeanutbutter.org/. This is a most worthy charity that provides a form of super-nutrient paste, based on peanuts. It is given to starving children in Malawi, (in southeast Africa) with a ninety-percent survival rate reported.
I like to imagine Dr. Carver's looking on at Project Peanut butter and smiling with approval.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

"Booking Through Thursday"

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”
And, folks–Becca was nice enough to nominate Booking Through Thursday for a Blogger’s Choice Award–while you’re here, why don’t you head over and vote for us, too. Because, a vote for BTT is a vote for all of us who play each week!

The first little-known books that came to mind is a cozy-mystery series by Heron Carvic, the first of which is Picture Miss Seeton. Longtime readers may recall my mentioning this series in the past. The original five books feature a dear, charming lead character, the eponymous Miss Seeton. She is an art teacher who inherits a home in a tiny, English village of the sort that seems to attract murderers and eccentrics by the dozen. Ah, but Miss Seeton is more than a match for the evildoers in this village owing to her psychically-influenced artistic abilities. She simultaneously confounds and assists local policemen, Inspector Delphic and Bob Ranger, in solving and preventing murders and assorted mayhem while often skating on thin ice herself.
Many further adventures of Miss Seeton were written by Hamilton Carver after Heron Carvic's death, but the original books will do for me, and no others. These are not police procedurals, but merry books starring an endearing character backed up by other solid characters who complement and contrast Miss Seeton. These books are light reading, just the thing
for a short plane trip, a winter's afternoon or other time when you want to "munch" on some reading without feeling too full.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

"Booking Through Thursday"

"This week’s question is suggested by Puss Reboots:
How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try?"

I use reviews as tools to help me decide what to read. But I don't allow the reviews to do all the work for me. Reviews are useful in learning the general plotlines in books. There are times when I thought I knew a book's topic but was completely wrong. I would rather find that out before getting the book. and wasting my time.
Even bad reviews are helpful. One reviewer may hate a book for all the reasons I would love it. Or a bad review might dampen my enthusiasm, it's true, and cause me to look elsewhere, but again that's helpful in not wasting my time.
Correspondingly a good review might make me consider reading a book that I would not pick up on my own, but only "might." Reviews can help me avoid or include books in my reading time.
Life is too short to read bad books.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

My favorite winter reading

Winter, in the colder climes, brings the perfect opportunity to shutter oneself indoors with thick books and many cups of hot tea. Let the weather outside be frightful; the outside really is delightful when ensconced in a warm corner, surrounded by tea and books.
Yet my favorite winter reading comes from no book at all. It comes in paper, yes, and all in black ink on white pages, and it is nonfiction. What brings me the greatest joy in January is curling up with this year's newly-arrived garden catalogue.
I have only one catalogue, having summoned the strength to resist the siren call of the obscenely gorgeous color offerings from seed companies all over the country. My choice comes from www.bountifulgardens.org. This California company specializes in offering heirloom seeds and seeds for plants that are suitable for saving to plant next year. They teach biointensive gardening, getting the most from the least, one might say. The Bountiful Gardens people have taught and continue to teach people from all over the world how to get the best and greatest yields from small, formerly unsuitable spaces. They have countless success stories, too. The catalogue offers books, seeds, implements and much more.
I fell in love with gardening last year, although my efforts are somewhat limited. I pass glum and grey winter days by poring over the catalogue and fantasizing about what this year's warm seasons shall bring.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Words for the new year

"New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." ~Mark Twain

"The merry year is born
Like the bright berry from the naked thorn."~Hartley Coleridge

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us." ~Hal Borland

"And ye, who have met with Adversity's blast,
And been bow'd to the earth by its fury;
To whom the Twelve Months, that have recently pass'd
Were as harsh as a prejudiced jury -
Still, fill to the Future! and join in our chime,
The regrets of remembrance to cozen,
And having obtained a New Trial of Time,
Shout in hopes of a kindlier dozen."~Thomas Hood
(submitted by Moon Rani)

"The Sky is Low"

Submitted for your reading pleasure, this Emily Dickinson poem of winter...

The sky is low, the clouds are mean,
A travelling flake of snow
Across a barn or through a rut
Debates if it will go.

A narrow wind complains all day
How some one treated him;
Nature, like us, is sometimes caught
Without her diadem.

(submitted by Moon Rani)

A Christmas Carol

It's not mid-winter, I know. Why, winter is still in its infancy. But this poem, by Christina Georgina Rosetti, is so nice that I couldn't resist sharing it here. It's a well-known hymn set to a number of musical settings. The best-known setting is probably the one by Gustav Holst. The last stanza is likely the most widely recognized and, arguably, the best loved. But the first stanza is the prettiest or, at least, the most "sense-itive" so to speak. It's just the way winter feels for most of the world.
It may seem too late for a Christmas carol, but Christmas lasts until 6.January (the twelve days of Christmas) for Western churches while the Eastern rite churches have yet to celebrate it.
On a personal note, I have enjoyed the poetry of CGR since I was a schoolgirl.

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen,
Snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter,
Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When he comes to reign;
In the bleak midwinter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God incarnate,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for him, whom Cherubim
Worship night and day
A breast full of milk
And a manger full of hay.
Enough for him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But his mother only,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him —
Give my heart.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Looking to the new year

Is there a book you meant to read this year but never got around to reading? Maybe there's a book like that you've intended for years to read. Here is my sole resolution for the new year: I shall dive into the book I've meant to read since 2006, The Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had, by Susan Wise Bauer. At last I'll embark on that plan to further my self-education. Other books came on the scene later but clamored until I read them first. Now I'll make time to read The Educated Mind. And here's hoping I'll get the education I so need!
While it's still available, do try Celestial Seasonings' Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Holiday Herb Tea. It's packed with so much flavor I almost bit into the first sip! Let the snowflakes swirl while you sip this tisane through all your winter reading.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Reading to relax

This time of year is busy for most folks, from holiday preparations to end-of-year work projects to goodness-knows-what-all. When I need a break, I usually check several blogs and sites which never fail to cheer me and make me feel more at ease. Being an animal lover, my tastes run to blogs about creatures. Take a look at any of these when your pace is hectic.
www.dailykitten.com
www.dailypuppy.com
www.stuffonmycat.com
www.stuffonmymutt.com
www.dailycoyote.blogspot.com
www.rollingdogranch.org (follow the link at the bottom to their blog)
www.onehotstove.blogspot.com (a vegetarian cooking blog)
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Two spamkus

[I am the spamku inventor. Spamkus are, of course, haikus made from spam subject lines. ]

12 bottles of Fine
Wine for just $4.99:
a happy present.

Do not feel shy of
you male machine size. Make it
a Whopping Special!

(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking through Thursday

Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like to see become available again?

The White Witch, by Elizabeth Goudge. I've been reading this book (almost) yearly since I was sixteen, and it never has lost its magic. Goude's writing style is simultaneously descriptive and spare, conjuring the intimacy of half-gypsy Froniga's herb-filled cottage, as well as the violent world during the time of Cromwell. To this day, the scent of rose or lavender brings me back to the first time I read the book, and I imagine myself in another life, creating rose-petal conserve, perhaps - melanie

Season's readings

Do you have a favorite thing to read or to hear read at a certain time every year? From early childhood my annual favorite was the Christmas story found in the book Luke. I never minded whether I heard it or read it myself; I liked both. I loved it from Advent throughout the twelve days of Christmas. Nowadays, though I still love that account of Jesus' birth, I prefer hearing and reading the opening chapter of the book of John, my favorite gospel account.

A couple of years ago, I attended a party in early December. It was give by a couple who lived in a home decorated in opulent, Victorian style with modern touches plus original art from local artists. I remember seeing golden cherubs holding up lush draperies in the front room, and a Christmas tree covered in handmade ornaments, among other things. The whole house glowed.

The focal point of the evening was gathering in that front room to hear the host read Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory." He said it was a personal tradition from when he lived in Virginia, and that he loved continuing it in his new home. The story is always entertaining and always very touching. The company was a pleasant mix of disparate types. After the reading we trotted into the dining room for rich fruitcake that had been shot full of corn liquor and "resting" for a year or so. I remember candlelight and decorations and laughter.

Wouldn't it be fun to have such a tradition? One could add a reading of Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales" for fun.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

My meme

I made up a meme.
Using your first initial to begin each answer, list:
a favorite author
a favorite character in literature (with source)
a favorite book
a favorite topic in fiction
a favorite location in fiction (can be real place so long as it's used in fiction)
a favorite place or time to read
(bonus) a favorite word

My answers, using my given name, not my screen name:
Lovecraft (at one time)
Lysistrata, from the eponymous play by Aristophanes
Little Black Sambo
Life with animals (e.g. - - in books by James Herriott and others)
London
Lazy days, lounging in bed
Lightning! (I love its combination of tremendous power and tremendous beauty)
Everyone is welcome to answer this meme, too.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Books into movies - take 2

What book would I most want to see filmed? The Ladies, a novel by Doris Grumbach. I've wondered often why it never was filmed. It's such a good story!

In the late 18th century, two Irish women decided to leave their family homes and create a life for themselves in the wider world. Sarah, an orphaned teenager, met Eleanor while on holiday from school. Eleanor, a woman in her thirties whose father had never forgiven her for being a daughter instead of the son he longed for, had dressed as a man from childhood and had enjoyed the kind of freedom that few traditional women could imagine. They became dear friends and companions, and their friendship was considered salutary by their families - until they eloped.

Lesbian love, even (and especially) loving relationships that were true marriages of hearts, minds, and bodies, shocked the families into allowing Sarah and Eleanor to leave their homes. They never returned. Instead, they established themselves in a small Welsh town, Llangollen, where they lived according to their own vows and beliefs. That their love was as natural as any was their first vow of binding. They vowed to create a beautiful home with bountiful gardens to sustain them, and to read and study to develop their minds and hearts.

Dressed in the riding habits and top hats that Eleanor designed as their lifelong fashion, they lived a solitary life in the puzzled town, and refused to allow themselves to be sensationalized when they attracted notice. Gradually, they received the visitors who would make them famous - Wordsworth, Byron, Walter Scott, Edmund Burke, Richard Shackleton, Josiah Wedgewood, and Anna Seward, amongst others. They grew old together, and they died together; their love never faltered.

Now, imagine the movie! Since there will be no more Merchant/Ivory productions, I would like Jane Campion to direct because of her skill in depicting women who make brave and difficult choices amidst natural or social beauty. (Think "The Piano" or "Portrait of a Lady," and imagine the Ladies against the expanses of rural Wales.) Picture Sarah's resplendent gardens, the house that the Ladies decorated, and the immense bed they shared; picture their beloved cow and the artichokes they feasted on with freshly-churned butter. The movie would be a visual treat.

Emma Thompson might be a good choice for the older, more assertive Eleanor. I can imagine Kate Winslett as Sarah, blonde and emotional, comforting Eleanor through her monthly migraines, knitting delicate stockings and gloves, and designing the gardens that would be so admired. Who would portray their famous friends? I'll leave that to you,the casting director, although I might suggest Anthony Hopkins as Sir Walter Scott, and (dare I say) Hugh Laurie as Lord Byron.

Perhaps you are puzzled, wondering why real-life luminaries are including in this fiction. Simple: Doris Grumbach's novel is a fictionalized biography of two very real, very brave women: Sarah Ponsonby and Eleanor Butler, the Ladies of Llangollen. Did Sarah suffer from debilitating dreams and lingering guilt about her sexual preference? Did Eleanor develop a passion for magic in her later years? Grumbach cautions the reader to remember that her book is fiction, her own vision, and not a faithful biography. I think it would make a splendid film, and I recommend the book as a fine romance and a vision of the lives of two pioneering women.

melanie

Books into movies, take #1

Do you picture all the action in book as you read? I do; always have. Sometimes a book leaves me simply panting for a film version, despite Hollywood's mostly miserable track record in doing this.

So let's imagine that it's possible to have a perfect screen adaptation of a terrific book. And let's also imagine that all the casting, directing, costuming, scoring and other production choices are ours, all ours. Which book would you choose?

This is a tough one because I can think of so many answers. But as I pondered this question today, the first book that came to mind was...the Biblical Book of Esther. The setting is in and around the ancient kingdom of Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), about 485-464 B.C. King Ahasueru lived in a fabulous, fortified palace furnished with linen, precious metals, black marble, white marble, alabaster, turquoise and more. He was served on golden vessels. I can just see what is called "the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty!"

Queen Vashti wasn't interested in her king, so a beauty contest was ordered to find her replacement Imagine all the pageantry there must have been in that contest! We're told that "beauty preparations" were given the young women, and that it took them twelve whole months to prepare for the competition.

The intrigue and suspense begin when beautiful Esther, a Hebrew woman, enters the contest at her uncle's urging. King Ahasuerus is not Hebrew, and Mordecai, Esther's uncle, tells her to keep mum about her heritage for the time being. Mordecai and Esther team up to save the king from a deadly plot on his life. She rises high in the king's estimation.

Enter wicked Haman, a treacherous and conniving man who breathes blood and murder against the Hebrews. Haman puts into motion a plot against them, setting up the king to make a decree that keeps Haman's hands clean yet will, if accomplished, result in all-out genocide.

What happens next to everyone is familiar to everyone who celebrates Purim and to all who remember their Bible history. Some of the characters shall rise and one shall fall in a particular stroke of poetic justice.

What a story - - it has everything! There is opulence, intrigue, romance, action and suspense, outrage and satisfaction, fascinating and fully-rounded characters plus an ending that delivers just deserts to one and all - - everything that plays well on the big screen.
Now let's see, whom do I want to play the leads...?
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Halp!

Iz bin tagged! [Does it show that I've been at www.icanhascheezburger.com ?]

TeaBird tagged me for a meme. I am to open the book I am reading, turn to page 161, and read the fifth sentence. After I share it with you, dear reader, I am to tag five other bloggers.

I am reading What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, by Bernard Lewis. The book itself concludes at page 160, but there is an author's note on 161: "My thanks are due to the organizers of these various events for giving me the opportunity to formulate my views and put them before an informed audience."

Ah, now comes the hard part; finding five other bloggers! I know only one, and that's Diane at www.kurrajonghandcrafts.com/blog . You're it, Diane!
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking through Thursday

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less? Why?

When I first read this question, I wondered...My goodness, how can I quantify my reading? Is "reading more" equal to finishing more books? Spending more time reading? Reading fatter books? Finishing more books?

I've always been a voracious and indelicate reader. I'll read almost anything except (and sorry, I don't mean to be a snob here, I just can't get into...) romances (and that says more about me than about the genre, trust me). I go through binges where I'll read nothing but biographies, or nothing but an entire series of paperback mysteries, or the entire works of Barbara Pym (for the 18th time, at least). Other times, I'll read poetry, or go through art books, or read Barbara Walker's stitch dictionaries as if they were cookbooks. (Actually, I don't read cookbooks. I don't cook.) I'll read Wilkie Collins, Stephen King (love his book on writing!), Charles de Lint, Alfred Bester, Louisa May Alcott...

Is this more or less than I read when I was younger? Well, obviously, I have a full-time job, and a full-time house, and a full-time husband... so I have less time to read. That doesn't mean I read less, and it doesn't mean that I don't get as engrossed in a book as I once did. If anything, I appreciate the time I grab for reading, knitting, and writing letters more than when I was young. (I appreciate everything more now, but that's another post.)

I think that's my answer. I can't really quantify whether I read more or less, but I appreciate my reading and time more.

melanie

"Booking Through Thursday"

Oh, Horror! What with yesterday being Halloween, and all . . . do you read horror? Stories of things that go bump in the night and keep you from sleeping?
Ah, adolescence, when nothing seems too scary or horrible! I read the scariest books I could get my greedy, little hands on then; I devoured Poe and I swallowed Lovecraft whole. This was during a period when I was fascinated by the rogues galleries and chambers of horrors in wax museums, too.
During most of my adulthood so far, I eschewed horror fiction in favor of true crime and murder mysteries. I threw out only one true crime book that was too much for me, and read as many of the rest as I could. I read some Stephen King, but I found myself disappointed by his writing every time. He has a gift for telling stories, but I don't like the stories he tells. I quit reading his works after Cujo and some short story collection of his. I am still baffled by those who enjoy reading about eating oneself or haunted cars or things to do with dead children and other unsavory topics. I guess I had a few standards during my horror reading days
During this autumn, however, I realize that I cannot tolerate that kind of books anymore. I find them incompatible with a truly dedicated Christian life. I also find them depressing to the point of despair. I am reminded of the computer anacronym, GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. It's much harder to maintain an upbeat attitude when I fill my head with horror, true or otherwise.
I was also a decided fan of the mystery novel, but I quit reading fiction a couple of years ago; it wasn't deliberate, it was just that my tastes lay elsewhere. I still enjoy the grand, old masters of mystery - - Sayers, Christie, Marsh and others of their kind for their craft in writing.
As for all-out horror, however, no I've not read anything in that genre in decades. You know what? I don't miss it.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking through Thursday

This week's question:

• I would enjoy reading a meme about people’s abandoned books. The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing. So . . . what books have you abandoned and why?

The book that comes to mind: Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. I became interested in it when Oprah announced it.

• No, I do not read all of Oprah's books. I don't even like Oprah. In fact, sometimes I really dislike Oprah. But that's another story. Oprah has chosen some fine books. The Reader, for example, and We Were the Mulvaneys. I read the translation of Anna Karenina she chose because it had been years since I'd read AK and I wanted to experience her through a newer sensibility than Constance Garnett's.

Another admission: sometimes I allow my feelings about an author to color my response to the book. If Joyce Carol Oates or Cynthia Ozick has written it, I'm predisposed to love it. In this case, the whole Franzen/Oprah flap predisposed me to disliking the book because, much as I don't like Oprah, I think that any author who chucks an opportunity to meet a huge and hungry audience is foolish.

And dislike it I did - on its lack of merit. I got through, maybe, 70 pages before I chucked it. I hated every character, I didn't care about what they were doing or where, and I found myself thinking that Franzen should have been very grateful indeed to have had such mass exposure.

melanie

"Happyness," and the pursuit thereof

Becoming homeless frightens me. Those who live without homes and those who used to do so amaze me. It is hard for me to imagine forging ahead with life in the face of such a circumstance, never mind going on to overcome it and to found a multimillion-dollar firm. But that is what Chris Gardner, founder of Gardner Rich & Company, did. The Pursuit of Happyness is Mr. Gardner's memoir of his rise from a poor childhood with a brutal stepfather and loving but defeated mother through his colorful adulthood, through his year of living homeless with a young son, and onward to his eventual triumph as a stockbroker and founder of a brokerage firm. Mr. Gardner, along with ghostwriter Quincy Troupe, do not flinch in relating the most heart-wrenching details of Mr. Gardner's life, not even when his choices are poor in the extreme.

Mr. Gardner's story of abandonment, deprivation and brutality during childhood is far from uncommon. But what saved him from becoming another heartbreaking failure? A combination of his mother's love and encouragement combined with his own intellectual superiority and curiosity plus some extremely lucky breaks drove him, as did his ability to see potential in opportunities, and his ability to focus on what he wanted.

Mr. Gardner's lack of a loving father-figure during childhood made him an intensely involved father to his own son, even when that meant a year of homelessness with his little boy. There were no dramatic resolutions to their living status, rather a long, gradual ascent that came from very hard work and sacrifice. Mr. Gardner thanks San Francisco's Glide Memorial Church for much of his rise to success. In fact, he is an active partner with that church even now, sponsoring the church's continuing commitment to those who live on the edge.

Mr. Gardner's riveting story is told in his own words, the language of the streets. I'm not a fan of such language, but this story was so compelling that I stayed with it. I like stories of people who rise above their circumstances, becoming victors, not victims, thus I am glad I read The Pursuit of Happyness.
Oh, and when you read this book, you'll find out why "happiness" is misspelled.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

"Typography"

Booking Through Thursday:"You may or may not have seen my post at Punctuality Rules Tuesday, about a book I recently bought that had the actual TITLE misspelled on the spine of the book. A glaring typographical error that really (really!) should have been caught. So, using that as a springboard, today’s question: What’s the worst typographical error you’ve ever found in (or on) a book?"

An impossible task this is, naming the worst typographical error I have found. Errors in grammar, punctuation, structure and fact abound nowadays. True-crime books, which - - I suspect - - get rushed into print for fast bucks, are among the worst books I have seen. [Paging Ann Rule...] I have gotten rid of books without finishing them because their numerous errors made it impossible for me to concentrate on what I was reading. Does anyone know why this happens so often now? Is it just laziness, or is it ignorance, or a combination?
Ah, well that is enough of that. Longtime readers of this blog will recognize this as a post from the avatar of curmudgeonry, Moon Rani.

High Tea, Darjeeling Style

The travel section of today's New York Times has a wonderful article about tea - High Tea, Darjeeling Style.

Flying to a remote corner of India and braving the long drive into the Himalayas may seem like an awful lot of effort for a good cup of tea, but Darjeeling tea isn't simply good. It's about the best in the world, fetching record prices at auctions in Calcutta and Shanghai, and kick-starting the salivary glands of tea lovers from London to Manhattan.


(Cross-posted from the Knitters Tea Swap 4 -- melanie

Booking Through Thursday

The reverse of last week’s question:
Imagine that everything is going just swimmingly. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all’s right with the world. You’re practically bouncing from health and have money in your pocket. The kids are playing and laughing, the puppy is chewing in the cutest possible manner on an officially-sanctioned chew toy, and in between moments of laughter for pure joy, you pick up a book to read .
What is it?

Although last week's question discouraged us from answering "the Bible," I have to say that I do, indeed, turn to my Bible and other devotional books in times of trouble. I also pull out my Pennypress magazine of puzzles (one magazine lasts months!). Those puzzle magazines saw me through a lot of difficult times. But I enjoy pen and paper puzzles so much that I like to do them when things are going well, too. I also get my Bible and devotional books when things are bright and happy.

But as for fiction...let me see. For dark times, I would start with Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, at least until I became so irritated with Mr. March, as I always do, that I packed the book off for donation. After that I would choose anything by Shakespeare. The glorious language is enough to get lost in and to love every minute of it. A favorite? MacBeth. I enjoy that play on many levels. For both good and bad times I might also choose poetry by John Donne or humor by S.J. Perelman or Robert Benchley. One last choice: Alexander Woollcott; although he tends toward purple in his prose, I still find myself enjoying the trips through his reviews and reminiscences.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking through Thursday

Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It’s cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you’ve just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you’re coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a good book, something warm and comforting that will make you feel better.

What do you read?

(Any bets on how quickly somebody says the Bible or some other religious text? A good choice, to be sure, but to be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of fiction…. Unless I laid it on a little strong in the string of catastrophes? Maybe I should have just stuck to catching a cold on a rainy day….)

This one is easy. I read Emily Dickinson. She has been through it all, and can see me through all. (Fiction Just Will Not Do!)

The soul has moments of Escape-
When bursting all the doors-
She dances like a Bomb, abroad-
And swings upon the Hours,

As do the Bee - delirious borne-
Long Dungeoned from his rose-
Touch Liberty- then know no more
But Noon, and Paradise -

melanie

book meme

Here's a meme I stole from Chris at Book-a-rama: go to the advanced book search on Amazon, type your first name into the Title field, and post the most interesting/amusing cover that shows up.













I've been meaning to read this book!
melanie

Booking through Thursday

Are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?

Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?

Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

I am neither Goldilocks nor the Princess and the Pea. I can read anywhere, anytime, in any situation - unless the light is bad, in which case I become The Beast (only without his more attractive qualities...)

melanie

"Goldilocks" Booking Through Thursday

Okay, so the other day, a friend was commenting on my monthly reading list and asked when I found the time to read. In the ensuing discussion, she described herself as a “goldilocks” when it comes to reading–she needs to have everything juuuuuust right to be able to focus. This caught my attention because, first, I thought that was a charming way of describing the condition, but, two, while we’ve talked about our reading habits, this is an interesting wrinkle. I’d never really thought about it that way.
So, this is my question to you–are you a Goldilocks kind of reader?
Do you need the light just right, the background noise just so loud but not too loud, the chair just right, the distractions at a minimum?
Or can you open a book at any time and dip right in, whether it’s for twenty seconds, while waiting for the kettle to boil, or indefinitely, like while waiting interminably at the hospital–as long as the book is open in front of your nose, you’re happy to read?

A "Goldilocks reader" - - what a clever phrase! This reader is no Goldilocks, at least not most of the time. I slip into books like a swimmer into a bath-warm pool, and I luxuriate in my reading submersion as long as possible. I am an overly sensitive person, always have been, and everything but everything bothers, distracts or irritates me. But reading usually takes me into the world of the book so that I am a step removed from the real world.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Taste

Taste is the latest offering from America's longtime etiquette and protocol expert, Leticia Baldridge. It is subtitled, Acquiring What Money Can't Buy. Mrs. Baldridge is a Vassar-educated woman who served as chief of staff to the Jackie Kennedy. Mrs. Baldridge also advised four other First Ladies. She worked closely with the American ambasador to Italy and his wife in the 1940s, and she worked in publicity for Tiffany's. Mrs. Baldridge has written two dozen book and operates a consulitng business. Her credentials are not to be sneezed at by any means. So why did I find this book a disappointment?

When I first heard of this book, I took its subtitle at its word. Developing my aesthetic sense of taste by reading? Sign me up! But the advice and guidance on doing this were few and far between. Much of the book consists of reminiscences of the late Mrs. Onassis and of other people who were once big names in style and entertaining. Mrs. Baldridge and Mrs. Onassis knew one another since adolescence. This longtime friendship shows in every line written about the Kennedys and their household. The passages about them are virtual paeans to Jackie. Even the brief passage ostensibly written about Grace Kelly's sense of style turns out to be more Jackie worship along a put-down of Her Serene Highness' taste and behavior. The word "tacky" came to mind.

I found the book contradictory, too. Some paragraphs say that money is no guarantee of taste, and that having excellent taste is within the reach of anyone. Directly after that are (more) descriptions of opulent living and entertaining served up along with encouragement to live tastefully with Baccarat crystal, fine wine and spirits and other pricey material goods.

The directions on acquiring and improving one's taste consisted of telling readers to go to museums at every opportunity, to read magazines that show tasteful things and to observe beauty wherever one is. Then one ought to contemplate what makes beautiful things beautiful, and to look for patterns in beauty and taste. One ought also to peruse books on different cultures and what was considered beautiful in different times and places. None of this is new or even very helpful.

One last thing: this book suffers from a common ailment, and that is an acute lack of editing. A sharp editor would have shaped and brightened this book by untangling the memoir aspects from the advice aspects from the personal taste aspects. As it is, they all lie there in a heap, and not a very tasteful heap.

Taste is subjective, as Mrs. Baldridge acknowledges. This alone makes writing about it at all a challenge. Instructing people how to develop taste is trickier still. Still, I had hopes of reading something substantive. This book is not that. If you enjoy reading memories of grand times and places, and if you, too, cannot get enough of Mrs. Onassis, then you will enjoy Taste.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking Through Thursday: "Statistics"

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?


My very dear friend is a voracious reader. She inspires me. She devours quantities of books, and she slogs through books that I would toss onto the floor without compunction. Her incisive mind dissects the books, sees symbolism where my poor brain sees none, understands allusions, ferrets out abstruse meanings and gets enormous information and entertainment in everything. Sound familiar? She should; she's TeaBird. I admire TeaBird extravagantly.

Janet reads a lot too, as befits a librarian. She's plenty sharp, too. I admire her madly for managing her household, extended-family duties, her job and her personal pursuits which include reading. I couldn't do it.

My family? I really don't know because we are not in close contact. But we all read a lot during childhood. I was the only one Mom called a "bookaholic," but we all read, and I was not the only one who read the dictionary for sport.

I recall afternoons spent in a friend's room with an old appliance box full of comic books. We'd pull and read one after another, pausing to read aloud bits and to swap good comic books. This friend and I read science fiction in those days, and we'd trade paperbacks, too. Whatever we read we also discussed every which way. We were schoolgirls then, and - - alas! - - my friend reads no more. I have fond memories of reading with her, and I wish she read still.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking through Thursday

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

I was not surprised by the statistic. As a librarian for almost thirty years, I have seen how reading habits have changed. Where once, patrons would stagger to the circulation desk with a dozen books to check out, now they have three or four. Where once, we would have to buy a dozen copies of the latest bestseller, now we buy three or four. Perhaps, some of this trend can be attributed to the online booksellers, whose deeply-discounted prices make it more attractive to buy a best-seller than to wait for 3-4 weeks to get it from the library. More likely, people who once were casual readers have become less likely to read for any of a million reasons - I won't bore you with my cynical list of possibilities.

One of the details in the MSN article caught my attention - the notion that women are less likely than men to read biographies . I won't generalize from myself, since I'm a fiend for biographies, especially if they're about literary or intrepid women. (I'm itching to read the new biography of Gertrude Bell, for example.) I will generalize from my women friends, though - they (we) all read history, biographies, science, all manner of nonfiction, and we discuss amongst ourselves.

Another detail - or omission - from the article made me wonder whether the survey included audio books. I've seen discussions and debates on whether audio books count as "reading" - for example, check out this excellent post by Moonfrog and the comments below - and I've been rather surprised by some of the conclusions. For the record, I think that any medium that lets you absorb the author's words qualifies as reading - and I wonder who amongst the scoffers would tell, say, blind people that they aren't reading their "Books on Tape."

So, do my friends and family read as much as I do? Friends, yes, but wouldn't you expect that we'd choose friends whose passions complement our own? In fact, some friends astound me with the number of books they read, especially since they also knit amazing things, create and sustain splendid gardens, raise excellent children, work time-intensive jobs....Would that I had the energy and time-management skills to keep up with them!

(Family - not as much. Alas.)

melanie

Uncommon Arrangements - Katie Roiphe

Meh.

Have you ever seen those mind-map-like charts that begin with one celebrity and radiate / branch out to show who has had (ahem) relationships with whom? That's this book.

In no particular order, these are some of the linked literati: H.G. Wells, Rebecca West, Elizabeth Von Arnim, Katherine Mansfield, Lady Ottoline Morrell, Bertrand Russell, Clive Bell, Virginia Woolf, Vera Brittain, D.H. Lawrence, Vanessa Bell, Radclyff Hall, E. M Forster, Rebecca West - (no, wait, I already listed her - she finds her way into an amazing number of these stories!) -

Some had children with each other. Some were jealous of others. Some were not jealous of others.

Some are old literary friends of mine. I already knew all of the tidbits herein. I did not learn anything new. Had I not known anything about these people, all I would now know is that writers have libidos.

Not recommended. Not.

Meh.

melanie

Booking through Thursday : Indoctrination

When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)

My family reads. Always read. Always will read. It's our nature to read. No matter what else we do or don't do, that remains constant.
My best family-oriented book memory is a trip to the big Barnes & Noble store on Fifth Avenue in the late 1950s. While my mother was looking for art books about The Floating World, I wandered around the used-book section, where I found a lovely Everyman's Library copy of Jane Eyre, bound in red cloth, and only a dollar or two. I had a dollar or two. Reader, I bought it, read it, and still read it.

melanie

"Indoctrination"

from Booking Through Thursday:
"When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)"

I come from a family of readers. Although my mother steadfastly refused to teach me to read and write, she did take my siblings and me to the library when I was older. Getting a library card felt like an important step. She took us there often.

Mom loved books from childhood onward. When we were growing up, she took us to her favorite discount store occasionally, and gave us each five dollars to spend as we wished. Such wealth! I was always thrilled. Invariably I used my money to buy as many paperback books as possible. I remember standing in front of the book-laden racks figuring and re-figuring how to buy as many books as possible without going one penny over the dollar bills clenched in my hand.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking through Thursday

One book at a time? Or more than one? If more, are they different types/genres? Or similar?

(We’re talking recreational reading, here—books for work or school don’t really count since they’re not optional.)

Monogamy? HAH! No way. I have no discipline, no plan, almost no discernment. Whatever comes along, if it looks delectable, I will taste it.

As for what I read - No rhyme, no reason - No, that's not true, because I am apt to be reading poetry and non-fiction together, along with fiction, which can be anything from classics to children's books.

(In fact, I have just joined a read-and-knit-along for Anne of Green Gables, and I'm looking forward to it as I would look forward to curling up with ice water and peppermints... no, that's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I also want to reread...)

melanie

Summer chiller!

For a crisply cool treat with which to face these waning days of summer, try this: brew your favorite tea or tisane extra strong. When it cools, pour it into popsicle molds, or make your own with Dixie cups and spoons. Freeze several hours or overnight before slurping a delicious ice pop that is definitely out of the ordinary. Make these without sugar for the ultimate in guilt-free splurging. You'll be able to make flavors never found in your grocer's freezer. These would be fun at barbecues, afternoon teas, impromptu get-togethers and anywhere you'd like a treat.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

You must see this!

Trot on over to www.pgtips.co.uk/ to see the most appealing Website! Tea lovers are well familiar with the trusty PG Tips brand, the tea in the pyramid-shaped bags. If you've never tried it, you owe it to yourself to try some today. In metropolitan areas, PG Tips is carried at many grocery stores, tea shops and gift shops while the rest of us must order it online (from an American site).
Brew a bracing cuppa to sip while you visit this site. If you don't fall in love with the monkey, well, there's just no hope for you. The site is clean-cut, well organized and easy to navigate. The colors and layout refresh the eye. I even learned where the "PG" comes from, while visiting. In addition to product information and health tips, there are games and a monkey gift shop, too, though the prices are all Pounds Sterling, not dollars. By the way, it's a gift shop that sells toy monkeys, not a shop that sells gifts for monkeys.
Thanks to TeaBird for putting me on to this site.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

"Letters, We Get Letters"

"Booking Through Thursday"
Have you ever written an author a fan letter?
Did you get an answer?
Did it spark a conversation? A meeting?
(And, sure, I suppose that e-mails DO count . . . but I’d say no to something like a message board on which the author happens to participate.)

Yes and yes, but it feels a little goofy to tell. Remember the country-and-western comic, Minnie Pearl? She wrote her autobiography in the 1980s. I knew her comic persona, but knew nothing about her true self. It turned out that she was an educated, cultured lady who, among other things, toured with other entertainers for our troops during World War II. Her real name was Ophelia Cannon. I wrote her a brief letter after reading her book. She sent a thank you note on a postcard. I have it, somewhere.

I am not a country-and-western fan. I don't know what caught my interest in her autobiography, but I found it interesting. It just feels funny to say that I wrote a fan letter to Minnie Pearl. For the record, No, I don't leave the price tags on my hats.
(submitted by Moon Rani)

Booking through Thursday

Have you ever written an author a fan letter?
Did you get an answer?
Did it spark a conversation? A meeting?


I've written to a few authors, but only received three responses. Joseph Epstein, whose collection of essays, The Middle of My Tether, delighted me, sent a typed postcard thanking me for my comments. Laurie Colwin wrote a short note. And Joan Didion, to whom I sent a letter of condolence on the death of her husband, sent a personal note on her lovely blue stationery.

I've met authors, but not through letters, only at book signings: Joyce Carol Oates, Alexandra Stoddard, Dominick Dunne, Alan Dershowitz, Marvin Kitman...

(Have you read Carolyn See's Making a Literary Life? One of the suggestions she makes is to write letters to authors. I really should write one to her.)

teabird