ALSO: my brother-in-law is biking across the country, from sea to shining sea, from Cambridge (MA) to Cambrian (San Jose, CA). I am loving following his adventures. It's been about five days and he's already dodged tornadoes, camped in the backyards of strangers ... and he's only in Pennsylvania!
06/05/2011
MONSTERS
Remember back in one's 20s, when, if you experienced radio silence for more than twelve months, major things would have changed? Like, "THAT guy? Long gone. Moved to Oakland. Got a new job! Started grad school. Dyed my hair black! Shaved it off!"
Or something like that.
Now, not so much. Same job? Check. Same house? Check (thank goodness!). Same level of post-graduate education? Check. Same guy? Of course! Hair? 13 months longer. Lots of comedy and some tragedy in the interim, but ... there's something to be said for continuity.
So now that we're all caught up --
This was the goriest book I have read in ages. Gratuitously gory. I can't believe it is intended for young adults. It's about a race of cannibal creatures, apparently referenced in great literature, and set loose in Victorian-era New England. Actually, it's about the Montrumologist who chases these creatures, and this is just the First Adventure (no book acts alone these days).
Seriously -- this book makes me worry for Rick Yancey's overall psychological profile. He lovingly lingers over the color of the sunset reflecting on the blood and bits of flesh dripping down the walls of the vicarage, and the limbs of the young daughter strewn about the floor like the petals of a blood-soaked daisy. Shit was GROSS.
But, interestingly, much better crafted as a piece of writing than the other YA book of his that I've read:
So tell me, who is the real monster? HMMMM.
04/19/2010
04/11/2010
Feminism 1800!
So I'm not sure if I mentioned that I have a Kindle (HA!) but one of the many awesome things about it is that it has coaxed me into reading some previously-ignored "classics." And by "classics" I mean "anything old enough to be in the public domain" -- thus, FREE.
The first foray into "I can't believe I haven't read this" was Pride and Prejudice, back around Christmastime. Now, I know I should have read SOMETHING by Jane Austen twenty years ago, and I had tried many times, but my eyes just started to bleed after that "It is a truth universally acknowledged ...." bit. However, in this case the magic of the Kindle allowed me to persevere into the second chapter and -- hey! -- it got pretty good. All the arch humor I'd heard so much about and never seen. I am on a bit of a Jane Austen Kindle Kick of late.
That turned out to be useful, because there are some recent-ish YA books capitalizing on Regency England and ol' Jane's perennial popularity, and I was happy to have the fundamental background required. Among last year's offering was Sovay, which ultimately was very silly. Sovay is of the nobility, but she shuns class boundaries (naturally) and her father and brother are sympathetic to the "egalite" of the French Revolution (naturally), so she turns to -- highway robbery. Naturally. Plus this whole bizarro subplot of male prostitutes and Illuminati and Madame Guillotine... it was a little like Angels & Demons mixed with a A Tale of Two Cities, as taught in remedial English. High-interest, low-level.Pretty stupid,
I enjoyed The Season much more -- Jane Austen as strained through Gossip Girl with a little bit of standard-issue mystery. Some glaringly anachronistic language, but otherwise fun, easy and appealing to a wide range of girls. And the thing I love most about books set in this era (or actually from this era) is that they are chock full of smoldering glances and throbbing bosoms and all the teen lust you could ask for -- with THE KISS being the ultimate consummation. Followed quickly by -- marriage! Almost like Twilight. Without all the blood and Mormonism.
04/05/2010
Riding BART to freedom!
This book contains many excellent elements for an ideal YA novel: Cutting school! Cool SF setting! Sex! Hacking! Harajuku Fun Madness, which sounds like the most awesome scavenger hunt imaginable (I assume this is made up?)! Black-site prisons and waterboarding ... wait, that's a new one.
You know I have a little soft spot for hacker fiction. This is the best hacker fiction I have read in ages. A few teenagers are cutting school, playing Harajuku Fun Madness in the streets of San Francisco, when there is a terrorist attack. Their harmless ("harmless"?) hacking hobbies have earned them scrutiny from The Authorities, who take them into custody in an undisclosed location and promptly suspend the Constitution while they interrogate (with extreme prejudice) the teenagers for their links to terrorism. One of them doesn't make it back.
This starts, accidentally, a hacker teen resistance movement which is awesome to behold. Teen Hacker Revolution! I wish real America had the guts to resist so elegantly and effectively (well, sorta effectively). Much to ponder about freedom and privacy and safety, long after I put it down. Plus great characters, very suspenseful, and I personally enjoyed the SF realism. (Although, come on -- set the hacker novel in Silicon Valley! I guess there are fewer iconic terrorist targets in San Jose. Like, they blew up the Shark Tank?? NOOOO!!)
I also loved the afterword, all about "how much of this is true?" and "I want to hack! How can I start?" I know it's a book that speaks to teens too when it never makes it back to my library because the kids are passing it to each other. I always feel bad at the end of the year hazing the first kid who took it (the responsible party) when I know it's been out of their hands for six months. Ah well -- it's not that hard to LEAVE ME A NOTE, kids.
You know I have a little soft spot for hacker fiction. This is the best hacker fiction I have read in ages. A few teenagers are cutting school, playing Harajuku Fun Madness in the streets of San Francisco, when there is a terrorist attack. Their harmless ("harmless"?) hacking hobbies have earned them scrutiny from The Authorities, who take them into custody in an undisclosed location and promptly suspend the Constitution while they interrogate (with extreme prejudice) the teenagers for their links to terrorism. One of them doesn't make it back.
This starts, accidentally, a hacker teen resistance movement which is awesome to behold. Teen Hacker Revolution! I wish real America had the guts to resist so elegantly and effectively (well, sorta effectively). Much to ponder about freedom and privacy and safety, long after I put it down. Plus great characters, very suspenseful, and I personally enjoyed the SF realism. (Although, come on -- set the hacker novel in Silicon Valley! I guess there are fewer iconic terrorist targets in San Jose. Like, they blew up the Shark Tank?? NOOOO!!)
I also loved the afterword, all about "how much of this is true?" and "I want to hack! How can I start?" I know it's a book that speaks to teens too when it never makes it back to my library because the kids are passing it to each other. I always feel bad at the end of the year hazing the first kid who took it (the responsible party) when I know it's been out of their hands for six months. Ah well -- it's not that hard to LEAVE ME A NOTE, kids.
04/04/2010
03/15/2010
Conflicted relationship with technology
Have I mentioned that I have a Kindle? And that I LOVE my Kindle? And that it is interfering with my previously-totally-monogamous relationship with the Santa Clara County Library System? (OK, I have had some flings with my SJ Library Cambrian Branch, but not since that EXCESSIVELY PUNITIVE nearly triple-digit fine. I'm done with you, Cambrian Branch!)
Here's one of the many reasons I love my Kindle. I have been wanted to re-read Infinite Jest since DFW's untimely death. I retrieved the print edition from the book club lady who had borrowed it and ... ALMOST started it.
But people. I read in bed. I read while I am drying my hair. I read while preparing my breakfast, while eating my breakfast, and while rinsing and stacking my dishes from breakfast. This mofo is BULKY. It is FLOPPY. It weighs like twenty pounds (Amazon puts it at 2.8 pounds, but LIES.) It totally precludes lying on my side in bed and holding it with one hand, my Signature Move.
Now consider:10 ounces. Thin like a New Yorker. Non-floppy. Conversation starter with strangers at the community center (okay, that's actually a drawback for me). EASILY held with one hand while lying on my side in bed. HYPERLINKS TO THE FOOTNOTES. And really, really easy to read. So very, very awesome in all respects.
But so for instance I have three books out of the library right now (three crusty, publicly-handled books) and they are not getting read AT ALL. Granted, they are competing with some pretty amazing content -- I am so happy that Infinite Jest is even BETTER than I remember it; it wasn't just that I was 24 and In A Certain Place In Life -- but still. I feel bad. I feel a little guilty. I turn their covers to the wall before I slide the on switch and make the little John Steinbeck screen saver vanish and slide into bed with this year's model. And, ohhhh, it's so good!
Next post: my conflicted relationship with my iPod -- Why does it love "Jazz Police" so damn much?
01/14/2010
Goodbye, old year. Hello, future.
People, I am glad it's 2010. I am happy to leave 2009 behind. This year will be a fresh start for so many things, family, work, life ... and we have much to look forward to. To wit, new updates on this blog!
But really, I'm also looking forward to some real events. Like those happening in:
JANUARY: Patricia Polacco, renowned children's author, visits Hausner! Also, Martin Luther King Day holiday!
FEBRUARY: F1 testing starts. Also, President's Day holiday!
MARCH: My 6th grade class' huge enormous Museum of Ancient Near East innovations, which I believe will be epic in scope and content. I plan to make them dress up for the opening, and cut the red ribbon, and drink kosher fake champagne. I hope it will be excellent. Plus, we are going to expand our garden and start planting. Also, Passover break begins!
APRIL: Ainsley turns five years old! WHAT? FIVE! Plus, more Passover break!
MAY: May is just the best. I look forward to reading some of the many good books that 2010 will be sure to bring me. I look forward to harvesting some garden veggies and some seriously hot days. Also, Shavuot and Memorial Day!
JUNE: I think we all know why I'm looking forward to June.
JULY: The decade(!) anniversary of my first date with Eric, from which so many wonderful journeys blossomed. Plus, a whole long month back East in NJ, Long Island and Boston/Cambridge.
AUGUST: A new school year with new challenges and opportunities ... for me AND for Ainsley, who starts KINDERGARTEN in the fall. WHAT? KINDERGARTEN! Plus, Labor Day and the High Holy Days! Which I guess are actually in:
SEPTEMBER:... Okay, really I can't see past next summer right now. But no doubt more fabulous adventures will be awaiting us then, not to mention the great reads that are sure to accompany the rebounding economy! All those bonus-taxed bankers will have some Stories to Tell, right?
2009 was even a lousy year for books. For my best of 2009 list, I can come up with two that I genuinely enjoyed enough to recommend to others and I don't know how much literary merit I can really assign to either one.
The Magicians was like Harry Potter Goes To College, or more like Harry Potter Aims For Princeton And Gets Magic University Instead. A nice combination of Hogwarts and Prep, but unlikely to stand the test of time, in my opinion. But read it now if you miss Harry Potter installments!
And Anatham had two big things going for it for me. One is, I love Neal Stephenson and cut him slack on all his out-there literary experiments and failures. And two, it was the first big book I read on my Kindle, so every time I turned it on, it bathed in the glow of the Magic of Technology. It's a little 2001 meets The Pillars of the Earth, so maybe if medieval sci-fi isn't your thing, this wouldn't be either. But I got to the end and went right back to the beginning to read it again.
09/30/2009
Books and unrelated pictures
I actually have been reading a bit, even though school has started and I literally feel breathless All Day Long, but I haven't blogged yet because Vox's book attachment is on the fritz, until some time in October. And you know, when it's not ONE-CLICK EASY, I just can't be bothered. So I'm going to write about the books and put in some unrelated visuals to break up the monotony. Not unlike my 6th grade history lessons.
So I just read two very enjoyable, if not AWESOME, young-adult novels, one by an author that I liked as a Grown Up too.
One is Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins, the necessary sequel to last year's favorite: Hunger Games. She's a great storyteller, who writes fantastic action scenes, but I feel manipulated by the cliffhanger endings. I hate waiting for sequels.
And where the book photo would go, here's my super-beautiful former nanny, responsible for any good child-rearing that Ainsley has experienced, and her two beautiful flower girls:
(Mad props to Corndog Queen for providing the dress and the shoes to Ainsley, and the peace of mind to me.)
The other book is called The Other Side of the Island, by Allegra Goodman, who won reasonable accolades for her grownup book Intuition (which was not a dirty book, despite the title) but rather another one of those Environmental Dystopia tales where weather is the great enemy ... Or So We Think. I wonder if she started this as a book for adults and was told that only Young Adult and Non-Literary Authors write about environmental dystopias.
And where the book would go, here's why Johanna was the best nanny ever:
09/20/2009
washing machine blues
My washing machine died on Labor Day. I really didn't like my washing machine until it died, and the I liked it so much that now I miss it and I mourn it deeply. We bought a new, old, low-end set from a family on Craigslist, who won a fantastic space-age set from Oprah when she (the seller) typed in the Word of the Day. Her Oprah machine spins up to 1400 RPM and the clothes come out of the washing machine nearly dry. My old washing machine used to spin at 1200 RPM. But you could only fit in two t-shirts and a washcloth. It was a front-loader. You couldn't put anything into it after you started the cycle, so too bad for you if you dropped a sock on the way to the garage.
These new ones are Maytag Atlantis and are very white. They seem like they should be heavier than they are. You can continually add socks until the drum fills and the agitation starts.
Someone came from Craigslist to pick up the broken washing machine for free. We left it outside for them to retrieve and during a very silent hour it vanished. Ainsley thought perhaps they came in a Prius to take it away. Alicia thought maybe Bubbles took it for scrap.
We got the new washer and dryer on Friday, the 18th. In the meanwhile I washed clothes in the sink and hung them on the line like I was living in the 1820s. Now we have the new machines but I still hang the clothes on the line. So I'm up to like the 1940s or so.
If I were reading anything, I'd be reading the manuals. But things from Craigslist don't usually come with manuals.
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