December 3, 2009
In The Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins has created a compelling page-turner with a plot and characters that have really stuck with me. This young adult novel presents a dystopian future scenario that holds nothing back in its gritty and raw details of teens who are forced by their oppressive government to compete to the death for the entertainment of the Capitol residents. The story unfolds in a compassionate and dramatic manner without ever tipping the scale into the melodramatic, a difficult feat considering the intense subject matter.
I could not put it down, and I immediately started the sequel, Catching Fire.
November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving! My husband’s flight home from Tokyo got delayed (by more than a day), so we’re pretending that Thanksgiving is on Friday this year. That’s life with a pilot, but the turkey and stuffing will still taste just as good cooked tomorrow.
In the mean time, I have an unexpected day off today that I get to spend with my brother who is in town visiting from NYC. There was snow on the ground when I woke up this morning — the first of the season. It prompted me to build a fire, and I think we’ll probably spend a good portion of the day drinking coffee or hot chocolate by the fireplace.
November 21, 2009
Though she usually fights it, I still try to get my three-year-0ld daughter to take naps in the afternoons, particularly when we have plans later in the day, so that she’ll be well rested and in good spirits for the evening activities. She doesn’t always sleep. We call it “quiet time,” and she is expected to lay in bed, read books, and enjoy a little peace and quiet. Most days, I am the one who needs a short break, a little peace and quiet time.
When I was tucking her in for quiet time one afternoon, she told me, “You’re ruining my whole life!”
Granted, I was prepared to hear this phrase at some point, but I thought it would be closer to when she was fifteen rather than three.
November 19, 2009
I’m re-reading the early Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. I find it amazing that one writer can be so talented and prolific in such a variety of genres — graphic novels, full length fantasy novels, youth fiction, and children’s books. Neil Gaiman does it all, and he does it so well.
November 16, 2009
Last night, I took my six-year-old daughter roller skating for the first time. I hadn’t been on skates since I was in junior high, but I was happy to learn that it came right back. Though she had never been on roller skates before, the fearless daredevil in my daughter came shining through.
After one circuit around the rink to get her bearings, she was off. I encouraged her to take her time and go at her own pace, which for her is about 60 miles per hour.
My tough little girl didn’t want to hold my hand or edge along the wall. She must have fallen at least forty or fifty times. I winced every time, though she picked herself up and raced right back into the speeding fray. After some particularly nasty falls, I checked to make sure she was okay. She’d shrug me off with remarks like:
“Look how good I can get back up without holding onto anything.”
“Cool. I did the splits on roller skates!”
Within an hour, she was easily as good as any girl twice her age. I think we may have a future roller derby girl on our hands!
November 14, 2009
The Hidden is a haunting mystery novel written by award-winning writer Tobias Hill. Seamlessly shifting back and forth between research notes on ancient Sparta and a present day archeological dig in Greece, the story’s main character, Ben Mercer, flees his failed marriage and his academic life at Oxford. He first finds himself in Athens, taking a job at the Metamorphosis meat grill, where he hopes to lose himself amidst the hard work and anonymity at this local dive far off the beaten path. However, tensions at the restaurant appear to possess an undercurrent of chaos that seems on the verge of erupting into potential violence. As the name implies, Metamorphosis is merely a place of transition for Ben, before he eventually seeks out a job at an archeological dig site taking place at the location where the former Sparta once existed.
With themes reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, the Spartan dig and the group of archeologists are not all that they would appear on the surface. Struggling between feeling like an outsider and wanting to belong to something greater than himself, Ben is forced to weigh his morals and his sense of self against his desire to be a part of this elite group. As his academic notes on Spartan history begin to descend into less research and more of a labyrinth of his own self reflections, Ben learns that some secrets may be better left hidden.
Hill does a fine job of escalating the story to its inevitable sinister ending. The characters are both representations of the old Spartan legends as well as friends and foes. They’re fearful, alluring, unattainable, flawed, stark, and dark all at once. Though the story itself is a bit circuitous at times, the pleasure of reading this book is in the writing style itself. It comes as no surprise that Tobias Hill is also a poet. His lyrical prose and observations about the most simple or the most grand of settings make the reader feel a part of the dusty behind-the-tours Greece, as if you could not only visualize it but reach out and touch it.
Olive trees silver in the last sun. Olive trunks full of lumps and rumps, love handles, sumo thighs, double chins, breasts and warts and genitals, whittled slits, murder holes, clefts and crevices, wingbones and filigrees. Olive groves full of secret things: car wrecks, gypsies and horses, shoulders of ruin.
November 13, 2009
Happy Friday the 13th! I know that this is supposed to be an inauspicious day, but I’ve always enjoyed a good Friday the 13th. First, I love the number 13. Always have. Second, how can anyone be fretful on a Friday?
November 7, 2009
My six-year-old daughter recently discovered my Edward Gorey collection. She’s fascinated with the art work and morbid tales. At story time, she’ll thumb through my books before selecting something particularly gruesome.
She’ll ask, “Mommy, does this one have a bad ending?”
“They’re all pretty grim, sweetie.”
“Good. I want this one!”
November 3, 2009
I officially began my Christmas shopping today. I love to shop around and find that perfect gift for each person on my list. I’m a big fan of Amazon Wish Lists. It helps make the gift search so much easier, and ordering online and having it shipped directly sure takes a lot of the hassle out of long distance shopping.
