Well-Mannered Frivolity

Sunday Salon 4-26-09

I only finished one book this week,  High Fidelity: A Novel by Nick Hornby, but I haven't been slacking off. I am currently reading 3 other books, including the ubiquitous  The Polysyllabic Spree, also by Nick Hornby. It seems like every other blog I visit mentions this book.

Back to High Fidelity--Rob is 36. His girlfriend has moved out to live with another man, and he owns a failing record shop.  He really is a desperate case.The book seemed to drag at times. I wanted to grab Rob by the shoulders and shake him and tell him to grow the hell up already. High Fidelity is full of droll, British wit, which more than makes up for any short-comings.  Eventually, Rob does start to grow up so the book has a rather satisfying ending. My favorite character is Rob's employee, Barry. Barry is a true music snob and will not sell an album to a customer if he deems them to be unworthy of the music.

I am nearly finished with The School of Essential Ingredients and The Polysyllabic Spree. I was hoping to finish them in time for this week's review, but, unfortunately my family life hampers my reading efforts. The selfish lot seem to expect things like "supper" and "clean toilets"

<3,
Wendy

The cat cam

Katherine got a "Pet's Eye View Camera" for Easter. You hook it up to your cat's or dog's collar and set it to take pictures every 3, 5 or 20 minutes. After your pet is done taking pictures you just hook up the camera with the included USB cable to you computer and download the pics. Katherine put together a slide show of what Simon and Jenny see.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Alessandra that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. 

High Fidelity: A Novel Nick Hornby
How to Be Good  Nick Hornby
Science Fair  Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Water for Elephants: A Novel  Sara Gruen
The School of Essential Ingredients  Erica Bauermeister
A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father  Augusten Burroughs

The Polysyllabic Spree Nick Hornby

I've finished High Fidelity and Water for Elephants. I have started The School of Essential Ingredients,
Science Fair, and The Polysyllabic Spree, and  Possession. I'm considering giving up on Possession--just can't seem to get into it.

Wendy

Listening to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Raising Sand

Book Meme

1. Hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback? Trade paperback

2. Barnes & Noble or Borders? We don't have a Borders around here. I do prefer B&N to Books-a-Million

3. Bookmark or dog-ear? I'm ashamed to admit that I occasionally dog-ear. My mother will want me to tell you that I was raised better than that.

 4. Amazon or brick and mortar? Amazon. I like shopping in the middle of the night.

5. Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? My books are arranged by category.

6. Keep, throw away, or sell?  Who in their right mind would throw away a book?!?

7. Keep dust jacket or toss it? Keep it. What a ridiculous question.

8. Read with dust jacket or remove it? I usually remove it to keep it nice.

9. Short story or novel?  Novel

10. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?  Harry Potter , baby

11. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I do both. I usually get interrupted before I can get to a chapter break.

12. "It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"? Once upon a time

13. Buy or borrow? Borrow from the library. The library is my happy place.

14. New or used?  Usually new

15. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendations, or browse? All three. I love browsing if I have the time.

16. Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Tidy ending

17. Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading? Yes, yes, and yes

18. Stand-alone or series? Again, yes and yes

19. Favorite series? Harry Potter

20. Favorite children's book? Green Eggs and Ham

21. Favorite YA book? Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

22. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar.  Now that you've heard of it, go read it. Now.

23. Favorite books read last year? Water for Elephants

24. Favorite books of all time? The Shell Seekers, The Stand, Like Water for Chocolate, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Jan Karon's Mitford series, Harry Potter  and many more that I am sure I am forgetting.

25. What are you reading right now? The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby, The Trance of Scarcity by Victoria Castle, The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister, Possession by AS Byatt

26. What are you reading next? How to Be Good by Nick Hornby and Science Fair by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and Shattered Dreams by Larry Crabb

27. Favorite book to recommend to an eleven-year-old? Harry Potter, Warriors, Eragon

28. Favorite book to reread? The Shell Seekers by Rosemunde Pilcher. It's like visiting an old friend

29. Do you ever smell books? Yes. I love the way old books smell. I hate it when I get a book from the library that a smoker has previously checked out, though. Yuck!

30. Do you ever read Primary source documents? Yes, when I am studying something historical.

Wendy

They call me quiet girl, but I'm a riot

I have this song stuck in my head about 90% of the time. Just wanted to share the love. <3 Wendy

He loves me, he loves me not

So, the other day we learned that James loves me slightly more than he loves taking a poo.
Yesterday he told me that he loves me more than our atomic clock, but not as much as he loves the house.
It's always nice to know where you stand in the grand scheme of things.

<3,
Wendy

I'm Throwing My Arms Around Morrissey

or maybe Paris

Yep, Moz has still got it. I have loved Morrissey since I first heard "How Soon is Now" by The Smiths back in the 9th grade. He's so deliciously angsty.

Incidentally, I usually set my ipod on shuffle when Bill is in the car with me. He complains that "every other song" is by Morrissey/The Smiths or is a show tune. (He hates both equally, by the way).  After a drive on Sunday Bill took my ipod from me and started scrolling through the songs. Out of 378 songs only 77 are Morrissey and 35 various Broadway show tunes. I don't really think that is such a bad ratio.

<3
Wendy

PS-I don't know why there is an advert for "Half Ton Son" at the end. It was the only copy of the video I could find.

Weekly Round-Up

The Mirror Effect by Dr Drew Pinsky and Dr S. Mark Young

"What is narcissism?
It's not what you think it is: It's not ego. It's not self-love.
It's self-loathing. Envy. Insecurity. Self-destruction."

The Mirror Effect is about celebrity narcissism. It's about how we build celebrities up only to tear them apart, Ala Britney Spears. Celebrity narcissism, according to Dr Drew, is caused by some time of childhood trauma, therefore, the premise is that fame does not call narcissism, rather, narcissists become celebrities.  I found The Mirror Effect to actually be a bit gossipy at times. It was also longer than it needed to be--very repetitious. Dr Drew spends a lot of time dissing reality TV. This would be a credible thing if he did not in fact HOST HIS OWN REALITY SHOW!  Glad I got this one from the library.
I would give this book 2 (out of 5) stars

Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shephard

After graduation from college Adam Shephard decided to pick a random city and start over with the clothes on his back and $25.00. His goals were to, within one year, own a car and live in a furnished apartment and have savings.  He did this experience to prove Barbara Ehrnereich's Nickel and Dimed wrong. He took the train to North Charleston, moved into the Crisis Ministries homeless shelter, and set out to find a job. He succeeded all of his goals in less than 6 months. I found this book to be inspiring--it definitely strengthened my resolve to live more frugally. I really got a kick out of the fact he did his experiment here in Charleston.  The only drawback I can say is that what he did is a bit unrealistic. I mean, sure, he parlayed $25.00 into the beginnings of the American dream, but he did it as a young, healthy male with no wife or children to support.

I give Scratch Beginnings 4 stars

Rockabye: From Wild to Child by Rebecca Woolf

Some of you may be familiar with Rebecca Woolf from her fantastic blog This Girls Gone Child.  From Wild to Child really struck a chord with me. Like that author, I got pregnant first and then got married at a relatively young age (23).  I lost pretty much all of my friends. Who wants to hang out with a cranky pregnant woman when you could be out at AC's Bar and Grill? After Katherine was born I had a hard time finding other young, kinda punky moms that I clicked with. I liked this book so much because I could have written it myself (if I had the talent that is).

5 stars

Water for Elephants: A Novel> by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants  had me charmed at the first page. I cannot express how much I loved this book. I read the whole thing from cover to cover in two days. I would have finished in one day if my family wasn't so selfish with all their food demands and what not. It starts off with a "90 or 93" year old man in a nursing home. He reminisces about his days traveling with the circus back during the 1930s. Water for Elephants has love, intrigue and a ridiculously happy ending. Pure fantasy, but I loved it.

5 Stars

This week I have a stack of Nick Hornby books from the library to read.  I started High Fidelity yesterday and am already half way through it. Is not is so delicious to not only discover a new author, but also find out that he has written scads of books?

<3,

Wendy

Slightly better than poop

Today James told me he wanted to tell me 2 secrets. He whispered in my ear, "Mama, I love you, and I love to poop." I asked him which he loved more. After giving it a little consideration he said, "I guess I kinda like you  more."

<3,
Wendy

The Southern Avenger tells it like it is