Mama's Lovey-Dove

Mamma Mia!

Hooray! I just got a ticket to see Mamma Mia on Broadway in November. I am super excited.

101 Things in 1,001 Days

I'm doing it.  Today is day 1.

Today, 7/7/09, I am beginning the "101 Things in 1,001 Days" project.  That gives me a finish date of 3 April 2012.  See the count downer thingy on the right!  I'm excited about this feature, although I'd like to find a flashier way to count down.  But that's OK.

So this idea comes from Day Zero.  Check out the website if you are interested.  And I'm going to be honest:  my 101 Things To Do list is NOT complete.  And I reserve the right to edit and delete items from the current list.  It's important to me that this list NOT just be my daily list of things to do (e.g. go to the grocery store, pay bills, grade tests) but that this list represent all those things, some of them admittedly minor, that I keep meaning to do but feel that I never quite get to actually doing, you know?  And I'm planning to keep my master list on my hard drive but occasionally post updates here.

As of right now, 66-100 are "to be determined," and I'm taking suggestions, if you have any.  But here goes:

101 Things in 1,001 Days—A Tentative List

Bold indicates that these are in progress

Bold and stricken though indicates that the task is complete

1.        Go 1 week without watching any TV or DVDs

2.       Reach my goal weight of 130 pounds

3.       Stick within my Weight Watchers points range for 6 weeks straight

4.       Sew 6 differentt purses with 6 patterns I already own—4 by Amy Butler, one by Heather Bailey, and one “freebee”

5.       Sew 1 skirt and overskirt set

6.       Read Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop

7.       Reread the entire Harry Potter Series

8.       Commit to and follow The Artist’s Way plan for 12 weeks

9.       Get materials together and apply for promotion at work

10.   Go for 2 months without buying cosmetics (exception:  replacing any used up products)

11.   Go for 6 months without buying cosmetics (see exception above)

12.   Keep budget accurately for 3 months straight

13.   Go for six months without buying any new clothing (except underwear, if needed); instead, sew, refashion, rediscover

14.   Practice yoga for 20 minutes a day, three days a week, for a month

15.   Practice yoga for 20 minutes a day, three days a week, for two months

16.   Post something, however trivial, on either of my blogs each day for a month

17.   Try one new recipe a week for three months straight

18.   Make an appointment and see the doctor about the “neuropathy” in my toes

19.   Find a new medical doctor, one with whom I am comfortable

20.   Make (and wear) at least one dress from a retro pattern

21.   Make (and wear) at least one dress from a vintage pattern

22.   Reread The Lord of the Rings

23.   Eat strictly vegetarian (but not necessarily vegan) for three months

24.   Practice meditation for 20 minutes a day, each day, for eight weeks

25.   Read through the Bible, Old and New Testaments

26.   Mail in mortgage check, rather than phoning in payment, each month for a year—put the extra money towards something fun or towards the principle on my mortgage

27.   Read Anna Karenina

28.   Read War and Peace

29.   Read The Gulag Archipeligo

30.   Read The Oak and the Calf

31.   Read Moby Dick (and actually finish it!)

32.   Read The Golden Notebook (and actually finish it!)

33.   Each week for two months, do one good deed and not get caught

34.   Spend a year working the 12 steps, one each month, possibly via Emotions Anonymous online

35.   Organize my craft / sewing space to make it more usable

36.   Spend one hour a day, each day, for two months just writing, sitting in front of the computer, drafting.

37.   Read Trollope’s Barsetshire Towers

38.   Read Trollope’s Dr. Thorne

39.   Read Trollope’s Framley Parsonage

40.   Read trollope’s The Small House at Allington

41.   Read Trollope’s The Last Chronicle of Barset

42.   Read the Forsyte Saga

43.   Read Middlemarch

44.   Read Our Mutual Friend

45.   Make something out of the yards and yards of natural colored linen fabric I have

46.   Make a new black wool-blend skirt

47.   Make a new grey wool-blend skirt

48.   Embroider 4 pillow cases for my bed

49.   Embroider 2 pillow cases for my guest bedroom

50.   Make 4 decorative / throw pillows for my living room

51.   Find a better way to store my winter scarves

52.   Find a better way to store my silk scarves

53.   Make window treatment for my bathroom

54.   Hang shelving in my bathroom

55.   Hang photos in my bathroom

56.   Make window treatment for my kitchen area

57.   Do work (anything, even a day) as “outreach” in local schools

58.   Read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy (I’ve read the first two, including The Golden Compass—want to reread these, then finish)

59.   Start a Gratitude scrapbook

60.   Complete 10 pages in my Gratitidue scrapbook

61.   Finish reading Vanity Fair by Thackeray

62.   Visit NYC

63.   Organize stuff in bathroom

64.   Paint my bedroom

65.   Rearrange furninture in my bedroom

66.   Get new bedding for my bed

66-100.  TBD (Hey, I want some latitude to see how things develop over the next 999 days.  Which, come to think of it, is like 666 only not)

101.  Post when I complete each of the above

101 Things in 1,001 Days

I'm thinking about signing on for the 101 things in 1,001 days project.   I always feel like I'm not getting "enough" done, and now that I type it, I realize that the "enough" is kinda vague.  But that's the point.  I mean, with the 101 "things" to accomplish (note my overuse of the air quotes here), you are supposed to pick specific, concrete, measurable tasks to accomplish.  Like "finish Thackeray's Vanity Fair." Or "sew five new purses, using patterns I already own." Or "refrain from purchasing cosmetics for six months."  This last would be a hard one for me, which I'm kinda embarrassed to admit.  But the point is, I'd come up with a list of specific and sometimes seemingly insignificant things that I actually would be able to accomplish.  I'm always, as you know, a big one for writing down goals and list of things, both short- and long-term, that I want to accomplish.  At the very least, the process of writing out goals helps me to think through my values and my ambitions and what I really, really want, you know?  Even if I don't achieve everything on the list, just writing the list is its own reward in some ways.  (I'm sick as I'm typing this, so let's use that as an excuse if I'm totally rambling!)  And even if I don't achieve everything on the list, I'm sure that I'll achieve some things that I wouldn't have if the list weren't there, you know?

On a related note, I've been thinking about my job and living in Vermont and why I stay and why I do what I do.  And I have realized that one reason I value my job and one reason I probably will stay long term is that this particular job allows me in so many ways to do what I want to do with my time and with my life.  And that's invaluable, is it not?  I mean, I don't adore every, single thing I do at work, day in and day out, but I do enjoy the teaching.  I enjoy prepping and planning classes, which so often means rereading works that I love.  I enjoy the discussions about literature and writing.  I enjoy interacting with my students.  I generally hate all the meetings I have to attend each week, but I feel so very blessed in having wonderful colleagues, especailly those in my department.  But the kind of work I do allows me all kinds of freedoms that I wouldn't have in many other jobs.  My hours are, for example, somewhat flexible:  when I have class, I need to be there, but otherwise, I can shape my schedule the way I want, week to week.  In fact, I can even ususally teach during the time slots that I desire.  As compared to many, many other careers, I get lots of time off work.  Some of the time I'm not teaching, I do need to use for work related matters.  But still, as compared to much of the world, I have a lot of time off.  And yet, I always feel like I'm not quite using this time very well:  I never seem to get to the things I really want to do.  I never sew or write or read or cook enough, and I spend way too much time watching crap on DVD and killing time online.  I want to find a way to work beyond some of this.  I can't quite figure out if it's because I'm lazy or depressed or unmotivated or stupid or just unrealistic.  But it bothers me that I don't seem to make time for things that bring me pleasure and filfillment, opting instead for activities that allow me to zone out and just not engage with the world around me.  I should add that I think that sometimes zoning out is fine and maybe even important.  But that's not what I mean.  I mean, that I just think I could be spending my free time in more profitable, fulfilling ways. 

I'm going to stop now, because I'm feeling worse, and I don't know what I mean any more. 

Randomness. . .A Disorganized Update

I don't know where to begin, as I feel like there's so much I want to say.  And, of course, being a writing teacher and all that, I'm supposed to be able to do this really well.  Quite honestly, I don't really have the energy to work on a decent piece of writing.  So here goes:

I'm feeling like a real mess lately:  fat, lazy.  Work is good.  I've been teaching summer school for a week now, and it's great.  But it takes up most of my energy.  I guess I'm discouraged because I'm just not getting as much done as I'd like (story of my life!).  I'm feeling both fed up and run down (love those phrasal verbs!).  I mean, this kind of malaise is, sadly, kinda typical of me.  But I'm feeling especially in a slump lately, and I don't know why.  Or maybe I'm just in denial about the why.  Difficult to say.

Yesterday, Zee took me to the best fabric stores ever.  Well, maybe not ever.  Because the best ever could be F&M in Bakersfield, which is super cheap and has many, many apparel-type fabrics, which is appealing.  But yesterday, we went to Country Treasures in Chester, VT.  At Country Treasures, I drolled over tons of calicos and quilting fabrics.  The best part, IMO, is that they have tons of 30s and 40s reproduction fabrics.  I'm totally in love with a line called Aunt Grace.  Once I've finished a project, I'll try to post pics.  Then, we went to the Waterwheel House quilt store, where we found bolts and bolts of Amy Butler fabrics.  Increasingly, I'm just in love with anything Amy Butler designs.  Seriously.  I mean it:  if you aren't familiar with Amy Butler, please check out her website here.  She has the most lovely colors and designs in her textiles.  And her patterns and projects are lovely too.  I don't know that I've ever disliked anything I've seen from Amy Butler.  Wow!  I make it sound like she's underwriting my blog.  But, sadly, she isn't.  But this brings me to a larger point:  I am discouraged because I cannot seem to get any sewing or crafting done.  And I don't understand why.  It should be easy, shouldn't it?  I don't have a spouse or little ones to worry about:  my time is essentially my own.  So why do the sewing projects never seem to happen?  And I feel this way about so many things:  why does writing never seem to happen?  I understand why laundry and mopping and dusting don't happen too often:  they are such dreary chores.  But sewing and writing are things I feel passionate about (or at least I think I do); they are things I enjoy; they are rewarding activites.  So why am I such a lump / slug all the time?

On a related note, I'm disturbed by what I perceive as an increasing lack of discipline in my life.  Partly, this bothers me because I used to think of myself as a disciplined person.  In high school, I graduated a year early because I did tons of independent study, self-motivated classes (you know, fun stuff like Algebra II).  I finished a doctoral dissertation; if that doesn't take discipline and motivation, I don't know what does.  And yet, I cannot seem to control the food I put into my mouth daily.  I cannot seem to get motivated to exercise more than about twice a week (and yet, I tell myself that twice a week is two times more than not at all).  I just lack discipline is some specific, important areas of my life, and I don't quite know what to do about it.

Maybe the worst part of it all is this:  I so quickly descend into what some would term negative self-talk.  I obsess about what a "failure" I am, how "worthless" I am.  I feel like such a joke, like my life is a farce.  And I feel like, with very few exceptions, everyone I've really, really loved has treated me like I'm basically worthless--if you know much about my personal life, my history with relationships, you know which names to insert here.  And no matter what anyone says or what I know intellectually, at some deep level, I believe that I am somehow worthless, that I deserve to be treated this way.  Goodness--do you know how hard this is to actually admit?  I try to tell myself that it doesn't matter in some ways how others may have treated me.  I tell myself that all life is valuable, is meaningful.  I tell myself that the important thing is that God loves me, no matter how all these crappy men may have treated me.  And yet, it's so hard to actually believe these things, you know?

So yeah, I keep feeling like if only I could or would do this or that--lose weight, write, exercise, create--I'd be a happier, more fulfilled person.  And maybe I would be.  But all I can see most days are my shortcomings. 

The Good News and the Bad News

Ok, so cliche, but there's good news and there's bad news.  I'll start with the bad.  Late this morning, I decided I'd do some work in the yard.  Increasingly, this is something I really enjoy.  I was feeling a bit depressed and decided I'd make myself get out and dig and weed and plant, partly in hopes that it would make me feel better.  But there was certainly work that needed to get done too.  Anyway, as I rounded the corner, I heard something ruseling in the shrubbery near the garage.  I figured it was probably a frog or toad, as there always seem to be lots of them about.  When I walked by a second and third time, however, I saw something scurrying away into the shrubbery, something with a tail.  Now, if you know me at all, you probably are well aware that I'm positively terrified of snakes.  Some would even call it phobic.  I mean, I have nightmares about snakes--had one last night, in fact.  I don't even like to see them on TV.  Well, I decided that this thing with a tail was probably a lizard; lizards I can handle.  But I was starting to freak out.  So I did what I often do in a near-crisis:  I called my dad.  I say something like this, "Dad, I know that this isn't a great time, and this is going to sound silly, but there's something in my yard, something with a tail, and I think it's a lizard, but what if it's a snake, what do I do?"  And we talk for a second and decided it's probably a lizard.  Just about then I look over and see it.  It's looking right at me.  And guess what--it's not a lizard.  It's a snake.  Just a small one, black with coral colored stripes running the length of it.  And so I'm saying to dad, "Oh my goodness.  It IS a snake.  It's looking at me."  Well, apparently there's not a whole lot I can do about this snake living in my garden.  I guess that knowing he's there is good; I can't be totally as surprised by him if I know he's there, right?  Anyway, the first bit of good news is this:  I didn't have a full-blown panic attack, which happened the last time I saw a snake in the wild.  Wait.  Is my parent's yard the wild?  They live on a golf course.  I wasn't happy, and I kept checking to see where he was, but I didn't have a total freak out over the snake.  I even decided to call him Ernie, in hopes that naming him will make him seem less threatening.  Really, he'd be kinda cute if I weren't positively terrified of any snake.

But the real good news is this:  I planted four rose bushes that I bought yesterday.  That gives me six in one corner of my yard.  Six is enough that I feel like I can now say that I have a rose garden.  I still need to do more work in my rose garden; I want to put up some sort of border to set it off from the rest of the yard, and then I want to put in some cedar mulch.  But for now, it's good enough.  Oh, one of the roses is called Creme Brule, which just makes me happy.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may know that I've been redecorating my bathroom.  There was nothing wrong with the bathroom; it was just really, really boring.  It sorta felt like Motel 6 bathroom.  That's maybe an exaggeration; it felt like the Red Roof Inn bathroom.  But over the last week, I've painted the bathroom.  I'll post some pics when the whole thing is done.  I'm just so excited!  I painted a couple walls a rich chocolate brown and the rest I've painted a bright turquoise.  It's like a pool blue.  I have new towles which incorporate both colors.  And I also have new decor that has cupcakes.  And the whole thing feels chocolatey / ice cream shoppy, if that makes sense.  I don't know--it's like the bathroom is suddenly this cheerful place, which is exactly what I wanted. 

I'm still wanting to put up some shelves, probably painted bright pink.  And I have some stuff to hang on the wall still.  But when it's done, I'll post a couple of pics.

Update on Summer Reading

So I thought it would be of benefit to post a quick update on my summer reading.  Again, it's the whole thing about having goals (see post dated 17 May).  This morning, I finished _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_.  For those of you not in the know, that's the second of seven in the Harry Potter Series.  I've also read about 2/3 of Wilkie Collins's _The Woman in White_.  With my mom here for two weeks, I didn't get as much reading done as I might have liked, and that's OK because spending time with mom was so great.  I do have in my possession most of the books I'd like to get to this summer.  I've refined and prioritized my list a bit.  So here's the revised list in the order in which I think I'll be reading.

1.  Finish _Woman in White_.

2.  Mrs. Dalloway

3 and 4.  Start the Old Curiosity Shop and An Abundance of Katherines (Dickens requires being broken up by light reading)

5.  To the Lighthouse

6.  Vanity Fair

7.  The Waves

8.  Trollope's The Warden

9.  Till We Have Faces

10.  Eliot's Middlemarch

11.  Gaiman's The Graveyard Book

12.  Anna Karenina

13.  Intersperse the rest of the Harry Potter Series with the above, just to break things up

14.  Intersperse a variety of feminist literary theory, which I'm reading in part for an independent study.  I need to get started on deBeauvior's The Second Sex.  I'm really not feeling up for this.

I'm enjoying revisiting the Harry Potter series.  I've been watching the movies on DVD too, partly in anticipation of The Half-Blood Prince opening this summer.  I do not think that the Harry Potter series is great literature.  But I do think it's clever and interesting.  And clearly, what Rowling does speaks to our culture in a way that few literary works seem to have done.  I could go on and on about it, but I'll spare you that.

I'm not feeling so enthusiastic about the theory I think I'm supposed to be reading.  I mean, it's just feeling a little depressing at the moment.  And what I really want to be reading is fun stuff, mostly from the YA section at the library.  And just because I have this whole list going does not mean that I can't and won't be reading fun stuff from the YA section.

One more observation about summer reading.  I really enjoy sitting on the deck and reading.  So completely relaxing.  It's supposed to rain later, or I might be tempted to spend the day reading outside.  But I also like getting up early (this morning, Fen woke me at 5:15) and reading all morning, sometimes in bed, sometimes on the couch.  There's something peaceful about the quiet early mornings around here.

On an unrelated but exciting note, bears have been seen in my neighborhood the past two days.  And by "neighborhood," I mean within 1/8 of a mile of my home.  I don't know why, but I find that very exciting!  For those of you who don't know, Guinnie is a little bit nervous of bears, but she figures she could outrun a bear or at least run faster than Polly.

An Update

Hey Kids!  I haven't posted in a long, long time.  Yesterday, I took my mom to the airport--she had been here for two weeks.  And between hanging out with her, traveling with her, and home improving with her, I just didn't have time to post.  Here, quickly, are a few hilights from her visit.

1.  The grave with a veiw.  This is this early 20th century grave with a window on top, looking up at the sky.  Apparently, the deceased wanted a window incase he wasn't really dead--that way he could look out.  There was much condescation on the window, preventing me from seeing the dead guy from outside :(

2.  Robert Frost's grave in Bennington, VT.  We were taken on a tour by the resident tabby cat.

3.  Painting my bathroom.  This is still a work in progress--I'll post pics once it's done.

4.  Watching hours and hours of BritCom, especially the Black Adder.  Especially love the episodes with Hugh Laurie.

5.  Food, food, and more food.  We had some especially super breakfasts out!

6.  Saturday morning farmer's market.

7.  Putting a new bed / area in my yard.  The entire yard looks fab, by the way, thanks to mom.

I Want. . .

a wrap skirt. Having been inspired by Libby Dibby and by a conversation with Cheri, I really want to make a reversible wrap skirt.  And I think that this one will fit the bill.  Isn't it so me?  I especially love that 1) it's reversible and 2) it ties with a ribbon.  I'm thinking that I'll make one side in a light-weight denim / chambric and one side in a floral.  I'm hoping that I can get by without even making a trip to the fabric store; I'm thinking that I must have something in my stash of fabrics that will be suitable.  I think it'll be perf for teaching this summer.  And if it turns out well, I can see many wrap skirts to come, possibly in Amy Butler fabrics.  This looks to me like it will be a quickie project; maybe I can get one done before mom arrives for her visit next week.  I'm just so excited.

Goals

That last post about why I feel the need to post my summer reading has gotten me thinking more generally about goals for the summer. And I guess that this is as good a place as any to start to hash out some of that. I mean, there's a lot I'd like to get done over the summer (yoga, writing, sewing, painting my bedroom, lose weight), but it seems overwhelming just thinking about it, you know? And the problem (or a problem, anyway) that I tend to have is that I love, love, love setting goals, and I tend to set these ridiculously high, unrealistic goals, and then when I don't meet every single goal down to the last detail, I feel like a total failure. Please don't tell me how silly and unhealthy this sort of perfectionist thinking is--I'm well aware of it. Logically, I do see the problem here. This very tendency has recently made me a bit hesitant to set concrete goals of any sort. However, I always feel like if I have no goals, I won't make any sort of progress at all towards anything. At this juncture, I'm asking myself why I can't be OK with just "being," why I have to focus on the "becoming." I don't know how to answer those questions.

So it seems that I have a love/hate relationship with goals. On the one hand, I need them to feel OK about myself. But on the other hand, they clearly make me feel not OK about myself. Arrgh! Why does this have to be difficult? It sounds like I need a good therapist, doesn't it? Oh wait, the last therapist told me to dump all my friends because you all only valued me for my appearance, not for who I am on the inside. I don't know why, but this statement is especially ridiculous, IMO. I mean really--I'm not quite cute enough for that to be my only source of social currency. Oi.

So now that I've written about goals, I don't know where to go from here. Do I make a list of goals? Do I not? Fenway is especially lovey today--do I spend the day cuddling with him?

More on Summer Reading

Ok, I know that I'm obsessing about planning my summer reading.  I also know that probably noone cares, besides me.  And I'm fine with that.  I guess that I feel like in order to actually get anything done, I need to have goals.  And those goals seem real when I say them aloud, you know?  So here's my summer reading list, so far.  It needs to be prioritized somehow.  I haven't got to that yet.

Reading List, Summer 2009

In no particular order:

1.       Mrs. Dalloway

2.      An Abundance of Katherines

3.      Old Curiousity Shop

4.      Finish Dalgleish novels

5.      To the Lighthoues

6.      Harry Potter Series

7.      The Waves

8.      Woman in White

9.      Till We Have Faces

10.  Graveyard Book

11.  Thackery

12.  Trollope

13.  Eliot

14.  Forsyte Saga

So this’ll work if I read one book / week.  Oh, except for that HP is one entry.

Then, plus I have all that feminist theory I’m supposed to be reading.

LT Creates Jewelry on Etsy

Ok, so I wanted to give a little "shout out" to LT Creates Jewelry on Etsy.  Etsy.com , as you may know, is a web site where individuals sell their hand made wares (or sometimes, just craft supplies).  I think it's such a fab web site, and I love looking at what people are making.  However, I've only ordered anything once or twice.  But there's this great vendor who makes and sells jewelry from vintage silver-plated flatware.  Her work is really, really nice in my opinion.  After C. got a spoon watch from LT, I was ready to go ahead an place my order.  I got a spoon watch and matching spoon bracelet.  You can see a pic of the watch above.  The bracelet I got is identical, except that instead of the watch face, it has a turquoise bead.  I love both pieces, but if I had to pick one, I'd probably say that I actually like the bracelet best.  The pictures here and on Etsy really don't do the pieces justice--they are much prettier in person.  You send LT your wrist measurement, and she custom sizes them.  And I just love, love, love that this is vintage 1940s silverware that's been repurposed; that idea really appeals to me.  I ordered online and had the pieces in hand in less than a week.  And I think the prices are quite reasonable.  The only drawback IMO is that they are both somewhat difficult to clasp.  The clasp is large, and I'm sure that the piece is secure while one is wearing it, but it's a bit difficult to negoiate.

More on Summer Reading

So I guess that if I'm going to "do" the 19th century English novel this summer, I should throw in some Trollope, Thackeray, and Eliot.  This is starting to feel overwhelming.  But then again, I have always wanted to read at least one novel from each of the three aforementioned writers.  And maybe I can wrap it all up with Galsworthy's Forsyte novels, which I know are really 20th century.  But they feel like a commentary on Victorian society, don't they?.  Oi.  I'm losing control over my summer reading list.  And it's only 16 May!

#10 on summer reading list

Gaiman's Graveyard Book.  Am dying (pun! pun!) to read this one. 

My Summer Reading List--A New Take on the Thursday Thirteen

Ok, so last night, I was lying in bed, watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on DVD, and man I love that movie.  And I had a really good idea for today's T13.  Well, clearly I should have written it down, becuase I've totally forgotten it.  (You may note that I'm making an effort to post more regularly--this is part of a larger effort on my part to simply write more regularly.)

Anyhow, I'm working on putting together a summer reading list, so I thought this could be a collaborative T13.  You know, I'll start, and if any of y'all have suggestions, please contribute in the comments section.  So my "theme" for my summer reading list is this:  Virginia Woolf, 19th century novels, murder mysteries, lots of quickie YA lit, and rereads (this could include Harry Potter and JRR Tolkien).  Ok, so that's not really much of a theme, nor is there a lot of unity there.  I guess the connection is basically stuff Drennan reads for fun but doesn't HAVE to read for work.  So your suggestions should fall into one of the aforementioned categories. 

1.  Mrs. Dalloway (obviously Virginia Wolf, but also a reread)

2.  John Green's An Abundance of Katherines (YA, although not trashy like so many YA reads)

3.  Dickens's Old Curiousity Shop  (19th century)

4.  Finish PD James's Dalgelish series of novels (murder mystery)

5.  To the Lighthouse (also Virginai Wolf and reread)

6.  Harry Potter series (yes, the whole thing.  Do you think I can do it in 2 weeks?)

7.  The Waves (Virginia Wolf again, but not a reread)

8.  The Woman in White by Collins (which I've already started--19th Century)

And that's it of the top of my head.  Oh wait.

9.  CS Lewis's Till We Have Faces (definitely a rearead but an old favorite)

Ok, so that's really it--can you give me four more so I can get to 13?????

John Green--The Next Big Thing in YA Lit

So my considered (dare I say "expert") opinion is that John Green is the next big thing in young adult lit.  And seriously, I'm making a career out of reading YA lit.;  So here's the break down:

A couple of weeks ago, I read Green's Looking for Alaska.  This novel was published in 2005, and many critics have, apparently, compared it to Catcher in the Rye, which I think is highly overrated.  But maybe that's just me.  So Looking for Alaska was not wonderful, didn't change my life, but it was very good.  And I read a lot of YA lit, and most of it is crap.  I've been reading some of the Gossip Girl series, and seriously, those are so very vapid that 48 hours later, I can't even remember what the books were about.  So to find contemporary YA novels that are actually meaningful is always exciting and refreshing.  So basically the novel follows a nerdy protagonist Miles (oh, he's obsessed with "last words" that is, what people say on their deathbeds) as he goes away to boarding school.  He soon meets Alaska, with whom he promptly falls hopelessly in love.  Alaska is far too cool for our protagonist, but he becomes friends with her.  And I supppose that the novel is about Miles's attempt to really understand Alaska, but it becomes his attempt to find himself.  And maybe what he finds is, in part, that other people are unknowable.  I like Miles, as a character, and maybe that's just because, as some of you know, I just really tend to like nerdy men.  Miles feels familiar and irresistable.  A librarian colleague of mine says that the book glorifies underage drinking and sex and such.  I would say it's not so much a glorification as an authentic representation of teenage behavior.  And that's certainly not to say that all teens behave like Miles (or more accurately, Miles's friends), nor am I saying that it's acceptable behavior.  It just is.

Green's second novel is titled An Abundance of Katherines.  It is high on my reading list, along with The Old Curiosity Shop.  That seems like an odd paring.

Yesterday, I read Green's Paper Towns, his latest work.  I have to say that although I enjoyed it and appreciated it, it felt a lot like Looking for Alaska.  Here we have another nerdy teenage protagonist, Quintin, or Q.  He's hopelessly in love with Margo, the too-cool chick next door.  Like Alaska, this young woman is unobtainable but also incredibly troubled.  And Q. feels the need to save her, in a very literal sense.  In his quest to save Margo, Q. grapples with the problem of our inability to really understand or even know another person.

I say that Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska are alike, and they are.  Maybe that shouldn't detract from our ultimate enjoyment of these novels.  Green's protagonists are lovable, nerdy teenagers, on the cusp of adulthood, and they are dealing with questions that certainly seem universal.  And while they may not find the answers they hope for, the novels move toward finding meaning in our relationship with the world around us.  This seems to me to be an essentially optimistic way of looking at life and and young adulthood.  In the world dominated by Gossip Girl and the Princess Diaries, I'll take Green's novels any day.

A few more fun facts about John Green and his work:  Apparently the rights to all three novels have been purchased by movie studios, and Green is currently writing a screen play of Paper Towns.  Green can be seen weekly on YouTube, where he and his brother, post vlogs directed towards the "nerdfighters," their loyal followers.  Green also owns Willie, who is quite possibly the fourth cutest dog in the world, after my Bostons, of course.

Reflections on a Sick Day

So on Sunday, I had a fever and body aches for most of the day.  And despite my initial panic related to swone flu, I now seem to have recovered.  But yesterday, Monday, I stayed home from work.  I should add that there was no real reason I needed to go into work.  We're in final exam week, and I didn't have any finals to administer on Monday.  So a sick day, a do nothing day seemed in order.

One thing I did with my sick day was to get caught up on some reading I'd been meaning to do.  I read the first 150 or so pages of Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White.  Collins is a contemporary of Dickens and writes in the same sort of way.  Anyway, here's something I've noticed only recently:  I really, really enjoy the Victorian "triple decker" novel.  This is worthy of comment only because for years I maintained that, with a few notable exceptions, the long, Dickensian novel was not for me.  And Dickens himself rather annoyed me, with the exception of A Christmas Carol.  But last summer, I read Collins's The Moonstone and enjoyed it.  I also read Dickens's Bleak House, not so much because I wanted to but because I thought it was something I should read at least once in my life.  Much to my amazement, I really, really enjoyed Bleak House and would like to move on to either The Old Curiosity Shop or Our Mutual Friend.  So do our reading tastes change as we get older?  When I think of the books I really, really loved as a child and young adult, I know that I still really, really love these works--The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Frankenstein, The Wind in the Willows, Little House in the Big Woods, which is by the way the first chapter book I read at the ripe old age of six.  But I'm also finding that I'm growing to love works that didn't appeal to me, not at all, when I was younger.

Oh, and next time I'm in CA, I really, really, really want to visit the La Brea Tar Pits.  I've been before and all, but I just really want to go again.

Thursday Thirteen: Personal Anthems

I haven't done the Thursday Thirteen in AGES.  But this morning on the way to work, I realized that there is this whole set of song which, when I sing them at the top of my lungs, make me feel somehow better.  And I decided that a list of such songs would work for the T13.  I have to say that "personal anthems" doesn't really seem like an appropriate term for this list, but I can't think of anthing better.  So here we have it:  songs which, when I sing them, automatically make me feel better.  They work best sung as loud as possible while driving down the highway, windows down.

1.  Willie Nelson:  "Where the Soul Never Dies"

2.  Creedence:  "Lookin' Out my Backdoor"

3.  The Pixies:  "Here Comes Your Man"

4.  Tom Petty: "Mary Jane's Last Dance," but I'm also big on the one about "you don't know how it feels to be me."

5.  U2: "Stuck in a Momen," but "Mysterious Ways" is right up there

6.  The Beach Boys: "Sloop John B."

7.  Dusty Springfield: "Son of a Preacher Man"

8.  Aerosmith: "Rag Doll."  I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but for a while my "party trick" was knowing (and singing) all the lyrics to this particular song.

9.  The Beatles: "Here Comes the Sun"

10.  The Specials: "Enjoy Yourself"

11.  REM:  "The End of the World."  Oh, but I am also quite fond of "Superman."

12.  ABBA:  "Take a Chance on Me"

13.  The Eagles: "Heartache Tonight."  Oh, and in case I've never told you this, I think "Hotel California" is cursed.  So don't listen to it all the way through.