We’re enjoying a nice snow day here with no chance of being dug out any time soon. While personally being excited about getting a snow day during Wintereenmas being a parent has brought back the awesomeness of one important snow day tradition: sledding.
Snow days remain some of my purest childhood memories. Kids always put aside their petty differences; snow suited up and grabbed their sleds. Ramps were made, tunnels were dug and snowballs thrown.
Hayden and I managed to get properly attired this morning (a 15 minute affair including two bathroom breaks) and ventured out into the still falling snow. We’ve got a pretty good sledding hill in our backyard now, though we’ll likely be moving soon (capitalizing on the current state of the housing market) and our likely new house doesn’t have a hill.
On our last run today our inflatable sled of 3 years tore open. We weren’t heartbroken; After all, there was hot chocolate to be had inside. I hope we can find another hill so that I’ll need to repair the sled, but if not we still have snowballs and snow angels and forts and snowmen.
I hate to say it (I really do), but OSC has found his match for me. Gaiman has rocked my literary world once again.
The Graveyard Book tells the tale of Bod Owens with such character compassion and unique story line that I was nearly speechless on the final page. Nearly, as I would categorize minor tears and sniffling as speech.
The story of an infant finding a surreal home, has much taken from Kipling’s stories… but the level of attachment I had to Bod was unlike any of my attempts at attachment with Mowgli (and there have been a couple… as recently as 2008). The cast of supporting characters is wonderful, with hints when the cast is not as important, such as merely giving us their epitaphs, and masked details when the character is direly important to the life or death of our beloved main character.
Perhaps, as a fan of the mythical (though not necessarily a fanatic), I was more in tune with the bits and pieces than other readers might be. Perhaps, as a mother of two boys, I was more involved with the destiny of an infant who climbed out of his crib and escaped murder when the rest of his family was not so cunning.
No matter how I look at it though, I desparately want to know what becomes of Bod, now that the graveyard gates are open to him, he has as passport in the name of Nobody Owens, and a wallet full of money. I want to know if Silas, who doesn’t get into trouble, ever needs to call on this foster child, in the future. I want to know if, after another 10 years, Scarlett is allowed to remember again.
I want to know if the final man Jack can rebuild, and if Bod has more in his future than one meet up.
To want more is the highest compliment I can give a book.
Leaving Eden is a book I should have discarded much before the end of the novel. I found it mostly long-winded and unengagingly written. I am a reader who wants to finish books once I start them, though, and so I carried on. It took me much longer than a 256 page book normally would. Falling asleep while reading, even when I am exhausted, is a bit unusual for me.
Anyway, this is a story unlike any other I have read before, and that is a saving grace for me. Unique plots are worthy of at least one star, this one was worth two. An exploration of what civilization would have existed in the time of Adam and Eve is the basis of the novel. Further exploration of the character of Lilith, and what type of creature she was not only to Eden, but to the other societies populating the earth, gave this novel a second star.
The narrative character of Na’amah, the daughter of Lilith and Adam, did not have enough life for me, though, to keep the story going with the force I demand out of a higher ranked work. She was mostly bland and pat… yes, she was being set up as an outsider, so that she could continue on Lilith’s line rather than Adam’s… but loners can still have something a reader can connect with. Na’amah had none for me, even as a storyteller and an aspiring writer should.
So, all in all, a mostly interesting read, if you can ignore the main character…
As of today Brie and I have been together for 10 years (not married, but together)
It’s been a great decade (a decade!), and I have no idea what to expect for the next one, but I’m excited to find out. Personally, I’m hoping we get back to Spain sometime in the next 10 years, so it would be nice if I can expect that.
For everyone else, how about some pictures from the last month?
I picked this up years ago, probably in a moment of, “I love the movie, why not read more?” Given it’s Walmart special cover of two books for a dollar, that must have played into the cost vs. benefit analysis, too.
I am so glad that I did, to the point of I will probably be adding the entire series to my wish list over the coming years.
The characters are fun and the action lively. Tiktok and Billina are newcomers to the Oz realm, but each is a nice addition to the circles of friendship that Dorothy develops. The story itself is a magical explorations of the need to accomplish something, and how luck and determination often have to go hand in hand for success to be met.
The boys and I watched an episode of Harold and the Purple Crayon tonight, “Future Clock.” In this episode, Harold thinks it’s not fair that the adults get to stay up late and do all the fun stuff. So, he uses his crayon to create a world where he gets to be an adult. He likes trains, so he decides to be an engineer. There’s a cow on the track, and then the track is broken, and in trying to rectify these issues, he realizes there must be an easier version of adulthood. He goes to work in an office, where he corrupts the computer system and the phones never stop ringing. He rides in a space rocket, which comes crashing to earth. He is a baseball player, where the winning play comes down to him. The poor boy can’t win in his versions of adulthood.
My versions aren’t that bad, by any means, but I’m at a point where I am tired of being an adult. I’m tired of personal budgets, tired of prepping for an audit, tired of instilling lessons and morals in the next generation.
Yes, the boys were dears today, sleeping past 8, and we got to go house hunting, realizing there’s a lot on the market that we like and can actually afford… but Gabe is getting big, and carrying him is nearly impossible for 2 straight hours. (Hence, the backaches.)
More headaches are to come, I’m sure, what with loan applications, house bargaining, and closings. More backaches are likely, too, what with minor repairs to this place, to get it into a condition we might be able to get a bit of a gain out of it in this market.
Someone just tell me to suck it up. I won’t pay attention to you tonight, but maybe I’ll come back to your comments later this month.
I can tell I’m getting older when my first thought about a topless coffee shop is that I’d we worried about spilling hot beverages, both for the waitresses carrying the drinks and the patrons who may be a tad distracted.
Thank you for entertaining me throughout 2008. Here are some of my favorite internets from the last year. Please continue to entertain me throughout 2009.
The WonderBoner - The helpful tool with the great name. I think my wife might like that
D&D Clue - It’s clue, but with magic missile. What’s not to love?
Dr Suess PC poem - This is replacing Fox and Socks in my house if I have anything to say about it
Little Geek Flash Cards - and to go with your Star Wars Letter Cards you can have artistic flash cards for science and math.
Bud Light Ad - The best beer ad I’ve seen and it was never even broadcast.
Burrito Tunnel - There is an underground tunnel that connects San Fransisco and New York initially planned to send mail across the country but was too hot, so now it sends burritos. This is the most fascinating thing I learned in 2008.
Ninja Cat - Ninja Cat will stalk you and is actually fairly creepy. Reminds me a lot of one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes.
Doctor Horrible - The best internet of the year, hands down.
The ending of this book is pat, there is no denying that in my eyes, but I can’t help but still love the book. The characters are complete and complex; the story fairly developed for chick lit. It is not a classic in the making, but neither is it fluff writing. There were sentences and paragraphs that I loved, making me cherish the book time after time.
The stories of friendships between women are generally not written in a way that makes me respect both sides, but Stewart is able to make me want to comfort both Cameron and Sonia in this novel. Perhaps it is that I can relate to both women’s sense of pain, perhaps it is that I have been at fault from both sides, too.
I picked the book up on a $2 clearance shelf, at a used book store. It was well loved when I bought it, and it is more so now, after just a few days of being the center of my reading attention. Not sure how much reread potential it has, but it was well worth the time and money I have invested in my copy.
I’m not one who does well with the personal goals that aren’t easily measured by outside forces. The scale isn’t even good enough for me… so there aren’t really any solid resolutions for 2009, even though I have a lot of inspiring people in my life making suggestions. Instead, I have a list of “things to try.”
So, for 2009, I’m going to try to write and edit one short story a month. I think I’m going to skip Nano this year, and work on getting something to send out to publishers. I was very happy with the start I had in 2008 for a collection centered around a graveyard.
I am going to work on taking care of myself first in 2009. If I take care of myself, I think I’ll be able to take better care of the three dear men in my immediate life and the network of cherished (but often neglected) friends I have.
I’m going to work on the 50 book challenge again in 2009. In 2008, I was able to finish 58 novels (-ellas), many of which were read aloud to Gabe as part of his bedtime ritual. I don’t think I have much time left for that if he takes after Hayden, so it might be even more of a challenge this year. I’ll try. Thanks to having a couple of books started in 2008 and not finished before the ball dropped, I’m already at a count of 2.
I need to work on my acceptance of failure, which is defined for me as anything less than absolute perfection. I am hopeful that having a list of semi-established, but not really solid, goals will help with this mentality.
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