Reading Notes

I’m just finishing up Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins. Robbins told President Nazarbayev that he wanted to write a book about Kazakhstan that will be read for years to come and although he was only trying to impress the President, I think he might have accomplished that goal. It’s true that I was drawn to this book because of the apples just as Robbins was drawn to the country because it is the origin of the fruit, but I learned about so much more. All I knew about Kazakhstan was the apple bit. I never saw Borat, so I guess I missed something.  Robbins manages to tell the story of a an enormous country in which a number of different groups of people and 46 different religions all live together without much ethnic or religious tension. Robbins meets a descendant of Ghengis Khan who takes him to meet the fabled eagle hunters, goes on a helicopter tour with the President to visit the vanishing Aral Sea, talks to a survivor of the Gulag and visits a wasteland of nuclear test sites. Robbins is taken by this country and he can’t help but draw the reader in with him. I find that I’d much rather read a book like this than to read newspapers. I have to admit that I’m a lousy reader of newspapers (if you can believe it, we didn’t get the paper at my house). The information is no longer news I suppose…

I also finished a fun book for work called Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. I guess I’ve got a travel theme going on here. Johnson tells the story of a high school student who gets a package from her artist aunt after she has passed away. It contains thirteen blue envelopes that send her on a quest across Europe in an effort to better understand her Aunt. Maureen Johnson also has a great, often hilarious, blog.

What’s next: catch up on my poetry, read Going, going by Naomi Shihab Nye and maybe look back on Moby Dick before I forget about it. I’m hoping to get The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule of SouleMama soon. Everyone is raving about it and if it’s anything like her blog it’s bound to be good. I get crafty mama envy whenever I visit.

Traveling with Toddlers and Apples

I have been away from the internet for a while, which can be a good thing and a bad thing, but we took our first trip as a family (dog included) to my in-laws over the weekend. Based on past long-trips with our son in which a 3 hour trip turned into 5 or when he cried for a solid hour, I was dreading this 5 hour trip more than a root-canal ( I had one while 3 weeks pregnant, so I know). Let’s just say that I was prepared for the worst and it turned out not so bad. I had my arsenal of books, CDs, Ranger Rick magazines, car bingo and my activity box. My son was so into all the big trucks and tunnels, I barely touched the activity box. He’s ready to go again, but my husband and I think we’ll wait (maybe a year or two!) Now, I’m behind on blogging and so forth, so I’ll try to catch up soon. I finally finished Gardening at the Dragons Gate by Wendy Johnson, which is a book that I think I might actually buy and would love to read again. It is a wonderful combination of gardening and Zen and not at all preachy or new-agey. I’ll write more later. I’m in the middle of Apples are from Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins. It’s a great book so far. All I knew about Kazakhstan was that apples where from there. I read a book called Apples by Frank Browning and he goes into detail about the apples of Kazakhstan and the tragic story of the Russian geneticist Vavilov. I feel like I’ve really upped my nerd quotient in the last two sentences, but the Robbins book is a great armchair traveler read. As for Vavilov, this quote sent chills up my spine:

We shall mount the fire and we shall burn, but we shall not give up our convictions.

The Gardener ~ Sarah Stewart

My son loves his role as garden helper, so I picked this up at the library when I saw it on the “to-be-shelved” cart. I didn’t read it before-hand which is a mistake I make over and over. But, I was lucky this time. (Not so lucky when starting Babar, which I don’t think I’m going to pursue) Even though the story is sad, there is so much hope and kindness, I don’t think my little guy even understands why it’s sad just yet. Oh, I suppose I should tell you what it is about. During the Great Depression, a young girl named Lydia Grace, goes to live with her Uncle in the city, because her father is out of work and her mother can’t get any work making dresses. Uncle Jim is a baker who never smiles. The story is told through Lydia Grace’s letters to her family. It’s so sweet to see how she plans to use her gardening skills to make Uncle Jim smile. The pictures by David Small are wonderful. I can’t wait to check out their other book The Library. I was thinking after I read this book, that even though the Great Depression was a time of great poverty and suffering, there are so many stories of hard work and people helping other people. This is something we are trying to instill in our son. We always talk about helping “people who need help.” I think he gets it. I worry about our economy and wonder if we end up on hard times if we’ll be as resilient and kind as some of our grandparents and great-grandparents.

Poem in Your Pocket Day

I’m a little late getting this post out, my apologies. Yesterday was Poem in Your Pocket Day, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. At work we gave out pocket-sized poems to patrons and the staff had a “secret poet” swap like “secret santa.” I received “Social Noted from Al Over: Mt. Olympus” by William Matthews on beautiful blue paper with silver flecks in it. It was quite lovely I must say. I knew who my secret poet was, because she loves mythology and the graphics and paper had her touch. I also got the poem The Reading Mother by Strickland Gililan which made me cry. I know, I can’t help myself. Finally, the director of my son’s Montessori Toddler program gave me, “Keep a poem in your pocket…” by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers. This was a whole lot of fun. It was great to hear people talking about poetry. So, what poems did I give out? I sent Poet in Residence at a Country School to my sons teachers. Poems from Jane Yolan’s Here’s A Little Poem to my sons classmates. “From Blossoms” by Li-Young Lee to my “secret poet” and “Persephone, Falling” by Rita Dove to my co-worker who loves mythology.

I’m in the middle of a little poetry binge. Why not? It’s National Poetry Month and there are several new books of poetry that just came out that I can’t wait to read. I’m still reading and really enjoying Behind My Eyes by Li-Young Lee. He is one of my top 10 favorite poets, for sure. I got the Persephone poem by Rita Dove from her book Mother Love. I had to bring that home. It’s about the bond between mother’s and daughters using the Persephone myth and it’s written mostly in sonnets. Seeing as how I used the Persephone myth in Eavan Boland’s poems as part of my thesis, it was a no-brainer. I also brought home Unmentionables by Beth Ann Fennelly and Woman Reading to the Sea by Lisa Williams. They’re both new and look great.

Gossamer ~ Lois Lowry

I’ve finished my first book for the Once Upon A Time Challenge. Hooray! Like I said before, I hadn’t read Lois Lowry before, so this was a great introduction to a legendary children’s author. I was surprised by how short the book was and by how much Lowry could fit in a book that was less than 140 pages. Gossamer tells the story of Littlest, a young dream giver who is assigned to the house of a lonely, older woman and her dog. Littlest is curious, carefree and perhaps a little hard to manage as a pupil. When a little boy named John comes to stay at the woman’s house, things change for Littlest. She must take her job seriously when the “sinisteeds” come and inflict horrible nightmares on the boy. Littlest’s interactions with the boy help begin to illuminate her unique talents as a dream giver. I enjoyed this book very much. The idea of the dream givers is wonderful. Lowry takes on some hefty topics - domestic violence and foster care - and weaves them into a fantastic tale. Her characters are honest and believable. I couldn’t help but root for them. I think I’ll try and find an excuse to read some of her other novels sometime soon.

Serendipity ~ Vegan Version

Yesterday I was at work when I witnessed a conversation that made me happy for about an hour. One of our very sweet, volunteers who is in her late sixties/early seventies came to the desk and said, “I heard this book was Fantastic.” She paused. Looked at her piece of paper and said, “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World!” and she through her hands up in the air! I can’t say what made me most happy. Was it that this woman who I’m sure is not vegan was looking for a vegan cookbook (Hurray Isa, You have crossover appeal) or that she was so enthusiastic about a book she hadn’t even read yet. Either way, I carried that thought around with me for a while and it made me smile.

Reading Notes

Ah! What a wonderful spring afternoon! After all the rain and cold weather it’s nice to have a throw the windows wide open and let the fresh air in kind of day. We planted our tomato seeds this morning (my son actually planted seeds with a lot of help from Dad) and my husband finally pruned our apple trees not a moment too soon. I think they’ll be flowering in a week or so.

On the reading front, I’ve finished Andre Dubus’s The Garden of Last Days which was very good, but slightly embarrassing for me at least because one of the main characters is a stripper. My squeamishness aside, I thought it was a great book. There’s a little more hope in it than in his last book. I’ll be reviewing it soon for Read This! I’ve started reading a slim, little book called Notes on the Occupation by Eric Hazan about Palestinian refugees. I need look into the background of the author for this one, because the topic is highly charged and I want to know if there are any particular biases. So far, the book is upsetting and infuriating as one would expect. I was going to make a comment on it, but I should save that for another day.

Finally, I just started reading Gossamer by Lois Lowry for the Once Upon A Time Challenge. This is a fun book so far and a great concept. It’s about these little creatures that go around at night and “bestow” dreams. I’ve never read Lois Lowry before. There were some girls I went to school with who were insane over Lois Lowry. I never did have much guidance in my reading, so I probably never read her, because I wanted to read something different or weird. Well now I can catch up on my 5th grade reading! Besides who doesn’t want to read a book called Gossamer? True it may be a slightly overused word, but it is a great word nonetheless.

Reading to Calm the Nerves and Excite Garden Fever

I know I’ve been a little erratic about posting lately, but it never seems that we can come out from under some sickness or other in our house. Oh, and then there’s the teething and crying on my shoulder for 45 minutes just to mix things up. I must say I have new respect for little kids since I’ve become a parent. They are such resilient little beings. Anyway, I have been reading. I’ve been reading gardening books in order to convince myself that the days are going to stop being so cold and the trees are starting to bud. I’m half way through Andre Dubus’s new book The Garden of Last Days which is not coming out until June, but because of my work I was able to get my hands on a copy. It is every bit as unsettling and fast-paced as The House of Sand and Fog. For some reason, with this book, I have a vague hope that the ending will not be quite as bad as the last one, but I think that’s just a false sense of security. He really does have a way of building characters and figuring out what makes them tick or looking at how a decision about something very simple can spiral out of control. I’ve taken to reading that book first and then reading something more relaxing before bed.

The something more relaxing is Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate by Wendy Johnson. I just love this book. I like gardening memoirs to begin with, but this one is very well written. Johnson was a gardener at the San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Gulch Farm for a long time and just reading her book seems like a form of meditation. I feel like I’m forced to slow down and really think about all the aspects of gardening. Here’s an excerpt that I found particularly beautiful:

Living water in the garden soil is like a vast liquid net, constantly shifting shape while maintaining connection with the microbial and plant life. Now and then this underground web of water is revealed above the surface of the soil. Just as the sun begins to warm the ground, the gossamer trap nets of field spiders in the late autumn garden light up, shining with dew. The pores of the soil exhale stored warmth and water vapor and the moisture captured momentarily in the spider’s webs. This glistening, aboveground web echoes the invisible network of water, soil, and air running just beneath the surface of the ground.

Once Again!

I really try to show self-restraint when it comes to challenges, especially considering I have all but abandoned the Short Story Challenge (it’s really because I haven’t taken the bus to work in a while). But I couldn’t resist the Once Upon A Time II Challenge. I’m going to try to do Quest the Second, but I have trouble with the folklore category. So, I might just do Quest the First that is read 5 books in any of the four areas: folklore, fairy tales, fantasy and mythology.

Here is my potential list:

The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
Gossamer - Lois Lowry
The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
Skin Deep - E.M. Crane
The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley

Serendipity ~ I couldn’t sleep last night

I’ve been meaning to post this little poem for a few days now. Since I didn’t sleep much last night, I thought it was appropriate:

The pillow hot
On both sides,
The second candle
Dying, the ravens
Crying. Haven’t
Slept all night. Too late
To dream of sleep…
How unbearably white
The blind on the white window.
Good morning, morning!
~ Anna Akhmatova