Has anyone seen my sense of humor?

I really have been struggling to find the joy in life these days – maybe it is winter blahs and all those other stresses that can compound and weigh heavy on the soul that need not be named.

I’ve been overwhelmed and humorless and crabby.   If not for its meaning, I would so love the word melancholy.     (Seriously, wouldn’t MELON-HEAD be a great name for a collie?   yea, maybe not.   No offense to collie pups…)

So, as I once again feel guilty for clearing out my Google Reader and avoiding any feeling of responsibility to visit all 200+ of my favorite blogs, I reach for motivation to post.   To post something!    and I do have a ton of topics and ideas (and reviews?) to chat about — that I decide to accept Lisa’s (at Lit & Life) meme from some award she won and didn’t specifically pass on to me.

For the Over The Top Award, we are to list one word answers to the following questions.   It is helping me to move fingers over the keyboard.
(1) Your Cell Phone? silver

oh crap.    my cut and paste is only getting the first prompt!     GGggggghghhghfhhrhhrrrrr.

What to do – print it out?  No, because I don’t have print set up from my laptop and our PC that IS connected to a printer (which has no black ink – remind me to go buy some of that), do I really want to go back and forth  - no.

I’ll change my mind and do something else.   (SORRY LISA!)

Let’s do Alphabetical Gratefulness!!!

A – Apples.   I really do believe an apple a day is a terrific habit.

B – my friend Brenda that I really do not talk to enough.  uh oh, that sounds like a negative…

C – I once wrote an affirmation that had the first line of “Caring and committed, courageous and consistent…” to encourage me to be such.    I don’t remember the whole poem but it does make me smile to think of the mood I was in when I wrote it.

D – the first letter of the name of the wonderful man I married who is just the definition of awesomeness.

E – ENERGY – let’s create it and conserve it and be energized to positiveness, shall we?    I like so many E words:   enthusiasm, effect, effort, effervescence, electricity, encouragement, eccentric…

F – Food.   I’m grateful for food.

G – Neil Gaiman and his  The Graveyard Book.    Read Fizzythought’s thoughts here.    I haven’t read this yet but I dearly want to.

H – HUMOR.    I keep hearing movie The Hangover is funny, but the commercials have me dreading it.   I abhor nastiness presented as laughable matter.

I – IMAGINATION!

J – Joy

K-Kindness

L – Love.    and lobsters!   I love lobsters.

M – Marshmallows.

N – I’m so happy for the New Orleans Saints!

O – Onomatopoeia.   And if you like words, like I like words, I recommend Roy Blount Jr.’s Alphabet Juice.

P – Penguins.   Not necessarily the hockey team.  oh!  and PIE!!

Q – Quests.

R – (how come I can’t think of anything for this letter except the word ‘reality’?    Perhaps because reality is only our perception of what is real and thus is suspect?    I’ll come back to it…   There has to be something better than reality.     It ain’t raisins…)

S – Sunshine.

T – Trains.   I’m taking the train in May to NYC.

U – UNDERSTANDING.

V – Virginia Woolf!    I’m so loving the discussions on her books this winter.

W – Water.   Where would we be without water?  I was going to just list Virginia Woolf again but water jumped into my mind right after.   Huh.

X – Xylophones?

Y – Yellow = sunshine

Z – I love names that start with the letter Z.     Zola, Zetta, Zander the cat…

Thank you, thank you.     I’ll be working on a preview post to Hunter S. Thomson’s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72, in case you’re curious.   and finishing To the Lighthouse by Woolf.

Now what are you grateful for that starts with the letter R?

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Thoughts   The Princess Bride by William Goldman, 1990 by Demco Media (first published 1973), 283 pages

MOTIVATION for READING:    I enjoy reading the source material for movies and I have seen this on so many ‘best of’ and favorites lists.    So I bookmooched it – then decided it would be PERFECT for the Royal Title category of the What’s In a Name 3 Challenge.

WHAT’s it ABOUT:     A kid is read this story so you will not only have the adventure of what happens to the Princess who is supposed to wed the evil royal dude but you have the whole “how it came to be that this story is read to the kid” story, too.   It’s cute, well done.    I think the movie has a Grandpa reading the story but the book has much more on the why and how Goldman came to publish this abridged version from the ‘original’ author and how his Dad was the guy who read it to him when he was but a youngster.

WHAT’s GOOD and/or not:    I liked the movie better but I do believe it is because of repetition.   I’ve seen the movie so many times!    I seemed to skip through the adventure parts in the book; though I did enjoy the fun descriptions, the character development and especially, the clever lines of “As you wish”  and “INCONCEIVABLE!”

The movie remains a big favorite and I do want to say that casting was excellent.

But isn’t that the issue with reading the book after seeing the movie?      I imagined Cary Elwes as the Man in Black, and of course the Fezzik in the book sounded and looked like he did in the movie and Mandy Patinkin was SO the Spaniard!    Right?   Am I right?  Tell me if I’m wrong.

Of course, I’m right.

FINAL THOUGHTS:    When it comes to the genre of fantasy fairy tale, I’m wondering if I just don’t have a very good imagination.   I’m reminded of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust – another that I liked the movie much more than the book.      I’m rating this THREE PIE but a very strong THREE PIE – I liked it.     and I liked the movie better.

Oh, and I thought it cool that Goldman wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.   ☺

I think I will be at the Book Blogger Thingamajiggy Event in NYC on the Friday after BEA but have no concrete plans to make it happen so anyone who wants to offer support, please do.

I’m just too close NOT to and too many bloggy friends I want to meet and too much fear that I will regret if I don’t.   But don’t yet have any plans to formulate the ‘happenin’.     HELP!

So.

I’m back.

Let’s recap:   I did not get a lot of books read.  I’m still in the middle of To the Lighthouse by Woolf and have yet to read ANY recap posts.   I have read and written a “thoughts” review of The Princess Bride…   (will post soon but want to see what Weekly Geeks gives us tomorrow), I am enjoying Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 way more than I ever expected to (but want to do a ton of research to know my political history that it covers because it assumes a lot) and…

I have yet to check Twitter.

Book club was O.K.   But will be at my house in two weeks with a new book to discuss that Amazon promises will be on my door step SOON:   Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti.

I went to Phoenix.   It was none too wild, …     It was colder than I would have liked and I had friends to chat with so I didn’t get many books read.   I mentioned that…    I did NOT see Happy Gilmore.    I’m feeling better and those of you who know, know.   Thanks and SMILES.

Go SAINTS!!!!!

I have had no word-togetherness and/or sentence construction ability so I’m off on a lil’ break.      I hope to be zipping about and commenting meaningfulness and blather soon, though.    Wish me good reading while I unplug, disconnect and find my happy-place.    Just might have to watch Happy Gilmore or travel to wilds unknown.   XOXOXOXO, Care

Thoughts   Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell, Riverhead Books 2008, 248 pages

MOTIVATION for READING:    I was under the impression that Sarah Vowell was about 70+ years old – not sure where I got that impression nor why it is relevant, but when I saw the clip that Kim posted on her review of this book, I knew I had to find and read.   She’s FUNNY!   I bought it when I saw it on the BOGOHO table at Borders.

I enjoyed this very much.    I found Sarah Vowell’s thoughts on the characters who first settled the Boston area quite entertaining.   I learned a lot, too.    I like history when it is interesting, relatable and informative.   I will definitely read more of her books.

I guess I should explain that this is a book about America’s first organized settlers of New England.   But it’s more than that.   Kim calls it pop history.    It’s got religion, government, philosophy and character studies…    It is not dull.

I am so out of words these days, it seems;  so I will end this embarrassingly short ‘review‘ with the quote on the cover by the Washington Post:

“Vowell’s funny, imaginative take on musty, buckled-up Pilgrim notables brings the era wickedly to life.”

FINAL THOUGHTS:    I think I appreciate it when I realize that no time in history was there every a glory period anywhere that life was super-dooper.    I suppose, (ah great, I’m starting to wax poetic in some ill-thought philosophy crap way) that as I get all melancholy that life sucks and the world is a freakin’ mess, that really?  it always has been and there is no reason not to approach it (life) with a sense of humor and an attempt to do and be your best and look to the sunshine.     I’ve not been feeling very optimistic about anything lately…        So thank you Sarah Vowell for taking me on a journey back into time and on travel a trip through my parts of New England;   for giving me a bit of perspective and for teaching me about some people I knew little about.    (In no way do I mean to say that I found any affirming inspiration per any specific person in this book.   just sayin’.    But maybe perseverance?)

I didn’t read this for any challenge but the last chapter introduces the reader to Anne Hutchinson and now I want to know even more about her.   Perhaps a good bio would be an excellent choice for the Women Unbound Challenge.   (like I need any more recommendations for that?!)

Oh – (refer to Kim’s review to get this…)   I forgot to even notice that there were or were not chapters to the book.   SO I guess it didn’t bother me, huh Kim?  

RATING:   4/5  

RATEHId

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When I wrote last week’s post “Not Yet Mrs. Dalloway“ – just so I would be included in the Read-along – I was only about 50 pages into my reread.    I was leaving for a weekend away in the mountains of New Hampshire (with time to finish the book).   Once back on Monday, I was able to enjoy all the excellent insightful posts collected from various first time and multiple reads of this interesting novel from all over the book-blogosphere.

The next Woolf in Winter discussion is scheduled for January 29th over at  Emily’s blog:  Evening All Afternoon featuring To the Lighthouse.     I am so glad I decided to peruse the stacks at the library last week despite trying to interlibrary-loan it.    I was shocked and saddened that according to the system, no copies of this in any form were available.   Yet there it was on the shelf so I grabbed it!   woo hoo – yea me.

I want to keep talking about Mrs. Dalloway!   I’m rating this FIVE PIE SLICES this time around and I’m thankful for the Flashback Challenge for giving me the push to pick this up again.     I very much enjoyed the beautiful prose and the imagery of the passages;    I loved the sense of place and time;  I loved being inside peoples’ heads and I was amazed at Woolf’s skillfully depiction of how current events and memories swirl together for interesting thought processings.      

I actually intend to read this again.     Not anytime soon, perhaps but in a few years?    Let it fade again and allow me to experience a re-awakening to its charms.

But what I did do this past Saturday was click the Instant Play from Netflix.com of the movie version featuring Vanessa Redgrave.       I really liked it.

Similar to my reactions and the intro to the movie Lolita*, I was struck by the wondering of just how are they going to film something that is so much inside peoples’ heads?!

It was well done and it fit my Saturday mood perfectly.   I thought Redgrave portrayed  an excellent Clarissa and she came off cheerier, I think.   The voice-overs were a big part of the movie but not it’s main method for conveying the story (I was worried.)    On a negative side, the conflict between Clarissa and her daughter’s tutor did not come off as hostile as it does in the book.      I also did like the actor who played Septimus – he did an excellent job.    Overall, a charming adaption for such an ambitious task.

HAS ANYONE ELSE SEEN THIS MOVIE?  

I hope to re-watch The Hours film, someday soon, too.    And a friend and I have agreed to read a bio of Virginia Woolf together.    I think I’ve jumped into a project!  

With that said, I’m off to go To the Lighthouse now.

HHH

HHH

*  The Stanley Kubrick film of Lolita starts off with the repeated voiced and printed  question of “How can they make a movie of Lolita?!”

I spent Friday afternoon playing librarian at the Assisted Living / Home for the Aged where I volunteer.    It is such fun!

One of the local town libraries donates their discarded large print books to us and that means that someone gets to cull the stock already there and place the new books onto the shelves.

And that volunteer is me.    :)

It is tough to choose the books to remove.    It is also hard not to look at each and every one but who has time for that?   I wish we had an inkling which books were most ‘checked out’ but we don’t – it’s an honor system.    Just borrow and enjoy and return it when you can.    So we don’t have a system to know if romances are what the residents enjoy most?   or biographies?   or who are the favorite authors?

The first step yesterday was to find any books that are not large print.    I was actually shocked that we found so many!     I piled these into boxes and moved them to the basement.  Eventually I will put this in my truck and donate them.

Some of these books come home with me, too.    I chose a Nadine Gordimer (A Sport of Nature), The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks, a bio of Catherine the Great, and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

I still have a lot of hours to donate to get them all into alphabetical order, but I’m really enjoying my work and sharing my love of books with the residents.

The Weekly Geeks Meme Theme for the third week of 2010 is to focus on the country of Haiti.

I’m choosing to share a favorite book by a favorite author:    Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.

From goodreads.com:

A documentation of the life of Paul Farmer, “a man who would cure the world”.

Tracy Kidder follows Paul Farmer around the world and back trying to understand the strange man who never gave up on his adolescent ideals and never grew up. Through interviews and shared struggles, Kidder starts to understand the complex and brilliant man just as you, the reader starts understanding and sympathizing him as well.

When Paul Farmer was just a student and visited Haiti, he found his life calling there. He traveled sporadically back and forth from Harvard to Haiti to attain his degree but his heart and mind never left. Till this day Paul Farmer keeps his home in Haiti, refusing to give sub-par care to anyone who comes knocking at his door while other doctors keep telling him that it is not “economic” to be giving first class care and medicine to people in poor countries who need it the most.

A heartwarming story of struggle against the odds and the preservation of a single man who would give everything up for the sake of others in need. -Dominic Chu

This book also gives the reader an appreciation for the work of Partners in Health, the organization that Dr. Farmer and others started to fund and deliver healthcare not only to Haiti but around the globe.

I recommend this book, this author, and PIH.

The title comes from a Haitian proverb, which is usually translated as: “Beyond the mountains, more mountains.” per an interview of Kidder.

I am conflicted.

Let me provide the scenario, the back story.

I was bouncing around the bookosphereblogworld when I found a review that appealed to something in me.    SOMETHING.     oh, how conflicted I am in the telling here!    oh how I long to call on some applicable Shakespearean line of prose and poetry and theatrics to make this my own amazing saga!

SEE?   I’m fighting my own whatever-demons of nonsense as I struggle not to write a piece of melodrama for your own confusion drama?

I’ll start over.

I read a book review that caught my attention.   The review stated that a teacher of a vocational trade suggested this title to his students and it was overwhelmingly received.    Embraced even, by a group not traditionally won over by a book, perhaps.    So I was hooked.

And the blogger, who happened to be a book seller if I understand correctly, also loved this book.

I was won over myself.

I sent the link to this review to friends who thus purchased the book (I assume) on the basis of said review – and maybe also my enthusiasm for sending on the link to the review?

I bought the book.  I didn’t just buy ONE book but I bought TWO.     I bought these from the BOGOHO table at Borders – which I must admit …   I WAS EXCITED!!!  to see this on the BOGOHO table.  So I bought.

I bought this for myself and I bought one to send to my Holiday Swap because 1)  I had little information to base what would be a good choice for the giftee (ok – I ain’t good at this?)  and 2)  I thought that if a teacher was doing a great job of engaging youthful readers to this book than a YA librarian might want to know it.

Um.

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AND THEN!!!    the Bookclubber who had the floor (the turn for suggesting a book) brought this book in and I was all “HEY-Yay!     I KNOW that book!!!!”     and it was voted in for January.

I hate writing these posts and would probably just skip right over it like I did with Lolita.    However, I am baffled with myself and my reactions and feel I must review this for these reasons:

1)   This is a book club book.

2)   I was so excited about this book and am seriously baffled WHY and why-so-let-down.

3)   I am unable to attend book club meeting.  ***

Is EVERYONE ready for what comes next?!

Thoughts   Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, Thomas Nelson 2006, pg 164 0f 245+

MOTIVATION for READING:    My bookclub chose this for this month’s book.

RATING:   no rating.   DNF

SPOILERS ahead and this is the last warning.

If you are still with me (and are not just KB nor GM nor MD – my most possible IRL readers of my blog) then you have a right to my thoughts on why I chose not to finish this book.

I got to the point where  the reader was being teased with cancer-cured!! no wait…  cancer back!!!  and I just had to stop.

I had made the mistake of looking at the photos at the back of the book and I knew right away that the amazing lady who brought these two men together was going to die.

At this point in the book, it was just sequence of events.    I didn’t feel anything.

I kept thinking…  ”what am I feeling?   why was I so excited about this book?   what was I hoping for in this story?  am I getting it?”

the answer was NO.

and I’m baffled.  I’m baffled.   Was it an amazing marketing job by the book jacket?   was it an amazing sell by the blogger that first brought this story to my attention?!

I was so perplexed that I had to go re-read that initial review post (and no offense to the blogger)  I MUST WONDER if I really READ THAT WHOLE POST!!!    I obviously didn’t or just glossed over her words because I must admit it was accurate.   [UPDATED to link to the original blogger's review here - and it's quite positive:   The Book Lady.]

I think I was so sold by the idea that a vocational teacher* started a book club with his students and those students loved this book that I failed to comprehend the religiousness mentioned in the body of the post.

This book.   This book is about those God-fearing God-loving people who give all and live the dream.

I do not mean to offend those Christians.    It seems to be that I’m being horrible.

but I   .  do .  not.   care.

I didn’t care for the rest of the story.  I didn’t care what happened to Ron.  I didn’t care what happened to Denver.   I felt sad but not about Debbie – she was so secure in her Lord that she is in a better place I’m sure of it and it all smacked of LOOK AT US GOD LOVES US IN OUR SUFFERING AND WE ARE TREATED TO THE wonderfulness of God that it just appalls me.

I’m assuming that my feelings about it all are irrelevant anyway and that Ron and Denver come out all happy regardless and  that they just don’t need any reaction from me as a reader so I will just mosey on along, if that’s OK.

I apologize.    I must reiterate that I am confused.    As a Christian with my own way of understanding my relationship with my faith, I just don’t need to read a book like this and I

am baffled.

I want to know if I’m missing some godly sign that I need to pay attention.

Am I a big fat sinner for not embracing this book?

What hooked me into this book at the initial idea in the first place?

Am I only proving myself as a swirly thought maniac?!??!

I’ll stop now.

I gave up on this book on page 165.    I have spent entirely more and too much time on wondering about my own reaction to this book rather than the book itself that I just have to stop.

It’s personal and it’s disturbing.  And I’ll shut up NOW.

Thank you.

[updated:   so it's guilt that I'm feeling, huh?  ok.   I know what I need to do.   Again, thank you.   I'll stop trying to edit the crazy post.   And - I don't want to say that the book is bad - I just didn't want to read it anymore.]

π

* I used to be a Vocation Education Supervisor for a state in the midwest.   I loved that job and I absolutely hated it for opposite and conflicting reasons.   So goes life.   I recruited and trained and supported teachers who taught the vocational trades and who were put down and ridiculed and received annoying treatment from high falutin’ annoying ‘real’ educators that it mostly encouraged me to be enraged all the time.

***   My husband is going to a conference in Phoenix and I get to tag along.   I just found out.

PS.   I’m very much enjoying the book I am now reading once I got over the guilt of giving up on SKODAS:    It’s Wordy Shipmates - it’s very entertaining.

Thoughts   A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, original pub 1962 Recorded Books 1994, 6 discs

Huh.

I hear  of these titles; cited as favorites read when a child and I wonder.    Did I read this?    Why do I have no recollections of favorite books – am I just too old?!    eeeeak!  say it ain’t so!

I just don’t remember too many books but can (upon hard-thinking) recall that I read the Ramona (I think that’s the character) books.   I read Nancy Drew and that ilk.   I know I loved the Chronicles of Narnia but those are more tween books than children’s books, right?

Heck, I don’t even remember Good Night Moon.   My mother assures me that she read books to me and that I read books all the time, but unfortunately, not much documentation exists to prove any of it.

Probably, what all this means is that it is quite obvious I don’t have kids myself and thus haven’t had any reason to trip down a literary memory lane…

So.

When a read-along was announced for the beloved A Wrinkle in Time book(s), I decided that I needed to cross this classic off the list.

I went to the library.   The library had two extremely grubby (germ-infested) hardbacks.   AND ONE AUDIO – and only six discs!   Yippee!   ” The audio would be the absolutely perfect way to enjoy this!”, so I thought.    I could listen as a child does?

Somehow I missed the very first sentence – did I tell you that I’m not much of an auditory learner?    Sure, if I were to see the words, “It was a dark and stormy night.”   I would have referenced it as one of the most well-known opening sentences to any book ever, right?

Well, that went right over my head even with the words visible on the button for the discussion challenge?!?!?!    sigh…

But I did get the experience of the hurricane conditions and the sounds of a big storm as it hammered the house – especially from Meg’s bedroom clear up in the attic.     I was quickly entranced into the story – the sensations and the experience.

Charles Wallace was my favorite of the kids.     I was nothing like Meg as a child so I couldn’t relate to her obstinance at all.    Of course, I found the mother to be all too perfect, but whatever.     And I quickly guessed – after checking the published date – that the father must be on some secret government mission.

I had assumed these books were much older but still twentieth century.      But I had NO IDEA that this was science fiction and space travel!    And mythical creatures and other worlds!!     And religious?    nope.   Didn’t know that.

The religion didn’t bother me.   I’m not what you’d call religious but I have a belief set heavily grounded in Christian theology having gone to parochial school for my elementary years.      And when the story pressed the children for earthly fighters against evil, I was glad that the list wasn’t only Jesus Christ but included Ghandi, too.    I suppose that was just a scrap of acknowledgment to ‘other’ varieties of faith.     Sure, I can understand that it could come across as heavy-handed on the push for Christian definition of good but it didn’t bother me – I just rolled with it.

What bothered me was the play out of the rescue – it seemed to chunk and clunk along.  After the wonderful build up to what was going to be the mission;    OH!  they are going to rescue Father!     Mrs. Whatsit and her friends are ANGELS!   cool.   (and I heard Mrs. WITCH not ‘which’ – I wonder what else I missed?!)

The first half was better than the second half.   When I was in the middle of the last disc and the story had to wrap up soon;  I was more impatient than Meg to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.   Surely, we will not abandon Charles Wallace to the evil IT brain.

and it was over so fast, I almost replayed it but decided it was over so what was I really going to catch in that two minutes that I can’t figure out?

I did enjoy the set up and opening scenes.    I adored Charles Wallace.    I liked the idea of tessering!

In fact, this TESSERACT stuff really caught my attention because on one of my stints as a computer programmer, I worked with a software application called Tesseract.     I had no idea this was a ‘real’ or known word!    I only knew it as the name of the application and thought it made up.    HUH, again.

My Question:   What kind of name is Fortinbrass for a dog!?   (Am I spelling it right?   What does it mean?)

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