Something Knitty

I have given up trying to keep track of everything the kids have read, but here are some notable items from the past month. 

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger.  Dwight makes an origami Yoda. Yoda answers questions with special insight, even though his maker is clueless. How can this be?  And how does this whole middle-school thing work anyway?  Such a cool concept.  Be sure to check out the website for the book, and vote for which figure should star in the sequel.  

Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger, illus. Aaron Blecha.  Anytime we come across a book that all three read with enthusiasm and giggles, we know we have a keeper.  This is one of those books.  The story of a patched-together stuffed animal that comes to life when exposed to moonlight, Zombiekins is creepy good fun.  I still can't get any of them to read Bunnicula.  This is Bolger's second hit in our house. You might recall the Sonar obsession a few months ago with Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger.  

Palazzo Inverso by D. B. Johnson.  A stunningly beautiful picture book that can be read in circles, or all along the bottom pages, then flipped over and read backwards along all the top pages. You can read the entire book at the author's website, but there is real joy to manipulating the book in your hands.  

The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg.  If you've read any Van Allsburg picture books, you know the art is always spectacular, and this one is no exception.  

The Ultimate Origami Book by John Morin or Teach Yourself Origami by John Montroll.  We had a bit of a paper plane and origami extravaganza going on around here all summer.  Several origami books were dragged into and out of the house, but the Sonars tell me that these two were the best of the lot in terms of the clarity of the instructions and the number of figures they folded from each.

Good Poems edited by Garrison Keillor.  Our bedtime-story routine goes like this: one kid chooses a picture book and a poem to read to the others, then I read a chapter out of a bigger book.  They can choose anything they want that they are able to read themselves.  We do not censor.  The choices they make sometimes open up an opportunity for conversation.  They usually choose a short poem, most frequently out of Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein or The Rattlebag, edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes.  But I also bring home poetry books from the library to mix it up a bit.  The Good Poems collection is full of great stuff, grouped thematically.  Imagine my surprise and giggles when a very earnest Sonar X7 recently read "Sonnet" by C. B. Trail out of the section called Lovers.    

The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.  Each Sonar has read at least one book from this series, and I'm sure that they will all read more. Sonar X7 is the leader here, working his way through much of the series over the past two months.  The Winter Knights and Stormchaser were his favorite books this summer.   

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku. You might recognize Kaku from several television and radio appearances, most recently Discovery Science Channel's Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible.  Sonar X10 brought this one home, and though some of the science is above his head, he flipped through and browsed and read significant portions of it before handing it off to dad, who read the whole thing.  Just so you know, the accepted definition of Anti-matter, matter moving backwards in time. You're welcome.  

The Dragon Codices.  These are part of the Dragonlance universe of books.  The codices are a series of middle-grade books focusing on different colored dragons.  So far there are seven books, but ten are planned.  If you're interested, begin with the Red Dragon Codex.  Bronze Dragon Codex was Sonar X5's favorite book this summer. 

What are they reading now?

Sonar X10 has just finished The Monsters of Morley Manor by Bruce Coville and has moved on to The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron.

Sonar X7 is reading The Hobbit.  

Sonar X5 just finished Zombiekins and hasn't chosen another book yet.  

All-together we're reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.  

I had a bit of a reading slump in August.  It was too hot to hold a book.  Or something.  I'm not convinced that that the slump iss over. Very few things are holding my attention.

Books I read out-loud to the kids: 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

This was our second time reading these books out-loud.  We've read through the whole series once together.  I think it's the fourth time I read Sorcerer's Stone and the third time for Chamber of Secrets.  I'm not sure what prompted the Sonars to choose these this summer. Perhaps a bit of nostalgia after we caught one of the movies randomly.  The kids have all changed so much in the two years since we read them last time.  These lovely stories hold up to rereading beautifully. I took great delight in watching as the Sonars noticed things they'd missed the first time, as well as details that become important later in the series. So much fun.   

Books I read silently to myself:

Walks with Men by Ann Beattie

This small novel surprised me.  I sometimes found it hard to breathe as I read it, I was pulled in so close alongside the narrator.  I had to stop frequently and stare out the window, wondering, like the narrator, just exactly what was happening.  That's not to say that the prose isn't incredibly crisp, just that life is often deliriously confusing.  Jane is a young and talented writer who begins an affair with an older married man in the early eighties.  The story follows the course of that relationship.  Neil is, of course, a total jerk. Beattie contrasts Neil with Jane's former lover and her father.  I'm not sure whether I liked this story or not.  I can't figure out quite how Jane is changed, her emotional reaction is often very distant and we see what she does, not what she thinks.  I loved the words though.  Beattie's words wrapped me up, blocking out the things around me.    

My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro edited by Jeffrey Eugenides

I'm misleading you by including this book in the list.  I didn't read the whole thing.  I'm having an on-again, off-again romance with this book.  It's been going on for months.  I'll bring it home from the library, delight in a few stories, then return it.  Later, I'll see the book, peeking coyly down at me from the shelf, and I'll bring it home to flirt with a few more stories.  The title refers to Lesbia's sparrow in the poems of Catullus.  This book is filled with love stories that hit all along the life-cycle of love, by many different authors. You can check the contents somewhere. I won't bore you with a list.  I was enchanted and heartbroken by the Chekhov this time.  My favorite bit: "Closing his eyes, he saw her as if alive, and she seemed younger, more beautiful, more tender than she was; and he also seemed better to himself than he had been then, in Yalta."  Like any very good collection of short stories, there are lessons to be learned by writers.  If you read no other part of this book though, read the Introduction by Jeffrey Eugenides.  He will instruct you in the ways of understanding the love story.  I quoted him a few weeks ago, here. 

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

"For a long time, she held a special place in my heart. I kept this special place just for her, like a Reserved sign on a quiet corner table in a restaurant. Despite the fact that I was sure I'd never see her again."  Except that he (Hajime) does see her (Shimamoto) again.  They are essentially strangers.  Strangers with a connection in the distant past, when they were both just twelve years old.  When they meet again they try to build a connection out of those fossils.  But friendship cannot contain the intensity of his desire for her.  She isn't even a whole person.  She is a beautiful and fragile image.  She says she destroys everything she touches.  His deterioration is internal.  His exterior life remains largely unchanged.  His business seems fine.  He has money saved up.  He loves his family.  Someone called this book Murakami's "existential romance," and I have to agree.  I'm never quite sure whether Shimamoto is really there in Hajime's life, or if he has created her in his mind, some secret sharer to manifest his internal turmoil about his guilt and dissatisfaction.  Expect moments right at the edges of the fabric of reality, with incidents left unexplained or unexplainable.  Like Sputnik Sweetheart, someone disappears, someone is broken.  Each character echoes the next as Hajime tries to return to the person he was before he hurt others.  All of the women become some version of the first woman he hurt--Izumi.  All of the men become some version of himself.  The two most compelling ideas in this story are the Hysteria Siberiana, mentioned by Shimamoto, and the differences between only children and their peers with siblings.  Lovely story.  Haunting.  Probably because I read it so recently, I was struck by similarities between this novel and Ethan Frome.  SotBWotS is Ethan Frome without the oppressive misery or the suicide attempt, though there is one moment when Shimamoto considers a suicidal path. 

What I'm reading now:

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

What I plan to read next:

Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman

I'm a little behind on my Friday Night Lights viewing.  A few weeks ago I watched the first couple of episodes of the most recent season.  One story line has former Panther QB Matt Saracen (why is he still part of the story again?) doing an internship with a local artist.  When prompted to give his opinion of Matt's work, the crusty old jerk (love him) flips roughly through Matt's portfolio, chooses one drawing, rips it to shreds and hands Matt a scrap of paper.  I think it was a drawing of a hand.  "This part right here doesn't make me want to throw up.  Work from there."  

If you rip through your writing, throw out all the cliches, and get to the heart of it, which is the part that doesn't make you want to throw up?  Write from there.  

A close-up shot of my computer, complete with mustache, inspirational quote, small pictures of the kids, and desk detritus

Name the first 10 Things that come to you when I say the word "Shoes."  Then scroll down to see what I came up with.  Go! Run! Shoe!

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1.  My stepfather's boots.  

2.  My Teva sandals and my running shoes.  I'm usually barefoot.  These are the most likely shoes to find on my feet. 

3.  My $3 black heels from Savers in Albuquerque.  The only comfortable pair of heels I've ever had.  I've worn them twice.  

4. Screaming shoes, a.k.a. any shoe for Sonar X7 up to a pair of red Keane's last fall. Child hated shoes for most of his life.  Not just that he didn't want to wear them.  They caused him to melt into a screaming mess as if they were burning his feet.  

5. Brand new white soccer cleats.  I guess these make me a soccer mom again?  Reminds me of an Everclear song.  Except I drive a VW, not a Volvo.  Also no experience in adult media.  *cough* Never mind. 

6. I do not comprehend the fascination of some people with designer shoes.  They look like torture.  Maybe @shaydenFL gets them?  If not he can add them to his list of #shitidontget

7. In middle school I really wanted a pair of huarache sandals.  I got them eventually.  I never ever wanted a pair of jellies though.  Or crocs.

8.  Baby shoes are completely pointless.  Ditto baby socks unless it's cold.  Just one more (small, easily losable) thing to keep up with. 

9. When my brother (five years younger) grew to have the same size feet as me.  I was in eight or ninth grade. We shared my huarache sandals for an afternoon. 

10.  White canvas Keds.  This was my go-to shoe for many years.  Cheap and easy.  In high school they were my marching band shoes.  We slathered white shoe polish right on the canvas to cover stains.  When they were too raunchy for marching band, I'd scribble all over them. 

Bonus: "SHOES" by Kelly. Betch. 

Comments:

This list was strangely difficult for me.  I got sort of stuck on details for number one.  A snapshot of the details...

My step-father grew up in New York State, where he started his career as a police officer.  I don't know what kind of shoes he wore there.  Some sort of standard issue glossy black dress shoes, I suppose.  But when he moved to Albuquerque he always wore black cowboy boots with his uniform.  They probably took twice as long to polish as dress shoes.  He had a boot jack to pull them off of his hot feet at night.  When he went to plain-clothes work, he still wore boots.  Usually brown.  Still took forever to keep polished.  He wore his service weapon in a holster on his belt or under a sport coat.  He loved cowboy boots because he could keep a small gun in a clip holster inside the top of his left boot.  Just in case.  Cowboy boots as secret weapon cache. 

What were your 10 Shoes?  What kind of shoes do you wear to work?  Do you have any shoes with a story? 

I haven't played the 10 Things game over here for a while.  I'll give you the prompt, you spend a few minutes writing down the first ten things that come to you.  Then you can scroll down and read my results if you want. 

Ready?

Write down 10 reasons you might steal bags of soap out of the dispensers in public restrooms.  GO! GO! GO!

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My results:

Disclaimer: I wouldn't steal soap, people, nor do I advocate the stealing of soap in any way.  Remember my philosophy over there in the sidebar: Steelers are ok (some of them), but not Stealers or Thieves.  Be good.  

This is an exercise in creativity and imagination.  I also love the phrase "soap stealer."  It hits a sweet spot in my imagination.  It goes well with the phrase "criminal mischief," which, in addition to theft, is what you might be charged with if you do these things.  

1.  To wash my car

2.  Because I can't afford soap at home

3.  Because the scent of the soap reminds me of someone or something important that I have lost 

4. To install in the restroom of my favorite struggling indie bookstore, thus saving the bookstore money

5. To add to a stockpile of soap that will be used to enhance an incident of mass mayhem (NO NO NO)

6. To add to a stockpile of soap that I will use to fill up my bathtub, either to bathe in or to perform science experiments

7.  To make giant soap bubbles

8.  To drive the janitor crazy, wondering what I'm going to do with it

9.  To sell on the industrial-sized, liquid soap black market.  There's a black market for everything, right?

10.  To mix in dye in my favorite color before returning to it's bathroom of origin

Several of these things are not nice. Do NOT try this at home or anywhere else.  Capiche?