Books Read in May

A short list of mostly long books:

Joyce Carol Oates: The Gravedigger's Daughter

• Excellent, of course. The protagonist, Rebecca Schwart, is a tough, ruthless version of Faulkner's Lena Grove.

Eva Ibbotson: The Dragonfly Pool

• Set mostly at an English boarding school during WWII, this is a wonderful YA novel that -- without having a bit of magic, sorcery, or wizardry in it -- seems magical.

Libba Bray: Rebel Angels

• The second novel in the Gemma Doyle trilogy. I'm looking forward to the film version of A Great and Terrible Beauty in 2010, and am reading the third novel, The Sweet Far Thing, right now.

Karen Maitland: Company of Liars

• An easy-to-read thriller set in 1348 England during the Black Plague.

Matthew Skelton: Endymion Spring

• A YA fantasy novel that alternates between present-day Oxford and 15th-century Germany. With the Gutenberg Press and dragons!

A Few Snaps from the Trip to Prague

A view of the River Vltava and the Stare Mesto, or Old Town

A street near Prague Castle

Stained glass window by Alphonse Mucha in St. Vitus' Cathedral

A tram bearing evidence of my family's coffee empire

Holy Cow!

Kim arrives this Friday! Woo hoo!

Reading List for March & April with Bonus Snaps from the Keukenhof

March
Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler's Wife -- Excellent! Not at all what I expected.

Kate Atkinson: Behind the Scenes at the Museum -- My love affair with Kate Atkinson's books continues.

Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird -- I reread this because it had been assigned to one of my students. I had forgotten why this book is a classic. I worry, though, that it's wasted on 9th graders.

Tana French: In the Woods -- A compelling mystery with a disappointing ending.

Gregory Maguire: What the Dickens: the Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy -- Disappointing -- a great premise, but the book read like a rough draft.

Charlaine Harris: Dead Until Dark -- Southern-fried, raunchy vampire fun!

Sonya Hartnett: Thursday's Child -- An excellent YA novel that is probably better appreciated by adults.



April
Steig Larrson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- The first in a series of Swedish mysteries. I'm definitely reading the second and third books.

Norma Fox Mazer: When She Was Good -- Another excellent YA novel.

Tobias Hill: The Cryptographer -- Boringly oblique? Obliquely boring?

MT Anderson: The Game of Sunken Places -- Really disappointing -- another work from a prominent YA author that reads like an early draft.

Sarah Addison Allen: Garden Spells -- Fun chick-lit set in the NC mountains!

Joanne Harris: Gentlemen and Players -- A creepy and well-written thriller.

John Le Carre: Call for the Dead -- An early mystery from one of my faves.

Robin McKinley: Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast -- A sweet YA novel that I somehow missed when I was a YA.

Jaclyn Moriarty: Feeling Sorry for Celia -- A great epistolary YA novel from Australia!

Ducklings!

Friday, Brownie Duck and her Beau brought by their ducklings. Brownie and Beau are regulars at Amity's Buffet for Birds (originally Amity's Aviary Buffet, but I had to change the name to discourage the neighborhood cats).

Back on the Quattro!

With pretty good weather today, Simon and I got back on the good tandem, affectionately known as the Quattro after DCI Gene Hunt's car in Ashes to Ashes.

Anyhoo, our stats were okay given that it was our the first time back on the bike in months:

Distance: 19.75 miles
Time: 65 minutes
Average speed: 18.2 mph
Top speed: 23.3 mph

Happy Birthday, Elaine!

My niece, Elaine, is 13 today, old enough to be subjected to embarrassing stories of her childhood.

(Elaine, you should know that Simon and I plan to fly to Utah for your first date. We'll embarrass you by asking your date awkward questions, telling him dorky stories about you, and insisting on taking photos.)

Top Ten Quotations from Elaine

1. To a table of boring grown-ups at Christmas dinner: “No adults talking!”
2. On having to resist opening a bag of treats I put together to entertain her on the flight back to Utah: “Things can get pretty desperate.”
3. In response to “Elaine, you’re being a little devil”: “I’m not little!”
4. In the car whenever the driver dared brake for, say, a stop sign or red light: “Why are we slooowwwing?”
5. One morning at Elaine’s house when Simon and I woke up to find Jane and Paul had gone to the lab: “Let’s have chocolate cake for breakfast!”
6. The same morning, in a conspiratorial whisper, “I know where Daddy keeps his scissors!”
7. On accompanying me to the bathroom: “Your bum-bum is bigger than my bum-bum.” (Well, duh.)
8. Upon having the door opened on her after she had run around her grandparents' house naked 15 minutes: "Don't look. I'm changing clothes!"
   
9. After licking an ice cream bowl clean: “Mommy, you don’t have to wash this one!”
10. Not a quotation, but a priceless expression: the look of utter horror when Uncle Simon – in an attempt to prove that his underwear was light gray, not white – accidentally mooned Elaine. The adults present could not stop laughing, not at Simon, but at Elaine. (As promised, Jane, we’ll chip in on Elaine’s therapy.)