I've Got A Serious Case Of The Mondays

There's a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping.

I’ve got a serious case of the Mondays.  Daylight savings just added insult to injury, didn’t it?  Spring forward to exhaustion.  But never fear, it’s National Napping Day! This very day, March 14th, we are encouraged to nap. (Like I need encouragement.)  I just read a bit about Winston Churchill—said he only slept four hours a night during World War II, but he insisted on a two-hour snooze every afternoon. Like champagne, naps were a staple for the British Bulldog. Good for you Winnie!  

Here’s the thing, I’d gladly take a sincere doze today if I could. I’m a gifted sleeper—I shouldn’t mask my talent, right?  But I’m a working mom, one with too many nagging items on a semi-futile daily “to-do-or-die” list.  So, in honor of National Napping Day, I won’t be catching any extra z’s.  Instead, with a muffled yawn, let me tell you “there is a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping.”

You don’t have to be a pre-K insomniac to enjoy Audrey and Don Wood’s The Napping House. It’s one of my favorite children’s books. A snoring granny, a dreaming child, a dozing dog, a snoozing cat and a slumbering mouse enjoy a collective siesta until a wakeful flea crashes into the subliminal.  The pictures are as big a draw as the text. I have yet to find a tired tyke who doesn’t love to snuggle up with this read!  The Woods are responsible for some of my children’s very favorites:  Quick as a Cricket, King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR are all keepers.  Maybe the thought of joining the fictional folks at The Napping House is the next best thing to taking advantage of this national holiday for a girl once called Rip Van.

Posted by Tracy

If You Have Time To Kill

No one can change the sound of an echo.

I have never read a John Grisham book. (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”)  More than once my sister Sharee has told me they’re entertaining reads.  This I believe.  Give me some popped corn in front of a remotely big screen and Grisham proves entertaining.  Because my time is scarce like awesome political candidates, I want to read the exceptional stuff. I want to read books with staying power.  

That was the idealist in me talking.  Lately, I’m so tired and spent that I quieted my inner book snob, and looked for a simple escape.  Yes, I said escape.  As in, “to get away from a place where you’re being held or kept; to get away from something that is difficult or unpleasant.”  When I discovered The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens, I said to myself, “oh why not?” Besides it was touted as “compulsively suspenseful”—even noted it on the cover.  

The Life We Bury did its job. I escaped to Minnesota of all places.  It shouldn’t be a surprise that I was drawn in by a student, Joe Talbert, who took a college writing assignment to heart.  His assignment morphs into an investigation of a not-so-cold case.  Eskens, a lawyer by day, writer by night, created a nice piece of storytelling with depth.  He penned some nice lines too.  And I found myself reading one more skinny chapter despite heavy lids.  Something tells me Grisham fans will love this book (that includes you Sharee).  At the end of the read, I can say it was just what I needed—but I am so looking forward to picking up Girl at War!

Posted by Tracy

March Book Club Selection

The realization that my parents, too, felt pain and fear frightened me more than any strangers could.

International Women's Day seems like the perfect time to announce Girl at War as our March book club selection. Let's just pretend we planned it that way, shall we? It's received stunning reviews. The one below by Victor Lavalle (The Devil in Silver) may be my favorite, and will explain why this is a timely choice on this day we celebrate and recognize the power of women and girls all over the world:

Sara Nović isn’t here to play games. Her debut novel, Girl at War, serves as the announcement of an audacious talent. Great war stories are engaging and rough and honest, and Nović’s book is certainly all three. But it’s the fact that all this war is happening to a child that makes this book singular and special. You’ll hold tight to this book as if you were going to protect the young girl at its center—but come to find out, she’s the one with all the courage and all the strength.

I'm eighty-three pages in and find it hard to put this mesmerizing read down. We haven't forgotten about last month's pick. We'll be reviewing that one and opening it up for discussion next Monday.

*Fair warning to our readers offended by harsh language: while there has been some in what I've read so far, it's very limited.

Posted by Rachel

Suffering From Downton Abbey Withdrawals?

No one ever warns you about bringing up daughters. You think it’s going to be like Little Women. Instead they’re at each other’s throats from dawn till dusk. —Cora Crawley, Downton Abbey

Did you wake up with the Downton blues like I did this morning? Last night's series' finale was almost all I dreamed it would be. The only thing missing was a message at the end saying it's all been a terrible mistake, they really will be back next season. Now wouldn't that have been lovely? Sigh. Thankfully, Time Magazine has our backs with 10 Books to Counteract Your Downton Abbey Withdrawal. Books to the rescue once again.

Pretty sure there isn't a book that's going to help Tracy feel better today though. She's wearing black in honor of Peyton's announced retirement. We'll both admit we cried a little at his press conference. Classy, classy guy. They don't come any better.

We're off to drown our sorrows in some Coke and Coke Zero—meet you back here tomorrow for this month's book club selection.

Posted by Rachel

Weekly Wrap-Up

The best dividends on the labor invested have invariably come from seeking more knowledge rather than more power. —Wilbur Wright

WHAT WE LOVE THIS WEEK

Friends who text us with a Quote of the Week. This week's lovely and welcome surprise was the quote above.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: the world needs more Wright brothers. And how.

Downton Abbey. More than ever. If we had time (ha), we'd throw a party like this one. If anyone's formed a support group to help us all through our Downton withdrawals after tomorrow's series' finale, sign us up. Whatever will we do without our weekly Dowager Countess fix? Oh, how our eyes will miss Matthew Goode.

Rachel and Tracy's Summer Concert Tour. No, we aren't coming to a city near you, and no, won't be the ones on stage. Who will be, you ask? James Taylor (the original JT), Adele, and the Dixie Chicks, for starters. We're open to more suggestions. And free tickets, if you have them. This is just the warm up to our London Tour next year.

Book Club. We've heard from a few of you personally, and here, that you are enjoying our little guilt-free book club. We've decided to keep it but with one minor change: We'll do away with Book Club Mondays and just do one post at the end of the month where we can all discuss our thoughts together. We really will work on the whole Periscope thing too...because it would be fun for the blog, and really, just so we have an excuse to be in the same state.

COMING NEXT WEEK

Brace yourselves, it looks like you'll be getting two actual book reviews! I know, we're as shocked as you are. Anna and the Swallow Man and The Life We Bury. Stay tuned.

Posted by Rachel

It's A Doc Party, A Big Doc Party

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

New York World-Telegram and the Sun photo by Al Ravenna

Today is your birthday!  So you say. From there to here, from here to there, funny books are everywhere! We’ve got birthday boy Theodor Giesel on the brain today. And why not?  If I could only have one doctor growing up, I’d choose Seuss. No question about that. What child doesn’t love a daily dose of jocularity?  Honestly, I’ll take laughs in a house or with a mouse, in a box or with a fox; better yet, I’ll take them with Rae on any given day.  Thanks to Theo, imminent chuckles are just a book away.

So (I-do-not-like-your) Hats off to the droll doctor!  To commemorate, Rachel and I are celebrating reading more than we normally do. After all, today is NEA’s Read Across America, which calls for every child in each community to revel over reading.  So I’ll call Luke (thing 1) and Jonah (thing 2) to sit on their spreads and we’ll do what we do.  I’ll pull out my tattered turquoise blue and we’ll giggle hard and true.  From a pesky, paranoid fish, to a gentle hearing Horton, to the environment-loving lorax who speaks for the trees, oh the places we’ll go!  And all the funny while, I’ll think to say from my lips to the doctor’s ear, “Congratulations!  Today is your day.”  You’ve taken us great places.  You and yours are here to stay!

Posted by Tracy

Weekly Wrap-Up

[Courage is] knowing you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. —Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

WHAT WE LOVE THIS WEEK

Harper Lee, of course. This week, last week, and always. To Kill a Mockingbird has a permanent spot on our top ten favorites of all time list. We're especially loving that above quote because lately life has us feeling a bit licked. More like mowed down, trampled, pummeled...(insert any beleaguered adjective here). We started this blog with the (naive?) hope of posting every day and lately we've been lucky to churn out two or three a week. The dogged optimist in us would assure you that our sporadic posting will soon be a thing of the past. Oh, but that sliver of a realist demands we come clean and admit that, for a while anyway, things will probably stay just as they are. We hope you'll stick with us, because while we may indeed be licked before we begin, we really are going to see this through.

Subscribers. Would it be too bold of us to suggest you become one? It's a surefire way of never missing a book review, especially as we've become a bit more unpredictable...

Your feedback. We'd love to know what you think of our little online, obligation-free book club. We promise we aren't fishing for compliments. Just curious if you are reading the book along with us and are interested in book club Monday posts. Should we continue with this feature?

Friends who immediately think of us when they see one of these in their neighborhood.

Now this is our kind of planner!

Dr. Seuss. It's the dear ol' doc's birthday next week and we can't think of a better way to celebrate his day than starting off with some of these. How fun would it be to host a birthday party in his honor for your kids' book club? They could play this and make one of these.

Friends who know we need a good laugh and send us this:

Posted by Rachel

Throwback Thursday

If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.

I loved Rae’s last post because time bullies me lately.  He is, more accurately, beating me up. (Thumping me.) Needless to say Pink Floyd, there is no “ticking away the moments that make up a dull day, fritter[ing] away the hours in an off-hand way.” So I needed the reminder to cheat time.  Last night, I literally went to sleep with a book.  Fell deep into slumber with A Buried Life in hand.  Just a few pages of a good read make the day far better—even momentary escapes invigorate, right?

One of my most literary friends (and one smart muchacho) just sent me a link today to a Time article entitled These Are the 100 Most-Read Female Writers in College Classes.  Reading through the list of girls on fire, I found so many favorites.  Jane Austen, the subject of my Master’s thesis, and Toni Morrison, the author of several poignant reads for me, topped the list among the most widely read female authors.  And while the list is academic, there are plenty of accessible reads from J.K. Rowling, Amy Tan, Joan Didion, and Isabel Allende. You might want to check it out here.

Perusing the top hundred made me want to re-read my favorite Toni Morrison novel. If you haven’t read The Song of Solomon, promise me you will.  Know that it’s literature—intelligent stuff that deals with sobering issues surrounding racism. Morrison reminds me that life is not fair for a black man born in 1931 in Michigan City. That the stamp of slavery feels indelible for her archetypal character Milkman. This isn’t pulp fiction, and it’s not your mother’s book club selection either.  (If you’re an English major, you’ll feel right at home in these lyrical, rhythmic pages—in fact, you’ll savor them.) I think this book is worth reading if only to meet Morrison’s female character Pilate Dead. Pilate’s strength inspires me. She finds liberation without escape. It’s no surprise Pilate can fly without ever leaving the ground.

Posted by Tracy