Throwback Thursday

Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it.

I need an intern.  At my house.  Every day.  The sink’s clogged, the dog barks, and the kids are constantly hungry.  Good thing I’m a one-step-at-a-time kinda girl.  When I went to Costco to fetch Liquid Plumr, I strolled by the books only to find Kate DiCamillo’s latest Raymie Nightingale. So I picked it up and put it in the cart with mass amounts of the powerful gel.  That’s what I call multi-tasking!  DiCamillo is an author I can count on to deliver.  We all know authors like that, don’t we? Jane Austen, Ivan Doig, Kaye Gibbons, Khaled Hosseini, Toni Morrison, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, and so many more top my list. (Rachel might faint if I don’t add one of hers and everyone else’s, J.K. Rowling.) As soon as I finish reading Rae’s Christmas gift My Southern Journey, I’ll know whether or not I can include Rick Bragg to my prestigious stack of favorites.  

I’m throwin it back to 1998 today, when Bragg published All Over but the Shoutin’.  Bragg ain’t just whistling Dixie in this sobering, funny, moving memoir.  He dispels the notion that any white man who lives in poverty does so by choice.  He and his brothers were robbed of their collective childhood because his defunct father, always three sheets to the wind, has a bad habit of running out on his family.  Bragg’s angel mother, Margaret, picked other people’s cotton, and went 18 years without a new dress, just to put grubby clothes on her boys’ back and a little bit of food in their mouths.  “Turning hard scrabble into a pleasant memory was something Margaret Bragg would do for her boy again and again as he grew.” Margaret is an unforgettable, inspiring character who makes me want to do better. She alone is likely the reason her son, who was more destined for the state pen than the Pulitzer, became something.

Rick Bragg is a storyteller extraordinaire.  Maybe one of the very best?  This book is definitely worth a read.  And a re-read.  Maybe I don’t need an intern afterall?  Just some time for a little southern comfort will do right about now.

Posted by Tracy

And The Pulitzer Goes To...

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. —Joseph Pulitzer

Our intern sent us a list of the Pulitzer Prize winners that were announced today. I'm telling you, Darren's got nothin on him! The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen took home the prize for fiction. The winner of the biography or autobiography category looks intriguing: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan. For a list of all the winners and finalists, click here. This talk of winners calls for a walk down Pulitzer Lane, does it not? Let's reminisce for a moment. Of course, my favorite of all time:

To Kill a Mockingbird (1961)

MORE FAVORITES

All the Light We Cannot See (2014)

Middlesex (2003)

Beloved (1988)

The Color Purple (1983)

TOP ON MY LIST TO READ

Gilead (2005)

How about you? Did I miss one of your favorites? Is there one you're itching to read? Here's a list of all the past winners for fiction. Here's hoping you find your next favorite book among them.

Posted by Rachel

As You Wish

When I was your age, television was called books.

I find it inconceivable (yeah, I went there) that we'd never heard anything about this book until last week. To quote Tray, because she's one of my favorite people to quote...and just one of my favorite people period:

I read [the] review [of The Princess Bride] and found it astonishingly hard to believe: “Whether you liked the film adaptation or hated it, read this book! It’s the the Spinal Tap of fairy tales, and it’s much funnier on paper.” I L.O.V.E the film adaptation, so this comment felt like a challenge, and well, I’m up for one. Gotta see if it’s true.

How 'bout we all find out together? With tax day looming, April seems like the perfect month for a lighter book club selection, so The Princess Bride it is. This may be a bit of a quirky pick.  What can I say?  We're versatile girls.  I'm pretty sure this charmer has got something for everyone--Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles. 

*Oh, and don't fret, next week we'll review Girl at War. 

Posted by Rachel

For The Love Of Words

Dictionary: The universe in alphabetical order. —Anatole France

By Noah Webster; engraved by H. B. Hall and Sons, 62 Fulton Street, New York, New York - Yale University Manuscripts & Archives Digital Images Database

Our new intern informed us that on this day in 1848, Noah Webster published his first dictionary. Such a good intern—he's worth way more than we're paying him...which is nothing...unless you count keeping him in Dr. J's salsa and promises of burgers and Coke Zero. Without him, this day would have slipped right past without us giving Noah his due.

Like most successful men, the Webster owes it all to his mom. Well maybe not all, but she did spend long hours educating him, making up for what he called "the dregs of society," or in other words, his teachers in the one-room primary school he attended. Throw in the church pastor who tutored him in Latin and Greek and his dad who mortgaged the farm to pay for college, and we begin to see how a small farm boy like Webster ended up at Yale. He graduated with a degree in liberal arts—later writing that such a degree "disqualifies a man for business." (Hmm...that may explain my inability to balance a checkbook, let alone run a business...)

It took Webster twenty-six years to complete his first comprehensive dictionary—he was 70 years-old on publication day. His book contained seventy thousand words, twelve thousand of them having never appeared in a dictionary before. His hope: to standardize the American language and set us apart from the Brits. (He complained that the British Aristocracy was ruining the English language by setting its own standard for spelling and punctuation.) His first book only sold 2,500 copies, forcing him to mortgage his home in order to produce a second edition. He never recovered financially and died just three days after finishing an appendix to his second edition, not knowing the tremendous influence his book would eventually come to have on the English language. Being the wordsmith he was, I think he was okay with that.

Posted by Rachel

91 Million Sold, 100 Years Old!

Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school. —Beverly Cleary

We want to give a quick shout out to Beverly Cleary. Today she’s 100 years old! While we agree with Ramona that exaggerating feels good, that century mark is accurate. Cleary was born when Woodrow Wilson was president, in a year when Norman Rockwell first blessed the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.  It was the same year The Boy Scouts of America was born. We think it’s just as important to read about Ramona, Henry Huggins, and Ralph the Mouse as it is to Be Prepared.  

In the 1940’s, Cleary worked in a children’s bookstore.  She read this line in a children’s book: “Bow-wow.  I like the green grass.”  Since she’d never known a dog who could talk like that, she couldn’t help but ask, “ What is the matter with authors?” Forty-two books and countless honors and awards later, Cleary can feel good about writing pages that “entertain children and give them courage and insight into what to expect from their lives.”  Well done Beverly.  Bravo!

If you haven’t read Beverly Cleary yet, I would start with The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Rachel loves Ralph but the second grader in her remains loyal to Ramona, so she recommends Beezus and Ramona as well.

Posted by Tracy

LOL

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. —W.H.Auden

Got the better of calamity—for now. I rolled into Vegas at 1:47 a.m. Rachel left the door unlocked with the lights on. (She’s welcoming even as she sleeps.) Despite being tired, I felt instantly better when I crossed the threshold. I left real life at the door and headed upstairs for much needed rest.  

There has been rest, and what’s more…we’ve had a lot of laughs.  You know, giving-your-gut-muscles-a-workout kind of laughs.  It happens naturally when I’m with Rachel.  All of us could fill our days with a little more sidesplitting, couldn’t we? Cliché but true, laughter is good medicine—for the mind and body. Not to mention it lifts our spirits. So here are a few books on my list to read that may make you double over when you need it most.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I bought one for me and one for Rachel before our once-a-year-get-out-of-town weekend at the beach only to find she’d already picked up and read this funny book.  She gives it two thumbs up.  Here’s what one happy reviewer said: “Full of heart and humor, Simsion’s debut novel about a fussy, socially-challenged man’s search for the perfect wife is smart, breezy, quirky, and fun.”  I’m looking forward to this one!

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

Never mind the fact that this book won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. One of my closest, smartest friends told me I’d love it, in part because it takes you back to the classroom.  I trust her choices completely—she’s given me plenty of winners.  “If you love academic satires, you’ll love this novel.”

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I read this review and found it astonishingly hard to believe: “Whether you liked the film adaptation or hated it, read this book! It’s the the Spinal Tap of fairy tales, and it’s much funnier on paper.” I L.O.V.E the film adaptation, so this comment felt like a challenge, and well, I’m up for one. Gotta see if it’s true.  

That’s just for starters.  I haven’t even spoken of comedian reads: Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants, Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, or Mindy Kaling’s Why Not Me?  But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.  To be honest, I’m surprised I’m still typing this post when Rachel’s in the house—I’ve got guaranteed laughs for the rest of the day.

Posted by Tracy

Throwback Thursday

How I wish I lived in a Jane Austen novel!

It's high time we had a throwback around here, don't you think? You'd never know it by the paltry sum of Throwback Thursday posts, but it's one of our favorite features. Time to pull ourselves together and I can't think of a better book to get us back on track than I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

I don't triple-dog-dare often because it's been known to get me in trouble (Ove), but I'm pulling out the triple here and I don't even feel bad about it. I am adding a qualifier though: I triple-dog-dare you not to fall in love with Cassandra, if you're a Jane Austen fan. Or just an overall lover of Brit lit and witty narrators. She had me at "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink." J.K. Rowling's got my back on this one, calling Cassandra "one of the most charismatic narrators [she's] ever met." Oh, J.K., we really are destined to be friends.

Cassandra's not the only star here—this book is a treasure trove of quirky and lovable characters. A recluse father who's failed to write another book after publishing a best seller, a step-mother named Topaz (enough said), a sister bent on escaping the family's dilapidated castle by marrying for money, and new neighbors that change everything. If you haven't read this classic yet, run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore or library (see qualifier above). Who knows, it just might change your life.

Posted by Rachel

We Need An Intern

This past week we missed National Children's Book Day and Maya Angelou's birthday. And we call ourselves book bloggers. Sheesh. Clearly, we need an intern. We're not asking for much, just someone to research important literary dates and stay on top of social media. Oh, and clean our houses, make dinner on a moment's notice, run errands, taxi our kids around...and did we mention laundry? Loads of it. And somehow manage to be in Nevada and Utah at the same time. Maybe Darren is available. We hear he's a real go-getter.

Posted by Rachel